TheNewsGuru

Tag: Facebook

  • Moving to Snapchat: Why younger social media users are dumping Facebook

    Wanting to avoid prying eyes of parents and grandparents, younger generation of social media users are now dumping Facebook and moving to not-too-friendly-to-older-age-groups Snapchat.

    According to eMarketer’s latest forecast on social network usage, Facebook is losing younger users at an even faster pace than previously expected, and while the social media platform was able to count on Instagram to retain that younger audience in the past, Snapchat may now be siphoning away more users.

    “This year, for the first time, less than half of US internet users ages 12 to 17 will use Facebook via any device at least once per month.

    “Facebook is still adding monthly users overall, but older age groups are mainly responsible for this. The number of total Facebook users in the US will reach 169.5 million this year, up just under 1% from 2017.

    “Meanwhile, Facebook’s proportion of social network users accessing the platform will continue to decline over the forecast period,” eMarketer report read.

    According to the report, the number of US Facebook users ages 11 and younger will decline by 9.3% in 2018.

    “Additionally, the number of users ages 12 to 17 and 18 to 24 will decrease by 5.6% and 5.8%, respectively.

    “Facebook will lose 2 million users ages 24 and younger this year, eMarketer estimates. But not all of those users are migrating to Instagram.

    “For example, eMarketer predicts Instagram will add 1.6 million users ages 24 and younger. Snapchat, meanwhile, will add 1.9 million users in that age group.

    “Snapchat will continue to have more users ages 12 to 24 compared with that of Instagram.

    “However, Instagram overall is still bigger in the US than Snapchat. The number of Instagram users will total 104.7 million in 2018, up 13.1% year over year. Snapchat, meanwhile, will see its user base increase by 9.3% to 86.5 million,” the report further read.

    Meanwhile, according to eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho, “Snapchat could eventually experience more growth in older age groups, since it’s redesigning its platform to be easier to use”.

    “The question will be whether younger users will still find Snapchat cool if more of their parents and grandparents are on it. That’s the predicament Facebook is in,” he added.

     

  • Pichai announces Google’s AI research centre for France after meeting Macron

    Following a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Google’s chief executive Sundar Pichai on Monday, the tech giant has announced it will open a research centre in Paris devoted to artificial intelligence.

    “The different achievements in this country, including in science, art and the academic field, make it an ideal place for the creation of a centre of theoretical research in artificial intelligence,” Pichai said in a statement.

    The announcement came as Macron welcomed 140 multinational business leaders to Versailles in Paris on Monday night, ahead of the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.

    Google said it will extend its headquarters in the capital to accommodate the centre — the third to open worldwide, after California and Switzerland.

    The number of staff in Paris is set to increase from 700 to 1,000.

    Facebook earlier announced its intention to double the number of researchers at its own AI centre, opened in Paris in 2015, from 30 to 60.

    The social media giant will also invest EUR 10 million by 2022 to “accelerate artificial intelligence” in France.

    The announcements “signal the competitiveness of France” in the growing sector, the Elysee Palace said in a statement.

    Both companies intend to open programmes in France to help train tens of thousands of people in digital skills.

     

  • Facebook says it can’t guarantee social media is good for democracy

    Facebook says it can’t guarantee social media is good for democracy

    Facebook Inc warned on Monday that it could offer no assurance that social media was on balance good for democracy.

    The company, however, said it was trying what it could to stop alleged meddling in elections by Russia or anyone else.

    The sharing of false or misleading headlines on social media has become a global issue, after accusations that Russia tried to influence votes in the United States, Britain and France.

    Moscow denies the allegations.

    Facebook, the largest social network with more than two billion users, addressed social media’s role in democracy in blog posts from a Harvard University professor, Cass Sunstein, and from an employee working on the subject.

    “I wish I could guarantee that the positives are destined to outweigh the negatives, but I can‘t,” Samidh Chakrabarti, a Facebook product manager, wrote in his post.

    Facebook, he added, has a “moral duty to understand how these technologies are being used and what can be done to make communities like Facebook as representative, civil and trustworthy as possible.”

