Facebook adds photo filters to iOS 5.1 app

Facebook‘s version 5.1 iOS mobile app includes multiple new features, such as Gift giving, as well as one they seemingly forgot to mention: photo filters. This, of course, comes a few days after sources stated that Twitter is planning on adding photo filters to its own mobile app in competition of Instagram, which Facebook owns. The photo filters addition wasn’t mentioned in the app’s “What’s New” details.

Facebook launched the app “Facebook Camera” earlier this year, a dedicated app for taking and filtering photos, then uploading them to the social network. Now the functionality of this standalone app has been merged with the main iOS app. Users can apply one of several different filters to images, including Neon, B + W, Highlight, and Boost.

In addition to merging the photo filters into version 5.1 for iOS, Facebook has also added a multi-photo upload feature. By combining these two features, individuals who use Instagram to upload to Facebook might find that they no longer need the former in favor of using the new integrated features. Facebook acquired Instagram earlier this year for $715 million.

In addition to the photo features, version 5.1 for iOS also brings with it the ability to buy Gifts, something previously only available to Android and online users. Also added is the easy ability to see what friends are chat by swiping left. Friends you chat with most often are located at the top of the list, and in case that’s not enough, there’s also a Favorites option.

[via Tech Crunch]

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Zuckerberg’s Facebook Phone is the HTC Opera UL claims insider

The perennial Facebook phone rumor has resurfaced, with chatter that the HTC Opera UL will be the social site’s first “official” smartphone as it attempts to tighten its slack in mobile. The Opera UL, as HTC has internally called it, is an OEM device “made for Facebook” a source tells Pocket-lint, while leaked benchmarks suggest it will have a 1.4GHz processor and run Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean.

The exact identity of that processor is unclear, though since it’s paired with a Qualcomm Adreno 305 that does narrow the field somewhat. So far, we’ve seen that GPU used with various iterations of the Snapdragon S4 Plus (though not the S4 Pro, as in the LG Nexus 4), each with a dualcore CPU.

Other tidbits from the NenaMark2 benchmark leak include a 1280 x 720 display, which is in keeping with other recent high-end devices from HTC. Although HTC has flirted with both full-touch and QWERTY form-factors in its own-brand Facebook handsets before – the Salsa and the ChaCha - with a resolution like that, unless it’s a slider, then our guess would be touchscreen-only.

According to the insider, we shouldn’t necessarily expect to see the Facebook phone any time soon. “Apparently it’s been delayed” the source said; with no public release timescale, mind, the exact impact of that “delay” can’t really be judged.

Although Facebook has long denied that it intends to release an own-brand device, rumors of the work-in-progress have circulated nonetheless. Whispers from inside the company indicate Facebook has been reworking Android for its own web-centric purposes, much as Amazon refettled Google’s OS for the Kindle Fire.

Facebook’s software and hardware efforts at its modified Android approach have been accelerating in recent months, according to other sources, with ex-Apple engineers supposedly poached to work on the project. More than six ex-iPhone engineers and an ex-iPad engineer, with a mixture of hardware and software skills, were tipped to have quietly joined the company midway through this year.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg again dismissed chatter of a dedicated device back in September, but did emphasize that Facebook is focusing on mobile users moving forward, as they increasingly comprise its most active userbase. Back in pre-IPO days, Facebook filings to the SEC publicly voiced the company’s fears that it might see revenues fall should users begin to favor the mobile interface, which has been less monetized than the desktop view.

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‘Elle’ Invites Facebook Fans to Collaborate on Photo Shoot

In a creative crowdsourcing endeavor, Elle magazine is using Facebook to conduct a “readers’ choice” fashion shoot with creative director Joe Zee.

Between now and Sept. 20, the Hearst-owned fashion title is asking readers to choose between themes (“The New Great Gatsby,” “Big Top” or “Femme Fatale”), models, clothing, accessories and one surprise category. Voting will be held in five consecutive rounds in a Milyoni-powered Facebook app. Clothes and accessories are being provided by Amazon-owned retailer Shopbop.

On the 21st, Elle will livestream the shoot on Facebook. The final images will appear in a spread in the magazine’s December issue, which hits newsstands Nov. 13. Augmented reality technology will be incorporated into the issue to enable readers to pull up additional content from the shoot, Elle said in a statement.

