It’s no secret that social networking has become a part of our daily lives now and most of our time is spent either on Facebook or Twitter or any other social network. And because of this immense popularity, it has become vital for smartphone manufacturers to somehow integrate these social networks onto their phones. While Android and iOS rely on dedicated Facebook apps, Windows Phone 7 does it a little differently by integrating Facebook right into the OS by default. Let’s see how well they manage to pull it off.

Setting up your account is pretty straightforward. Enter your credentials and the phone will sync your Facebook events to your calendar and the contacts to the people hub. Syncing contacts can take a while depending on the number of contacts you have. After it’s done you can open the people hub to view all your contacts. The people hub is essentially the Facebook app for Windows Phone. Swipe to what’s new to view all updates from your contacts. You can comment or like any status. Any links shared or picture and videos uploaded will be visible in the what’s new feed. In addition you can view these pictures in the pictures hub on the phone. You can also pin any contact onto the home screen and it will add a live tile. The tile flips back to show any recent update. You can click the tile to see the entire timeline of that one specific contact. From there you can also write on his/her wall or like a status.

The Me hub is a place where all your social network activity is stored. Everything you do goes into your ‘what’s new’ feed. You can update statuses or check in using the Me tile. The notifications feed as the name suggests shows all your incoming notifications. You can click any to view the post. In addition to all this you can pin the Me Tile to the start screen. For any incoming notification it will flip over to give a peek of it or show the number of notifications. The tile is a hit or miss. Sometimes it immediately notifies you of any notification where as on other occasion it either takes a while or simply doesn’t notify you. You then have to manually check the me hub.

Mango update also brings with it in built Facebook chat integrated into the messaging hub. Simply enable it by going in the messages settings. You’ll then see a list of all online contacts on Facebook. The option to set statuses is also present. If you’re texting someone and want to instead send him a Facebook message, simply switch to Facebook by tapping a button and send the message. Facebook messages will be shown in the same conversation thread. Incoming Facebook messages notification will be the same as SMS. I wish there was a way to have separate notification for Facebook chat to avoid confusion but right now there is no such option.

Overall the Facebook integration in Windows Phone 7.5 is the deepest I’ve seen on any OS. It’s pretty much everywhere in the OS. There are a few niggles here and there for example the me live tile but as a whole it’s a job well done by Microsoft.

There are quite a lot of Facebook apps on the Android market apart from the default Facebook for Android app, and Facebook Messenger is one of the most useful. Unlike Facebook for Android, this one is just a messenger app as you can tell from the name and has lots of functionality.

First off, once you log into the app ( you don’t need to if Facebook for Android is installed and logged into), you’ll get to the main messages screen. Since Facebook has merged your chatbox and the traditional “Messages” you have the same concept here. Normal FB messages and chat messages show up in a single thread and you can chat with friends regardless of wether they are messaging or using FB chat.


Once you open a thread rfrom the main screen, you have the traditional mobile Facebook chat look, messages in the middle, chatbox at the bottom. The added feature here, is the ability to share photos aswell through the bottom-left camera button. Then we have the settings button on the opposite corner.
One thing to keep In mind here. The settings on the mainscreen are universal for the whole app, whereas the settings button within each individual thread are for that thread only. You can manage alerts here (push notifications: On/ Off for 1 hour/off etc) and add more people to the conversation. The individual setting for Alerts is really cool, since you can prioritize people based on your needs.
Other than one on one chat, group chat works in a similar way aswell with nothing new here. As always you can start a completely new thread between 1 or more people aswell. Another cool feature is that you can share your location on the app and see other’s locations aswell. Should be useful if you need to meet someone close by or co-ordinate with a group of friends.

Overall the Facebook Messenger app is great, push notifications, individual alert settings, location sharing, group messaging, the app has everything covered and you should definitely grab it from the market.

