Ever felt you can’t quite match up to the people you follow on Twitter? While you’re tweeting about that lunchtime cheese sandwich, their feeds are full of elegant witticisms, important-sounding conferences and bungee jumps. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault – your Twitter friends are just more interesting than you. More »
Social networks are a great place to vent your frustrations to your “friends,” but sometimes they can be a hotbed for debates and arguments. According to a new survey that polled almost 2,700 people, approximately 20% people have reduced in-person contact with someone due to an argument or debate that occurred online.
The survey was conducted by Kerry Patterson et al, who wrote the New York Times best-seller book Crucial Conversations. The study says 78% of social network users reported being hostile in some fashion while online. Furthermore, the survey pointed out that 40% of users have admitted to unsubscribing or “unfriending” someone over an argument on a social networking site.
Other findings from the survey include 76% of users reported to have witnessed an argument on a social networking site, while 19% have gone so far as to decrease in-person contact with someone because of something they said online. A whopping 88% of users believe people are less polite on social media than in person, and 81% say that arguments they have been involved with over social media remain unresolved.
Of course, this isn’t surprising at all. The internet is a hotbed for incivility, and since the consequences are so low, many users have no qualms to start an argument or be rude to other users, which is why cyber bullying has been such a hot topic lately. Social networks provide the opportunity to make connections, but it turns out that it’s having the opposite effect on a majority of users.
[via VitalSmarts]
Image via XKCD
Hostility on social networks rises to 78% of users is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
You know all the social networks we use? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, hell even LinkedIn and everything else? They’re all just replacing old stuff we used to do by ourselves at our desks. Twitter would be Post-Its, Skype would be a phone call, Foursquare is your globe and YouTube is the distracting window to the outside world. I rather like these old world translations to new social networks. Quick! Somebody find something that we used to use at our desks and create a social network. You’ll make millions! More »
Amidst all of the good news Facebook has been throwing out, it looks like some bad news was just waiting to rain on its parade. Facebook was sued back in September 2011 by Timelines Inc. over the “timeline” trademark. Timelines Inc., which launched its website in 2009, claimed that Facebook infringed on its trademark when the social network roll out its timeline feature to its user base.
Timelines Inc.’s service is similar to Facebook’s timeline services, except instead of organizing Facebook status updates, likes, etc, it organizes historical events like wars, advancements in science and technology, sporting events, and more. Facebook tried to counter-sue Timelines Inc. and asked for judgments of non-infringement and a cancellation of the registrations due to Timelines Inc.’s trademarks being too generic.
U.S. District Judge John W. Darrah stated that Facebook “has failed to demonstrate, as a matter of law, that the marks are generic.” He continued by saying that Timelines Inc. had a decent amount of sales and many active users. He further states that “it is not unreasonable to conclude that as to this group of users, ‘timeline(s)’ has acquired a specific meaning associated with the plaintiff.”
Timeline Inc.’s attorney, Douglas Albritton, stated that the company is happy with the ruling. He says that the company will be seeking damages against Facebook that is equivalent to the social network’s “timeline-derived ad revenue”. The trial is set for April 22nd. We shall keep you updated about the trial when it takes place. In other news, Facebook is gearing to announce its own customized Android OS, a new HTC phone running the OS, and potentially a new Facebook for Android app soon at its event on April 4th. Stay tuned to SlashGear for live coverage of the event.
[via Bloomberg]
Facebook to go to trial over “Timeline” trademark is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Last week, we reported that Facebook is planning on revealing its own customized version of the Google Android operating system . They will be debuting their “special” version of the Android OS onto one of HTC’s devices. It’s speculated that it will launch on a new HTC device, however, there’s also reports that the OS will be able to run on HTC’s older handsets, and even on its upcoming flagship handset, the HTC One.
Now reports are saying that Facebook’s version of Android OS will be called “Facebook Home”. Sources revealed to 9to5Google that the tagline on Facebook’s invitations, “Come See Our New Home On Android”, is actually a teaser to the new product name. Facebook’s version of the OS will feature deep integration into Android. Facebook Messenger, Photos, and Contacts will be set as the default programs, with Facebook Messenger being used for both messaging your Facebook friends, as well as sending out SMS text messages.
