Thứ Hai, 3 tháng 10, 2016
At last, there's another place to sell items to strangers on the internet. Facebook debuted a new "Marketplace" for its iOS and Android apps Monday, allowing users to buy and sell items via a new tab at the bottom of their News Feed. Marketplace will let you make offers for items, but no money is directly exchanged on Facebook's platform, product manager Mary Ku told Mashable in an interview about the feature. "We're facilitating the connection between buyer and seller, and then they can figure out how to do the transaction themselves," Ku said. This is Facebook's take on Craigslist, in other words. You'll see items from people in your area, offer them money and figure out the details later. That's a clear distinction from sites like Etsy or eBay, which are glutted with businesses and directly facilitate transactions via credit card or PayPal — if all goes well, you never have to talk to a person to get your item. Not so with Facebook's Marketplace. It's pretty straightforward: Hit the new Marketplace tab at the bottom of your screen and you'll be taken to a page with listings in your area. You can search according to keywords or categories, and you can also broaden your query to include different cities. Once you've found something you want, you can message the seller directly or tap into their public profile — the same one they use to interact with friends — to make sure they seem legit. Image: facebook You'll have to come to reach an agreement with the seller about how you complete the transaction. Maybe you pop over to their apartment, pick up the basket of Beanie Babies and Venmo them a few bucks. Or perhaps you settle on a cash-for-cat-toys situation. Facebook doesn't care how you pay, which makes a lot of sense: In order for people to use Marketplace over an established service, it needs to be easy — no fussing over shipping fees, taxes, linked credit cards and so on. Selling an item is simple, too: Just hit the "Sell" button, snap a picture and fill out some details. Ku told Mashable that Marketplace will only work for people ages 18 and up, and it's only available in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand for now. While Facebook made headlines earlier this year with the introduction of chat bots — automated assistants that can help you order food and flowers via Messenger — Ku characterized Marketplace as by humans, for humans. Businesses will not be able to target individuals based on how they use the feature "We've seen a lot of people organically discover products on Facebook," she said. "We're building on top of that." There are no ads within Marketplace, a representative for Facebook told Mashable, and businesses will not be able to target individuals based on how they use the feature. People will be able to report items that violate Facebook's terms (no guns allowed) and listings will be monitored by Facebook staff — though the company wouldn't say if there's an automated process in place to catch forbidden goods. Facebook started testing this iteration of Marketplace earlier this year, but the feature actually made its debut in 2007. At the time, users could use Facebook's desktop version to create their own classified ads. You might recall seeing your friends try to unload their used textbooks at the end of each semester. Facebook also claims that 450 million people already buy and sell items each month via its online groups. The social network just wants "to make this easy and accessible," Ku said.How it works
Not automated — yet
A new take on an old concept
Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 9, 2016
Instagram is great for a lot of things — but storing high-quality photographs isn't one of them. No matter how gorgeous a filtered image looks in your feed, you'll notice a lot of flaws if you zoom in. That's because the popular social network heavily compresses posts to make everything load faster in your app. That's good news for most, since it makes Instagram boot up quicker and means less waiting around for new content as you scroll deeper into your feed. Most users who just want to look at pretty pictures on their phone probably don't care that they can't see every little high-def wrinkle on their friend's grandpa or Shar-Pei. But you shouldn't rely on Instagram to preserve your memories if, say, you want to clear space on your device. Store your photos elsewhere using a service like Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, where they can be re-downloaded in all their high-res glory. Once they're uploaded to a service that will maintain their full size and resolution, delete them from your phone. Let's quickly look at a photograph I took wth my Samsung Galaxy Note 5 during a trip to Milan, Italy. To see how much Instagram compressed my shot, I visited the web version of my post. Note that I edited the shot before I uploaded using Instagram's built-in tools, though I didn't apply a filter. You can probably already tell that something's up with the image quality: The wooden slats on the side of the building look wobbly or pixelated. It looked fine on my smartphone screen, though. Digging in a bit deeper, I viewed the page source of the Instagram page, tracked down the relevant, compressed JPG image and saved it to my local hard drive — a fussy way of saying I downloaded the Insta to my computer. I zoomed in just a bit on it, and things weren't pretty: Image: Damon Beres/mashable As you might expect, the file size of this image was also much smaller than the original photograph — suggesting lower quality. Meanwhile, the detail is a lot crisper in the full-resolution photograph: You might say: "Jeez dude, is it really worth stressing over something you really only notice when you zoom in?" I'd say don't stress — life is short! — but definitely think about it. We don't know what kind of awesome screens we'll be working with in a few years, and tiny differences in photo quality could stand out. Even now, you might appreciate having access to the highest quality version of your photos — for projecting your vacation albums, setting a ridiculously beautiful desktop background, wallpapering your baby's room with printouts of your safari, or whatever. The lesson: Share your photos on Instagram. Just don't back them up there.What's the difference, really?
