Category: Facebook

They Came, They Saw, They Conquered: Yes, Hashtags are Here to Stay
Hashtags are the necessary evil of social media, the quicksands you try to resist with all your might even though you know you are going to be pulled deeper the more you struggle. You continue to struggle anyway, until you give in. Almost every social media denizen goes through the same process of hating hashtags with a passion, and eventually willingly incorporating them in their internet-lingo.

Hashtag on chalkboard

Origin of Hashtags:

Twitter is assumed to be the genesis of this little virtual entity, though no one can pin-point to a specific person, time or day when hashtags came into being. Now they are used to search for topics of interests on social media platforms like Twitter and WordPress, draw traffic to your blogs and annoy everyone in your friend-list with a score of hashtags for a picture of your breakfast.

The Most Popular Hashtags on Instagram:

Believe it or not, #boyfriend happens to be one of the top 50 hashtags on Instagram. And no #cat is not part of this list. Here’s a list of the top ten hashtag on Instagram.
1. #fashion
2. #friends
3. #smile
4. #like4like
5. #instamood
6. #family
7. #nofilter
8. #amazing
9. #style
10. #sun
News and Updates Via Hashtags:

Hashtags allow users to stay abreast of all that’s happening in the world. Specific interests in sports or films can be taken care of with the help of hashtags like #cannes2015 or #worldcup2014. Cuing in these hashtags on a platform like Instagram would take you to hundreds and thousands of images on the topic.

Voicing Opinions:

In terms of social change, hashtags have played a big role. Even celebrities have taken to the internet, using hashtags to draw attention to important issues like gender equality, or to speak out against anti-social activities.

Actors David Tennant and Tom Hiddleston took to the internet to talk about feminism and gender issues in the pictures above. Emma Watson is another actor who used hashtags to raise awareness about the abduction of about 200 hundred girls by Boko Haram.

Both of the above hashtags, #heforshe and #bringbackourgirls have gone insanely viral on social media in the past with people all over posting pictures with the tag. Similarly, 2014 saw the usage of #illridewithyou to show support for Australian Muslims using public transport.

Acceptance of These Little Devils in Our Lives:

Following suit with the word ‘selfie’, hashtag was added in the Oxford English Dictionary in June last year. Also, a collaboration of Twitter with American Express allows individuals to purchase goods online on discounted prices. These are just some of the examples of how hashtags are part of our lives now and they are here to stay.

Who is to say the pictures of your pet, the last meal you had or that new haircut selfie would have been the same without a dozen hashtags? Here’s to hashtags and all that they’ve done for our virtual selves.
October 30, 2015
Facebook Updates Messenger in a Bid to Make Phone Numbers Useless

When the Facebook Messenger was launched for the first time in August 2011 as a standalone app for mobile phones, it was unclear where the company is headed with it. No doubt it was very convenient to have quick access to all Facebook messages, but the app didn’t serve any other purpose beyond that. In the face of other IM services like WhatsApp and Blackberry Messenger, the app was almost useless.

Other than eating up a lot of the phone memory and battery, Facebook Messenger for mobile phones did not do much. However, with the recent updates to the Messenger it seems Facebook might be headed somewhere with it.

Post the update of the Facebook Messenger, users would no longer require phone numbers to communicate with each other. Only your name and Facebook Messenger would be sufficient for people to contact you. The “Other Folder” would cease to exist and the user would have the option of accepting or rejecting new requests.

Messages of people in your Facebook contact list or those whose phone numbers are recorded in your synced phone would be directed towards your inbox. The others would simply fall under the category of ‘pending’ messages.

A message from a contact would be differentiated from one from a stranger and therefore would be presented to the user accordingly for response. Therefore those worried about privacy concerns can let go of the anxiety. Additionally, ‘ignoring’ people’s requests on the Messenger won’t give them any notification. So you can ignore the messages away without the fear of coming across as a sociopath.

This development in the Messenger seems like an attempt by the company to provide people a new mode of communication where they don’t even have to depend on phones or emails. They would instead have to depend on Facebook.

October 28, 2015
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg At IIT Delhi: Here’s What Went Down

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is in Delhi today and hosted a Townhall Q&A at the Indian Institute of Technology to a crowd of around 900 students. The visit was posted by Zuckerberg early this month on his Facebook page.

