Facebook News & Updates

[sunveer]

1 in 9 people has Facebook account worldwide: Mark Zuckerberg

LONDON: Founder and chief executive of Facebook , Mark Zuckerberg , has revealed that one in nine people now have a account on the social networking site as 750 million across the world have signed up to it.

That is more than 12 times the 61 million population of the UK and more than twice the size of the combined population of the US and Canada.

Zuckerberg revealed the figure and also disclosed that the amount of information users share every day on the site has doubled in the last year, reports the Telegraph.

Zuckerberg made the announcement as he launched a new feature, which will allow users to chat by video.

Facebook will have a new 'call' button, which users can click and then talk with other people with an account via Skype.

Source: economictimes

 

[Jenitkumar]

RE: 1 in 9 people has Facebook account worldwide: Mark Zuckerberg

Thats great achivement for them.

but some people like Salmaan khan has 9-10 accounts on facebook.

its a trustable feagure ?

 

[ssparikshya]

Facebook launches video calls, group chat features

Quick on the heels of Google's launch of its latest social-networking venture, Facebook said that its 750 million users will now be able to make video calls on the site.

The feature will be powered by the Internet phone service Skype. Facebook also redesigned its chat feature, so that the people a user messages the most often show up first.

To make video calls, Facebook users with webcam-equipped computers have to select the friends they want to chat with. In the chat window that pops up, clicking on a small blue video icon brings up the video chat feature. Currently there is no option to video chat more than one person. That feature is available on Google Plus, a social service that Google began testing last week with a small number of invited users.

Facebook is also adding a group chat option. This works much the same way as the group chat on Google Plus. Once you are chatting with one friend, you can click an icon to add more people to the conversation.

Facebook's new products come after a relatively quiet period for the world's largest online social network. Zuckerberg, 27, said the company is embarking on "launching season 2011." Users can expect "a lot of stuff coming out" from Facebook in the next couple of weeks and months, he said at an event at the company's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters.

Facebook updated its user count - to 750 million users worldwide - for the first time since last summer, when it reached half a billion people. Zuckerberg said that's because "we don't think it's a metric to watch anymore."

Rather, Facebook is paying more attention to how much its users are sharing with one another. That number is growing at a much faster rate than its monthly user base. Currently, people share 4 billion items, such as photos, status updates and links, every day using Facebook.

Without mentioning Google by name, Zuckerberg said that "independent entrepreneurs and companies focused on one particular thing will always do better than companies that try to do everything."

For Facebook, that one thing has been creating an online social infrastructure that other companies, such as Skype, can then add their own products to.

Skype has agreed to be bought by Microsoft Corp. for $8.5 billion in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. Microsoft owns a small stake in Facebook.

 

[Jenitkumar]

RE: Facebook launches video calls, group chat features

Same news posted by u on 04/07.
also today by kamlesh.
and again by u ?
now thats enough !

---

See related posts below, u will come to know :

 

[sunveer]

Facebook Vibes: hints of a music service discovered in Video Calling’s code

Facebook announced it’s “awesome” new feature this week, and it turned out to be what everyone expected: Video calling. But one curious coder looked through the Java file behind Video Calling, and found something even more interesting–a huge, glaring hint that Facebook has a music offering in the works, called Vibes.

Jeff Rose posted the relevant snippets to his blog, and you don’t need to know Java to see that something’s there. Basically, the JAR file used to install Video Calling (referenced in the code as com.facebook.peep), also has code that can be used to install another app named com.facebook.vibes. That alone wouldn’t really say much, but each app has a secondary reference talking about an action that follows; “peep” calls for a VideoChatPlugin window, and “vibes” calls for a MusicDownloadDialog. It can’t get much clearer than that, Vibes not only handles music, but apparently downloads it as well.

Facebook Vibes hasn’t been talked about. It hasn’t been referenced or mentioned, and it hasn’t been leaked. Zuckerberg seemed rushed when he announced Video Calling, and many people thought that his “something awesome” remark might have originally been meant for something, well, a bit more awesome than simply lumping a Skype plug-in into a half-baked chat feature.

It’s entirely possible that the reason they’ve been sitting on the chat upgrades for so long, is that he planned to release a trifecta later on. Bringing group chat, video chat, and music downloads in one fell swoop would definitely have made a bigger impression on users who might be lured away by Google+.

The idea of Facebook diving into the music scene isn’t a new one, or even an unexpected one. With the impending demise of MySpace, it’s almost expected that Facebook would try to carry the torch for socialized music–the only question is how they might go about doing it. For that, we’ll just have to wait and see.

More at Life is a graph, via HN

 

[ssparikshya]

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook

In my Google+ feature published yesterday, I had mentioned towards the end, that Facebook needs to be proactive in order to combat the new social networking rival. FB responded swiftly by unveiling a new feature that allows you to make video calls right through the browser interface, just like Google+ does with its Hangout feature. We finally know what CEO Mark Zuckerberg meant, when he had announced last week that the company had planned to "...launch something awesome" this week. I tried my hands at Google+ yesterday, and today I am going to try to find out if this new video calling feature in FB is a fitting retaliation.

