Facebook makes it easier to start a conversation in Messenger
After adding SMS messages to the Android version of the app earlier this week, Facebook tweaked its Messenger UI to get you sending messages faster. Underneath the list of recent messages, you’ll now see a collection of your favorite contacts so you can get chatting quickly. The app will also show you birthdays like the social network’s site and core app does, making light work of sending someone a note. That useful list of who’s online is there as well, tucked down below the aforementioned messages and groups of contacts. With these changes, it should be even easier to send one of Facebook’s new emoji when the time comes.
Source: Facebook
Facebook knows when you visit a store because of its ads
Facebook’s already offering retailers ways to convert ad views into sales online, but now it has a way to see if those views generate in-store traffic. To gauge how effective a retailer’s ads are in getting folks to make a trip to a physical location, Facebook will track when users visit a shop after seeing its ad on the social network. The company says that the numbers are an estimate though, based on if the user has location service enabled on their mobile device. That feature is rolling out “over the coming months.”
If you’re worried about privacy, Facebook says all user data will be anonymous and it will only hand over the info that shows if ad buys did indeed turn into store visits. What’s more, Facebook will also allow ad buyers to include store locators in the advertisement itself. This means that when you see an ad for a restaurant, for example, you can get directions, hours and more with a swipe rather than having to tap over to another page. It will be particularly useful for a business with multiple locations when you need to get the details for the one that’s closest.
Via: Wired UK
Source: Facebook
Facebook Messenger has a hidden football keepy-uppy game
Across Europe, soccer (or rather, football) fans are glued to their TV screens day and night, watching the continent’s best duke it out for Euro 2016 glory. If you fall into that camp, you’ll be pleased to know that Facebook has added a “secret” minigame to Messenger in a similar vein to its basketball time-waster. To get started, you simply need to send the football emoji in a conversation. Facebook will then launch the hidden game, which has you performing keepy-uppys with your fingers. It seems simple at first, but stringing together more than a dozen is surprisingly tricky.
Via: TechCrunch
‘Spam King’ is sentenced to 2.5 years in prison
Sanford Wallace, the self-proclaimed “Spam King” who was responsible for a ton of spam messages on Facebook a few years ago, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. From 2008 to 2009, Wallace blasted people with a link to an external website that stole their log-in credentials and downloaded their friends’ lists. He then spammed those users steal their log-ins in order to spam their friends, and so on and so forth. Wallace accessed Facebook’s computer network several times during that period to execute his scheme. In all, he was responsible for 27 million* spam messages on the social network. If you received any shady PM within that timeframe, it was probably from him.
Wallace pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and related activity in connection with electronic mail and one count of criminal contempt in August 2015. According to Ars Technica, prosecutors asked the court for a 36-month sentence. “The defendant’s history demonstrates that he has yet to suffer a consequence — other than a default judgment that cannot be collected — for his spamming activities,” they wrote. “A sentence of 36 months’ imprisonment will impress upon the defendant the seriousness of his actions and deter him from engaging in similar conduct again.”
By “default judgment,” they meant the $1 billion worth of fines he was hit with back in 2009, which they couldn’t collect. This time, the court ordered him to pay $310,629 in restitution. And by “history,” they meant Wallace’s decades-long love affair with spam. He started by inundating people with junk faxes way back in 1991. Since then, he’s faced numerous lawsuits filed by Facebook and other entities, including MySpace and AOL.
Disclosure: As you know, AOL is Engadget’s parent company.
*Update: Wallace sent out 27 million messages, not 27 billion like what our article said earlier. He’s just a spam king, not a spam god.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: DOJ
Facebook opens suicide prevention tools to everyone
That emo Facebook update your friend posted may be a passing bout of frustration, or it may be a sign of something deeper. If you suspect your connections of having suicidal thoughts and want to help, but don’t feel equipped to reach out, a tool from the social network is now available to everyone, making it easier to show concern.
Facebook is rolling out its suicide prevention tools to everyone in the world, and has collaborated with mental health organizations to offer more thoughtful services. The feature was available in the US to a select group of users, as well as in the UK, but will now enable anyone to report worrying content to Facebook. The company also worked with local partners to provide support in all languages in which the site is available.
After you’ve flagged the status, the author will receive a message saying that someone was concerned about their post. They’ll get options to talk with a trusted friend, call a helpline, get tips and support, or skip.You can also choose to reach out directly to your friend, and Facebook will offer suggestions on wording.
Of course, it’s easy to see how this system can be abused. Snarky friends may prank their pals by reporting status updates as suicidal, especially if there is no consequence for offenders. But Facebook has a team that reviews incoming reports and prioritizes most serious cases, such as potential self-injury, which should help it weed out fakes.
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the US, and the second most common for deaths of people aged between 15 and 24. The most common cause for suicide is untreated depression, and cyberbullying has been found to be strongly related to suicidal ideas. That’s why it’s important that organizations create as safe a space online as they can.
