Category / Social Networks

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Amazon Cart launches, allowing lazy shoppers to consumerise without leaving Twitter

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAm6pa9hPKA]

For all of us who find clicking on Amazon links and pressing buttons to add products to shopping carts mind-numbingly tedious, Amazon and Twitter’s new partnership promises to revolutionise how we shop in the most #social way ever. Enter #AmazonCart (or #AmazonBasket for my fellow Brits). Once you’ve linked your Amazon and Twitter accounts, you can add any product to your Amazon purchase queue by tweeting #AmazonCart in reply to a tweet that contains an Amazon product link. Of course what this doesn’t tell you is how much the product is, whether it is any good or if you can find a better deal elsewhere. Much of this can be solved by clicking on the link, but then what’s the point in this new scheme? Click on a link, take a peek and tap a button sounds a lot faster, simpler and consumer-savvy than seeing a tweet, pressing reply, typing out a response to (what is most likely) your brand of choice or a friend who couldn’t actually care any less about your chronic purchasing habits, scribbling #AmazonCart at the end and then tweeting your response.

But #hashtags, right?

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook Home launch liveblog: live now!

Facebook Android Event Invite

As usual with tech events, we already know what we’re going to see today as Facebook unveils its new ‘home on Android’. Facebook Home is set to be an Android launcher with, as you’d expect, a ton of Facebook, and the HTC First, a mid-range Android 4.1 device in a range of colours, is set to bring the launcher to consumers as the closest we’ll get to a legitimate ‘Facebook phone’. Mark Zuckerberg may have some surprises, though, so join our liveblog below to get the latest news as it happens.

Click here for the liveblog – live!

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by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook Home and HTC First prematurely revealed ahead of April 4th launch event

Facebook Home HTC First Colours

@evleaks has a near-perfect record for when it comes to unveiling devices before their manufacturers, having seen devices from Nokia, Huawei, HTC and others pass through its Twitter feed before anywhere else. Today, the leakmeister has turned to 9to5Google to unveil screenshots of Facebook Home, the Android launcher that the company is set to unveil tomorrow alongside a mid-range device called the HTC First. Formerly known as the Myst, the device will feature a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU and a 720p display straight from last year’s flagships, but the big story is, as rumoured, Facebook Home. The launcher is expected to be available for all Android devices and, as shown in the screenshots in the gallery below, it still provides access to Google Play’s app library and deeper integration with Facebook’s services, including Messenger and Instagram. Not much left remains to be seen, but we will be liveblogging the event at Facebook’s HQ tomorrow evening as it plots to quietly take over the Android ecosystem.

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Source 9to5Google

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook teases Android-powered HTC phone launch for April 4th

Facebook Android Event Invite

For years, rumours of a full-on Facebook phone, like a more intense HTC ChaCha/Status or Salsa, have been rife, and the ever-reliable @evleaks told us that a new HTC phone with even more Facebook integration would be on its way to us in spring with mid-range specs. Now, the social behemoth has released an invite for next Thursday inviting press to see its ‘new home on Android’, and TechCrunch sources confirm that this means the Myst #UL is coming with a forked build of Android 4.1, plastered with Facebook. We’ll be liveblogging the event – Facebook’s third of the year at its Menlo Park, CA headquarters – and bringing you all the latest news as it happens, so stay tuned.

Via TechCrunch

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Twitter introduces photo filters into its iOS and Android apps

[tweet https://twitter.com/Xavdog/status/278284300485541888]

After Facebook-owned Instagram removed its integration with the social network last week, Twitter has released an oft-rumoured update to its Android and iOS applications that add photo editing and filters without the need for third-party services or applications. Powered by Aviary, a photo editing platform which provides an SDK that is already implemented in a number of third party applications, the new app provides eight filters that were designed specifically for Twitter along with basic cropping and enhancement options. While unlikely to tempt many users away from Instagram, which also added a new filter today, frequent users of Twitter’s own mobile apps may be pleased to see them gaining more features to challenge third-party clients. The updates are available now through Google Play and the App Store, but no information has been offered up regarding the filters debuting on other platforms.

Twitter Filters

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=2giNzaZunqE]

Source Twitter Blog

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook hits one billion monthly active users and likens itself to chairs in debut ad campaign

Fresh off the back of announcing that Facebook now serves a billion active users each month, Mark Zuckerberg’s firm also announced their first brand advertisement, produced with Portland-based ad agency Wieden & Kennedy. Set to be shown in 13 countries and translated to 12 languages, the 90 second spot, entitled The Things That Connect Us,  is described as a reflection of what Facebook stands for by W+K.

Facebook’s first commercial ever honors the everyday things that people use to get together and connect – things like chairs, doorbells, bridges, airplanes and Facebook.

Coinciding with the billion user milestone, the company also released a document of statistics regarding the site since launch. The threshold was passed on September 14th at 8:45pm BST, and the site has played host to 140 billion friend connections, 219 billion photos and 1.13 trillion likes, with over 600 million users frequenting from mobile platforms. With such large user numbers, the big challenge for Facebook is to turn this into a large revenue stream, but investors don’t seem entirely convinced – share prices are slipping further today as the slide away from the billion dollar IPO continues.

Via Adrianne Jeffries (Twitter)
Source Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) | Wieden & Kennedy | FB Newsroom
Image Credit Eduardo Saverin (Facebook)

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Myspace teases complete redesign in plan to return to social greatness

In a video posted on Vimeo today, Myspace teased an upcoming redesign that the company claims is an all-new social network built from the ground up. The latest version of the network appears to integrate Facebook and Twitter posts and an active sign-in page confirms that users will be able to sign in to ‘Newspace’ with their existing social accounts. Similar to the network’s recent iterations, music appears to remain the focus to users, but whether this can keep Justin Timberlake’s company afloat remains to be seen. Access to the new Myspace is not open yet, however budding users may request an invite at the teaser page.

Via Joe Simpson (Twitter)
Source Myspace (Vimeo)

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Apple’s iPhone 5 event in 1400 characters or less

While some of us were frantically liveblogging proceedings from Apple’s San Francisco event, the guy behind the hilariously accurate Twitter account @NextTechBlog did things a bit differently. In the space of 12 tweets, they said more about the world’s reaction to the iPhone 5 and new iPods than a thousand word blog post ever could. If you are a tweeter and not following them, you’re seriously missing out.












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