The new video calling feature has been made possible, thanks to the partnership between FB and Skype. Of course, you don't need to install Skype; a small plug-in takes care of the software requirements. On the hardware front, you need a webcam, a headset \ speakers, and a microphone.

Setting It Up

Let's start with the basics, beginning with opening www.facebook.com/videocalling. The main page has a video on the right, explaining the feature. The Skype logo at the bottom of the screen reinforces the fact that it is powered by the VoIP provider.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


FB Videocalling main page


To get started, you can click on the green Get Started button on the left of the screen. Assuming that you have already logged into Facebook, a chat window will pop up on the right hand side, listing all your online FB contacts. Click on one of them to proceed.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


Click on one of the online contacts from the list to start


Alternatively, you can start the chat directly from your online friend's profile by clicking on the Call button located on the right hand side of the

..When you call for the first time, you are provided with a wizard interface to guide you through the steps of this one-time setup. Click on Set Up to continue.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


Setting up a video call for the first time


Next, you will be prompted to save a small (482 KB) plug-in. Save it to your hard drive and run it.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


Save the video call plug-in to be run later


This file is a web-installer, meaning that after running it, the software relevant for your system will be downloaded and installed. This takes less than 5 minutes to complete on a moderate 256 kbps internet connection.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


FB video call plug-in gets installed


Once the installation is complete, the call is made automatically. Your friend is then prompted to install the same plug-in. After he \ she finishes installing the plug-in, the call gets connected.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


Your friend is prompted to install the same plug-in


While I was expecting a smooth ride because it is powered by the experienced Skype, all did not go as well and I did hit a few roadblocks before finally getting connected. One of the main irritating problems was that I received the following error message and was prompted multiple times to download and re-install the same plug-in.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


Reinstalling the plug-in was the only available solution


Then another error message popped up, stating that "The software that powers video calling is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later." Was this a result of some kind of an outage faced by FB due to an overwhelming response to this feature? I am not really sure.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


I could not make heads or tails of this one


It finally started working and once it works, you are going to get hooked to it. You can view your friend in a large video window, while a smaller thumbnail of your video feed can be seen near a corner of this window. This is similar in appearance to the Skype video chat window. The overall quality is satisfactory, though nowhere near to the Skype experience I was expecting because it is based on the same software. Audio quality is as good as on Skype (which means it is very good), but there is room for improvement in the video quality department.

How To Make Video Calls On Facebook


Once it starts, you will not stop using it


My Take

Besides the problems encountered before I could get it started, I did experience intermittent crashes in the application. This makes me feel that the feature is still in the beta stage and was rushed off hastily to combat the growing popularity of Google+ Hangout. Also missing, is the knockout video conferencing feature present in Hangout, but that may soon be added to this service. Nevertheless, it is a step in the right direction for the social networking giant, which is facing some real competition for the first time in quite some time. With news that you may soon be able to place phone calls via Facebook reaffirms my belief that the online social networking scene is going to see a host of new features. While the companies may lose, it is the users who will always end up being the winners.
.....

 

[sunveer]

Facebook plans to hire public policy expert in India

MUMBAI: Amid growing privacy concerns across the world, including India, Facebook, the world's largest social network, plans to hire a public policy expert in India. With nearly 25 million active users in India, Facebook lags behind Google, which counts nearly 60 million users in the country.

As these Internet giants seek to expand their base in India's lucrative Internet market, they face challenges of regulatory hurdles, misinterpreted features and lack of awareness among government departments. Last month, Bangalore asked Google to stop collecting images for its Street View service on security concerns.

"Companies are realising that they have to liaison with the government to ensure that their perspectives are reaching the right ears. Corporates are picking up to influence policy development as it happens and also want to sensitise the government for potential requirements that the sector demands that directly affect companies like Facebook," said Pawan Duggal, a lawyer specialising in IT laws and Internet.

In a job posting, Facebook said the new head of public policy to be based in Delhi, will "actively promote of the uses of Facebook with policymakers and influencers in both electoral and governing bodies." The need for internet companies to engage with the government and even lobby, comes in wake of the amendment of the Indian IT act of 2008 - a tool with which the government regulates content on the internet.

When contacted by ETon Thursday, officials at the public relations agency handling Facebook's communications in India said none of the company officials were available for a comment. Companies in possession of third party data have come under the scanner as the government has drafted regulations for companies dealing, handling or processing sensitive personal data on April 11, 2011.

The social networking behemoth which has close to four crore users in India is keen on hiring someone who can be a bridge between the government and the company. The practice of having a public policy head is not new. Google has had a policy team in place since 2006 which has ties with the government to influence policy making. Like governments across the globe, the Indian government too is increasingly scrutinising data and information put out by Internet firms such as Google.