To maintain reader enthusiasm between the end of September and mid-November, Elle will host a range of social media contests related to the shoot. Fans will be encouraged to create Pinterest boards and stage their own photo shoots to post to Instagram. Contest winners may be eligible to appear in an upcoming issue of Elle.

This isn’t the first time a brand has handed over the styling reins to online audiences. In late 2010, London-based fashion label Ted Baker invited fashion bloggers to partake in an online styling session. Participants used a live video stream and Twitter to direct hair stylists, makeup artists, runners and models as they created a number of different looks from pieces of Ted Baker’s Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. Spectators could watch and tweet in their own suggestions, but couldn’t take part in the process as directly as they will be able to with Elle.

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Peter Thiel Sells Almost All His Facebook Stock

Peter Thiel, one of Facebook’s earliest investors, has taken advantage of the expiration of a lock-up period last week and has sold 22.3 million shares — almost all the stock he owns in the company — according to documents filed with the SEC.

The sale, at a price of around $20, means Thiel netted about $446 million and now has another 1.3 million shares left. Thiel was one of many investors to take advantage of last Thursday’s lock-up expiration. The end of that first lock-up period freed up a total of 271 million shares.

Predictably, Facebook’s share price fell at the time, hitting a new low of $19.69.

Facebook’s stock closed at $20.01 on Monday and was up slightly in afterhours.

Image courtesy of Flickr, David.Orban

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Customize Classic ‘Godfather’ Clips With Klondike’s New Facebook App

At first blush, Klondike, the Unilever ice cream brand, and the classic 1972 film The Godfather appear to have little in common.

Well, maybe on second blush as well, but Unilever has apparently made Paramount Digital Entertainment an offer it couldn’t refuse and has let Klondike use clips from that film as well as Forrest Gump, Tommy Boy and Wayne’s World for social media marketing purposes. Starting Thursday Facebook Page Moments of Glory, as the app is known, is letting fans send the short clips, with customized messages and music, to friends.

In the case of The Godfather, you can send the 30-second clip in which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) becomes the new don to a friend who just got a promotion perhaps. Also available is the infamous scene in which movie producer Jack Woltz wakes to find his favorite horse’s severed and bloody head in his bed. (It’s not as clear which situation would warrant that; perhaps for an embarrasing one-night stand?)

The app is built on GorillaSpot Media’s “ReelCards on Facebook” app and features approximately 150 clips. Recipients also have the option to purchase the full-length films.

Klondike, known to older consumers for its “What Would You Do For a Klondike?” jingle, has forged a social media-savvy path for itself of late, partnering with podcast king Adam Carolla for short clips and with Rob Delaney, a.k.a. the “funniest man on Twitter,” for a Twitter promo seeking other Twitter wits.

Though the latest promotion appears to be indicative of a scattershot approach to social media, there is some precedent: Unilever, Paramount Digital Entertainment and GorillaSpot partnered in early 2012 for a “Magnum Mini Moments” Facebook app that similarly featured 200 minutes of funny, outrageous and touching moments culled from Paramount’s archives.

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Facebook now worst performing IPO on record according to Bloomberg

Mark Zuckerberg is still rich to the tune of $10.2 billion, if you were wondering, but that’s a whole lot less than he had when Facebook first went up for its initial public offering on the public stock market. Facebook today hit a brand new low, closing at $19.87 a share but dipping mid-day to $19.69, the lowest the social network’s worth has ever been. Facebook is currently down 48% from its original $38 per share offering price at the start, the company sitting at $48 billion in market capitalization – this down more than $40 billion since stocks became available.

While Facebook did raise $16 billion in its IPO, the largest amount in history for a technology firm, it’s also the “worst performer among all large IPOs on record”, so says data compiled by Bloomberg. This information also lets us know that the social network has not necessarily convinced the market that they’re worth investing in on a public sale. It does, on the other hand, appear to be having little effect on Zuckerberg’s public word on the company.

According to David Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect,” a history of the company, Zuckerberg is quite likely not worried about the stock prices at the moment. Speaking with Bloomberg on the topic, Kirkpatrick let it be known that Zuckerberg more than likely has other things on his mind.

“[Zuckerberg] thinks of it only in terms of how it affects the company’s strategic and tactical opportunities.” – Kirkpatrick

Have a peek at the timeline below to see how Facebook has been appearing in the media and see if you can track how their initial IPO has affected the way they do business. From our perspective, it appears to be bringing the social network into the light much more often than they were back before they went public. Small updates to the web-based environment, news and tips of future projects, and public awareness have all become more important in the short time since Facebook hit the stock market.

