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3 MAJOR CHANGES COMING TO FACEBOOK PROFILES INCLUDING VIDEOS AND TEMPORARY PICTURES

Four billion. It’s a massive number. Perhaps not the case if you’re counting stars in our Milky Way, or tallying up all of the Earth’s grains of sand (which is seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion for those counting).

But, “four billion” in social networking is not to be ignored, and that’s the number of times Facebook profiles are visited every day.

For an area on Facebook that is visited so frequently, it makes sense that Zuckerberg & Co. wants to keep this area fresh, new, playful, and interactive. That’s why Facebook is beginning to roll out new features for Facebook profiles on mobile devices (iOS to start, and Android coming soon after). There are three improvements that give you more control over your profile page, and specifically, more opportunities to show the world your true personality, interests, and identity.

1. LOOPING PROFILE VIDEOS

Instead of a static photo as your profile picture, Facebook will allow you to have a short video (essentially a custom, personalized GIF) as your featured profile image. This adds an extra, interactive layer to your profile page, allowing you to showcase yourself in new and creative ways, especially if it’s the first time someone is discovering who you really are.

2. MORE CONTROL AND PROFILE PERSONALIZATION

Your “About” section includes personal information, from occupation and university to relationship status and religion. There’s quite a bit of information to be seen in your profile’s “About” section, and many of us choose to hide that from our friends. Facebook wants us to take back control of our profile by enabling people to not only display the specific information, but also choose which friends can see which details. With this flexibility, you can choose to show different things to classmates, work colleagues, family members, and any other segments of friends you’d like.

Along with these visibility settings, Facebook is also adding a one-line bio to the top of profile page. This customizable space allows you to showcase your personality, interests, and identity. You’ll also be able to select up to five “Featured Photos” to be showcased at the top of your profile, which is similar to Cover Photos but more visible and easier to navigate.

3. TEMPORARY PROFILE PICTURES

Facebook recognizes that your life changes everyday, and so too should your profile picture (and video, as we now know). In an era when days of the week have their own unique hashtags, such as Throwback Thursday (#tbt), it’s important for individuals to represent themselves in as many ways possible. On top of profile videos, Facebook will allow you to change your profile picture for a certain amount of time. Facebook alludes to the 26 million individuals that changed their profile picture to the “Celebrate Pride” filter within Facebook when the U.S. legalized same-sex marriage.

These temporary profile pictures can be used to support your favorite sports team, celebrate your best friend’s birthday, or highlight a cause you feel strongly about. Whatever the reason is, it will soon be possible to change your profile picture for a specific amount of time before automatically reverting back to your original profile picture or video.

BONUS FEATURE: NEW LAYOUT AND PROFILE DESIGN CHANGES

Mobile profiles will be displayed in more visual ways. Facebook is shifting your profile picture to the center, and making it larger too. Also featured more prominently on your mobile profile are “Photos” and “Friends” which make it easier to get to know someone you recently met, or someone you just want to search for in Facebook.

WHAT MARKETERS SHOULD START THINKING ABOUT

While these changes only impact people on Facebook (although many of the same updates on individual profiles end up on Pages as well), it’s still worth thinking about if you’re a marketer, community manager, or any digital professional.

Looping profile videos present an opportunity to turn your customers and fans into advocates and champions of your brand. If you have a dedicated enough community that cares deeply about your brand, you can create a video filter or template for individuals to use on their own profiles. Or, make it easy for people to use a custom, branded profile picture that they can set for a certain amount of time.

We’ll likely see television networks utilizing this feature to further connect their programming to Facebook conversations about the show or event. It’s also relevant for event marketers that want to enable individuals to set their profile picture for the duration of an event, such as a music festival, sports competition, political campaign, or product launch. Only time will tell how people and brands use these new features, but at the very least, it’s a drastic change to your profile.

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How to disable autoplay for videos on Facebook and Twitter

Facebook and Twitter are facing renewed criticism for their autoplaying video features.

While autoplaying video has been a boon for advertisers and publishers hoping to further their reach on social media, for users, the feature has potential to be downright disturbing. Many users were sharply reminded of this Wednesday after unintentionally seeing the grisly video that captured the shooting deaths of a Virginia television reporter and cameraman, after the clip was posted on social media.

