Facebook Launches "Save"

Scrolling through my Facebook feed, I always come across interesting sounding headlines.  But, when I'm just in the mood for some light internet-feed stalking, I don't want, or have time to, read huge long articles.

There are several apps to handle this type of situation.  Most notably, Pocket (with over 12 million users) and Instapaper.  These "read-it-later" apps let you tap to archive an article and come back to it when you have more time.

Well, now they have a bit more competition.  Facebook has launched "Save", a feature within the app that lets you add these articles to a folder for access at a later time.  Yes, just like Pocket, Instapaper AND the tested version of Save that Facebook tried back in 2012.  

Not sure what has taken Facebook so long to release this feature.  The company bought "Spool" (a startup that does this exact thing) two years ago, and it seems like a natural feature especially since there has been such a rise in articles posted on the news feed.

But, better late than never, I guess!  This is one feature that I will start using asap! Do you have a ton of articles you want to stockpile? What do you think of Facebook's newest feature release?

The 3 Most "Muteable" Tweeters

The newest Twitter feature might be long overdue, but allows us a little peace and quiet!  In our Twitter feed, that is! 

Yesterday Twitter announced the addition of a "mute" button, allowing anyone to hide the tweets and retweets of someone they follow while still allowing that person to comment, retweet or favorite their own tweets. Mute button will roll out to all users in the next few weeks. 

So, when will you need this?  Here's three of the most muteable moments, when the new feature will surely help you out!

1) The spoiler alert: If you aren't caught up on your fave reality show, by all means, mute your friends or the bloggers who follow who chat about the show!! That way you won't have spoilers waiting for you in your news feed, and you can catch up with the show's happenings at your own leisure!

2)  The respectful follow: Those you mute can't tell that you have muted them.  So you can follow that co-worker or business partner that you know wants you to follow them, but you really have no interest in reading their tweets.  After all, it's the nice thing to do!

3) The limited mute:  Maybe you don't want to mute someone forever, but you can mute and unmute as needed!  Let's say your bestie is going to a concert you aren't really excited about or your coworker is over tweeting their outlandish political opinions during election time. Just mute them for a few weeks until the time passes and unmute when you think it's safe!  No more clogging of your feed!

Now if we could only get a "mute" button for real life!!

Has your Twitter profile received the "mute" button rollout yet?  Have you muted anyone?

Do we really need #AmazonCart?

• Peanut Butter + Chocolate
• Wine + Cheese
• Coffee + Baileys

Usually when two of my favorite things come together, I love the output even more.

That's why I was a bit perplexed by my reaction to the news this morning that equates to "Amazon + Twitter".

Yes, there is a new feature on Twitter, after its latest partnership with Amazon.  This is called Amazon Cart, or in Twitter language, #AmazonCart. Basically, you can reply to any tweet with the hashtag and any item that the tweet was promoting will automatically be added to your Amazon cart.  

At first, I guess it sounds cool.  But watching the video teaser for the concept left me feeling confused.

Highlight line from the video: "No more switching apps, typing passwords or trying to remember items you saw on Twitter."

Okay, cutesy voiceover on the well edited pitch video.  Here's the thing.  None of those are real issues for me.  Is this partnership solving an actual problem?  I mean, I switch apps all day, every day.  All my passwords are saved in my phone already.  And, honestly, I never really see items for sale on Twitter.  Am I missing something?  Are people using Twitter to sell products a lot?  It seems like for most, Twitter is a way to share information.  Not the digital marketplace that this partnership would support.

A poll on Mashable is almost split down the middle as to whether people will use this or not, but the majority ends up leaning toward "No way".  

And I agree, at least for now.  Could this Amazon/Twitter partnership be foreshadowing the future of Twitter.  We know the company has been under pressure to find a profitable business model, so maybe monetization will come from this Amazon partnership?

Have you ever purchased something after seeing it on Twitter?  Will you use the new #AmazonCart feature?

Is Facebook's New 'Graph Search' Built For Users or Marketers?

