Skip to main content

Facebook ‘Did You Know’ tool helps you get to know your friends better

top tech stories facebook
Image used with permission by copyright holder
After acquiring anonymous polling app TBH earlier this year, Facebook is now beginning to integrate a remix of the app’s features directly into the social media platform. On Tuesday, December 6, Facebook added a new “Did You Know” section to profiles, allowing users to answer random questions to help followers get an idea of who you are beyond the typical profile.

While the new feature likely stems from the company’s acquisition of TBH in October, the new Facebook Did You Know section has a few important differences from the anonymous polls — because the answers aren’t anonymous. Once users answer the questions, those answers will appear in a scrolling list on the profile, allowing friends to read them. The tool, however, has the same sort of sometimes fun, sometimes serious set of random questions.

The new profile section contains a number of different types of icebreaker questions, like the superpower you want most or that video game you can sit and play for hours. On both desktop and mobile, users can tap “new question” until they find one they’d like to answer. When adding a new Did You Know, the answer includes the same colored background options users have for updating a status.

Once answered, the questions appear in the new section inside colored boxes that match the selected background. Users have to click on the question to see the user’s answer. Friends will also see a link to go answer questions on their own profile.

Facebook acquired TBH earlier this fall and the anonymous polling app still exists as a standalone app. TBH was popular among younger users, possibly because of the app’s way of sending anonymous compliments through the random polling questions. While the answers can remain anonymous, users can also choose to attach their name to the answer, effectively letting that person know that you like their smile or laugh. The app’s downloads have fallen since the acquisition, however.

The new Did You Know section isn’t Facebook’s first way to bring in the popular features of TBH — last month, the platform also added the ability to customize polls with GIFs and pictures, expanding the earlier text-only polls.

Editors' Recommendations

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
The new ways Meta will pay you to make content for Facebook and Instagram
facebook hacked

Creators on Facebook and Instagram will soon have more ways to generate revenue from their content.

On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared via a Facebook post (and in a series of comments on that post), a few updates on monetization for creators on Facebook and Instagram. These updates included expansions to existing monetization options, as well as a few new ways to make money.

Read more
Websites may be logging your email and password without you knowing
A digital encrypted lock with data multilayers.

An extensive study reveals that up to 3% of websites may collect your form inputs even before you ever press "Submit." That's right -- even if you type something and then delete it, these websites will still record your keystrokes and remember the things you chose not to input.

The data, collected without your knowledge and consent, can contain some of the most personal information, that can later be used for various purposes, such as targeted ads.

Read more
This Microsoft app could help you spice up your desktop
Two windows laptops sit on a wooden table.

If you're looking to spice up your Windows desktop in a new way, then you might want to keep an eye out for an item that may be coming from Microsoft soon. Reportedly in the works is an app that can help you create animated backgrounds with custom effects for Xbox consoles, as well as Windows PCs.

First teased as an "unknown project" by the well-known Microsoft leaker Aggiornamenti Lumia a few months ago, it looks as though the leaker has finally managed to reveal what Microsoft was working on. Aggiornamenti Lumia now believes that the project is the Xbox Dynamic Backgrounds Editor app, showcasing it partly in action.

Read more