How To Delete your Facebook account

1. Prepare a list of any sites that you log into using the Facebook connect feature.  You'll need to go each of those sites and close your accounts there. If you log into any of them over the 14 day period it counts and you'll have to start over. You can always recreate the accounts later.

2. Go to Facebook Account Deletion page. If the site asks you to log in, do so. You'll be taken to a page titled "Delete My Account". There are two buttons click the button labeled "Submit".

3. You will now be asked, "You are about to permanently delete your account. Are you sure?" If you are sure, then you need to enter your password. There's also one of those security boxes where you enter the random text. Then click the button labeled "OK".

4. If you don't login during those 14 days afterwards your account will be gone.

5. You will receive a note to your e-mail from Facebook that you've initiated the deletion process. If you don't receive this e-mail it's possible that the process may not have begun and you'll need to try again.

Note: It takes 14 days for Facebook to officially delete your account. If you log into your account before those 14 days are up you'll need to restart the deletion process. This is the most complicated part of the process.

key features missing from Facebook Music

1. True music sharing
2. Real-time group listening
3. Music tab in the ticker
4. Apple
5. Independent developers

Read more at : cnn

New Facebook Overview

New Facebook Overview

First is the "lists" on the left-hand side of your homepage. You can make groups of people (like family or coworkers) so when you click on that tab, you see news only from those people.

You'll also notice something different on your news feed. You now have the option to mark each post as a "top story." To do that, click the top left corner of the post. This tells Facebook that you want to see more posts from that user.

The section that's been under the most scrutiny is the "ticker" on the right-hand side of your homepage. This is basically a real-time news feed and allows you to join in conversations without leaving your homepage.

To download something called "Better Facebook, go to betterfacebook.net . You can download the free browser extension, which essentially acts like an app. It lets you control exactly how you want your page to look. You can change background colors, and even remove the new "ticker" if it's really bothering you. According to their website, "Better Facebook" is a personal project of Matt Kruse, the sole programmer, designer, tester, documentation-writer, and marketer.

Yahoo News has been linked with Facebook

The U.S. edition of Yahoo News has been linked with Facebook to make it possible for users of the two sites to share with their Facebook friends the articles they have read on the Yahoo site.

For the integration features to work, Yahoo News visitors need to be logged into their Facebook accounts. If they are, they'll see a Facebook "facebar" placed horizontally near the top of Yahoo News with the profile photos of friends.

Then, they'll be able to see which Yahoo News stories those friends have clicked on, as well as make available their own Yahoo News reading activities to their friends. People's Yahoo News activities will also be reflected back on their Facebook profiles.

The link between Yahoo News and Facebook is an opt-in feature. If they have it on, users can choose at any time to turn it off completely. They can also have it on and delete specific entries from their list of articles viewed that they don't want their friends to see.

Source:pcworld

How to sign up for Facebook Timeline

Facebook has announced new feature called Timeline. While it's not currently available to most Facebook users, you can sign up, making your account eligible to receive the new feature earlier than most.

Timeline shows off your Facebook content in a brand-new way, and,it looks really interesting. Once available, users will interact with content in a completely new way on Facebook.

To get early access to the new feature, you will need to visit the Timeline page on Facebook, log in to your Facebook account, and click on the Sign Me Up button on the bottom right of the screen.

After you have clicked on the Sign Me Up button, your account is eligible for the Timeline feature once it begins rolling out. Facebook usually announces a new feature and slowly rolls it out over the coming days and weeks, giving priority access to those who have taken the time to indicate they want to use the new feature.

Tips to hide the Facebook ticker

Facebook  has been added sidebar ticke to the right-hand column of the newly redesigned News Feed, along with complaints and snarky comments about the new News Feed and this ticker.

Here are  quick and easy ways in both Firefox and Chrome to get rid of the ticker.

In Chrome, simply install the Hide Facebook SideBar Ticker extension and the ticker will vanish.

