Social

Google+ iOS apps land in 48 new countries and territories

Cody Lee ∙ Updated August 26, 2017

Google's social network may have gotten off to a rocky start, but through perseverance and a string of handsome mobile app updates, it's managed to turn the service into a hit. As of last month, it had more than 500 million users, with 235 million being active.

And that number could see a small bump this weekend, as the search giant just announced that it has launched its two iOS Google+ apps in 48 new countries and territories this week, including Barbados and the Ukraine. We've got the full list after the fold...

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How to get Facebook Messenger working on a jailbroken iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Facebook a week ago issued invites for a major news conference due tomorrow to “come and see what we're building”. One source claims the iPad version of the popular Messenger client will be on tap as the social networking giant's last-minute "one more thing" surprise.

What you may not have known is that the current iPhone build of Messenger already has the iPad interface and code in place. And if you happen to have your device jailbroken (as most readers who frequent iDB do), you may want to unlock Messenger for iPad right now. Just follow this simple guide and Jeff's easy to follow video instructions, embedded right past the break...

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Facebook ‘totally’ ready to launch Messenger for iPad on Tuesday

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

You may have heard that Facebook has issued invites for a media event due this coming Tuesday to “come and see what [they're] building”. People in the know claim the news conference is a pretty big deal as Facebook could announce a brand new mobile operating system, even a so-called Facebook Phone of some sort. And now, another source has stepped forward with knowledge that the social networking giant will also launch an iPad version of its mobile Messenger app, which in a recent update has gained VoIP capabilities...

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Facebook teases January 15 media event. Facebook Phone, much?

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 8, 2013

Time to step back from the flow of news surrounding CES 2013. The social networking giant Facebook has just teased a media event scheduled for January 15 at 10am Pacific Time. The invite graphics doesn't reveal much besides asking the media to “come and see what we’re building”. The company has been on a roll lately, having updated its Messenger app with VoIP calling (it's Canada-only initially) and releasing Poke, a new app which lets you send quick messages, photos or videos...

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Facebook Messenger gains VoIP calling, but it’s Canada only initially

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 3, 2013

Facebook has just updated its Messenger iOS and Android app with the voice messaging feature. Facebook Messenger version 2.1, a free download over at Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store, now lets you record short voice messages for your friends, up to a minute in length. We'll see if this is the voicemail for the 21st century, but anyone who updates to the new version gains this feature automatically and that's a big advantage. But the social networking giant isn't stopping there.

In the new Facebook Messenger, you can now place voice calls to your Facebook contacts free of charge. Of course, these are VoIP calls so a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection is needed. It looks like Facebook, which some folks though would buy WhatsApp, is adamant to turn the Messenger app into a unified messaging solution. The last piece of the puzzle needed: video chat... 

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How to copy Instagram photos to Flickr

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2017

Instagram's exploding popularity is having long-time iPhoneography buffs pay notice and watch in horror as mainstream users cannot get enough of its filters and max 1080 pixel wide resolution. And with Facebook and Android now in the picture, no wonder some early adopters go to the extremes of closing their account while others, like Apple's marketing honcho, stopped using Instagram for it "jumped the shark".

To the most ardent fans, the last straw was Instagram's confusing handling of the recent terms of service changes - even if it was much ado about nothing.

If you've been seriously contemplating importing your Instagram photos over to Flickr but were put off by the tedious manual uploads - worry not, turns out there are a few ways to get that job done without too much fuss. iDB has you covered with this quick guide to bringing in all your Instagram photos to Flickr with just a few clicks.

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Popular Rockmelt social browser now available for the iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaKQP-TuCgg

Rockmelt social browser has been available on the iPad for nearly two months now and today the team refreshed the app, adding the all-new iPhone and iPod touch experience. Rockmelt version 2.1 is available now as a universal binary supporting all form factor iOS devices natively. On the iPhone, the program boasts a design “optimized for the thumb alone" (they must have watched Apple's iPhone commercials) while offering the familiar feature set.

You'll still enjoy a Pinterest-like streaming interface with scrollable tiles and navigate your way around the app via gestures. As a bonus, the app keeps all your Rockmelt copies across different devices in sync, just like Google's Chrome browser does...

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How to download and explore your Twitter archive

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 19, 2012

Twitter today rolled out a new feature which allows users to download their entire archive of tweets, images and other data associated with their Twitter account. It's currently available to a small percentage of users whose language is set to English, but the micro-blogging service pledged to make it available to everyone "over the coming weeks and months". If the thought of re-visiting your Twitter past has piqued your interest, follow our step-by-step guide which explains how to explore your entire Twitter archive...

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Static for iPhone: your social media pulse never looked this good

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XDQugm98GMQ

The App Store carries a number of free and paid apps that provide analytics for your social media accounts across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other popular services. One of my favorites is StatNut, a $99-cent download, and now a new app has arrived to rule them all.

Dubbed Static, it dives deep into your data so you don't have to. What the software does remarkably well is present key stats using a beautifully crafted interface to help paint an accurate picture of your social media performance...

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You can now download App Store apps without leaving Facebook

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 18, 2012

Remember the App Center, a cross-platform application store Facebook launched ahead of its rebuilt iOS app? Hosted and curated by Facebook, the App Center is available as a link in the main menu of their iOS client, listing Facebook-enhanced apps and games that can be found on the App Store. Previously, tapping an entry yanked you out of the Facebook app and into the App Store.

That's no longer the case as it is now possible to install App Store software from a pop-up inside the Facebook app, which is an iOS 6 SDK feature available to all third-party developers who wish to implement it...

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Instagram wants to sell your photos to faceless corporations. Great, now what?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

As we told you yesterday, realizing it needs to start making money the Facebook-owned photo sharing service has added an interesting clause to its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

The updated rules give Instagram the right to sell access to your photos to advertisers and share your profile data with third-parties. The change enraged some to the point of closing their Instagram account.

The vast majority of users don't appeaer to oppose the decision with such drastic measures, but there's no doubt that the company is playing with fire. The move already has backfired. A major backlash ensued and the misstep is now threatening to snowball into a PR catastrophe...

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Instagram-Facebook data sharing goes into effect January 16

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 8, 2016

Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook in September, just posted an interesting update on its blog confirming plans to share data on users with Facebook, the #1 social network that claims nearly one billion users worldwide. Instagram's updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy will go into effect starting January 16 to enable deeper integration between the two service, making it easier to "fight spam more effectively, detect system and reliability problems more quickly and build better features" for everyone by understanding how Instagram is used.

Under the new terms, Instagram can also share User Content and your information with businesses that are "legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of". In other words, Facebook now has access to Instagram user data. The social networking behemoth is allowed to use this information to "help provide, understand and improve" both its own and Instagram's service...

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