All along, Facebook have provided a “lists” feature which allows you to group your friends in to categories like “close family”, your “current circle of social friends” or “workmates”. It can even be feasible that one Facebook Friend can be a member of two or more “lists”.

This has been improved so that you can control the visibility of material you post on Facebook so that only certain people can see the material. This is including the ability to make a post “Public” for all to see or “Friends only” just for your Facebook Friends to see.It will remember what setting you used for the last item that you posted.

You can use the custom lists option on the Web user interface as well as the mobile Facebook clients for iOS and Android. At the moment, I don’t know of this being able to  work for other Facebook clients like the TV-based clients or the Pure Sensia Internet radio. This may change when new versions of the firmware for these devices is released.

When you send a friend-request to a potential Facebook Friend, you have the option of classing the friend in one or more of your Custom Lists. Similarly, you can go through your Friends collection and add them to your Custom Lists. Then, when you post a Status Update, Photo, Link or other top-level item on your Wall, you have the option of determining the visibility of this post. Here, you can have it appear “Public” for all to see whether they are Friends or not, “Friends Only” where just your Facebook Friends see the post and “Custom List” where people who are in the Custom List you define see the post.

A question that can be raised with this ability, especially in relation to teenagers, is that you as a parent may want to “Friend” them on Facebook so you can know what is going on and if there is any bullying taking place for example. But this idea may be circumvented by your teenage child setting up a Custom List which encompasses just their mates or the “in” crowd. The teenager’s friends would set up similar Custom Lists for their mates, encompassing your teenager. Then if they want to post stuff that Mum and Dad aren’t to see, they use the Custom List that they have defined. How can you know what’s going on when these Custom Lists are being used.

But it still requires users to be careful about what they post on Facebook and whom to. For example, you should avoid engaging in a confidential conversation on FB using the Wall, rather you send the direct messages to the person involved or use the Chat facility. Infact it is worth paying attention to the reference page that I wrote concerning where to post what in Facebook, and this has become a valuable asset to Facebook newbies.

Any of you who have used Facebook’s regular desktop interface lately will have noticed key changes to this user interface.This interface revamp has been the subject of a lot of negative and positive press about this user interface change in the blogosphere and the consumer IT press. Of course, you won’t notice this if you are using Facebook from a client program like a mobile app.

When you notice the interface changes, you will see a column on the right which highlights who of your friends are online at the moment as well as a constantly-updated ticker of friends’ activity. The list of who is online is segmented by whom you have interacted with lately as well as those of your Friends who are currently online. Both these windows are separately scrollable but you have to look for a black vertical bar on the right.

This has been augmented by an “improved” news feed with groups for “top stories” and delineated “Recent Events” and “From Earlier Today” clusters. This delineates what you saw in your last view of Facebook and your current view on the same computer.

At the moment, the ticker only shows your Friends’ activity, with the ability to link to the posts, Pages, other Friends or other items referenced in the activity. This is different from the News Feed which covers all Page and Group activity as well as your Friends’ activity. Some Pages may appear in your Ticker but this may not be consistent across all Pages.

You will have the item “detailed on” with a larger view if you hover over it with your mouse. This will give you the contextual options of what you can do with this item such as to add the person to your Friend list or comment on the post.

This ticker well be dimmed if you are “paging through” a Photo Album or viewing a Photo in detail. It will only be visible if you are using Facebook and won’t appear if you head off to a link outside Facebook.

I would improve on this by allowing the user to determine the view of the ticker, such as through classes of events and use of filtering or formatting of events important to the user. As well, the Ticker, along with the presence window could be made available as a desktop utility in a similar vein to ICQ or MSN Messenger so you can keep tabs on this whenever you visit different sites.

Of course, it would take some time to get used to any new interface change for an online service and social networking is no exception.

Articles

The iPad gets a Facebook app, finally | Engadget

The Official Facebook App for iPad Is Finally Here | Gizmodo

Facebook Finally Launches Its Own IPad Application | AllFacebook.com

Facebook unveils iPad app, new mobile platform for developers | SmartCompany (Australia)

From the horse’s mouth

Introducing Facebook For iPad

Download link

iTunes App Store

My Comments

Previously, I posted an article on the idea of creating and implementing desktop and tablet-computer client programs for popular social-network services. Here I raised issues of optimisation for the host’s user interface, integration with local hardware and software resources as well as system performance issues; compared to software-maintenance and interlinking with service-based advertising as drawbacks.

