Facebook to step up fact-checking in fight against fake news

BERLIN - Facebook is to send more potential hoax articles to third-party fact checkers and show their findings below the original post, the world's largest online social network said on Thursday as it tries to fight so-called fake news.

The company said in a statement on its website it will start using updated machine learning to detect possible hoaxes and send them to fact checkers, potentially showing fact-checking results under the original article.

Facebook has been criticized as being one of the main distribution points for so-called fake news, which many think influenced the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The issue has also become a big political topic in Europe, with French voters deluged with false stories ahead of the presidential election in May and Germany backing a plan to fine social media networks if they fail to remove hateful postings promptly, ahead of elections there in September.

On Thursday Facebook said in a separate statement in German that a test of the new fact-checking feature was being launched in the United States, France, the Netherlands and Germany.

"In addition to seeing which stories are disputed by third-party fact checkers, people want more context to make informed decisions about what they read and share," said Sara Su, Facebook news feed product manager, in a blog.

She added that Facebook would keep testing its "related article" feature and work on other changes to its news feed to cut down on false news.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook vulnerable to expected changes in US visa program

SAN FRANCISCO/ WASHINGTON - Among Silicon Valley’s top tech employers, Facebook Inc. could be the most vulnerable to US President Donald Trump’s expected crackdown on guest-worker visas, according to a Reuters analysis of US Labor Department filings.

More than 15 percent of Facebook's US employees in 2016 used a temporary work visa, giving the social media leader a legal classification as a H-1B “dependent” company. That is a higher proportion than Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. or Microsoft Corp.

That could cause problems for Facebook if Trump or Congress decide to make the H-1B program more restrictive, as the president and some Republican lawmakers have threatened to do.

Both Trump and Attorney General nominee Senator Jeff Sessions have opposed the program in its current form. They have also indicated that they are open to reforming it to “ensure the beneficiaries of the program are the best and the brightest,” according to a draft executive order seen by Reuters. Reuters could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the draft.

The Trump administration has not proposed any new rules that would target companies with the H-1B "dependent" classification. But the fact that Facebook alone among major tech companies falls into that category suggests it is the most exposed in the industry to any changes in H-1B visa policy.

Facebook declined to comment on the matter.

Trump administration officials could not immediately be reached for comment. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Monday that Trump would target H-1B visas as part of a larger immigration reform effort through executive orders and Congressional action, but gave no details.

H-1B visas are intended for foreign nationals in "specialty" occupations that generally require higher education, which according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) includes, but is not limited to, scientists, engineers or computer programmers. The government awards 85,000 every year, chiefly through a lottery system.

Companies say they use them to recruit top talent. But a majority of the visas are awarded to outsourcing firms, sparking criticism by skeptics that those firms use the visas to fill lower-level information technology jobs. Critics also say the lottery system benefits outsourcing firms that flood the system with mass applications.

H-1B dependent status is mostly held by these outsourcing firms such as India's Tata Consultancy Services or Infosys. The status was introduced in the late 1990s in an effort to ensure that companies did not use the visas to replace American workers with cheaper foreign labor. The status requires companies to prove they cannot find US workers for the jobs.

Facebook listed itself as a dependent company in its applications for H-1B visas with the Labor Department last year.

Before he took office as president, Trump discussed changes to the H-1B visa program with top technology executives, including Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Those changes included possibly ending the lottery and replacing it with a system that would award the visas to the highest-paying jobs first, a move designed to reduce their issuance to outsourcing firms.

Such a move could soften the blow from any H-1B changes for Facebook and other major technology companies. The average salary offered for Facebook H-1B jobs was $145,550, according to its application filings last year. Tata, a traditional outsourcing firm, offered $67,950 on average, barely above the $60,000 floor set by law for the H-1B program.

The draft executive order did not mention specifics about the lottery. It did require the U.S. secretary of labor to provide the president with a report on “the actual or potential injury to U.S. workers caused, directly or indirectly, by work performed by nonimmigrant workers in the H-1B” visa program.

“We are hoping that the final draft will have more details,” said Russell Harrison, director of government relations at IEEE-USA, a group that represents U.S. engineers and favors that H-1B reform.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook executives feel the heat of content controversies

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON - After Facebook's removal of an iconic Vietnam war photo stirred an international uproar last month, the social network's executives quickly backtracked and cleared its publication.

But the image - showing a naked Vietnamese girl burned by napalm - had previously been used in training sessions as an example of a post that should be removed, two former Facebook employees told Reuters.

Trainers told content-monitoring staffers that the photo violated Facebook policy, despite its historical significance, because it depicted a naked child, in distress, photographed without her consent, the employees told Reuters.

The social network has taken great pains to craft rules that can be applied uniformly with minimal discretion. The reversal on the war photo, however, shows how Facebook's top executives sometimes overrule company policy and its legions of low- and mid-level content monitors.

Facebook has often insisted that it is a technology company - not a media company - but an elite group of at least five senior executives regularly directs content policy and makes editorial judgment calls, particularly in high-profile controversies, eight current and former Facebook executives told Reuters.

One of those key decision-makers - Justin Osofsky, who runs the community operations division - wrote a Facebook post acknowledging that the removal of the war photo was a "mistake."