There is a way to disable autoplaying video on both Facebook and Twitter on the web and their iOS and Android apps. We've broken down the steps, below, to show you how to turn off autoplay once and for all.

Desktop

From Facebook.com, you can disable autoplay from the main settings menu (under the carrot icon in the top right corner of the site). From there, select "Videos" from the lefthand column and toggle autoplay to off.

For Twitter, go to your main settings (you can find the menu by clicking on the thumbnail of your profile image) and scroll down to the bottom to the "Content" heading. Uncheck the "Video Autoplay" box and select "Save Changes."

iOS

On Facebook's iOS app, find the app's main settings (in the "More" column) and select "Account Settings." Choose the "Videos and Photos" tab and select "Auto-play." From there, you can turn the feature off entirely, choose Wi-Fi only or enable a setting Facebook calls "Smart Auto-play." If Smart Auto-play is on, Facebook will selectively choose which videos are automatically played n your feed while "optimizing for your country, mobile carrier, battery life and data usage."

For Twitter, go to Settings -> Accounts -> Video autoplay. Like Facebook, you can opt to allow autoplay only when you're connected to Wi-Fi or turn the feature off completely.

Android

Similarly, you fine tune your autoplay settings on Android based on your network connection or turn the feature off altogether. Select "App Settings" from the hamburger menu in the top right corner of the app and scroll down to "Videos play automatically," to adjust when you want videos to autoplay.

On Twitter, select the three dots menu to open the app's settings. Scroll down to the "General" section and "Video Autoplay." You can then turn the feature off or change it to Wi-Fi only. Autoplay is a fairly new addition to Twitter's Android app so not all versions of the app may have the setting.

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Facebook Is Adding A Personal Assistant Called “M” To Your Messenger App

We’ve been hearing rumblings that Facebook was working on an “assistant” within Messenger, but today we’ve gotten the details that pull it all together. This puts the company squarely in competition with Apple, Google and Microsoft in the digital personal assistant space.

In a Facebook post, Facebook Messenger lead David Marcus spoke a bit about Facebook’s plans:

Today we’re beginning to test a new service called M. M is a personal digital assistant inside of Messenger that completes tasks and finds information on your behalf. It’s powered by artificial intelligence that’s trained and supervised by people.

Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more.

This is early in the journey to build M into an at-scale service. But it’s an exciting step towards enabling people on Messenger to get things done across a variety of things, so they can get more time to focus on what’s important in their lives.

Today we’re beginning to test a new service called M. M is a personal digital assistant inside of Messenger that completes tasks and finds information on your behalf. It’s powered by artificial intelligence that’s trained and supervised by people.

Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more.

This is early in the journey to build M into an at-scale service. But it’s an exciting step towards enabling people on Messenger to get things done across a variety of things, so they can get more time to focus on what’s important in their lives.

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You're Old If You Type 'LOL,' Facebook Says

Do you laugh in hahas, hehes, emojis or ROTFLFMAOs? Facebook thinks it has the answer, based on your age, gender and the place you live.

In a study published Thursday, Facebook said it had combed through posts and comments during the last week of May 2015 and found that 15 percent of people included laughter at least once in their posts and comments that week. It also analyzed the types of laughter used by people across demographics and noticed some big differences among the laughter-associated words people prefer. One of the big takeaways here: The lol is sooooooo over.

Each laughter word stem includes a wide range of laughter types, the study noted. Hahas, for example, include "the polite haha to a deranged hahahahahahaha."

Here's a look at the study's findings:

Hahas are the most popular type of laughter, while lol is the least.

More than 50 percent of laughers use hahas, followed by emojis (33.7 percent), hehes (13.1 percent) and lols (1.9 percent). Moreover, 52 percent of people use strictly one laughter type, while about 20 percent use two different types.

The way you laugh online depends on your city and region.

Laughers on the West Coast tend more toward hahas and hehes, while those on the East Coast tend to use emojis. Facebook created heat maps for the types of laughter by state. The darker the color is on the map below, the more the laughter word stem is used.

