Posts tagged: Facebook

You now need Facebook Messenger app to message!

As of this week, you will no longer be able to use the messaging feature in the Mobile Facebook App. Instead, as Facebook announced yesterday, it’s more than 200 million wordlwide users will need to use the separate Facebook messenger App on their mobile devices.

 

If you already have the messenger app installed, nothing will change. If you try to use the messaging function in the main Facebook app once the full change comes into effect, it will link you to the messenger app instead of the inbox.

 

Those of you who do not have the standalone Messenger App installed, either go ahead and install it (it’s free, so that’s a come up, right?) or say goodbye to all those lovely, animated Facebook conversations! And to those silly hooligans Pusheen, Meep, Biscuit and Beast. Now that’s a sad day! (If you don’t know who they are, well, you’re already missing out. Maybe.)

 

 

 

 

Tech tip of the day – Facebook edition

 

 

Sick of videos on Facebook automatically playing in your feed? Maybe because your cell phone bill is being eaten up or it’s making  you re-think why you’re even friends with some people on Facebook? Or maybe it’s cool but it’s just annoying to be played something without your specific consent?

 

We got you! You can prevent most of the above from happening! Here’s how:

 

On your computer, click on the down arrow on the top right of the FaceBook menu bar. Scroll down to Settings. Once in the Settings page, click on ‘Video’s on the bottom of the left hand column. There you can toggle the auto playing feature off.

 

On your iPad or iPhone, Facebook won’t let you turn off video Auto-play completely, but you do have the option to make it so that videos only automatically play in your Facebook feed when you are connected to WiFi, so it won’t affect your cell phone bill.

 

Go to the Settings app on the home screen of your iPhone or iPad. Scroll down on the left hand side until you find Facebook. Click on it and once in the Facebook section on the right hand side, click on Settings. Look for the third option down, under Video, where you can toggle on the option to auto-play on WiFi only.

 

You’re welcome.

 

 

 

 

Facebook Privacy Change is a comin’

 

 

This is going to be a quick one, guys, because going on and on and on about Facebook privacy changes is important but kinda boring, and no doubt you’ll see it repeated many times on your newsfeed.

 

But just in case you don’t we felt you better know!

 

Facebook is getting rid of a privacy feature that let users limit who can find them on the social network.

 

 

 

 

With an announcement on Thursday, Facebook announced that you will no longer have control over whether users can find you when they try to search for you.  The feature is called “Who can look up your timeline by name?”

 

For those who didn’t have this setting enabled would have, with their eagle eyes, seen it disappear last December, but those who have had it enabled will start to see removal notices in the coming weeks.

 

According to the Facebook guys, only a single digit percentage of the almost 1.2 Billion people on it’s network used the setting, so they’ve decided to take it away as a privacy option.

 

So if you had the tick box that let you hide from search enabled, uh, sorry? Now people will be able to see that you have a Facebook account. But keep in mind these words from Michael Richter, Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer.

 

“The best way to control what people can find about you on Facebook is to choose who can see the individual things you share.”

 

It’s important to remember that if you care about your privacy in relation to the information you share on you Facebook Profile, you should check and update your privacy settings often.

 

The ‘Friend’s Only’ option is your… friend. Friend.

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Facebook & Seattle Wolf.

Iranians can use twitter now!

 

 

As of Monday, Iranians can now access Twitter and Facebook for the first time since 2009 when their government blocked social networking sites.

 

As we know most famously from the Arab Spring, social media can be used to raise awareness and to organize protests in times of uncertainty, to try to uprise against repression and to rally for hope in times of conflict.

 

Before any of that happened, this specific use of social media use was seen in Iran. In 2009 there was a presidential election won by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that many believed to have been fraudulently won. People began protesting, and these were described as the biggest since the revolution in 1979, with hundred of thousands (if not millions) of people protesting.

 

It was named the Green movement. The Iranian government soon became aware that sites such as Facebook and Twitter were being used to organize their protests against the regime, and they shut access down.

 

Since then, people in Iran who wanted to access the sites had to use complicated software such as virtual private networks in order to bypass the firewalls put in place by the government.

 

However…

 

Three months ago, Iran held elections which saw Hassan Rouhani take the office of president on August the 3rd. Rouhani is seen as being much more moderate than his predecessor, and the government under his leadership has said that it will be liberalizing the internet and improving online access for all Iranians.

 

This seems to be the beginning.

 

So far not all parts of Iran have access, and not all social media sites are unblocked, but in our humble opinion, this is an excellent start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Mashable & Engadget

AT&T discontinuing HTC First!?

 

 

The Facebook phone, otherwise known as the HTC First, is not doing so well, guys. First released just over a month ago on April 12th, the phone is the first Android device to have Facebook’s interface- Facebook Home- preloaded.

 

The phone, once in critic’s and customer’s hands, was given overall generally positive reviews, especially for a low-end phone. The downsides were also duly noted by all, in particular a less than stellar camera with limited functionality, and the fact that your phone and therefore life was now taken over by Facebook. The phone actually encourages 25% more time on Facebook. eek.

 

Now, the end seems just a little nigh for the HTC First. On May 13th AT&T started selling the phone at a discount. Instead of paying $99 for the phone on a two year contract- now it’s just $0.99. If you wanted to pay for the phone off contract, you’re looking at a $100 price cut from $450 to $350. Take that anyone who bought the phone on the 12th!

 

The price cut is apparently due to poor sales, with less than 15,000 phones being sold since the phone’s launch and less than 1 million people downloading the Facebook Home interface for their Android phones.

 

Although this has yet to be confirmed, according to the guys at website BGR.com (who have secret AT&T sources, d’uh), AT&T has made the decision to discontinue the phone altogether, selling off as many units as they can before sending any unsold inventory back to HTC.

 

I’m fighting back tears, here.

 

But, it’s ok guys, really it is. It’s not the end of the line for Facebook Home! The Android interface is still available to download, and both the App and the joint App + device marriage will, after a bit of tweaking, be back. And better, maybe. And available on iOS at… well… some point. If we want it.

 

Until then, you can just  click on that little blue F whenever you want to, and spend that 25% of your time like, dancing instead. Yay!

 

 

 

Image courtesy of BGR.com

iPhone with Facebook: Maybe in iOS 6

iPhone already has Twitter; wouldn’t you be delighted to have Facebook integration into iOS?  Well, as per reports Apple is also considering the same to get on-board with the most popular Social Networking platform.

 

Apple joining hands with Facebook?

Apple Facebook collaborating?

Reportedly Apple Inc. is in official talks with Facebook to work on a piece of code to integrate the Facebook app into the iOS. Possibly named Sundance, this integrated app would grant Apple users to interact with other iOS apps directly avoiding the sign-in on each occasion.  It’s not only Apple who gets the benefits—at a time when share prices are dropping horrendously and facing tough competition from twitter and others, this would be a golden opportunity for Facebook to get into the iOS devices.  Twitter, integrated more than a year ago in iOS 5 is receiving quite a good response and surely Apple Inc. at this critical point of would keep no stone unturned.

It has been two years since we started hearing buzz about Facebook-Apple co-operation. But there are issues—low similar sort of services can run parallel like Apple’s music network or Ping. But in recent times Apple’s stance has been softened to a great extent, even at last D10 conference Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at future co-operation between the two Giants.

At a time where Facebook is having their own share of problems with the pricing issue at stock markets and on the back foot, Apple perhaps thinks it’s the best to push forward with the integration. Well, whatever it is—iOS users are the one who would be getting the benefits.