In Firefox, you will need to install a user script. To do so, first install the Greasemonkey add-on and then install this user script. When prompted, restart Firefox and the ticker will be gone. Do note that this user script removes the entire right column of Facebook, including the ticker, event invitations, ads, sponsored stories, friends' photos, and so on.

Facebook redesigns its News Feed, adds real-time updates

Facebook is rolling out an updated version of News Feed that gives priority to important posts. If you haven't visited Facebook for a while, you'll see the top photos and status updates since you last logged in; if you log in several times a day, you'll see more recent news. The idea is to surface the information that matters most to you.

Facebook is also introducing a real-time "ticker" that streams your friends' most recent activity and encourages you to chat with them about it.

"Ticker shows you the same stuff you were already seeing on Facebook, but it brings your conversations to life by displaying updates instantaneously,"

Quickly delivering the most important updates from friends is the goal. But comments to the blog post about these latest efforts were mixed, ranging from users complaining that the social network doesn't have the ability to judge what's important to them to users welcoming the changes.

 

Facebook Feature Shows You Your Old Status Updates From 2010 & 2009

Facebook has quietly rolled out a new feature that displays status updates you posted exactly one or two years ago.
The feature appears as a small box in the right-hand column above the advertising, either titled “On This Day in 2010″ or “On This Day in 2009.” We’ve typically found that the “On This Day” box appears while you’re browsing a photo album.
You can also click the “Show More” button to see more status updates from exactly one or two years ago, if you posted multiple status updates on those days. The feature only seems to go back to 2009. That makes sense — Facebook just didn’t have a lot of users in 2008 or 2007.
This isn’t the first time Facebook has tried to help uses discover their past activity on Facebook. It also has a feature for surfacing photos from your past.

Facebook Chat reverses changes made to online friends list

Facebook announced the change in a "status message" on its company profile page, citing "a lot of feedback that people missed seeing all of their online friends" as the reason.

"Today, we made a change so that Chat now shows the friends who you message the most, as well as the rest of your friends who are currently online," the status message read.

While many of the people who commented welcomed the change, just as many called for the chat system to be taken further back.

"If it aint broke, dont fix it," said one user in a comment.

The change comes two days after the social-networking giant announced the release of a new app for Apple's iOS (which runs on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) and Google's Android called Facebook Messenger. The app  lets users send Facebook chat messages to Facebook friends, as well as to people in their smartphone's contact books as text messages.

Over the last couple of months, Facebook has been making changes to its messaging system that seek to blur the lines between text messaging, instant messaging and Facebook messaging

How to disable Facebook Photo Theater mode

Facebook has rolled out Theater mode for Photos for most of its users, which includes an ad at the right. The new album layout, when rolled out completely, will be ON by default and according to Facebook, it cannot be turned off or toggled on/off as desired.

If you really want to get rid of FB theater mode for photos, you can do so by following the simple trick given below. But note that, it is not a permanent solution, and just a work-around.

How to disable Facebook Photo Theater mode?

Solution 1: When you click on a photo/album, it will open the photo in the theater mode, now in the address bar, look for "&theater" and delete it. Then, it will open the photo in the old format and you can start browsing the album as you used to do before.

Solution 2: A faster alternative for Option 1, is to refresh the browser. When reloaded, the photo will open in the old format and you can continue browsing as before.

You can also Install for Firefox here and Chrome here to permanently disable Facebook photo theater view!

Facebook Places launched In India

Facebook Places has launched in India, allowing Facebook users to start checking-in to businesses and locations added to the social network.

Today it seems India is the next country to receive the location-based service, coming shortly after Irish users reported the service was available in their country.

To take advantage of the service, Indian Android, BlackBerry and iPhone smartphone owners can access the Places icon within the smartphone application. Utilising its location-based technology, the app will list local businesses and locations added to the app, allowing users to check-in.

TechPP reports that iPhone users should be able to use their devices to check-in but Android users are aren't experiencing full functionality just yet, suggesting that Facebook could be implementing a gradual roll-out.

In the future the service will grow to include Places Deals, which are currently only available in the U.S, the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy and now Canada.