"Sometimes," he wrote, "the global and historical significance of a photo like 'Terror of War' outweighs the importance of keeping nudity off Facebook."

Facebook spokeswoman Christine Chen declined to comment on the company's use of the photo in training sessions.

Facebook has long resisted calls to publicly detail its policies and practices on censoring postings. That approach has drawn criticism from users who have had content removed and free-speech advocates, who cite a lack of transparency and a lack of an appeals process for many content decisions.

At the same time, some governments and anti-terror groups are pressuring the company to remove more posts they consider offensive or dangerous.

HIGH-LEVEL REVIEW

The current and former Facebook executives, most of them speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters in detail how complaints move through the company's content-policing apparatus. The toughest calls, they said, rise to an elite group of executives.

Another of the key decision-makers is Global Policy Chief Monika Bickert, who helped rule on the fracas over the war photo.

"That was one we took a hard look at, and we decided it definitely belonged on the site," said Bickert, a former federal prosecutor.

She declined to elaborate on the decision-making process.

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg followed up with an apology to Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who had posted the photo on her own account after Facebook removed it from others in her country.

In addition to Sandberg, Osofsky and Bickert, executives involved in sensitive content issues include Joel Kaplan, Facebook's Washington-based government relations chief; and Elliot Schrage, the vice president for public policy and communications.

All five studied at Harvard, and four of them have both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the elite institution. All but Sandberg hold law degrees. Three of the executives have longstanding personal ties to Sandberg.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard drop-out, occasionally gets involved with content controversies, Bickert said.

These executives also weigh in on content policy changes meant to reflect shifting social context and political sensitivities around the world, current and former executives said.

Facebook officials said the five people identified by Reuters were not the only ones involved in high-level content decisions.

"Facebook has a broad, diverse and global network involved in content policy and enforcement, with different managers and senior executives being pulled in depending on the region and the issue at hand," Chen said.

Chen declined to name any other executives who were involved in content policy.

A WAR OVER FREE EXPRESSION

The company's reticence to explain censorship decisions has drawn criticism in many countries around the globe.

Last month, Facebook disabled the accounts of editors at two of the most widely read Palestinian online publications, Shehab News Agency and Quds. In keeping with standard company practice, Facebook didn't publicly offer a reason for the action or pinpoint any content it considered inappropriate.

The company told Reuters that the removal was simply an error.

Some Palestinian advocacy groups and media outlets condemned the shutdowns as censorship stemming from what they described as Facebook's improper alliance with the Israeli government.

Israel's government has pushed Facebook to block hundreds of pages it believes incite violence against Jews, said Noam Sela, spokesman for Israeli cabinet Minister Gilad Erdan.

Sela said the Israeli government "had a connection" at Facebook to handle complaints but declined to elaborate on the relationship.

"It's not working as well as we would like," Sela said. "We have more work to do to get Facebook to remove these pages."

Ezz al-Din al-Akhras, a Quds supervisor, said that Facebook's head of policy in the Middle East had gotten in touch after the uproar over the shutdowns and that three of four suspended accounts were restored.

"We hope the Facebook campaign of suspending and removing Palestinian accounts will stop," he said. "We do not practice incitement; we are only conveying news from Palestine to the world."

Facebook said the restoration of the accounts was not a response to complaints. It declined to comment on whether top executives were involved.

The company has cited technological glitches in other recent cases where content was removed, then restored, including the takedown of a video that showed the aftermath of a Minneapolis police shooting.

Chen declined to explain the glitch.

She said the company was reviewing its appeals process in response to public feedback. Facebook currently allows appeals of company actions involving entire profiles set up by people or institutions, or full pages on those profiles, but not for individual posts.

THICK RULEBOOK

To manage the huge volume of content complaints - more than a million a day - the company employs a multi-layered system. It starts with automated routing of complaints to content-policing teams in Dublin, Hyderabad, Austin and Menlo Park, who make initial rulings, current and former executives said.

These low-level staffers and contractors consult a thick rulebook that interprets the comparatively spare "community standards" that Facebook customers are asked to follow. The company trains front-line monitors to follow rules and use as little discretion as possible.

When a removal sparks more complaints, regional managers function as a mid-level appeals court. Continuing controversy could then push the issue to top U.S. executives.

Senior executives also weigh in on policy updates. Osofsky and Kaplan, for instance, wrote a blog post last week, in response to "continued feedback" on content removals, explaining that the company would start weighing news value more heavily in deciding whether to block content.

In an earlier post, responding to the Napalm-girl controversy, Osofsky said Facebook's policies usually work well, but not always.

"In many cases, there's no clear line between an image of nudity or violence that carries global and historic significance and one that doesn't," Osofsky wrote.

The Vietnam war photo - depicting horrors suffered by a girl named Phan Thi Kim Phuc - was first removed from an account in Norway by a front-line monitor.

In protest, the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten printed the image on its front page and posted it on Facebook, which removed it. That prompted the prime minister to post the photo - only to have Facebook remove it again.

Facebook then issued a statement defending the action, saying it was "difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others."

