Facebook is a teenager tone deaf to its self-centred destructiveness. Also, happy birthday
Turning 15 is a drag. Just ask any teenager about this most awkward age of life and the pain of living through it. Imagine then that you’re Facebook. Last week as the largest social media network reached this milestone it seemed every bit the gangly kid trying to look cool while being beset by angst and self-doubt. And being hated by the rest of the class.
Facebook ten year challenge: how our need to belong trumps our distrust of social media
When the ten year challenge began doing the rounds on social media, people rushed to post profile pictures of themselves from 2009, side by side with one from 2019, to highlight how much they had changed (or not) in the meantime. It is estimated that more than 5.2m social media users participated in this challenge.
How to use Facebook’s newest feature: Unsending FB Messenger missives
We've been expecting it for a while (ever since the Zuck got caught using it without us), and now it's finally here. Facebook has rolled out the ability to unsend Facebook Messenger messages to everyone using the Messenger app.
Fairy-tale social media fantasies can demolish your confidence, but it’s not all bad
If social media was a person, you’d probably avoid them. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are loaded with pictures of people going to exotic places, looking like they are about to be on the cover of Vogue, and otherwise living a fairy-tale existence. And, like all fairy tales, these narratives feel a lot like fiction. When you compare the “projected reality” to your lived experience, it would be ea...[Read More]
You can now unlock WhatsApp with your face or your finger
Instagram and Messenger are expected to inherit the end-to-end encryption their stablemate WhatsApp enjoys, but in the meantime if you're using WhatsApp and an iDevice you can enjoy another layer of security: biometric authentication. Peeping significant others will soon need to find other ways to access bae’s messages.
By combining its various messaging services, Facebook is treading on dangerous ground with privacy and anticompetitive monopoly
Facebook intends to combine is messaging apps – WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram – into a single backend so people can message across the various platforms. While Facebook clearly believes it will make it easier for its users to communicate, the rest of the rational world is alarmed at its unprecedented monopoly of communication getting worse, and potentially compromising our data privacy even mo...[Read More]
How Facebook went from friend to frenemy
As Facebook celebrates 15 years of virtual friendship, social science has compiled an expansive body of research that documents the public’s love-hate relationship with its best frenemy. What many once viewed as a confidant has devolved into a messy codependence, mired by ambiguity and mistrust. It’s a relationship that’s both taken for granted, yet extremely high-maintenance, leaving users to won...[Read More]
Zuckerberg plans to integrate Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp chat
Just imagine a single app where you could go for all your messaging needs. Okay, it doesn’t sound so much convenient than it does unnecessary — but it may be coming. Facebook plans to integrate WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram messages, according to a new report. Doing so will allow users to send messages between the three networks, even if they’re not on all of them. A report in t...[Read More]
Telegram and Signal are the main alternatives to WhatsApp because they promise greater security
In the last few years while WhatsApp was being sued by privacy watchdogs in Europe for data infringements, Telegram was sued in Russia for refusing to compromise on its users’ privacy. Telegram is a messaging app that prides itself on its encryption and privacy. It was created in 2013 Pavel Durov – often called Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg – specifically to prevent his own government from eavesd...[Read More]
WhatsApp limits forwarding to five instances to curb fake news
That image of your littlest nephew sitting on the couch all chocolate-covered, with a half-eaten banana and a manic grin on his face? WhatsApp will only let you forward that image a maximum of five times, thanks to silly people who believe everything that they read. The messaging app has announced that it will be limiting available forwards from 20 groups or people down to just five. The reasoning...[Read More]
Facebook sued by European regulators for breaching privacy, and it’s only getting worse
I’m not a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions. After years of trying to fulfil these improbable, sometimes impossible, behavioural change tasks, I – like everyone – gave up on this annual tradition. But this year I have a goal, a resolution, if you will. I want to move way from WhatsApp – and to use Telegram. As one of the largest messaging networks in the world – with over 1.5bn us...[Read More]
WhatsApp overtakes Facebook as the company’s most popular app
As we all know, Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, and it’s grown in popularity — enough to take the top spot from Facebook. It’s hard to imagine that there are people out there who don’t have Facebook. In fact, if you hear about an acquaintance who’s not on the platform, it’s a bit odd. But the reality is that many are opting to leave Facebook after a range of data scandals. And the social...[Read More]