google doesn't know who your friends are, who you chat with, or what news you care
about.
Just like how Facebook does not know what’s in your email, what directions you map, what you web search for, or what’s going on in your Android phone.
That’s why the two have huge but very different opportunities when it comes to building a personal assistant.
To Be Useful, Or Interesting
Google has a big head start, as it launched Now back in 2012 with tons of functionality, mostly surrounding objective data. It can pull relevant info like flight times and changes from your email, display breaking world news updates, or give you a heads up about traffic between your home and office. Its latest trick, Google Now On Tap, can surface information related to what’s going on in your other apps.
To me, this is Facebook Here. It’s a personal assistant that knows about everything around you — the people, places, and things you care about.
I spotted early tests of the feature last year when it was a “Highlights” section in the Friend Requests tab. Starting slowly today on iOS and Android in the U.S., below your traditional notifications, Facebook Here will show cards for:
- Friends’ birthdays
- Friends’ life events
- Your upcoming events
- Today’s top sporting events
- Today’s top TV shows
- Trending Topics
And if you let Facebook track your location history, you’ll also get:
- Popular events nearby
- Local weather
- News shared locally
- Nearby Places your friends may have visited or reviewed
- Movies playing in nearby theaters
You can customize these new sets of cards to add or hide what you want, and control which can send you notifications.
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