The next day, executives reversed the call, with Sandberg telling the prime minister: "Even with clear standards, screening millions of posts on a case-by-case basis every week is challenging." (Additional reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb and Joseph Menn in San Francisco, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Terje Solsvik in Oslo; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Brian Thevenot)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook's solar-powered internet drone takes flight

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc. said on Thursday it had completed a successful test flight of a solar-powered drone that it hopes will help it extend internet connectivity to every corner of the planet.

Aquila, Facebook's lightweight, high-altitude aircraft, flew at a few thousand feet for 96 minutes in Yuma, Arizona, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on his Facebook page. The company ultimately hopes to have a fleet of Aquilas that can fly for at least three months at a time at 60,000 feet (18,290 meters) and communicate with each other to deliver internet access.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. has also poured money into delivering internet access to under served areas through Project Loon, which aims to use a network of high-altitude balloons to made the internet available to remote parts of the world.

Yael Maguire, Facebook's engineering director and head of its Connectivity Lab, said in an interview that the company initially hoped Aquila would fly for 30 minutes.

"We're thrilled about what happened with our first flight," Maguire said. "There are still a lot of technical challenges that need to be addressed for us to achieve the whole mission." He said he hoped the system might be brought into service "in the near future."

Zuckerberg laid out the company's biggest challenges in flying a fleet of Aquilas, including making the plane lighter so it can fly for longer periods, getting it to fly at 60,000 feet and creating communications networks that allow it to rapidly transfer data and accurately beam down lasers to provide internet connections.

Maguire said Aquila would go through more test flights and hoped it would soon break the world record for the longest solar-powered unmanned aircraft flight, currently at two weeks.

Facebook, which has more than 1.6 billion users, has invested billions of dollars in getting more people online, both through an initiative called internet.org - which offers a pared-down version of the internet to poor areas - and by building drones.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook adds 360-degree photos to newsfeed

Facebook Inc. on Thursday launched a feature that allows users to upload photos with 360-degree views.

Apart from photos taken from 360-degree cameras, panoramic photos taken on a mobile phone can be converted to a 360-degree view on the newsfeed, the company said on Thursday.

The photos can also be seen in virtual reality compatible devices, Facebook said.

Facebook rolled out a similar service for video last September.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook expands live video, challenging TV and web rivals

SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES - Facebook Inc. on Wednesday expanded its live video product, Facebook Live, giving the feature prominent placement on its app and rolling out features to make it easier for users to search and comment in real time.

The move is the biggest challenge yet by Facebook to online rivals, including Twitter Inc's Periscope live-streaming service, Snapchat's video features and Alphabet Inc's YouTube, as well as a potential threat to broadcast television.

Live video is becoming a highly competitive feature on social platforms, with companies competing to stream major sports events and exclusive video components from high-profile events such as the Oscar and Grammy awards shows.

Advertisers are particularly attracted to video that reaches a younger audience.

Facebook Live, which offers streaming video in real time, was launched last year. On Wednesday, it added features, including a map of video streams around the world, expanded search and filters that echo those on other platforms. Videos can be turned into black-and-white shots, like on Facebook's Instagram, for instance, and soon users will be able to add doodles, a nod to a feature on Snapchat.

Product head Chris Cox hosted a live video session Wednesday to advertise the product, and said Facebook hopes it will be used for everything from intimate family moments, such as a baby's first steps, celebrity-hosted question-and-answer sessions and breaking newscasts.

At a Facebook Live launch event in Hollywood on Wednesday, Will Cathcart, Facebook's vice president of product, told Reuters that the company has paid some partners to supply video in order to get Live off to a quick start, although he expected media companies would make money from advertising and other services longer term.

Time Inc has been paid to use Facebook Live, a source with knowledge of the partnership told Reuters. Vox Media Inc's eight brands, which include Vox and Re/code, also have been paid by Facebook, another source told Reuters.

Re/code tech news site said Facebook is paying The New York Times, BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, as well.

Thomson Reuters and Conde Nast Entertainment also will work with Facebook Live, spokespeople said. Thomson Reuters is the parent of Reuters News.

Facebook's app now features Live prominently in the display bar for many users on iOS and Android across 60 countries.

While Facebook's News Feed has long had videos, largely shared from other websites such as YouTube, the company had not heavily pushed its own video products.

Its executives have, however, advertised the 1.6 billion-person social media site's video reach on earnings calls. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told investors in January that 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Instagram to ditch chronological user feed for 'interest' based one

Facebook Inc.'s picture-sharing app Instagram said it is reshuffling feeds to display curated content that users would 'care' about first.

The sequence of posts would be based on the likelihood of interest in the content, the user's relationship with the person or timeliness of the post, Instagram said in a blog post.

On an average, users miss 70 percent of their feeds, Instagram added.

Instagram is the latest addition to the growing list of social media platforms reorganizing user feed to draw better attention from users.

Twitter Inc, in February, jumped on the feed customization bandwagon and let go of uniformly displaying tweets in reverse chronological order.

Facebook's feed also displays content in a similar algorithmic fashion based upon user interests.

The widely used photo-sharing app's decision to move away from its time-based feed could rid it of one prime feature - showing real-time content.

Technology blogger Techcrunch argues that users would have to worry about making their posts good enough to be chosen by the algorithm or their posts could be de-prioritized.

