Facebook Coming to Nasdaq With the Ticker ‘FB’ [REPORT]

Facebook will be traded on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “FB,” according to a report.

Citing “a person familiar with the matter,” The New York Times reports that Nasdaq won a battle with the New York Stock Exchange for Facebook. Nasdaq is home to Apple, Google and others, but NYSE scored wins last year when LinkedIn and Pandora Media allowed their stocks to be traded there.

Facebook could not be reached for comment on the report. The social networking giant is reported to be preparing its $5 billion IPO for May. If Facebook manages to raise this capital, it will be on a shortlist of the biggest tech IPOs of all time.

The company was also said to halt the trading of its shares in secondary markets SharesPost and SecondMarket last week. Facebook filed its initial prospectus with the SEC for the IPO in February.

Facebook Relationship Status Update Sparks Gun Fight

Gunshots were fired at a Georgia Waffle House Friday morning over a Facebook post. The fight broke out at the late-night eatery around 5 a.m. local time. The source of the dispute: someone’s relationship status on Facebook.

According to authorities, one group of women was inside the Augusta restaurant when another group of ladies approached. An argument ensued regarding someone’s relationship status on Facebook, and the fight was eventually taken outside where one of the women fired four shots in the air. That woman is now in police custody.

The other women involved fled the scene in three vehicles, all of which are thought to have contained firearms. No additional details about the incident have been released.

This is undoubtedly not the first debate that has ensued from someone changing their Facebook relationship status. Going from “Single” to “In a Relationship” on the site has become a common way to announce a new relationship. If things get complicated there’s a status for that, and breaking up can make just as big a splash on the social network as announcing a new love.

If you think changing your relationship might incite a parking lot brawl, check out our guide to changing your Facebook relationship status without alerting your friends.

Facebook launches an app for every phone

In an effort to further expand its reach, Facebook has released an application that will run on over 2,500 Java enabled mobile phones.

The Every Phone app includes Facebook's most popular features, such as, News Feed, Inbox, and Photos. It also allows users to upload photos to Facebook and find friends from the phonebook.

According to Facebook, the app has been optimised to consume less data than other Java apps or mobile sites. It has also tied up with mobile service providers to provide users with free data access for the Every Phone app for a 90-day period. The 20 service providers that Facebook is collaborating with for free data access include four from India - Aircel, Airtel, Idea and Reliance.

Facebook Every Phone App Mobile Link :  http://d.facebook.com/install

The Facebook Every Phone app can be downloaded and installed from http://d.facebook.com/install through mobile phone web browsers. The app is also available on GetJar, Appia, and Mobile Weaver.

Facebook, had earlier in May 2010, teamed up with 50 mobile phone operators to offer cellphone users 0.facebook.com, a stripped-down version of the social networking site that can be accessed without incurring data charges.

Facebook Launches Free Mobile Apps On 2,500 Java Phones

With more than 250 million mobile users, Facebook knows that it has to be on every mobile phone in the planet to keep riding the social wave as the web becomes more mobile. And that means more than just being on iPhone and Android phones.

Today, Facebook is addressing the 2,500 feature phones out there that can download Java apps with a new app called Facebook for Every Phone. It includes a lightweight News Feed, an inbox for your Facebook Messages, and a way to upload and share photos directly from your phone. You can download it at m.facebook.com or mobile app stores like GetJar, Appia, and Mobile Weaver.

To get people to try it, Facebook will pay for the first 90 days worth of data the app uses. (Facebook designed it to be data efficient).

The new app looks like a direct byproduct of Facebook’s acquisition of Snaptu back in March. It is in keeping with Facebook’s other projects to make sure Facebook is accessible and fast on all devices across the world such as Facebook Zero (for text-only access on mobile phones) or itsnow-defunct Facebook Lite experiment.

How Facebook and Skype are Changing Social Media

The companies are natural partners. That's what they are betting on anyway.

Facebook has the global directory, and Skype will make the calls.

