social media

Announced today, Facebook for Android version 2.0 is officially out and apparently, it should blow previous versions out of the water, speedwise. According to Facebook's blog post, the app is twice as fast at displaying photos and Timeline items.

Previously, the Facebook app functioned in a sort of hybrid native/Web view, which was a major reason for its sluggish performance. With today's update, however, users will get to enjoy a completely rebuilt app, made entirely with native code. This is a big deal. The main news feed, notifications, and Timeline should feel faster, and photo loading … Read more

12-12-12 was a day tailor-made for social media. Here are some notes on the day from the serious to the ridiculous:

12-12-12, THE DATE: Millions of people spent the days talking about the rare confluence of numbers (won't happen again till 01/01/01 in 2101), starting with 12:12:12 a.m. local time, on Facebook and Twitter and continued around the world, hitting a peak at 12:12:12 pm local time. I, too, gave into the hype and posted a screen grab of the official US atomic clock at Time.gov turning 12:12:12 pm. … Read more

Not as many people in developing countries have access to the Internet as those in more developed areas of the world, but when they do get on the Web, they are more likely to join a social-networking site, according to a Pew Research Center report released today.

The report -- which looked at the state of social media globally based a survey of 21 nations -- found the majority of Internet users in Mexico, Brazil, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and India use social media.

"Once people in these countries are online, they generally become involved in social networks … Read more

Facebook has offered up the most popular trends across its service in 2012, as well as a new feature that lets users check out their last year.

Facebook's 2012 Trends, which the social network compiles by analyzing the most popular topics across its service this year, doesn't offer up many surprises. This year's top event on Facebook was the U.S. presidential election, followed by Super Bowl XLVI and Whitney Houston's death. Superstorm Sandy and the London Olympics rounded out the top five.

"We Are Young" by Fun was this year's top song, … Read more

TweetDeck users can still view Instagram photos directly in tweets, despite a much-publicized move by the popular photo-sharing service to shut off its users' ability to tweet images.

Last week, Instagram announced it was ending Twitter Card integration, its most aggressive step to date in its ongoing turf war with Twitter. The upshot of the decision, which Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom announced at Le Web in Paris, was that Twitter users could no longer view Instagram photos directly in tweets.

But for some reason, those photos are still visible when viewing tweets in TweetDeck. Whether that's because of an … Read more

IPhone users, you can stop holding your breath. Twitter filters are yours to play with.

Yesterday, in the latest move in its escalating battle with Instagram, Twitter announced new versions of its iPhone and Android apps that for the first time feature in-app photo filters. That move positions Twitter's mobile apps directly against Instagram when it comes to editing and sharing photos, something that's particularly important given that Instagram recently cut off Twitter Card integration -- a step that means Instagram photos no longer show up in tweets.

But while Twitter said yesterday that the new version of … Read more

The hit sitcom "Seinfeld" might have gone off the air long before some of the technology we enjoy today was invented, but that hasn't stopped one person from taking to Twitter and guessing at what the modern-day "Seinfeld" would look like.

On Sunday, BuzzFeed sports editor Jack Moore opened a Twitter account, called @SeinfeldToday, where he shares storylines that could have been produced if the show was airing today. The tweets center on scenarios in which Jerry, George, Kramer, or Elaine interact with today's technologies.

"Jerry joins Twitter only to find that a … Read more

With one bold step Monday, Twitter took the photo filtering fight directly to Instagram.

Until yesterday, Instagram was the undisputed leader when it comes to mobile photo filtering and sharing. But with its release of a new version of its mobile app that enables filters, Twitter has launched a very credible challenge to the crown.

To be sure, Instagram has a massive lead, and a very passionate community. But Twitter has a nine-figure user base, and now that it is offering filters -- albeit just eight, while Instagram has 18 free filters -- it can begin to chip away at … Read more

Twitter said today that it was releasing a new version of its iPhone and Android apps that would allow users to filter their photos directly from their devices, a move that directly challenges Instagram's stranglehold on artistic photo sharing. But while the new Android version is already available, the iPhone version is not.

In its blog post announcing the new versions, Twitter said that, "Starting today, you'll be able to edit and refine your photos, right from Twitter. The latest versions of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android introduce a few new ways to enhance the … Read more