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Heartwarming Photo of a Man and His Dog Has Facebook Users Smiling

A sweet moment between a man and his dog captured by a Wisconsin photographer has Facebook users sharing –and resharing — a collective “awww” moment.

Hannah Stonehouse Hudson spent an afternoon snapping photographs of her friend John and his 19-year-old dog, Schoep. John rescued Schoep as a puppy and watched his health deteriorate as he reached doggy senior citizenship. Schoep now suffers from arthritis and John has found that taking a dip in the local lake helps ease the pooch’s pain.

Hudson posted one of the photographs she captured on Facebook and watched as the touching shot spread across the social network. In just a week, the photo has racked up 125,000 shares and 217,000 Likes.

Prints of the image are now available with proceeds going toward Schoep’s vet bills.

Image published with permission from Hannah Stonehouse Hudson

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Facebook Removes Racist Memes Page Following User Uproar

Angry Facebook users demanded the social network remove a page called “Aboriginal Memes,” complaining the page was full of racist jokes about Australia’s indigenous population. Though it did not respond to the requests as quickly as some users would have liked, Facebook took down the page Tuesday.

The disgruntled users took their campaign beyond Facebook, starting a petition on online advocacy platform Change.org, “Facebook: Immediately remove the racist page called ‘Aboriginal Memes’.” The below image, taken from the petition, shows one of the memes which had been posted on the Facebook page.

Facebook tends not to reply to inquiries regarding specific pages, and did not respond to Mashable‘s request for comment.

According to the Facebook Community Standards, the company’s policy toward hate speech is as follows:

“Facebook does not permit hate speech. While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events and practices, it is a serious violation to attack a person based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition.”

Before its removal, the Aboriginal Meme’s page had 4,000 likes and made jokes about petrol and begging, according to CNET.

CNET also reported that Facebook initially replied to press inquiries about the page as such:

“Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.”

Do you think Facebook should remove offensive pages or leave them up out of respect for free speech? Let us know how you would handle this case in the comments.

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Facebook stumped on 80% fake ad click accusations

Facebook has pleaded ignorance to accusations of widespread fake advert clicks, saying that it is unable to replicate what one company claimed amounted to a 5:1 ratio of bot action to real users. Music platform startup Limited Run came to attention earlier this week after revealing that its own analytics suggested the bulk of advert action was fake. However, Facebook is struggling to find the same evidence.

“We’re trying to work with Limited Run to investigate these claims,” a spokesperson for the social network told Wired, “but we haven’t received any data yet to support these claims.” The two companies have confirmed that they are in talks and cooperating in investigations, though exactly what’s being examined isn’t being discussed; “they are researching the issues we had” Limited Run co-founder Tim Mango said, “this is all I can say.”

Also left in the air are suggestions that Facebook told Limited Run that it could only change its name on the social network if it agreed to a considerable advertising spend each month. According to the company’s original post – since deleted, but available as a Google cache - Facebook representatives told Limited Run that it could only do so if the firm spent $2,000 per month or more on promotions.

Monetization remains one of the big issues for Facebook at present, with the company citing advertising as a primary weak point, particularly in its mobile strategy. Facebook has also come under fire for its attitude toward developers, with Google+ chief Vic Gundotra citing the site as an example of what Google doesn’t want to do in its developer relations.

[via Mike Elgan]

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Google, Amazon, eBay, Facebook form The Internet Association

2012 has been a year filled with stories about Washington trying to regulate the Internet, and now it seems that some of the web’s biggest faces are coming together to do something about it. Google, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay have joined forces to form a new Washington lobbying group called the Internet Association, which aims to “advance public policy solutions that strengthen and protect an open, innovative and free Internet.” The group will be led by former Deputy Staff Director to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Michael Beckerman.

Though we don’t technically know any of the group’s members yet, an anonymous source tells The Washington Post that the four Internet giants listed above are among the Association’s most prominent members. In a statement today, Beckerman said that the Internet’s “decentralized and open model” leads to innovation and job creation, and that we must defend against attempts to “handcuff” the currently-unregulated web. The Internet Association even has its own website up and running today, though there isn’t that much to see there at the moment.

