Sharing and reflecting on life moments with family and friends is an integral part of Facebook. Over the past few years, personalized videos have helped bring this to life by integrating user photos into celebratory narratives. However, we learned that creating these narratives was no easy undertaking as memories are complex, personal and emotional. Through focus groups and surveys, we learned that users enjoy personalized videos but our films didn’t always hit the mark on choosing meaningful content. In 2018, we challenged ourselves to elevate these experiences through increased personalization, greater variety, and an integrated message of community.

Facebook wanted to help people re-experience their life moments with their community

by creating a program of three masterfully executed personalized videos.

In June we released “What We Do Together” a film that recognizes the communities that impact our lives. The film tells a global story about how what we do collectively makes community matter.

In our Friends Day 2019 film, we sought to celebrate the many different groups of friends that people have in their lives. From hometown friends to trusted travel buddies, we all have people that celebrate our wins and turn our losses into lessons.

In Year in Review, we wanted users to reminisce on their big moments from the year and the support surrounding them. By looking back on birthday wishes, family photos, and congratulatory comments on life events, we highlighted how much there is to look forward to.

Facebook has over 2 billion users all over the world. To touch the hearts and minds of this many varied users, we not only had to make sure our creative idea resonated around the world but that our videos allowed for a level of specificity that makes them meaningful. To achieve our goal of increased personalization and variety, we implemented a modular system in which each film pulled the most relevant modules for each user out of a pool of potential modules. The modules were supported by data queries such as check ins for vacations, engagement announcements, or the addition of a new job on profile. As a result, content was more tailored to users based on their activity, and each user’s video was slightly unique.

Facebook has over 2 billion users all over the world. To touch the hearts and minds of this many varied users, we not only had to make sure our creative idea resonated around the world but that our videos allowed for a level of specificity that makes them meaningful. To achieve our goal of increased personalization and variety, we implemented a modular system where each film pulled the most relevant modules for each user out of a pool of potential modules. The modules were supported by data queries such as check ins for vacations, engagement announcements, or the addition of a new job on profile. As a result, content was more tailored to users based on their activity and each user’s video was slightly unique.

Our three films each took around 6 months to product and integrate into product. Our films varied in style from live action to animation. In addition to the creative, we also invested in better ways to identify and filter negative memories on the product side. To give users even more control over how their memories appeared, we built out a new editing flow to provide the ability to add, change, or delete photos from the experiences.

Our three films were successful and met or exceeded our initial goals. We created films for over 1 billion people. The personalized aspect of our films helped reduce drop off and maintain interest.

Our three films were successful and met or exceeded our initial goals. We created films for over 1 billion people. The personalized aspect of our films helped reduce drop off and maintain interest.