Now Facebook have released an official client for the Apple iPad tablet computer. This client demonstrates the advantages of a client-side app for the iPad; with functionality like an always-visible presence list, proper response to the touch gestures, “to-the-edge” full-screen photo viewing as well as a multi-column view.

They have also answered a call from people who play FarmVille and similar games by offering the ability to play these games on the iPad using this platform’s Facebook client.

Of course time would tell when a port for this client is made available for the other popular tablet platforms like Android Honeycomb or Blackberry Playbook. But I often wonder whether Facebook will even issue a client application for the Windows or Macintosh desktop-computing platforms.

There have been debates about whether Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn should develop official client-side applications for their applications when used on regular computers (desktops and laptops) or tablets like the iPad.

When I talk of a client-side application, I am thinking of an application that is written for and runs on the client device’s operating system and interacts with the Web-based social network service through known application-programming interfaces. This is in contrast to the Web-based interface that requires interaction through the client Web browser.

Of course, other people have developed client-side applications for these social networks either as an improvement for existing software projects or as their own projects themselves. These are usually considered third-party applications by the social-network provider and may not support all functions that are being baked in to the social network as it evolves.

The issue here

It may be easy to think that you don’t have to provide these client-side applications for desktop operating systems (Windows, MacOS and Linux) and tablet computers. This is because these devices can typically allow the user to competently navigate the Web-based user interface for the typical social-network service. It is compared to the smartphone having different user-interface needs that are drawn about by the use of a physically smaller screen on these devices.

Drawcards and Benefits

A major drawcard behind the social-network client application for larger-screen devices would be high integration with the device’s operating system and other applications. The benefits of this would be obvious, such as linking the “friends / followers / connections” databases held by the social-network services to local contacts databases maintained by your personal-information-management software or exhibiting of photos and videos from these services full-screen without the chrome associated with Web browser interaction.

Other benefits would include use of the operating system’s notification abilities to “pop up” messages related to these services such as direct messages or friend requests. Even the chat functionality that is part of services like Facebook would benefit from an “instant-messaging” user experience of the likes of Windows Live Messenger and Skype. This is an always-available presence list and application-created chat windows for each conversation. There is also the benefit of direct access to connected devices like printers or cameras.

Of course, there would be the computer-performance benefit of not needing to maintain a Web-browser session for each social-networking session. This is because the applications can be pared down to what is needed for the operating system; and can also be of benefit to those of us who use battery-operated devices like tablets or notebook computers.

For tablets, the user interface could be highly optimised for touch-based navigation and could make best use of the screen area of these devices. This is more so with this class of device being available in two major sizes – a 7” size for something that can stuff in your coat pocket or the larger 10” size. As well, it could include “right-sizing” the interface for the on-screen keyboard when the user needs to enter information to the service, such as through the log-on experience.

Drawbacks

The drawbacks to this will typically include another client application to develop and maintain for the service, which may cost further money for the service provider. It also includes evolving the application to newer versions of the operating system and incorporating the new features that are available through the operating system’s lifecycle.

As well, there will be the factor that the ad-supported Web interface may become more irrelevant and these applications may them limit access to the cash-cow that these services have to make money – users viewing those ads that are on that interface. This is because most users would be reluctant to load ad-supported software on their desktop computers due to system-performance and privacy issues that have been brought about by highly-intrusive adware.

Conclusion

It may therefore be worth the social networks considering the idea of developing client-side applications for desktop and tablet operating environments. This is in order to provide the user-experience improvements that such applications can provide for this class of usage.

Another increasingly-popular social network service is Twitter. This was intended as a “microblogging” service but some people have been implementing it as another social network.

Like the similar Facebook article that I have written for Facebook novices, this will list who will see which information you post when you use Twitter. Here, I would recommend this as a bookmark or favourite or as something to print out and keep near the computer or have available on the business intranet.

Twitter lexicon

Who sees what

What to do where on Twitter

If someone follows you on your Twitter account, it may be a good idea to check that person out when you receive the notification by email. Here, you could then consider following that person and being able to use direct messaging as appropriately.

