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Facicons turning into spam for Facebook!

I downloaded ‘Facicons’ which ended up being a spam. I got graphical smileys instead of plain one like these. 🙂 Everywhere it shows a sentence saying “I’ve added smileys to this status update. Wanna see them? Go to http://s.facicons.com/“, and asks you to download the application. Right now I can see this on so many friend’s status updates. It keeps circulating. 🙁

You can check it once you search for ‘ I have added smileys ‘. Just as we start thinking Facebook is changing the search scenario or getting better something like this happens.

I hope Facebook deals with such spam as soon as possible, till then I think I will have to remove this application. 🙁

Anyone knows any other good emoticons applications do let me know through your comments. 🙂

Editor’s Update: As mentioned in a comment below Facicons shows such links only when the person viewing these status updates does not have Facicons add-on or extension added on their browsers. This has been clarified in TOS and FAQs respectively. In my personal view this information should have been prominent on the Homepage itself which would have avoided such confusion.

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Photo promotion by Facebook is available site wide

Facebook has tested photo promotion feature from quite sometime now. Many of you must have noticed on upper right side of you homepage saying ‘Photo Memories’ or ‘Recommended Photos‘. Recommended Photos feature was present on Facebook since long but now it is seen Site-wide.

Why do I like it?

  • Instead of showing credits or advertisements I found it really good to see some old photo memories of my friends.
  • It does give you a surprise and sort of helps in refreshing old memories with friends. 🙂

What do you think of such a feature? Don’t you think that Facebook should have more such features. Do let me know with your comments. 🙂

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Download and Save Flickr album as PDF file

Sometimes I like to save some images I have online into PDF format files. There is an online tool named as ‘RSS 2 PDF‘ which creates PDF files of images online. The best part of it is that I can in a matter of seconds create PDF file of a public album I have on Flickr.

How ‘RSS 2 PDF‘ works?

  • Go to  http://rss2pdf.com/flickr/ where you can find the tool.
  • Enter your Flickr username, Flickr User Email Address or your Flickr ID and click on the option as Search/Make PDF.
  • It asks you to open or save the PDF, do as you wish. And you can see the images with their links. 🙂

Basic requirements :

  1. Flickr account.
  2. The album should be set to public, that is it can be seen by all.
  3. You should know any of these flickr username, flickr user email address or flickr id.

Originally the image was:

And then I copied it as PDF:

I figured out that the image lost its quality when saved in a PDF but that is expected as PDF is not really a format to quality images.

Do you know of similar tools? Do share them through your comments.

Link: blogtechnika.com

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Facebook moving ahead with its Search Results

Facebook’s search results have been changed a bit for better relevance. Facebook has released a new feature in which if I want to search about an article I get the results based on the likes and dislikes of my friends. That is the results will affect on how many friends like or share that news.

In a way it is interesting that my search results will include my friend’s likes. Facebook said that the content displayed will be only that is shared by your friends. This is a result of newly added patent which is based on the amount of clicks any user does. Previously this was not available by Facebook’s Open Graph Search. Now Facebook is using its social graph for its relevance.

Suppose I choose a topic as ‘Facebook Patent’ as my new search. The result that I see is based on how many friends have liked or shared that particular news. In the above picture you can see that the first result is shared by 141 people and the other is liked by 3 people.

So what even if you are a Facebook fan like me,will our friend’s likes and dislikes make us decide what is relevant and what is not??? Do share your thoughts and experience on this through your comments.

Link: allfacebook.com

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Will facebook’s new patent prove to be effective ?

Have you ever noticed how the English word ‘Search‘ immediately sends an image of  ‘Google‘ in your mind? 🙂 With its great search results and interesting search algorithms we people enjoy having an on line dictionary or encyclopedia that is free. Well the thing is now Facebook is being awarded a social search patent that was used by Google earlier.

This is based on the amount of clicks number of users do. That is, the search results pages are ranked according to the number of clicks by its users. This patent’s application was filed six years ago by Facebook people. I do not know whether it was using this thing or not earlier also. Is it so that the users should like or see only those things that are viewed by their friends or friends of friends? Suppose his/her interests do not match in some way but he is bound to see the links what his/her friends in the network like.

What do you think of such a patent? Do you think we will see any important changes to Facebook search or any other thing related to it?

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Why do I prefer Facebook than Orkut?

These days social media is at its boom. Graduated? Upload your photos. Recently got a job? Where else can you tell all your friends and family about it just in one click :). I enjoy these social site’s update,comments and applications.

