There’s a new piece of wizardry being tested by Facebook where conversation topics are suggested automatically as you connect with friends via Messenger.

As always, there are two sides to the coin here, with the potential benefits of knowing what to say to an acquaintance not worth the invasiveness of the information for some.

So how does it work?

Essentially, when looking at your contacts in the Messenger app, underneath each person’s name will appear something they have recently logged as having done on Facebook. This could be a location, song or just a topic they’ve been mentioning in conversation to others.

In some cases though, Facebook knows you’ve been somewhere because you’ve simply logged onto a wi-fi network in that place (as has happened to me), and then if someone you haven’t spoken to in a while raises it in conversation, it may start getting a little unnerving.

Events planning

There’s no doubt this could be a useful tool, however. Especially if you are the kind of person who relies on knowing what others are doing in order to choose where to go yourself. This is because of the conversation topic’s ability to extract information from the future as well.

For instance, if one of your friends has registered themselves as attending an event in a few day’s time, then it may show up underneath their name as a potential conversation topic on Messenger.

No longer do you have to remember any personal information about anyone or anything, in other words. Let Facebook Messenger do the thinking for you, organising your calendar, talking to your friends…

What topics?

While this tool is still in the testing phases, I would bank on the technology making it’s way into your formerly dull and aimless conversations in the coming future to add an extra topical insight.

On a serious note, it is worth mentioning that Facebook assures us conversation topics is not invasive and will not allow people to read you private chats. Watch this space!