Top 10 Most Followed Google Plus Brand Pages !!

Google plus brand pages has been launched on 7th Nov this year and is received well by various organisations and websites and the reason is that Pages for Google Plus also boast some advantages when it comes to search-engine optimization.

Here we have a list of top 10 most followed Google plus pages according to Social Statistics.

Although Android is the Most followed page on Google Plus and have 130241 followers whereas Facebook Most liked page is Facebook itself and have 56,131,564 likes till the post was written.

Still, A long way to go for Google Plus.

Facebook Status Characters Limit Increased from 5k to 60k !!

Facebook announced that that the limit of Status updates has now been increased to more than 60,000 characters in a Post on Facebook News page.

You can now update your status in not more than 63,206 characters.

• Until March 2009, the limit was "Twitter’s limit + 20 more characters" ie 160 characters. 
• 420 characters after March 2009
• 500 characters after July 2011
• 5000 characters after September 2011
• 63206 characters after Nov 2011

That is how a status update with 60,000 characters looks like.

Most Shared Articles on Facebook in 2011 !!

Facebook recently looked at the most shared articles in the US on Facebook over the past year and released a list of 40 most shared articles in the year 2011 on Facebook + Media page.

Have a look at 40 Best ways to surf the net.

1. Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami
(New York Times) 
2. What teachers really want to tell parents (CNN) 
3. No, your zodiac sign hasn't changed (CNN) 
4. Parents, don't dress your girls like tramps (CNN) 
5. (video) - Father Daughter Dance Medley (Yahoo)
6. At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan (Yahoo)
7. You'll freak when you see the new Facebook (CNN) 
8. Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing friend in the rubble (Yahoo) 
9. Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines (Yahoo)
10. New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington Post) 
11. Parents keep child’s gender under wraps (Yahoo)
12. How to Talk to Little Girls (The Huffington Post) 
13. Stop Coddling the Super-Rich (New York Times) 
14. Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior (Wall Street Journal) 
15. (video) - Twin Baby Boys Have A Conversation! (Yahoo) 
16. Man robs bank to get medical care in jail (Yahoo) 
17. Why You're Not Married (The Huffington Post) 
18. A Sister’s Eulogy for Steve Jobs (New York Times)
19. Ryan Dunn Dead: 'Jackass' Star Dies In Car Crash (The Huffington Post) 
20. Scientists warn California could be struck by winter ‘superstorm’ (Yahoo) 
21. Notes From a Dragon Mom (New York Times) 
22. A Message to Women From a Man: You Are Not "Crazy" (The Huffington Post) 
23. Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph (Washington Post)
24. Penn State, my final loss of faith (Washington Post) 
25. Golden-Voiced Homeless Man Captivates Internet (Yahoo) 
26. The most typical face on the planet (Yahoo) 
27. Widespread destruction from Japan earthquake, tsunamis (CNN) 
28. Permissive parents: Curb your brats (CNN) 
29. A father's day wish: Dads, wake the hell up! (CNN)
30. (video) - Laughing Baby Loves Ripping Paper! (Yahoo) 
31. Epic Cover Letter: How To Get Hired For Your Dream Job (PICTURE) (The Huffington Post) 
32. New Zodiac sign dates: Don't switch horoscopes yet (Washington Post) 
33. Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know (Yahoo)
34. The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden's Death(The Huffington Post) 
35. (photo gallery) - ‘Where Children Sleep’ (New York Times) 
36. Quake moved Japan coast 8 feet, shifted Earth's axis (CNN)
37. Steve Jobs, Apple founder, dies (CNN)
38. China's latest craze: dyeing pets to look like other wild animals (CNN)
39. Grant Hill’s Response to Jalen Rose (New York Times) 
40. Steve Jobs’s Patents (New York Times) 

via Facebook + Media

Facebook acquires MailRank

Ayear-old, mail prioritizing tool, MailRank, has been acquired by the popular social network, Facebook, according to a blog post on former's site. "We’re thrilled to announce that MailRank's co-founders will be joining Facebook in December!" states a post on MailRank's blog. Facebook, with this acquisition is looking at strengthening its position in the smartphone arena. MailRank, like mentioned above, essentially is a mail prioritizing tool that sets up the user's mail list on a priority basis, placing the most important mail right at the top. 