It is also worth noting that a lot of social Twitter users use “textspeak” (abbreviations and acronyms for common expressions used when sending SMS messages) when they send out Tweets. So you may have to use resources like the Urban Dictionary to help you understand some of this lingo.

76% of 18 to 24-year-olds Browse the Internet While Watching TV | eHomeUpgrade

My comments

I have read the eHomeUpgrade article about how young people are surfing the Web while they are watching TV. There are various factors that I have observed that are encouraging this kind of activity and are based a lot on observation and experience.

Younger people being more likely to be tech-savvy

Ever since the 1980s, information technology has become a key part of one’s education in most school curriculums. Initially this started off with “computer studies” or something similarly-named being a secondary-school subject, but has moved towards computer use being integrated in to regular school studies over the last twenty years.

Similarly, most younger people have been known to adopt to newer technologies more easily than people of older age groups. This typically has been noticed by the “kids” being the ones who can work consumer-electronics devices beyond the basic requirements like setting the clock on a video recorder, or being “nimble-fingered” with the mobile phone’s keypad to send text messages.  

The current home-computing environments that promote this activity

One is the proliferation of laptops, notebooks, netbooks and similar portable computers available new or secondhand at prices that most could afford as well as smartphones that have integrated Web-browsing capability being available under subsidised-handset contract. All these devices are equipped with an integrated Wi-Fi wireless-network adaptor which allows for use-anywhere functionality.

They would typically be used in a Wi-Fi-based home networks which has coverage that extends to areas where a television set would be located like the lounge room. Another situation that also commonly exists would be the colocation of a TV set and a a computer in a teenager’s own bedroom or the lounge areas that teenagers or other young people primarily use like “games rooms”, “rumpus rooms” or simply the secondary lobby in a two-storey house.

These setups would encourage the use of an Internet-connected computer while watching TV shows, which I have seen a lot of at home with a teenager who was often had a laptop going while watching TV.

TV shows running Websites

As well, most TV studios are operating programme-specific Websites that are seen as a way of extending the programme’s value. This typically includes the providing of extra video material, Web downloads, forums and the like and is often used as a way to make the show appeal to the younger generation.

It is also supplemented by information pages like Internet Movie Database and epguides.com as well as fan-created “unofficial” Websites for the various TV shows and show genres. They will have such information like episode guides with season, episode an “first-screen” information as well as biographies for the characters in the show, cast and crew details.

In some cases, this is also tied in with Web-based “catch-up TV” where you can see recently-screened episodes as well as supplementary video material.

The Social Web

This leads me to the Social Web being the primary reason for surfing the Web while watching TV. Here, viewers use the show’s Web forums, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to chat with like-minded friends and fans, and in the case of the social networks, use “official front ends” like Facebook Pages and Twitter hashtags to participate with the show. Some TV shows like, panel shows or reality-TV shows may link these feeds in to the show’s fabric by having the compere read out selected content from the Social Web or have a ticker at the bottom of the screen showing similar information. An example of this is when ABC-TV Australia was running “Q and A” on Monday nights, they had a Twitter hashtag called #qanda and all of the Tweets with this hashtag appeared as a ticker on the bottom of the screen.

Recently there have been some social-network sites centred around TV shows where one can “check in” and chat with like-minded viewers about favourite shows.

The various social networks have been made easier to use with smartphones and similar devices either through a client app written for the popular smartphone and “Web-tablet” platforms or a handheld-optimised “mobile view” of the social network’s Web view.

Conclusion

The combination of technologically-astute young people, ubiquitous portable computers, the home network and the Internet, TV-show Websites and the Social Web all reinforce the fact that TV isn’t for lounging in front of anymore.

Article

The Emergence of Social TV via ‘Check-in’ – The Good and Bad | eHomeUpgrade

My comments

The Web has become increasingly integrated with our TV-viewing habits, whether through the use of “official” or fan-generated Websites for particular shows or events or users using Facebook to post information about shows that they watch from a laptop or netbook while watching TV. Some of the “official” or fan-generated Websites have integrated bulletin boards were people who like the show can chat with each other regarding the show or particular characters / actors.

Recently, there have been various sites like www.epguides.com which provide comprehensive information on many TV serials. In some cases, these can help out with environments where a broadcaster may show some seasons or some episodes of a particular series or simply to know how “behind” an overseas broadcaster is on a TV serial compared to the show’s home country.

