Facebook Fixes E-mail Notification Problem

Facebook said Friday it has restored a feature that lets users receive e-mail notifications of new messages sent by their friends, according to a company spokeswoman.

User have complained over the last couple of months that although they had turned on e-mail notifications in Facebook's settings, they did not receive any.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the lack of notifications was "deliberate" as Facebook was conducting a test on the feature. She maintained there was no problem with the system.

"It was a test rather than a problem," according to a statement. "Facebook is constantly looking for ways to improve user experience and experimenting with new ideas and products, and some of these involve tests to see what user response is like. Ones that are successful may be launched as full products or go back for further development."

Facebook said the issue only affected "a small percentage" of users

Facebook launches live-streaming channel

Facebook Live is now available on the social network's site.

Facebook has launched a live-streaming channel designed to provide its users with content detailing what's happening at the company's headquarters.

Dubbed Facebook Live, the new service is basically a PR channel for the company. According to a representative, Facebook Live "is a natural extension of our blog and is a way to communicate with our users more directly." Facebook will be airing interviews with people that stop by its headquarters, highlighting its new products, and trying to capture the "activity already happening at Facebook." Whereas it was doing all this before with text, now it wants to up the ante with video.

Content will be available on Facebook Live all day, every day. When shows are live, Facebook users can comment and potentially have their questions answered by the hosts. After a show airs, users will be able to go back to the Facebook Live page and watch a rerun of it at their convenience. Facebook Live can be embedded into other Web sites, or users can add a Facebook Live page to their profile pages to have quick access to the service.

It's worth noting that Facebook isn't getting in the content business to compete with services like Ustream or Livestream, which enable users to create their own live-streaming channels and push content out to viewers. Instead, Facebook Live (which is powered by Livestream, in fact) seems to be little more than a way for the company to pat itself on the back and tout its products.

But driving the point home that Facebook isn't getting into the video-streaming business seemed to be paramount to the social network. A Facebook representative was quick to point out that the social network "has no plans to get into content production."

Social Networking Websites

You may have heard about Facebook, MySpace or Twitter on the television, internet or even from a friend; but what do these services have to offer that a conventional phone conversation cannot. Sometimes phone conversations can feel a bit awkward as if there is nothing to talk about. They may require you halting all further actions to concentrate on what is being said at that specific time. With a social networking site you are able to create topics and conversation pieces with just a few mouse clicks. You can add pictures and video to get your message across. You can talk about subjects beforehand with more time to think about what it is you are trying to convey. Plus there is a multiplayer gaming community that can be used to link one person to another.

With a social networking site such as Facebook you can post a visual image of a certain event in your life that basically describes itself. There is a chat option and a global messaging ability that allows your thoughts to be seen in all of your friends’ eyes. With a conventional phone call you can only leave what you are trying to communicate about to the listener’s imagination. With a social networking site you can show off your family’s barbecue night or child’s baseball game with one picture and not have to go on and on with description. Combined with a phone conversation a social networking site offers so much more to staying connected with friends and family. Keeping in touch with everyone you know has never been simpler than consolidating it all into one service that announces your thoughts and life events with ease.

Sure, nothing beats person to person communication – but why not have a simpler way to keep in touch with friends? While the technology may not be new, it offers constant innovation in the way it allows people to keep in touch.