Instagram said the change in the feed for users would roll out in the coming months.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook shares soar as mobile drives big jump in ad sales

Facebook Inc. smashed investors' expectations with a 52-percent jump in quarterly revenue as it sold more ads targeted at a fast-growing number of mobile users, sending its shares sharply higher after hours.

The world's biggest online social network bucked the trend of underwhelming tech results from Apple Inc and eBay Inc, in the face of economic uncertainty around the world and a strong U.S. dollar depressing the value of overseas sales.

"It's phenomenal at these (currency headwind) levels that they're accelerating to that level of growth," said Rob Sanderson, an analyst at MKM Partners.

Facebook's dominance in mobile advertising helped to allay Wall Street concerns over its heavy investments in messaging service WhatsApp and virtual reality unit Oculus, which have not yet generated profits.

"I don't think there's going to be too many people crying for them to start monetizing other properties anytime soon because the core business is so strong," said Sanderson.

Facebook shares rose almost 12 percent in after-hours trading to $105.32.

They were helped by Chief Financial Officer David Wehner's comment on a call with analysts that he expected operating expenses to increase by 30 to 40 percent over the course of the year, a slower clip than last year.

Total revenue rose to $5.84 billion from $3.85 billion a year earlier, with ad revenue increasing 56.8 percent to $5.64 billion in the holiday shopping period, when spending on advertising typically spikes.

Excluding some items, the company earned 79 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected earnings of 68 cents per share and revenue of $5.37 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Apart from focusing on mobile, Facebook has been ramping up spending on what it calls "big bets," including virtual reality, artificial intelligence and drones to connect the remotest parts of the world to the Internet.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who returned from two months of paternity leave on Monday, has said virtual reality represents the next major computing platform.

In January, Facebook began taking orders for a consumer version of the Oculus Rift, a head-mounted virtual reality unit.

The company has also begun monetizing some of its other units, such as photo-sharing app Instagram, which surpassed 400 million users last year and began selling ads in September.

Facebook said mobile ads accounted for 80 percent of total ad revenue in the quarter, compared with about 78 percent in the third quarter and 69 percent a year earlier.

"It's much stronger ad growth than we were expecting," said Ken Sena, an analyst at Evercore ISI.

Facebook's service is not available for users in China but it can sell ads to companies there.

"It signifies the importance of what they're providing to advertisers," he said. "They're making big investments and evidenced by their quarterly performance it seems to be working."

The company, which has the world's most popular smartphone app, has also been benefiting from a surge in video views that has attracted advertising dollars.

Facebook said it had 1.59 billion monthly active users as of Dec. 31, up 14 percent from the end of 2014. Of those, 1.44 billion used the service on mobile devices, an increase of 21 percent.

Analysts had expected the company to report 1.58 billion monthly active users, with 1.43 billion accessing the service through smartphones and tablets, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

Up to Wednesday's close at $94.45, Facebook's stock had risen nearly 25 percent in the past 12 months.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Google developing new messaging app: WSJ

Google, part of Alphabet Inc., is building a new mobile messaging application to better compete with rival services such as those offered by Facebook Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported.

The new service would tap into Google's artificial intelligence know-how, integrating chatbots, or software programs that answer questions, inside a messaging app, the Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The new app will enable users to text friends or a chatbot, which will search the web and other sources for information to answer a question.

It is unclear when the service will be launched, or what it will be named, the report said.

Google declined to comment.

Popular messaging apps include Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger services, and Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat, while Google has a service called Hangouts.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook's CEO and wife to give 99 pct of shares to charity

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Mark Zuckerberg will put 99 percent of his Facebook Inc shares, currently worth about $45 billion, into a new philanthropy project focusing on human potential and equality, he and his wife said Tuesday in a letter to their newborn daughter.

The plan, which was posted on the Facebook founder and chief executive officer's page, attracted more than 570,000 "likes," including from singer Shakira, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The Gates and other high-profile billionaires such as Warren Buffett have set up foundations of their own to dedicate their massive fortunes to philanthropic endeavors.

Zuckerberg, 31, who will control the new initiative jointly with his wife, Priscilla Chan, while remaining in charge of the world's largest online social network, said he would sell or give up to $1 billion in shares in each of the next three years.

Zuckerberg will keep a controlling stake in Facebook, valued at $303 billion as of Tuesday's close, for what the company called the "foreseeable future." According to Facebook's most recent proxy statement, Zuckerberg owned 4 million Class A shares and 422.3 million Class B shares, which have 10 times the voting power of A shares. Combined he held 54 percent of the voting power of the company's shares.

Zuckerberg said he plans to remain CEO of Facebook for "many, many years to come."

Zuckerberg's new project, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, is not his first in the world of philanthropy. When he was 26, he signed the Giving Pledge, which invites the world's wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes over their lifetime or in their will.

"Mark and Priscilla are breaking the mold with this breathtaking commitment," Buffett said on Facebook. "A combination of brains, passion and resources on this scale will change the lives of millions. On behalf of future generations, I thank them."

Melinda Gates chimed in, "The first word that comes to mind is: Wow. The example you're setting today is an inspiration to us and the world."

Buffett himself pledged shares of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc company that were then worth $31 billion to Gates' foundation in 2006, and at the time ranked as the largest single gift.

