Have something superb timely to share together with your Facebook target market, however don't want to go stay and display your face? the social network has simply the issue.
Facebook on tuesday added live audio, a new characteristic that helps you to "tell a tale … with words and no longer video." With this new alternative, you may cross stay on the platform with audio only -- ideal for the ones instances you have something to mention however do not need to expose your mug.
In a weblog publish, fb product specialist shirley ip and software program engineer Bhavana Radhakrishnan stated a few pages have already give you creative ways to head live with audio handiest, by affixing their camera on a nevertheless photograph in the course of their broadcast, as an instance. The characteristic ought to make it a lot easier. it can additionally be specifically beneficial when you're trying to go stay from a place with weak network connectivity, they said.
"From interviews to ebook readings, we are enthusiastic about the layer of interactivity that stay audio brings to each the broadcaster and listener," ip and radhakrishnan wrote. "we know that humans frequently like to listen to audio whilst doing different things; humans the use of android devices might be able to retain being attentive to a live audio broadcast despite the fact that they depart the facebook app or lock their telephones, at the same time as iOS listeners will be capable of preserve listening as they browse other elements of fb."
Facebook might be checking out the characteristic over the next few weeks with several partners, together with bbc international carrier, lbc, harper collins and authors adam grant and britt bennett. the new format must be extra widely to be had to publishers and those early subsequent year.
You'll be able to find out these stay audio publicizes right out of your information feed and engage with them similar to you may stay movies -- by means of asking questions and leaving reactions in actual time, and/or sharing the broadcast with buddies.
The new function comes after fb just closing week debuted live 360, which mixes live and 360-diploma videos.
Facebook will open a new London headquarters next year and create another 500 jobs, the leading social network said Monday, despite uncertainty over Brexit.
The group said the move will take its UK workforce to 1,500 staff, adding that Britain "remains one of the best places to be a tech company", amid ongoing jitters over the nation's looming exit from the European Union.
The news comes one week after US tech giant Google confirmed it would expand its vast London campus in a move that could bring 3,000 more jobs.
The Facebook announcement will be confirmed later at the annual meeting of top business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry, which is the country's top employers' organisation.
"The UK remains one of the best places to be a tech company and is an important part of Facebook's story," said Nicola Mendelsohn, the company's vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
"We came to London in 2007 with just a handful of people, by the end of next year we will have opened a new HQ and plan to employ 1500 people," she added in a statement.
"Many of those new roles will be high skilled engineering jobs as the UK is home to our largest engineering base outside of the US."
A spokeswoman added that the new office is currently under construction in the bohemian central district of Fitzrovia.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the news from the US giant.
"Facebook's decision to expand in London is further evidence that London's strength as a tech hub keeps on growing," Khan said.
"It follows news that London remains the best city in Europe for digital startups.
"The capital's vibrant tech scene is the envy of Europe and Facebook's continuing commitment is another sign that London is open to talent, innovation and entrepreneurship from all four corners of the world."
Last Tuesday, Google revealed it will add a new office building to a complex currently under development behind London's King's Cross train station.
An estimated 3,000 jobs will be created by the move. A total of 7,000 Google staff will eventually be working at the hub, which is set to open in 2018.
Facebook has been putting a lot of effort into growing Messenger as a bot platform this year, and now there are 34,000 of these bots in existence, built to present you with news and entertainment, let you shop, and more — expanding Messenger’s use beyond simple chats with friends. Today, that strategy is getting a significant boost: Facebook says it will now let developers track bots on its free analytics platform, alongside ads and apps. At the same time, Facebook is also opening up its developer program, FbStart, to bot developers.
Both potentially give bot makers more reasons to build and monitor how their new widgets are working.
Josh Twist, a product manager for Facebook Messenger’s bot efforts, who is an Englishman based in Seattle but is in London today to debut the tools at a developer event, tells me that Facebook expanded the analytics and FbStart tools after a lot of requests from the developers.
“Getting bot support for messenger is the most frequently requested feature from bot developers,” he said. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise: Facebook already provided these kinds of tools to other developers on its platform, and bots have seen a massive surge of interest since they first made their debut earlier this year. That interest has not just come from users curious about how they work; developers are also very keen to see if bots really are the next big thing.
Twist tells me that for now, the analytics will cover bots built just for Messenger. But given how bots are making their way to other communication platforms, from competing messaging apps like Viber’s through to enterprise-focused platforms like Slack, don’t be surprised if Facebook expands its both analytics to other platforms beyond Messenger.
“It is something we have talked about and haven’t ruled it out,” he said. “It’s possible, absolutely, since we already support analytics for other platforms for apps. But right now we’re prioritizing support for Messenger bots.”
Analytics, of course, is an essential tool for a developer, both to be able to track how well something is working and other kids of feedback. Here Facebook says that features that will be included are reaches across mobile and desktop devices and measurement of customers’ journeys across apps and websites.
