Skip to main content

Want to know when people are typing? Facebook may let you do that with comments

facebook post translation tool search
Image used with permission by copyright holder
For those of you who are self-conscious when it comes to Facebook’s read receipts on Messenger, get ready to be made more painfully aware of when your friends are “connecting” with you. According to new reports, Facebook is considering allowing users to see when others are commenting on a post — sort of like that typing bubble that pops up when you’re in iMessage (or the one you can see in FB Messenger).

The feature, which was first spotted by Twitter user Amber Dickso on Friday, tells you that “A friend is writing a comment,” because you always want to stick around and be the first person to like or reply to conversations online, right?

Recommended Videos

In speaking to Tech Insider, Facebook confirmed that this is indeed a new feature the social media giant is testing out, potentially for further implementation. “We’ve heard from people that they want their experience on Facebook to reflect the real time conversations they have,” a spokesperson said. “So we are testing adding a line above the comment box of a post that indicates when a friend is typing.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Facebook has made a number of changes to its user interface in the last several months, from the more amusing (like allowing users to react to different stories with emotions) to the practical (like its safety check-in feature). The social media platform is also known for testing out changes with small portions of its user base, sometimes with controversial results. In 2014, the company came under fire for toying with users’ emotions when it adjusted the number of positive versus negative posts seen by a randomly selected group of over half a million people. Branded as a psychological study examining the spread of emotions on social media, it set off a number of decidedly angry emotions from users across the country.

But seeing a typing bubble likely won’t be nearly as contentious.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
You can now use the Add Yours sticker on Reels for Facebook and Instagram
A series of three mobile screenshots on a gray background showing the new Add Yours sticker for Facebook Reels.

As of today, Facebook and IG creators have six new features they can use for their Reels content. But of the six, the most intriguing feature is support for a sticker prompt that was first used and popularized in Instagram Stories.

Meta announced via a Facebook video post that, in addition to all of its other new Reels-focused features, it would now offer support for its Add Yours sticker prompt in Reels for both Instagram and Facebook.

Read more
Meta wants you to use its creepy Portal as a secondary monitor
A woman is standing at a table and using a laptop with a Meta Portal display next to it

Do you remember when Facebook gave us the creepy Portal displays? These were screens with built-in cameras so we could ostensibly talk to loved ones. Well, Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) now hopes you'll use a Portal device as a second monitor.

Meta has revealed that its Portal devices, which include the 2nd-generation Meta Portal Plus and the Meta Portal Go, can be used as a second display for productivity thanks to integration with the Duet Display app. So now even your monitor can spy on you, in case your smartphone and smart TV weren't enough.

Read more
Meta’s new AI research may boost translations on Facebook, Instagram
Image with languages displaying in front of a man on his laptop for Meta's 200 languages within a single AI model video.

Facebook's parent company, Meta, announced a new AI model today that can translate hundreds of languages, and its research is expected to help improve language translations on its social media apps, specifically Facebook and Instagram.

On Wednesday, Meta unveiled its new AI model, NLLB-200. NLLB stands for No Language Left Behind, which is a Meta project that endeavors to "develop high-quality machine translation capabilities for most of the world’s languages." The AI model that came from that project, NLLB-200, can translate 200 languages.

Read more