Facebook Adds File-sharing Feature for Groups

Facebook plans to bring in the file-sharing feature to all Facebook Groups as the company made and announcement that it will soon roll out the new file sharing feature to all Groups, enabling members to send and receive files to each other.
The new feature started to roll out yesterday to a small number of Facebook groups, and will eventually be rolled out to all Groups in the next few days, according to Kate Freeman of Mashable. As Freeman got in touch with Facebook, the company said that groups that don’t yet have the file sharing abilities will get it “soon,” perhaps in by next week.
Users can upload files up to 25 MB in size and make the uploaded files available to anyone inside a group, however, music and executable files are not allowed to be uploaded. E-books, comics, and video files are fine up to 25MB.

The restriction to 25MB is to eliminate users from uploading copyrighted video, and also not allowing them to upload music files is probably because the social networking giant seems to be trying to avoid being associated with any disreputable activity like piracy. It is also trying to keep hackers at bay by eliminating executable files from being uploaded.
Like its conventional feature where users can report problems, users can as well be able to report files as a way for the social network to try to prevent sharing of copyrighted or malicious files.
Earlier in April, Facebook launched Groups for Schools, and Facebook did mention about the file sharing feature then. The file sharing service is designed “to make it even easier to share lecture notes, sports schedules, or class assignments,” according to the announcement. Now it pretty much looks like all Groups are getting the feature.
Also Read: Why Facebook Groups is a Powerful Tool for Teachers
Facebook acquired the file-sharing service Drop.io for around $10 million in October 2010, but that didn’t last for a long time. The company had to close down the site’s operations in December in the same year. On that note, Mashable speculates that Facebook will use Drop.io’s services to add a conference calling service to groups, but before predicting anything further, its best that we wait and see on that one.
Image Credits: Mashable