Facebook Look Back to bring in editing feature - could this be the next iMovie?

For its 10th birthday Facebook has given every user the chance to get their own customized video - but is this the start of a new, bigger feature?

The 'Look Back' video pulls together seven years of your uploads (Facebook)

Facebook’s Look Back video feature has met with a mixed reaction. Although many users have been pleased with automated minute-and-a-bit montage created from their photos and status updates, others have been irritated by the artificial nature of the videos.

See your own personalised video here

Leaving aside the fact that Look Back lumps every video with the same sickly-sweet, advert-style-nostalgia, the fact that the videos are generated by algorithms has created some tension.

Did that picture of you and your ex really have to make the cut? Is the time your Facebook status got hilariously hi-jacked actually worth commemoration?

Thankfully for those annoyed by their Look Back offering, Facebook have said that they will soon allow users to edit their montage, customizing what content is included to their heart's content.

Speaking to Tech Crunch, a Facebook spokesperson said the site would be “launching an Edit feature soon."

“I don’t have exact timing at the moment, but this will enable people to remove a post from the movie that was pre-selected and change it to a different one,” said the representative.

Although Look Back is, at this point in time, no more than a novelty, its success underscores two important things: firstly, that for many users Facebook has become the default record of their lives; and secondly, that the site can deliver algorithmically-generated, HD video to millions of users around the world simultaneously.

Read more: Father’s emotional appeal for dead son’s film receives 'overwhelming' response

This last point is technically impressive, but it also suggests that Look Back – or a similar feature – could become a standard tool on the site - an automated iMovie that you plug your holiday snaps or your New Year photos into, click a few buttons and hey presto, instant nostalgia.

Implementing basic customization options (anything from editing transitions to swapping out the soundtrack for one of your own) would be a logical step forward, and all the while it would be encouraging users to upload more content to the site and share more items with their friends.

Such a feature would be attractive to users who are too timid around technology to make their own slideshow – and it might even tempt back the portion of the user base who have become cagey about uploading content. For Facebook it’s win-win.