    Contrite Facebook executives were already fanning out across Europe this week to address the company’s slow response to abuses on its platform, such as hate speech and foreign influence campaigns.

    U.S. lawmakers have held hearings on the role of social media in elections, and this month Facebook widened an investigation into the run-up to Britain’s 2016 referendum on EU membership.

    Chakrabarti expressed Facebook’s regrets about the 2016 U.S. elections, when according to the company Russian agents created 80,000 posts that reached around 126 million people over two years.

    The company should have done better, he wrote, and he said Facebook was making up for lost time by disabling suspect accounts, making election ads visible beyond the targeted audience and requiring those running election ads to confirm their identities.

    Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google and YouTube have announced similar attempts at self-regulation.

    Chakrabarti said Facebook had helped democracy in ways, such as getting more Americans to register to vote.

    Sunstein, a law professor and Facebook consultant who also worked in the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama, said in a blog post that social media was a work in progress and that companies would need to experiment with changes to improve.

    Another test of social media’s role in elections lies ahead in March, when Italy votes in a national election already marked by claims of fake news spreading on Facebook.

     

  • After Nigeria, Brazil, Facebook to open digital training hubs in Europe

    Facebook on Monday said it would open three digital training hubs in Europe to train people in digital skills.

    The social media giant said it was committed to training one million people over the next two years as part of its drive to show its contribution to the bloc.

    The U.S. company – which has faced regulatory pressure in Europe over issues ranging from privacy to antitrust – said it would open three “community skills hubs” in Spain, Poland and Italy.

    It said it would also invest 10 million euros (12.2 million dollars) in France through its artificial intelligence research facility.

    “People are worried that the digital revolution is leaving people behind and we want to make sure that we’re investing in digital skills to get people the skills they need to fully participate in the digital economy,” Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, told Reuters.

    “The community hubs will offer training in digital skills, media literacy and online safety to groups with limited access to technology, including old people, the young and refugees,’’ she said.

    Facebook said this in view of its commitment to train one million people and business owners by 2020.

    “Absolutely, we want to make sure that people see that we are investing locally, we’re investing in technology, we’re investing in humans,” Sandberg said.

    Facebook’s move comes as EU states discuss proposals to raise the tax bill of tech multinationals after pressure from large states that accuse firms like Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook of slashing their tax bills by re-routing their EU profits to low-tax countries such as Luxembourg and Ireland.

    Smaller EU countries like Luxembourg or Malta argued that a solo EU move on corporate tax reform would damage its economy and favour competitors.

    EU states could have lost 5.4 billion euros in tax revenues from Google and Facebook between 2013 and 2015, according to a report by an EU lawmaker last year.

    Facebook executives are fanning out across Europe this week to address the social media giant’s slow response to abuses on its platform, seeking to avoid further legislation along the lines of a new hate speech law in Germany it says goes too far.

    Through its Community Boost EU programme, Facebook will work with small businesses and start-ups to help them grow and hire.

    It said it would conduct in-person training for 100,000 small- and medium-sized businesses by 2020 and online training for 250,000 businesses.

    “What we’re finding is when small businesses use technology, when small businesses use Facebook, they hire,” Sandberg said.

    The European Union’s executive has stressed the need to boost Europeans’ digital skills to help bring down unemployment and enable Europe to create its own digital giant.

    Facebook has opened similar centres in countries such as Nigeria and Brazil among others.

     

  • EU threatens online platforms with tougher rules on illegal content

    EU threatens online platforms with tougher rules on illegal content

    The European Commission has called on social media platforms to crack down on hate speech, terrorist propaganda and other illegal content, warning that rules may be toughened if the industry fails to regulate itself.

    EU Security Commissioner Julian King said on Monday, after a meeting that included representatives of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

    “Illegal terrorist content online has incited too many attacks.

    “Today we discussed, with industry, the need for faster action. If possible on a voluntary basis, but if necessary, we’ll look at further steps,’’ King said.

    According to European Commission Vice President Andrus Ansip, if platforms will not act proactively, legislators will.

    Internet regulation is a hot topic in Germany, where a new law compelling online giants to remove hate speech, fake news and other illegal posts has come under fire from both the media industry and political leaders.