Laughter varies by city, too: "People in Chicago and New York prefer emojis, while Seattle and San Francisco prefer hahas," the study noted.

Young people prefer emojis in their laughter, while older people prefer to lol.

Women prefer emojis, while men prefer hahas.

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Facebook launches live streaming, but only for famous people

Facebook just got into the business of live streaming video.

The social network added the feature to Facebook Mentions, the app launched in July 2014 that celebrities such as actors, musicians and athletes use to engage with their fans, who can leave comments.

For celebrities, starting a live stream means tapping the Post button inside the Mentions app, then selecting Live Video. They can add a pithy description for the video, and hit Go Live whenever they're ready.

As with Meerkat and Periscope, celebrities will also be able to toggle between their smartphone's front and rear cameras, see how many viewers have tuned in, as well as view (and hide) their comments. Videos are saved afterwards to their Facebook Pages.

A Facebook live video feature was a long time coming for the social network and a notable omission when it launched an embeddable video player at F8 this March. (If celebrities previously live streamed through Facebook, they used an outside service.)

Offering an in-house solution made sense for the second-most trafficked site in the world, notwithstanding a recent statement by Meerkat's CEO that Facebook was kind of irrelevant" for live media. Meerkat eventually conceded this wasn't quite the case when it added Facebook support for watching some streams back in May.

During this year's F8 keynote, Facebook director of platform Deborah Liu pointed out users watch over 3 billion videos daily. Meanwhile, thousands of celebrities with verified accounts use Facebook Mentions everyday, according to Vadim Lavrusik, product manager for Facebook Mentions.

Lavrusik told Mashable that Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Serena Williams, Michael Buble and Martha Stewart will all live stream on Wednesday, helping to promote the feature.

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Hootsuite Announces Instagram Integration

In a major addition for the social media management platform, Hootsuite has announced that Instagram will now be supported by the Hoostuite dashboard. 

While users have been able to monitor and track Instagram content for some time via third-party apps, Instagram will now be fully integrated into the Hootsuite experience, enabling users to schedule and publish Instagram content, monitor and engage with Instagram audiences and create team workflows – including shared access with team members - all from the one platform.

The ability to schedule Instagram content will be a major boost for Hootsuite users. Users of Sprout Social, a rival social media management tool, have been able to monitor and comment on Instagram content for the last month or so, though Sprout doesn’t allow users to publish content via the platform. Instagram’s integration with Hootsuite will enable posting functionality – users will be able to edit and schedule content alongside their regular networks within the dashboard, providing content oversight and ease of use. In the official release, Hootsuite notes that Instagram integration has been one of their most requested features for some time.

To set up and use Instagram within your Hootsuite dashboard, you first need to add your Instagram account/s to your Hootsuite dashboard:

Once added, you can set up streams to monitor your home feed to see what users you follow are posting, you can monitor your own posts to track your own content, you can set up a stream of your scheduled posts or you can search Instagram for a specific hashtag or keyword. Basically, everything you can do in Instagram, you can now do within Hootsuite.

Hootsuite has been steadily growing and expanding its core user-base in recent years. Founded in 2008, the social media management platform now serves more than 10 million users across 175 countries. With Instagram adoptiongrowing at a rapid rate, the additional functionality will no doubt drive more users to the Hootsuite platform to assist in their social media management and content planning strategies.

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What Are the Best Times to Post on Social Media?

If you, like me, depend on Facebook to socialize the content you create, you want to be as Facebook savvy as possible. What do people engage with? When should you post?

I’ve found that posting images and videos gets more engagement than straight text. I’ve also found that text that speaks to a controversy or includes news-you-can-use is more successful.

I’ve also found that if I post too many times in a single day, engagement starts to go down. I get it: It’s annoying when one Facebook page dominates your newsfeed.

This infographic from QuickSprout is a useful reminder about the best times to find your audience on Facebook and on other social media platforms. Pin it up next to our desk. Optimize your Facebook promotion.

It turns out that people engage on Facebook most on Thursday and Friday. A lot of people use Facebook when they are at their desks in the their offices, but don’t want to be. Indeed, 86% of posts are published during the week. Earlier in the week, peole are trying harder to actually work, so engagement falls below 3.5% on those days.

