At long last, Facebook has removed the veil from its highly anticipated “Dislike” button — only it’s not quite that simple. The social network revealed a set of six emojis to go along with the traditional thumbs-up: a heart for “love,” then emoticons for “Haha,” “Yay,” “Wow,” “Sad” and “Angry.” [More]
Court Overturns Conviction Of Landlord Who Threatened To Post Sex Tape On Facebook
By 10.6.15
If you go on Facebook and threaten to post a sex tape featuring a public official, is that a threat or is it free speech protected by the First Amendment? The highest court in Georgia has overturned the six-year prison sentence of a man who said he’d share raunchy footage of a court clerk, mostly because said sex tape didn’t exist. [More]
Facebook Is Testing 7-Second Video Profile Pictures
By 9.30.15
Because torturing yourself by gazing at your ex’s profile pic on Facebook might not be punishment enough, Facebook is now testing video profile photos (really, profile videos) that can be up to seven seconds and will be set to loop over and over while you keep staring/crying. [More]
No, Facebook Will Not Be Charging You To Keep Your Profiles Private
By 9.29.15
If you’ve visited Facebook at all in the last few hours, you’ve most likely seen any number of your online acquaintances posting the terrifying news that Facebook will soon be charging users $5.99/month too keep their profiles private. It might sound believable for those who aren’t familiar with how Facebook actually makes its money, but the fact is that the company says it has no plans to start charging anyone. Even more pointless are the supposed “copyright” notices people are posting in the hopes that it will protect them. [More]
New Scam Preys On Facebook Users’ Desire For A “Dislike” Button
By 9.25.15
There’s one relatively simple way scammers can hook their prey: by knowing exactly what you really want and acting like they’re giving it to you. But as much as you want to be able to express something other than “like” with a button on Facebook, it’s not here yet, and it’s not going to be invite-only when it does arrive. [More]
Facebook Trying To Assure Advertisers That Their Ads Are Actually (Maybe, Possibly) Being Seen
By 9.17.15
Will you do something for us? Take a quick, 10-second look at just about any site that isn’t Consumerist and then come back here. Done? Now see if you can remember all — or any — of the ads on that page. You probably can’t because (A) we’ve trained ourselves to ignore ad units and (B) you probably skimmed past or didn’t even get to a lot of the ads on that page. Advertisers know this, which is why Facebook is offering an option that only charges them when someone sees 100% of their ad. [More]
Facebook Close To Unveiling The Long-Awaited “Dislike” Button
By 9.15.15
Nearly a year after Facebook overlord Mark Zuckerberg said the company was kinda, sorta looking into creating a “dislike” button for all those posts you, well, don’t like, he says the social network is on the cusp of unveiling a companion for the often overused thumbs-up sign. [More]
Facebook Reportedly Working On A Virtual Reality Video Smartphone App
By 9.14.15
Nearly a year and a half after Facebook paid $2 billion to buy virtual reality company Oculus, the online behemoth is apparently ready to bring some virtual reality technology to its social media platform. [More]
No, You Aren’t Going To Win An Audi Or A Diamond Ring Just By Liking & Sharing A Post On Facebook
By 9.9.15
Although you might be suspicious that something sounds too good to be true, not every scam you come across on the Internet will immediately set off alarm bells. After all, what’s the worst that could come from liking and sharing a post on Facebook, beyond the fact that a new Audi R8 V8 or a diamond ring from Tiffany & Co. won’t become yours? Some scams exist (and thrive) just to get those valuable likes and shares, and gain an audience for future scams. [More]
Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Crosses 900 Million User Mark
By 9.4.15
Facebook is having a good run this summer of taking over the world one app at a time. Hot on the heels of last week’s announcement that the big blue network now has more than 1 billion daily users, the company is now crowing about a user milestone they’ve reached on one of their two big messaging platforms, WhatsApp. [More]
Facebook Launching Digital Personal Assistant That Uses Real People To Complete Tasks For You
By 8.26.15
Because Facebook’s Messenger doesn’t already have enough going on – sending mobile payments, video chats, go-between for businesses and customers – the company today launched a very limited test of its new personal digital assistant that lives inside the app, confirming rumors it was working on a Siri- and Cortana-like feature. [More]
“Spam King” Pleads Guilty To Sending More Than 27M Unsolicited Facebook Messages
By 8.25.15
When your email or other messaging account is flooded with messages promising cheap$ R0lexes! and invitations to collect a million dollars from the estate of a long-lost foreign dignitary relative, it’s not easy to place the blame: is it a robot programmed for maximum annoyance? A wee, cackling, evil spam elf? Sometimes, it’s just a human: a man known as the “Spam King” has admitted in court that he’s behind more than 27 million unsolicited messages sent through Facebook’s servers. [More]
Facebook Launches Feature That Lets Users And Businesses Message Each Other
By 8.5.15
After Facebook announced in March that it’d be launching a pilot program with a few brands that would let customers and companies communicate privately, the social media network said Wednesday that it’s expanding the rollout of Messenger for businesses. [More]
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Facebook Patent Would Allow Lenders To Determine Creditworthiness By Looking At Your ‘Friends’
By 8.5.15
Earlier this year Facebook announced it would dip its toes into the pool of mobile payments by launching a system that allowed users to send money to friends via the Messenger app. Now it appears the company may take things a bit farther after receiving approval for a patent this week that would allow creditors to determine whether or not someone is worthy of a loan based on their circle of friends on the social networking site. [More]
Americans Less Annoyed With Facebook Than Last Year, Still Dislike LinkedIn
By 7.28.15
Ordinary consumers aren’t really the customers of social media sites like Facebook and Pinterest: we’re their products, there to have our personal data and preferences sold to advertisers. Still, people will flee a site if they don’t like it, making it important for social media platforms to keep users on the site longer in order to please their real customers. That’s why the American Customer Satisfaction Index has tracked our happiness with these sites since 2010. [More]
Court Says Facebook Can’t Challenge Search Warrants For User Data
By 7.24.15
If a company like Facebook receives a subpoena for user data in a civil lawsuit, it can make its case to the court about why it should not have to oblige. But when that information request is in the form of a search warrant in a criminal investigation, Facebook doesn’t have that option. [More]
Facebook Testing Shops Built Into Retailers’ Pages
By 7.20.15
Like Google, Twitter and its own Instagram platform, Facebook is toying with the idea of allowing users to buy stuff directly from retailers’ pages, instead of seeing those items in an ad and going outside the social network to purchase them. [More]
