Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)
“By definition, if it keeps growing at this rate, yes, it will be bigger,” Instagram cofounder and CEO Kevin Systrom told Fast Company. “It will be the biggest thing in the world.” Systrom shared the revealing comments on our recent trip to Instagram’s office, as part of Fast Company’s feature on the company’s first year at Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). Systrom’s words serve not only as a sign of his own strong belief in his blossoming social network but also as a larger symbol of the potential for Instagram inside its parent company. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), with roughly 1.1 billion users, is the world’s largest social network, but there is concern that its popularity is waning, especially among younger users, who are migrating to up-and-coming services like Snapchat.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Graph search is different from normal web search (FinancialsTrend)
The official roll out of the innovative Graph search feature to the account users of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) was made in the previous year and discussions are still ongoing on the effectiveness of the new addition to the social networking site. This Graph search allows the users to put forward new search terms to bring their friends together and is thereby designed to bring up information on friends related to their basic posts and information shared on the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). The Facebook executives who introduced the Graph search noted that it is highly different from the normal web search by fulfilling a different need for the social networking site users. Mark Zuckerberg named the new search option as the third pillar of the social networking site after Newsfeed and Timeline features.
Now’s time to reassess your Facebook privacy settings (Dispatch)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Graph Search feature, which is rolling out to the site’s users this month, makes it easier for people to find details about users that once were more difficult to access. For six months, a select group of Facebook users have had a chance to try out the site’s hyped “ Graph Search” function. For those unfamiliar with it, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Graph Search function is kind of like a regular search function, only more complicated. But the bottom line is that it indexes everyone’s public posts, likes, photos, interests, etc. to make them as easy as possible for everyone else — from friends to exes to cops to advertisers to your boss — to find.
Merkel: Facebook and Google must be open (TheLocal)
In discussions on a European privacy protection agreement, Germany would urge “that the companies here in Europe tell us whom they are giving the data to”, she said, vowing that Berlin would take “a very firm stance” on the issue. The conservative chancellor, who faces elections on September 22nd, told ARD public television that “internationally, we should also negotiate an agreement” and that “it would of course be good if Europe spoke with one voice”. While in Germany “we have a great federal privacy laws”, this did not protect online users, Merkel said. She demanded that “internet companies such as Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and others inform European countries whom they are handing the data to”.
Facebook Teams Up With Internet And Mobile Association Of India On Student Internet Safety (AllFacebook)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) teamed up with the Internet and Mobile Association of India to launch Internet safety education programs for students in India between the ages of 13 and 17. The social network and IAMAI said educators and child safety non-governmental organizations will also receive training as part of the initiative, added that the program will initially be rolled out to some 18,000 students in about 30 schools in Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. There will be a national conference in Delhi later this year to address the issue of Internet safety for students, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and IAMIA announced, and the program will spread to other cities in India in 2014.
