Instagram’s new feature Instagram Stories takes on what Snapchat does best. With the new stories Instagram is targeting it’s 300 Million Active users, which is double of what Snapchat currently holds.
Although Facebook, Instagram’s Main Company, is known to take “ideas” for new features, Snapchat will still hold on to a lot of exclusives.
Thanks to the acquisition of Face mapping app Looksery, Snapchat’s exclusive filters like the dog face filter are not coming to Instagram soon.
The format is pretty similar, images stay for 24 hours and then they are gone, you can add filters, stickers and even draw on your images. What’s more now while you capture on snapchat you can save your snapchats and re-post them on Instagram stories.
When watching your own story, swipe up to check out who’s seen each photo and video. You can even choose to feature a particular part of your story by posting it on your profile, which means if you decide to keep an image it goes permanent on your Instagram.
More control means you can also easily hide your entire story from anyone you don’t want to see it, even if they follow you.
Instagram seems to have found a good recipe for the 24 Hours storyline, however, this does not mean Snapchat is going anywhere soon. Instagram seems to have a completely different audience, which might change now. Also we might see a new Lawsuit headed Facebook/Instagram’s way.
Come December 2016, WhatsApp will end all support for handsets running Symbian, Nokia S40 and all Blackberry operating systems. The Facebook-owned chat application will also remove support for those running on older versions of Windows mobile, Android and iOS.
The full list of operating systems :
BlackBerry, including BlackBerry 10
Nokia S40
Nokia Symbian S60
Android 2.1 and Android 2.2
Windows Phone 7.1
iPhone 3GS/iOS 6
The company did apologise for ending the services but, claims that if it is to offer newer services including encryption and voice calling, users will need to upgrade to newer gen handsets.
This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.
WhatsApp has also started pushing messages to those on the mentioned platforms notifying users that they will not be able to use WhatsApp post 31/12/2016
A server side update on the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, has allowed the ability to replay to certain messages by selecting them and then pressing the reply text popup.
This then includes the message you are replying to , to make more sense in chaotic group chats. WhatsApp also previousl allowed you to include some basic formatting in your messages inlcuding Bold Text, Italics text and Strikethrough.
• Bold: Add an asterisk (*) before and after the specific words or phrases you want to embolden e.g. *hello*
• Italics: Add an underscore (_) before and after your chosen words or phrases e.g. _hello_
• Strikethrough: Add a tilde (~) before and after the words or phrases you want to strike a line through e.g. ~hello~
At this very moment, the largest debate in the world is around Whatsapp and their brand new End to End Encryption.
With the Apple vs. FBI debacle just barely out the door, a new threat to “National Security” of many governments is the encryption of messages on the world’s largest messaging app. This app which daily carries personal data of nearly a billion users has just pushed a major upgrade that will encrypt the messages, files, images, videos, etc. of each chat from a point of origin to a point of receiving.
How does it work?
If both users of a Whatsapp message (i.e. the sender and recipient) have updated to the latest update, then their message is encrypted with a 256-bit algorithm. Which in turn means that, apart from the sender and the recipient of said message, no one will know what message was sent, including WhatsApp.
WhatsApp uses what’s called public key encryption: To send a message to User B, User A asks a WhatsApp server for a public key that applies to User B. User A then uses the public key to encrypt the message. User B’s private key—only available on User B’s phone—decrypts the message.
Image via Wired
The encryption method is so diverse the service will encrypt all messages, phone calls, photos, and videos moving among them. And that’s true on any phone that runs the app, from iPhones to Android phones to Windows phones to old school flip phones.
To get more information on how this works you can download WhatsApp’s Whitepaper here.
Why Did it Happen?
Jan Koum, WhatsApps founder, was one of the first to voice support for Apple in the Apple vs. FBI debate. The company has been encrypting some of the information on the messages since 2013.
Facebook, which is WhatsApp’s parent company, is also trying to implement encryption in their messaging systems, and with WhatsApp’s encryption out the door, this may happen sooner than later.But, why is all of this important for us as users? The answer to this question lies within our thought processes. After the biggest information leak by Edward Snowden, it has become apparent that governments have become careless in combating terrorism. To the point where they are breaking the fundamentals of privacy and collecting data on each of their citizens, breachings the basics of the law systems set in many countries.
