Baahubali;Unreal times

(Image via intoday.in)

On popular demand from lakhs of users across the world, premier social networking site Facebook has introduced a first-of-its-kind "Watching Baahubali" filter feature in the news feeds of its users. On turning the filter on, all Facebook users can see their news feed bereft of any "Watching Baahubali" check-ins from users on their friend list. The feature, Facebook's first one to be developed and tested within all of 24 hours, was launched by CEO Mark Zuckerberg through a status message.

"Say hello to Facebook's newest feature - the Watching Baahubali' filter. I've turned it on and I see no more check-ins from my friends who're watching the movie. Have you?" Zuckerberg posted, leading to over a million users making use of the filter within an hour, a record for any Facebook feature.

"While people still keep sharing reviews and other videos related to Baahubali, it's relieving to see my news feed free from all check-ins. It looks like over a million users have turned it on already, but to get an exact sense of how pervasive its influence has been, I guess I'll need to do a check-in myself. Like Salman Khan on Twitter, even if I type A', lakhs of users comment on my post as well as share it. So if I check-in about watching Baahubali and if I get a lukewarm response, then it's a good qualitative indicator that the feature's as much a super-hit as the movie itself," Zuckerberg added.

"I won't be able to see my check-in myself though, until I turn the filter off temporarily," Zuckerberg said. While this move vastly reduces the visibility, Facebook developers, however, warn that the check-in feature is dangerously close to crashing, owing to overwhelming, unprecedented use due to Baahubali.

"We admit that we were grossly under-prepared for this deluge of check-ins. Hopefully, by the time the Baahubali sequel releases, we should make the feature more robust to somehow handle millions of copious check-ins in a tight frame of 2-3 days," a Facebook developer