The HTC smartphone that will feature the new, modified Android OS, and will most likely be announced at the event as well. Many sources say that the phone highly resembles the iPhone 5. It will have a home button at the bottom-center of the phone, with capacitive buttons on its right and left side. The device will have a screen larger than 4-inches, with speculations that it will be 4.3-inches. The phone is also said to be similar in size to the iPhone 5.
On top of both of these reveals, we’re also expecting Facebook to announce an upgrade to its Facebook for Android app. Android users have been waiting for a long time to have a decent Facebook for Android app. The current app, while much better than the versions before it, could still use a lot of work. We’re hoping that the app is just as smooth as the iOS app, if not better. Facebook had its employees work extra-hard on the Android app, so it’d be nice to see the results that have come from that. Tune in with us on April 4th, 10:00 A.M. PST, for the official updates from Facebook’s event.
[via 9to5Google]
Facebook’s Android OS will be called “Facebook Home” is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Facebook has just announced another great new feature that should make commenting and replying on your favorite Facebook Pages easier. The new feature creates comment threads under Facebook posts (similar to the comment threads you see here on SlashGear), so you no longer have to include the @ symbol when you’re replying to only one person. Everything is much more organized and clean.
This new feature improves engagement between websites, page moderators, and their followers. Now celebrities, politicians, and other popular figures can have a more personal conversation with their followers. They can start a Q&A session where they can answer a series of questions asked by followers, similar to Reddit’s AMA threads. The new service also consolidates reply threads with a drop down-esque menu.
Those of you with a Facebook page will be able to opt-in to the new conversation threads feature through your admin page. The option is located in your Manage Permissions section. Those of you that have Facebook pages with over 10,000 followers will automatically be opted into the service. And all Facebook pages will have the service auto-enabled on July 10th, 2013.
Facebook really is making its social network much more efficient and personable. It is planning on implementing hashtags into its service, so that users will be able to find statuses and events surrounding the topic. A new timeline will be rolled out to all users in order to bring a much cleaner interface to your newsfeeds, and Facebook Events have gotten more efficient with its new addition of weather forecasts. What will Facebook come up with next?
[via Facebook]
Facebook implements conversation threads into Pages is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Sure you have friends. Sure people Like your pictures on Facebook and Instagram. Sure people favorite your tweets. But what would these people really do for you? None of ’em would take a bullet for you! Some would make a hashtag. All will talk about how much they miss you on their profiles. Sometimes, that’s enough for me. More »
There’s no doubt that Facebook is the most popular social network around, even if teens are losing interest in the service. Facebook has announced that its 1 billion+ users have shared over 400 billion open graph actions back to the social network so far, a number that many Facebook marketers love to see. These figures were announced prior to its event being held at South by Southwest (SXSW).
Open Graph actions range from a variety of things, including follows, likes, songs listened to (on a variety of services like Spotify or Pandora), articles read on various news portals, videos watched on YouTube, LiveLeak, etc, images pinned on Pinterest, photos liked or shared on Instagram, and more. Users enabled many of these services to automatically share their information through their Facebook Newsfeed.
So far, Facebook users have shared a total of 110 million songs, albums, and radio stations over 40 billion times, and have shared around 1.47 million books. Facebook makes it easy for users to share their data to their timeline through integrated apps, or social buttons placed throughout a majority of websites and blogs out there. It hopes to make sharing on its network more personable and enjoyable with acquisitions like Storylane.
These kind of numbers should have developers and companies promoting their next projects or campaigns through the social media behemoth. The user engagement looks promising for those that develop on the platform, or those who are looking to get more exposure to the world. Marketers should also be pleased that Facebook is offering new features that will make finding the right, targeted audience easier.
[via The Next Web]
Sharing is caring according to Facebook users is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
All those social networks we spend more than half our life on? There all just varying degrees of the same damn thing. Basically, look at my cat’s albums. Watch my cat videos. Read how I hashtag my cat. Check this filtered cat. And on and on we go. More »
This week on the Gadget Lab Show, the gang talks Facebook’s new News Feed, and Path version 3.0.
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