In an effort to improve the conversations found on some Facebook posts, the company has announced improvements to its comment ranking that will use a number of factor to determine which comments get more visibility. The ranking system is necessary on posts from people and Pages who have many followers, helping users find meaningful conversations through the hundreds of otherwise uninteresting comments.
Next to Google, Facebook is perhaps the biggest tech company holds most of the population personal data. The amount of information, be it text or photos, that people upload, provide it data points that can be used to build very accurate profiles. Unlike Google, however, Facebook hasn't been grilled over its privacy practices, or lack of it, until recently. Now all its old practices, messages, and secret policies are being dragged into the spotlight, revealing that Facebook's culture of disregarding users' privacy comes from its top executives.
Blood banks in the United States are reporting a decrease in donors, a problem Facebook is helping address with a new Blood Donations tool on its primary social network. Facebook users in the US will start seeing the new feature in select major cities, making it easier for them to find a nearby blood donation center in need of donors.
Facebook wants your permission to track what apps you're using on your phone, and it's promising to pay you if you'll agree. It's part of a new Study from Facebook app, as the social network tries to redeem its market research projects which many criticized for being unexpectedly intrusive.
It's not exactly a great time to be associated with Facebook right now. With the controversy it's knee deep in, almost everything it touches is held suspect for potential privacy violations. Even more so its own products like, for example, that video-calling smart speaker with a display known as Portal. Despite and in spite of all that, Facebook seems to be going full steam ahead with its Portal platform, going as far as announcing a new device coming later this year.
It seems the punches just keep on coming for Huawei. After Google cut ties with Huawei and announced that it would soon begin withholding access to some key Android OS and software updates, other companies began following suit. That very same day, companies like Intel and Qualcomm stopped supplying Huawei with hardware, while Microsoft removed Huawei laptops from its retail stores a few days later. Now, it looks like its Facebook's turn to sever ties with the Chinese company.
Ever since the creation of emojis, humans have found a new way to communicate with each other pictorially. Emojis gave way to stickers and stickers gave way to the rebirth of animated GIFs but all of these formats, while expressive, are too generic to be personal. Then along came Bitmoji, which was snapped up by Snapchat in 2016, giving way to personalized avatars that later gave way to thinks like Animojis and AR Emojis. Now Facebook has finally arrived at the party three years later with Avatar, just in time to convince today's young generation that it's still hip and trendy.
Facebook has filed a patent application with the USPTO that details a drone involving two kites. The system, which is simply called a 'dual-kite aerial vehicle,' would use the two kites to maintain a specific altitude while also generating electricity that enables longer duration flights. The application was published by the USPTO on May 30.
Facebook is a portal that provides users with direct access to a large number of friends, family members, and acquaintances, making it useful during stressful times for seeking support from others. This reality may put some users at risk of developing 'Facebook addiction,' a new study warns, if it becomes a substitute for offline support from people in one's daily, physical life.
Facebook has revealed the fruits of its robotics division, driving artificial intelligence research and coming up with some creepy bug-like 'bots in the process. Though robots capable of walking, using tactile sensors to better manipulate new objects, and even showing curiosity may sound like a strange endeavor for a social network, Facebook argues that they're just what its AIs need.
Facebook is planning yet another News Feed tweak, this one targeting content in general rather than just the video changes announced days ago. The social network is about to make things a bit more personal with an adjustment to the content users see in their respective feeds; priority will be given to posts from people who (probably) matter most to you.
Instagram announced the death of another feature this week, not long after rumors surfaced of the axing of public likes. This is just the latest in a line of changes for Instagram, an app and company that's coming closer and closer to its parent company, Facebook. I quit using Facebook a few months ago for all but the rarest family communication - is it time I gave Instagram the boot as well? NOTE: If it weren't clear already, the opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily shared by SlashGear or associated entities.