Facebook has 750 million confirmed users, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Skype has the world's largest network for online voice and video calling services, so they are teaming up to put the two programs together, allowing Facebook users to dial directly from within their Facebook browser, avoiding having to download and activity separate Skype operating software to make calls.

The partnership strategy announced Wednesday will one day in the near future allow Facebook users to dial who they want merely by clicking on the name and photo of the social network's users -- meaning numbers may go by the wayside sooner than those in the telecommunications industry think.

Immediately, Facebook users can make free video phone calls to friends in the social network, simplifying the video calling process for potentially hundreds of millions of users who have not yet taken advantage of Skype's free video phone calling service. Facebook's phone calling option is easy to use, its free, and users don't have to launch Skype's software program.

But very soon Facebook users will be able to make voice or video calls to anyone on their Facebook friend list or perhaps anyone at all who's an active member of Facebook by simply clicking on their name. The application would work the same way Facebook's messaging feature works. Now, members of Facebook can send text messages to one another in an email format for no charge. Soon, they'll be able to do the very same thing with voice and video calling -- one click dials up the connection.

Skype as an individual application as consumers have come to know will likely go by the wayside for most, as they'll just implement the voice and video service seamlessly through Facebook.

Facebook Video Calling Link

http://www.facebook.com/videocalling

Bring your conversations to life

Sometimes an emoticon just isn't enough. With face-to-face video calling, now you can watch your friends smile, wink and LOL.

Call your friends right from Facebook

  Just click the call button at the top of your friend's profile or chat window — no 
need to launch new software. No answer? Leave a video message.

Facebook Video chat Soon (Video calling powrd by Skype)

Just a few weeks ago, Skype announced the ability to IM your Facebook friends or to 'Like' and comment on a Facebook status directly from Skype. Today, we are excited to announce that Skype's partnership with Facebook goes even further, as we are now making it possible to video chat with your friends right from within Facebook. This is an exciting step for us as it represents Skype's first big step on the Web, and because we know this has the potential to unlock even more conversations and make the experience on the Web even more social.

Link to Blog : Facebook Video Chat Soon Pwrd by Skype

The partnership with Facebook makes fantastic business sense for Skype and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to offer Skype's voice and video calling products to more than 750 million active users on Facebook.

Together, we've collaborated to create a great user experience -- with Skype providing an optimized version of its software and Facebook embedding the Skype calling experience deeply into their site, allowing Facebook users to enjoy the many benefits of video calling.

To get started connecting face to face using Facebook video calling, powered by Skype, it's quick and easy. Just ensure your Facebook Chat status is set to "online" and you are ready to go! You can initiate a Facebook video call right from the Chat box or you can click on your friend's Profile and if they are online, a "Call" button will appear at the top right of their Profile page. If your friend does not answer, you can leave them a video message. Your recorded video message will be waiting in your friend's Inbox the next time they check their Messages.

We hope you enjoy this latest product development from Facebook and Skype. And while you are on Facebook, why not head on over to Skype's Facebook page to learn more, share comments, and don't forget to 'Like' us too.

Facebook unfriends Google+

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is the most followed user on the
Google+ social network. But he doesn't want users of his own social network
 to easily switch over to the Google rival

        Facebook blocks its users from exporting their contacts into the Google+ social network launched by Google Inc. last week, suspected members of the hacker group Anonymous are arrested in Italy and Canadian social media dashboard HootSuite celebrates hitting the two million user milestone with a neat little infographic.

Facebook stymies potential user exodus

Mark Zuckerberg might be the most followed user on Google+, but that doesn’t mean the 27 year-old Facebook chief executive is a fan of the Web search firm’s latest stab at social.

Shortly after Google+ began accepting members on an invite-only system last week, Canadian-educated open-source programmer Mohamed Mansour created an extension for the Google Chrome browser called, in no unclear terms, the Facebook Friend Exporter. The add on was designed for use by anyone who wanted to move their Facebook contacts to another online location — not specifically Google+.