The announcement on MailRank

Team MailRank, according to the post will assist Facebook in solving technology issues, an area they specialize in and in turn, better support the platform of 800 million users - Facebook. MailRank has also stated on its blog that when with Facebook,  it will discontinue the private beta of MailRank for Outlook to get complete focus into the new project at hand. 

At the moment, financial details of the deal between Facebook and MailRank haven't been disclosed. 

Now Call Your Facebook Friends Using Skype

In an effort to further its partnership with Facebook, Skype has now enabled video calling to users of the social network through its client software. The VoIP provider has released updates to facilitate video calling between the two. Earlier this year, FB had introduced a free video calling feature using Skype technology as a desperate measure to counter theHangout feature offered by rival Google+.

Skype's Chief Technology Strategist, Jonathan Rosenberg said, "We've been on a mission to connect a billion users and with this, we take a big step closer to that". This new step will allow video calls between the 170 million Skype and 800 million FB users, which makes for a user base just shy of a billion. It must be noted that the update, which is Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows and Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac will allow Skype members to initiate FB-to-FB and Skype-to-FB calls within Skype IM.

To make use of this feature, users must connect their Skype account with their FB account so that the FB Friends list becomes available as contacts in the Skype IM client. Once this is done, it is as easy as selecting the FB contact and hitting the Call button. This new version of Skype also includes smoother video rendering for Mac users and group calling, also known as Group Screen Sharing. This premium subscription feature is currently available only for Mac users, but will soon extend to Windows as well.

Check out the below video to learn more about this new feature.

See Map of UnFacebook World: Where people don’t use Facebook !!

The UnFacebook map was created by visual arts grad student Ian Wojtowicz. He mashed the Facebook connections map released by facebook in December of last year and NASA's map of Earth at night.

• The Black = heavy Facebook usage
• The Brightest Yellow = places where people do not use Facebook.

Ian Wojtowicz said Subtracting one Map from the other by using a Photoshop difference layer, we get an image the shows only cities that don't use Facebook.

Amazing! isn't it ?

Mark Zuckerberg Stands 9th on Forbes List of 'World's Most Powerful People' !!

Mark Zuckerberg Who founded addictive social networking site Facebook in February 2004 from his Harvard dorm room Stands 9th on Forbes List of  'World's Most Powerful People November 2011' .

According to Forbes

"What the CIA failed to do in 60 years, Zuck has done in 7: knowing what 800 million people--more than 10% of the world's population--think, read and listen to, plus who they know, what they like and where they live, travel, vote, shop, worship. U.S. users spend more time on Facebook--on average 6.3 hours a month--than on any other site. The Harvard dropout is now creating his own monetary system, ­Facebook Credits, to facilitate transactions and profits. With a net worth of $17.5 billion, he is now America's 14th-richest man. 2011 Highlight: The movie inspired by his life, The Social Network, which depicts Zuckerberg as a coldhearted dweeb, won 3 Oscars."

Microsoft's software wizard and the world's second-richest man Bill Gates is however 5thMost Powerful Person and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page shares 30th Spot on the list.

Facebook Security [INFO-GRAPHIC]

Facebook's Two New Security Features 'App Passwords' & 'Trusted Friends' !!

Facebook on Thursday morning unveiled two new features aimed at making people feel more secure on the ever-growing social networking site.

Trusted Friends

In case you ever get locked out of your account. This features will help you prove your identity through your friends, you can now select three to five trusted friends who can help you if you ever have issues accessing your account. It's sort of similar to giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation, pick the friends you most trust in case you need their help.

