“Our goals are to understand Facebook’s impact on upcoming elections—like Brazil, India, Mexico and the US midterms—and to inform our future product and policy decisions,” Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Communications and Public Policy, and David Ginsberg, Director of Research at Facebook, said in a blog post.

“Facebook will not have any right to review or approve their research findings prior to publication,” they added.

Facebook claimed it has made real progress since Brexit and the 2016 US presidential election in fighting fake news, as well as combating foreign interference, in elections in France, Germany, Alabama and Italy.

”But there is much more to do – and we don’t have all the answers. This initiative will enable Facebook to learn from the advice and analysis of outside experts so we can make better decisions – and faster progress,” the post further read.

Facebook will invite respected academic experts to form a commission which will then develop a research agenda about the impact of social media on society – starting with upcoming elections.

The initial term of the commission will be one year and membership will be determined in the coming weeks.

The commission will exercise its mandate in several ways. This will include prioritisation of research agenda, solicitation of independent research and providing access to information while protecting privacy, among others.

“Facebook and our funding partners recognise the threat presented by the recent misuse of Facebook data, including by an academic associated with Cambridge Analytica,” the blog post noted.

Any proposal submitted through this process must first have been reviewed by a university Institutional Review Board (IRB), or the international equivalent.

“When Facebook data is requested, proposals will be subject to additional review by Facebook’s privacy and research review teams—as well as external privacy experts that the commission identifies,” the post said.

Facebook has said that it will begin connecting with the 87 million users – including 562,455 in India – from Monday if their personal data was “improperly shared” with the British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

Those affected by the data privacy breach will see a detailed message at the top of their newsfeeds.

A Facebook spokesperson said a possible breach of data of 562,455 users happened after 335 Facebook users in India installed a quiz app, “thisisyourdigitallife” between November 2013 and December 2015.

IANS

Picture source: Alamy

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Google Photos uses Machine Learning (ML) capabilities to select the best moments based on users’ choices, adds a fitting soundtrack and produces a custom movie for them. Users have the power create a video whenever they want.

“If users want to tweak the result, they can edit the movie with the movie editor in the iOS or Android app,” the tech giant added.

Users can choose from a range of themes, including “They Grow Up So Fast” and “Meow Movie”.

Google Photos is a photo-sharing and storage service developed by Google. It was announced in May 2015 and spun out from Google+ — the company’s social network.

IANS

Picture source: Alamy Image

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“By selecting ‘Snooze’ in the top-right drop-down menu of a post, you won’t see content from those people, Pages or groups in your News Feed for that time period,” Shruthi Muraleedharan, Product Manager at Facebook, wrote in a blog post.

“We’ve heard from people that they want more options to determine what they see in News Feed and when they see it. With ‘Snooze’, you don’t have to unfollow or unfriend permanently, rather just stop seeing someone’s posts for a short period of time,” she added.

The “Snooze” feature is being seen as a better way of managing a user’s News Feed while taking a break from a chatty person, group or page.

“The people, Pages, and groups you snooze will not be notified. You will be notified before the ‘Snooze’ period is about to end and the setting can also be reversed at any time,” the post read.

With features like Unfollow, Hide, Report and See First, Facebook has consistently been working toward helping people tailor their News Feed experience.

“As News Feed evolves, we’ll continue to provide easy-to-use tools to give you the most personalised experience possible every time you visit Facebook,” the post said.
IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy Image

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Google Maps provide turn-by-turn notifications for driving directions and now, the addition will make the app send a push notification when the user is approaching their stop.

This feature will especially help Android users when they use public transit.

Log into Google Maps on Android smartphone, enter destination, select directions for transit and tap on the route you want to take to use the new feature.

The concept, however, is not completely new.

Transit—a public transit app and mapping service based in Canada has a “Go” feature that takes the user through every step of a bus or subway ride.

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamay Image

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“While chatting with businesses, you can check your contact’s profile to see which type of account they’re using. A verified account has a green checkmark badge in its profile,” WhatsApp wrote in the FAQ.

A Business account with a green checkmark badge in its profile is verified as acean authentic brand” by WhatsApp.

“A business account with a gray question mark badge in its profile means the account is using the WhatsApp Business app but hasn’t been confirmed nor verified by WhatsApp,” the company said.

The much talked-about WhatsApp for business app is currently being tested by a private group of testers and the company will introduce it as ‘WhatsApp Business’—a standalone app.

Its description available on Play Store read: “As a test partner for ‘WhatsApp Business’, you have early access to a wide range of new features that we’ve built with you in mind. As you experiment with what this new app has to offer, please share your experiences with us so that we can improve the product.”

WhatsApp Business is different from the regular WhatsApp.

The logo of the app has been changed from the calling symbol to “B” inside the green conversation bubble.

However, after downloading, the app looks the same as WhatsApp, barring the title bar that says WhatsApp Business.

The app has interesting features such as auto responses, creating a business profile, chat migration and analytics.

“We also provide you with the tools you need to control your experience with businesses. You can block business accounts and report them as spam at any time, right within the chat,” WhatsApp said in the new FAQ.

Before launching the stand-alone Business app, the new FAQ, first spotted by the fan website WABetaInfo, aims to clear doubts so that no such fake app gets downloaded.

A fake and possibly malicious version of Facebook-owned WhatsApp was found lurking on Google Play Store recently as “Update WhatsApp Messenger” with developer name as WhatsApp Inc, which was downloaded by several people.

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy
 

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Under the ‘Hello’ button on your friend’s profile, the new options can be seen by just holding the button. On a desktop, a simple hover over the ‘Hello’ button will show the alternatives.