A YOUNG PHILANTHROPIST

Zuckerberg is relatively young to commit so much of his wealth. Microsoft Corp co-founder Gates was 45 in 2000, the year he and his wife founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett was 76 in 2006 when he committed to give away all of his Berkshire Hathaway stock to philanthropic organizations.

About $350 billion is given away each year in the United States by charities, said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She said Zuckerberg and his wife's announcement was remarkable not just because of the size of the donation, but because of their ages.

"Our lists of the top donors are usually dominated by people in their 70s or 80s," she said. "This is a message to other young people who are deciding what to do with their great wealth."

In welcoming the birth of his first child on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg posted a photo of himself, his wife and their daughter, Maxima, nicknamed Max, along with a post entitled "A letter to our daughter." (http://on.fb.me/1MVnGOj)

In the 2,220-word letter, Zuckerberg and Chan, a pediatrician, touched on issues including health, education, Internet access and learning before announcing the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which aims to "advance human potential and promote equality."

They plan to give away 99 percent of their Facebook shares over their lifetimes to advance the initiative, which was formed as a limited liability company. It will begin by focusing on curing disease, Internet connectivity, community building and personalized learning - the idea that technology can help students learn at different paces.

Maxima Chan Zuckerberg was born early last week - though Facebook did not specify her birth date - and weighed 7 lbs 8 ounces (3.4 kg) at birth. Last month, Zuckerberg announced he would take two months of paternity leave after the birth.

Chan and Zuckerberg have so far committed $1.6 billion to their philanthropy. They have given several donations this year, including to public schools, initiatives to bring better wireless Internet access and to San Francisco General Hospital, where Chan works as a pediatrician.

Zuckerberg and Chan said they will share more details when they return from their maternity and paternity leaves.

Zuckerberg has started his leave, a Facebook representative said, and will be available if "absolutely needed." Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer, and Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer, will run the company in Zuckerberg's absence.

(Reporting by Yasmeen Abutaleb in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Writing by Bernard Orr; Editing by Stephen R. Trousdale, Bill Rigby, Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook set to steal more TV ad dollars as video views soar

Watch out, Time Warner. It's not just Netflix and Hulu you have to worry about.

Along with Facebook's strong financial results released on Wednesday was a number that should send a chill through the cable and broadcasting industry.

The social network - whose shares rose 5 percent to hit a record high of $109.44 on Thursday - said its video views surged to 8 billion per day in the third quarter, from just 1 billion a year earlier, highlighting a rising threat to TV ad revenue.

The growth in video views presents the most significant near-term opportunity for Facebook as the company looks to grab a bigger slice of the TV advertising market, analysts said.

Cable companies in particular face an increasing threat to revenue as consumers switch to online streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu - a trend known as "cord-cutting".

"We think (Facebook) looks well positioned to capture an increasing portion of TV ad budgets as markets migrate toward data-driven, highly targeted online video ad campaigns," Jefferies analyst Brian Pitz said in a client note.

The online video ad market is likely to be worth about $17 billion a year by 2017 in the United States alone, Pitz said.

Time Warner Inc, the owner of cable channels TNT, TBS Cartoon Network, said on Wednesday that ratings for its key U.S. entertainment networks had dropped more than expected, which will result in a fall in ad revenue next year.

Walt Disney Co. owner of cable sports network ESPN, as well as broadcaster ABC, offered a gloomy outlook for its cable business in August.

Disney reports results later on Thursday.

"Video ad dollars will be the next big budget to shift online and FB is well positioned as one of the top properties to benefit," Susquehanna Financial analyst Shyam Patil said.

Atlantic Equities analyst James Cordwell said that about 50 percent of all media consumption was now online, but only 17 percent of non-search ad budgets were spent online.

"So, the opportunity for Facebook is to drive that 17 percent up to 50 percent, which would represent a $150 billion incremental advertising spend shifting from offline platform to online platforms," he said. "And the only place that can come from in meaningful volumes is TV."

ACTIVE USERS SURGE

In a bid to capture TV ad dollars, Facebook has launched several tools to target brand advertisers, including a way for marketers to plan, buy and measure Facebook video ads using target rating points (TRPs) - a metric similar to one used to sell TV ads.

"As the company further integrates TRP buying into the mix, it seems clear that advertisers continue to shift more incremental dollars to FB and we would expect further growth from video to continue," Barclays analyst Paul Vogel wrote.

Facebook said in September it had 2.5 million active advertisers, a 25 percent jump from February.

The potential viewership is huge.

Facebook - now valued at over $300 billion - said on Wednesday it now had 1.55 billion monthly active users, up 14 percent from a year earlier.

About 90 percent were mobile users. Daily active users exceeded 1 billion for the first time in the third quarter.

Buoyed by a surge in mobile users and advertising, Facebook's revenue jumped to $4.50 billion in the third quarter from $3.20 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of $4.37 billion.

Excluding items, the company earned 57 cents per share, beating the average estimate of 52 cents.

At least 23 brokerages raised price targets on Facebook's stock, to as much as $155. The median price target is $125, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Facebook's shares were trading at $109.13 before the bell.

Of 52 analysts covering the stock, 48 have a "buy" or higher rating, three have a "hold" and only one has a "sell".