We’ve been working for the past two years to give people better security over their conversations on WhatsApp… People deserve security. It makes it possible for us to connect with our loved ones. It gives us the confidence to speak our minds. It allows us to communicate sensitive information with colleagues, friends, and others. We’re glad to do our part in keeping people’s information out of the hands of hackers and cyber-criminals. – Said Jan Koum
But, why is all of this important for us as users?
The answer to this question lies within our thought processes. After the biggest information leak by Edward Snowden, it has become apparent that governments have started collecting personal analogue and digital data, which is an equivalent of hundreds and thousands of email, calls, personal images, videos, and messages.
Snooping in on private moments has been the biggest conversation of the past few years. With WhatsApp adding a no backdoor system the data on the service becomes completely private. No requests by the governments will be entertained, and WhatsApp has made that loudly clear.
This will ensure privacy to a billion users of the largest messaging application in the world. Which means no matter what moment you share on this app with the latest update, you can be assured no one is snooping in on it.
But it is not only the governments that this information encryption is trying to prevent. Hundreds of hackers and cyber-thieves are constantly on the lookout for an easy payday. This encryption will protect sensitive data from being easily taken and used against you. This also prevents identity theft and many other cyber crimes that one may have become a victim to in the past.
What About the Security Risk?
Many Governments and security agencies will debate, that this will help terrorists communicate easier, and security will mostly be broken. In pushing back against end-to-end encryption, the US government argues that it’s merely trying to maintain the status quo—that it has long had the power to issue a warrant for communications data.
With no backdoor, WhatsApp data will not be decrypted; no information apart from timestamps and metadata of when the messages were sent and possibly who they were sent to will be available to the app makers themselves.
Encryption is one of the most important tools governments, companies, and individuals have to promote safety and security in the new digital age. Recently there has been a lot of discussion about encrypted services and the work of law enforcement. While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people’s information to abuse from cybercriminals, hackers, and rogue states. – WhatsApp
For the time being it seems that the free world citizens are winning the battle over privacy. But the security agencies and governments are not ones to sit back and watch quietly. For one there remains a significant vulnerability for privacy-concerned people using WhatsApp to communicate. The metadata about communications is not secret. The government, could, for example, demand to know from Facebook/WhatsApp with whom a particular user communicated, when he or she did so, and how frequently. They may even be able to tell where the parties to a conversation were located when the conversation took place.
The metadata and timestamps about communications are not secret. The governments could demand to know from Facebook/WhatsApp with whom a particular user communicated, when he or she did so, and how frequently. They may even be able to tell where the parties to a conversation were located when the conversation took place.
Blackberry is not doing so well, proof of that is the fact that WhatsApp and Facebook are officially killing App support for the platform. Previously known as RIM, Blackberry has not seen a good record in the past few years. With almost all their devices not doing well, either due to price or specifications.
The news which is about a month old has left Blackberry in disappointment. The apps are supposed to end their support end of 2016 leaving any Blackberry users fending for themselves, as no more updates will be available post that. However, devices like the company’s Priv, that work on Android will not be a part of this end of service, and will continue to enjoy updates at the same time as any Android device.
In a blog post, Lou Gazzola, senior manager in charge of BlackBerry’s App Ecosystem and Developer Outreach team, said they are disappointed as they know so many users love these apps (Facebook and WhatsApp).
We fought back to work with WhatsApp and Facebook to change their minds, but at this time, their decision stands (but let them know how you feel on social media, using the hashtag #IloveBB10Apps) Our commitment to BlackBerry 10 and to developers has not changed – we know our developer community continues to be one of the strongest proponents of BlackBerry 10 and they are creating thousands of apps every month
Facebook has always tried to reach out to the most, if not all, of the human population on earth. Facebook currently has around 1.6 billion monthly active users. Seeing as how Facebook also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, it is evident that the company doesn’t want to leave out a single human being. However, despite a world hungry for social media sites, there are still millions who are unable to jump in due to slow internet speed or limited amount of data. To solve this problem, a team of Facebook engineers worked on ways to make the site accessible to those who were left out.
What came out of it was Facebook Lite, a tiny Android-only app that is lighter and less cluttered compared to the original. The app was launched in June 2015 and recently crossed a 100 million mark. That is the magic number that tells us how fast users have accepted the lighter app in just a few months. The app is less than 1MB in size and practically takes no time at all to download.