Thứ Tư, 10 tháng 8, 2016
Facebook is making its 360-degree videos more immersive and easier to navigate. The social network introduced a new "guide" feature that allows users to highlight specific portions of the video before posting it. The feature launched alongside a bigger update to Facebook's publisher tools, which included a set of new features that allow page owners to see more detailed stats around how their readers are interacting with their video content. The new guide feature for 360-degree videos, which you can see in action in the video below, is meant to make it easier for people viewing the clips to find the most interesting parts. Unlike viewing in a 360-degree video in a headset, watching the spherical clips on the web may be less intuitive for users. With the new tool, anyone who posts a 360 video on Facebook can identify the specific parts of the clip they want to direct users to during the video. When the guide — indicated by a circular symbol on the right side of the video — is enabled, the video will automatically move to preset areas of the clip. The feature is enabled by default, but users can also opt out if they prefer to "steer" the video themselves. Facebook is also providing a new analytics tool called Heatmap for 360-degree videos that have more than 50,000 views. Heatmap tracks which parts of a 360 video have been watched the most and provides a visualization that shows the "hottest" parts of a clip 360 video aside, Facebook is also giving publishers new analytics tools that offer a much more comprehensive look at who is watching their video content, and how they are interacting with it. A new audience demographic dashboard will show minutes viewed broken down by age, location and gender for any given video. Facebook's audience insights provide demographics for video views. Image: Facebook Additionally, page owners will be able to keep tabs on whether video views came directly from their own post or from another page or user sharing it. Facebook is also proving new analytics specifically for live video, with tools that track which moments in a live video garnered the most comments, reactions and likes. Image: Facebook Some of these video metrics may sound a little creepy. That Facebook knows exactly where, when and how users are consuming video (like other insights the company provides, it tracks these stats in aggregate) may be off-putting to some. But it fits in nicely with Facebook's goal of a video-dominant network. And as Facebook continues that push into video, tools like these will be increasingly important to the network's publishers looking to gain favor with the site's ever-changing News Feed algorithm. The company already has deals with many media companies (including Mashable) to pay them to produce live broadcasts, and in March, the company announced it would rank live videos higher in News Feed. More recently, Facebook revealed it would begin experimenting with commercial breaks during live broadcasts. But if Facebook (and its media partners) hope to make serious money off their burgeoning video business, they'll need a much better understanding of how users are consuming video content.
Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 6, 2016
Facebook wants you to take a look around. As it announced in May, Facebook is now rolling out support for 360 photos in the News Feed, allowing users to view as well as upload pictures taken with 360-degree cameras on both desktop and mobile. Just like with 360 videos hosted on Facebook, desktop users can click and drag 360 photos to see different parts of the photo while mobile users can swipe the photos or tilt their phones. Most people don't have a 360-degree camera (at least not yet) so most 360 photos will likely come from panoramic shots taken with iOS and Samsung Galaxy phones. There are also 360-degree photo apps like Google's Photo Sphere, which allow you to easily take 360 photos with your phones. You upload a 360 photo to Facebook just like you would with any other photo. Just tap "Photo/Video" above the "What's on your mind?" box and select the 360 photo. They'll appear on the News Feed just like a normal photo but with a small compass icon in the corner, signifying that you can explore the photo further. If you have a phone that supports the Samsung Gear VR (i.e. a recent Samsung phone), you'll see an icon for viewing the photos with the headset. Other smartphone users are out of luck, since Facebook doesn't support other headsets, such as Google Cardboard, ostensibly because of Samsung's partnership with Facebook-owned Oculus VR. Facebook is one of the first major services to host 360 media. Google-owned YouTube, notably, supports 360-degree video, and Yahoo's Flickr has a Flickr VR app for viewing 360 photos with a VR headset. The big tech companies are also racing to complete the other side of the equation: 360 content creation. Facebook announced a 360 video camera at its developer conference, Google has its Jump platform, and Samsung recently released the Gear 360 ball-shaped camera. If the phenomenon goes mainstream, we may soon be saying goodbye to selfie sticks, and hello to 360 cameras. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Thứ Sáu, 6 tháng 5, 2016