The group will be getting things underway in September, and even though Beckerman has yet to lay out a clear policy plan, we think we have some idea of what it will attempt do in Washington. After all, those four companies have all come out in favor of net neutrality at one point or another, and lately we’ve been seeing Washington trying to pass questionable legislation that would directly affect all of them. Here’s hoping that the Internet Association sticks to its guns when it arrives in Washington later this year, because make no mistake about it – with Facebook, eBay, Google, and Amazon all apparently backing the group, it will have enough sway to essentially get whatever it wants.

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New Tool Connects Facebook Friends With Political Campaigns

Starting immediately, Democratic and progressive campaigns will be able to tap into the power of Facebook to take political organizing into the social realm.

Democratic campaigns have long had access to the Voter Activation Network (VAN), a digital database of voter information that helps campaigns stay organized. The VAN includes a wealth of data about individuals in a given area, including their voting history, interactions with a particular campaign, phone number and mailing address.

Now, volunteers and staff working for a particular campaign will now be able to match their Facebook friends to individuals already included in the VAN with a new tool called “Social Organizing.” Once those two worlds are matched up, campaign staff can perform targeted outreach to friends and family of supporters.

The potential power of Social Organizing is impressive: If a campaign wants to recruit some new volunteers — by cross-referencing the VAN and current volunteers’ Facebook friends — it can determine which friends of volunteers are most likely to come onboard as fresh recruits.

SEE ALSO: Google to Political Campaigns: Get Online, Now [INFOGRAPHIC]

“The cool part about this is that supporters have always talked to their friends about the campaign, but they haven’t known exactly who to talk to and what to ask of them,” Stuart Trevelyan, CEO of NGP VAN, told Mashable. “For example, if 10 of your Facebook friends fall into the category of “likely volunteers” [as determined by VAN], you know that you should ask them to volunteer for the campaign.”

If the VAN-Facebook combination sounds a bit like an invasion of privacy, fear not: Social Organizing doesn’t put Facebook users’ information into VAN, it merely identifies campaign staffers’ Facebook friends that are likely to support a particular campaign. And because those friends are more likely to want to get involved, it cuts out the potential awkwardness of bringing politics into a friendship.

“Campaigns are going to be helping [volunteers] identify people that want to be asked,” said Trevelyan. “The tool will help avoid awkward conversations. For each task you can skip individual friends and say ‘hey, I’m not calling Stu because I’m in a fight with him because he stole my girlfriend.’”

Trevelyan said that Republican campaigns have access to similar software, but it only matches Facebook friends to lists of already-confirmed supporters.

“We think that’s a little else helpful because you’re matching to a much smaller universe,” he said.

How else could Facebook change political organizing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Tommydickson

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Facebook, Yahoo Make Peace on Patents, Agree to Shared Ad Deals

UPDATE: Yahoo and Facebook have put aside their escalating series of patent lawsuits and agreed to work together on future advertising deals.

The deal was sealed on a Friday morning call, AllThingsD reports, as part of the settlement to the companies’ patent dispute.

Yahoo posted the announcement on its website saying, “Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) today announced that they have entered into definitive agreements that launch a new advertising partnership, extend and expand distribution arrangements, and settle all pending patent claims between the companies.”

The announcement goes on to say the companies will work together to secure ads that will run on both sites, and further integrate sharing between the two sites: “Yahoo! and Facebook will also work together to bring Yahoo!’s large media event coverage to Facebook users by collaborating on social integrations on the Yahoo! site.”

The statement includes quotes from Yahoo’s interim CEO Ross Levinsohn (who may now be the CEO), and Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg. Plus this fact: “Yahoo! has the largest active user base among all news sites that have integrated with Facebook’s Open Graph platform.”

No money will change hands, reportedly, but the companies will partner up on ad sales as well as cross-licensing of patents.

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, who initiated the patent lawsuit in March, stepped down in disgrace over his resume in May. Discussions on resolving the lawsuit started shortly after.

Since 2008, the company has cycled through four CEOs. Some speculate that the open position might be more appealing now that the patent fight has ended.

Both companies are eager to up their advertising dollars. Facebook’s April update to its IPO filing showed a drop in ad revenue. And GM caused a stir this year when it pulled ads from Facebook saying they were “ineffective.”

Yahoo has had major troubles of it own — staying relevant in the age of social media, especially now it has outsourced its search function to Bing. And the opportunity for a bigger slice of the ad pie is there: the first three months of 2012 showed online ad revenue industry-wide was the highest ever.