People are also just happier on Facebook on Fridays. Their status updates tend to be more upbeat. Happier people are more likely to want to engage with you. They’re more open to new ideas in general.

Early afternoon is the best time to post. Check to see what time zone your largest audience is in. Mine is in Eastern, so I try to post around 1 pm EST. But really anytime between 9 am and 7 pm is fine.

I read a study once that said that people tend to be in a better mood right after lunch. Indeed, parole hearings that happen right after lunch are more likely to lead to a positive result for the parolee. Posts that go out at 1 pm tend to get the most shares, though posts around 3 pm tend to get the most clicks.

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You Can Now Discover Who Has Deleted You On Facebook

An Exeter-based developer has created an app that allows you to see who has deleted you on Facebook and when they did it.

Creatively named ‘Who Deleted Me On Facebook’, the app reveals those individuals who have unfriended you on everyone’s go-to social media platform, and also who have become deactivated, who is online and keeps a track of friend numbers.

The app was created by Anthony Kuske and is available on both Android and iOs, and it’s sure to be the main cause for a few arguments!

It’s pretty simple to use, too. After a one-time sign in with your Facebook account, you’re provided with various tab options including New, Deleted You, You Deleted, Deactivated and Current. But we assume the only one getting click-action will be ‘Deleted You’.

However, the app can only track information since the time you installed it. So, unfortunately, you won’t have any juicy facts waiting for you.

But, give it a check in a few weeks time, and we’re sure you’ll have some ammo to work with, you annoying b*stard!

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New Instagram Layout App Tackles Third-Party Competition

The Instagram team has today announced Layout from Instagram, the latest photo-sharing app from the Facebook-owned social networking company.

Following in the footsteps of the popular Hyperlapse app, for creating and sharing time-lapse videos, this new free stand-alone offering allows users to combine multiple still images into simple collage-style layouts for sharing online. Using a collage can often help your Instagram post tell a story more effectively than a single image, making it more engaging for your followers.

Easy Collages

On opening the Layout app, you can scroll through eleven pre-made layouts to pick your favourite. Alternatively, you can tap on images in your camera roll and the app will automatically build them into various layout previews as you go, leaving you to select the one you like best at the end.

Rather than scrolling through your entire camera roll, you can use the optional “Faces” view, which uses facial detection (but not facial recognition) to help the app pluck out all the images from your camera roll featuring people. Alternatively, you can select “Recents” for a view containing up to 30 of your most recently used images.

The app then lets you freely move, resize, zoom, mirror and flip each image before tapping “save” to keep the finished result on your device. You can now tap one of the icons below to share your creation directly to Instagram, Facebook or any other photo sharing methods set up on your device. There’s no need to have an Instagram or Facebook account, as you can use a saved layout just like any other image in your camera roll.

The app also features a built-in “Photo Booth” feature which lets you take a sequence of up to four photos in selfie mode which are then dropped directly into the layout previews. It provides a brief “Get Ready” message before flashing the screen for each photo, allowing you to change your pose – much like in a real-world photo booth. It seems to be limited to using the front-facing camera though, which is disappointing if you want to make a quick collage of something other than selfies.

The app is simple and effective, and is sure to spark a rapid increase in the number of collage images posted to Instagram in the near future.

The Competition

The Instagram team draws inspiration from the many similar photo apps already available, several of which provide far greater functionality and complexity. Layout offers only very basic designs in simple, rectilinear formats, whereas competing apps like InstaCollage, Moldiv and Instavid, offer more advanced features such as complex layouts with irregular shapes, custom frames, built-in photo editing, video clips, text and stickers.

However, it’s the simplicity and familiarity of Layout which makes it so appealing. Its basic options will be plenty for those who just want to quickly throw a few images together without having to learn a complicated app, and it’s therefore set to eat into the customer base of competing apps despite its reduced functionality.

There’s still plenty of room for competing apps to thrive, and being a stand-alone product which must be downloaded from the App Store just like the competition, Layout isn’t leveraging any advantage that could be gained by being built into the main Instagram app.

