If you have Facebook, chances are that you would have seen ‘look back’ videos coming up on your feed which highlight personal Facebook journeys for each user.
Launched as part of their 10th birthday celebrations, the videos show users top moments, photos and status updates dating from the time they started their Facebook account.
Hundreds of millions of users have already used the look back feature and have shared it on their profiles with their friends.
While the moments chosen to be highlighted are automated by the software, users can also go edit which memories are used and which memories they would rather forget. The videos are also accompanied by instrumental music.
One father, John Berlin made headlines when he emotionally put out a plea to Facebook to allow a video to be created of his deceased son.
“I’m calling out to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. You’ve been putting out these new movies, these new one-minute movies that everybody’s been sharing. And I think they’re great. Well, my son passed away Jan. 28, 2012. And we can’t access his Facebook account. All we want to do is see his movie … I know it’s a shot in the dark, but I don’t care. I want to see my son’s video. His name’s Jesse Berlin. So please help me. I appreciate it. Thanks.”
Jesse was only 21 when he passed away and after posting the video, John’s plea racked up more than 2 million views and more than 6000 YouTube comments.
“I just wanted a piece of him,” Berlin said. “These (Facebook) videos really touched me. And every time Jesse would pop up (in one of them), I was choking back tears. I just wanted so desperately to see how his video would turn out.”