Facebook is rolling out voice calling for groups in its Messenger app. In adding yet another smartphone function to Facebook's domain, the company is taking another step towards total mobile domination.
Facebook is looking to make Messenger more than an annoying extraneous download, turning it into a multi-app platform soon. Meanwhile, Twitter celebrates nine years since its debut took South by Southwest (SxSW) by storm by ironically doing all it can to stop Twitter network-exploiting video streaming app Meerkat from doing the same at this year's SxSW -- with the opposite effect.
This week in social media, both Facebook and Foursquare implemented a piece of their separate-app strategy -- both leading to some controversy. Meanwhile, Twitter quietly removed Bing translation, a feature it added in time for the World Cup this year, likely because it wasn't really ready for prime time.
This week was big in social media, especially for Facebook, which announced new features in some of its apps, an entirely new stand-alone app and expanded the amount of information it can collect from you. Twitter, meanwhile, finally enabled tweeting GIFs, LinkedIn faces a lawsuit for violating privacy, and Snapchat got more social with a new sharing feature. It's time for Social Media Saturday.
The World Cup, which kicked off this Thursday, is expected to be the most social media-intensive event in history. Already, in the year leading up to the world's biggest single-sport event, the phrase "World Cup" has outpaced other big sporting events in social media mentions. Here's how Twitter, Facebook and others have prepared and how they hope to capitalize on the World Cup.
This week in social media, Twitter got pretty bruised by Wall Street, Facebook bought a fitness app and got rid of a couple of its less popular mobile offerings, and Whisper's CEO Michael Heyward duked it out with TechCrunch's Michael Arrington. Meanwhile, Tumblr added a huge swath of customization options to its mobile app and the Federal Trade Commission officially chided Snapchat. It's time for Social Media Saturday!
This week in social media, Facebook introduced two new products in its continued quest for dominance in everything. Pinterest added "Guided Search" (a very Pinteresty search engine), Instagram's Explore page is now more personalized, and Facebook's $19 billion buddy, WhatsApp, reached half a billion users. It's time for Social Media Saturday!
This week in social media, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed how serious he is about the company's "multi-app strategy," Twitter continued its evolution toward profitability with more ad products, and LinkedIn reached a milestone, thanks to expanding mobile. It's time for Social Media Saturday!
The makers of Candy Crush Saga, King, want to cash in for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a filing the company recently submitted. But despite having a blockbuster hit game, King has a long saga ahead of it, if it doesn't want to get crushed in the market.
Facebook's latest app, Paper, signals two major moves for the world's most popular social media platform: It's doubling down on mobile while continuing its push to become a social news network.
