Facebook’s verified users can now schedule live broadcasts
You no longer have to wait patiently for your favorite superstars to share a link for their Facebook Live streams. Facebook is introducing scheduling to Live, letting publishers queue up streams so that you can tune in the moment the event starts. That includes queuing up audiences, we’d add — there’s a pre-stream lobby that lets fans mingle before the show. On top of giving you a chance to watch sooner, this should also help video hosts avoid awkward introductions where they’re simply waiting for viewers to trickle in.
Sadly, you aren’t going to be using this in the near future. It’s only for verified pages right now, and the plan is to expand it to other pages over time. There’s no mention of scheduling for everyday users, we’re afraid. That’s unfortunate — what if you want to arrange a virtual tour of your new home? Even so, this is a big deal if you want to spend more time watching and less time twiddling your thumbs.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Facebook Media
Instagram’s suggested Stories are now available to everyone
If you’ve been scrounging for Instagram Stories to watch outside of the ones your friends make, you’re in luck. After slipping Stories into the Explore tab for a limited number of users, it’s now making the feature available to everyone. Visit the Explore tab and you’ll see a section full of suggested stories that are personalized to your interests.
As before, this promises to help Instagram as much as it helps you. If you have a steady stream of new Stories to watch, you’re more likely to stick around instead of heading over to arch-rival Snapchat. Moreover, it should help grow Instagram’s already sizable user base — newcomers will have more people to follow even if they’re not all that interested in the usual stream of photos and videos.
Source: Instagram Blog
Instagram introduces new suicide prevention tools
If a friend is having a hard time or even in danger of hurting themselves, sometimes the first warning signs appear in social media. Instagram can now help you intervene anonymously with some new support options. If you report a post that worries you, your friend will get a message saying, “someone saw one of your posts and thinks you might be going through a difficult time. If you need support, we’d like to help.” They’ll then get the option to talk to a friend, contact a helpline or receive tips and support.
“We understand friends and family often want to offer support but don’t know how best to reach out,” Instagram COO Marne Levine told Seventeen. “These tools are designed to let you know that you are surrounded by a community that cares about you, at a moment when you might most need that reminder.” Instagram parent Facebook unveiled its own suicide-prevention tools earlier this year, and has a team that reviews reports to flag serious cases and weed out false reports.
These tools are designed to let you know that you are surrounded by a community that cares about you, at a moment when you might most need that reminder.
To craft the feature’s language, Instagram collaborated with folks who’ve experienced eating disorders or self harm issues, and worked with the National Eating Disorders Association and The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. “We listen to mental health experts when they tell us that outreach from a loved one can make a real difference for those who may be in distress,” Levine said.
However, mental health experts feel that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social networks cause social pressure that can make users, especially teens, sleepless, anxious and depressed. And while it’s admirable that Facebook, Instagram and others have tools to help troubled users, they still haven’t properly dealt with the bullying and harassment at the root of many problems.
For those in crisis and in need of immediate help, please visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or call 1-800-273-8255. UK users can visit the Samaritans website or call 116 123. You’re not alone.
Via: Refinery 29
Source: Seventeen
Facebook’s Snapchat Clone ‘Messenger Day’ Expanding Slowly Across the Globe
Following the launch of “Instagram Stories” in August, Facebook is now preparing to ape Snapchat in its own Messenger app, with a feature called “Messenger Day.” Originally launched to users in Poland, Messenger Day is now expanding and gaining attention with Facebook users in Australia (via Mashable).
With the new feature in the Facebook Messenger iOS and Android apps, Messenger Day lets users post ephemeral updates to their friends, which last 24 hours before expiring, with the ability to doodle and add stickers to posts. Friend updates can be found atop the normal Facebook Messenger home page, and the interface is visually similar to the layout of Instagram Stories with a horizontal row of reverse-chronological updates.
“We know that people come to Messenger to share everyday moments with friends and family. In Poland we are running a small test of new ways for people to share those updates visually,” a Messenger spokesperson told Mashable at the time.
