Facebook has turned its attention from social media briefly to tackle the concept of time, and more specifically to create a new unit of measurement called a Flick. The unit is said to be larger than a nanosecond, according to a GitHub page detailing the announcement, with it defined as 1/705 600 000 of a second.

We've launched Flicks, a unit of time, slightly larger than a nanosecond that exactly subdivides media frame rates and sampling frequencies. https://t.co/w9SDBznXRE

— Facebook Open Source (@fbOpenSource) January 22, 2018

As for why Flicks have been brought into existence, they have to do with frame rates. In particular to help users sync up frames rates, whether they be 24 Hz or 120 Hz. Programmers are said to get the most use out of Flicks, with a more exact timing now available for C++.

It's unclear when we'll be able to see how Flicks effect videos moving forward, but it appears as if Facebook has created them with its Oculus VR system in mind.