As is often the case with Instagram’s own-brand apps, Layout from Instagram is currently only available on the iOS platform, although an Android version is due in the coming months.

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A new way to control Spotify through Slack integration

Here’s another way the creative developer community has cooked up to integrate Slack, the online team collaboration utility: Hook it into Spotify.

Developers at Benchmark rigged up a system whereby you can build custom Slash Commands to augment Slack’s  arsenal of built-in slash commands – accessible via the `/` in the message bar.

While Slack’s API hosts a large number of community integrations — including some for Spotify — none exactly fit the profile the Benchmark folks intended. For example, to update the Spotify playlist using a slash command to search for a song, and when found, add it to the playlist.

And from here, we let the experts explain the process:

Using Node.js and taking advantage of the excellent spotify-web-api-node NPM package we were able to get this up and running very quickly …  We’ve open sourced the code behind it, so feel free to use and improve the app from it’s very humble beginning.

In addition to the full installation instructions, the Benchmark team recommends hitting “Deploy to Heroku” which “takes advantage of the Heroku platform’s amazingly flexible app-hosting service.”

Original Post

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6 dad-centric Instagram accounts you must follow

It's never too early to celebrate dads. Now, with social tools like Instagram, Vine and Twitter, fathers are free to show the world why parenthood is divine. 

Whether they're snapping pics of their kids playing on the monkey bars or displaying some killer kitchen recipes, these dads are worthy of your follow.

For fathers, future fathers or people who simply get a kick out of dad-and-kid-related content, these Instagram accounts will surely suffice.

1. @dad_beets This dad's Instagram description really says it all: "Breaking bread, throwing down funky beets and having a good thyme. And that's no yolk."

He is a maker of mouth-watering, aesthetically pleasing sandwiches. Scrolling through his feed, you’ll find the inspiration to create a variety of sandwich snacks based on his recommendations. From waffled creations to avocado toasts with fried eggs, his meals make our stomachs rumble. And to top it off, @dad_beets includes some adorable photos of his two sons wearing cute fedoras, nibbling on treats and exuding cuteness.

2. @fashiondads_ Who says dads can't be fashionable?

As the Instagram description says, this handle introduces us to "fathers on fleek." The account is run by Ashley Hesseltine, author of the blog Witty + Pretty, and Travis May. The duo also are responsible for another hilarious Instagram account, @BrosBeingBasic.

The way @fashiondads_ works: Submit a pic with the hashtag #fashiondads to [email protected], and they'll upload the best online. These dads come in all shapes and sizes, and can be found truly anywhere — we're talking grocery stores, gyms, sidewalks, beaches, airports, golf courses, etc. Some of these dads have, well, an interesting fashion sense. But there are a few gems who are rocking it.

3. @howtobeadad An entertainment website for parents, soon-to-be parents and those who, for some reason, have an interest in parenting, this account is run by two dads, Charlie Capen and Andy Herald. Their website is filled with advice, funny stories, instructional diagrams and more. So the Instagram gives us more of a peek inside their lives with their kids.

4. @aubreymccoy Aubrey McCoy lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his four kids and his wife who happens to be the cofounder and editor of Mother Magazine. McCoy posts a nice combination of scenic images and family-friendly pics. Unlike some of the photos on these other Instagram accounts, McCoy's images are all high quality with a professional feel to them.

5. @lifewithmicah Micah Quinones was born a beautiful baby boy with a cute, big belly and 48 chromosomes (Trisomy 21/Downs Syndrome) that he rocks with style. Micah's dad, Mike Quinones, created this Instagram account to document his newborn's journey.

Quinones' separate individual account, @mikerunt, also has a huge following –- he is an action sports veteran who runs a clothing company called OurCaste. The Quinones family as a whole is quite adorable, and we think you'll find yourself wishing you could spend some quality time with them IRL.

6. @tiesandfries Josh Davis is dad to three — two boys and one girl — and is also husband to well-known blogger Taza. Together, they're a force to be reckoned with. Davis takes pictures mostly of his family, although there are few scenic shots that will appeal to your wanderlust.