Facebook’s newest addition to the social networking website ‘Facebook Timeline’ has been praised by many critics all over the world. Unfortunately the feature isn’t available for public but if you want to try it we’ve got your fix right here. Just follow with us after the break and enjoy!

1. Got to the Facebook Developer Page and enable it for your account. You will be required to log in to your facebook account if you are not logged in.
2. Once you’re done with the first step click on the Create New App button and enter details. Whatever you name your app doesn’t matter as its not going to be showed publicly so no need to spend time thinking of a name just enter whatever comes to your mind. The same goes for the app namespace, once done with this enter the security words and move on.



3. Now you’ll be greeted by whole new screen, no need to mess with all the shiny things, just click on the Open Graph button on the left(check the picture for reference).



4. Facebook shall ask you to enter an action and an object for your app. Don’t get confused as we are always there to fight the bad people and help you. Enter random things in the options, just like you did earlier in the App name and App Namespace areas. We entered People can review gadget through our app that is pretty much random to us and can’t happen. Once you have entered all the details click on get started.
5. Once again you will be welcomed by another page with all Martian to many of you but like we said before no need to get frightened as we are always there. You don’t need to do anything, just scroll to the bottom and click on the big blue block saying ‘Save changes and Next’. You will be required to do so a couple of time more.
6. You will be taken back to the original Open Graph page, don’t worry its perfectly normal. Sit back and sip a cup of coffee for the next few minutes and then go back to the homepage of facebook (www.facebook.com). There you’ll see a large banner on  the top inviting you to use the all new Facebook Timeline (check the picture for reference).

In the latest Facebook update they have partnered up with a variety of media companies in an effort to bring multimedia – videos and music, to Facebook. However here comes the slightly unusual, bad news (for some), theese features will only be rolled out to Latin America and Canada, for the time being anyway.

Possibly the most popular partner, Spotify, will be available all over the world including the US and UK. This announcement was expected and allows Facebook users to see what their friends are listening to and also allows them to play songs via Sportify using a Play button on Facebook.

Using the new Music Dashboard you can see which songs are most popular amongst your friends, an idea that is now thought of as ‘trending’. This data will also be available on a ticker bar on the right hand side of Facebook pages.

Spotify users will also be able to comment about songs they’re listening to and add pictures if they want to. This new deal will definitely bring more Spotify users from Facebook and expand on the music social networking scene.

Daniel Ek, CEO and and founder of Spotify tweeted:

“Today is a big day for music!”

Spotify are not the only music company to partner up with Facebook, with the likes of MOG, Rdio and Rhapsody also integrating with Facebook. It is thought that this deal will change the way we listen and buy music.

In addition to these music apps, Vevo, Hulu and Netflix have partnered with Facebook to bring their video content to Facebook. Netflix will only be open to Canada and Latin America to start with, however.

Along with these multimedia apps, news apps will be released and so will TV apps. These new apps will be in communication with the new Facebook ticker bar on the right hand side of the page, allowing your friends to see what you actually watch and listen to! However Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, did say that he doesn’t want to clog up people’s time lines and only artists/songs that are popular amongst your friends will be on your time line.

It will be interesting to see how these new media tools fare on Facebook and whether the uptake will be as high as thought!

Twitter have this new feature of “Facebook connections” under settings which connects the Twitter into Facebook (I have used various other apps to connect the Twitter and Facebook). So what’s new in it when there already is the Facebook app? Yeah, previously Twitter doesn’t have any official options in settings but now you can discover it under you profile settings.Here are some screenshots that shows the way it looks:

Connect your Facebook account

Allow the Facebook apps to post on your wall

Test yourself

Yeah, it’s like same old app

Note: “You can choose whether you want to post your updates on Facebook or not” and even if you like them to publish, “Tweets that are @replies will not be posted on Facebook“!

