Tag: facebook features

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News

Facebook introduces Twitter like hashtags in news feed

Facebook has copied Twitter once again. First time they copied them when they revealed newly designed News Feed and said that they want to make our news feed look like a personalized news paper (which is what Twitter actually is). Then they copied them by launching blue verified check marks for celebrity pages and now they’re copying their rival once again by showing hashtags in the News Feed.

If you enjoy #hashtags on Twitter, Instagram or Google+ then you will be able to enjoy it on Facebook too. Till now hashtags on Facebook used to look like plain, regular text without any link to accompany them. But now they will become clickable with a link. If you enjoyed a status update on any topic and it contains a hashtag, then you can view more updates on the same topic by clicking on that hashtag.

What happens to Privacy?

When it comes to the visibility of your own posts in hashtag feeds, then Facebook says that your private posts will still remain private and they won’t show up to any unintended audiences in hashtag feeds. So your privacy will remain in your control. And based on this feature, company is planning to roll out trending hashtags and some other exciting secondary features too in the upcoming days.

What are your views on Facebook introducing hashtags? Will it add to the spam on Facebook? Do drop in your comments.

via Facebook blog

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News

Get Facebook’s Redesigned ‘News Feed’

Facebook had announced earlier that they were about to redesign the ‘New feed’ on its website. Facebook has announced a new ‘news feed’ experience on web, iPhone/iPad and Android platforms. The new design is touted as a clutter free experience. The focus now is more on having icons and also larger images and clarity of the feed.

I have not yet got this new design activated for my Facebook account but looking at the screenshots, I think Facebook’s feed seem to be liberally inspired by Google+. Especially how Google+ shows up feeds on mobile and tablet platforms.

The iPhone/iPad and Android update will be released over the next few days/week (Facebook can be notoriously quick or slow with changes) but you need to get onto a wait list for the new design.

Just visit the following link https://www.facebook.com/about/newsfeed and click on Join Waiting List button.

It will be interesting to see the subtle differences how Facebook shows Sponsored updates and advertisements. Hopefully it will be more relevant and less spammy than it is at the moment.

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News

Want to Message Mark Zuckerberg? Pay Facebook $100!

Imagine you want to send a message to Mark Zuckerberg and make sure the message is not ignored. What would be the best way? According to Facebook it might be forking out US $100. Facebook is not exactly so desperate for money. They are testing a new feature.

Image via Mashable

Currently when one of your friends or followers send you a message. The messages usually end up in the Inbox. But there is also the “Other Inbox” which is often not noticed by users. The Other Inbox can be seen when as a discreet link on your messages page.

The Other folder contains usually messages from people who are not your friends. This is a way to help very popular users from being spammed by their followers and fans.

Facebook was testing what could be highest amount set for making sure a message goes to the Inbox rather than the Other folder. It is expected to charge a lot less for normal (less famous) users. This is an extension of the feature that allows users to promote their posts for a small fee.

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Promoted Messages and Update: Are they Ethical?

Though it makes sense for brands to promote their messages or updates by paying Facebook a small amount. This will ensure more certainty in reaching their fans and customer base. But is this feature really ethical? I am not really comfortable that Facebook is asking money to ensure people who send me mail which I have to check.

Imagine the outrage it would cause if Gmail or Hotmail suggests that if users could pay them some extra money and they would ensure that their emails do not get filtered and ensure it hits the main Inbox.

The feature is still being tested and so we cannot comment on all aspects of how it works. What you seen such prompts for making payments while sending a message? Do drop in your comments.

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News

Facebook’s “Year in Review” Shows Your Life’s Top 20 Moments for 2012

The month of December, is one of those when many people take a look back at what happened in the year. Most media outlets often showcase important events that happened during the year. Facebook has personalized this by allowing users to look back at the top 20 moments on their profiles page. This is introduced as a feature called “Year in Review”.

If you are logged into your Facebook account today, you should see the link (see image below) to your “Year in Review”. Users can also share this link for others to take a look at the years events on your profile. Since Facebook has the Timeline feature for over a year, this sort of reviewing a year was expected.

Just click on that link and you will be able to look back at the whole year and 20 most important updates on your profile.

You can also check it directly with by entering the URL in this format.

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https://www.facebook.com/yearinreview/[username]

This way I can actually check the review the year of any Facebook user, as long as I know their username ID. The privacy options remain intact and that means not everyone sees the same year in review. For example your top photos for you might not show to others who you have not shared the photos with.

I tired to check if the same can be used for Facebook Pages but it does not work.