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook revenue, profit beat forecasts; shares hit all-time high

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc. posted surprisingly strong profit and revenue growth as the world's largest social network grew even larger, with a spike in mobile users and advertising that lifted its stock to an all-time high.

The company on Wednesday reported audience numbers that suggest it is poised to take on mainstream media as an advertising force, helping investors to overlook Facebook's huge spending on hiring and building data centers.

Facebook now has 8 billion video views per day from 500 million people, compared with 4 billion views in April.

And Facebook's website and Instagram photo-sharing app, which opened up its platform to all advertisers in the third quarter, account for more than 1 in 5 minutes spent on mobile devices in the United States, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said.

"In the medium to long run, we believe that we're not competing between Facebook and Instagram. We're competing with other forms of media," Sandberg told analysts on a conference call after the earnings report.

Facebook had 1.55 billion monthly active users as of Sept. 30, up 14 percent from a year earlier. Of these, 1.39 billion used the service on mobile devices.

"Growth is happening across the board and we're of course looking for a lot of growth in the future in emerging markets," Sandberg said in an interview. "We're also pretty focused on helping bring the next set of people who are not online, online."

Market research firm FactSet StreetAccount had predicted 1.53 billion monthly active users, with 1.36 billion on mobile.

Ad revenue grew 45.4 percent to $4.30 billion, with 78 percent of that coming from mobile versus 66 percent in the year-ago quarter.

"Part of the upside came from Instagram. The Instagram monetization engine has been turned on really rapidly for the coming quarters and years," said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with SterneAgee.

Facebook did not disclose Instagram's ad sales figures. But the app is expected to bring in $595 million in mobile ad revenues this year, research firm eMarketer said. Its ad revenue is projected to grow to $2.8 billion by 2017.

Facebook's huge $3.0 billion spending, up 68 percent from the third quarter last year, did not seem to worry investors or analysts.

"I think the investors would like the company to continue to invest given that the opportunity is pretty large," said Shyam Patil of Susquehanna Financial Group.

The stock rose about 5 percent to an all-time high of $109.34 in extended trading, before paring gains to about 4 percent. It closed earlier at $103.94.

Total revenue jumped to $4.50 billion in the third quarter, from $3.20 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected revenue of $4.37 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net income attributable to stockholders rose to $891 million, or 31 cents per share, from $802 million, or 30 cents per share.

Excluding items, the Menlo Park, California-based company earned 57 cents per share, ahead of analysts' average estimate of 52 cents per share.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook to test mobile app shopping tab

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook said Monday that it will begin testing a shopping tab for its mobile app as it works to ramp up advertising and online commerce offerings.

Mobile advertising accounts for some three-quarters of the leading social network's revenue, and it is out to make even more money by weaving the ability to buy items more tightly with marketing messages.

"On Facebook, we've seen that people are coming to our platform not only to connect with friends and family but also with products and brands," the Silicon Valley-based Internet firm said in an online post.

"We want to build native experiences that make it easier for both people to discover products on mobile and businesses to drive more sales."

Facebook introduced a new ad format that lets people smoothly complete purchases inside the social network instead of being taken to outside websites that could stall or delay the process.

In coming weeks, Facebook will begin testing a Shop section where people can "discover, share, and purchase" products that they may currently seek out in various locations such as News Feed or Pages at the social network.

A small number of US partners will take part in the Shop section test, with an eye to expanding offerings if the results are promising.

Some new products, such as Carousel, which allows marketers to display assortments of products and links in a single ad, have been previously launched.

Facebook has also introduced "Buy" buttons to streamline purchases at the social network.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Like' isn't enough? Facebook tries new range of emotions

Facebook will begin testing a new feature allowing users in Ireland and Spain to express a range of emotions on posts starting Friday -- but there will be no "dislike" button, the social network said.

Facebook described the new "Reactions" options as an extension of the "like" button, to give people more ways to easily signal how they feel.

Users have for years pressed the world's leading online social network for a "dislike" button to complement the existing thumbs up one, which allows users to express they "like" a post.

"Not every moment is a good moment, and sometimes you just want a way to express empathy," posted Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

"These are important moments where you need the power to share more than ever, and a 'Like' might not be the best way to express yourself."

During the trial, users in Ireland and Spain will be able to select six emotions, as well as the like button, as they consider how they feel about posts.

The options for the trial are: "love," "yay," "wow," "haha," "sad," and "angry," and are similar to emojis used in text messaging. Each expression comes with a correspondingly themed emoji.

"Reactions gives you new ways to express love, awe, humor and sadness," Zuckerberg said.

"It's not a dislike button, but it does give you the power to easily express sorrow and empathy -- in addition to delight and warmth."

Chris Toss, Facebook product manager, said Reactions would give users greater ways of engaging with stories and content.

"It's a much broader range of human emotions you can express," he told Irish national broadcaster RTE, speaking from California.

A spokesman had no information on the length of the trial or when it might be extended to Facebook users outside Ireland and Spain.

Toss also said the social network decided a "dislike" button would not add value to the site.

"Liking" something on Facebook also plays a key role in the social network's algorithm, allowing users to see content they regularly engage with and enabling targeted advertising.

The new range of empathy buttons could eventually be used for similar purposes, but not during the trial, according to Toss.

