Facebook began rolling out a new feature on Tuesday called Scrapbook, which essentially allows parents to create shared photo albums of their children.
Scrapbook is a little different from standard photo albums in that multiple Facebook users can contribute to them. Parents are also able to tightly control who is able to see the scrapbooks and even how their children are tagged.
"Over the past few months, I've noticed the more pictures I shared of my son on Facebook, the more scattered they became across my different photo albums — I needed a better way to organize them," said Facebook product manager Dan Barak. "And I found myself tagging my wife in photos of my son so her friends could see them, too."
Scrapbooks are available on the Web and through the Facebook app. In order to create one, users need to have their child listed as a family member under relationship information on Facebook. Pet owners can also make an album for their pet provided their pets are listed as well.
It's important to note that only parents will be able to contribute to scrapbooks, although others will be able to view them if the parent has opted to share them.
Facebook says that it will eventually be rolling out a feature that allows users to receive updates when photos are added to scrapbooks, however, it did not give a specific date as to when that feature would begin rolling out. The company also says that there will be more announcements about the new feature in the coming weeks and months.
Facebook is also reportedly considering a feature that would hand the scrapbook over to the child once they turn 13 and are allowed to join Facebook themselves.
The company has yet to figure out how it will handle scrapbooks for mixed families, including families with step-children and step-parents. Currently, only two people can be owners of the scrapbook at a time.
"This project is a labor of love — my team built it based on our own experiences and what we learned from other parents," continued Barak. "We're excited to bring you this feature as early as possible, hear your feedback and continue building it together."
Facebook has been very active recently, announcing a "Look Back" feature that allows users to see what was posted on that specific day in past years. The company also recently held its F8 developer conference, introducing Facebook Messenger as a platform, allowing developers to create apps and extensions for Facebook Messenger.
