Tag: Facebook

2018 has indeed been a hectic year for giant media network Facebook but the company has bounced back irrespective of the Cambridge Analytical Scandal.

During its 2018 Facebook F8 developers conference it was announced that a whole lot of new features would be added to the site.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing concerns from app developers after Facebook paused 3rd-party app review in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Here are some big takeaways from Zuckerberg’s keynote on Day 1 of Facebook F8, held for two days, May 1 and 2, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California:

FaceDate—Facebook’s New Tinder-Like ‘Dating’ Feature

Still Single? Don’t worry because Facebook doesn’t want you to remain single for long.

The social network giant is introducing a new dating feature that will allow you to build your profile that will only be visible to other Facebook users (non-friends) who have also opted into looking for love.

Dubbed FaceDate, the new feature will match your profile based on all its data with others to find potential suitors and messaging will happen in a dedicated inbox rather than its default Messenger application. And worry not. Neither FaceDate will match your profile with your friends, nor your friends will not be able to see your dating profile.

FaceDate is “not just for hookups,” said Zuckerberg said. Rather, the feature has been designed for “real long-term relationships.”

Shortly after the announcement of FaceDate, the share price of Match Group, the parent company of Match.com, fell 22%, and IAC, the parent of both popular hookup app Tinder and Match Group, fell more than 16%.

Facebook Adds ‘Clear History’ Tool

Facebook had been embroiled in controversies over its data sharing practices after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, forcing people to think about how the social media handles user privacy, collects data and uses it. Now to help users protect their privacy, Facebook introduced a new feature, dubbed “Clear History,” that will let users clear their browsing history on Facebook.

Clear History will enable users to see the websites and apps that send Facebook information when users use them, delete this information from users’ account, and turn off Facebook’s ability to store the data “associated with your account” going forward.

Once you clear your history, Facebook will remove identifying information so a history of the sites and apps you have used will not be associated with your account.

It is unclear how Facebook defines ‘associated with your account.’ However, Facebook will take a few months to build the Clear History feature, and work with “privacy advocates, academics, policymakers, and regulators to get their input on our approach,” Facebook VP and chief privacy officer Erin Egan said in a blog post.
“After going through our systems, this is an example of the kind of control we think you should have,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s something privacy advocates have been asking for.”

Facebook also warned users that by using the Clear History tool, they might be required to sign back in everytime they want to log into their account. Facebook is also committed to preventing “fake news” and fake accounts from spreading on its platform, though Zuckerberg did not tell much about how Facebook plans to do it.

Facebook Re-Opens App Reviews On Its Platform

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook paused third-party app review, but now Zuckerberg announced that the company is re-opening app reviews for developers starting Tuesday.

The relationship between Facebook and app developers has gotten complicated since it was revealed how digital consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained and misused data on potentially 87 million Facebook users to reportedly help Donald Trump win the US presidency in 2016.

Facebook paused review of new apps after it was revealed that a third-party app developer named Aleksandr Kogan, who created personality quiz app and collected personal data on millions of users who took the quiz, handed over the data to Cambridge Analytica.
“I know it hasn’t been easy being a developer these past couple months, and that’s probably an understatement,” Zuckerberg said.

Facebook has re-opened app review, but the process has changed a bit. The company will now “require business verification for apps that need access to specialized APIs or extended Login permissions.”

“Apps that ask for basic public profile or additional permissions, such as a birthday or user friends, are not subject to business verification,” a blog post published Tuesday reads.

Real Time Language Translations In Facebook Messenger

Facebook has introduced chat translation within Messenger through its M Suggestions assistant, which will translate conversations in real time, just like web browsers do.

However, the feature will be rolled out to users in the United States throughout this year and will only translate English-Spanish conversions.

In the coming weeks, all American Messenger users will get access to this feature, and over time the social media says it will “launch this functionality in additional languages and countries.”

Launching in closed beta, businesses will now be able to integrate augmented reality (AR) camera effects for its customers to experience directly into Messenger.

Now when you interact with certain businesses on Messenger, you will be able to virtually try or customize merchandise by opening the app’s camera and use a pre-populated brand-specific AR effect.

Facebook is also making simplifications to Messenger’s interface. Since the app’s quest to embrace businesses, bots, Stories and visual sharing have made it bloated, the company has re-designed Messenger by cutting out the games and camera tabs from the navigation bar.

Besides these features, Facebook has also introduced a new way for people to share from their favorite apps, like Spotify and GoPro, to both Facebook and Instagram Stories. The company has also made its first standalone VR headset Oculus Go available globally for anyone to purchase, starting at $199.

Despite the Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Facebook has made a profit of $3 billion in three months.

The social network giants’ quarterly sales rose by over $3 billion despite influential tech companies closing down their accounts. The company said that revenues rose to $11.9bn in the first three months of the year, compared to $8bn previously.

Founder, Mark Zuckerberg said: “despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018. We are taking a broader view of our responsibility and investing to make sure our services are used for good. But we also need to keep building new tools to help people connect, strengthen our communities, and bring the world closer together.”

Facebook said that its advertising revenue rose to $11.7bn in the three months to the end of March, compared to $7.8bn in the same period a year ago. First quarter profits also grew, reaching $4.9bn compared to $3bn last year. Facebook said the average number of daily active users over March had risen to 1.45 billion, a 13% increase year-on-year.

