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Facebook patents tech to determine social class
We've got great news this week for nation-state employees tasked with using social media to spark a class war in previously stable democracies! Facebook is patenting technology to decide if its users are upper, middle or working class -- without even using the usual marker for social class: an individual's income (the patent considers this a benefit).
Facebook's 'snooze' button mutes a friend for 30 days
A sad truth of Facebook: many of us follow people who annoy us pretty frequently. Rather than going through the social pain of un-friending someone, however, Facebook has offered the option to stay friends with someone but mute all of their posts in your News Feed. Today, Facebook is rolling out a similar feature that's a little less severe -- you can "snooze" friends, groups or pages for 30 days by clicking the drop-down menu on a post. It's a smart addition; Facebook itself says that many people want to stop seeing posts from people, but only for a temporary amount of time. Imagine having a friend whose vacation pictures are giving you serious FOMO, or you just need a break from your crazy uncle's MAGA rants (you might be better off unfollowing him entirely, but the choice is now up to you). While Facebook still relentlessly uses its algorithms to show posts in your News Feed, there's at least a decent amount of customization users can do here. Besides snoozing and unfollowing friends, you can also pick specific pages or friends that'll show updates at the top of your feed when you visit, or hide a post if you get sick of it popping in your feed. Of course, life would be easier if we all felt more comfortable just unfriending people we got tired of on Facebook, but one step at a time.
Unfriending Facebook friends can be considered bullying in Australia
It's tempting to unfriend people on social networks when you're mad at them, but you may want to think twice about it when coworkers are involved... at least, in Australia. The country's Fair Work Commission has determined that an administrator's decision to unfriend a fellow employee on Facebook constituted evidence of bullying. While this wasn't the only example (there was plenty of name-calling and purposeful neglect), it helped demonstrate the "lack of emotional maturity" involved with the harassment. As a result, the victim now has an order to stop the bullying, which triggered anxiety, depression and sleeping disorders.
Facebook app is updated; now you can unfriend while mobile
Facebook has updated its popular iOS app today. The 3.4 version of the app adds several new features, the foremost of which lets you unfriend people right from your iPhone. Besides making it easier to get rid of those annoying "friends," the updated app also features a new map view for Places, the ability to check in to Events that you're attending, an improved News Feed and an improved notifications UI. I was also going to include a screen shot of the new map view in Places, but as of the time of this writing, the Facebook app keeps crashing when I try to view the map. For those of you holding out hope that each new Facebook app updated might bring universal compatibility to the app, you're going to have to hope a little longer as Facebook shows no signs of bringing an iPad app to market in the near future. [via MacStories]