Myself, like many of you spend an awful amount of time on Facebook because all of my (and your) friends available on Facebook. With them I (and you ) share likes & dislikes, discussion about news & technology, share views, tag photos and many more things. Already there are many desktop clients which allows you to use Facebook from your desktop but I haven’t find any best desktop app till yet. In this post I’m sharing a desktop client FlipToast – one of the best desktop app.

FlipToast is exceptionally great Facebook desktop client for Windows and Mac that offers you a quick and easy way to stay connected with Facebook friends. This app based on Adobe Air and it will notify you about everything related with your Facebook profile, it gives you updates in real-time, whether a friend comments on your Facebook status, tags you in a photo or adds you to an album. In addition to this, it is a distraction-free tool which means you can keep the sidebar and corresponding chat window in any corner of the screen to have for reference while completing other tasks. With the chat functionality, you have the option of going offline at anytime.

The photo sharing and uploading feature is also really cool. If you want to share a photo on Facebook using FlipToast, then all you have to do is drag and drop it onto the application and specify what album information you would like to input and begin uploading.

Also, FlipToast presents an easy way to view your news feed, as all of your recent updates are displayed just as they would be from Facebook itself.

How it Works?

As soon as you install FlipToast, it will sit in your system tray, allowing you to bring up the sidebar, stop and start the display of desktop notifications and do things like update your status, post photos and more.

By default Facebook chat is disable and you can enable it easily. If you’re working on something important then you can turn live notifications off to temporarily and go offline from chat.

Final Note:

FlipToast is the best Facebook desktop application because it allows you to access your Facebook account with all functionality and if you spend a lot of time on Facebook then i recommend you to use this desktop tool.

Download Link

Here is a quick video

Since last few weeks facebook become the red target for malicious spams and links. Most of the Facebook users easily provoke with the cozy messages of the spam links and often fall in the traps. After a limit of malicious Facebook apps like Facebook Chat malware, third party Facebook malware, Auto link sharer malware , Justin Bieber malware app, Funny as hell Facebook trojan and other wares, Facebook today launched a checkpoint having handsome collection of security tips for users.

Security Tips from Facebook

Facebook today updated in its Help Center that

What you should do to keep your Facebook account secure?

• Think before you click. Never click suspicious links — even if they come from a friend or a company you know. This includes links sent on Facebook (ex: in a chat or wall post) and links sent in emails. If one of your friends clicks on spam by accident, that link might be sent to all of their Facebook friends. Remember to never re-enter your Facebook password or download something (e.g., a “.exe” file) if you aren’t sure what it is. Learn more about recognizing suspicious links and suspicious emails.
• If you don’t know what it is, don’t paste it into your internet address bar. Pasting unfamiliar text into your address bar could result in events and pages being created from your account or other spammy actions. Learn more about malicious script scams.
• Update your browser (ex: Internet Explorer). Current versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer have built in security protection, like warning you if you navigate to a suspected phishing site. Facebook supports:
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Safari
  • Google Chrome
  • Internet Explorer
• Log in at www.facebook.com. Sometimes scammers will set up a fake page to look like a Facebook login page, hoping to get you to enter your email address and password. Make sure you check the page’s URL (web address) before you enter your login information. When in doubt, you can always type “facebook.com” into your browser to get back to the real Facebook site.
• Pick a unique, strong password. Use combinations of at least six letters, numbers and punctuation marks; don’t use words that can be found in the dictionary. You can reset your password here or by going to your Account Settings page, located in the Account drop-down menu at the top of every Facebook page.
• Run anti-virus software to protect yourself from viruses and malware. You can learn more and download this software for free here:
  • For Windows
  • For Mac OS

For more information about protecting your account, please visit the Security section of our Help Center.

Facebook, one of the most popular social networking site and you never know how much time you have spend on Facebook and after sometime you realized that you have kill your maximum time on Facebook. Have you ever noted down how much time you spend on Facebook? If you know how much time you spend on Facebook, then you get a real shock because you can use this useful time in other works.