Now the social Web is being further integrated with the likes of Miso and Tunerfish which are like a social network based around favourite or currently-viewed TV shows. In some cases, these sites have some form of integration with the main social networks like Facebook.

This has been brought about through the ubiquity of the home network with the attendant arrival of IP-enabled TVs and set-top boxes as well as the popularisation of laptops, netbooks, MIDs and smartphones that are connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi wireless links.

The real issue nowadays is whether many of us are likely to use these sites and are likely to have the laptop, netbook or iPad on the coffee table and logged in to one of these sites while we watch our favourite TV shows? Also would the experience work better if the user interface for these services was integrated in to one of the new IP-capable TVs or set-top boxes like the upcoming Android TV platform?

Now this is showing that the TV and the Web are becoming not just competing media but complementary media in the age of the home network.

I had talked about on this blog about the kind of influence different posts you make in Facebook will have in your Facebook Friend circle. In one of the articles, I had mentioned a Facebook application called Friend Wheel which shows a graphical representation of your Friend List.

You enable this free application by adding it to your Facebook Profile like you would with a social game like Farmville.

This application works through your Facebook friend list and identifies any situations where your Facebook Friends have other Facebook Friends that are in your list in their lists. Then it resolves these relationships in a graphical manner by plotting each Friend’s name as a node on the edge of a circle and showing each link as a line. It can show clusters of people who know each other through a particular community by “bunching” the people together. There is the ability not to plot friends that aren’t connected to other Facebook Friends in your list, which may be beneficial to those who have links with larger social circles.

The Wheel can he shown as a static image or, for most of us who have Flash-enabled Web environment (which doesn’t include the Apple iPad), there is a Flash version which allows you to hover over the name of a Facebook Friend and show their connections to any of your other Facebook Friends.

It can be slow with larger Facebook Friend lists, especially those that are well connected because of having to plot many nodes and draw many lines. But it is speedy with most Friend lists. There isn’t an option to take advantage of the “lists” function so that you can plot the Friend Wheel on the social sets that you define using these lists. As well, it doesn’t identify Facebook Friends who have subscribed to any particular Fan Pages or Groups.

One main use that I would find for this application is if you are investigating the “reach” of comments or other material posted on particular Facebook Friends’ Walls.

I have been approached by Facebook newbies (novices) about messages that they write or read as part of their Facebook sessions and have thought about publishing this “at-a-glance” guide about who sees what you write. Feel free to print this off and pin it near your computer or keep the permalink as a ready URL on your browser’s Favourites / Bookmarks or intranet page.

When I write here on Facebook, who sees it?

Where should I write this in Facebook?

Today (November 26) , a close friend of mine had a very bad experience with Facebook where he was pilloried by one of his Facebook Friends. He had become aware of this through viewing his Homepage and feared that he was going to be embarrassed by the post-writer in front of his other friends who have Facebook presence. This may be the usual reaction of many social-network users, especially Facebook users, when someone else posts something stupid on their Wall or page about the user.

If someone writes a post to their Wall, all of the post-writer’s Facebook Friends can see that post on their Home Pages which they see when they log in, and on the author’s Profile. But this post doesn’t appear on their own Profile. Nor can any of their other Facebook Friends see this post unless they have the post-writer as their Facebook Friend. A different situation may occur if someone writes the remark on someone else’s Wall. This may have it that the friends of both parties may see the remark.

It still is worth checking for mutual friends between the post-writer and yourself, especially if any of the mutual friends have become “sworn enemies” such as through a personal, workplace or business fall-out. A good utility to install on your Profile is the “Friend Wheel”, which allows you to see “who’s got whom” of your Friends in the Friend List. This tool, which I have on my Profile, draws a circle with all your friends as “nodes” and rules lines that indicate Facebook links between your friends. When you click on the “Click to enlarge” option, you will be provided with a dynamic circle where you can highlight a person’s name and it will show just their friends.

Similarly, browsing in the post-writer’s Profile may be of use so you can determine who are their Friends, especially any Mutual Friends. This is especially true where people browse around friends’ profiles to find out if the person they are after is on the social network.

Once you understand this situation, you can reduce the panic that you may feel with yourself in front of your friends if someone says something “off the wall” on their Wall.