A New Home for Facebook
Maybe you've heard about the new Facebook Home - the not app, not OS, could-be-dangerous, definitely quirkily marketed new, er, "thing" from Facebook.
Here's how Mashable describes Home: "...Facebook Home isn't a new OS and it isn't a fork of Android, instead it is a new home screen and app launcher interface for Android that gives your Facebook notifications, news feed posts and messages more integration with the overall phone experience."
Ok, so from that we know that Facebook Home, let's call it FH for now, is for Android, and it ties Facebook more closely into your use of your Android phone in all its many capacities.
What does it do?
First, it will run covers as soon as you turn your phone on, or activate it. The "cover feed" is just your news feed, including photos, status updates, and links. Whatever your friends are sharing, it's there in your cover feed.
Then, it will push notifications, like updates on Facebook and other apps.
Then, there is the oddly-named "chat heads." These are avatar based messages, including your text messages and Facebook messenger, that will pop up on your screen when you're contacted - and you don't have to leave whatever else it was that you were doing to answer it. (I have to ask: are we running out of cutsie names for apps, or was Facebook just being really silly?)
Now, here's some downside, according to at least some reviewers of the product:
- It can be difficult to shut down.
- By knowing what apps you're using when (as it becomes your app launcher, though you *can* by pass this feature, Facebook now knows more than ever before about you, your preferences, and aggregate data about all of us.
- By knowing which apps get used the most, Facebook knows where to expend its own development efforts in creating clone apps.
- Your phone's GPS can send constant information *to Facebook* about where you are, what you're doing, who you're talking to, where you go most frequently, essentially, whatever you do by phone now via a variety of apps will now be done through one single powerful portal, Facebook, and Facebook has never been shy before about mining that data.
So, as with most things, there is an upside and a down. I'll wait to hear from Android-using friends about how well they like the new Face of Facebook mobile.
Here's how Mashable describes Home: "...Facebook Home isn't a new OS and it isn't a fork of Android, instead it is a new home screen and app launcher interface for Android that gives your Facebook notifications, news feed posts and messages more integration with the overall phone experience."
Ok, so from that we know that Facebook Home, let's call it FH for now, is for Android, and it ties Facebook more closely into your use of your Android phone in all its many capacities.
What does it do?
First, it will run covers as soon as you turn your phone on, or activate it. The "cover feed" is just your news feed, including photos, status updates, and links. Whatever your friends are sharing, it's there in your cover feed.
Then, it will push notifications, like updates on Facebook and other apps.
Then, there is the oddly-named "chat heads." These are avatar based messages, including your text messages and Facebook messenger, that will pop up on your screen when you're contacted - and you don't have to leave whatever else it was that you were doing to answer it. (I have to ask: are we running out of cutsie names for apps, or was Facebook just being really silly?)
Now, here's some downside, according to at least some reviewers of the product:
- It can be difficult to shut down.
- By knowing what apps you're using when (as it becomes your app launcher, though you *can* by pass this feature, Facebook now knows more than ever before about you, your preferences, and aggregate data about all of us.
- By knowing which apps get used the most, Facebook knows where to expend its own development efforts in creating clone apps.
- Your phone's GPS can send constant information *to Facebook* about where you are, what you're doing, who you're talking to, where you go most frequently, essentially, whatever you do by phone now via a variety of apps will now be done through one single powerful portal, Facebook, and Facebook has never been shy before about mining that data.
So, as with most things, there is an upside and a down. I'll wait to hear from Android-using friends about how well they like the new Face of Facebook mobile.
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