There are certain design changes with the ‘Lite’ version but the core functionality is uniform in both the Facebook app and its lighter version. Features like News Feed, status updates, photos and notifications on Facebook Lite are almost identical to the original version.
Facebook Lite is the company’s push to make basic Facebook services available in developing countries at the lowest price possible. There are places in the world where buying internet data isn’t the easiest as it is expensive. The app works fast with any device, and is data efficient, providing the same features as you would find on the original app only with less data consumption. It’s like Facebook with an in-built Data Saver mode.
As it works even on slow mobile networks, the page loads comparatively faster. Users can upload, download and check photos instantly, for which users had to wait for more than a couple of minutes on 2G networks. Users can have a real-time conversation with friends – either one-on-one or in group – on the slimmer Facebook edition.
One of the best features about Facebook Lite is that the app helps conserve battery life. Facebook has been recently in the news for being one of the most battery draining apps out there, especially for iOS users. As is the case, we could be seeing a Facebook Lite for iOS in the near future, unless Facebook does something to reduce battery consumption in its original app.
Vijay Shankar, Product Head, Facebook Lite said that the app was made for developing countries like India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Philippines where slow internet speeds is still a major issue. One of the biggest chuggers of mobile data is videos. To solve this, the team behind Facebook Lite offered users the option to see how large a video so that they may decide whether to view the video or not. There is also the option to view a video later so that you may continue to browse the News Feed and come back to the video once it has been downloaded. Both the features are extremely helpful for users on 2G speeds as it means not having to wait around for a video to load.
It is still unknown as to when Facebook Lite will be available for iOS and Window phone users. As of now, Shankar and his team want to get the Android experience right before moving on to the next step. It is still early in the day but the fact that 9 months on the app has reached a 100 million users means that the app does what it was intended to do – provide a social media experience at an affordable price.
Gone are the days when one would simply express joy, pleasure, happiness, agreement with a simple like button on Facebook. After all, human beings have a lot more expressions than that. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has finally accepted the fact and has globally launched 5 new emotions, called ‘Reactions’, alongside the “Like” button.
Zuckerberg took to Facebook (obviously) to announce the launch of the new feature.
“Today is our worldwide launch of Reactions — the new Like button with more ways to express yourself.
Not every moment you want to share is happy. Sometimes you want to share something sad or frustrating. Our community has been asking for a dislike button for years, but not because people want to tell friends they don’t like their posts. People wanted to express empathy and make it comfortable to share a wider range of emotions.”
As seen above, the 5 new reactions include love, haha, wow, sad, and angry. Facebook still doesn’t feel the need for a dislike button to propagate more hate on social media than it already exists. To access the other emotions, all you have to do is move your cursor over the “Like” button and the new faces will appear. For iOS and Android users, you’ll need to press and hold the “Like” button until the “Reactions” pop up.
“Not every moment is a good moment, right? And if you are sharing something that’s sad, like whether it’s something in current events like the refugee crisis that touches you, or a family member passed away, then it may not be comfortable to ‘like’ that post,” Zuckerberg said in a public Q&A.
So far, users have taken well to the new emoji reactions, and, according to Zuckerberg, the “Love” reaction is the most popular of them. “Love is the most popular reaction so far, which feels about right to me!”
Now, while this new feature is a breath of fresh air for users all over, it is also a very interesting new feature that will benefit Facebook in monetary terms as well. As you must be well aware by now, Facebook always collects user data by seeing the user’s interests, likes and whatnot. It uses the data collected to bring you tailored advertisements and suggestions based on user’s interests. You can now, image how the algorithm will work once it starts collecting data from the ‘Reactions’ features.
The company gathers more and more data on how the user reacts to posts and is able to provide richer content on the user’s News Feed based on the user’s interest. So far, Facebook was abe to gather data from the “Like” button, but will now be able to get a more precise idea with the help of the new emoticon reactions. Now, “loving” a post could mean you’re more interested in something that you only “liked” before, and this, over time, will help Facebook prioritise and see on the top of your Feed what you’re more likely to ‘love’ rather than just ‘like’. The feature has already begun rolling out globally and will hit India soon enough.
The entire song and dance around Facebook’s Free Basics has finally come to an end as the company officially announced its end in India today.
“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India,” explicitly states the emailed statement.