Google's latest transparency report released for India, states that there were 282 item removal requests of which 199 were for YouTube alone where 100 items were for defamation and 53 were for privacy and security. Google either partially or fully complied with 22% of the requests filed in 2010.

Source: economictimes

 

[ssparikshya]

RE: How to use Facebook in office? Convert it to Excel sheet!

mods plz close this thread
cause its posted by me b4 karthik

 

[ssparikshya]

Facebook tells how to opt out of photo recognition

LOS ANGELES: Facebook has made it easier for users to opt out of its controversial facial-recognition technology for photographs, an effort to address concerns that it had violated consumers' privacy.

The deployment of "Tag Suggestions" technology -- designed to speed up the process of labeling friends in photos -- had renewed concerns about how the world's largest social network with 750 million members handles privacy.

The technology scans newly uploaded photos, compares faces in those snapshots with previous pictures, then tries to match faces and suggest name tags. When a match is found, Facebook alerts the person uploading the photos and invites them to "tag," or identify, the person in the photo.

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said in a letter to Facebook last month that it compromised consumers' rights to privacy by analyzing faces in photographs posted on the website, then cataloging them.

Facebook has since met with Jepsen, and this month began running ads on users' home pages telling them about the feature and allowing them to count themselves out of its use entirely. Should users opt out, any facial recognition data that had been collected will be deleted.

"Facebook has made significant changes that will provide better service and greater privacy protection to its users, not only in Connecticut, but across the country," Jepsen said in a statement. "The company has been cooperative and diligent in its response."

Facebook, which verified that those ads have run, has said the feature is available in most countries. Automated photo-tagging suggestions are made only when new photos are added, only friends are suggested and users can disable the feature in their privacy settings, the company has said.

"People across the country using Facebook will be more aware of our personalised privacy settings, and how they can be used to benefit their experience on the site," Tim Sparapani, director of public policy at Facebook, said. "We hope that people on Facebook will find the results to be helpful and useful."

You in or out?
While other photo software and online services such as Google Inc's Picasa and Apple Inc's iPhoto use facial recognition technology, the use of the technique on an Internet network like Facebook raises thorny issues.

For instance, iPhoto gives users control over facial recognition by letting them elect whether or not to use the technology with personal photo collections. Facebook's, in contrast, operated independently and was automatically enabled, analyzing faces across a swathe of newly uploaded pictures.

The lack of notifications about the wider roll-out of the feature had spurred concerns among privacy advocates, who argue it should be up to users to allow it. A group of organizations had filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission requesting an investigation.

Such a system also raised questions about which personally identifiable information -- such as email addresses -- could become associated with photos in Facebook's database.

Addressing other concerns, the social network has also streamlined the process for reporting fake accounts or imposters, after Connecticut Representative Kim Rose complained to Jepsen about the difficulty of removing an account that had been falsely labeled as hers and that asked for money.

In response, Facebook has set up a "roadblock" system that freezes accounts reported until they are verified, has made changes to the reporting system, and has speeded up response times, Jepsen said in his statement.

Facebook also has instituted direct links to user contact forms and an automatic email response to help direct users to the correct mechanism when trying to report an imposter or fake profile. "Although this measure won't totally stop fraudulent pages from being created, it will have a significant impact on reducing the amount of time they are active," the attorney general said.

 

[Bapun]

Facebook.com Closing down on 15th March 2012 Confirmed

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

Zuckerberg went on to explain that starting March 15th of next year, users will no longer be able to access their Facebook accounts. That gives users (and Facebook addicts) a year to adjust to life without Facebook.

“After March 15th, 2012 the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back after Facebook goes out of business.”

Zuckerberg said the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset.

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

Some Facebook users were furious upon hearing the shocking news.

“What am I going to do without Facebook?” said Denise Bradshaw, a high school student from Indiana. “My life revolves around it. I’m on Facebook at least 10 hours a day. Now what am I going to do with all that free time?”

However, parents across the country have been experiencing a long anticipated sense of relief.

“I’m glad the Facebook nightmare is over,” said Jon Guttari, a single parent from Detroit. “Now my teenager’s face won’t be glued to a computer screen all day. Maybe I can even have a conversation with her.

Those in the financial industry are criticizing Zuckerberg for walking away from a multibillion dollar franchise. Facebook is currently ranked as one of the wealthiest businesses in the world, with economists estimating its value at around 7.9 billion.

But Zuckerberg remains unruffled by these accusations. He said he will stand by his decision to give Facebook the axe.

“I don’t care about the money,” said Zuckerberg. “I just want my old life back.”

The Facebook Corporation suggests that users remove all of their personal information from the website before March 15th, 2012. After that date, all photos, notes, links, and videos will be permanently erased.


http://www.followtechnology.com/social-media-news/facebook-com-closing-down-on-15th-march-2012-confirmed/