Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018
Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. It also averages 1.52 billion daily active users as of December 2018.
Facebook was launched in February of 2004 (as The Facebook) for college students and then rapidly grew as it opened the service to more than those with a .edu email address. It was the subject of the 2010 movie called “The Social Network“.
In 2012, the social media giant offered its IPO and Facebook earned the title of the fastest company to grow to $250 billion market capitalization in the S&P 500.
In recent years, the company has been at the center of attention related to its role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, it’s been a continual stream of negative news for the company. They recently had all of their enterprise certificates for iOS revoked after it was discovered they had repackaged Onavo VPN as a ‘Research’ app and were paying teens $20/month to sneakily sideload it.
In early 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a “privacy shift” for the company. He outlined a detailed vision for the future of the social media platform, specifically its messaging services. Notably, in contrast to how the company operates today, he says the future of the platform will be privacy-focused with features like end-to-end encryption, interoperability between its various apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reducing how long it holds data, secure storage of personal data, and more.
When Facebook released their brand-new iOS application today, some were disappointed to find that the highlight features of Chat Heads (from Facebook Home) and Stickers were not present. Facebook says that the two features, like many other of Facebook’s recently released products, will be released via a staggered rollout.
For those who truly want to enable Chat Heads and Stickers before Facebook wants it on your iOS device, iMore‘s Nick Arnott has put together a thorough tutorial on how to enable the features. Follow the steps, grab an app called PhoneView (no jailbreak required), and a Plist editor (like the one included in Xcode), and you should be good to go. We’ve tested the Chat Heads trick, and it works well.
Bloomberg reports that Facebook is in discussions with Apple about the possibility of adding its Facebook Home interface to iPhones. Facebook Home describes itself as ‘putting your friends at the heart of your phone’, and is effectively a skin that sits on top of Android to display social feeds and messages front-and-centre, with apps taking second place. So far, however, it hasn’t wowed Android users. Expand Expanding Close
Cory Moll, an Apple retail employee who founded an unofficial union for Apple Store staff, is leaving the company tomorrow, having apparently resigned.
Moll founded the ‘Apple Workers Union’ as a Facebook page and now-defunct website, describing it as “a movement of empowerment to bring change and improvement of working conditions to Apple’s retail stores” in response to what some employees felt to be low pay and limited opportunity for advancement.
Moll tweeted earlier today that tomorrow would be his final day. In an email to 9to5Mac and others, he said: Expand Expanding Close
Facebook introduced the HTC First with Home for Android today, and now CEO Mark Zuckerberg is doing the press rounds and discussing everything from “Facebook phone,” building for Android, Google’s reaction to Home, and even why iOS was left in the dark.
During the unveiling event, Zuckerberg described building Home for Android as “smooth,” because the platform is open and does not require any Google intervention, where as Home for iOS would require a direct partnership with Apple.
In a wide-ranging interview at Wired.com this afternoon, Zuckerberg gave a more detailed explanation on why Facebook launched Home for Android phones instead of iOS, as well as why the company ditched the idea of building a phone directly:
Why not just build a phone? I’ve always been very clear that I don’t think that’s the right strategy. We’re a community of a billion-plus people, and the best-selling phones—apart from the iPhone—can sell 10, 20 million. If we did build a phone, we’d only reach 1 or 2 percent of our users. That doesn’t do anything awesome for us. We wanted to turn as many phones as possible into “Facebook phones.” That’s what Facebook Home is.
It’s only available on Android phones. Isn’t it ironic that your mobile strategy is now tied to Google’s operating system? “We have a pretty good partnership with Apple, but they want to own the whole experience themselves. There aren’t a lot of bridges between us and Google, but we are aligned with their open philosophy.”
So do you think in, say, two years you will have this on the iPhone? “That’s above my pay grade to be able to answer that.”
That’s a pretty high pay grade.
“Look, I would love for that answer to be yes. Facebook is in a very different place than Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung, and Microsoft. We are trying to build a community. We have a billion folks using our services now, and we want to get to 3 or 5 billion one day. We’re going to do that by building the best experience across all devices. Android is growing quickly, and we’re excited that the platform is open and that it allows us to build these great experiences. I think that this is really good for Google too. Something like this could encourage a lot of people to get Android phones, because I think people really care about Facebook. In a lot of ways, this is one of the best Facebook experiences that you can get. Of course, a lot of people also love iPhones—I love mine, and I would like to be able to deliver Facebook Home there as well.”