The entire issue has attracted immense attention the last couple of weeks, both from media and the average user alike. While people ‘voiced their opinion’ on Facebook, rest of social media went crazy trying to attention to the fact that the campaign was in direct contradiction of net neutrality.
It was finally on the 8th of February that TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) announced its final verdict and sealed the fate of Free Basics once and for all. It was banned by the Indian authority and even though it seemed like the end of the road, Mark Zuckerberg went on record just the next day saying he will not give up on it just yet.
The picture seems to have altered a lot in a matter of two days now that Free Basics has unceremoniously exited from India. Net neutrality: one, Free Basics: zero.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has spelled doom for Facebook’s Free Basics campaign by banning it from India. So much for all the voiced opinions in the last couple of weeks.
Though this is big setback for Internet.org, Mark Zuckerberg refuses to let it douse his spirits. In a post he put up earlier today, he says,
“Our work with Internet.org around the world has already improved many people’s lives. More than 19 million people in 38 countries have been connected through our different programs. Connecting India is an important goal we won’t give up on, because more than a billion people in India don’t have access to the internet.”
One cannot help but question Facebook’s ‘altruistic’ intentions, or ones it cannot stop talking about when it comes to Free Basics. With its infinite resources can’t Facebook simply set up a company that provides Internet to remote locations for free? Wi-Fi powered stations that provide connectivity can be used to help with these attempts. Once there are a substantial amount of people involved, there can surely be a way figure out a way to make money without necessarily compromising on net neutrality.
It is a fact that Facebook has provided some sort of Internet connectivity, mostly through the platform of Free Basics in 38 countries. But in the future, both Internet.org and Free Basics are expected to face the same trouble it did in India elsewhere as well over net neutrality.
Frigyes Karinthyan, a Hungarian playwright, proposed the theory of six degrees of separation for the first time in early twentieth century. According to this theory, everyone in the world is connected with each other by way of 6 people. Since then the proposition is a fairly popular and widely accepted one.
However, now Facebook has chosen to differ from it. The networking platform has brought down the number to 3.5 from 6 people. After conducting a study of 1.59 billion active Facebook users, it was concluded that every person is connected to another by 3.57 people.
According to the report, the collective degree of separation between people all over the world has shrunk over the last 5 years. And now Mark Zuckerberg is separated from every Facebook user by only a 3.17 degrees of separation.
“Calculating this number across billions of people and hundreds of billions of friendship connections is challenging; we use statistical techniques described below to precisely estimate distance based on de-identified, aggregate data,” says the team.
It was further commented that, “Within the US, people are connected to each other by an average of 3.46 degrees.” In a country like India, where there are so many of us, we can probably half this number.
The Facebook-owned, and arguably the world’s most popular instant messaging app, Whatsapp has reached a major milestone today. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Tuesday that the app was now being used by a Billion people around the globe, with 42 billion messages along with 1.6 billion photos and 250 million videos beaming across through WhatsApp servers daily.
Zuckerberg through his Facebook profile conveyed, “One billion people now use WhatsApp. There are only a few services that connect more than a billion people. This milestone is an important step towards connecting the entire world. WhatsApp’s community has more than doubled since joining Facebook. We’ve added the ability for you to call loved ones far away. We’ve dropped the subscription fee and made WhatsApp completely free. Next, we’re going to work to connect more people around the world and make it easier to communicate with businesses.”
Facebook bought the mobile messaging app in 2014, in a deal worth $19bn which back then was described by many analysts as not the best move forward for Facebook. Though most such doubts have been cast away but a couple of questions still linger.
Jack Kent, mobile analyst at IHS reacting to this news said, “WhatsApp still trails behind local competition in some key markets. There are big markets where WhatsApp isn’t the dominant player. WeChat in China has more than 500 million users, while Line is popular in Japan, and Kakao Talk is big in South Korea. But WhatsApp is certainly the most internationally successful.”
Facebook which had earlier introduced some 3D touch capabilities to its native iPhone app, has now added some more features for its users. This will be a slow rollout and Facebook will now release more features that can make use of the tech.
The Facebook app will let users of iPhone 6s, and 6s Plus peek and pop to view profiles, take a closer look at photos or to preview web links, pages, groups and events. The app’s icon will also get a new shortcut option along with an option that will take you directly to your timeline.
“We are excited to start rolling out support for 3D Touch in our iOS app so people can quickly and easily peek into a preview of anything they are interested in on Facebook, and pop into that content to see more,” a Facebook spokesperson said, confirming the addition.