Facebook Runner is a simple extension that calculates time spend on facebook.

Features of Facebook Runner

• Display and save how much time you spend on Facebook
• Easily integrated into Facebook Page
• Save timer values after browser restart
• Timer resetting options
• Detail page for viewing statistics
• Timer view format can be shortened.

Do you want to know how much time you spend on Facebook? Then check it right now

Download Link For Facebook Runner

Social media journalism is certainly the thing of the future. In today’s day and age, people are turning to social media for updates on the latest information available. Facebook, now is reported to be one step ahead by directly trying to be friends with actual journalists.

Facebook is trying to befriend real-time journalist. This is to ensure that the information on the latest breaking news is certainly legitimate and trustable. Valdim Lavrusik, based in New York, is reportedly going to start and maintaining the recently launched Journalist on Facebook page. Valdim Lavrusik was hired as a journalist program manager for Facebook and was. He was recently hired with Mashable, a tech-news site, where he was a community manager.

Facebook has over a half a billion users, however, it hasn’t until now cashed into the option of news and updates for all this time. This is unlike what social media competitors like Twitter and Tumblr have done by adopting news and updates as part of their space.

According to reports, Lavrusik is reported to have said that ‘The goal is to build programs that bridge the gap between journalists and Facebook’. Lavrusik will help bring the journalist on Facebook and help them share information about the latest information. While he acknowledges the ease with which they took to Twitter was easy, his effort is to ensure that Facebook becomes the preferred platform for news experts.

via – [CNN)

Angry Bird, one of the world’s most popular game, may well be launched on Facebook next month. The Angry Bird franchise as the most popular game and Facebook with over 600 million users will both try to derive strength from each other to promote their own product.

Rovio the creators of Angry Birds have created an official Facebook page to announce the arrival of the game on Facebook. This has obviously been liked by Angry Birds players and Facebook users with over 1,320,943 users already liking the page.

The strategy behind creating the Facebook page was to provide information and increase the interest and popularity of the game. Though the final dates are not yet announced, the number of wall updates are increasing that is being followed by thousands of users. The Angry Birds franchise is trying to take benefits of all social media, so following Facebook, they have also asked their users to subscribe to their YouTube Channels for trailers and videos.

Additionally, in a US chat show hosted by Conan O’brien, people played the real-time Angry Birds game on the show. This too has been updated on their official Facebook page. The Angry Birds franchise is growing fast and has millions of people downloading the different versions of the game; and needless to say a lot of people are waiting for it to finally arrive on Facebook.

[via - All Facebook]

Of late Facebook has faced some slack because of the privacy concerns that users had raised. The issues have been well documented over the last few weeks. A claim being that the application is sending out private and personal information to third party websites. The kind of information included friend’s lists, email IDs and other private details. It was already a matter of concern for users that such information is been shared by advertisers and third party app developers and now Facebook is expanding such share. Yes, now your mobile number and home address can be accessed by third party app maker that ask for.

The Facebook Developer’s blog says -

We are now making a user’s address and mobile phone number accessible as part of the User Graph object. Because this is sensitive information, we have created the new user_address and user_mobile_phone permissions. These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs.

These permissions must be explicitly granted to your application by the user via our standard permissions dialogs,” it explained

Facebook seems to be ignorant to the rising Facebook scams as a result it is concentrating less on privacy issues. Users usually might not read the permission notification before allowing the app and why an app maker does would need such information goes unanswered by Facebook. We already know the importance of phone number and home address and sharing such data can surely be proved harmful for users. So be careful and play around Facebook!

There is increasing awareness of how social media such as Facebook are increasing coordinated rumour mongering and are leading to major public outcry on personal issues.

According to The Telegraph

Fresh guidance on cyber bullying has been issued to teachers across the country amid a rising number of complaints about intimidation of staff online

This was issued because students were targeting particular teachers and using social networks like Facebook to instigate personal attack on the teacher. According to the report in the Telegraph

Fuelled by technology and encouraged by anonymity, rumours and gossip easily grow into “petitions” and campaigns against certain education leaders, the National Association of Head teachers (NAHT) said.