Zuckerberg also talked with Fortune.com today about Google’s reaction to Home and what it’s like working with Apple:
On what Google will think of Facebook’s use of the open Android platform:
“I’m not sure how they’re going to react.”
On working with Apple:
“They really control the operating system… Android is different because it’s a much more open platform.”
On Google vs. Apple in mobile:
“I think that Google has this opportunity in the next year or two to start doing the things that are way better than what can be done on iPhone through the openness of their platform. We’d love to offer this on iPhone and we just can’t today. And we will work with Apple to do the best experience that we can within what they want, but I think that a lot of people who really like Facebook–and just judging from the numbers, people are spending a fifth of their time in phones on Facebook, that’s a lot of people. This could really tip things in that direction. We’ll have to see how it plays out.”
Facebook and HTC are again tied up building a phone together in which Facebook plays a major role. This isn’t like the ChaCha or Salsa phones which were mostly flops. This is a “Face-forked” version of Android with many Facebook modifications. More details including information on the ad campaigns over at 9to5Google.
BMW iOS app integration:Following some recent Siri Eyes Free news from Chevrolet, BMW announced today that it has partnered with handful of developers to bring similar eyes free experiences for a number of third-party iOS apps to its vehicles. BMW has partnered with Audible for audio books, Glympse for location sharing services, Rhapsody for subscription music and TuneIn for internet radio, all of which will be updating their apps in the weeks to come for compatibility with the BMW Apps system.
Plants vs Zombies 2:PopCap announced today that part two of its incredibly popular Plants vs Zombies title is finally going to land on iOS in additional to all the other usual platforms “early summer.” No clues on what might be included in the second installment, but in the meantime PopCap will launch a new version of the game on Facebook.
App Updates:
IM+ Instant Messenger version 7.7: A nice update to the very popular IM+ service today offers Beep mobile-to-mobile service as an in-app purchase, the ability to preview transferred images directly in chats, and the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements. iPad users will also now be able to capture photos and videos in the app.
StreamBoard version 5.0: The Twitter client that lets you track keywords and hashtags in real-time is updated to version 5.0 with many new features and enhancements:
For this incredible milestone, StreamBoard has been rewritten from the ground up bringing to you:
– A brand new streamlined interface powered by gestures
– A reimagined filter view featuring real-time graphs that you can interact with
– Much improved engine for faster speed!
– and many more!
Pocket-lint reportedthat United Kingdom users would be given access to Facebook’s Skype-like voice calling service today. Readers confirm that the service is indeed rolling out.
The Wall Street Journal published a piece last night that profiled influential app developer Loren Brichter of Atebits and Tweetie fame. The 28-year-old developer is the man behind several apps that were first to implement or help popularize well-known gestures and UI features that have since become design standards for many popular apps and developers. Perhaps the best example is “pull-to-refresh”—a feature that Brichter built into his Tweetie app before selling to Twitter:
Mr. Brichter got his start in the mobile industry while at Apple from 2006 to 2007 as part of a five-person group working out early kinks in technology that made the iPhone’s graphics hardware and software communicate… In 2008, Mr. Brichter built Tweetie to have a better way to use Twitter and eventually included the “pull-to-refresh” feature. After selling the app to Twitter for what he says was “single digit millions” in 2010, he stayed on at Twitter working remotely on the company’s apps for about a year and a half. He left to keep experimenting.
Other features Brichter helped to popularize include the slide-out panels that we see in apps such as Facebook and a feature described as “cell swipe” that’s popular in Twitter apps for revealing lists of hidden functions by swiping. WSJ was quick to point out that Brichter has filed for a patent on at least the “pull-to-refresh” gesture (now owned by Twitter), but Brichter explained that he allows most developers to implement the features freely: Expand Expanding Close
To continue to offer a great product that addresses your unique needs, we’re going to focus our development efforts on our modern, web-based versions of TweetDeck. To that end, we are discontinuing support for our older apps: TweetDeck AIR, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck for iPhone. They will be removed from their respective app stores in early May and will stop functioning shortly thereafter. We’ll also discontinue support for our Facebook integration.