Developers also will be able to view reports on messages sent, messages received, and people who block or unblock your app. And they will also get access to anonymized data reports on bot demographics, which include details like age, gender, education, interests, country and language to figure out who is using your bot.
FbStart, meanwhile, currently has some 9,000 members who get feedback from Facebook on their apps, ads and bots, as well as Facebook ads credits and other free tools from partners like Amazon, Dropbox, and Stripe. If Facebook was looking at ways of swelling those ranks, tapping 34,000 developers could be one way of doing that.
Twist points out that while there are a lot of standalone bot developers coming to Facebook for the first time, there is a lot of crossover with other Facebook services like apps and ads. Those who are leveraging these together — for example using the recent ability to channel a person from a News Feed ad through to your Messenger experience — will be able to look at the effectiveness of those efforts now, and make potentially more ad buys based on them.
It may seem strange that the first thing the store page for Facebook+ Lite tells you is that the app lets you scroll through your newsfeed vertically – rather than the side to side scrolling that has been adopted by the Windows 8 Start screen and the vast majority of apps.
This may seem like a minor selling point – although the app is actually free – but it certainly gets things off to a good start for anyone who is slightly resistant to the new app format. Facebook is constantly open in a browser tab on my desktop, and I’ll try any app that grants me easy, constant access to the social network.
In a bid to try to keep up to date with my friends’ updates, news from all of the companies I ‘like’ and everything else that goes on on Facebook, I’ve tried everything from Facebook Messenger to browser extensions such as Facebook Notifications.
Nothing I’ve tried has ended up remaining installed for very long, and I always resort to keeping a tab pinned in Chrome so my social networking fix is never far away. Working with Windows 8 means that there are now more apps to try out, so I just had to try out Facebook+ Lite.
Introducing the App
The first task you have is to sign into your Facebook account and then allow the app permission to access your data. Within a matter of seconds you will be connected and you’ll start to see content from some familiar names and faces.
News and updates from your Facebook contacts are displayed in massive, clear tiles.
Despite the app’s initial claim that you can browse your feed using vertical scrolling, this is not the case throughout. In fact, right from the start you will have to scroll to the right if you want t0 access your list of friends, your photos and events.
Click the Feed title, or an item that has been highlighted in a tile, and you’ll be taken directly to your newsfeed. It is at this stage that you can start working through things vertically just like on the web site.
Switching between horizontal and vertical scrolling can be a little disconcerting to start with.
Newsfeed items are displayed to the left hand side of the screen and when you click an individual entry, it will be displayed in more detail to the right. This includes any comments that have been posted and gives you the option to leave comments of your own and using the Like button.
The interface of the app is far from cluttered, and when you’re working in feed view there are just three buttons at the top of the screen. These can be used to uploaded photos, refresh the feed or post a status update.
A stylish faded view mutes distractions when you are writing a status update.
As well as sharing your words with the world – interestingly, there is no way to choose who is able to see individual posts – you can also insert images that you have already added to albums or upload others from your hard drive.
Keeping In Touch
While many people use Facebook as little more than a platform for opining, venting spleen and sharing thoughts, ideas and photos, it could be argued that the social side – outside of commenting – is one of the more useful aspects of the service.
Back at the start screen, notifications can be accessed much like at the Facebook website.
Leaving your feed and heading back to the main screen, you can use two buttons at the top of the app window to view your notifications and messages. Annoyingly, clicking a messages take you to the Facebook website as there is no way to post from within the app.
Want to exchange messages with friends? Sadly you’ll have to leave the app and use the website instead.
Extra Features
Photos have always featured heavily on Facebook, and Facebook+ Lite provides you with a great way to browse through your own images and those belonging to your friends.
Perusing a photo album is a pleasurable experience – one that is superior to how things are on the regular website – and playing a slideshow looks amazing when running at full screen.
One of Facebook+ Lite’s high points is the ease of navigating photo albums.
For anyone who finds that they are constantly checking Facebook throughout the day (and I do count myself in this number), pinning the app to the side of the screen is a wonderful option.
Anchored to the left or right of the screen, you can choose to have your newsfeed on permanent display so you can see it no matter what else you are doing and whatever app you may be using.
Pin the app to the screen edge so you can monitor your newsfeed at all times.
Areas For Work
It would make much more sense if Facebook+ Lite chose between sideways and top to bottom scrolling. Working with both can end up being confusing and creates a disjointed feeling.
Another way in which the app could be improved would be adding the option to choose which section of your account should appear to start with. Most people want to jump straight to their newsfeed, and it would make sense to be able to choose this as the default view.
Summing Up
Facebook+ Lite has a little way to go before it could be considered perfect, but it’s a solid app nevertheless.
How do you access Facebook now that you’ve upgraded to Windows 8? Are you using a dedicated app or are you still using the website? Let us know in the comments below.