Of course, being able to transfer a complete social graph would be a key selling point for a fledgling young social network, and so the extension immediately proved quite popular among early Google+ adopters. It currently has more than 17,000 users, according to ZDNet’s Emil Protalinski’s most recent count.

Recognizing the extension was, in effect, helping its chief rival, Facebook throttled and eventually blocked access to it as of Tuesday morning. Mr. Mansour’s creation does appear to violate Facebook’s terms of service, specifically section 3.2 which prohibits developers from collecting any user information automatically.

“I am scraping my own data that my Facebook friends allowed me to use and view,” said Mr. Mansour in a Google+ conversation with CNET’s Stephen Shankland on Monday.

“Facebook doesn’t own my friends.”

“I want my friends to be in a place that is easily accessible, extractable, and shareable. And if that results a ban/expulsion/termination, so be it,” Mr. Mansour said.

The blockade has reignited a long standing disagreement between the two companies over who owns the user data contained on their respective networks. Google, with its simple to use Takeout service, clearly believes the answer is the user his/herself while Facebook appears to have a stronger attachment to its users.

Meanwhile, the Google+ app for the Apple Inc. iOS platform is already awaiting approval. With some even willing to pay cash to gain access, Google+ is looking like a much stronger Facebook rival than Google’s last attempt at doing something social.

How to use Facebook video Chat

Just as Google’s next big thing ‘Google Plus’ is all set to launch, Facebook and Skype are about to strike a deal that would bring the video chatting service to the social networking site.

With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promising an “awesome” new feature facebook video chat on July 6, Skype, which was

recently purchased by Microsoft for a whopping $8.5 billion, could become a fixture on the world’s largest social network.

The beta version of Google’s social network, Google Plus, debuted last week to rave reviews, especially for its +Hangouts feature that allows for multi-user in facebook video chat.

At present, Facebook users update message and status through their profile, and share photos but the addition of facebook video chat will bring an interesting change to their account.

Editor of Tech Crunch, Michael Arrington stated in the Next Week that Facebook, in collaboration with Skype, will unveil its facebook video chat option which will be powered by Skype.

This move will strengthen Facebook’s position in the social networking market through facebook video chat.

Facebook at present is the most influential and one of the biggest social networking sites in the world having over 500 million active users.

This isn’t the first time that Skype has been linked to Facebook.

Back in September 2010 the same rumour reared its head and this March it was reported that talks had resumed between the two companies as facebook video chat is on process.

 Facebook Video Chat  

Link to app.:   FB Video chat

Easy access   Facebook is easily accessible; it only follows that a Facebook video chat app should also be accessible. A simple search on the website’s search engine will yield exact results. You don’t have to be an expert in computers to access this wonderful app. All you need to do is to search for the application’s fan page and use it from there.You will see others also using this Facebook video chat service on that page. This is a tremendous opportunity for you to meet other enthusiasts around the world, and even make new friends.

Tomorrow, Facebook to announce its video chat

 What's your reaction to this news?

Facebook has sent invites for a press event at its headquarters tomorrow morning. The company hasn’t disclosed the agenda for the meeting, but given that it starts at 10 a.m. and runs through lunch, the announcements could be significant.

Last week, the company released major updates to its Photos product and has continued to expand its new Places network. Though the event could very well be about new features or integrations for Places (note the use of the word “checkin” in the invite), we think it’s more likely a new product. Facebook Video Chat, perhaps? We personally suspect Facebook will announce integration with Skype, which could include video chat. We’re going to do some digging and see if we can find out.

But we want to hear your ideas. What do you think Facebook will be announcing? Or better yet, what should Facebook announce? Use the comment thread below or this Facebook Live Chat to share your ideas.

Facebook’s Awesome New Thing: Skype-Powered Video Chat?

Is this part of what Zuckerberg was talking about?

Not to be outdone by Google and all the buzz (no pun intended) surrounding their brand new social project, Google +, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an announcement of his own yesterday.

Speaking to reporters at Facebook’s Seattle office, Zuckerberg said that his company would “launch something awesome” next week.

