Social

Twitter shutting down TweetDeck for iOS, Android, AIR on May 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 17, 2018

We had a feeling TweetDeck could wind up on life support after the micro-blogging and media platform Twitter had acquired them back in May 2011 for the reported $50 million.

Despite promising not to change the once popular application - and in spite of overhauling the UI and adding new features - last month was a disappointment for TweetDeck's loyal following as Twitter confirmed plans to phase out mobile apps.

The plan is to focus on the TweetDeck web app. And now, Twitter's most recent follow-up post makes it clear the company will be pulling the plug on TweetDeck for iPhone, TweetDeck for Android and TweetDeck AIR on May 1...

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Facebook updates iOS SDK with native Share Dialog

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 23, 2017

The social networking giant Facebook yesterday at the Mobile Developer Conference in New York City updated its software development kit (SDK) for iOS developers with a new native Share Dialog that also supports photos, akin to the iOS 6 Share Sheet feature.

It lets iOS programmers write apps which enable users to share content to Facebook without leaving the app. Previously, sharing to Facebook in non-Facebook apps used to bring up a web page.

Facebook also rebuilt the Login Dialogs across mobile and web claiming a 20 percent speed increase and introduced other changes to the SDK...

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Facebook 6.0 arrives with Chat Heads, new iPad UI, revamped News Feed, stickers

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 16, 2013

As promised, the new Facebook version 6.0 update has just dropped on the App Store, bringing out a number of new features such as Chat Heads borrowed from Facebook Home for Android, a redesigned user interface on the iPad focused on the new News Feed which was announced in March, stickers in chat windows and more.

Get downloading and read the following one-line disclaimer from Facebook before you jump straight to the comments:

"Chat Heads and stickers will be available to everyone over the next few weeks".

There, it's a staggered roll-out, you've been warned...

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Chat Heads coming to iOS later today via Facebook 6.0 app update

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 16, 2013

Chat Heads, the core feature of the new Facebook Home for Android, is coming to iPhone and iPad via an update to Facebook's iOS client, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer and mobile head Cory Ondrejka announced at AllThingsD's D: Dive into Mobile conference today.

Other new features have also been mentioned, including a new layout on iPad which takes into account March changes to Facebook's News Feed.

As for Facebook Home, that application will see its first update on select Android smartphones from HTC and Samsung in "the second week of May". Go past the fold for a nice Facebook 6.0 for iOS hands-on video...

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Facebook talking to Apple about bringing Home to iOS (debunked)

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArFy91n1FR0

Facebook Home, a brand new and controversial feature from the social networking behemoth, is having a rocky start. At a news conference last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new capability that puts users' News Feed right on the Lock screen of select HTC and Samsung smartphones. He then lambasted Apple's walled-garden approach and praised Google’s Android for being open "so we don’t have to work with them." But alas, Android users evidently aren't liking their new Home much.

Reviews on Google's Play Store give it an average score of 2.3 out of five stars, with the most common rating by far being just one star out of five. Perhaps sensing Android people may not be ready to embrace Home as Facebook's co-founder thought they would, Facebook is now toning down rhetoric and is apparently in talks with both Apple and Microsoft over bringing the Home overlay to iOS and Windows Phone...

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New Twitter Music app launching this weekend

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Twitter Thursday announced on, well, Twitter that it snapped up We Are Hunted, a music startup which tracks what songs people share the most across social networks.

But that's so yesterday. Just 24 hours later, Twitter on Friday announced its music service is crawling out of obscurity, having changed from "invite only" to "coming soon." Not much is known about the service as of yet except for a tidbit here and there.

According to some well-informed people, the micro-blogging service will be launching an app for iOS devices as well, timed to the start of the Coachella music festival this weekend. Matter of fact, if you're Ryan Seacrest, a filmstar, an influencer or some such celebrity, you could start using Twitter Music today...

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Facebook Home now available, video tour posted

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 21, 2017

Facebook Home just landed on select Android devices so the social networking giant figured it should do a video to highlight some of the features of its controversial new UI overlay. A first-look clip, included right past the break, has Facebook's Product Director Adam Mosseri discussing Chat Heads, Cover Feed and nice gestures and animations which let you stay on top of what your Facebook friends have been up to, no matter what app you happen to be using at any given moment...

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Twitter’s Vine is now App Store’s new #1 free app

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Here's a reminder that Vine still exists: just six months after being acquired by Twitter and about two and a half months following its iOS debut, the Vine app is now the number one free software on the App Store. By comparison, Twitter's own iOS client sits at No. 35.

Vine's success is no small feat given that App Store charts are normally populated with a bevy of well-known games and entertainment titles which, by the way, command mobile app usage.

What's more, Vine is a really quirky piece of work: for Christ's sake, we're talking an app which lets you share ultra-short six-second clips here. Yet, a bunch of other video sharing programs can only dream of rising on top of App Store charts. So, what's the secret ingredient Vine has that similar programs lack?

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Vine update lets you embed videos on web pages

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 9, 2018

Twitter's Vine app has seen just one noteworthy refresh following its January 24 arrival, one giving it a 17+ age rating shortly after the Internet's morality police cautioned about porn content surfacing in Vine’s Editor’s Pick, a flaw the app makers attributed to a "human error."

Now, I love Vine and even though I'm not a regular user, I find myself occasionally recording and sharing a quick clip.

It always bugged me that tweeting out those links used to be my only choice to share Vines with the web at large - of course, in addition to Facebook and shares through the Vine service itself. But what about embedding a Vine on your blog? Well, I'm pleased to report that today's update has made Vine a whole lot more useful for a bunch of people: the new version includes web embeds, letting you easily inject your own or other people's videos into blog posts...

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Digg: we’re going to build a Google Reader replacement, starting today

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 14, 2013

Digg, a social news service struggling for relevance in the age of Reddit and mobile apps that gather news, says it's going to build its own RSS client. The company actually aimed to release such a software in the second half of 2013, but has now accelerated those plans after news of Google Reader's demise.

Digg's Reader will make the Internet "a more approachable and digestible place." It's being built around modern web technologies, making it "fit the Internet of 2013." Digg has pledged to rebuild the most popular Google Reader APIs so its Reader could sync with existing third-party clients and replicate the most popular Google Reader capabilities.

Some form of integration with other social media sources like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit and Hacker News is also being mulled. This should be an exciting development for all you loyal Reader fans out there...

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Hands-on with new one-column Facebook Timeline

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2013

The social networking giant Facebook today announced that the improved Timeline rocking a much-awaited one-column layout is rolling out today and "in the coming weeks" to users worldwide. The subtle and welcomed redesign has nothing to do with a new-look News Feed, also coming pretty soon.

The two-column Timeline prominently features shortcuts to your About, Friends and Photos sections. Facebook has also introduced several new sections for your About view: Movies, Books and Photos, where you can indicate what you read, watched and shared.

Also cool: the new Instagram Timeline app replicates your photo stream across the full width of your Facebook profile, quite handy for showcasing the photos you shared on this Facebook-owned service without having to manually upload them to Facebook...

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Netflix rolls out the improved social experience to US viewers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc82e7GGHl8#!

Netflix, the popular provider of on-demand Hollywood movies and television shows, Wednesday showed off a slew of new features aimed at making the experience more social and engaging. After being available internationally for well over a year, Netflix customers in the United States can now finally connect their Netflix account with Facebook.

This enables you to check out what your friends are watching and optionally share your favorite shows with them. Interestingly enough, there's a new Do Not Share button to mark those kinky videos you don't want your parents to know about. More Social Settings are available in Your Account on Netflix.com, where you can turn on additional sharing to Facebook or stop sharing altogether...

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