Whether you're looking for parenting tips or the best new restaurants in your neighborhood, Facebook Groups is useful for finding virtual communities around various topics. Now Facebook is testing a dedicated "Discover" feature within the Groups section, making it easier to join conversations. A new tab will let you browse public and closed Facebook Groups by category, including Groups your friends are in and local Groups. You can see what's gaining traction in your circle, and in your city. As a randomly-selected Facebook user in the test group, I can confirm the Discover feature is easy and intuitive to use. Indeed, it's a surprise it's taken this long to roll out something like this. But the effort makes sense: it's not unlike Twitter and Instagram's new discovery efforts. Discover offers 25 different categories such as parenting, sports, food, buy & sell, networking, animals & pets, hobby & leisure, support & comfort and travel. Each topic page highlights the top suggested Groups based on popularity and who you may already know that's a member. Previously, you'd have to type keywords into the search bar to find related Groups or wait until you were invited to join one by a friend. While only a select group of people have the feature right now, Facebook told Mashable it will roll out more broadly in the near future. Beyond Facebook's news feed, Groups is the most-used feature within the app. About one billion people use Groups each month. Video: Rill Causey, Phil Nolan, Sam Sheffer, Tyler TronsonBonus: Here's how you unlock the secret emoticon keyboard on your iPhone
In an emotional 1,100-word Facebook post published Friday, Sheryl Sandberg reflected on her first year as a widow and single mother. The Facebook COO, who lost her husband Dave Goldberg in May 2015, describes a "new and unfamiliar world" of trying to succeed at work without a partner at home, struggling to comfort her grieving children and regularly encountering reminders, like father-daughter dances, that her family will never be the same. "Before, I did not quite get it. I did not really get how hard it is to succeed at work when you are overwhelmed at home," Sandberg writes in her post. "I did not understand how often I would look at my son’s or daughter’s crying face and not know how to stop the tears. How often situations would come up that Dave and I had never talked about and that I did not know how to handle on my own." While the post was deeply personal, Sandberg devoted much of it to honoring single mothers and describing the challenges they face. "For many single mothers, this is the only world they know," Sandberg writes. "Each and every day they make sacrifices, push through barriers, and nurture beautiful families despite the demands on their time and energy." Sandberg, who authored the 2013 bestselling book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, even gave credit to critics who said she didn't fully understand or account for the choices single mothers must make when trying to tend to their children and excel at work. She writes: In Lean In, I emphasized how critical a loving and supportive partner can be for women both professionally and personally—and how important Dave was to my career and to our children’s development. I still believe this. Some people felt that I did not spend enough time writing about the difficulties women face when they have an unsupportive partner or no partner at all. They were right. Sandberg, however, didn't stop there. She marshaled statistics to illustrate the tough odds single mothers labor against, including the fact that 35% of them experience food insecurity and 46% of families headed by black and Hispanic single mothers live in poverty. "Single moms have been leaning in for a long time." Sandberg highlights the story of one San Jose, California, mother who works two jobs and must choose between groceries and paying her cell phone bill. Both are essential, she writes, because without the phone, her son won't be able to call his mother at her second job to say he's arrived home after traveling through their unsafe neighborhood. "Single moms have been leaning in for a long time—out of necessity and a desire to provide the best possible opportunities for their children," Sandberg writes. She criticizes the American stance on issues like paid parental and sick leave as leaving families to "fend for themselves" and concludes the post with a call to "rethink our public and corporate workforce policies and broaden our understanding of what a family is and looks like." Sandberg's strong convictions and empathetic approach will likely quiet some of her critics, particularly if she continues to advocate for all single mothers and their families — and she seems poised to do just that. "We need to understand that it takes a community to raise children and that so many of our single mothers need and deserve a much more supportive community than we give them," she writes. "We owe it to them and to their children to do better." Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Thứ Ba, 3 tháng 5, 2016
Twitter is trying to fix its discovery problem — again. The company is adding a new section to its iOS and Android app that will provide users with personalized recommendations for accounts they should follow. The update appears in the top left corner of the app, where the "find people" tab has been renamed to "Connect." The Connect tab (not to be confused with the notifications tab that was previously called connect) now provides much more robust follow suggestions than previous versions of the app. The section takes factors like who you're already following and your previous activity into account in making its recommendations. It also explains why it's making each suggestion. Twitter says it expects these recommendations to improve over time as it tweaks its method. Additionally, the update also allows you to sync Twitter with your contact list so you can get notifications when people you know sign up. Writing in a blog post Tuesday, "finding new accounts to follow used to require jumping through a few hoops and a dash of luck," Twitter seems to be hoping the update will help address the network's oft-cited discoverability problem. New users often have a difficult time finding relevant accounts to follow, which has been making it hard for the network to attract and hang onto new users, critics say. Though the Connect tab hardly seems a big enough change to silence Twitter's more vocal critics, it's certainly an improvement over the previous "find people" section and the recommendations do seem to be a bit more relevant. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