The average number of monthly active users for March also rose by 13%, to 2.2 billion, and the number of staff saw a steep 48% increase to 27,742. Facebook had in March faced a controversy over yielding millions of users’ data to Cambridge Analytica which reportedly manipulated it during U.S President Donald Trump’s electioneering in 2016.

Facebook Inc on Tuesday released the most detailed rule book in its history for the types of posts it allows on its social network on subjects ranging from drug use and sex work to bullying, hate speech and inciting violence.

Facebook for years has had “community standards” for what people can post.

But only a relatively brief and general version was publicly available, while it had a far more detailed internal document to decide when individual posts or accounts should be removed.

Now, the company is providing the longer document on its website to clear up confusion.

The company wants to be more open about its operations, said Monika Bickert, Facebook’s vice president of product policy and counter-terrorism.

“You should, when you come to Facebook, understand where we draw these lines and what’s OK and what’s not OK,” Bickert told reporters in a briefing at Facebook’s headquarters.

Facebook has faced fierce criticism from governments and rights groups in many countries for failing to do enough to stem hate speech.

It is said to have not prevent the service from being used to promote terrorism, stir sectarian violence and broadcast acts including murder and suicide.

At the same time, the company has also been accused of doing the bidding of repressive regimes by aggressively removing content that crosses governments.

It is said to have proved too little information on why certain posts and accounts are removed.

New policies will, for the first time, allow people to appeal a decision to take down an individual piece of content.

Previously, only the removal of accounts, Groups and Pages could be appealed.

Facebook is also beginning to provide the specific reason why content is being taken down for a wider variety of situations.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has become a dominant source of information in many countries around the world.

It uses both automated software and an army of moderators that now numbers 7,500 to take down text, pictures and videos that violate its rules.

Under pressure from several governments, it has been beefing up its moderator ranks since last year.

Following news that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to testify in front of Congress about the company’s data scandal, stock prize of the tech company has dropped by 5%.

Recall that this crisis began on March 16 after Facebook said it was suspending data analysis company Cambridge Analytica for allegedly harvesting data from more than 50 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Since then, Facebook’s stock has plunged 18%, wiping out nearly $80 billion from the social networking giant’s market value in the process. Zuckerberg’s net worth has fallen by about $14 billion (he is still worth $61 billion, though).

Tech stocks in general have taken a hit since the Facebook allegations first came to light. The Nasdaq is down 6%.  And other social media companies, most notably YouTube owner Google and Twitter, have both nosedived as well.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) fell 7% since March 16 while Twitter has plunged 20%. Twitter (TWTR) was down 12% alone on Tuesday after noted short seller Citron Research has changed its tune on the company’s stock.

Investors worry that Facebook, Google and Twitter could all face tougher regulations in the United States and around the world because of the Cambridge Analytica controversy.  If that happens, it could stymie growth for all three companies but Facebook in particular. Investors also worry that users may flee these companies because of privacy concerns. And if users flee, advertisers may eventually jump ship too

 

Facebook on Wednesday unveiled new privacy settings aiming to give its users more control over how their data is shared, following an outcry over the hijacking of personal information at the giant social network.

The updates include easier access to Facebook’s user settings and tools to easily search for, download and delete personal data stored by Facebook.

Facebook said a new privacy shortcuts menu will allow users to quickly increase account security, manage who can see their information and activity on the site and control advertisements they see.

“We’ve heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed,” chief privacy officer Erin Egan and deputy general counsel Ashlie Beringer said in a blog post.

“We’re taking additional steps in the coming weeks to put people more in control of their privacy.”

The new features follow fierce criticism after it was revealed millions of Facebook users’ personal data was harvested by a British firm linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign — although Facebook said the changes have been “in the works for some time.”

Earlier this month, whistleblower Christopher Wylie revealed political consulting company Cambridge Analytica obtained profiles on 50 million Facebook users via an academic researcher’s personality prediction app.

The app was downloaded by 270,000 people, but also scooped up their friends’ data without consent — as was possible under Facebook’s rules at the time.

Egan and Beringer also announced updates to Facebook’s terms of service and data policy to improve transparency about how the site collects and uses data.

Deepening tech crisis
Facebook’s move comes as authorities around the globe investigate how Facebook handles and shares private data, and with its shares have tumbled more than 15 percent, wiping out tens of billions in market value.

The crisis also threatens the Silicon Valley tech industry whose business model revolves around data collected on internet users.

On Tuesday, tech shares led a broad slump on Wall Street, with an index of key tech stocks losing nearly six percent.

The US Federal Trade Commission this week said it had launched a probe into whether the social network violated consumer protection laws or a 2011 court-approved agreement on protecting private user data.

US lawmakers were seeking to haul Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Washington to testify on the matter.

Authorities in Britain have seized data from Cambridge Analytica in their investigation, and EU officials have warned of consequences for Facebook.

Facebook has apologized for the misappropriation of data and vowed to fix the problem.

Facebook took out full-page ads in nine major British and US newspapers on Sunday to apologize to users.

“We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t we don’t deserve it,” Zuckerberg said in the ads.

AFP