“Oh, and screw Facebook too.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/brucecaraway/status/308735851150573568] Expand Expanding Close
Following an attack on a smaller number of corporate Macs that exploited a flaw in the Java browser plug-in, researchers from security firm FireEye warned users of yet another new Java zero-day vulnerability. According to a blog post published yesterday (via IDG), browsers running Java v1.6 Update 41 and Java v1.7 Update 15 are now vulnerable to a malware attack that installs a remote access tool known as McRAT. The exploit is reportedly different from the one used to attack Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and several other companies last month. Following the earlier attack, Apple released an update to Java for users to version 1.6.0_41. These recent vulnerabilities come after several updates over the last year to Java addressing exploits.
FireEye recommended users disable Java until Oracle addresses the issue:
We have notified Oracle and will continue to work with Oracle on this in-the-wild discovery. Since this exploit affects the latest Java 6u41 and Java 7u15 versions, we urge users to disable Java in your browser until a patch has been released; alternatively, set your Java security settings to “High” and do not execute any unknown Java applets outside of your organization.
Oracle provided the instructions below for uninstalling Java on Mac: Expand Expanding Close
Facebook announced on its Developers blog today that it is releasing version 3.2 of its SDK for iOS. The updated SDK makes it even easier for iOS app developers implementing Facebook features, with improvements to APIs and better tools for tracking usage and optimizing ads. Version 3.2 includes improved analytics and new metrics such as the ability to track “iOS 6 native share sheet and built-in native UI controls usage.” Facebook also noted that it is including a beta for select partners showing off upcoming support for “logging in-app purchase events.”
Better mobile analytics – We’ve added support for measuring additional usage metrics and optimizing ads to help improve an app’s quality and monetization potential
Enhanced error handling – SDK support and documentation now enabled for all classes of error responses
API improvements – A new FBAccessTokenData type makes it easier to open a session from token data explicitly, and to better handle app and deep linking
Facebook also said the updated SDK included enhanced error handling, improved web dialog support, and a several API improvements and bug fixes. Improvements to Facebook’s SDK are important, as the company’s noted over 45 percent of the top 400 grossing iOS apps are now integrated with the social network.
Calendars. Contacts. Maps. Emails. Text messages. Facebook. LinkedIn.
There are a lot of things you can do with the iPhone. Each of those things is scattered across the phone in it’s own separate app, however. Sure, there’s some integration of those services, but most of the time you’re going to have to switch apps to get from one function to the other. It’s easy to get annoyed or overwhelmed trying to manage your time while everyone up-to-date on the things that matter.
Tempo is a new app from SRI (the company that originally developed Siri) that aims to bring all of those functions together—at least as far as the concern your schedule—into a cohesive system for managing your life. But how well do all of these different services coexist in the same application?
[hulu id=_cdivytk6g8qt3ggv4rw0a width=704 start_time=206 end_time=325] Vine version 1.0.5: Twitter’s new short video sharing app Vine ran into a bit of controversy when pornography found its way into the Editor’s Picks section due to human error. The developers have since addressed the issues and today’s update not only brings new Twitter and Facebook sharing features, but also the ability to block and report profiles. As noted by The Verge, the 1.0.5 update also increased the rating of the app from 12+ to 17+.
• Share to Twitter or Facebook after posting. Find the post you want to share, then tap the “…” button in the bottom right.
• Report or block a profile. Go to the profile, then tap the newly added “…” button in the top right.
• Fixed an issue that caused a black screen to appear and uploads to fail after creating a video on certain devices
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
ProCutX for Final Cut Pro X: Final Cut plug-in maker & production company Pixel Film Studios is out today with a new app that allows iPad users to control a FCPX session running on their Mac. At first glance the app appears to provide a pretty slick UI and the developers said it offers access to all of the software’s editing tools to “control every step of the FCPX editing process.”
• Precision Timeline Scrubbing
• Quick Retiming
• Auto-Correct Color
• Color Grading
• Compound Clip Editing
• Import, Export, and Rendering shortcuts
• Quick Keywording
• Fast access to Tools
• System Volume Control
• Timeline Zooming
• Audio Enhancements
• Record Voiceovers
Tango version 2.6.36915:The popular text, voice, and video chat app Tango was updated today with a new central gallery for pictures and videos and a number of enhancements:
✔ New! Find all your pictures and videos in a central gallery.
