Facebook Launches New Feature For Disabled Users

No one can say now that Facebook doesn't care about its users; it recently launched a new feature for impaired users.

On April 5, 2016 Facebook Inc. announced that it launched its latest feature, the automatic alternative text (AAT). This new feature can create and come up with simple captions that are put under photos on the social media website. This can be considered as yet another milestone achieved by the social media network as it offers additional support to those Facebook users who use screen readers on the website.  

With the help of this latest software that has been used in AAT, users will be able to hear audible descriptions that have been made under photos (or captions) as the software will read those descriptions out loud. This will be an opportunity for visually impaired users as they will be able to hear the comments and captions made by their friends on the social media network. Facebook experience for such users will just be enhanced with the addition of this latest feature.

Previously, there was an option of audible description however it would only read out the name of the person, or mention that a photo has been posted by someone or read out the text out loud if it would appear on the user’s News Feed. That has changed with the introduction on AAT, as with the help of artificial intelligence, the users with such disabilities will be able to better communicate with their friends on the social media platform.

The main function performed by the artificial intelligence assistance is that it reads the text on the photos and comes up with catchy and simple self-made phrases for it. This object recognition feature on Facebook can detect a number of objects on the site vehicles including motorcycles, cars, buses and boats, natural things such as mountains, suns, waves etc, food objects that the AI can detect include ice cream, sushi etc.

Presently, the service has been activated for the English version of Facebook on the iOs; these users can simply activate their AAT to enjoy the new experience, they don’t have to be physically disabled to use the feature, anyone can avail this new feature on the social platform. Furthermore, this feature can point out stuff on the website which is not understood by users, for instance if a person does not understand what’s wrong or funny about a certain picture, the AI will help them identify it; it will simply say it out loud.

This push into the specific technology emphasizes on how Facebook is a philanthropic company as with the latest feature it is using technology to help disabled people. Furthermore, the Free Basic Program by the company was another effort it was making to help people in the world by providing free internet to people in rural areas who do not have access to the internet, with the help of airborne Aquila Drone.

In addition to that, this move also shows how easily the company has taken up and used artificial intelligence and integrated it into its system. It has quite rapidly adopted and progressed in the specific tech category.

What Facebook Inc (FB) Earnings Propose For The Future

The social media company is expected to grow even more now that it has opened Instagram for ads.

Facebook Inc reported earnings for the third quarter of the year in a very positive way, and clearly ended up beating all the estimations made by the analysts in the market. The earnings showed that the analysts and equity firms covering the stock activities of the social media company with a bullish attitude where not bullish about it enough, as the results presented by the giant to the investors on the final reporting day turned out to be a little too much over the positive side. As for how the investor sentiment should be, now that the earnings have been announced, analysts believe that there is a lot more to rely on for positivity coming from the Silicon Valley based company’s side for the upcoming future.
Presently, Facebook business is enjoying quarterly profit coming from the mobile ad business to have made up around 78% of the total profit which shows that the giant is slowly relying more and more on the revenue being generated from online ads. According to the equity firms, the best way to grow that revenue percentage on the whole can be done by monetizing its photo sharing app, Instagram, which is a platform yet to be used for displaying of ads.

The fact that Instagram is one of the social media apps which have been gaining users on a massive level on a daily basis makes it all the more interesting for businesses to think of it as a great platform to showcase their products in the most effective of ways. According to the analysts belief, it can also been seen that the social media giant is aware of all the potential Instagram has and how it can help the giant to increase its revenue generation.

Recently the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook business informed the industry that it will be making ads on Instagram available for all the marketers and this will be done in exactly the same way that it gets ads for the social media website. Sheryl Sandberg, the COO, also mentioned in one of the press conferences that the kind of feedback which has so far been received by the marketers is quite impressive and it just opens up more space for the company to roll out similar activities for its other projects as well, which could be of either Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger.

However, news suggests that the networking giant is not looking forward monetizing any of the latter subsidiaries of the company any time soon and this only looking forward to focus on Instagram for now.

Facebook 'Almost' Unveils Video Calling Feature On Messenger Globally

Facebook has launched its video calling service across the globe except a few countries.

Facebook Inc from today is coming up with a video calling feature update that will be available on its Messenger app is said to be released globally reports David Marcus, the Vice President of Messaging. According to him, the application’s new feature is now found everywhere across the globe. However, certain countries that still do not have access to this feature include United Arab Emirates, Saudia Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain.

Previously, the feature was initially found in just 18 countries across the globe which comprises of United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Norway, Poland, Nigeria, Oman, Mexico, France and Greece. According to the data provided by the firm, the video calling feature has almost attracted 1 million individuals in just a matter of 2 days. This response was obtained after the public launch during the last week of April.

This feature by Facebook is a great move where the social media giant has now provided a platform for users where they can communicate with one another irrespective of the distance. So now Facebook is in direct competition with companies like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp Calling that are already providing video calling features.

David Marcus at this point of time is also welcoming feedback from customers regarding how they can improve their service and what more needs to be done before the global launch of this Facebook product. coming up with a video calling feature for iOS and Android is more of a follow up where initially “Voice Calling” was launched on Messenger in 2014.

"We’re happy to share we’ve now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we’re still working on improving quality for” stated Mr. David Marcus in a recent post.

Facebook now is constantly working towards making its services better, thus for the same reason the company has partnered with WhatsApp. Both the companies are reportedly working on money transfer service along with a customer service experience for Facebook’s Messenger application. Facebook is constantly coming up with various applications and services that are likely to keep its diversified audience happy. Moreover, there are several rumors regarding the company to develop games for its Messenger platform as well.

Hence, in a nutshell, Facebook is on the right track where it is working towards making this platform a one stop solution that caters to the needs of the diversified consumer base of the social media platform. Video calling will certainly enrich the experience of users on Messenger and will act as a mediator to minimizes distances even further.