Facebook apologises for Year in Review feature as it brings up painful memories for user

Facebook's year-end feature - 'Year in Review' app did not strike the right note with all its users.

The popular social networking site apologised about the new feature, after receiving a complaint that the automatically generated Year in Review posts brought up bad memories, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The app brought up painful memories for web design consultant and writer Eric Meyer, who lost his six-year-old daughter due to brain cancer earlier this year.

"For those of us who lived through the death of loved ones, or spent extended time in the hospital, or were hit by divorce or losing a job or any one of a hundred crises, we might not want another look at this past year," Meyer wrote on 24 December.

Jonathan Gheller, product manager for the Year in Review app, told the Washington Post that he extended an apology to Meyer on behalf of the company.

"[The app] was awesome for a lot of people, but clearly in this case we brought him grief rather than joy," Gheller said. He added that Facebook's team would take Gheller's concerns into account for next time.

The app compiles users' photos from 2014 and adds the caption, "It's been a great year! Thanks for being a part of it."