If you forgot your password and need to login but can't access your email account, you can rely on your friends to help you get back in. Codes will be sent to the friends you have selected and they can pass along that information to you.

App Passwords
This gives users the option to set additional unique passwords on Facebook apps. So if you have an app password added to, say, FarmVille, even if someone else is logged in to your Facebook account, they’ll need to know an additional password before they plant a field full of cupcakes.

Facebook Security, "Security and safety are at the core of Facebook. We have entire teams dedicated to building tools that give people even more control over their account and specifically the way they access their information. In fact, many of our most talented engineers are working exclusively on creating a secure environment on Facebook. This October, as part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we are working with others in the community to help educate people about techniques and tools for securing your devices and networks. Additionally, we thought this would be a great opportunity to tell you about some of the systems working behind the scenes to keep you and your data safe."

Facebook Plans Its First Non-US Data Centre in Sweden !!

Tom Furlong, Facebook Director of Operations, announced Today in Lulea, Sweden, that it's new server farm on the edge of the Arctic Circle, it's first outside the U.S , that will improve performance for European users of the social networking site.

Facebook had picked the northern Swedish city of Lulea for the data center partly because: 

• The cold climate is crucial for keeping the servers cool.

• Access to Renewable energy from nearby hydro-power facilities.

The Lulea data center, which will consist of three 300,000-square foot (28,000-square meter) server buildings, is scheduled for completion by 2014. The site will need 120 MW of energy, fully derived from hydropower.

Located 60 miles (100 kilometers), south of the Arctic Cicle, Lulea lies near hydropower stations on a river that generates twice as much electricity as the Hoover Dam on the border of Nevada and Arizona, Facebook said.

Facebook's move towards  Renewable Energy is appreciated.

Facebook Messenger app gets major updates

Facebook Messenger, the app from Facebook that consolidates all your communication in one place got a major update. For one, it's now
available for BlackBerry OS so when BBM's out again, you have yet another alternative. Additionally, you can now see which of your
Facebook friends is online, which of them is on their mobile, and when you're communicating with a friend, you can see when they are typing. They've also made it easier to send messages to people that you communicate with the most. Facebook's also added support for 22 new languages for their Messenger app on Android and for 12 new languages for their iOS app.

The Messenger app is now available for BlackBerry

In addition to these new features, the app still shows you all your messages in real time, be it chat messages, Facebook messages or email (if you've set up Facebook email). The app allows easy group messaging and you can see the entire conversation in one thread. You can also share where you are when you send a message. It comes with a mapping feature that lets you find your friends when you're out and about. You can even share photos with messages to show your friends what you're doing. Facebook Messenger works across platforms and even on feature phones with normal text messaging capabilities.

7 Creative Facebook Timeline Designs [PICS] !!

If You are also creative with your Facebook Timeline, Let us Know in comments and get yourself published here.

Steve Jobs Death Has Been Exploited By Facebook Scammers

As has often happened after the death of a public figure, a scam was started on Facebook Thursday to exploit the death of Steve Jobs.

Claiming that free iPads were being given away in “in memory of Steve,” the Facebook page was quickly taken down after the media began to report on it. 

People who clicked through were led to sites asking them to fill out surveys or sign up for free offers. Forbes points out that the scammers are paid affiliate fees for having brought traffic to the sites. A similar scam took place after singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her North London home in July. Links were posted on Facebook to videos of the “shocking” final moments before her death. Instead, people were led to survey sites. After the attacks in Norway, spammers posted a link to a video they said was captured of the blast. Those who clicked were taken to a fake YouTube site that asked users to take a long survey. And as the Occupy Wall Street protests continue, a Web site called OccupyParty.org has popped up that NPR reports appears to have been created to sell ads. Except a single YouTube video, no information about the protests is available on the site. The Steve Jobs Facebook page was one of about 100 pages created Thursday with the title “R.I.P Steve Jobs.” Most of the other pages were created by Jobs’ fans.