Zuckerberg had posted that he was eager to meet and hear directly from one of Facebook’s “most active and engaged communities.” India has the second largest user base of Facebook with over 130 million active users.

The Townhall Q&A started at 12 pm. Zuckerberg took the stage amidst a round of applause by the crowd. He expressed the importance of the Townhall Q&A in helping the social media site work better for every country.

Why India?

The questions began soon enough. The first question posed was regarding Zuckerberg’s interest in India. The Facebook CEO answered by saying that India still has a billion people who don’t have internet accessibility. One of his major interests is to bring basic internet access to as many people as possible, if not all. Zuckerberg is especially interested in bringing internet connectivity to rural areas. “We want to get the next billion people online,” said Zuckerberg.

“India is the largest democracy. It is one of the countries where you cannot connect the world without connecting India.”

Three Key Issues: Availability, Affordability and Awareness

A followup to the previous question was how Facebook plans on bringing internet to the rest of India. Naturally, Mark Zuckerberg mentioned Internet.org. He posed stats saying that the internet growth rate in India has doubled through Internet.org. Availability, affordability and awareness are three key areas that need to be addressed in order to bring internet.

Solar-powered planes that beam down connectivity, apps that use less data, Free Basics that provide basic information and communication tools not only provide free internet but also raise awareness of what can be found on the internet, are some of the ways the company plans on tackling the three issues.

“Internet.org and Facebook support Net Neutrality a hundred percent.”

Death to Candy Crush Invites

The top voted issue, that wasn’t exactly a surprise if you’ve been following Mark Zuckerberg’s post, was how to avoid getting Candy Crush invites. Based on the sheer number of votes, the question deserved to be asked. However, the answer did not help concerned and annoyed citizens. Zuckerberg stated that the company is working on getting rid of the problem. “I told my developers that can we have a solution to this problem (Candy Crush requests on Facebook) by the time I do my Q/A… So we are doing it now.”

Facebook VR and Artificial Intellegence: A Connected Future

Other questions asked were related to Facebook’s VR technology as well as artificial intelligence. With VR, the company wants to make video experience on Facebook more real than ever. And with AI, Facebook wants to make content more accessible for everyone, especially the physically handicapped. So, for example, a person who is blind will be able to understand a picture by having Facebook’s AI describe the picture.

There were some lighthearted moments during the Q&A where Zuckerberg was asked what he would do if he had superpowers given by aliens. Zuckerberg answered by talking about the VR headset that is very much like having superpowers, or at least will be in 10 years time. “Through technology, you can pretty much have abilities similar to super powers.”

Towards he end of the Q&A, Zuckerberg spoke about startups and the importance of knowing what you want to do rather than going in with little or no knowledge.

“None of the people who built big companies thought that they would be as big as they ended up being… So my advice is focus on what you care about and not the decision to start a company”

October 28, 2015
Facebook Admits its App is Sucking Your iPhone’s Battery Dry

Last week we had mentioned that the Facebook app for iOS may be the reason why your iPhone’s battery is draining faster than usual. Facebook has now confirmed that it is indeed their iOS app that is causing the battery issue. Many users have reported that the Facebook app in the battery menu shows as consuming quite a bit of battery even when usage is at a minimum.

“We found a few key issues and have identified additional improvements, some of which are in the version of the app that was released today,” wrote Facebook’s Ari Grant yesterday.

The first issue we found was a “CPU spin” in our network code. A CPU spin is like a child in a car asking, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”with the question not resulting in any progress to reaching the destination. This repeated processing causes our app to use more battery than intended. The version released today has some improvements that should start making this better.

Indeed, Facebook did come out with an iOS update yesterday (as it usually does every 2 weeks for improvement in speed and reliability). The update description did not mention any ‘bug’ fixes, but going by the word of Grant, you may start seeing some improvements once you’ve updated the app.

Another issue for battery drain is due to the way Facebook handles audio playback. “If you leave the Facebook app after watching a video, the audio session sometimes stays open as if the app was playing audio silently. This is similar to when you close a music app and want to keep listening to the music while you do other things, except in this case it was unintentional and nothing kept playing. The app isn’t actually doing anything while awake in the background, but it does use more battery simply by being awake,” Grant said, promising that their new fixes will solve this issue and will remove background audio completely.