✔ New! Improved call handling makes connect faster.
Vine — Make a scene: Today Twitter announced on its blog the launch of Vine, a mobile app it acquired a few months back that allows users to capture and share abbreviated, looping video clips. The free iPhone app is available now in the App Store and offers unlimited, free video uploads, Twitter and Facebook integration, and the developers noted a Twitter account would not be required to sign up.
Today, we’re introducing Vine: a mobile service that lets you capture and share short looping videos. Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine (6 seconds or less) inspires creativity. Now that you can easily capture motion and sound, we look forward to seeing what you create.
-You can now leave hotel reviews once you have completed your stay
-The app now supports iPhone 5
-Many bugs fixes
Cycloramic version 2.0: The app that uses your iPhones vibrating motor to shoot 360 degree video hands-free was updated today with new hands-free panoramic shooting modes and more:
Just place your iPhone in an upright position on a smooth and level surface and press GO. The Phone will automatically rotate 360 degrees while taking multiple pictures, instantaneously stitch them, generate the panoramic picture and finally open it and immerse you in our 3D viewer.
PANORAMIC PHOTO MODE
1) Guided Mode (iPhone 4/4S/5)
2) Hands-free Mode (iPhone 5 only)
With this update, Cycloramic brings you a whole new way to take panoramic pictures.
– New feature: Improved the file browser for local documents and Dropbox documents. Create, delete edit new documents and folders in Dropbox directly from the file browser
– New feature: Scrivener sync support (via Dropbox) for unlimited number of nested folders and sub-folders, preserving locally the document original path
– New feature: Green highlight color in Style menu
– New feature: Greek alphabet in the Math symbols
– New feature: Latest Dropbox SDK 1.3.3. Support for international characters in Dropbox file and folder names (Chinese, Japanese, etc.)
Call-It-Out: Officially launching today, Call-it-Out is a new app that aims to blend elements of YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest allowing users to “easily rate, capture, and share life through comments, images and videos.
Remove Turkey and Italy from region list.
Turkish and Italian are not supported by this new version.
Support for iOS 6.
Support iPhone 5 4-inch screen.
This version adds Mobile Deposit® for eligible customers and enhanced graphics for iPhone™ 5 users. Additionally, version 2.2.1 is bilingual (English/Spanish), has full Bill Pay capabilities (add payees, select pay accounts, etc.), transaction details with check and transaction images, account transfers, and an enhanced branch/ATM locator.
Facebook is updating its Messenger iOS and Android app today with a couple of really interesting new features: the ability to record short voice messages, and a free calling service that utilizes users’ existing data plans but not their call allowance. Facebook noted on the app’s iTunes page that the calling service will roll out in the next few weeks, while the other features appear to be available to users today.
The new voice message feature will allow all users to record a voice message through a new record button (pictured above), but The Next Web explained Facebook is limiting the new VoIP calling feature to Canadian users initially. The app isn’t live on the U.S. store, but it has already landed in Canada and should be available everywhere soon.
To use the service, Canadian users will be able to log into their Messenger app, open a conversation with the person they want to call, hit the ‘i’ button in the top-right corner and selecting ‘Free Call.’ To send and receive calls, users will need to have the latest version of the app that is available today. Expand Expanding Close
As noted by several New Yorkers on Twitter, a fire in a building next to the Upper West Side NY Apple Store has caused the retail store to close temporarily. There was some confusion on Twitter from people who first reported that the fire was actually at the Apple retail location, but several have since reported the smoke is coming from an adjacent building. An Apple employee at the location confirmed to us that the fire is in a neighboring building, but he also said the Apple Store has been evacuated with all appointments cancelled for the time being.
Analytics firm Distimo is out today with the full results of its year-end 2012 app analytics report (via Fortune). While Apple is still the clear winner in terms of revenue, Google Play showed significant growth in the last four months. Its daily revenue grew 43 percent in 20 major markets. Apple’s growth was smaller, increasing daily revenue by 21 percent, but Distimo’s numbers show Google still has a long way to go:
On a typical day in November 2012, the revenues in the Apple App Store exceeded $15M USD, while in Google Play the revenues are just below $3.5M USD in 20 of the largest countries in both app stores… Even though the growth in revenues in Google Play in the last four months is close to that of the Apple App Store in 2012, the growth in daily revenues in the Apple App Store was higher than the total daily revenues in Google Play when comparing absolute daily revenue values.