"If you're coming for humorous content and you're saying 'ha ha' to lots of funny cat videos, down the road we might use that to show you more cat videos, but as of the initial test you won't see any of that," Toss said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook, eyeing TV dollars, rolls out new ad products

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc. introduced a slate of new advertising products on Sunday, most of which are aimed at luring television advertisers onto the 1.5-billion user social network.

The advertising options, most of which will also be available on Facebook-owned Instagram, are designed to take advantage of the social network's strengths on mobile devices. It has the world's most popular smartphone app and generates more than three-quarters of its $10 billion-plus in annual ad revenue on phones.

Facebook is trying to convince advertisers, especially those who use video, that their dollars will be better spent on mobile platforms rather than on TV as users, especially millennials, spend more time on their phones than watching television. The rollout of the new products come ahead of New York City's 12th Advertising Week, which runs from Monday to Friday and gathers the world's largest advertisers and companies. Facebook also announced on Sunday that it has 2.5 million active advertisers in total, up from 2 million in February.

Digital video advertising spending is growing rapidly, projected to increase 13 percent to nearly $15 billion by 2019, according to eMarketer. Television ad spending, by comparison, is expected to grow 2 percent in the same time period to $78 billion. "Facebook is listening to the ad community and giving them what they are looking for," said Debra Aho Williamson, social media marketing analyst with eMarketer. "Does Facebook want video ad dollars? Yes."

On television, advertisers can buy ads based on how many people they will reach, an approach Facebook has adopted to ease the transition between television spending and digital spending.

In addition, it can target highly specific audiences, such as women aged 18 to 35 years old who have shopped on a specific website, which TV cannot do.

Among the new products are "brand awareness" ads, which aim to reach a large number of people to promote a company's name and brand, such as Coca Cola. Advertisers will also be able to poll users on mobile phones about whether they saw an ad -- a feature that used to be available only on desktop computers -- and they can use a format that allows them to display multiple videos at once that users can scroll through.

"We want to be the single-most important platform for all businesses," said Carolyn Everson, Facebook vice president for global marketing solutions.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook to scale up free mobile Internet service

MUMBAI - Facebook Inc. plans to scale up its service to offer free basic Internet on mobile phones, an executive said, after introducing the application in 17 developing countries over the past year.

In a blog post released to mark the first year of the initiative, Facebook said it will open a portal allowing any mobile operator to offer the service under its Internet.org platform. Facebook currently partners with specific operators to launch the service in different countries.

Internet.org has brought over 9 million people online over the past year, Chris Daniels, vice president of product for Internet.org, told Reuters on Monday. Facebook developed the platform with six technology partners to bring an estimated 4.5 billion unconnected people online, mainly in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

It offers pared-down web services for free to users, along with access to Facebook's own social network and messaging services.

Facebook's blog post said that over the past year, the service had bought new users onto mobile networks on average over 50 percent faster and that more than half the people using Internet.org are paying for data to access the wider Internet within 30 days.

"This is really a customer acquisition tool for mobile operators where the benefit to them of offering a very light amount of free data is to bring on more paying subscribers to their networks," Daniels said, speaking over phone from Nairobi, where he is attending a summit.

Facebook was not paying for any of the data being used to access the service, he said.

The Internet.org application, launched in India in February in partnership with Reliance Communications, faced backlash with a number of leading technology and Internet firms pulling out of the service after activists claimed it violated the principles of a neutral Internet.

"I would say India is unique in that respect and very much an outlier. In other markets, Internet.org has been embraced as a pro-connectivity initiative that has garnered a lot of support," Daniels said.

A committee of the telecoms ministry set up to examine the issue of net neutrality earlier this month recommended that collaborations between mobile operators and content providers that enable "gatekeeping" roles should be discouraged.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How Facebook will be your social network till death and beyond

WASHINGTON - Facebook wants to be your social network for life, and even in the hereafter.

The world's biggest social network unveiled an update Thursday that allows its members to designate a "legacy contact" who can take control of the profile and even post messages following a death.

"Facebook is a place to share and connect with friends and family. For many of us, it's also a place to remember and honor those we've lost," said a Facebook blog post announcing the update.

Until recently, Facebook would create a "memorial" page when informed about the death of a member, but which could not be managed by anyone.

But "by talking to people who have experienced loss, we realized there is more we can do to support those who are grieving and those who want a say in what happens to their account after death."

For members who opt in, the "legacy contact" will be able to write a post, which could announce a memorial service or share a special message.

The person managing the account will also be able to update the profile and cover picture, and respond to friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook.

In assigning a legacy contact, the Facebook member can also give permission to download an archive of the photos, posts and profile information shared on Facebook.

"Other settings will remain the same as before the account was memorialized," the blog post said.

"The legacy contact will not be able to log in as the person who passed away or see that person's private messages."

The announcement comes amid increased concerns about the fate of a person's "digital assets" after death. Legal experts say the ownership of cloud storage accounts, emails and online archives of music and books remains subject to interpretation.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook brings Internet push to India

MUMBAI - Facebook Inc. has tied up with India's Reliance Communications Ltd to offer free access to a handful of online services in India, broadening its campaign to boost Internet use in the developing world.

India, the world's second-biggest mobile market, will become the first country in Asia to get the new Internet.org app, which targets mobile phone users.

