Facebook facelift! Social network launches new version of News Feed

The social networking company unveiled a redesign that allows users to control what types of posts will appear in the feeds. The new feed will also have space for more photos and videos.

 Facebook Inc introduced a visually richer, mobile device-oriented “newsfeed” on Thursday, in the most significant changes to date for the social network’s most recognizable feature. The changes to the newsfeed, whose look and feel has remained largely unchanged since its inception, include a division into several sections, with separate areas for photographs and music.

 They will begin rolling out in limited fashion from Thursday. The overhaul, which standardizes the feed across mobile devices and desktop computers, is designed to keep users active and interacting as well as appeal to advertisers, as Facebook battles Google Inc for Internet market share. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had singled out the feature as in need of a makeover as recently as January, when the company introduced “graph search” to address inadequacies in allowing users to trawl for information across the world’s largest social network.

 Facebook’s newsfeed, an ever-changing stream of photos, videos and comments uploaded from friends, is the first page most users see upon logging in. It is one of three “pillars” of the service, along with search and user profiles. The last major update to the feature occurred in September 2011.

 Since then, the company has incorporated ads directly into the feed and has shifted its focus to creating “mobile-first experiences,” because more people now access the social network from smartphones and desktops than from desktop computers. 

 The addition of advertising, however, prompted complaints from users who preferred an unblemished stream of personally relevant comments, underscoring the difficulty in balancing advertiser-friendly formats - such as larger images - with keeping its 1 billion-plus members engaged.

Friday, March 08, 2013 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook helps the FBI bust cyber-criminal ring that stole £525million and...

Facebook has helped the FBI to bust an international criminal ring said to have infected 11million computers with spyware and stole more than £525million from unsuspecting users.

Agents working in concert with the social network arrested 10 people who allegedly infected computers with software that stole credit card numbers and bank details.

Facebook's security team helped the FBI after the so-called 'Yahos' malware targeted its users between 2010 and October 2012, the agency said in a statement.The social network helped identify the criminals and spot affected accounts, it said.

Its 'security systems were able to detect affected accounts and provide tools to remove these threats,' the FBI said.According to the agency, which worked also with the U.S. Department of Justice, the accused hackers employed the 'Butterfly Botnet'.

Botnets are networks of infected computers that can be used in a variety of cyberattacks on personal computers and legitimate online networks and websites.Hard data is tough to come by, but experts say cybercrime is on the rise around the world as PC and mobile computing become more prevalent and as more and more financial transactions shift online.

Because of the global networks of criminals involved and the remote nature of the crimes, police, cybersecurity professionals and targeted corporations increasingly hard-pressed to spot and ward off attacks.

The FBI's release recommended users to update their operating systems and applications regularly, use anti-virus software and disconnect computers from the Internet when not in use to ward off future cyber attacks.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012 | 1 comments | Read More

Facebook 'likes' add automatically without user-clicks

Facebook 'likes' are being added to webpages irrespective of whether users have clicked a like button or not, or even visited the social networking site, the company has acknowledged.

A US security researcher has found that simply sending a web address to a friend using Facebook's private messaging function adds two likes to the page.

Leaving a comment on a story within a Facebook page also adds to the tally, the 'BBC news' reported.

"We did recently find a bug with our social plug-ins where at times the count for the Share or Like goes up by two, and we are working on fix to solve the issue now," the site said.

Facebook explained that the figure represented how many times an item was shared - not how often users had clicked "like" on the page.

However, the number appears next to the word "like" and the site's distinctive thumbs up icon.

This means that users who may be sharing pages to highlight negative content - such as campaigners - are inadvertently making the page appear more popular.

The news comes a day after Facebook said it has surpassed the milestone of one billion monthly active users. 

Saturday, October 06, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook and Yahoo settle patent and form ad alliance

Yahoo and Facebook have settled their patent row and formed an advertising alliance.

 Yahoo had sued the social network in March claiming 10 of its intellectual properties had been infringed.

 Facebook subsequently bought 750 patents from IBM and counter-sued.

 It later bought hundreds more patents from Microsoft to strengthen its defence.

 The firms said they would now cross-license innovations from each other and collaborate on future projects.

 Yahoo's u-turn

 The report which broke the news ahead of the official announcement - reported that Yahoo's interim chief executive Ross Levinsohn had begun moves to resolve the dispute immediately after taking over from his ousted predecessor.

 It added that Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg soon became involved in the resulting negotiations.