Social media and its effects has been an important part of public discourse not just in the United Kingdom, but all over the world. The United States has also been increasingly scrutinizing social media, after reports of the increase in teenage suicide deaths in the end of the last year caused by not just bullying but its spill into the social media.

An important difference drawn out by experts, between bullying and opinions in the yesteryears and today, was that today a lot of it is not restricted to personal expression alone. Instead, these days it is also done on social media and is therefore more public and magnified.

Algeria has been under the scanner for a while because of the riots that have spread through the country. The riots broke out last week and is said to be instigated to protest the rise in prices. The protests have been suspected to have gained popularity, using the far reaching access of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

The government of Algeria has tried to block these social networks for a while to reduce. According to a report in the Next Web

Social Media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been decisive tools activists and rioters use to expose governmental atrocities throughout the riots. These tools have also helped show the aggression expressed by Algerian youth towards public and private property

Therefore, the Algerian government went ahead and completely blocked social media in the aim to reduce the coordinating and organizing protests. Additionally, this ensured that the information of the protests were not reported to the rest of the world and were channelized through formal media.

As much as social media may be blocked in Algeria, social media has not blocked Algeria out of its burning issues. Many people outside and within Algeria have voiced their opinions on the crisis and hope that normalcy has been reinstated quickly in the country.

There is no ifs and buts about how more and more people are getting involved in Facebook. They carry out lot of activities like sharing status, posting photos and using Facebook applications. These facebook apps intend to entertain and help people using this social media. You will come across various app and some of them are best of all. So here is the list of some best applications that been added that are used by different people based on their interests:

1. Farmville : Farmville is one of the most popular games on Facebook. Different Facebook users can play with their friends, acquire farm land, do farming, own a ranch and so on. Over 26.2 million people like the game and over 57.3 million people are monthly active users.
2. Facebook for iPhone : Facebook for iPhone is just what its name suggests. It is an application that enables you to access Facebook on your iPhone. Over 1.75 million people like the application and over 57.8 million people are monthly active users.
3. ilike : iLike is an application that lets you add music, playlists, and videos to your profile. It also lets you dedicate songs to your friends, and see which of your friends is going to what concerts. Over 1.17 million people like the application and over 1.7 million people are monthly active users.
4. Flixter : This application allows you to rate movies, take quizzes online, and compare movie tastes. It can also be used to get latest information on what’s new and good in the movies. Over 1.5 million people like the application and over 867 thousand people are monthly active users.
5. Facebook For Android : Facebook for Android(tm) helps you share information and stay connected using Facebook on your Android phone. Over 611 thousand people like the application, and more that 1.13 million people are active on a monthly bases.
6. Static FBML : Static FBML helps you design and change the look and feel of your Facebook. Additionally, you can use it to add advanced features and functions to your fan pages. Over 606 thousand people like the application and over 91.9 million people are monthly active users.
7. Birthday Calendar : The birthday calendar helps you track all your friends’ birthdays. The application sends you reminders and email alerts to let you know when a friend’s birthday is coming up. Over 563 thousand people like the application and over 4.8 million people are monthly active users.
8. Causes : If you believe in a cause or are part of a non-profit organization the Cause application helps you promote your vision and seek support. The application supports a number of causes ranging from animals to environment to religion. Over 321 thousand people like the application and over 22.9 million people are monthly active users.
9. Horoscope : Horoscope as the name suggests gives you updates on your horoscope. Over 222 thousand people like the application and over 409 thousand people are monthly active users.10. Call me on Skype : If connectivity is your forte, it doesn’t get easier than Skype. Integrating Skype to Facebook can be the most effective ways to integrate your entire scope of communication. Skype is free and when integrated with Facebook enables you to make and receive calls from Facebook. Over 73 thousand people like the application, and more that 31 thousand people are active on a monthly bases.