For those who have used Messenger Day, the user interface and features have yet to impress, with one user mentioning that “(The user interface) is really poor, on every level — nothing like Instagram Stories.” Most of the criticism so far seems to be focused on the simple fact that as companies introduce more of the same features into their mobile apps, it leaves users to choose only one service, which is still Snapchat for most, and ignore the rest.
Snapchat’s growing popularity has resulted in other social networks (namely Facebook, which owns Instagram) attempting to combat its 24-hour posts with similar features. Although it’s yet to introduce a time-locked post feature, Twitter has faced troubles recently as more and more younger users opt to check in with Snapchat and Instagram over Twitter.
Tags: Facebook, Facebook Messenger
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Facebook iOS Gains ‘Initial View’ For 360-Degree Photos, Data Saver Coming to Messenger
Facebook recently announced that users are now able to select the “initial view” for 360-degree photos when uploading pictures to the iOS, Android, and Chrome for Desktop Facebook apps. Prior to the update, Facebook would randomly choose a section of the 360-degree photo to showcase on the service, so now users can personally select the best section to show their friends and family (via The Next Web).
To do this, before posting users simply have to drag around the photo on mobile, or select “Edit” on desktop, to find the area of the picture they want to be the initial viewpoint for anyone scrolling through their Facebook feed. Whenever the initial view is clicked on, the full 360-degree photo will be showcased with more detail.
“In the coming weeks,” the company will also rollout album support for 360-degree photos, as well as the ability to post them into multimedia status updates, “i.e. when you want to post a combination of 360 photos, regular photos, 360 videos and regular videos at once.”
We’ve heard you loud and clear and we’re excited to roll out the ability to set the initial field of view on your 360 photo on iOS, Android and Chrome for desktop. To change the view, simply upload a 360 photo, then, before posting, move your photo around by dragging with your finger or select Edit on desktop and move the mouse until you’ve reached the desired view. Your friends will now see this angle of your photo when you post to Facebook. Please note, we have not enabled zoom with this feature.
Additionally, it was recently reported that the social network is running a beta test for a “data saver” feature on its separate Facebook Messenger app. When a user is on cellular data, and data saver is turned on, the mode acts as a barrier between the user and unwanted media downloads within messages by letting them tap and select every photo and video they want to download, and ignore the ones they don’t.
Ordinary text messages are unaffected by the mode, which also includes a setting that tells the user how much data is being saved. Normally, Facebook Messenger downloads all content within a message without user consent, so Facebook hopes data saver could be a way for users on low-data plans to avoid going over their rates. Right now, data saver is being tested on Android, but the feature is expected to eventually make it to iOS as well.
Tags: Facebook, Facebook Messenger
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White House encourages local governments to embrace chatbots
The Obama Administration receives thousands of emails, phone calls and letters every day. And, since August, American citizens have been able to contact the president through Facebook as well, thanks the the White House’s Messenger bot. Now, the administration is going a step forward and releasing the bot’s source code onto the internet for anyone to use.
This is done “with the hope that other governments and developers can build similar services…with significantly less upfront investment,” according to the White House Blog. Anyone who’s familiar with the Drupal 8 coding language will be able to take the administration’s boilerplate code and easily launch a bot of their own. Hopefully this will spur state and local governments to create their own Messenger bots and become just that little bit more accessible to the people that put them in office.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov
Even Windows 10 tablets get an Instagram app before the iPad
Instagram brought its filter-driven social network to Windows 10 mobile back in the spring and now it’s doing the same for PCs and tablets running Microsoft’s OS. The photo and video app is now available for desktops and slates, meaning its now an option across all Windows 10 devices and a true universal app. Just like the versions for other operating systems, Direct, Explore and Stories are all tools here for viewing photos and videos alongside capture and editing features.