You can download the update now, if you haven’t already. Don’t expect the update to solve all the battery issues at once. It may take a couple of more updates for Facebook to completely be rid of bugs that are sucking all the juice.

Source: [tw-button size=”medium” background=”#07ABE2″ color=”” target=”_blank” link=”https://www.facebook.com/arig/posts/10105815276466163?pnref=story”]Facebook[/tw-button]

October 23, 2015
Here’s How Facebook is Set to Kickstart Your Programming Career

Facebook initially started with the likes of Orkut and Twitter but has expanded its horizons further. Stepping out of the safety net of being the world’s largest social networking site, it has now gone a step further and introduced TechPrep. What’s that?

It is a new initiative with consulting mogul, McKinsey & Company that will help people by offering tutorials, tools and games to help kids kickstart their careers in Computer Programming. Sounds heavy, doesn’t it? But the whole point of this initiative is to reach out to children and parents all over who don’t have the resources to educate them in Programming.

Congressperson Eddie Bernice Johnson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in a statement.

“When so much of our present and our future is dependent on computer science and programming, we cannot afford to continue hemorrhaging so much talent. We must all work together to leverage our respective strengths and resources to tackle this issue.”

Facebook plans to concentrate on high populations of Black and Latino people who are either lower-income families or belong to generations of non-college or graduate parents.

Facebook Global Director of Diversity Maxine Williams stated in an interview with TechCrunch:

“What we see around coding and programming, is that there are some communities in which, because the parents’ capacity is not there, we’re losing whole generations of people who could be guided into these really lucrative, engaging, satisfying careers.”

In a country where we churn out ‘Techies’ ruthlessly, it might be strange to believe that TechPrep actually stemmed from a lack of ‘coloured’ people working in the field of computer sciences. Facebook itself as company consists of 55% white people. Therefore, they felt like if they themselves make computer programming accessible to a larger expanse of the American coloured population, they would actually be encouraging people to pick a lucrative career in this field, thereby increasing their workforce.

We had previously told you why coding is important in today’s day and age. Facebook’s TechPrep just proved our stance.

So check it out, you might be Programming like a pro before you know it.

October 22, 2015
How to Post GIFs on Facebook

Facebook is gung ho about videos and animated pictures taking over the social networking site. Today, GIFs are the new way to greet and add some humour to your News Feed (because words were so 5 years ago). And it’s time people caught up with the trend. GIFs are short animated videos that say what you want to say in a funny, ‘pop culture’ referenced way, only minus the need to use words. To put it simply, GIFs are the new emojis.

Memes have been around for a while now. But Facebook felt that memes and smileys weren’t enough to convey ones feelings anymore. Initially, Facebook was against using GIFs, fearing that along with its autoplaying video feature the News Feed would become too cluttered. But the company had to cater to the users love for meme’s and GIFs. So, without further ado, here’s how you can post GIFs on Facebook.

Posting a GIF on Facebook

Posting a GIF is simple, however, you won’t be allowed to upload your own GIF files to your post as you would a photo. You’ll either need to create one and upload it on another hosting site or simply find a GIF that aptly describes your Monday morning blues, for example, from sites like Giphy, Imgur and Tumblr. Open the GIF and right-click on the image.

If you’re using Google Chrome, select the option ‘Copy Image URL’. For Firefox, the option is ‘Select Image Location’. And for Opera it’s ‘Copy Image Address’. Basically, every browser will have a similar option that allows you to copy the URL.

Next, log into your Facebook account and simply paste the URL in the ‘What’s on your mind?’ status field. Once the image appears, you can edit the status and write something so that people understand what the GIF is trying to convey. Hit Post and you’re done.

Now that you know how simple it is, go ahead and find your perfect GIF for the day and share it with your gang on Facebook. It’s all about spreading the joy and knowing that there are people out there who feel the same way about Mondays. Sigh.

You may have also noticed a GIF option in your Messenger and chat as well. Facebook has been testing the GIF and attachment buttons for the Messenger, though not all users have the feature yet. Open a chat window on the Facebook site or through the Messenger app and you’ll find a new GIF button next to the smileys icon.

