Daily Bits

facebook

Skype and Facebook to Merge?

by

Got the new Skype for Windows yet?  If so, you probably have noticed that there is a new tab – a Facebook tab.  This is the result of a collaboration between the two companies.  The presence of a Facebook tab in Skype 5 for Windows implies a lot of things.

One, Skype users will be able to interact with their Facebook friends directly from Skype.  This can be done in a variety of ways – updating of status messages, commenting on other people’s status messages, and “liking” other people’s status messages and posts.  They can also see the news feed directly from Skype.

Two, there is a Facebook phonebook feature in the new Skype that will allow users to directly call – and send text messages – to their contacts from Skype.  If anything, that should be a more convenient way of getting in touch with one’s friends.

Three, group video calling is also available in beta version.  As of now, this is available on a free trial basis.

Experts have noted that this collaboration has been in the stars for a while and that it is but a logical turn of things.  Skype and Facebook have been at the forefront of their respective fields and putting their resources together is the only way to go forward.

For now, only Windows users can enjoy this integration.  For Mac and Linux users, we have to wait indefinitely.  I say indefinitely as there is still no announcement as to when they will release this version of Skype for other platforms.  I just hope that they actually do!

Afterthought: I wonder if they will be able to integrate Facebook chat?  Now THAT would be a definite improvement, don’t you think?

Facebook Groups to Give Us More Control?

by

Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, have been under a lot of fire for sucky privacy features.  Zuckerberg is quite excited about a new feature that they have released: Facebook Groups.  You might be asking, “Groups? Hasn’t this been around for a while?”

Well, they have a NEW feature called Groups that is different from whatever you think.  The important thing about this new application is that users can have more control over their privacy.  Think about it as  being able to put your friends into – literally – groups and then being able to choose what information you want to share with them.

The new Facebook Groups aims to mimic human behavior in real life. If you think about it, you actually categorize people in your life.  You have friends that you drink with, but you may not necessarily share private information with them.  You have friends that you run to when you have problems, and they probably know everything about you.  With this new Facebook feature, you can basically do the same thing online.  It will make selective disclosure of information (including photos, status messages, etc.) easier for Facebook users.

Despite the excitement of Mark Zuckerberg over Groups, critics are already making their  voices heard.  Larry Magrid, co-director of ConnectSafely.org, says:

“The only worry I have is that friends can add people to the group, so if you create a group and are in a group you have to be aware of not only who you add but who others add.  As long as you are aware of who is in the group it can be a great privacy tool. If it gets out of hand it could give you a sense of false security.”

Personally, I am neither excited nor skeptical about the development.  My rule of thumb: don’t put anything on Facebook that you don’t want others to see or know.  Simple enough, isn’t it?

The Story Behind Facebook’s September 23 Outage

by

Facebook addicts enthusiasts were sure to have noticed the outage last night – or early morning, rather.  The downtime lasted for about two and a half hours  – the longest in four years.  While some people (like yours truly) just gave up and forgot about the social networking site for a while, others just got totally frustrated.

Naturally, the Facebook Team released a statement to provide an explanation regarding what happened.  In a note, Robert Johnson tells us this:  “The key flaw that caused this outage to be so severe was an unfortunate handling of an error condition. An automated system for verifying configuration values ended up causing much more damage than it fixed.”

He goes on to say that the system resulted in a feedback loop that bogged down the database. In short, users couldn’t access the site.  Interestingly, the only way they could fix the situation was to shut down the site.

Think about it this way…if your computer freezes and will not respond no matter what you do, what is your course of action?  The chances are that you will simply turn the device off and then have it up and running again in a few minutes.  That’s basically what the tech guys at Facebook did.  Of course, the downtime took much longer than rebooting your computer, but that is only understandable considering the larger scale of the operations of the social network.