    The commission, the EU’s executive, warned ahead of Tuesday’s meeting that greater efforts are required to remove illegal internet content.

    “Even if tens of thousands of pieces of illegal content have been taken down, there are still hundreds of thousands more out there.

    “Also removal needs to be speedy: the longer illegal material stays online, the greater its reach,’’ King, Ansip and three other commissioners said in a joint statement.

    In May 2016, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft agreed with the commission on a code of conduct aimed at cracking down on illegal hate speech.

    A review of its effectiveness is due to be published later this month.

     

  • Revealed! Trust, familiarity indices to determine news ranking on Facebook

    In order to make Facebook more fun and less frustrating, the social media giant has announced it will use the indices of users who trust a news source against those who are familiar with it, to determine news ranking on the platform.

    This is contained in separate releases published Facebook Head of News Feed, Adam Mosseri, and Facebook founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, in efforts to make sure the time people spend on Facebook is time well spent.

    In what seems to be Facebook’s manifesto for 2018, Zuckerberg had said the topnotch social media firm “has a lot of work to do” in the New Year, and that Facebook plans major changes to news feed from media and businesses to focus on personal interactions.

    “Last week I announced a major change to encourage meaningful social interactions with family and friends over passive consumption.

    “Today I’m sharing our second major update this year: to make sure the news you see, while less overall, is high quality.

    “I’ve asked our product teams to make sure we prioritize news that is trustworthy, informative, and local. And we’re starting next week with trusted sources.

    “We decided that having the community determine which sources are broadly trusted would be most objective.

    “We will now ask people whether they’re familiar with a news source and, if so, whether they trust that source.

    “We eliminate from the sample those who aren’t familiar with a source, so the output is a ratio of those who trust the source to those who are familiar with it,” Zuckerberg said.

    Mosseri in a blog post said, “In 2018, we will prioritize: news from publications that the community rates as trustworthy, news that people find informative and news that is relevant to people’s local community”.

    Facebook users have complained that the platform is becoming less fun and more frustrating.

    “I just wish Facebook would work like it used to. I frequently cannot see things I have posted. I do not get current post from friends. I will check something out and when I go back, I am receiving notifications from days or even weeks earlier.

    “I get ads from places I have absolutely no interest in. I have reset my preferences regularly and it does not help. I have other family members and friends who are having the same issues. Facebook has stopped being fun and is now frustrating,” one Facebook user lamented.

    Zuckerberg has said all of these, and others would change.

    “There’s too much sensationalism, misinformation and polarization in the world today. Social media enables people to spread information faster than ever before, and if we don’t specifically tackle these problems, then we end up amplifying them,” he expressly stated.

    “This update will not change the amount of news you see on Facebook. It will only shift the balance of news you see towards sources that are determined to be trusted by the community.

    “My hope is that this update about trusted news and last week’s update about meaningful interactions will help make time on Facebook time well spent,” he further stated.

     

  • Mark Zuckerberg just added new friend to Facebook’s board

    Facebook founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Zuckerberg, just announced American Express outgoing CEO, Kenneth Chenault, has joined the social media platform’s Board of Directors.

    Zuckerberg made this known in a statement yesterday stressing he had been trying to get Kenneth into the Facebook’s board for years.

    “I’m excited to announce that Kenneth Chenault, the outgoing CEO of American Express, has agreed to join Facebook’s Board of Directors,” said Zuck, adding “I’ve been trying to recruit Ken for years”.

    Speaking on the prowess of Ken, Zuck said “He has unique expertise in areas I believe Facebook needs to learn and improve — customer service, direct commerce, and building a trusted brand”.

    He also said Ken has a strong sense of social mission and the perspective that comes from running an important public company for decades.

    “Adding someone to our board is one of the most important decisions our board makes.

    “It’s a long process that I take very seriously since this is the group that ultimately governs Facebook.

    “Ken and I have had dinners discussing our mission and strategy for years, and he has already helped me think through some of the bigger issues I’m hoping we take on this year.

