As most Android users know, one of the nice things about the operating system is that you don’t always have to get your apps through the official Google Play app store. But usually, any future updates to an app come through whichever store you downloaded the app from. Except now Facebook is asking some Android users to accept an update in the app itself that would allow future updates to be pushed through without notice. [More]
Facebook Might Introduce Hashtags & Twitter Is Like, “Welcome To Five Years Ago”
By 3.15.13
If the rumors are true and Facebook starts using hashtags, Twitter might get a bit peeved. On one hand, it’s just another symbol sitting there on the keyboard, but on the other, it’s been pretty widely known as strictly Twitter territory. A new report says Facebook wants to get in on the hashtag action, which could elevate the already frosty relationship between the two social networks to ice cold. [More]
FTC Says Social Media Ads Have To Be Held To Same Rules As Traditional Ads
By 3.13.13
One of the important duties held by the Federal Trade Commission is making sure ads don’t mislead consumers. Yesterday the FTC set out clear rules for short-form ads on social media like Twitter and Facebook as well. Namely, they have to be held to the same basic requirement as other advertising — be upfront about what’s going on. [More]
Netflix Users Can Now Hook Up Accounts To Facebook, Gab About Finally Watching ‘Dr. Who’
By 3.13.13
I can post all day long on Facebook that I’m seriously addicted to The Walking Dead but wouldn’t it just be great if my Netflix account was connected to Facebook? That way when I finally join the cult of Doctor Who* like everyone is telling me to do, my pals will just know. Netflix will be able to do just that after a long battle with U.S. regulators. [More]
Facebook’s Newsfeed Redesign Seeks To De-Clutter, Makes Everything Bigger
By 3.7.13
Listen. You’re probably going to freak out about Facebook redesigning its newsfeed yet again, so let’s get that out of the way [cue freakout]. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to what Mark Zuckerberg and company announced today at the unveiling. Basically everything is getting a lot bigger and less cluttered. [More]
Help Us Help You: One Company’s Social Media Rep Explains How To Get Complaints Resolved
By 3.5.13
A common refrain here at Consumerist that we try to promote is “kill’em with kindness.” Shouting, writing angry emails in all caps and generally freaking out at customer service representatives are all tactics guaranteed to make your quest for a positive resolution a lot harder. And as one company’s social media rep writes in to explain to Consumerist, often complaining customers aren’t doing anything to help her help them. [More]
Months After Newtown School Shooting, Facebook Finally Gets Around To Dealing With Scammy Tribute Pages
By 2.26.13
It’s been more than two months since the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, and just as long since heartless, greedy scammers immediately jumped on the event as an opportunity to enrich themselves with fake Facebook pages. Now the site is finally doing something about it. [More]
DKNY Apologizes For “Inadvertently” Using Photographer’s Photos In Store Display Without Compensation
By 2.25.13
In yet another lesson to retailers that social media won’t let them get away with any shenanigans, DKNY has issued an apology to a New York photographer mere hours after he claimed on Facebook that the company lifted his photos without his consent, and used them in a store display in Bangkok. [More]
Facebook Reportedly Working On Location-Tracking App So Friends Can Stalk You More Efficiently
By 2.5.13
Have you ever stared at your phone, cursing its inability to pinpoint your exact location and broadcast it to your large group of friends on a popular social network? Probably not — there are apps for that, Foursquare being one that pops to mind — but if you did, Facebook has a solution. The company is reportedly working on its own location-tracking app so your friends will be able to see where you go, when you go and who you’re with. Whew. [More]
Just What We Don’t Need — More Gift Cards! And This One’s From Facebook
By 1.31.13
Say the word “gift card” around Consumerist HQ and hackles will raise at an alarming rate. Which is why we’re greeting the news of a new gift card offered by Facebook with what one might call, “extreme wariness and trepidation.” Building on the social network’s recent launch of Facebook Gifts, these cards will be able to hold balances for multiple retailers and are reusable. [More]
Regulators Looking To Rein In Debt Collectors Who Use Facebook To Contact Consumers
By 1.24.13
Even though there’s a lengthy “no-no” list of things debt collectors can’t do, it makes no mention of how collections agencies can use social media. But that may be about to change as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gains oversight control over the largest members of the collections industry. [More]
Use Facebook’s New Search To Find Married People Who Like Prostitutes & Other Fun Stuff
By 1.23.13
When Facebook revealed that its latest, super-secret project was really nothing more than an internal search engine, the general public greeted it with a shrug. But Graph Search may have one amusing aspect — uncovering users’ peculiar behaviors. [More]
Facebook Won’t Remove My Dead Brother’s Page
By 1.23.13
Sylvie’s brother died at a tragically young age. It’s awful enough that his loved ones have to face life without him, but they also have to deal with his continued presence on Facebook. People still comment on his … wall, timeline, whatever Facebook is calling a person’s profile this week. They don’t want to un-friend him, which feels wrong, but Facebook won’t delete or memorialize his pages, even when family members have submitted his death certificate and specifically requested to have them taken down. She doesn’t know where else to turn. [More]
Can You Get Away With Complaining About Your Job Online? Maybe, Says NLRB
By 1.22.13
Any number of people have gone online to vent their exhaustion after a particularly tough day at work. But where do you draw the line between innocuous, “What a day!” posts and statements that could actually get you fired from your job? And what about valid gripes with working conditions? [More]
Don’t Call Your High School Crush: Facebook Launches Free Voice Calls On Messenger App
By 1.17.13
In case it isn’t embarrassing enough to realize you may have had one drink too many and sent your high school crush a gushing, nostalgia-filled message on Facebook the night before, the company is rolling out a new feature with its Messenger app —the ability to place voice phone calls over a WiFi network. So far the feature is only available for U.S. users so don’t get any ideas about calling your cousin in Australia. [More]
Instagram Reminds Users That Updated Terms Of Service Goes Into Effect This Week
By 1.16.13
It seems like only last month (because it was) that everyone was threatening to quit Instagram over the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy it introduced in December, and now here we are on the brink of that update happening. Of course, the policies that go into effect Jan. 19 — instead of today as originally planned — don’t include those pesky advertising efforts that caused such a stir. [More]
Report: Your Facebook News Feed Will Soon Know A Lot More About You
By 1.14.13
The Facebook News Feed is that place where people you haven’t seen since high school post endless photos of their kids, and occasionally share sage wisdom in the form of a quote from Gandhi or Lemmy from Motorhead. But a new report says the Feed is about to become more personalized. Perhaps too much so. [More]
Would You Pay $100 To Give Mark Zuckerberg A Piece Of Your Mind Via Facebook Message?
By 1.11.13
Here’s a way to make some cash — how about monetizing the ability to send Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg a message on the social network? Facebook says it’s trying out some “extreme price points” to allow people to pay for their messages to be seen by others who aren’t on their friends list. Which means instead of a missive reading “Yo, what up?” going to Zuckerberg’s “Other” folder, he might actually read it. [More]