The GIF option will show you some trending GIFs and it also lets you search for the GIF you want. Now you can have more animated discussions with your friends when you feel words just don’t cut it.

October 19, 2015
This Could Be The Reason Your iPhone’s Battery Is Dying On You

Has your iPhone been dying on you faster than usual? Facebook could be the reason for it. The company recently confirmed that its iOS app is causing serious battery drain issues and is working to fix it. Apparently, the app continues to run in the background even when your Background App Refresh is turned off.

A spokesperson for Facebook gave a statement to TechCrunch confirming the issue and promising that the company will fix the problem soon.

“We have heard reports of some people experiencing battery issues with our iOS app. We’re looking into this and hope to have a fix in place soon,” the spokesperson said.

The reason behind the battery drain is not yet known. While some believe that it could be due to Facebook’s new update that allows for autoplay of videos, other believe that this does not take up battery any more than the previous version did.

Facebook hasn’t commented on the various theories around why the app has been gulping down battery, and has only stated that they’re working to fix it. Whether this is a bug or ‘audio hijacking’ as some conspiracy theories suggest is something only the company would know about. If you find yourself facing the same issue, be patient. For now, you can ditch the iOS app and log on to Facebook through the mobile web until Facebook comes out with a new update.

October 18, 2015
Mark Zuckerberg is Coming to IIT Delhi

Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has planned out his next trip. According to his recent post on Facebook, Zuckerberg will be visiting India on October 28. He will arrive in New Delhi at 12 pm and will host a Townhall Q&A at the Indian Institute of Technology.

Zuckerberg has not stated the duration of his stay and if he’s planning on visiting other parts of the country, yet.

Zuckerberg also mentions in the post that India is one of the most active communities on Facebook with over 130 million users. He has invited Facebook users to post questions in the comments section that the people in India would like answered during his Delhi visit. He says that he will “be answering questions from across Facebook as well as from a live audience at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.”

Within an hour since his post, people have already begun posting questions, some of which are related to the benefits of Internet.org in rural communities and ways in which Facebook can help better the lives of people in India. If you have any questions, be sure to leave a comment below his post.

October 16, 2015
Top 5 Political Leaders that are Killing it on Social Media

If you think you’re whiling your life away on social media instead of working on those childhood plans of taking over the world -here’s some comforting news for you -the current leaders of the world are actually doing pretty much the same thing. They have just made it a means to an end -taking to social media platforms in a bid to connect to their supporters. Here’s a quick list at what politicians all over the world have been up to.

1. David Cameron:

David Cameron is by far the most interesting name in terms of the recent bloopers made by politicians online. The British Prime Minister keeps his followers entertained as well as the world of internet stocked with memes thanks to his poorly judged selfie timing and interesting typos.

It's unacceptable there's a loophole allowing paedophile "training manuals", that's why I want to protect children by making them illegal.

— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) April 27, 2014

Did he just? No, he did not. But DID HE JUST!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is how children were banned and made illegal in England last year. And you thought beef was the issue.

2. Xi Jinping:

You know something is just not right when a country bans Facebook (along with Google and Twitter), yet the president chooses to join the social media platform to share posts from his meeting with the American President, Barack Obama. This is precisely what happened in China last month. President Jinping posted updates from his meeting with Obama on his Facebook page.

This was later followed by updates about a meeting with, ironically enough, Mark Zuckerberg. However, disappointingly enough, the page doesn’t have any selfies of the Chinese president.

3. Angela Merkel:

German Chancellor has already made attempts to tackle racist posts on Facebook, by raising her voice against them through her Facebook page. Merkel also maintains an Instagram blog called Bundeskanzlerin

Angela Merkel with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Once again, however, the blog has no images of selfies or German sunsets. The blog is an impersonal account of Merkel’s professional travels and projects. No wonder Merkel hasn’t been as entertaining as the British Prime Minister with her social media updates. Yet.