    “Welcome Ken, and I’m looking forward to working with you on our board!” Zuck said.

    In his comments, Ken said, “I’m delighted to join the board and look forward to working with Mark and the other directors as Facebook continues to build communities that help bring people closer to friends, family and the world around them”.

    Mr. Chenault has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Express Company since April 2001.

    He joined American Express in 1981 and was named President of the US division of American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. in 1993; Vice Chairman of American Express Company in 1995; President and Chief Operating Officer in 1997; and Chief Executive Officer in January 2001.

    The new Facebook director holds a B.A. in history from Bowdoin College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

    He serves on the Boards of IBM, The Procter & Gamble Company, the Harvard Corporation and numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the Smithsonian Institution’s Advisory Council for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. He is also a member of the Business Council.

    Aside from Mr. Chenault, Facebook’s current board members are: Mark Zuckerberg; Marc L. Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz; Erskine B. Bowles, president emeritus, University of North Carolina; Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann, CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO, Netflix; Jan Koum, founder and CEO, WhatsApp; Sheryl K. Sandberg, chief operating officer, Facebook; and Peter A. Thiel, Founders Fund.

    TheNewsGuru reports his appointment is effective February 5, 2018.

     

  • Son takes mother to court over Facebook posts

    A mother (not real photo) will have to pay a 10,000 euro (£9,000) fine if she posts pictures of her son on Facebook without his consent, after a court in Rome ruled in his favor.

    The 16-year-old, whose parents were getting a divorce, raised the issue during divorce proceedings involving his parents. The teenager was featured by his mother in some photos on social media and judges ruled that the boy could lawfully request the removal of all his photos posted by his mother from the social media site.

    Under Italian law, the subject of the photo owns the copyright, rather than the person who took the picture, as is the case in the UK. As a result, they made an order in December for the mother to remove photos and videos of the boy or face a fine. She will also have to pay her son if she posts new images of him.

    Privacy and copyright laws vary from nation to nation. In France, anyone convicted of publishing and distributing images of another person without their consent can face a fine of 45,000 euros (£40,000) and up to a year in prison. In 2016, French police urged parents to avoid posting photos of their children on social media. They said the images could infringe on their privacy and security.

    Culled from Dailymail

    Photo Credit: LDS.org.

  • Facebook love! Nigerian who placed marriage advert on Facebook marries ‘applicant’

    Love can be found anywhere, even on Facebook. This is the story of Chidimma Amedu, a Nigerian who put up a post on his Facebook page, asking any lady interested in being his wife to reach him.

    According to the post dated December 30, Amedu stated that interested ladies should send in their applications, giving them a deadline of less than 48 hours.

     

    He wrote “Am of age to and I am ready to say I do and am wasting no time,” he wrote.

    “Send in your applications – the most qualified will be married on January 6, 2018. Application closes 12 midnight, 31/12/2017″.

     

     

     

    Amazingly, beautiful and courageous Sophy Ijeoma replied Amedu’s post saying, “Am serious about this oh and don’t say you did not see it on time. Good luck”.

    The duo had a chat via Facebook call, after which he left Abuja to pay her a visit in Enugu where she lives.

     

    Love hasn’t been good to Amedu, as he had been engaged to another woman but their relationship crashed.

     

    According to him:”I had the desire to get married, I had a date in mind, but no bride, so I decided to place an advert as a joke, but I was open and up for it,” he said in an interview with BBC

    The couple had their traditional wedding on January 6, while the church wedding is expected to hold in April.

  • Facebook set to change news feed focus

    Facebook plans major changes to news feed from media and businesses to focus on personal interactions, which may lead to people spending less time on the website, its CEO said.

    “As we roll this out, you’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media.

    “The public content you see more will be held to the same standard — it should encourage meaningful interactions between people,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote.

    The chief executive said the Facebook community has complained of a hike in the numbers of public posts on the social network in the past two years, which has been “crowding out” the personal moments.

    It would take months to introduce the changes, Zuckerberg said in the post, adding he expected people to spend less time on Facebook and some other types of engagement to go down.

    The end result, he said, will likely be good for the business in the long term.