Tihar Prison goes social with Facebook, Twitter

Tihar Prisons in Delhi, the largest correctional institution in South East Asia, jumps the social network bandwagon as it plans to engage the public using Facebook and Twitter in order to invite public opinion and improve transparency in its day-to-day functioning.

Its main objective is to convert its inmates into productive members of the society by providing them with useful skills, education and rules, meant to improve their self-esteem and strengthen their desire to advance in life. Items manufactured by the inmates bear the brand Tihar, which is very popular among people in Delhi.

The Gates Foundation Funds Facebook Apps for Students

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed $2 million in funding to a Facebook application with the hope that it will help improve postsecondary education graduation rates in the U.S.

Inigral’s Schools App creates a closed community of students within Facebook’s platform. Retro Venture Partners and Founders Fund also contributed to what totaled to a $4 million round of Series B funding.
About 11 schools use customized versions of the app, which Inigral’s CEO and founder Michael Staton describes as “a cross between Yammer and Twitter.” Essentially, each student gets access to two real-time streams. One provides updates from everyone at the school. The other contains updates that only pertain to topics the student has indicated she or he is interested in. Students can join groups and interact without friending other participants.
The Schools App offers an appealing value proposition for schools, a likely payout for investors, and an intriguing experiment for organizations, like the Gates Foundation, that are focused on improving graduation rates

7 Things to Stop Doing Now on Facebook

Using a Weak Password

Avoid simple names or words you can find in a dictionary, even with numbers tacked on the end. Instead, mix upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. One good technique is to insert numbers or symbols in the middle of a word, such as this variant on the word "houses": hO27usEs!

Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile

It's an ideal target for identity thieves, who could use it to obtain more information about you and potentially gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you've already entered a birth date, go to your profile page and click on the Info tab, then on Edit Information. Under the Basic Information section, choose to show only the month and day or no birthday at all.

Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls

For almost everything in your Facebook profile, you can limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information, among other things. You can give only certain people or groups access to items such as photos, or block particular people from seeing them. Consider leaving out contact info, such as phone number and address, since you probably don't want anyone to have access to that information anyway.

Posting Your Child's Name in a Caption

Don't use a child's name in photo tags or captions. If someone else does, delete it by clicking on Remove Tag. If your child isn't on Facebook and someone includes his or her name in a caption, ask that person to remove the name.

Mentioning That You'll Be Away From Home

That's like putting a "no one's home" sign on your door. Wait until you get home to tell everyone how awesome your vacation was and be vague about the date of any trip.

Letting Search Engines Find You

To help prevent strangers from accessing your page, go to the Search section of Facebook's privacy controls and select Only Friends for Facebook search results. Be sure the box for public search results isn't checked.

Permitting Youngsters to Use Facebook Unsupervised

Facebook limits its members to ages 13 and over, but children younger than that do use it. If you have a young child or teenager on Facebook, the best way to provide oversight is to become one of their online friends. Use your e-mail address as the contact for their account so that you receive their notifications and monitor their activities. "What they think is nothing can actually be pretty serious," says Charles Pavelites, a supervisory special agent at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. For example, a child who posts the comment "Mom will be home soon, I need to do the dishes" every day at the same time is revealing too much about the parents' regular comings and goings.

Source : YahooNewsFinance

Facebook stops sharing your address and phone number with developers

Facebook has announced that the feature will be suspended while it makes “changes to help ensure you only share this information when you intend to do so”.

Facebook’s move led to warnings around the Web that warned of how rogue app developers could sell such data on to marketers. While the company’s terms of service for developers forbid this, it was indeed a real risk.
Facebook says that the ability to share your address and phone number with third-party apps will return once changes have been made, which should be in the next few weeks.

cyberattack targets iPhone, Facebook, Foursquare in 2011

According to a report released Wednesday by McAfee, Malicious coders and all-out cybercrooks will target newer and hipper forms of digital communication in 2011.
Here's a quick look at some of the types of threats it highlights:
Location services
Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places,which let mobile phone users alert their friends to their current whereabouts,pose an increasing security threat, the report says. Location-tagged Twitter posts are also a worry.