Being a Facebook addict I would not think of any other platform when it comes for social purposes. But I do not want to avoid Orkut all at once. After all being an Indian I started orkutting much before than I tried my hands on Facebook :).

Some reasons why now i prefer sticking to Facebook can be:

  • Starting from the look and feel, I think Facebook has a better UI (user interface) than Orkut.
  • We use social mediums to get in touch with friends and family, I think Facebook gives you more facilities to get to know what is happening in your friend’s life.
  • If I have to upload images or something I prefer Facebook than Orkut, for its simplicity and many functions.
  • While talking about Facebook and Orkut how can I ignore the Privacy feature 🙂 that makes me a Fan of Facebook. If you are using Facebook rather than Orkut you will stay away from stupid ‘Fraanship’ requests :).
  • How can i miss speaking about  the facebook games :), a huge time pass and a lot of times interesting too. Games like farmville, Poker, Mafia etc. entertain a user excellently.
  • Business wise if you are using Facebook, there are Facebook pages with an interesting graphics that help you exceed your business and promotion things. The ‘share this’ option makes it really fast and easy to spread any news or data.
  • I really enjoy it when I can display a certain update to ONLY people I choose(custom select). If I do not want a certain person 😉 to see my post and rest of my friends should be able to see it, I can change my settings and do that too :).
  • Facebook keeps a check on you, if you are using your real name while making an id or not. If not then it can stop you.
  • I do like certain things like you can view how many and which users saw your profile on Orkut :).

With a certain amount of my friends using only Orkut I would not suggest leaving it all together but yes I enjoy Facebooking more than Orkutting :D.

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Facebook wants to own the english word ‘Face’

Guess what Facebook is up to? :). It is recently reported that Facebook wants to copyright the english word ‘Face‘, that is we will never see any other company with a name having prefix as ‘Face‘ in future. Only if he succeeds in filing a law suit and succeeding with it.

Recently Facebook took over the application for trademark of ‘Face‘ from another company of UK named as CIS internet limited. The company operated a site named Faceparty.com. There may be many others but for now a person named Aaron Greenspan who has a company Think Computers that is behind mobile payments application called Facecash is opposing Facebook’s action. If Facebook gets the trademark that would result into trouble for Facecash. So Aaron Greenspan is asking for an extension of time to oppose such thing.

What if he is given that extension or what if Facebook succeeds getting the word ‘Face‘ as its trademark? Companies no matter big or small should they be given personal rights to the common words like ‘Face‘ or ‘Book‘? There were,are and will be many companies starting with the name ‘Face‘ or ending with the name ‘Book‘. It is not advisable to be given such authority to Facebook people. The english words are free and open for all and I think anybody should be able to think or create a name of his choice no matter what.

Just imagine any beauty products company launching with the name Facebeauty. It has no intention to harm Facebook but still it would not be able to keep the name as the company wishes too because words like ‘Face‘ and ‘Book‘ will be copyright for Facebook. Certain products and companies will be facing problems in keeping the desired name. This hamper people’s choice and views. I think Facebook should keep a clause saying only social networking sites with name starting with ‘Face‘ or ending with ‘Book‘ should be asked to not do such thing. Rest if any company which is not related to social networking should be allowed to use such words :).

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Use Static FBML for advanced options with Facebook page

Putting social icons on your page can be a better way of promoting or getting connected to your friends and mentors. You would have observed several kind of social buttons/icons or different advanced functionality on many fan pages.well this is how you can-
Static FBML (Facebook Markup Language) is a Facebook platform application developed by Facebook engineers to enable fan page administrators to add such advance functionalities like extra tabs. A box is added to your page in which you can put the HTML/CSS code to display such images(icons) or you can add a new tag and information related to it.

Minimum requirement:

You should have a Facebook account 🙂 and at least a page of your own. If you don’t have a page of your own then create it using this tutorial. (or simply click here to create a new page).

Adding static FBML to your Facebook page:

  • Click edit on the page: Go to the left sidebar on your Facebook account home page. Click on the Ads and Pages link. Select Edit on your page.
  • Static FBML: Scroll down you will find Static FBML click it. If you dont find it you may have to browse further and you will get it.
  • Go to Static FBML apllication .
  • Click add to my page: In the left column you will see the option as add on my page. Click it.
  • If you have more than one page a pop up will appear asking on which page do you want to add the Static FBML. Select the desired page.
  • Success !! 🙂

Now you can add a tag ‘join’ or any other tag. I am saying ‘join’ every time just to give you an example.