It sounds exciting.  Truth be told, I AM excited.  Facebook announced its new feature today, Graph Search, that will make searching the site much more intuitive.  

With Graph Search, instead of just typing in a friend's name and getting their profile, you'll be able to type in things like "Who do I know in New York", or "Friends in LA who like tennis".

Cool, right?  This will be super helpful and I can already think of a bunch of applications for it.  But the idea has been getting quite a bit of skeptical feedback.  

Is this feature made for us, the end users, or to help Facebook sell more targeted advertising?

And if I let my eagerness to try it out calm down a bit (which I will have to do anyway, because right now you have to get on a waiting list to even try the beta test) then I can see the skeptic's point. 

Does this really just make Facebook a better search engine of our likes, hobbies and statistics so that marketers can better reach us with their paid advertising?

Only time, and getting to use the new tool, will tell how well it works and how useful it is.  For now I will remain the ever-hopeful optimist.  Bring it on Graph Search!

What do you think about Facebook's announcement?  Are you Team Graph Search or Team Skeptic??

Can Your Smartphone Predict Your Future?

An interesting new feature for smartphones is being tested in the UK. 

And when I say “interesting”, I really mean futuristic/crazy/almost scary intel!  Soon, your phone may be able to tell where you are going, predict your future movements throughout a day, and adjust accordingly. 

Now, understand this with me.  I do not mean GPS tracking where you are.  That is a cool feature and most people with at least a decent level of smartphone intelligence have benefited from real-time map directions, traffic updates, “near me” restaurant recommendations and weather reports.  Those are wonderful, but not what I am talking about here.

I am talking about future-predicting smartphones; basically tracking your past movements and recording what your friends do to determine what you are most likely doing next.

According to Mashable, researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a remarkably accurate algorithm that follows users’ mobility patterns and factors in patterns of people in their social networks to adjust for abnormalities. 

The algorithm has been tested on 200 volunteers, whose smartphones tracked their every move for months. The result was pretty accurate predictions of where they would likely be 24 hours in the future. 

The challenge now is to establish the capabilities of this future-prediction feature that make it the most useful for users.  Personally, right now, I don’t want my phone to track every single move I make.  And I certainly don’t want it feeding information to anyone out there concerning where I might be in 24 hours!  Hello, stalker-much!? 

But, let’s take a little glimpse into the possibilities.  I might be okay with this entire process if, say, my phone could tell me there is a dry cleaners for the clothes I need laundered right next to the gym I was going to go to tomorrow after work.  And, better yet, give me a 30% off coupon for said dry cleaners.  Or if, say, my phone alerted me a day ahead of time that there was going to be heavy traffic on my way to work the next day due to an Obama-visit.  It might even offer to auto-set my alarm 30 minutes earlier for me.  Why, yes, dear smartphone.  Please do. 

Since the UK study and algorithm are still in prototype phase, I don’t know if these will be the future capabilities of the data.  Unlike the smartphones, I can’t predict the future.  But I do know it would need to be extremely safe and amazingly helpful for me to use this feature.  Only time will tell.

What would you want this future-predicting smartphone to help you with?

Tailored Trends on Twitter

Thanks to new tailoring, your trending topics will suit you even better!

“Trending topics” are valuable tools to help tweeters discover the most popular topics on Twitter but, until now, have been sortable only by geographic region. 

Yesterday, Twitter announced on its official blog that you will now be the center of its trend algorithm.  In other words, trends will now be displayed based on who you follow as well as on geographic location.

I am thrilled by this news.  Fingers crossed that it means less trending topics like “#URGhettoIf or #BeliebersUnite” --  Really, Twitter!  These are trends social diva and her BFFs find unappealing.  We want to know what our buddies are talking about most and trends early adopters are jumping on.

Of course, the general trending topics will be there if you want to check them out.  The tailored trends will be rolling out as a default setting, but Twitter reports that, if you “want to see a more general list of Trends, just change your location on twitter.com”.

Is your twitter account more au courant with better fitting trends?  Enlighten us, how is it?