Facebook introduces a new app 'Mentions' only for celebrities

Facebook has launched a new app called ‘Mentions’ for Facebook-recognised or verified celebrities to help them manage their public figure pages. The app is designed to allow ‘actors, athletes, musicians and other influencers’ to chat with their fans, reply to messages, take part in live chats and post updates — without seeing newsfeeds, quizzes and ads.

Facebook introduced the new app (only available for public figures and verified pages) in a blog post:

Nearly 800 million people are connected to public figures on Facebook, and interacting with athletes, musicians, actors and other influencers is an important part of their experience. From cheering on World Cup players to checking out updates from favorite celebrities, there are more than a billion interactions between public figures and their fans on Facebook every week.
We want to make these interactions even better.

Facebook verifying its famous users was a feature it borrowed from Twitter Inc., and Mark Zuckerberg & Co. require a certain level of notability, along with a copy of government-issued ID to confirm that a user is, in fact, worthy of being “verified.” While Twitter has long allowed anyone to search for phrases and words that are “trending,” Facebook is only allowing celebrities with the app to do the same.

The new app comes as social networks become the place where fans attempt to make contact with their favorite celebrities, especially on rival social networks like Twitter. Facebook said the Mentions app “makes it easy for public figures to talk with their fans and each other on the go.”

Facebook Mentions also shows a timeline of posts that refer to the particular user.Verified users can create new posts and also host live Question & Answer sessions within the app.

The Mentions app is currently available only in the US, but Facebook plans to roll out in other countries and verified profiles in the coming months.