4. Barack Obama:

Barack Obama is one of the most widely followed political leaders on social media. With 64.9 million Twitter followers,44.9 million supporters on Facebook and millions of views on his YouTube channel, Obama has successfully managed incorporate social media in his political campaigns and strategies. Right from the beginning of his campaign, Obama always outdid his opponents like John McCain and Michel Romney in terms of popularity on social media.

Even though his sites are run by his campaign staff, personal Tweets are signed “bo” by him. After all, which other political leader mentions details like the Godfather movies as favourites or enjoying spending time with family on their Facebook page? Obama has definitely managed to make his followers feel like they are all participants in the same conversation.

5. Narendra Modi:

“This is the first election where social media has assumed an important role and the importance of this medium will only increase in the years to come. It became a direct means of information and gave us the much-needed local pulse.”

Narendra Modi had made the statement in a blog post right before the election results. As he became the Indian Prime Minister, his victory message became one of the most retweeted posts on social media in the country.

The Indian Prime Minister is quite popular on social media, similar to his American counterpart, Barack Obama. Modi currently has over 30 million Facebook followers and about 15.5 million followers on Twitter.

If leaders like Churchill and Wilson from the previous century were still around, they would definitely have interesting things to say about contemporary political trends. As more and more politicians struggle to become tech savvy, it is fun, often hilarious, to watch them grapple with selfie sticks and front cameras.

Just when you thought it was all about austere dressing and MPs falling asleep in the Parliament, social media happened to change the face of national and international politics forever -but for better or worse? Perhaps only time will tell.

October 15, 2015
Facebook’s Plans to Take Over the Online Streaming Domain

Today is a new day and one more day when Facebook attempts to take over all of the social networking universe. How? Well this time it has revealed plans to take on the online video dominion, currently ruled by YouTube.

So, before we get into that, let’s have a short look at what Facebook has been doing in order to create a more stable video viewing audience. It has added support for interactive 360 degree videos and has also begun testing a feature called “suggested videos”. Here is what Facebook has to say about it’s new features –

“While we’re still in the early days of testing, we’re pleased with initial results, which show that people who have suggested videos are discovering and watching more new videos.”

You know how you can peruse through YouTube videos while watching a video? Facebook is trying to do the same thing. They are currently working on a feature that will allow users to watch videos in a floating window. So, instead of waiting for the entire video to end before moving on to the next newsfeed, you’ll be able to do both at the same time soon.

Next, Facebook says –

“We also know that sometimes people want to watch a video, but they don’t have time or aren’t in a place where they can turn on sound,”

Therefore, the social networking site has the solution to your problem. They are currently testing a bookmark feature, that will allow users to watch their videos later. But, the most radical feature of them all, is that gives Facebook away their plan to create a site for users especially and solely for viewing videos. Kind of like YouTube. Here’s is their statement –

“Lastly, we’ll be testing a dedicated place on Facebook for people to go when they exclusively want to watch videos … It can be accessed by tapping a “Videos” icon at the bottom of the Facebook app on iPhone or in the “Favorites” section on the left-hand side of News Feed on the web.”

https://youtu.be/pH5yl92JYDk

YouTube has just enough time until Facebook launches this feature permanently. As for us, we can all just hope that either one doesn’t die out. Right?

October 15, 2015
New OnePlus X Teaser Reveals Specs and Launch Date

A listing on Amazon, which has since been taken down, showed us a device called the ‘OnePlus Mini’. According to the listing, this handset will come with a 5 inch display, along with a 1080 pixel resolution and will be powered by a MediaTek MT6795 processor. It will also house 32GB internal storage with 2GB of RAM. Here is what OnePlus India’s general manager, Vikas Agarwal has to say:

“We’re introducing a new device by the end of this year. Diwali would be the ideal time..”

The OnePlus Mini is also said to feature the Force Touch technology, similar to the 3D Touch display available on the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Apart from this leak, OnePlus has posted a new teaser on its India Facebook page showing off the OnePlus X that will be unveiled on the 29th of October, 2015.

Hence, taking a cue from the leak and the teaser, we can safely assume that OnePlus might announce two different smartphones by the end of this year. However, there have been no official reports about the OnePlus Mini, so we’ll just have to sit tight and find out what the Chinese smartphone maker has in store for us until the 29th of October.