   

Bonus

Marketplace :The Marketplace is a application that allows sellers and buyers to interact. It is the digital agora to sell, buy, and bargain for products.

Social media marketing has been an important part of today’s marketing options. However, it is also a niche way to market and therefore takes a lot of planning and understanding to get it right. Many brands and companies have tried their hand at marketing using social media. However, only some have succeeded at using it to their advantage.

As year 2010 comes to a close, the following is a list out some of the success stories that brands have had with social media marketing:

1.    Ikea’s Showroom : Though technically this campaign started in 2009, the impact of it has gone on to be one of the most successful campaigns in 2010. It also won the 2010 Gold Cyber Lions at Cannes. When Ikea wanted to open a Malmö store in Sweden, it created an online showroom hosted on Facebook. This page gave options to people to look at the kind of products available in the site. The social media campaign also posted an impressive video on YouTube.

2.    Old Spice : Old spice certainly made a stir in the social media marketing sphere with their campaign on YouTube. Old Spice made a 186 video campaign across social media platforms in real time. These were focused on promoting the 71 year old product that was considered a product for the old, to the youth. The campaign without a doubt was a success and is said to have had over 69 million viewers.

3.    Ford : Ford decided to try social media to unveil its new Ford Explorer. They chose Facebook as their platform, and had a free Ford Explorer as a give away to a lucky person. Ford set up a countdown showed videos chat and photos on the events. This took its competitors by surprise and became one of the most successful campaigns on social media in 2010.

4.    Vitaminwater: Vitaminwater took one of the biggest risks of having its Facebook fan page double as the brand’s official website. It also embarked on an interactive campaign that allowed Facebook fans to create their own flavors of Glaceau Vitaminwater, and announced that the winner of the best flavour would receive $5,000. As a social media campaign, this was a risk that worked well for the brand, because currently this page has over 2 million followers.

5.    Microsoft : Microsoft’s Bing search engine advertised and gained a lot of popularity all on one day this year. Microsoft’s Bing advertised on Facebook’s very popular game called Farmville. Microsoft’s popularity grew by over 400,000, as the fans on Facebook increased because of their advertisement on Farmville.

6.    Coca Cola : In the beginning of 2010, Coca-Cola released a YouTube video called The Happiness Machine. They further went on to create a UK version of the video as well. These video have over 3 million viewers. The campaign also received the Gold Interactive Award at the 2010 Clio Awards.

7.    Pepsi : Pepsi took a different approach in marketing using social media. Instead of taking the predictable route of advertising their product, they instead took the route of improving people’s social conscience. The campaign was focused on getting people to come up with innovative ways to refresh the world, submit them on Pepsi’s Refresh Everything , add them to Facebook and ask for votes. The best and the most popular and ideas would be funded by Pepsi.

8.    Ridley Scott’s Life in a Day : Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald, along with YouTube and in cooperation with LG wanted to create an experimental documentary film to be shown in the Sundance Film Festival. The idea was to see how July 24, 2010 was experienced by different people in the world. For this they created the short film and posted it on YouTube. More than 81,000 people submitted their video entries to be included in the experimental film. More than 1 million people have watched the video on you tube and many followed the progress of the film, and saw the behind the scenes footage.

9.    Gillette: Gillette used a super viral video on YouTube featuring tennis star Roger Federer. The behind the scene footage attracted a lot on attention and 7.9 million views to date on Gilette’s official channel, the video makes up 99% of Gilette’s viewership on YouTube.

10. The Last Exorcism: Before the release of the movie The Last Exorcism, the marketing strategy that the creator applied was social media related. They released frightful video that intrigued the audiences and encouraged them to respond to it. The videos received over 3 million views for the video. The movie also earned over $20 million on the first three days alone, after opening at number 2 in the US Box Office.