Update:-

AppSumo, a daily deals website for web applications and online services, sent out an e-mail last night to customers that used Steve Jobs’ name in the subject line, but had no mention of him in the main text. The subject line for the email, advertising a deal for font collections, read: “Steve Jobs was originally obsessed with typography.” AppSumo says the email was sent without realizing Jobs had died. 

-News Source (NS & Washingtonpost)

Enable new Timeline feature:The story of your Life!

Just few days back, facebook announced Timeline, a creepy look at everything that has ever happened in your Facebook lifespan. Its like a story book of your life. Facebook says that it would be on the way for everyone in the comming weeks but Techism let you get this new desing just right now. Yes we can make it work!

A few things to note:

• You probably don’t want to do this unless you’re actually a developer. Expect bugs.
• Only you will see your timeline at first (unless you decide otherwise), but will automatically go public after a few days. 
• It seems that if you login into Facebook on another machine, Timeline gets disabled automatically on all of your machines. With that said, it seems you can get back to your timeline (but ONLY after following the steps below) by navigating to http://www.facebook.com/YOURUSERNAMEHERE?sk=timeline
• You’ll need to have a “verified” account for one of the steps, which means you need a credit card or phone number attached to the account.

Here’s How To Do It:

1. Log into Facebook

2. Enable developer mode, if you haven’t already. To do this, type “developer” into the search box, click the first result (it should be an app made by Facebook with a few hundred thousand users), and add the app.

3. Jump into the developer app (if Facebook doesn’t put you there automatically, it should be in your left-hand tool bar)

4. Create a new app (don’t worry — you wont actually be submitting this for anyone else to see/use). Give your shiny new app any display name and namespace you see fit. Read through and agree to the Platform Privacy agreement. This is the step you need to be verified for.

5. Ensure you’re in your new app’s main settings screen. You should see your app’s name near the top of the page

6. Look for the “Open Graph” header, and click the “Get Started using open graph” link.

Create a test action for your app, like “read” a “book”, or “eat” a “sandwich”

7. This should drop you into an action type configuration page. Change a few of the default settings (I changed the past tense of “read” to “redd” — again, only you can see this unless you try and submit your application to the public directory), and click through all three pages of settings

8. Wait 2-3 minutes

9. Go back to your Facebook homescreen. An invite to try Timeline should be waiting at the top of the page

And you’re done!

We have seen this works few time now, so it should work with everyone!

So have you upgraded to new Timeline? Let Us know in the comments section below.

Drastic Decrease in Time Spent on facebook after it changed !!

it's complicated!

Facebook's simplicity was part of the reason it was so successful. But now it is falling victim to feature creep and a roster of settings that are becoming increasingly complex. 

Take the Ticker, for example, that real-time stream of information which now crowds the right-side of your Facebook page with a lot of distracting noise. Once upon a time, you just friended people; now you have to decide if you want to subscribe to their feed instead.

All the Changes are not doing any good for the users as well as facebook. Hence, facebook Pageviews/User has decreased drastically.

Time Spent

Pageviews

Bounce Rate

Do you agree? Is Facebook becoming more complex than necessary? Let us know in the comments.

Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin Friends Again Courtesy TICKER [PIC] !!

How much time do you spend on Facebook per month?

Google may still be the world’s most visited website with users spending nearly 2 hours on the site in a given month. But the average U.S. Internet user spends nearly 4 times the amount of those hours on Facebook, according to a new study.

Another surprise: YouTube wasn’t the second-biggest Internet time waster (one hour, 41 minutes). That title goes to AOL (two hours, 53 minutes) and Yahoo (two hours and 12 minutes).

Overall, U.S. Internet users spent 30 hours online in August, visited an average of 99 domains and viewed an average of 3,123 web pages.

In August 2010, the average American spent 5 hours and 46 minutes on the social network. In just a year, that number has grown by 3 full hours.

How much time do you think you spend on Facebook per month?