Humanitarian mission or self benefit? That is still a question Facebook users have not been able to answer, after the social media giant rolls out "Slideshows"
On Thursday, the social media giant rolled out a new product which will make video ads available to those people from emerging markets that have a hard time viewing them. This new product is called “Slideshows”. It is going to be a photo slideshow which will be created by a specific brand. The slideshow will work on all devices and levels of connectivity whether its 2g, 3g networks as such networks are widely used in Southeast Asia, India and South America.
The purpose for the introduction of the new slideshow is that while the traditional video ad viewing is quite popular in the United States and loads on high level of speed there, in other emerging markets it takes a while to load. On a Facebook blog post it was stated that a slideshow takes five times shorter and smaller than the old-fashioned video ads. A slideshow is not merely a video but it is ‘video-like’ and definitely more entertaining and engaging.
Facebook’s aim of launching “Slideshows” is that it has started to actively grow in emerging markets like India where internet connectivity is a long time issue. These places have weak WIFI and networks hence it become a difficult task for the user to load a 5 minute video. Facebook is looking to make more money from these emerging markets g that is way Zuckerberg has decided to launch the service in India.
Mark Zuckerberg recently visited India to support and convince the nation to bring wireless internet to the masses through Facebook, Inc.’s Internet.org initiative. The CEO stated that at the conference, held in India, that it is a ‘moral responsibility to get the world connect – but ultimately it comes down to Facebook’s own benefit which will be that if internet is widely available to the masses that would mean more people will want to join Facebook and more companies will be attracted to advertise on the social media website.
In the future the company has also planned to bring the same slideshow Facebook ad feature to Instagram. The service was launched in the Indian market on October 29, 2015. In other news, according to Tech Crunch, the company is rolling out another feature on the Facebook App through which users will be able to communicate with strangers in an easier way. This rollout is called “Message Requests”; this new request feature will be the replacement of “Other Messages”. Now the users will be able to view messages from other users that used to go directly in to the ‘other messages’ folder.
Facebook to come up with Message Requests on Messenger.
Facebook Inc. is now coming up with its Message Requests that will be available on the company’s instant messaging app “Messenger”. This option will completely replace the “Other” inbox option present on the website. The Vice President of Facebook, Mr. Dave Marcus took the opportunity to announce about the new feature in the company’s recent post.
Message Requests for the Messenger app will enable all the users to message whoever they wish by simply using their actual name on the social media platform. So in case the users are actually discoverable on the platform then they will now have more access to who can actually approach them to start a conversation.
So now that the company has come up with Message Requests, it is actually in good shape to completely discard the Other folder completely. The folder was not a very prominent feature of the messaging option since it was camouflaged in a corner on FB that could only be accessed while using the desktop version of social media. So far nobody could access the Other option while using Messenger.
The idea why the tech giant has come up with this new option is that strangers can get a platform to contact anyone with an optimistic vision that this will assist in uniting long lost contacts and “estranged parents”.
But the good thing is that Facebook users have the choice of ignoring or accepting the message requests anonymously. By accepting the request a message is sent particularly to the main folder for inboxes. However, under any circumstances Facebook has vowed to take care of the spam messages but all those requests that cannot go to the inbox will fall in the Messages Request option. To explain it simply, the messages that are obtained will be rerouted to the users inbox if the users become/are friends on Facebook or have each other’s contact related information on their device or if they have an open thread with the person.
Similar to the existing friends on Facebook, users will be able to see the messages by strangers on the main inbox and then will also be notified regarding the messages once they have accepted the Message Request. According to Mr. Dave Marcus, this is actually a “a foundational development,” where the company is extremely devoted to increasing the connectivity amongst the people.
So now soon we will encounter an updated Messenger and will be able to control the Message Request.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, gives his speech in Chinese language at a local university.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook Inc., enthralled the masses at the Chinese Tsinghua University recently when he gave his speech in Chinese completely. He spoke strongly about his and the company’s mission to transform the world. The chief executive officer became a member of the University’s board of economics and management in the previous year.
Zuckerberg stated, "This was also my first real speech in any language sharing how I started thinking about Facebook's mission, what has kept me going through challenging times and what our mission means now looking ahead for our community of 1.5 billion people.” He further added, “The themes of believing in your mission, caring more deeply than anyone else and always looking ahead is relevant to anything you might build."
In October 2014, the young CEO was successful in pleasing the crowd present at Tsinghua University where he conducted a question and answer session as well. The issue that aroused during that session was that the pronunciation of Mr. Zuckerberg was considered to be off slightly. Moreover, he also made one slip up that resulted in the social media moguls to states that the company has only eleven users.
This time, he actually came up with his speech and improved largely. At TechCrunch – the popular tech website, Mr. Jon Russell stated that when the CEO spoke to the Chinese speakers, they were actually enthralled by the extensive vocabulary of the tech tycoon amid the fact that he took a relatively short span of time to learn. The only suggestion they had was that he could actually improve his tone since it needed some work. However, overall everyone agreed that the progress shown by the owner of the top social media platform is actually very impressive.
Earlier in 2009, Facebook was banned in the region and is still banned to date. The CEO had initially shown interest in knowing more about China when he read “The Governance of China” by the President Xi Jinping. The book fascinated him so much that he asked all Facebook employees to read it. When he came to the University previously, he cleared that the company’s mission was to "connect the entire world", where he mentioned that company is keen about making harmonious relations with the authorities and masses at the People’s Republic of China. The future prospects seem extremely bright and he is willing to further extend the relationship with the Asian giant.
Facebook is all set to roll out Instant Articles for iOS users.
Facebook Inc.has recently announced that they are all set to reveal its Instant Articles for all the users of Apple iPhone that will be through the Facebook application. A lightning bolt will appear on the top right corner of the same stories present on the News Feed that signifies Instant Articles. So if a user taps on a story, it will automatically load ten times faster than other web based articles.
This new feature by the company gives Facebook users a better experience in comparison to other mobile web based articles. Some features of Instant Articles comprise of features like automatic playing of videos that load at a faster pace, by tilting the phone the app starts to zoom in the pictures, also the ability to comment and like photos and videos individually. Photo galleries can now be viewed with ease by simply swiping along with pictures having geo tags that allow interactive maps to pop up.
FB has been employed in a manner that the Instant Article service works smoothly in comparison to other similar services. According to Facebook, Instant Articles will provide a “more beautiful” experience than ordinary articles that tend to lag too. The Instant Articles have been tested on a small sample of individuals that were satisfied with the experiences thus the company gathered the courage to make it available for the masses. The company started to review the service earlier in June and since then the social media giant has been collaborating with various publishers.
Facebook states further that the users tend to share the Instant Articles at a frequent pace with their loved one. However, this claim will only be termed true when a sample population that is adequate in number tries out this feature. A publicly released beta version of the application can be exploited by Android users that has been revealed this week but a complete version for Android will be launched later this year.
Facebook has unveiled that thousand of Instant Articles have now been released by content developers. Users can gear up to access Instant Articles by big names of the publishing world like MTV, Daily Mail, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed, The Washington Post and National Geographic. More publishers are also listed that are likely come onboard when it comes to Instant Articles that encompass Hollywood Reporter, Fox Sports, NBA, The Weather Channel, Variety, Movie Pilot, MLB and Variety.
This news is indeed a treat for readers on Facebook using Apple iOS.
Facebook is dealing with battery drainage bug on its IOS app.
Facebook Inc. is now working towards devising a fix since users have complained about battery draining while using the company’s app on Apple iPhone. So if while using the iPhone you thought that your battery was draining at a rampant pace then this might not be the case believes Matt Galligan who is the co-founder of Circa.
Matt Galligan actually wrote a blog post which was loaded with screenshots. These screenshots showed how the Facebook app was utilizing the battery when it was running in the background irrespective of the fact that the refresh option has been disabled now.
Facebook has now taken the issue into consideration reports the popular tech website TechCrunch. A statement has been released by the news platform where they have reassured about looking into the matter. As per the spokesperson belonging to FB, the company is optimistic about finding a way to the issue. However, they have not unveiled the approximate time span for the rectification. The issue can be resolved within a week or more depending on the complexity.
Mr. Galligan in the blog post stated that the battery drain of iPhones on the app is merely ridiculous. As per his consensus, more than 15 percent of the battery drainage was due to the application though the refresh option has been disabled by the company. The issue is the case that the application does not properly go into sleep mode thus it actually stays active for almost twice the time the user actually spends using the application.
As per TechCrunch, there were several bloggers who are not contented with this feature since the app is not complying with the instructions provided by Facebook users since ideally it should run in the background. The reason behind this calamity can possibly be the social media giant’s new feature which allows the videos to play on its own. If you have not disabled the auto-playing videos option in the settings then this is liable to happen. The feature also plays audio but that is performed in silent mode. So the extra power needed to run the videos can be the reason behind the battery drain.
So Mr. Romain Dillet belonging to TechCrunch actually applied this theory and experimented by disabling the auto-playing videos along with the refresh option for the iOS app. It was noted that the application used 7% lesser battery for a day. However, when auto-playing was enabled results was the same so the results are merely uncertain.
The social media giant has again gotten in trouble, as the European law has disallowed all tech companies to use information of European users anywhere outside the region.
Facebook Inc is one social media company which has repeatedly been experiencing a difficult time in the European region, mostly due to the privacy settings that are generally observed by the company but always turn out to be rather offensive for the giant. The most recent news suggests that the European authorities have shown massive disregard for all kinds privacy laws that are followed by Americans and have informed the company of its own set of principles that will followed in the region. Previously, a Safe Harbor was launched by the American government which allowed all the companies of the country to not only operate in Europe but also take user information from the country to theirs, which caused many complaints to rise from the state.
However, a new program has been installed in the region which has not only dismissed the transfer of European information to the American region, but it has also dismissed all kinds of rules that they feel are taking away information of the users to the other country. All such activities are allowed to be stopped by the authorities at any time that proves to a threat to the people of the country. As for the social media company, analysts believe things are going to be a little more difficult now, since the rules have been tightened for companies like Facebook itself.
Facebook business has also been deemed as a ‘data hungry’ company for which things have been made a little too difficult by the European authorities. Since the social media giant seems to be gaining most of its revenue through the ad generation business, which is mainly supported by the whole idea of selling personal user information in order to target the right audience with the right ads, according to their likes and dislikes.
The social networking giant first got in trouble when an Austrian student turned against it and filed a complaint about how he did not agree with the kind of usage that was being carried out by all kinds of tech companies that belonged to the American country. He also said that it was clear that all such companies working in the region were surely not using the user information of the Europeans in the right manner and had a huge chance of being offensive to user sentiments, something that the media company does not really gives heed to. The same Austrian student has also demanded from the media firm to pay back all the users which it might have offended in the past.
Facebook Android app to load faster amid slow connections.
Facebook Inc. the social media giant has yet again achieved another benchmark where they have now developed an open source “Network Connection Class” which is aimed to gauge the relative speed of the network connection. This initiative will help the company to improve its Android application so that the newsfeed can be loaded at a faster pace when the connection is sluggish. The idea behind this network solution is to keep the audiences involved in the new potential markets. So now users can enjoy the social media without being much bothered about slow Internet connection.
Facebook users will be delighted to know that the company now supports images and photos in JPEG format that is commonly used by people. The good part about this format is that it loads using a relatively lower resolution where the Internet is slow. Initially if the network is slow, then the photo will not load at all but now the only compromise is a lower screen resolution of the image.
Albeit the resolution will be lower, users will now not wait for the photos to be loaded slowly on an extremely annoying connection since the image can now be viewed while it is actually loading.
Basically the Network Connection Class will actually gauge the speed of you Internet connection along with allowing you to evaluate the category or genre of stories that need to be published on your News Feed. In case you have a sluggish connection that is not able to download and play videos then the application will be smart enough to show more links, statuses than videos. So if the connection gets better over the passage of time then the app itself will start to display videos and photos.
So the idea behind the Network Connection Class is to actually start prioritizing the stories that the user can view depending on his/her Internet connection speed. So this will actually cut down on the content that will take a lot of time to load and actually focus on that content that can be viewed easily.
The idea behind coming up with such an update for the FB Android application is to empower the users who belong to the underdeveloped regions or in other remote areas where the Internet speed is sluggish. So this initiative will actually help the users belonging to the third world countries giving them the maximum access to the social media platform. This is a great initiative that will expand the websites reach to various places across the globe.
Facebook wishes to penetrate Internet to Africa.
Facebook Inc. is devoted to bringing Internet to those regions that do not access to this facility. The company initially came up with Internet.org with an aim to provide access to Internet to the masses and that even free of cost. The company’s latest target has been to penetrate this service to the African region and empowering the local users through the power of the Internet.
In accordance to Facebook, the company is all keen to come up with a satellite that will be launched in Africa. FB partnered with the French firm Eutelsat Communications with an aim to bring the Internet to the massive parts of the sub-Saharan African region.
The company has an aim to increase Internet access and that merely through smartphones since they are being sued readily across the globe. Facebook products and services will use the satellite to spread Internet.org platform so that it can make the service reach mobile users in Africa. As per reports, the service is currently in the pipeline and will be launched in the African market by 2016.
AMOS-6 is the name of the new satellite that will be able to cover major chunks of the East, Southern African and East as reported by Mr. Mark Zuckerberg who is the chief executive officer of Facebook. The FB executives stated, "To connect people living in remote regions, traditional connectivity infrastructure is often difficult and inefficient, so we need to invent new technologies.”
The Internet.org medium will offer the masses free Internet access by collaborating with the pared web services that deal with job listing, education, agriculture, healthcare etc. along with this, the company will have its own messaging and social media network service.
The rate at which the number of people who have Internet access is declining at a rampant pace where almost half of the world’s population has not made its way to the online world as reported by the United Nations Broadband Commission the previous month.
According to the data by the company, Facebook currently has almost 20 million people that use the social media platform in the Nigeria and Kenya which belongs to Africa. Majority of the people that use this service within the region are mobile users. The social media giant has established its first office in Johannesburg.
Popular tech based website known as The Information previously claimed that the company has canceled its plans to establish a satellite to offer Internet in Africa.
The social media giant is expected to report a non GAAP EPS of $0.52.
Facebook Inc. turned out to have an earnings report that surprised the analysts in the market, as the social media giant beat all kinds of expectations by a massive difference. However, the media company has been facing some serious lows on the index lately, which is believed to be due to the general loss that is striking all the strong stocks.
The upcoming earnings report of the giant is to be announced in the couple of weeks and analysts think that if the earnings turn out to be towards the positive side, it is possible that the investors in the firm also end up getting bullish about the activities being carried out in the present situation.
The social media giant is all set to make its earnings call on November 4, and analysts think that the giant will be reporting some major growth rates that have taken place during the fiscal quarter. Investors have come around to be a little over the bullish side while looking at Facebook stock but the negativity that has been observed lately has been making them confused about where the media company is actually headed.
Analysts in the stock market have given out an estimated EPS (non-GAAP) of $0.52 to be expected out of Facebook’s earnings whereas the total revenue for the quarter is to come around at $4.36 billion. The expectations have also risen by around 36% where the revenue is concerned and for the EPS, the rise in predicted value is seen to be at 21%.
The increase in the expected revenue and EPS is massively supported by the high investments made by the giant in order to make the marketing of the social media site much better than before.
Currently the social media platform enjoys monthly active users up to 1.51 billion and the rise for the upcoming quarter is expected to come around 1.52 billion which, according to analysts, is a slower growth is compared to the growth in the previous year’s same quarter. As for the daily active users, the numbers are expected to revolve around a number of 865 million for the third quarter of the year.
The social media company has decided to bring about some changes to the mobile app profiles so that users can express their emotions in a better way on the platform.
Facebook has rolled out yet another update on the social media platform and this time, it has decided to bring about some changes in the mobile app that the users use on their smart phones. The company is currently working towards making sure that the users receive all kinds of services and features that are being offered by the giant, even if they are not using the desktop site and are using the networking platform on their smart phones.
In the recent news, it was seen that the media company’s chief operating officer, Cheryl Sandberg, has introduced a new plan to boost the ad business through the mobile system.
Following a press conference, which was held on Tuesday, it was seen that Sandberg discussed about the potential that the giant has come around to have and how the ad business has a large scope to be used in the best possible way. The COO of the company also believes that by giving more preference to the ad business the social media platform can actually end up making things a lot better for the revenue generation.
According to Ms. Sandberg, mobile networking has turned out to be the fastest platform for all kinds of users to communicate and to make the most out of it is the next aim of the media giant.
By using ads on the networking site, Facebook can make itself grow its revenue generation in all the right ways and this is what it is planning to do now. Mobile internet usage also helps the social network company to make ads personalized for the users, which make the users less irritated towards the idea of ads.
The social media giant has gone ahead to make a massive change to the profiles of users on the mobile, and a ‘profile video’ feature is added to it. By using the facility, users on the media site will be able to make small videos and upload them on their profiles for all of their friends and followers to see.
The management of Facebook business is of the opinion that by introducing such a feature, the giant will be making it much easier for the users to express their emotions on the networking site in a much-improved way and will be working towards increasing the privacy provided to the users.
The media firm has been focusing on the ad business for quite some time now, the amount it has been receiving from it is exponential, and the company seems to be looking forward to grow even more.
The social media company has shown great strengths on the index so far and analysts believe this trend will continue for some more time for the giant.
Facebook Inc has carried out a great business from the world of social media and is without argument the largest media giant currently working in the industry. The media firm has been generating high amounts of revenue for quite some time now, and analysts in the industry are constantly looking for weaknesses and strengths that the company can further ride on to maintain its high position in the market. The growth that the social networking giant has been showing for the past couple of years has turned out to be not only commendable, but also very impressive. However, investors in the firm have been raising concerns regarding the long term potential the media company could be showing in the future and where and how it could fall on the stocks.
Analysts, on the other hand, have come out to be highly bullish about the Facebook stock and believe that there is hardly any reason for the investors to worry about the growth the media company has been enjoying for some time as it is expected to go on for some more time now. As for the stocks, the networking company has shown growth at such a fast pace that it has left no space for rivals to stand beside the firm where the revenue generation is concerned. As compared to the last year’s revenue, the current year of the financial calendar saw the social media platform to be making a growth of around 38 percent revenue increase which is not only a surprising factor, but it also shows that under Mark Zuckerberg’s guidance the company is sure to reach some more places in future.
The stock of the company has had the most positive impact by the increasing number of active users and currently, the total number has come around to a colossal 1.49 billion. According to the concerns which are seen to be getting raised by the investors, the fact that at some point in time the networking giant might stop getting more active users is somewhat troubling the investing party. However, it should also be taken into consideration that the tech giant has decided to step into the ad business on the social media which is to raise double the revenue than it is already receiving.
The social media networking industry is working on ad spend worth a massive $25 billion on the current basis, but news suggests that this is going to change into double the amount coming around at $41 billion in the next two years alone.
The social network giant is ranked at 5th position among all its competitors, however the survey indicates that all the digital media sites are showing an improvement on the year-over-year basis.
One of the largest social media website around the world, Facebook, has attracted 1.5 billion active users. On the other hand, when it comes to fulfilling the requirement of 1.5 billion followers with respect to their liking and disliking, it needs more time to get the desired stance.
Recently, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) received the downgraded rank at fifth position among all its competitors. According to the survey and analysis, Pinterest acquired the top position for the second year consecutively, which is a great example of brilliance and hard work by the soaring organization.
During the year, American Customer Satisfaction Index depends on a survey of around 5,400 social media users as well as search engine information and news websites. The inspection indicates that gratification and interest towards social media has shown an incline for the second straight year by 4.2% directed towards an ASCI score of 74 out of 100.
It is observed that the user satisfaction for all the social engine websites, such as Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, are showing an improvement regarding the user gratification, which is scaled by the Index.
ACSI Chairman, Claes Fornell, indicated that the increase was directed to better smartphone apps. He said that for the time being, the consumers actually use their cellphones everywhere, which is the main reason behind the smartphone compatibility that is increasingly significant to customer satisfaction.
The digital media has triumphed in order to improve the mobile experience, individually via mobile apps that can be elevated by operating system to establish superior compatibility with various display sizes.
In addition to bringing the incline in social media follower satisfaction, Facebook has improved the quality of content. Currently a number of websites are using it as the important circulating channel for media franchises.
David Van Amburg, the director of ACSI, states that the social marketing platform is an important path for new companies, and number of followers is increasing day by day. Users are joining Facebook and social media to receive the news updates. He further affirmed, “So perhaps it’s no surprise that social media now scores as highly as news and opinion sites in terms of providing fresh content and up-to-the-minute information.”
It is expected that the social marketing organization will face tough competition in the news-publishing sector but as it has great experience to compete, it would not be a big deal for the company to make its position strong among all the competitors.
The giant social media and network website, Facebook, is looking forward to facilitate reporters and journalists by introducing new tools on Facebook and Instagram.
The social media website Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) announced in a blog share recently that it has constructed new gadgets to upgrade the publishing service of the news and articles on the platform. The company has indicated a notification to let journalists search, organize, and share their content on social media.
This is the new step taken by the social media organization in order to work on its news initiative, because there is a tough competition among the online news industry. The growing networking website has revealed this strategy to attract reporters, editors, as well as media associates for its current Articles news service.
It is offering broadcasters and publishers with method to search news on the social network website and over the photo posting service on Instagram. For the time being, the company will provide the tools for Journalists free of cost.
The Director of media partnership for the company, Andy Mitchell, disclosed the advance tool in a blog shared by him. He acknowledged that the media agencies had been enforcing for the ways to exploit social media in a better way regarding news broadcasting activities.
Mitchell put forward a brief account in order to highlight the journalist view and said that the journalists do not want any difficult way to make the social marketing website a more integral part of their news convention with the skill to trend, which includes photos, posts, and videos on Facebook and Instagram to use in their broadcasting and storytelling.
The set of advance tools will facilitate the reporters with intelligence to show trending material currently on social media as well as the resources available regarding that trend or hot topics to find more contents from that. Journalists will be aware from the insider look of the network’s news about the traffic and contents. Nevertheless, advance search options on Instagram will be available, which set up the topic and location based information to search for illustrations.
Mitchell stated some lines to promote the advance tools for reporters on Instagram, along with some specification of location tag. The director affirmed, “Using location-tag and topic-related searching options, journalists can search Instagram for public sharing related to specific hashtags, associated with specific public accounts, or tagged with locations using an interactive global map.”
It is expected that the social marketing organization will face tough competition in the news-publishing sector but as it has the great experience to compete in the market, it would not be a big deal for the company to make its position strong among all the competitors.