There is one caveat with the Windows 10 version of Instagram. You’ll need a PC or tablet with a touchscreen in order to upload your images or videos. Yes, it sounds strange, but at least Microsoft’s Surface line will give you full functionality. “Keep in mind that other devices running Windows 10 may not support certain features, like the ability to capture and upload photos and videos,” the app’s page in the Window’s Store explains.
While Windows 10 users are able to use the app across all of their devices, iPad owners are still dealing with the iPhone version for Instagram on Apple’s slates. Further proof we can’t always get what we want, I suppose.
Via: The Verge
Source: Windows Store, Instagram
Iron Man volunteers to voice Zuckerberg’s JARVIS assistant
Mark Zuckerberg famously set himself a New Year’s goal to create an AI assistant to control his house, and now that it’s almost ready, he needs a voice for it. Naturally, Zuck enlisted Facebook’s billion-plus users, saying “it’s time to give my AI JARVIS a voice. Who should I ask to do it?” Someone suggested “Robert Downey Jr. or Benedict Cumberbatch,” and another suggested Paul Bettany, the actual actor who plays Iron Man’s JARVIS AI. Much to everyone’s surprise, Downey Jr. himself replied.
“I’ll do in a heartbeat if Bettany gets paid and donates it to a cause of Cumberbatch’s choosing … that’s the right kind of STRANGE!” he said, tying the suggestions together and seemingly plugging Cumberbatch’s upcoming Dr. Strange Marvel Studios film. Zuckerberg replied in like fashion, saying “this just got real.” There’s no word on whether he intends to take Downey Jr. up on the offer, though the charity angle gives him a graceful way to do it.
Zuckerberg revealed recently that the assistant can control lights, open his gates and change the temperature around the house. If he can enlist the Iron Man actor, it’ll at least make those mundane tasks a bit more dramatic.
Via: The Verge
Source: Facebook
The Engadget Podcast Ep 10: Survivor
Managing editor Dana Wollman and senior editor Chris Velazco join host Terrence O’Brien to debate Facebook’s trending new problem and the true purpose of Twitter. Then they’ll sift through the ashes of the Galaxy Note 7 for insight and discuss how something as simple as a hashtag can give survivors the courage to come forward.
The Flame Wars Leaderboard
Wins
Loses
Winning %
Christopher Trout
2
1
.666
Dana Wollman
7
4
.636
Devindra Hardawar
9
7
.563
Chris Velazco
3
3
.500
Cherlynn Low
6
7
.461
Nathan Ingraham
4
6
.400
Michael Gorman
1
2
.333
Relevant links:
- Amazon Echo Dot review (2016): Forget the Echo. Buy this instead.
- Jack Dorsey calls Twitter the ‘people’s news network’
- Facebook is still trending fake news stories
- Samsung ends production of the Galaxy Note 7 for good
- As the Note 7 dies will Google inherit the Android kingdom?
- Samsung’s Note 7 catches fire, but the damage isn’t done
- Samsung stops Galaxy Note 7 sales, owners should ‘power down’
- Samsung’s Note 7 crisis will cost at least $2.34 billion
- The Galaxy Note 7’s death creates an environmental mess
- Hashtags help survivors break their silence
- What you need to know about social media activism
You can check out every episode on The Engadget Podcast page in audio, video and text form for the hearing impaired.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on Facebook
Subscribe on Google Play Music
Subscribe on iTunes
Subscribe on Stitcher
Subscribe on Pocket Casts
Facebook App Gains Video Streaming Support for Apple TV
Facebook yesterday announced an update to its flagship app that lets users stream video from their iOS device directly to an Apple TV.
Now, when a video is selected in the app’s news feed or from the Saved tab, a small button appears in the top right corner which, when tapped, offers to send the video to an Apple TV on the same wireless network.
If you’re streaming a Facebook Live video to your TV, you can see real-time reactions and comments on the screen, and you can join in the conversation yourself by reacting or commenting.
The new feature – which also supports Chromecast – continues to stream the video to the TV while allowing the user to browse other parts of Facebook on their iPhone or iPad.
Facebook is free download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. [Direct Link]
Tag: Facebook
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