First there was YouTube stars, then came Vine fame. Now, the new wave of Internet-born celebrity is by way of Facebook Live. While a lot of big brands and publishers are focused on creating content for Facebook’s livestreaming platform, some of the best broadcasts we’ve seen are made by regular people. SEE ALSO: Facebook Live is the next big thing in media — after the last big thing (and the thing before that) Whether it’s a lifestyle blogger sharing style tips or a World Champion bodyboarder taking you inside waves in real time, Facebook Live is emerging as the hot new platform for users to show what's happening in their world. We’ve seen some pretty important broadcasts around job training workshops and events for Syrian refugees, too. Let’s take a look at some of the most compelling Facebook Live storytellers headed toward web-celeb fame: There’s something mesmerizing about watching Dallas-based tattoo artist Liz Cook, 33, ink customers in real time on Facebook Live. With more than 1 million followers, it’s impossible not to be entranced by her live tattooing sessions, which range in creativity from an intricate lion to a portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Her Facebook Live videos bring in tens of thousands of views each time. Who doesn't want to take a break from the workday to watch some adorable pups? The small pet goods e-commerce startup puts dogs in the spotlight as a part of a larger effort to get them adopted. While Barkbox teams up with local shelters to introduce them to its Facebook followers, the real stars, of course, are the dogs themselves — like this 11-week old puppy named Luc playing with tennis balls in the video above. Brian Barcyzyk isn't exactly a nobody — you may recognize him from Discovery Channel's show Venom Hunters. His job is to find, capture and extract venom from all types of snake species. Once a week, he'll take you behind the scenes of his fascinating work on Facebook Live. You'll squirm, you'll gasp, you won't want to look away. Baking blogger Kara Andretta goes live on her Kara's Couture Cakes Facebook page to walk fans through creative baking recipes and tutorials. She teases upcoming "bake along" broadcasts too, so you can make pastries and cakes with her in real time. She's as charming as the food looks delicious. We can only assume the life of a Broadway producer is pretty fabulous, and Jordan Roth proves this theory correct. Roth is the president and majority owner of Jujamcyn Theaters, which presents some of the most popular musicals and plays on Broadway right now, including The Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys and Kinky Boots. You never quite know what to expect from his broadcasts: he takes you to VIP-only spots that often feature surprise cameos and musical performances. Learning to code is one of the biggest trends in tech, and startup founders Melissa and Lavanya Jawaharlal want to help. The duo behind Stem Center USA, a robotics company that teaches kids to code, were most recently featured (and funded) on Shark Tank. But to bring more attention to the brand, the Jawaharials use Facebook Live to teach people how to code, program and work with their students at their Claremont, Calif-based creativity center. Full-time blogger Holly Homer runs Kids Activities Blog and the Quirky Momma Facebook page, which has a dedicated fan base of more than 2.4 million followers. Homer discusses a variety of parenting topics (like how to keep hair healthy after giving birth), DIY crafting tips from guests (as seen above) and answers questions from viewers. Oklahoma-based newscaster Val Castor from local news station News9 takes his wife — and Facebook followers — on storm chases. The footage is fascinating (and terrifying), and his play-by-play of what you're seeing keeps you on the edge of your seat. Castor isn't the only storm chaser gaining traction on Facebook Live: James Spann, a scientist and meteorologist in Alabama, brings his followers weather updates from the South ahead of big storms. Lee Jeffries is a performance artist known for his hula hoops routines. While his reach isn't as large as some of the other Facebook Live users on this list, he gives hula-hooping tutorials and preps for workshops he holds around the country. If you need a breather, there's nothing a little hula hoop choreography set to pop songs to your day. It's not everyday you can go bodyboarding in real time from the comforts of your computer chair. 51-year-old Mike Stewart, a nine-time World Champion bodyboarder, takes you inside the waves from competitions. His broadcasts are invigorating, but you can't help but feel exhausted after he takes you along for a ride. Most recently, he did a Facebook Live broadcast at Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii — a competition he's won 11 times. Mashable illustrator Bob Al-Greene hosts Bob Draws every Friday afternoon, drawing fun pop-culture mashups like this bionic panda version of Ted Cruz. Previous masterworks include Lego Beyonce and Adele riding a hoverboard. Besides Bob's obvious talent and humor, what makes the show special is the wild-card factor — he takes the best suggestions directly from commenters on what to draw and makes them all too real. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.1. Liz Cook, tattoo artist