October 14, 2015
Facebook Launches Messenger App on Apple Watch OS2

Facebook launched its Messenger app on the Apple watch, just as it had promised to do in September. The update was rolled out yesterday on October 8th and is capable of supporting iOS 9 features, universal search and multitasking for iPads.

The Apple Watch runs on the OS2 software and so the messenger app is also compatible with it. However, the messenger app is a little different from how it is on a smartphone. This means, that you won’t be able to type out full messages, but will be able to choose from a list of answers already available. You can send a “like”, post stickers and also record and send voice messages. Apart from the active sending actions of the app, you can open pictures, videos and voice messages on the receiving end.

There is one small downside though, the app will support all the Facebook stickers but won’t be able to display them in their original GIF form. They’ll appear static on the watch.

There’s some good news for Android users too, the Messenger app will also be compatible with Android Wear. Therefore, Facebook has yet again ensured that everyone is happy and feels included at its party.

October 9, 2015
Facebook Tops Networking, WhatsApp in IM Apps in India

It comes as no surprise really that WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in India, according to reports by global research consultancy firm TNS. Facebook remains the most popular social networking site in India with 51% of users logging in daily, while 56% users are on WhatsApp daily.

“The social networking market of India is Facebook centric, which is fueling the adoption of Facebook Messenger also as the IM platform for private messaging. However, WhatsApp is by far the most popular IM platform in India.” TNS India executive director Parijat Chakraborty commented.

When compared to countries such as Thailand (78%), Taiwan (75%), and Hong Kong (72%), India’s Facebook usage is much lower. Interestingly, India is the second largest base with over 125 million users for Facebook. The Unites States comes first.

In Asia-Pacific, three out of five internet users or 61% are now instant messaging on a daily basis, while four or 82% are using it on a weekly basis, the report said. “the popularity of IM has soared over the past year, with a 12% uplift in daily usage globally as more people opt for closed messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and WeChat”, it added.

The numbers are out now and it goes to show just how much WhatsApp and Facebook has taken over our lives. TNS has said that social media will continue to hold a strong position allowing content to go more viral and the challenge for brands is to create content that consumers actually want to see.

October 7, 2015
Your Facebook Profile Picture Can Soon Be a GIF

Facebook has just updated a new profile picture feature for iOS users. Now, your Facebook display picture could be a GIF of yourself.

iOS users will have to check their profiles on the mobile app in order to find the notification. Once on the app, you’ll have to click on the ‘more’ tab and select your name to go to your profile. Then you will be asked to add a new summary bio. After editing that you’ll have to loop a profile video.

For this, you will find an icon between the camera and video symbol on your profile picture. Click on that, and pick whether you want to take a video or upload one. The video is supposed to be only seven seconds long.

The last step is to add featured photos, for this you will find a space for inserting five pictures below the ‘About Me’ section. You’re done. Your profile will look somewhat like this now :

Image Source : wired.com

However, there are a couple of things you need to know about this feature. Firstly, that it’s not yet available to all users and as of now, just a select few have got it. Secondly, the profile GIF can be viewed all across Facebook, but can only be edited via the mobile app. So go check your Facebook as soon as possible and tell us what you think about this cool new feature.

October 1, 2015
How and Why You Should Disable Autoplay on Facebook

Facebook’s newest change has been the addition of the autoplay feature in its videos. One day you’re happily scrolling down your homepage, and suddenly you hear a cat meowing in the background. Yes, the video has begun to play simply because you happened to stumble across it on your homepage. No, you did not give the command for it to start meowing.

Other than causing the annoyance of unnecessary cat-noises, this new feature is also a big toll on your internet data, not to mention taking away your right to completely ignore other people’s videos on your homepage.

So here’s a quick look at how you can disable autoplay:

iPhone:

Go to your settings, scroll down until you find Facebook and then select Settings again. Once there you could choose either ‘Wi-Fi Only’ or switch it off entirely.

Android:

You will find the autoplay settings in your Android app. Choose the Menu button followed by Settings and therein lies your answer.

Desktop:

Click the arrow in the upper-right corner of your Facebook profile and choose Settings. There will be Videos on the bottom left of your screen now. Click on it, which will take you to the autoplay settings and from there you can switch it off.

September 30, 2015