Facebook tests photo-recognition software

Social networking giant Facebook is testing out face-detection technology software that would be introduced into the site if successful.

Sam Odio, product manager for Facebook photos, said in a company blog that 99% of users have uploaded at least one photograph.

“More than 100 million photos are uploaded every day. That’s insane,” he wrote. “This might surprise you, but within the photos product most people spend their time uploading, browsing, and tagging photos. As a result, we’re working to improve your experience in each of those areas. For tagging, we began testing today a faster and easier way for you to tag your own photos.”

The new software would recognise a face inside a photo, then the site would prompt the user to enter the name of the person.

“With this new feature, tagging is faster since you don’t need to select a face. It’s already selected for you, just like those rectangles you see around your friends’ faces when you take a photo with a modern digital camera. All that’s left for you to do is type a name and hit enter,” he said.