Are you glad that Yahoo and Facebook have set aside their differences? Does this bode well for other patent lawsuits, such as the longstanding battle between Apple and Samsung? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Facebook partners with Yahoo in surprise exit from patent battle

Earlier today it was leaked that the end of the legal war between Facebook and Yahoo was at hand – this afternoon it’s been announced that Yahoo and Facebook will officially be tying the knot, so to speak, with portfolio cross-licensing, event cross-branding, and more. This update certainly takes the cake as far as businesses finding ways out of legal damages – and what better way to do it, after all, than with a good ol’ cup of tea and a dash of patent sharing?

The battle going on between these two beasts of companies has been going on since earlier this year when one sued the other with the other responding with a suit of their own. Patents were tossed, punches were thrown, and here we are now with sharp words forgotten and both Yahoo and Facebook seeming to come out just as much ahead as the other. The official statement reads as follows, in part:

“Under the agreements, which include a patent portfolio cross-license, the parties will work together to bring consumers and advertisers premium media experiences promoted and distributed across both Yahoo! and Facebook. Yahoo! and Facebook will also work together to bring Yahoo!’s large media event coverage to Facebook users by collaborating on social integrations on the Yahoo! site.”

After Ross Levinsohn, interim CEO of Yahoo and Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook share some kind words in writing, the statement goes on to explain that this deal is an extension of a partnership the two companies worked in previously. This new deal will have the two entering into “definitive agreements” as well as a new advertising partnership.

“Since the launch of the original multi-year partnership between Yahoo! and Facebook that allows users to discover and connect news and information on Yahoo! sites and share them with their Facebook friends, Yahoo! has integrated the feature called “Social Bar” on more than 100 of its properties globally, and more than 90 million users have implemented it. As a result, Yahoo! has the largest active user base among all news sites that have integrated with Facebook’s Open Graph platform, making Social Bar the world’s leading social news application.”

Facebook and Yahoo have decided together to work on a series of collaborative tent-pole and anchor activities that will be annual, each of them set to provide “unparalleled experiences for consumers and world-class sponsorship opportunities for advertisers.”

Advertising incoming!

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Facebook Planning Mobile Ad System That Tracks Users’ Apps [REPORT]

Facebook is planning to roll out a new mobile advertising strategy that targets users based on which apps are installed on their phones, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook engineers are said to have created software that can track what apps a user has downloaded. By using this information, Facebook can determine other apps that may appeal to them, serving up ads for those apps in the news feeds on their phones or tablets. Typically, Facebook users only see ads in the news feed from brands they’ve “Liked,” but this system would serve app ads whether they’ve liked the brand or not.

If Facebook indeed ends up sing app-tracking software, it would likely be extremely controversial — both for the nature of the information and for the allowing of uninvited ads. Facebook has never before tracked apps on users’ devices.

The Journal writes this is a way for Facebook to increase mobile revenue and tap into the potential profits to be made from the many apps that connect to its site. Instead of a purely impressions-driven model, the app-tracking system would involve Facebook getting a cut of every app sold, though impressions might factor in for free apps.

Facebook’s been focusing on the potential of mobile ads, especially after its IPO when investors and Facebook said mobile could get in the way of the company’s growth. In June, the social network announced Facebook Sponsored Stories that allow advertisers to purchase ads especially for mobile devices. Recently, several studies showed Facebook’s mobile ads are performing better than desktop ads, perhaps making Facebook eager to test new mobile ad strategies.

What do you think of this potential new mobile ad strategy by Facebook? Sound off in the comments.

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Facebook and Yahoo tipped to settle lawsuit

This week the folks at Facebook and Yahoo have been reported to be settling things between one another in regards to a collection of patent suits that were being fired at one another earlier this year. According to sources close to the dealings speaking with AllThingsD, a deal will be announced later today in which no money will change hands, somehow or another. Instead it seems that a strategic deal has been met and will be working with joint online advertising sales and patent cross-licensing.

When Yahoo sued Facebook back in March, the former said that the latter had infringed on 10 patents, some of which included bits on online advertising technology. This situation prompted Yahoo to claim that Facebook was “one of the worst performing sites for advertising” before they started using Yahoo-owned ideas.

Facebook responded with a lawsuit just a month later, claiming that Yahoo was prioritizing “litigation over innovation” and that Yahoo’s claims were bogus. Now it seems that the two have shaken hands in favor of moving beyond the situation entirely! Stay tuned for more as the full extent of the situation is revealed (or so we expect) later today.

