Facebook Archives - Page 2 of 16

Facebook OS is the Company’s Bet to Control the Future of its Devices

George Kamau - December 20, 2019 0

Facebook really wants to get in the operating system business - remember the Facebook phones built by HTC such as the HTC First phone...

Facebook Partners with Local University to Launch Video Journalism Fellowship

Kiruti Itimu - December 6, 2019 0

Facebook has partnered with Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communication to launch the Video Journalism Fellowship

Facebook Experimental Team Looking to Get into Podcasts and Travel Apps

George Kamau - December 6, 2019 0

Facebook recently created its New Product Experimentation Team in mid-July this year and was tasked to launch consumer and business-facing experimental apps for various platforms...

Facebook Built a Chatbot for Its Employees to Use When Asked Difficult Questions During the Holidays

George Kamau - December 3, 2019 0

This year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other tech CEO have been spending time in Congress grilled by lawmakers and answering questions about data...

Compilation of the Best Memes When Facebook and Instagram Went Down

George Kamau - November 29, 2019 0

Facebook's most popular platforms, Facebook and Instagram went down last evening and the memes that followed took centre stage. Facebook's family of apps experienced...

Global tech corporations hold a series of conferences across the globe, and they target a broad scope of their customers and consumers. However, those meets do not often make their way here, choosing to run in other markets instead. In fact, even when they are staged in continental Africa, the tech summits, understandably, are run in crucial technology hubs found in Nigeria, South Africa or Egypt, and in some instances, Kenya. This characterization, however, changed when Facebook brought its iD8 developer conference in Nairobi this past week. It is worth noting that the social media giant has never conducted the summit in Africa before. The conference has also been running for quite some time now and has visited many parts of the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. To this end, we were quite happy when the corporation announced its plan to meet the Kenyan developer and business circles, and for the most part, the meet was successful – having answered a series of Kenya-based queries, although not all of them, or as comprehensively as many of you expected. Disclosure: Facebook did not pay me (us) for attending the conference, although it staged the event at Trademark Hotel, which was very pretty. The social media company further took us out to a nice lunch, although we could have loved an equally welcoming dinner. Nevertheless, there was an open bar in the evening, with really, really tasty chocolate oatcakes. Lucky folks got to enjoy solid guacamole. I tried to identify local developers on the floor. I lost. Repeatedly. For context, iD8 is Facebook’s platform where it shares new technologies and products for the target audience (developers and businesses affiliated to the social network) to build and toy around with for expanded applications, as well as programs to help them at any stage of their development or business journey. The meeting, as promised, was marked by hands-on demonstrations where executives heading a variety of Facebook products such as Developer Programs directed by Emeka Afigbo presided over discussion with other experts. The Kenya angle and Facebook Developer Circle More than 400 startups and developers attended the conference, including teams from South Africa and Nigeria, as well as several local developer teams and individuals. Kenya was primarily represented by Fatma Ali, a Facebook Developer Circle Lead based in Eldoret. According to Fatma, she got an opportunity to interact with interesting people associated with the social media network and look forward to using the connections she made to build her career while improving her leadership skills to work with the developer community. “Through my Facebook Developer Circle, I have gotten exposure and recognition in the Developer ecosystem. The experience has been enlightening, and I am confident that I will have a successful career in technology,” said Fatma Ali. Back to Emeka Afigbo. The Developer Programs Lead reiterated Facebook’s role in the Developer Circle communities. The groups are run in partnership in Andela (find more about Andela here, including its recent plan to drop upcoming local developers for experienced ones in a move that was prompted by ‘market demands’). So far, the Circles are still in their pilot phase in Kenya (including the aforementioned one at Eldoret) and Somalia. “We want to train about 2500 developers – that is both developers and people who want to be developers so that they can pursue careers in software development,” said Emeka Afigbo. The program received more than 5000 applications for interested people, but only half of them were selected to join the Circle. The members have been receiving training for three months now through online content and in-person meetups. So far, more than 2000 certificates have been issued to successful members. Facebook also reports it started a career fair in Nairobi. A similar platform will also be launched in Lagos, Nigeria, in the next couple of days. The fair serves one main goal: companies that want to hire talent from the Developer Circles can get to meet these people and gauge their expertise for possible job openings. Furthermore, Emeka Afigbo revealed that Facebook has been engaging local startups in terms of partnerships, including Ongair that has been offering customer service and support to a series of clients (that use Facebook products such as the platform itself and its complementary apps such as Instagram and Messenger). By the way, Ongair was represented in the summit and had its founder and CEO Trevor Kimenye as one of the panelists in one of the afternoon sessions. Ongair is one of the three Messenger development partners that exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. These are some of the activities that Facebook hopes to explore, and we hope they will open more developer Circles in the country to tap into reputable talent that exists in the country. WhatsApp Facebook does not release country-specific numbers for WhatsApp. The platform, which has 1.5 billion monthly active users globally, is one of the most popular apps in the country (Twitter does not even come close), and we would have been happier if the company released those numbers to us. For the moment, we are in the dark, but we will apprise you in case new information streams in from the corporation. The app has also been equipped with business tools, and the company has been attempting to use the platform as a financial product (WhatsApp Pay) in some countries, and we are skeptical it can ever make its way here because the Kenyan market has already been disrupted by the market leader, M-PESA. Final Words iD8 was well attended, and for a first attempt in the continent, it did well. We hope they pass through other African technology hubs because the continent is interesting and is marked by talented people who continue to make the technology more accessible and generally better. The goal may be achieved because, according to Emeka Afigbo, they plan to reconnect the ecosystem to share the latest technology, program, and updates with the industry.