But there’s a catch, Facebook has said that it’ll start the roll out of these new 3D Touch tricks first to “a small group of people beginning today,”. The rest of the loyal Facebook community on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will get this update “over the coming months.” That’s sounds like a long wait really.
Looks like it’s not the best of times for Facebook. There is another potential blow headed towards the company now, thanks to Google.
Google is allowing some Android users to download apps directly from search results without the need to visit the App Store. Though these downloads are available only through organic searches and not ads yet, but we can hope to see this extension soon as well.
Now these downloads mean some not-so-good-news for Facebook which had begun advertising apps on its website a few years ago. Since then users have been able to download apps from these ads. However, since Google is allowing for direct downloads of its apps from search results, app developers are likely to pay less and less to Facebook to promote themselves.
This, in turn, means a cut in revenue for Facebook. Also, it should be noted that one of Facebook’s main arguments in support of its app ads is that it can direct app-developers to their target audience -with the help of the information Facebook has of its users. Not creepy at all, Facebook.The new development in Google’s add-download might be quite a setback for the networking website since mobile app ads has been a significant source of its revenue.
Google, on the other hand, is making app-downloads more and more inviting for users by introducing features like “trial run ads” which lets users use an app for 60 seconds before deciding whether or not they want to download it. Additionally, the users can now also stream app content from search without actually downloading the app.
Facebook has revealed that it’s Android app now offers Tor support to users concerned about keeping their social networking activity private. While this functionality has for some time now allowed Facebook users to directly access its site via Tor’s browser on personal computers, this support for Tor on the Android app will be welcomed by users who majorly use facebook through their phones.
This step is expected to give users a relatively easy way to encrypt their Facebook viewing on the road. The user along with Facebook Android app will need to download the Orbot proxy app to make it work with Tor.
The Tor access support will take some time before all users can take advantage of it. For now, Facebook is looking at gathering as much feedback on the app as possible. The whole idea still requires a lot of polishing, but nonetheless, it’s worth a try if you’re paranoid about privacy when it comes to Facebook. Also, just in case you were wondering, Facebook does not intend to extend this Tor support functionality for its iOS users anytime soon.
In what will come as welcome news to millions of netizens across the country, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) in its latest communication to Facebook, has in rather stern words intimated to the company that it does not approve of the manner in which Facebook is misrepresenting the results of its ‘support Free Basics’ campaign, and what it seems to be suggesting is a subtle attempt at nudging the voice of the people out of the decision-making equation.
This letter from the desk of TRAI’s joint advisor K.V Sebastian, pulls up Facebook for the way it has conducted itself through the campaign to save Free Basics from being shut down. TRAI has suggested that Facebook is guilty of not conveying the full text of the regulator’s message to users who had supported Free Basics, and hence is misleading them into making uninformed choices.
TRAI had earlier asked Facebook to convey to its users in support of Free Basics and zero-rating campaigns four specific questions which the telecom regulator wanted answers to before taking any final decision on the matter. Facebook, for its part responded to TRAI’s request by sending back a highly charged template response in favour of saving Free Basics which it claimed reflected the sentiment of its users.
TRAI’s reply to this read,
“Your response is silent on whether the text of TRAI has been shared with users as was specifically requested by TRAI. In light of the tangential natures of the responses by the users to the questions asked, the communication of the text was vital to demonstrating and ensuring that those who are responding to TRAI are making informed decisions.”
The letter further goes on to say that in light of Facebook not disclosing crucial information to users, TRAI does not accept Facebook’s assertion that the initial template responses in support for ‘Free Basics’ and ‘Digital Equality’ are an appropriate representation of what people are saying.
TRAI, not mincing its words, has also slammed Facebook in this letter over what it calls as ‘self-appointed’ spokesmanship on behalf of its users who it says “have not authorized Facebook of speaking on their behalf collectively.”
It has further said that it does not approve of this practice of Facebook, and believes that what the company is doing through these uninformed template responses is curbing “public consultation” which it believes “has the flavour of reducing this meaningful consultative exercise designed to produce informed decisions in a transparent manner into a crudely majoritarian and orchestrated opinion poll”.
The new development in Google’s add-download might be quite a setback for the networking website since mobile app ads has been a significant source of its revenue.