These work in a similar way the ‘Reactions’ on a photo or status work.

Facebook introduced the ‘Hello’ button in June and placed it at the top of people’s profiles.

The new greetings also have an undo button for an accidental send.

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy

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The government will legislate for a code of practice setting out minimum standards for the “age-appropriate design” of sites, with companies failing to abide by the rules facing the possibility of large fines, the report said.

The move comes three days after British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned a social media giant to stay away from his children.

He was speaking against Messenger Kids for under-13 children to video chat and message with family and friends launched by Facebook last week.

“Facebook told me they would come back with ideas to prevent underage use of their product, but instead they are actively targeting younger children.

“Stay away from my kids please Facebook and act responsibly!” Hunt tweeted.

The report said that people who support the move of introducing a code of practice said the safeguards would include applying the highest possible privacy settings to children’s accounts by default so their information is not automatically made public.

The move would also ensure terms and conditions are written “in a language children will understand” so they will know what will happen to content they post and how they can get it removed.

In September, the European Union (EU) gave an ultimatum to Facebook, Twitter and other social media companies to rid their platforms of hate speech or face legal consequences.

The European Commission, the EU’s top regulator, said the social media firms are still failing to act fast enough. It said it would pass laws allowing the bloc to impose punishments on companies that fail to act.

European regulators have been pushing social media firms to remove racist and violent posts from their platforms in a timely manner for years. Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google had all pledged to do more.

IANS

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The feature is seen in WhatsApp beta for Android 2.17.163 version, it tweeted on Thursday.

The recipient, however, will be able to reject the upcoming video call if he or she wants.

“WhatsApp is also testing a feature that will allow to direcly mute a video,” the report added.

The instant messaging app has also confirmed group voice calls in its latest beta version for Android.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp last month announced the official rollout of its most anticipated feature ‘Delete for Everyone’ that allows its over one billion users revoke their messages in case they sent those to a wrong person or a group.

The popular messaging service may also be working on an app for iPad users as references of WhatsApp for iPad were spotted on latest WhatsApp desktop app.

WhatsApp has over 200 million monthly active users in India and 1.2 billion users worldwide.

Its “Status” feature now has 300 million daily active users.

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy

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The app has been launched globally on the iOS platform and will roll out for Android users in the coming months.

“On Facebook, creators can connect with more than two billion potential fans and collaborators, get to know their community, talk directly to fans with Live, and monetise with products like branded content,” Chris Hatfield, Product Manager, Video, said in a post on Friday.

The app has tools that make it easy to create live broadcasts with a personalised and fun feel.

“Creators can add intros as openers to their live broadcasts, outros that conclude them, custom live stickers that viewers can use to interact, and graphic frames to create a consistent brand,” Hatfield said.

With the “Community Tab” feature, creators can connect with fans and collaborators with a unified inbox, which centralises comments from Facebook and Instagram, and messages from Messenger.

Video creators can also access Facebook Stories to engage with their fans.

The company also launched a website “Facebook for Creators” where creators can find resources and tips on how to create great videos, connect with fans and grow on Facebook.

After launching a host of video-centric features over the last year, Facebook is also testing 4K quality of videos.

YouTube has been working with 4K video since 2010 with 4K live streaming rolling out last year.

Facebook already supports 4K resolutions in its live 360 videos.

The push to higher resolution video comes after considering Facebook’s foray into original content with several original shows coming to the Watch tab.

IANS

Picture courtesy: Alamy

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‘Disaster Maps’, which was introduced globally in June, uses aggregated, de-identified Facebook data to help organisations address the critical gap in information they often face when responding to natural disasters.

“In times of disaster, our platform is a valuable source of information—whether it’s letting your friends and family know you are safe with ‘Safety Check’ feature or using Facebook to raise donations for relief efforts,” said Ritesh Mehta, Head of Programmes, India, South and Central Asia at Facebook.

“Through our work with the National Disaster Management Authority and the roll out of Disaster Maps in India and the disaster information volunteers initiative, we hope we can help communities get the information they need to prepare, respond and recover if disaster strikes,” he added.

The measures were announced at Facebook’s first annual ‘Disaster Response Summit’ here, attended by policy makers, think tanks and humanitarian organisations.

Facebook will provide multiple types of maps during disaster response efforts.

’Location Density Maps’ show where people are located before, during and after a disaster.

“We can compare this information to historical records, like population estimates based on satellite images. Comparing these data sets can help response organizations understand areas impacted by a natural disaster,” Facebook said in a statement.

‘Movement Maps’ illustrate patterns of movement between different neighbourhoods or cities over a period of several hours.

By understanding these patterns, response organisations can better predict where resources will be needed, gain insight into patterns of evacuation or predict where traffic will be most congested.

“Safety Check” maps are based on where Facebook community uses ‘Safety Check’ feature to notify their friends and family that they are safe during a disaster.

Facebook is also supporting the pilot of the ASK-DIV (Disaster Information Volunteers) scheme where a network of trained volunteers provide supplementary information to inform relief efforts through the Facebook ‘Workplace’ platform.

This programme with SEEDS will establish a network of volunteers to provide real-time, first-hand information on disasters in their local communities. The programme will be piloted in two disaster-prone states—Assam and Uttarakhand.

“NDMA is proactively utilising social media for awareness generation. This is an important benchmark towards integrating social media with disaster response activities. I am sure this partnership will open new avenues for using mobile technology in disaster situation,” said RK Jain, Member, NDMA.

”The disaster information volunteer network and Facebook’s Disaster Maps will play a key role in helping us get the right help to the right people at the right time,” added Manu Gupta, Director, SEEDS.

IANS

Picture source: Alamy

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