Facebook Developer Circles Trains Thousands of Kenya Developers as it Holds iD8 Conference in Nairobi

Kenn Abuya - November 27, 2019 0

Global tech corporations hold a series of conferences across the globe, and they target a broad scope of their customers and consumers. However, those...

Kenya Government Demanded Select User Data from Facebook as Tanzania Remained Calm

Kenn Abuya - November 20, 2019 0

The number of Kenyans on Facebook is substantial and is said to be in terms of millions for a country that has near 50...

Facebook Quietly Released Whale, a Meme Making App

Kiruti Itimu - November 19, 2019 0

Facebook always finds ways if staying relevant and this quest to stay relevant makes the company do strange things. Social media has made people share...

Facebook Begins Testing Popular Photos, an Instagram Feed-Like Feature

George Kamau - November 15, 2019 0

With growing numbers on Instagram and dwindling Facebook numbers, Facebook is now trying to clone features from its popular platforms in a bid to...

Facebook Transparency Report Reveal Internet Shutdowns Were Rampant in Africa

Kiruti Itimu - November 14, 2019 0

Facebook released their latest Transparency report for the first half of 2019. The report focused on the nature and extent of government requests for...

Facebook Announces Facebook Pay for Seamless Payments Across Its Apps

Kiruti Itimu - November 12, 2019 0

Today Facebook has announced Facebook Pay which is their new way of making sure that they provide a consistent payment experience across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and...

Facebook App Will Let You Customize the Navigation Toolbar and Hide Notification Dots

George Kamau - November 12, 2019 0

The Facebook app is getting a new update that will soon let you customize the navigation toolbar and remove those annoying red notification dots....

Instagram Will Sponsor IGTV Creators Only If They Don’t Film Anything About Politics or Social Issues

George Kamau - November 11, 2019 0

Instagram really wants it long video platform, IGTV to succeed. It is now willing to cover the video production costs for IGTV creators but...

Twitter Reacts to the New Facebook Logo

George Kamau - November 5, 2019 0

Facebook now has a new flat logo to separate itself from its products. The new Facebook logo distinguishes the Facebook company from the Facebook...

Facebook Decides to Give Their Parent Company Name a Weird Logo

Kiruti Itimu - November 4, 2019 0

Facebook has unveiled a new logo today that is meant to represent the parent company that owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and more. The new...

Facebook Begins Deleting Accounts of NSO Group Employees on its Social Media Platforms

George Kamau - October 31, 2019 0

Early this week, Facebook sued Israeli-based spyware maker NSO Group. WhatsApp took the surveillance contractor to court blaming them for the silent call exploit....

Mark Zuckerberg Insists Facebook Won’t Ban Political Ads

Kiruti Itimu - October 31, 2019 0

Next year is the United States General Election and from the snafu that was caused by social media regarding the election, political ads have...

