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Tag: mentions

  • Microsoft Is Trying to Make Email More Social

    If you’ve ever had to desire to “like” an email, Microsoft has you covered.

    The company is bringing both “likes” and “mentions” to Outlook email. A thumbs-up button will now grace emails in your inbox, and clicking it will send a notification to the email’s author.

    These likes, which Microsoft says can be an “easy way to endorse an email,” will show up as a counter at the top of said email.

    That’s taking a page from Facebook, but Microsoft’s also taken @mentions from Twitter.

    “To use Mentions, simply add the @ symbol in the body of an email. This will bring up your frequent contacts as well as access to your directory. Select the person you want to highlight, and they will automatically be added to the To: line if they were not already included. In addition, their name will be highlighted in the message in blue and they will receive an @ flag in their inbox view next to the message. Furthermore, they can sort by their @ messages to ensure they respond to all messages in which they were mentioned,” says Microsoft.

    In terms of availability, you might not have access right away:

    “The Like feature in Outlook on the web will begin to roll out today to Office 365 First Release customers whose Office 365 plan includes Exchange Online. We expect the feature to roll out broadly to eligible Office 365 commercial customers starting in late October. The Mention feature will begin rolling out to First Release customers in mid-October and broadly to all eligible Office 365 commercial customers in mid-November. In addition, our Outlook.com users who have been migrated to the new version of the service will start seeing Mentions in the December time frame as well.”

    So, probably December for most of you.

    Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Do you see yourself liking many emails?

  • Facebook Mentions App Opens to Verified Profiles

    Facebook Mentions, the company’s app for celebrities, is becoming a little less exclusive.

    Starting today, Mentions is available to anyone with a verified profile.

    “People love reading articles from and connecting with their favorite journalists and public figures on Facebook. Today, we’re making Facebook Mentions and Live available to public figures with verified profiles to help them engage their followers and interact with their peers,” says Facebook.

    Facebook first launched the Mentions app for public figures back in July of 2014. