Facebook Messenger plans digital assistant like Apple’s Siri to help us shop July 15, 2015 It looks like Facebook is working on developing a digital assistant, modeled after a certain secretary in James Bond. This new feature won’t have much in common with Apple’s Siri or Google Now, though. Instead, Facebook just wants to help us shop more. According to a report in The Information, developers are currently calling the [...]
Instagram reveals UK user numbers for the first time July 13, 2015 Instagram has revealed that it has 14m active monthly users in the UK. This is the first set of numbers the Facebook owned photo app has ever released for the UK market, so there is nothing to compare it to, but the company says that this shows significant growth. The company declined to go into [...]
Facebook is giving you more control over who you see in your news feed July 10, 2015 There's a lot of clutter in Facebook’s news feed. But from that third cousin who won’t stop posting about her workouts to the ex-coworker who keeps posting political rants – you can’t quite unfriend them – but you definitely don’t want to get their updates. Now you can choose not to. Facebook has just announced [...]
Facegloria: Brazilian Evangelicals launch “sin-free” version of Facebook July 6, 2015 If you are tired of bikini pictures and swearing filling up your Facebook news feed there’s a new option out there. Brazilian Evangelicals have launched what they are calling a "sin-free" version of the social network, called Facegloria. Here, you click “amen”, not “like”, and gospel music plays as you chat. The new site bans [...]
When to post on Facebook to get the most likes July 3, 2015 If you've spent ages crafting a perfectly worded Facebook post to entertain and enlighten your online "friends" – when is the best time to push it out onto the network? The so-called "when-to-post problem" is a surprisingly mammoth one thanks to factors like audiences daily and weekly behaviour patterns, locations or timezones and the other messages [...]
Facebook battles YouTube by rolling out video ads July 3, 2015 Facebook is taking on YouTube, as the platform is set to start paying video creators for uploading clips, through a share of the ad revenue. Facebook has been getting serious about video for some time, and is now launching a curated feed of “suggested videos”, where clips will play interspersed with adverts. Creators of popular [...]
Is Facebook looking to join the music streaming party? July 2, 2015 Is Facebook looking to join the music streaming party? The company has been in talks with Sony Music, Warner and Universal to discuss a serious foray into music, but exactly what form it will take remains unclear. Read more: You can now sign up for Facebook messenger without having a Facebook account According to the Verge, [...]
Mark Zuckerberg’s Q+A with Stephen Hawking and the Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger July 1, 2015 Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg often turns to Facebook (where else?) to hold Q+A sessions so those around the world can raise a question with him. Last night, though, the billionaire social network founder was joined by a line-up of star-studded questioners which included scientist Stephen Hawking, media darling Arianna Huffington and even the Terminator himself, Arnold [...]
You can now sign up for Facebook messenger without having a Facebook account – but not in the UK June 24, 2015 You can now sign up for Facebook messenger without having a Facebook account. In another sign of the power of the smartphone, users won’t even require an email address. Disappointingly for UK users, the service is currently only available in Canada, the US, Peru, and Venezuela. Read more: Facebook Messenger adds 300m users since messaging [...]
Why Russia’s new data law targeting Google, Facebook and Twitter will cost its economy billions June 18, 2015 A new law being introduced in Russia which will force many of the world’s largest tech companies to hold the personal data of Russian citizens within the country's borders, will cost the Russian economy billions of dollars and damage its standing on the world stage. The data privacy law, which will come into force in [...]