Facebook apes TimeHop with On This Day

History. It's so much more reliable than the future. You know where you stand with things that have happened. This is possibly why they are often looked back upon (is that not the only way to view such things?) with such fondness. Unless they were bad things, of course.

Latching on to the general liking for getting moist-eyed and nostalgic, Facebook is rolling out a new On This Day. It's something that borrows heavily from services like TimeHop, and gives users of the social network a new way to check back on the content they've posted. It's something Facebook has experimented with already with its Year In Review, but this is a more wide-reaching feature.

If you've ever wondered what you posted to Facebook 365 days ago, or have been kept awake because you can’t remember what was happening 2 years ago, On This Day could just be the tool you've been waiting for. Conscious that some of this content might be private, Facebook says that posts that are unearthed in this way will only be made public if you explicitly indicate that this is OK.

You can get the ball rolling by heading to the On This Day page or by searching for On This Day within the Facebook app on your phone or tablet. Introducing the feature, Facebook's Jonathan Gheller said:

On This Day shows content from this date in the past. For example, you might see past status updates, photos, posts from friends and other things you’ve shared or been tagged in [...] You can choose to subscribe to notifications so you’ll be alerted when you have memories to look back on. You can also edit and delete old posts, or decide to share your memories with friends.

The feature isn’t available globally just yet, but as the rollout is now under way, it shouldn’t be too long before you see it.