Facebook tweaks News Feed to focus on close friends and relevant links

Facebook is once again changing up the News Feed. The company announced Thursday two ranking updates to the algorithm that drives the News Feed. One is meant to prioritize a user's closest friends, and another the links they'll find most relevant. Ch...

A closer look at the redesigned Facebook app

Out of all the announcements Facebook made at its F8 2019 developers conference, one of the most important was the redesign of its core smartphone app. The new application, which has been updated with what Facebook is calling the "FB5" version, is no...

Facebook App Gets Audio Recognition for Music and TV Shows

Facebook app update

With listening to music and watching TV becoming more social experiences, the Facebook app will be updated with audio recognition.

These days, few people watch TV shows or listen to music alone. Not in the figurative sense anyway. Audio service last.fm is a good example of the latter, with the website and app including software called the ‘Scrobbler’ which ‘scrobbles’ the music that you’re having a song and dance to on your phone, tablet or laptop and shares it with your friends and last.fm network. On the TV side of things, people livetweet and share images about the TV shows that entertain them for 20 minutes or more, making the stationary water cooler moments a global, more easily accessible experience; without a water cooler or a workplace in sight. Now, Facebook is looking to build on that, now announcing plans to add audio recognition to its official app.

Not only will the Facebook app allow you to identify the song or TV show by hearing it with your device’s microphone, in the case of music it will allow you to share clips of the track directly to Facebook. The songs will show up on your profile as a 30 second clip from either Rdio, Spotify or Deezer and if you don’t have an account with one of those audio services or if you don’t have a preference, Facebook will select one for you at random. Meanwhile, the information that you can share about TV shows even comes down to series episodes and titles meaning that you can better avoid spoilers by directly telling your Facebook friends which episode you’re watching.

An obvious concern about the app’s listening feature is what it will or won’t share. Thankfully, the feature is ‘opt-in’ meaning that you don’t have to switch it on if you don’t want to, thus avoiding some unfortunate mishaps when your friends realise that you like listening to Nickelback/Justin Bieber mashups. It’s unclear of the exact date when the update will be rolled out, but Facebook say that the update to the app will be available in the next few weeks so we’ll keep you posted once we know more.

Source: Facebook

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories, Facebook’s Nearby Friends Service Is Now Available on Android and iOS

New Job Hunting App Offered by Facebook

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The popular social media website is now launching an app to help you find a job. So in between posting memes and silly status updates, you can now look for employment!

How many of you spend lots of wasteful hours on Facebook? Don’t lie. The truth is we all spend hours ...
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Microsoft ‘retiring’ Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps

Microsoft 'retiring' Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps

Eagle-eyed gamers may have already noticed that the Xbox 360's dedicated Twitter and Facebook apps have gone missing after the latest Dashboard update, and now Redmond has confirmed it's put the applications out to pasture. According to a Microsoft representative that spoke to IGN, the firm is "retiring the Facebook and Twitter apps" as it works to streamline functionality. When asked if the pair of apps will ever make a comeback, Ballmer and Co. didn't comment. Still crave to update your friends on your latest gaming exploits through the console? Spreading the news on the digital grapevine is still possible, but you'll have to access the social networks through the freshly added Internet Explorer app -- an experience we hope Xbox SmartGlass will improve.

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Microsoft 'retiring' Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Native Facebook app for Android is in the final phases of internal testing

Facebook for Android is in the final phases of internal testing

Remember when Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook's HTML5 Android app was a mistake? Well, one of our tipsters, embedded deep inside the Social Network, has let us know that the native version for Google's mobile OS has entered final testing. As such, it won't be long before the software is ready for consumption by the public at large, give or take an angry Winklevii or two.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

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Native Facebook app for Android is in the final phases of internal testing originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Zuckerberg: betting on HTML 5 for Facebook mobile app was a ‘mistake,’ native Android version on the way

Zuckerberg: betting on HTML 5 for Facebook mobile app was a 'mistake,' native Android version on the way

Remember the days before Facebook's iOS app ditched HTML 5 and sped things up with some native code? It turns out that there's some regret in Menlo Park about relying on the web markup language. Betting on HTML 5 for the app is "one of the biggest mistakes if not the biggest strategic mistakes we've ever made," Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt today. The firm's CEO also mentioned that new features will be making their way to the app and a snappier Android version is coming down the pike "when it's done."

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Zuckerberg: betting on HTML 5 for Facebook mobile app was a 'mistake,' native Android version on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Washington to become first US state to enroll voters through Facebook

DNP Washington to become first US state to enroll voters through Facebook

Washington state has commissioned a Facebook app to provide another avenue for its residents to register to vote. Officials will soon post the software, developed by local company Microsoft, on the Secretary of State's page and allow users to like it in order to spread the word. Once it's ready, residents looking at using it will need to allow Facebook access to their personal info and provide a driver's license number or state ID number, which the social network will use to put them on the voter rolls -- but it would have no access to government databases, according to an election director. The state's current online system already saves up to $2 per voter registration, so on top of getting more out to vote, the new effort should keep even more dollars in the coffers.

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Washington to become first US state to enroll voters through Facebook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BBC launches updated, interactive live video player ahead of Olympics; lines up ‘summer of 3D’

BBC launches updated, interactive live video player ahead of Olympics lines up 'summer of 3D'

As the London Olympics creep closer, BBC is unveiling more of the technology it plans to use to bring the Games home to UK viewers. In the last few days it's shown off both the new live video player shown above, as well as a new Facebook app in beta for BBC Sport. The interactive live video player is built to deliver up to 24 HD streams during the Olympics, along with alerts for key events and extra information and stats. It will work on computers and tablets that support Flash, and for those notable ones that don't, there's a stripped down version for mobiles and iPads that loses the extra interactivity. The BBC Sport Facebook app will also be able to stream the Games, but also let you see if any of your friends are watching the same stream or what sport is the most popular. Finally, the Beeb has lined up what it's calling the "Summer of 3D" with a lineup that includes Planet of the Dinosaur, Last Night of the Proms, Wimbledon and the Olympics. There's a lot going on, hit the source links or check the press releases after the break for the highlights.

BBC launches updated, interactive live video player ahead of Olympics; lines up 'summer of 3D' originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBBC Internet blog (1), (2), BBC Media Centre  | Email this | Comments