The app, aimed at low income and rural users, will offer access to more than 30 web services, including job listings, healthcare and education sites, as well as Facebook's own social network and messaging services.

It will be provided via the Android operating system.

Facebook has partnered with more than 150 wireless providers over the past four years to offer free or discounted access to its social network, but the new app is the first time the company has added services beyond its own website.

The service comes to India after having launched in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Colombia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook 'newspaper' spells trouble for media

Facebook's move to fulfill its ambition to be the personal "newspaper" for its billion-plus members is likely to mean more woes for the ailing news media.

The huge social network has become a key source of news for many users, as part of a dramatic shift in how people get information in the digital age.

Company founder Mark Zuckerberg told a forum in early November that his goal is to make Facebook's newsfeed "the perfect personalized newspaper for every person in the world."

Zuckerberg said that while a newspaper provides the same information to every reader, Facebook can tailor its feed to the interests of the individual, delivering a mix of world news, community events and updates about friends or family.

"It's a different approach to newspapering," said Ken Paulson, a former editor of USA Today who is now dean of communications at Middle Tennessee State University. "It's neither good nor bad, but it's something a traditional newspaper can't do."

With Facebook, editorial decisions about what members see are made not by a journalist, but an algorithm that determines which items are likely to be of greatest interest to each person.

This may concern the traditional journalism community, but even some media experts acknowledge that Facebook appears to be able to deliver more of what people want to see, in an efficient way.

"It's intimate, it's relevant, it's extraordinarily timely and it's about you. That's more than any newspaper can do," said Alan Mutter, a former Chicago daily newspaper editor who is now a consultant for digital media ventures.

Mutter said that as newspapers cling to their "ancient" business model, organizations like Facebook are making the news more personal.

And he said the trend will continue as younger readers shun print in favor of digital and mobile platforms.

Algorithm as editor?

Nikki Usher, a George Washington University journalism professor specializing in new media, said Facebook configures its news feed using an algorithm taking into account tens of thousands of factors.

"Facebook has all the data to tell you what all of your friends are reading, so you have a better chance of seeing things that you are interested in," she said.

"The reason Facebook has so many engineers and data scientists is to continually make the algorithm better. The algorithm gets stronger as more people use it."

Facebook is a source of news for at least 30 percent of Americans, and a major driver of traffic to news websites, according to a Pew Research Center study.

This gives the social network enormous power over the news media, which is increasingly dependent on traffic from Facebook and other social platforms.

Even though Facebook is known for its computer coding, it still must make editorial decisions, Usher points out.

"What's scary is how reactive a position it puts news organizations, which are trying to guess Facebook's next move," she said. "That's a lot of power to put in a single organization."

Facebook, Google and other tech firms jealously guard their algorithmic formulas. But observers note that a single tweak of that formula can have important consequences for news organizations.

"News organizations are trying to build their strategy around trying to guess the algorithm, and ultimately that's a losing strategy," Usher said.

Getting 'soul'

But with traditional news media hurting, it remains unclear how the industry can support the kind of journalism needed to keep people informed as it has in the past.

Mutter said what people read may change -- it may be sponsored or subsidized in a way that may or may not be transparent.

"It won't necessarily be real journalism, but it will be content," he said.

Paulson said that while Facebook can deliver much of the information from newspapers, "it would be hard pressed to capture the soul" of traditional print news.

"Freedom of the press was established to keep an eye on people in power and inform the community," he added. "There's a tremendous public spirit component that you can't address with an algorithm."

Paulson said that while Facebook is a useful platform for sharing, it will not underwrite the kind of investigative journalism upon which newspapers often pride themselves. With journalism retrenching, that weakens the entire democratic process.

"We get the kind of news we deserve and are willing to pay for," Paulson added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

How much did Facebook pay to buy WhatsApp?

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc. closed its acquisition of mobile messaging service WhatsApp on Monday, with the final price tag rising an additional $3 billion to roughly $22 billion because of the increased value of Facebook's stock in recent months.

WhatsApp founder Jan Koum will receive nearly $2 billion in stock, vesting over a four-year period, as an inducement for him to stay with the company, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.

The acquisition, which Facebook announced in February and recently received regulatory approval in Europe, underscores the sky-rocketing values of fast-growing Internet startups, and the willingness of established players such as Facebook and Google Inc. to pay out for them.

WhatsApp, which has more than 600 million monthly users, is among a new crop of mobile messaging and social media apps that have become increasingly popular among younger users. Snapchat, a privately owned mobile app that allows users to swap photos that can disappear after a few seconds, is raising money at a $10 billion valuation, according to media reports.

Facebook paid $4.59 billion in cash and 178 million shares of its stock for WhatsApp, as well 46 million of grants in restricted stock units for WhatsApp employees that will vest over a four year period. At Monday's opening Facebook share price of $77.17, the deal translates to roughly $21.8 billion.

Koum, who will serve as WhatsApp Chief Executive and become a Facebook director, will earn a $1 annual salary, similar to Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. Koum will receive 24.9 million Facebook restricted stock units, worth roughly $1.9 billion at Monday's share price.

WhatsApp, which has more than 70 employees, will continue to be based at its Mountain View, California, location.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com