In any case, they had the site up in a couple of hours and we’re all enjoying the new Facebook look.  Don’t be surprised, though, if you encounter a few problems here and there in the next few days.  They’re still looking at the issue and doing a few tweaks.  What matters now is that you can go check your food in Cafe World and make sure they don’t spoil.

Getting Tired of Facebook? There’s Diaspora.

by

In spite of all the complaints that people have been making about Facebook, no one can deny that it still has countless users – and it doesn’t look like the numbers are going to drop anytime soon.  If you don’t have a clear idea about the numbers, you might want to take a look at Infographic Labs’ post on how Facebook is dominating the scene.

However, just because everyone and their mother is on Facebook does not mean that everyone’s all happy and content about it.  That’s just the thing – with the numbers involved, you can’t really expect to make everyone happy.  That’s a fact of life, isn’t it?

Just in case you have serious and legitimate issues with Facebook, then you just might have an alternative pretty soon, and it’s called Diaspora.  With the tag line “The privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all, open source social network,” Diaspora is all about bringing together the users and the platform together.  The idea of Diaspora came up earlier this year, and it immediately received a lot of attention.  However, it wasn’t until last week that the brains behind the idea actually had something concrete to show.

On the 16th of September, the Developer Release of Diaspora was made available.  Before you get all excited and try to create an account, though, you ought to know that it’s simply for developers – people who can deal with the underlying technology.  In layman’s terms, if you are a mere user (like me), then there’s still nothing concrete to be excited about.  Still, once the ones who do know how to program work things out, we ought to have a safer alternative to Facebook.  Don’t hold your breath, though – small chance of seeing it in a “usable” format within the year.

Facebook Places: Let Everyone Know Where You Are

by

Why would you want that? Well, I am sure that it can come in handy sometimes, but whatever I think about the idea, the fact is that Facebook has just launched a new feature for US users: Facebook Places. The application is available on the iPhone and allows Facebook users to share their locations. If you are thinking of Foursquare, you’re right on.

In the Facebook Blog, you can read the official announcement for Facebook Places:

Ever gone to a show, only to find out afterward that your friends were there too? With Places, you can discover moments when you and your friends are at the same place at the same time.

You have the option to share your location by “checking in” to that place and letting friends know where you are. You can easily see if any of your friends have also chosen to check in nearby.

I don’t know about you but that second paragraph just doesn’t cut it for me. Anyhow, with the app, you can choose your settings so that your location will be published. You can also tag your friends who are in the same location as you are. More so, you can see other friends who might have “checked in” in the same area.

This brings to mind what happened to Adam Savage and his geolocation boo-boo. With Facebook’s privacy issues, do we really want to use Facebook Places? You tell me!

Photo credit: Facebook Blog

Say Goodbye to Facebook Gifts

by

The Facebook Gift Shop is closing its doors starting August 1, says Jared Morgenstern in the Facebook blog. In the announcement, he says:

The Facebook Gift Shop is closing on Aug. 1 as we focus instead on improving other products. As of that date, you will no longer be able to give new gifts from the Gift Shop.

The gifts you’ve already received on your Wall will remain visible, and you still will be able to view your sent and received gifts on your gifts page. People also can continue to use the many third-party applications on Facebook for giving and receiving gifts, such as Birthday Cards, Hallmark Social Calendar, Pieces of Flair and someecards.

If you are wondering what the “other products” are, he mentioned such things as Photos, News Feed, Inbox, games, comments, the “Like” button and the Wall. I suppose these areas could use some work. I would have liked to see “Chat” included in that list since we all know how buggy Facebook Chat can be.

In terms of purchasing currency on Facebook, it seems that we are going to be seeing more of Facebook credits now. These credits are going to be used to purchase everything that can be purchased on Facebook. This includes premium items in Facebook games. And, just so you know, Facebook is earning 30% of all sales made for Facebook Credits. Yup, there had to be some business ideas buried behind the decision somewhere.

How do you feel about the closing of the Gift Shop?