Facebook is reportedly experimenting with barcodes for profiles and Fan pages, which would let you you pull up relevant information with your phone’s camera, in the same way Android phones can open up links to the Android Market. Could QR codes be about to change the way we socialise?
Facebook users are reporting a new feature appearing on their profile (and Fan) pages today: an option to view or generate “status QR barcodes”, just below the profile picture. Although the options aren’t working yet, it would appear that Facebook is readying QR codes that would let you share individual statuses or your whole profile page using the smart images.
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QR codes work in the same way as shop barcodes, letting some smartphones pull up relevant information from photos or camera view. As the world’s biggest social networking site, Facebook introducing QR codes could have huge ramifications for how people network: you’d be able to put a QR code to your Facebook profile on your business card (or hey, T-shirt), or carry one in your wallet to hand out instead of your number. It’s not quite the world Qualcomm envisions of phone face recognition, but it’s a step on the way.
The Facebook QR codes appear to be under testing with a small number of users, and we’ve not been able to replicate them yet, but if you find the option next time you start procrastinating, give it a whirl and let us know how you get on.
Out TBC | £TBC | Facebook (Via TechCrunch)