 A press release quoted Mr Levinsohn as saying: "We are excited to develop a deeper partnership with Facebook, and I'm grateful to Sheryl and her team for working hard together with our team to develop this dynamic agreement... Combining the premium content and reach of Yahoo as the world's leading digital media company with Facebook provides branded advertisers with unmatched opportunity.

" Ms Sandberg added: "Yahoo's new leaders are driven by a renewed focus on innovation and providing great products to users.

 Together, we can provide users with engaging social experiences while creating value for marketers.

" Counting the cost The move may help secure Yahoo's top job for Mr Levinsohn.

 He had been competing for the role against Hulu's boss Jason Kilar.

 But, the video streaming service announced Mr Kilar had "graciously declined" to be considered for the role shortly after news of the patent agreement leaked.

 Although no money appears to have exchanged hands, the row has still proven to be expensive.

 Facebook had paid Microsoft $550m (£355m) to buy 650 patents and license a further 275. 

It has not disclosed the cost of its deal with IBM, although the tech site Cnet has suggested the sum was $83m.

Friday, July 06, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook e-mail mess: Address books altered; e-mail lost

An alarming number of people are reporting that the new e-mail address Facebook forced on users this week is changing their address books while intercepting and losing unknown amounts of e-mail.

Facebook users say contacts' e-mail addresses on phones and personal devices have been altered without their consent -- and their e-mail communication is being redirected elsewhere, and lost.

This disaster is happening despite the fact that people rushed to replace the @Facebook e-mail with their correct e-mail address once they'd found out about Facebook's change.

When Facebook forced its hundreds of millions of users into an @facebook account, commenters across the Internet talked about alterations that had begun in their contacts and address books outside Facebook -- valid e-mail addresses were being changed for @Facebook without people's awareness or consent on their phones and computers.

We've reached out to Facebook for comment and have no response at this time; we'll update this post should new information from Facebook come in.

This is bad news for users that have expectations around e-mail communication by changing their e-mail addresses, intercepting and redirecting their communication elsewhere.

If you have any software or apps that sync your contacts or address books with Facebook (think home computer, devices, phones, iOS 6) check your settings. Now.

Let me know about your experience with facebook email,,

Monday, July 02, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook agrees $10m privacy complaint settlement

Facebook has agreed to pay $10m to charity in a settlement with five users of its site that were angry their images were used within adverts without their explicit permission.

 The case was brought against the firm after users complained Facebook had publicised items they had "liked" in its sponsored stories ads, without compensation or opt-out options. Facebook's sponsored stories system then turned users "likes" into paid advertisements that included the user's name and profile picture. 

It was confirmed Facebook had reached a settlement package in May and Reuters reported on Monday that the figure agreed upon was $10m, which will be given to charity. TG-Tech contacted Facebook for confirmation but the firm said it had no comment. According to Reuters, the court filing by judge Lucy Koh noted that Facebook had been in the wrong, based on long-established legal principles.

 "California has long recognised a right to protect one's name and likeness against appropriation by others for their advantage," Koh wrote. The settlement will only make a small dent in the firm's cash holdings but comes on the back of its disappointing launch on the stock market, which saw its share price slump amid accusations the firm was not totally transparent with its financial estimates. 

The firm's chief technical officer also announced he was stepping down from his role to launch his own start-up on Friday in another blow to the company.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook launches App Center, makes app discovery a social experience

Today Facebook started rolling out the App Center: A mobile app portal within the social networking site. With 600 titles available at launch, App Center collects the apps that can post to Facebook as well as the ones that use the site for login authentication. The list of titles includes many familiar hits like Draw Something, Instagram, Foursquare, and Words with Friends.

Facebook App Center will recommend you not only apps your friends use, but also those that have exceptionally high ratings. And if you click on a title that you have to download on your phone or tablet (some titles are Facebook web apps), you'll be redirected to the Apple App Store or Google Play where you can get it.

We reached out to Facebook to ask if the new app hub is intended to be a competitor to existing app ecosystems like Apple's App Store or to Google Play. According to a spokesperson from the company, "Actually, it's quite the opposite. The App Center will drive growth for social apps whether they're built on iOS, Android, mobile web, or on Facebook."  In May alone, Facebook sent people to Apple's own App Store 83 million times.

You can now access the Facebook App Center on the full version or the mobile version of the site, as well as on both iOS and Android apps.

Friday, June 08, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More