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Improve your social (media) on spring break

As you head out on spring break remember these words from Andrea Weckerle in her book "Civility in the Digital Age" -  "Your digital footprint - the good, the bad, and the ugly - is used by others in decision making that impacts virtually every aspect of your life."

Give your digital footprint a spring cleaning through these four tips to minimize the bad and the ugly -

1. Don't share everything on your social media accounts. Think about potential adverse impacts of the image/wording before you post as once you post subsequent viewing and sharing is out of your control and can come back to haunt you at another time. 2. Review the privacy settings on your social media accounts. Are they set how you want?  Do a quick test by logging out of Facebook and put your profile URL in a web browser to see what is public. You don't want surprises in content you thought was shared with close friends being publicly available so adjust accordingly to match your comfort level.   3. Take more control of your content in Facebook. Use Facebook lists to organize your friends, especially if you have a lot of them that you may or may not know personally, and share your posts with the appropriate lists to have more control over who sees what. 4. Change your passwords.  Create strong passwords and change them periodically in all your social media accounts to minimize the risk of your account being hacked.  Here are some good tips from OIT

Source

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Instagram launches @Music, a community for musicians and music fans

Social media and music come together once again on Instagram

Instagram may be known as the most popular photo sharing service, but the company is looking to appeal to both sound and vision sharers with the newly launched @Music community, which caters to musicians and music fans. 

It’s the first time Instagram has launched an account devoted to a particular topic.

“Each week, we’ll take a look at the musical experience on Instagram,” says Instagram founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, in a blog post. “That means showing you a different side of artists you know and love.” 

Along with promoting well-known musicians, Systrom says @Music will focus on up-and-coming ones as well. The first act featured on @Music is Questlove.

Many popular artists already have Instagram accounts. At one point, pop singer Justin Bieber was the most-followed user on Instagram, until he was dethroned by Kim Kardashian in late 2014. Bieber currently ranks seventh, according to Socialblade’s Top 100 Instagram Profiles, when filtered by most followed. Meanwhile, R&B artist Beyonce now has the top spot not only among musicians, but also overall.

So even before the creation of @Music, musicians have been heavy Instagram users. Naturally, the new service could give them a greater boost. Instagram won’t only cater to musicians and their fans. The community will highlight music photographers, album illustrators, and instrument makers as well. Systrom also encourages musicians and fans to take an active role in the new music-based community. “In the Instagram tradition, we will also welcome community participation with a new, music-themed monthly hashtag project,” he says.

According to TechCrunch, some of these hashtags include #LocallySourced, which will cover unsigned acts; #DoubleTrack, which will explore what artists do in their personal lives when they’re not making music; and #15SecondLessons, which will help aspiring musicians perfect their craft. “Music is a huge part of all of our lives here at Instagram,” Systrom says. “It’s a passion of ours, and we know it’s a passion of yours. So follow along at @Music — we think you’ll discover something new.”

The idea to blend social media and music is not a new one, of course. MySpace teamed up with Interscope to create MySpace Records in late 2005 in order to find unsigned talent, and YouTube is also known as a launching pad for artists. Some popular musicians that emerged from social media include Adele and Bieber himself.

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Foursquare has a new problem: Employees are checking out

The company has lost more than two dozen employees over the last year — and several key members of its engineering team just in the last few months — including Vice President of Engineering Harry Heymann, Senior Director of Engineering Kushal Dave, and Senior Software Engineer Govind Kabra, among other employees in areas such as content and recruiting.

"If an employee hasn’t left, it is mostly because they haven’t found the right next gig,” said a source familiar with Foursquare's internal matters.

Foursquare, and its companion Swarm app, aren't going anywhere, according to several sources, which is exactly the problem. The six-year-old startup reports it has 50 million monthly active users tracked across mobile and desktop, up from 45 million in December 2013.

But third-party firms that track user engagement tell a different story.

The mobile tracking firm App Annie reported Foursquare for iOS ranks #547 in the U.S. for general, daily app downloads. Swarm doesn’t rank at all. (Neither app ranks high enough on Android to chart.) In Apple’s App Store, finding either app in the “Top Free iPhone Apps” is its own kind of “Where’s Waldo?”, with Swarm hovering at #138 in the Social Networking category.