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GM and Facebook said to be rekindling advertising flame

Back in May, General Motors suddenly ceased advertising on Facebook. No specific details were given, although it was believed that the advertising campaign had little impact. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that GM and Facebook are in talks to resume advertising on the social network. Senior executives have confirmed that both companies are currently in talks.

GM’s global marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, and Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s worldwide head of sales, met at an event in Cannes sometime in June. According to sources familiar with the matter, Facebook is trying to bring GM back as an advertiser, promising to provide better data on how it can turn commercials into cash. It won’t give GM preferential treatment over other advertisers, though.

According to sources, GM hasn’t decided to return to Facebook just yet as it has yet to see any form of advertising effectiveness from the platform. GM has also reportedly been meeting with digital advertising firms in order to gain a better idea of how to market its products for Facebook. GM is said to have spent $10 million on advertising with Facebook, a fraction of its $1.8 billion US ad spending, and also a very small part of Facebook’s $3.7 billion revenue in 2011.

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Facebook says e-mail sync issue is a bug and will be fixed

Many people have been upset Facebook the last few weeks after changes were made to e-mail addresses displayed on a Facebook profile. Many people didn’t appreciate Facebook changing the e-mail addresses displayed on a profile. The social networks hid all e-mail addresses other than the @facebook.com address by default.

One problem people had with the change was that only e-mail sent to their Facebook specific e-mail account was getting pushed to mobile devices. More and more people only access Facebook via a mobile device, so there were many affected people. Facebook is now saying that though it did intend to make only the Facebook e-mails visible on your profile by default, it didn’t intend to stop e-mail sent to other addresses from being pushed to mobile devices.

Facebook says that the failure of e-mail sent to the other addresses not being pushed to your mobile was unintended and is a bug that will be fixed. It’s also worth noting that you can go back into your profile under visibility settings and turn your other e-mail addresses back on to be shown on your profile. Facebook is promising that the sync bug will be fixed, possibly as early as today. Once the bug is fixed, users will be able to see their friends’ primary e-mail address show back up on their mobile device. The primary address by default is now the @facebook.com address.

[via The Verge]

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Does Facebook Know Your Love Secrets? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Like to keep your love life under wraps? Be careful if you’re on Facebook.

The social network may be able to predict how happy you are in your relationships, how satisfied your boyfriend or girlfriend is, when you’re most likely to break up or make things official with someone new and even what songs you’re most likely to listen to when you’re on a hormone high or down in the dumps.

“It’s not official until it’s on Facebook,” goes the not-so-old maxim. If that saying holds true though, people are most ready to start going steady around Valentine’s Day and Christmas, with the beginning of April not far behind. On Feb. 14, new relationships outpace fresh breakups by 49%, according to data from the social network. On Dec. 25, the difference is 35%, and on Dec. 24 it’s 28%.

Warm weather and sunshine, meanwhile, seem to get people feeling restless — early spring and the summertime are two of the peak breakup seasons, according to people’s relationship status updates. And people are most likely to broadcast their breakups on Fridays and Saturdays.

University of Wisconsin researchers even found that profile pictures and the presence or absence of a declared relationship status can predict the level of harmony between two people. Men who post their status as “In a Relationship” rather than leave it blank were more satisfied with their relationships, the Wisconsin researchers found. Women whose profile pictures include their partners were similarly more satisfied.

The online education directory WorldWideLearn gathered all these findings and more from research by Facebook and a number of news outlets to produce the infographic below. Check it out for the full picture of how much Facebook can reasonably predict about your love life.

Do these findings match your own experiences in romance and Facebook? Share your stories in the comments below.

Courtesy of: WorldWideLearn.com

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Facebook closes Credits in favor of real currency

Facebook is shuttering its Credits system for online payments across the social network, replacing it with local currency and a new subscription payments option. “Since we introduced Credits in 2009,” Facebook’s Prashant Fuloria told developers, “most games on Facebook have implemented their own virtual currencies, reducing the need for a platform-wide virtual currency.” The new system has already begun rolling out, and all apps and games developers selling virtual items must use local currency by the end of the year.

The local currency system will give developers more flexibility, Facebook says, allowing them to be more consistent with their non-US pricing by setting different values in each market. It will also be more transparent to users, the social site argues, without the need to mentally calculate what a Credits purchase means in their home currency.

Facebook will be automatically converting users’ Credits into the appropriate amount of local currency, though they’ll still be able to redeem any Credits gift cards they already have. In-app local currency payments will be enabled “in the next few months” Fuloria says.

