MentionTagging
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Soon apps may integrate Mention Tagging for Facebook
Facebook is adding a new tagging feature to its Open Graph that'll make it easy for Facebook users to tag their friends in any Facebook connected app. Called Mention Tagging, the new feature will scan text that is being typed into an app and look for phrases that mention the name of a user's Facebook friend. Facebook describes how this feature could be used in an app like foursquare. Instead of directly tagging friends when they check-in, users will be able to enter the names of their friends in natural language. The Mention Tagging feature will pick up on a name and find that person in the user's Friends list. When the story is posted to the user's timeline, the name of the friend will be linked in the post and the friend will receive an alert that they have been mentioned in a post. Facebook is aware of the power it is giving developers and added several restrictions that developers must follow so the feature in not abused. Apps, for example, can't pre-fill names from a user's Friend's list, and the message has to written by the user with the intention of sharing this information on Facebook. Developers also must go through an approval process before they can implement Mention tagging. [Via The Next Web]
Facebook adds mention tagging to Open Graph for more efficient name-dropping
Facebook has given developers that link to the social network with Open Graph a new way let let users play tag with their friends -- while also increasing exposure to their app. It's called mention tagging, and allows a user to link a friend in the text body of a message, and is not to be confused with action tagging, an existing feature which references friends only in story text. The option requires a deliberate action by the user, so the developer must implement a way to clearly show how to do that with an icon (as shown above for Foursquare) or drop-down menu, for instance. Apps must also distinguish between action and mention tags, and are not allowed to pre-fill them in the message -- that can only be done by the user. Though no privacy changes are needed, Facebook requires apps using the feature to request user approval before any action can be taken. All that would increase tagging and app visibility significantly -- so developers will likely be all over it.