Twitter Will Ban Political Ads Globally Starting November 22

George Kamau - October 31, 2019 0

Late last night local time, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posted on his platform in a series of tweets that his company will ban all...

Facebook Revamped Web Interface Begins Slow Rollout, Comes with Dark Mode Layout

George Kamau - October 23, 2019 0

The redesign Facebook announced during their annual F8 conference early this year has started to roll out. Facebook said that the new design will...

Facebook Libra Head Claims Libra is Not in “Jeopardy”

Kiruti Itimu - October 16, 2019 0

Facebook launched Libra, their cryptocurrency platform back in June this year and they had on board a lot of partners. However, these partners started...

Facebook Is Locking out Users for Reporting Accounts Impersonating Them

George Kamau - October 15, 2019 0

Is someone impersonating your Facebook account or you notice a fake or scammy Facebook account, the giant social media platform will reportedly lock you...

Mastercard, Visa, eBay and Stripe Join PayPal in Calling It Quits on Facebook Libra

George Kamau - October 12, 2019 0

Facebook Libra, the giant social media network's cryptocurrency project is now 6 members short. The project was announced in June and got support from...

Facebook’s Official Active User Base in Kenya Revealed Thanks to Kenyan Artist

Kiruti Itimu - October 10, 2019 0

Facebook has a huge audience globally. Over 2.7 billion users use the social network globally and you can be sure that they track that...

No More Creeping as Instagram Pulls the Plug on the Following Tab on Its App

George Kamau - October 8, 2019 0

Instagram is bididng goodbye to this controversial feature of its app: the Following Tab. This means users can stop creeping on each other. The...

This New Policy from Facebook Will Help Spread More Disinformation and the Platform Is Set to Profit from It

George Kamau - October 4, 2019 0

Facebook recently changed its policy on political ads posted on its platform that will have devasting effects regarding disinformation. In late Septemeber, it was...

Facebook Standalone “Threads” App is For Connecting With Your Instagram Clique

Kiruti Itimu - October 4, 2019 0

Instagram is no stranger to having standalone apps that integrate with it. There is Boomerang, Layout and IGTV. There is a new one and...

Important Details from Mark Zuckerberg’s Leaked Audio Recordings

George Kamau - October 1, 2019 0

There's a lot to unpack from Mark Zuckerberg's leaked audio recording of his Q&A session with his Facebook employees. Mark Zuckerberg regularly holds Q&A...

No, Facebook and Google Don’t Control Websites That Receive 70% of All Internet Traffic

George Kamau - September 28, 2019 1

Lately, there have been calls by 2020 US Presidential hopefuls to break up big tech companies like Facebook and Google. One of the democratic...

facebook london accelerator african startups

Facebook’s London Accelerator Opens to African Startups For the First Time

Kiruti Itimu - September 26, 2019 0

Facebook has announced that they are inviting applications for their third edition of their London accelerator program. The company says that this is now...

Facebook Acquires CTRL-Labs to Increase Its Efforts on Building Brain-Computing Technology

George Kamau - September 24, 2019 0

Facebook's efforts on building brain computing tech are about to get into high gear following the reportedly $1 billion acquisition of CTRL-Labs, a startup based...

You Can Now Share Your WhatsApp Status to Facebook – Here’s How

George Kamau - September 24, 2019 0

Early this year, WhatsApp had begun testing a way to share your Status to Facebook, Instagram and other apps. Well, the feature has gone...

Facebook Set to Shut Down Group Stories Later This Week

George Kamau - September 23, 2019 0

Group Stories is a feature Facebook introduced nine months ago and it being shut down late this week. This feature allowed Facebook group members...

Facebook Has a Tool for Advertisers That Can Potentially Be Used to Spread Disinformation

George Kamau - September 16, 2019 0

There has been a continued fight against disinformation and misinformation being spread on Facebook but now, the Mark Zuckerberg-owned platform has one tool that...

Facebook Dating Is Now Official – Here’s Everything You Need to Know

George Kamau - September 5, 2019 1

For those of us who've been waiting for Facebook to hook us up, well, the time is now. Facebook Dating is now official. The...

Facebook Considering Hiding Like Counts on the News Feed Posts

George Kamau - September 2, 2019 0

Facebook is considering hiding the like counts on users posts found on the News Feed just as the social media giant did for Instagram....

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