  • Go to your page. Click Edit option ( as shown in first screenshot).
  • You will find a series of options. Search for FBML.
  • Once you find it click on the edit option. A box will appear.
  • Edit the name by ‘FBML‘ to ‘join’.

  • On the box below you can add any text you wish  the user to see when he/she arrives at your fan page.
  • Save the changes 🙂

Instead of ‘join’ you can keep the FBML name as it is. And inside the other(description) box add the HTML/CSS code for the desired icon. You can place the icon on navigation bar, side bar or any place you wish to.
Static FBML has a great usability and edit options. I tried several options like what your users should see when they enter the fan page and I find it really interesting tweaking its other options 🙂

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Sorority Life tips and tricks

Facebook’s Sorority Life is a very popular game.Created by playdom in 2008, the multi-player game now has more than 5 million users.

Sorority Life is a game in which players(generally girls) form their sorority . Players earn points by asking other Sorority sisters to join their house (Sorority), work at a job, socializing and take on rivals in fights that increase their bank balance. Players can use their “brownie points” to purchase dresses,accessories, outfits and glam .

Here’s some small things to remember while playing Sorority Life (playdom)
if you have been playing SL you would understand what I mean when I say don’t waste your BPs. 🙂 (brownie points)
because they take time to collect.

  • Please don’t go for stupid playdom schemes that say you can earn ‘bp’ fast,they don’t work.
  • You can create 2-3 characters in which you can shift while playing and hide(because if you have attacked a player from your bigger level character when she comes to attack you back,she can’t attack you as you are in a level much smaller than her) by creating characters you can earn brownie points fast. because once you level up (like i am in 145 level) it becomes hard to earn bp or finish games fast
  • Do not forget to install playdom tool bar,it gives you some thing everyday(hair/brownie point/money etc ) .You can even earn 100 BP 🙂
  • Try to be updated with the job because once you start lagging behind in jobs the money keeps on getting deducted without you even knowing it
  • Try to pamper your sweetheart at a particular time each day,to prevent it from getting stolen and if you can share it with some one,great stealing increases the charm and popularity of the SH a good maxed out SH can give you great gifts once they leave.
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12 steps to rock with Farmville

Many people log in to Facebook for its games. Farmville is one of the most popular games on Facebook. Farmville is a great way to pass time. It allows its users to virtually manage farms including harvesting, seeding, managing animals and constructing buildings.

Number of FarmVille users are over 10% of the users of Facebook. I have been a Farmville addict for one year and thought I would share some of the tips I used to get ahead in Farmville. 😉

Image Credit: phandroid

  1. Usually people forget when their crops are getting ready for harvesting. 😀 A better idea is to try to sow different crops but of same harvest time and try to finish their mastery.
  2. If you want to earn money fast and you stay online a lot then sow berries as they take less time and give you good money. 😉
  3. If you are not online regularly then crops like corn or potato are excellent as they take 2-3 days to get harvested.
  4. Do not just concentrate on getting more cash,very soon you will be frustrated. Do not waste farm cash because you wont get farm cash very easily. 🙂
  5. Always send gifts and receive gifts. Help your neighbors and get helped in return.
  6. If you want to send some thing that’s not available in your free gift section but available in some body else’s then try sending any gift and look at the URL and just change the last word of it. Example: If you want to send a banana tree instead of any other tree replace the name by any other tree to banana tree this helps while completing collections.
  7. All animals and trees should be harvested at one time. Wait for all of them to get ready as that saves time and energy. 🙂
  8. Use fence to manage your animals or else they start running around and creating a mess. Save your time. Click on stay on all the animals and please lock your avatar in haystacks or else he/she will take a lot of time in seeding.
  9. If you have money buy a tractor that saves time and fast output. Try to arrange a tractor, seeder etc and one tree/animal of each kind .
  10. Save the gifts in the box do not keep opening them repeatedly once you get the mastery of all gifts.
  11. You can select people (customize) who should be able to see free stuff or bonuses. This is better if you want to share bonus with people who share with you and not everyone.
  12. Please do not download any tools that play on Farmville even while you are offline. Most times such software cannot be trusted.

Remember there is no cheat code in Farmville, the more you play the more you find new ways to level up and stuff. I hope these tips help you and if you have any more tricks you are free to share it with me through comments.