I actually do not use Facebook for a lot of check-ins or share too many personal photos. I also do not add Life Events, so that might be a reason my year in review is not as interesting. But I am sure a lot of very active Facebook users will enjoy looking back at the year’s memories.

Do drop in your comments.

Link: Facebook Year in Review

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News

Facebook Introduces New Look Friendship Pages

Facebook has started to roll out a new look Friendship pages for users. These Friendship pages are like aggregators of you and your friends posts on each others wall, photos on which both are tagged, common likes and events.

Though these friendship pages on Facebook are usually great to see your interaction with a friend on Facebook, Sauravjit had written about how it can be used to view friendship activity between any two users.

This update will be of more interest to people who have listed themselves are married or in a relationship with someone else on Facebook.

They will be able to see their friendship page at the URL https://facebook.com/us

Here is an example of the new look page for friendship activity. This example is of people listed as being in a relationship.

I am not sure how Facebook will leverage friendship pages as I personally find it more or less as another efficient Facebook feature to spy on people, but I guess couples who are planning events and sharing photos together could find it useful.

If you want to check the Friendship page your share with any of your friends, just visit their profile and click on the gear icon. Then select “See Friendship” from the dropdown.

(via Facebook)

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Reviews

Do You “Like” the New Facebook!

Google+ from day one had a better layout, better way to manage sharing and better privacy controls than Facebook. Facebook probably knew they had a real competitor out there. Facebook is probably a little nervous and its evidence are the sheer number of changes it has rolled out over the past 2 months.

It started with the tie-up with Skype for video chatting, then allowing much-needed tag approval feature, allowing bigger and faster photos, changing sharing options, introducing new smart lists where friends are added automatically and finally becoming more like Google+ and Twitter by allowing anyone to view publicly shared posts with ‘Facebook Subscriptions’.

Yesterday, Facebook made so many changes to its layout, that it was a little hard to really keep up with them. 🙂

The New Facebook!

  1. Sticky Bar at the top: This is borrowed from Google+. The new bar at the top stays even when you scroll down. This makes it a lot easier to navigate and I like this change.
  2. Change in Profile Options: The privacy options and other account settings options are neatly hidden under a drop down next to the Home tab. This might make it a bit difficult for some non-regular Facebook users to quickly find privacy options.
  3. The Update Ticker: The real-time updates by friends on Facebook can be a big distraction. I do not like continuous updates filling up. It reminds me too much of my Twitter timeline. 😉
  4. Home Update: The main updates from feeds are shown with a blue triangle at the top. You can mark it as ‘Top Story”, so it becomes more prominent when you visit your Facebook account next.
  5. Lists and Updates: This is the best new change about Facebook. The Lists, groups, events, pages are all shown differently in a categorised way. This makes it very easy to share things with people you really want to.
Sometimes too many changes can upset some people, and Facebook has changed drastically. It is hardly recognizable since lets say 2 months ago.
One thing that happens with competition, is that companies stop taking their customers for granted. Facebook has stopped taking its users for granted.
What are your views on the new Facebook features and layout change? Do drop in your comments.
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Tips

Difference between Tag Review and Profile Review on Facebook

Facebook.com, the best and one of the most confusing social networking website on the net in terms of its features recently launched two new features for its user privacy. As usual these two new features are very confusing too with little difference between them. These new features are ‘Tag Review’ and ‘Profile Review’. Both are nearly same which lets you to approve a post or photo tag before appearing on your profile and on Facebook. Let’s have a look at them.

Tag Review:

‘Tag Review’ a privacy feature that allows you to approve or reject a tag made by your friend on a photo or a post. The tag on that post or photo won’t appear until you approve it. If ‘Tag Review’ option is On you can check and approve tags and once it’s approved it will be automatically appeared on your wall. To enable this feature go to your privacy settings and click ‘Edit Settings’ given with ‘How Tags Work’ and click ‘Turn On Tag Review’.

Profile Review:

‘Profile Review’ is the second step of ‘Tag Review’. Once you have approved a Tag and activated the ‘Profile Review’ as well then it will ask you to Approve Profile Review so that Tagged stuff can be appeared on your profile. If you reject a pending post, the Tag will still be there but that photo or post won’t appear on your profile.

Profile Review option is given just above the Tag Review’ and you can activate it in same way. Once it’s activated you can go to your profile page to manage pending posts. Please note that Pending Posts tab will only appear on your profile if there’s a pending post/tag for review.

If you’re using Facebook from a long time then you probably know that Tag Review feature was earlier there on Facebook but Facebook disabled it after some time. It’s a nice and useful feature in terms of user privacy.