As for subscriptions, all Facebook.com and mobile web apps will be able to set up recurring payments for users, such as for regularly delivered monthly content. Expected to be operational in July, the system already uses local currency pricing.

[via CNET]

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Facebook Confirms Testing ‘Call’ Button for Online Video Chats

Facebook is reminding users how to make video calls via the social network by testing a “Call” button on member Timeline pages.

The button, which was first spotted by TechCrunch, is located next to the “Message” option on Facebook Timeline’s layout. The “Chat” button would replace the subtle video-camera icon now used to start an online video chat.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that the button is only a test, so it’s unknown at this time if it will become a permanent part of Timeline. In the meantime, some members using a desktop version of Facebook will be able to test the feature.

Although Facebook partnered with popular online chat service Skype nearly a year ago, the social network hasn’t made the option overly visible on the site. Now with the increase in popularity of social chat services such as Google Hangouts and Airtime — which was launched by former Facebook president Sean Parker — it looks like Facebook is ready to get the service more on its users’ radar.

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg Does Not Look Thrilled with Airtime

This isn’t the first time Facebook has played with the concept of a “Call” button. It was featured on the previous version of profile pages, but it was hard to find in the settings drop-down menu.

Do you think the “Call” button will influence Facebook members to use video chat more? Will Facebook be able to compete against other social video chat services such as Airtime and Google Hangouts? Let us know your opinion in the comments.

View As Slideshow »

For all of its improvements in randomized video chat, Airtime's dedication to protecting minors from X-rated content has to be its crown jewel.

That, coupled with its Facebook connectivity, gives Airtime an air of legitimacy that many other services don't have.

Like Google+, it also has YouTube sharing capability. Airtime uses your Facebook data to connect you with like-minded strangers, or even friends of friends, though for now, it's relatively limited to industry insiders.

Ever a classic, Skype is among the reliable, go-to platforms for voice, video and instant messaging. However, unlike most of these other services, Skype requires software installation to your computer.

Chatting on Skype is limited to people you know and have added to your contacts. You can use Skype to call phones as well as screen names, send files and screenshare, a great feature for coworkers collaborating remotely. Group video chat is only available with Skype Premium.

Hangout, Google's video chat service, has a leg-up on Skype — it runs straight through your browser, so you can use it on any webcam-enabled computer, no software installation necessary.

Use Hangouts to watch YouTube videos, screenshare or edit shared Google Docs with up to 10 friends. Plus, thanks to Google+'s video effects, you can do it all while wearing a top hat and a monocle. Cheerio, chap!

Video chat on Facebook is about as basic as it gets — no screensharing, no group video chat, no YouTube compatibility.

And while the service—which is the product of a partnership with Skype—does have the major advantage of connecting you with what's likely your most thorough contact list, several of the other clients are roping in your Facebook friends, too.

The social giant might soon feel the pressure to add more functions if it wants to keep users hooked to the video chat service.

Unlike most free, anonymous video chat services, Omegle has managed to maintain steady momentum since it was created in March 2009.

The site pairs you with a random stranger in your choice of text, audio or video chat format. Manually input your interests to slim down the pickin's, or give Omegle permission to use your Facebook Likes to find folks with similar tastes. Omegle's spy mode sets them apart from the pack; you can ask two strangers a question and watch them discuss it, or opt to discuss a question yourself.

When Chatroulette exploded in early 2010, it became the golden standard for anonymous video chatting. Okay, that's a little generous. But for a site initially run from a 17-year-old's bedroom in Moscow, it was certainly a sensation.

The site is still running strong today, with roughly twice as many users online than Omegle. Keep in mind that, unlike Airtime, this voyeur hotspot doesn't use an algorithm to detect X-rated content.

Tinychat is a video chat platform that introduces users to strangers with common interests.

The service requires that you create an account or login with Facebook. Once a member, you can browse the directory of chats in categories like comedy, music and gaming.

To be fair, though, the site's most popular chat rooms are teeenzon3, t33nheaven and teennlife. Going to go ahead and stamp this one with a big, fat NSFW.

ooVoo boasts power in numbers — this chat service lets you video chat with up to 12 friends. You can run ooVoo through Facebook, the web, or download the software to your computer or mobile device.

It's essentially Skype, with the added options to record a video call and send pre-recorded video messages.

If screensharing is your jam, go for Google+ or Skype; it's available on Oovoo, but only for a premium.

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