Social media
This is kind of a no-brainer. If criminals know lots of stuff about you from social media posts and profiles, they can use that information to try to trick you into trusting potential scammers. Security geeks call this "spear phishing."

URL shorteners
These sites,like bit.ly, is.gd and tinyurl.com,take long internet addresses and shorten them so that they are easier to send via e-mail, text or Twitter.
But with convenience comes risk, the report says.
"The trouble,and abuse,follows because users do not know where these shortened links actually lead until they click them. This is a huge opportunity for abuse," McAfee says.

Smartphones
There haven't been many cases of cyberattacks on smartphones.
But McAfee says that's about to change.
"McAfee Labs predicts that 2011 will be a turning point for threats to mobile devices," the report says, adding: "The widespread adoption of mobile devices into business environments combined with these and other attacks is likely to bring about the explosion we've long anticipated."

Apple operating systems
If you know an Apple-head, you've probably heard him or her say something to this effect: "My Mac NEVER gets bugs or viruses."
"The popularity of iPads and iPhones in business environments and the easy portability of malicious code between them could put many users and businesses at risk next year and beyond," the report says."
"The lack of user understanding regarding exposure on these platforms and the lack of deployed security solutions make a fertile landscape for cyber criminals. McAfee Labs expects to see botnets and Trojans (types of cyber attacks and viruses) move from a rare encounter to a more common occurrence on Apple platforms in 2011."

Hacktivism
"Hacktivists" are internet activists who shut down websites and cause other digital trouble to make a political point. The most recent high-profile example of this was the WikiLeaks saga, when hacktivists shut down credit-card websites as a show of support for that document-leaking website.
Hacktivism is at least a decade old. But it will continue to be prevalent in 2011, McAfee says, partly because of the attention WikiLeaks has drawn to the activity.

Source: cnn.com

Facebook Overtakes Google To Become Most Visited Website In 2010

According to Hitwise data released today, Facebook.com was the top visited website in the US in 2010, taking up 8.93 % of site visits between January and November 2010. Google.com came in second at 7.19%, Yahoo Mail is third with 3.52% and Yahoo.com is fourth at 3.30%. YouTube came in fifth at 2.65 %.

While this is the first time Facebook has been named most visited site of the year (crowding out last year’s winner Google), the visits to Google properties combined still cover 9.85% of all site visits, making Google still a formidable opponent. "Facebook" also ranked #1 for most searched term of the year directly in front of the hilarious "Facebook login" at #2.

How to post from Twitter to Facebook

Below are few apps that allows you to do the function. Easily update your Facebook status from twitter.

Selective tweets

As the name suggest, you can post selective tweets to your Facebook update. Just install the app and connect with your twitter account. Once you've authorized your twitter account, when ever you want to post an update to facebook, just end your tweet with #fb , so that it sends the tweet to your Facebook status update.

Smart Twitter

Smart Twitter updates your Facebook status from your twitter status. However, it lets your configure which tweets get copied to Facebook. By default it doesn't copy tweets like @replies, retweets, or #hashtags, but you can change these settings.

Ftwitter app

Fwitter updates your status with your latest tweet.

Do let us know if you've tried out any other Facebook app that allows you to post tweets into Facebook status updates.

Paper.li adds Facebook status updates

Paper.li, the startup out of Switzerland added Facebook status updates to its armoury. Currently it's best known for auto-magically curating a daily newspaper from the links shared by the people you follow on Twitter. This time it's public Facebook status updates.

Facebook's 'Like This' Button Is Tracking You

A researcher from a Dutch university is warning that Facebook's 'Like This' button is watching your every move. Arnold Roosendaal, who is a doctoral candidate at the Tilburg University for Law, Technology and Society, warns that Facebook is tracking and tracing everyone, whether they use the social networking site or not. Roosendaal says that Facebook's tentacles reach way beyond the confines of its own web sites and subscriber base because more and more third party sites are using the 'Like This' button and Facebook Connect.