As for the most popular apps of 2012, Distimo said Asian publisher Naver was able to beat Draw Something’s record of 1 million users in nine day. Its app, Line Pop, got 1.75 million downloads in the first 72 hours. That’s something that took Facebook nine months to accomplish. The app also brought over 1 million in revenue for the developer in 12 days.
To round out the year in review, Distmo breaks down revenue by category in the charts below: the top 10 most grossing cross-store publishers, the top 10 publishers and apps by downloads on the App Store, and the top five highest growing countries by revenue. There aren’t many surprises: Expand Expanding Close
Today, Kodak announced the $525 million sale of its patents to two firms, Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation. It is interesting that the two companies will work with 12 intellectual property licensee to pay a portion of the over $500 million price tag. The 12 licensees, who aren’t listed by name in Kodak’s press release, would all receive varying access to the digital imaging patent portfolio and other Kodak patents included in the sale. In turns out that Apple, Google, and many other large tech companies, will provide cash toward the purchase as licensees.
Under the agreements, Kodak will receive approximately $525 million, a portion of which will be paid by 12 intellectual property licensees organized by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation, with each licensee receiving rights with respect to the digital imaging patent portfolio and certain other Kodak patents. Another portion will be paid by Intellectual Ventures, which is acquiring the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses, as well as previously existing licenses.
Bloomberg is reporting, as relayed by Business Insider, that the 12 companies are made up of Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Facebook, and just about every major player in the tech business: Expand Expanding Close
Facebook just announced an update to Facebook for iOS and Android that helps users discover new places their friends like.
The latest version of the popular app features a refreshed Nearby tab, which, according to a post on the Facebook Newsroom website, now shows recommendations from friends:
From the app menu, open the tab to find local spots your friends have recommended, checked into, or liked. If you’re looking for a place to eat, choose a category like Restaurants to see what’s nearby. When you find a place that looks interesting, tap to see info like friends who’ve been there and business hours.
The new Facebook for Android and iOS further allows users to share their own opinions by rating or recommending places. Facebook warned the update is an early release, however, and “there’s lots more to do.” So, results will improve the more people use Nearby.
“We also plan to add places info from third party services in the near future,” Facebook explained.
Apple is once again inducting new apps into its iPhone and iPad Hall of Fame, a section on iTunes that it launched back in 2010 to feature its “the best of the best on the App Store,” and Orbitz is one of many apps listed on Apple’s new inductees page. The company issued a press release announcing Orbitz induction into the Hall of Fame for iPhone (pictured below) along with 13 other apps and six games this week. Other new inductees listed include Foursquare, Walking Dead: The Game, Action Movie FX, Airbnb, Sky Gamblers: Air Supremacy, The World Ends With You, Pinterest, and more.
“Whether you are a long-time iPhone user or hope to get one as a holiday gift, this Hall of Fame recognition confirms that the Orbitz app for iPhone is the go-to travel tool to have,” said Chris Orton, president of Orbitz.com.
The iPad Hall of Fame is also listing new inductees, with some iPad specific apps that aren’t on the new iPhone list, including: National Parks by National Geographic, The Room, Mint.com Personal Finance, Paper by FiftyThree, Kayak, Barefoot World Atlas, and Adobe Photoshop Touch. We have seen a few of these apps in the Hall of Fame before (Facebook, Things, Skype), but the majority of new inductees listed are making their first appearance. All new inductees in the iPad and iPhone Halls of Fame are below:
Facebookers can send the digital cards to their friends along with recommended albums, movies, apps, etc. The iTunes cards come in $10, $15, $25, or $50 price points through Facebook Gifts.
As promised, the folks at Nokia launched their alternative to Apple Maps for iOS: a new cross-platform solution called “Nokia Here”. Based off HTML 5, Here is now available on the iTunes App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad this morning, offering users full map views, the ability to save maps for later viewing, coverage of 200 countries, search history, Facebook login integration, step-by-step voice-guided navigation for the car and walking, offline map viewing, and social features that allow users to share their location. Offline Maps only work with one-specific map area, as users are only able to download 10MB of mapping data for offline use. We’re giving the app a first run right now and will let you know our first impressions. In the mean time, the full list of features and a gallery are below: [App Store]