What is this awesome thing that will blow us all away next week? Speculations ranged from the debut of the new Facebook app for the iPad to the launch of the much talked about Facebook photo-sharing app for iPhone.

Today, some people received a vague invitation from Facebook that simply asked them to “please join us for an event at Facebook.” It is said to be an invite-only event and that space is limited.

 Here’s what the invite looks like Those chat bubbles now make a lot of sense, as TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook plans to launch in-browser video chat powered by Skype. They base this on a source with “knowledge of the partnership.”

The product has been built on Skype and will include a desktop component.

It’s not clear to me whether that means it will just work if a user has Skype already installed on the computer, or if additional software will need to be downloaded even if the user already uses Skype. But from the user’s perspective, the product will be an in browser experience.

Apparently this is not the entirety of Facebook’s huge new project, but definitely a part of it.

This could be huge for both Facebook and Skype. Skype will now have access to a Facebook user base that more than quadruples its own. Facebook will look to make its service even more inclusive with seamless video chat that is launched straight from the page.

And of course, Skype serves as a link between Facebook and Microsoft, who bought the service back in May.

Will Facebook sue Google for copying Facebook UI?

f you are one of those who have already signed up for Google's hot social networking venture Google+, you would know why there is a reasonable ground for Facebook to sue Google. Google+'s UI (User Interface) is a direct copy of Facebook.

In an almost similar case, Apple chose to sue Samsung for imitating the "look and feel" of iPhone andiPad. "Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone products and computer tablets, Samsung chose to copy Apple's technology, user interface and innovative style in these infringing products," the Apple lawsuit said.

Sure, Google+ did introduce unique features like "Circles", and "Hangout" video chat. Also there are differences in the way you invite friends and so on. But the main page of Google+ or the Stream looks exactly like Facebook's News Feed. The way elements are arranged on the Google+ is closely reminiscent of Facebook. Compare for yourself:

It's hard to guess what Mark Zuckerberg's next move will be. In an apparent effort to retainFacebook users from exporting their friends lists to Google+ and setting up their online social hub there, Facebook CEO and founder Zuckerberg has said that the company is set to "launch something awesome" next week, without divulging what exactly is that "awesome something." There have also been reports suggesting that Zuckerberg has signed up for Google +, though the authenticity of the Google+ profiles under his name remains unverified. People won't be surprised if the next hot news about Google+ is a lawsuit filed against it by Zuckerberg.

Did Facebook's Zuckerberg Join Google+ to Steal Ideas?

 Google+ looks good enough to beat Facebook and other social networking websites, MySpace co-founder and ex-president Tom Anderson has suggested.

The launch of Google+, Google's latest and most serious foray into the social space, has caused analysts and industry observers to wonder aloud about the rising tensions with Facebook.

Now it seems Facebook is having a look itself.

As of Saturday, there were two online profiles inside of the Google+ social network with the name "Mark Zuckerberg." Unlike Twitter, Google does no t have a user authentication service, so its impossible to tell who is behind it.

So far, there's just one profile with Mark Zuckerberg's photo as the display picture. There is no activity on his profile, nor have any images been uploaded. As of writing this article, this Mark Zuckerberg had 22 people in his "Circle" and 2994 people have added him to their "Circles".

While it's impossible to tell if its truly the Facebook founder, it seems that Facebook itself has already been inspired by some of the new innovations in Google+.

A clear differentiating factor between Google+ and most other social networks, including Facebook, is its ability to create 'Circles' of friends by simply dragging selected friends from the friends list and dropping them into the circle.

But that very unique feature has been acquired by Facebook as well.

Google+ is available to a select few users as of now and Google hasn't announced a public release date for its social networking venture.Facebook engineer Vladimir Kolesnikov has designed "Circle Hack", a much simpler way to create Facebook friend lists.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said at an AllThingsD conference recently that he failed to tap into the potential of social-networking. It seems now Google is pushing stronger than ever, with the foray marking the beginning of the social network wars.