2. Barkbox, pet goods company
3. Brian Barczyk, Venom Hunter
4. Kara Andretta, baking blogger
5. Jordan Roth, Broadway producer
6. Melissa and Lavanya Jawaharlal, robotics company founders
7. Holly Homer, family lifestyle blogger
8. Val Castor, storm chaser
9. Lee Jeffries, performance artist
10. Mike Stewart, bodyboarding champion
BONUS: Bob Draws, Mashable illustrator
Thứ Ba, 26 tháng 4, 2016
Look out, Internet. The new Peach has arrived — and we have Taylor Swift to thank. A new text messaging app called Talkshow became the buzzy new social platform du jour on Tuesday for its quirky concept: it’s like “texting in public.” The iOS-only app lets users host message-based “Talkshows” about various topics, from sports and politics to TV and music. People notify followers when a Talkshow is live, encouraging anyone who’s watching to send messages, post reactions and GIFs or even join in as a co-host. It’s like Periscope for texting. SEE ALSO: How apps like Peach go viral Founder Michael Sippey said in a blog post that the concept is inspired by a conversation posted online of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. “People have been screenshotting texts and posting them on the web for years, but it was this Instagram pic Taylor Swift posted of a conversation with Ed Sheeran that pushed me toward Talkshow,” he said. Talkshow, it seems, is like if Twitter and Viber had a baby (but kept dropping it on its head) — Jessica Plautz (@jessicaplautz) April 26, 2016 “This little exchange is funny, it’s personal, and even though Tay and Ed are multi-platinum superstars, their conversation is relatable. Why? Because everybody texts! And everybody texts about everything: sports, TV, politics, Beyonce’s Lemonade, Damn Daniel, or what they’re eating for dinner. I wanted to create Talkshow to give people a platform to share these conversations in front of an audience.” Image: Talkshow It’s like Periscope for texting. After attracting significant attention on Twitter, the app became extremely buggy, with many unable to open the app after downloading. People can view the public text messaging conversations in real time or after a Talkshow has wrapped; it can also be shared outside the app and embedded on other sites. Hey folks, we’re seeing the crash reports and are working to resolve ASAP. Sorry! — Talkshow (@talkshow) April 26, 2016 After downloading the app, you can find friends on the app via Twitter, Facebook or your email contacts. To kick off a show, you pick your host (or host alone), select a title and an alert will be pushed out to followers. It’s also possible to discover live Talkshows from the app’s homescreen and chime in. And if you feel compelled to jump in as a co-host, you can send a request to do so. but can you still subtweet people on talkshow? — Brian De Los Santos (@B_Delos) April 26, 2016 While you may roll your eyes at the concept — do we really need another social app? — and let’s be honest, Peach was all hype and not much more — this is actually something that could take off. @sippey i WANT to use talkshow but it crashes every time I open it :/ — Heath W. Black (@heathwblack) April 26, 2016 That is, if the app doesn’t keep crashing. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Thứ Hai, 25 tháng 4, 2016
Facebook may be working on yet another Snapchat clone. The social network is developing a standalone camera app meant to "encourage its 1.6 billion users to create, and share, more photos and videos," according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal. The report, which credits unnamed sources familiar with Facebook's plans, says the app is being created by a team in London and is "similar" to Snapchat. The unnamed app reportedly launches on the camera — like Snapchat — and will reportedly integrate with Instagram and other Facebook-owned apps. It will also allow users to share live streamed video back to Facebook, according to the report. A representative for Facebook declined to comment on the report. The company is also rumored to be working on a standalone app for 360-degree videos. If the new camera app launches — and it's not clear that it will — it would be far from the first time Facebook has attempted to make its own Snapchat-like camera app. Here's a brief look at all the times the company has tried (and failed) to release a camera app: 2012: Facebook Camera — An Instagram-like photo sharing app released just weeks after it announced its Instagram acquisition 2012: Facebook Poke — Its first attempt at a straight-up Snapchat clone, Poke was released in 2012 but failed to gain traction, it was pulled from the App Store in 2014 2014: Slingshot — Another disappearing messaging app that failed to take off despite the fact that it didn't require a Facebook account to use. Facebook pulled the app in 2015. 2014: Bolt — An experimental app from the Instagram team, Bolt was first launched in New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa but never made it to the U.S. It was pulled in 2015. 2015: Riff — Another app from Facebook's now defunct Creative Labs team, Riff was premised on groups of friends sharing and remixing video clips. It was pulled later that year. Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