According to comScore, an Internet analytics company, mobile traffic for both apps has plunged, with a small uptick in March:

The Amazon-owned firm Alexa also paints a steep decline for site traffic:

Despite recent speculation about a Yahoo buyout — a rumor that was quickly shot down — Foursquare management has no immediate plans to get acquired.

"I think an acquisition path is probably the best path," Gartner Research Director Brian Blau argued. "The reason is not because Foursquare is necessarily failing, but without a partner that has more resources and horizontal businesses, how are they going to compete unless they take on more investment?"

But more fundraising would not go over well with many of the company’s 180 employees.

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5 Ways To Make Your Employees Proud to Represent Your Brand

Customer experience is similar to a tip. It’s not guaranteed but it’s expected.

If there’s one truth about customer experience it’s that every company has a different one. Some companies are known for compelling customer experience. Others are known for a consistently terrible customer experience. 

Therefore you can assume your customer experience is not an accident. Generally the companies that offer a wonderful customer experience make a concerted effort to build one. They create processes that account for variation. They have a distinct culture. 

There’s a bold set of values that everyone in the company knows. Employees can “be themselves at work” but are expected to represent the brand’s values, and are rewarded for doing so. Customer experience varies for many reasons, but one of the most important reasons is the human factor. 

The experience your customers have in a store, on the phone or online has much to do with who is handling that customer.

Here are some questions that come up around the customer facing employee :

Was that person trained properly? Are they having a bad day? Are they over-worked? Are they happy? Do they feel proud to represent your brand?

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Facebook launches standalone messaging app for the web

Facebook rolled out a web browser version of its standalone Messenger app on Wednesday.

Like the Messenger mobile app, the web platform — which can be found at messenger.com— is completely separate from the rest of the site and has the same barebones look. But unlike the mobile app, the social network claims it will not force the new service on its users.

Facebook caught a lot of flak when it first split its messaging function off into a separate app last fall. Users complained then that the company was strong-arming them into downloading the new app.

"Asking folks to install another app is a short term painful thing, but if we wanted to focus on serving this well, we had to build a dedicated and focused experience," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained in his defense during a Q&A last fall.

But the company says it has no plans to cleave the core Facebook web platform in two, meaning that users will still have the option of messaging with Facebook's standard chat option or with the stripped down new service. A Facebook spokesperson said web Messenger is meant only as an additional option that's free of the distractions of the rest of the Facebook site.

The new platform is part of a series of features and updates aimed at transforming Messenger into a communications hub where users can do much more than just chat with friends. Last month, Facebook rolled out a peer-to-peer payment service and opened it up for third-party developers to build content and services.

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You Can Soon Send Money to Your Friends on Facebook

Facebook wants your debit card information.

The social media giant announced Tuesday it will soon allow users to securely send and receive money via Facebook’s standalone Messenger app. The free service, which is being released gradually to U.S. users over the coming months, will require a linked Visa or MasterCard debit card that has been issued by a U.S. bank.

Facebook said the updated Messenger app will include a “$” icon on the screen that will lead to a payments screen when tapped, allowing users to enter the amount of money they wish to send to a specific friend. Both users involved in a transaction would need to have a debit card linked to their Facebook accounts to make the transfer.

As an added layer of security, Facebook said users will have to create a PIN that must be entered before a money transfer can be made, while Apple iOS users can also enable Touch ID. Facebook added that users’ debit card information will be “kept in a secured environment that is separate from other parts of Facebook,” and that a “team of anti-fraud specialists” will monitor the platform for suspicious activity.

Tuesday’s announcement should not come as a huge surprise to anyone following Facebook, which hired PayPal president David Marcus last June to run its mobile messaging products. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also later confirmed that there would eventually be “some overlap” between the company’s messaging and payments platforms during an earnings call.

The new mobile payments service will pit Facebook against other tech companies that have already dug out space in that market, including Venmo and Square, which launched a partnership with ephemeral-messaging service Snapchat last fall called Snapcash.

Apple has also spent the past several months building up the support network for its mobile payments platform, Apple Pay, which allows users to pay for products in stores using their Apple devices.

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