Facebook's Snooze feature which has been in testing for sometime now, has finally arrived; it lets users hide certain people, groups or brand pages for up to 30 days, instead of permanently unfriending, leaving a group or unfollowing a brand.
While some users could get fed up with updates from some people/pages on their list, and for some reasons may detest outright unfriending/unfollowing, Snooze makes it possible to temporarily mute friends, groups and brand pages on Facebook.
And it's quite handy in cases a user is having tensions with a friend or partner, or if they just want to avoid certain topics altogether.
But most especially, it's beneficial from marketers point of view, as having expansive networks on the site allows them to target ads to users, and without the expected crowded news feed from strangers who they don't want to see on their network.
The feature is coming on the heels of the recent criticism of the company and social media in general on their impact on people which might have negative effect (psychological and emotional) on the well-being of the people.
It also follows on the company's efforts to improve the news feed, which for a long time has been the bane of most misinformation and spread of discord on the platform.
Albeit, the temporarily muting of a connection is better for Facebook than someone permanently cutting off the service.
But given the prominent role social media now plays in many people's lives, Facebook has promised to do more to dig into these questions, share their findings and improve on its services.
