Facebook has announced its latest portability feature. This feature, which was announced on Facebook’s official blog today, would give users around the globe the ability to archive their posts and notes, and transfer a copy of that data to Google Docs, WordPress, or Blogger.
This new feature is a buildup on a similar feature that was released last year – that allows users to transfer photos from Facebook to Google Photos.
Both portability features would allow users leaving Facebook to preserve a version of the content associated with their account – on a different platform.
Although, for a while now, Facebook has created tools that allow users to download their data, these new tools seems like a more practical way, as it gives the users the ability to port to other platform more easily.
To export your data from Facebook, follow the listed steps:
- Open Facebook settings.
- Scroll down, and tap “Transfer a Copy of Your Information.”
- Select which destination to transfer the data to (Google Docs, WordPress, or Blogger).
- Log in to the account you select, and confirm the transfer.
For security reasons, Facebook would request that users re-enter their password before data export is initiated. While the transfer is being made, data would be encrypted.
The new transfer feature is part of the Data Transfer Project, a cross-company data-sharing initiative that was launched in 2018.
The Data Transfer Project aims at allowing users to move data across various online services and platforms seamlessly. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter are also involved in the project, offering similar data-export tools.
The transfer feature will make things more convenient for users who want to share specific Facebook posts. However, it is important to note that exported data will not archive comments from other users, since those comments are seen as belonging to a separate account.
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The new data export tools bring Facebook in line with California’s Consumer Privacy Act, as well as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, which requires that companies provide personal information in a readily usable format – upon request.
The regulatory bodies, however, did not state any specifics on the format and interoperability measures for said data.
Facebook has, in response, argued for regulation in the area of data portability. The social media giant said there should be laws that determine which data should be made portable, and who is responsible for protecting the data once it has been transferred.