If you suspect someone you know is in immediate physical danger, Facebook recommends calling 911 or law enforcement for help. For those who are worried about a loved one but don’t know how to help, it’s a relief to have these resources within such easy reach.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Facebook
Facebook adds SMS to Messenger for Android
A few months ago, Facebook was reported to be testing SMS integration in its Messenger app for Android. Now, that feature is officially live. It’s entirely optional, so you’ll need to enable it. To do so, head over to Settings in the Messenger app, select “SMS” and then choose “Default SMS app.” This means all of your text messages will be sent and received on the Messenger app. Your SMS conversations will be in purple to differentiate them from the default Messenger blue.
Interestingly, SMS in Messenger doesn’t support just text and images. It also supports rich content like stickers, GIFs, emojis and location sharing — just like regular Messenger conversations. Facebook also wanted to clarify that none of the messages are stored on the company’s servers; all of the text messages are sent via SMS as per usual. That does mean that regular texting fees do apply.
This feature is only for the Android app due to the limitations of iOS. But seeing as Apple’s own Messaging is getting a lot of these Messenger-like enhancements — emojis, stickers etc — iPhone users probably aren’t missing out too much.
Source: Facebook
Oculus Touch will control over 30 games this year
Were you worried that Oculus’ Touch controller would arrive without any games that used it? If you ask Oculus, there’s no reason to worry. It’s promising that over 30 Oculus Rift games will use the VR peripheral in 2016. Some of them are titles you’ll know, like Rock Band VR and Serious Sam VR, while others are Touch-ready versions of existing VR experiences like Job Simulator and The Climb. Oculus itself will bundle a sculpting title, Oculus Medium.
This is still just a sliver of the overall gaming universe, so it’s not quite the abundance that Oculus makes it out to be. Also, some of the more promising material, like Twisted Pixel’s Wilson’s Heart, doesn’t show until 2017. Treat this like a video game console launch — there will be plenty to play, but only if you’re not picky. The real show begins when the “hundreds” of future Oculus Touch games arrive and you can simply assume that many (if not most) Rift games support the device.
Source: Oculus
Facebook invokes first US Safety Check for Orlando mass shooting
Unfortunately, Facebook has had reason to use Safety Check in the US for the first time. The social network switched on its tool for reassuring friends following the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida. While Facebook has already called on Safety Check since expanding its scope to include human tragedies (it used the check after an overpass fell in India), the American use reflects improvements made to the emergency system in the following months. It’s now faster to invoke checks, the company says to Mashable, and there are tests under way that would let users trigger checks of their own. Let’s just hope the feature isn’t needed again for a long, long while.
Source: Mashable
WhatsApp can quote messages you want to respond to
WhatsApp now has the ability to quote messages you want to reply to, which sounds especially useful for group chats with friends or family. Only problem is, it’s unclear if everyone already has access to it. It first came out a day ago or so as an experimental feature for the Android app’s beta version (v.2.16.118). However, we were able to quote messages on our stable apps (v. 2.16.6) for Android and iOS without having to update either of them. Note that we also didn’t see a new update on iTunes or Google Play.
According to NDTV and some other sources, the Facebook-owned application already began rolling the feature out to the general public, so it’s possible that you can already use it. To find out if you have access to it, simply press on the message you want to respond to for a few seconds until the action bubble/bar pops up. Next to star, trash, copy and forward is a new option that looks like the arrow typically associated with reply. Click that, and the message you want to quote will show up right above your text box like in the screenshots below. If you can’t seem to make it work, try reinstalling your app or checking again in a day or two — you might have it then.
Source: 9to5google, Android Police
Facebook Forcing Users to Install Moments App to Retain Synced Photos
Facebook has begun notifying users with photos uploaded from their iOS devices that their synced albums will be deleted next month (via TechCrunch).
Facebook’s iOS photo syncing feature was launched in 2012, and let users automatically upload all photos on their mobile devices to a private album called ‘Synced’ or ‘Synced from Phone’.
The idea behind the feature was that copying the photos makes it easier to find and share pictures with friends on the social network.
Users are now being informed by email and via app notifications that these albums will cease to exist on July 7, and that they should either download the albums, or install the company’s photo-centric Moments app to retain their uploaded status.
News of the change has seen the Moments app shoot up the App Store’s Top Free Apps chart, where it currently ranks #2 ahead of Facebook’s hugely popular Messenger app, which sits at #3.
The forced adoption of yet another Facebook app has caused consternation among a number of social media account holders, who were subject to a similar heavy-handed approach in early 2014.
I’m gonna delete @facebook from my phone before I install Messenger AND Moments! Facebook is the new MySpace. https://t.co/ewszcNBEGY
— Ray Ulrich (@ulrichray) June 2, 2016
On that occasion, the company pushed all users to download Facebook Messenger after it removed the chat feature from its flagship app. Messenger has held its position in the free apps chart’s top three almost ever since.
This month, the company also announced that it would be removing chat from its mobile web app too, leaving users with no other option but to download Messenger if they want to continue using the feature on their phones or tablets.
In related news, Facebook announced this week that it has begun rolling out a new 360-degree photo feature across the social network, which will let users view uploaded panoramic shots and 360-degree photos in a more immersive way.
Photos compatible with the 360 feature are identified by a compass icon on the right-hand side of the shot once it has been uploaded. Mobile users can explore a photo by tapping and dragging it or by moving their phone, while desktop users can click and drag it with their mouse or trackpad.
Moments is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tag: Facebook
Discuss this article in our forums
AIVAnet 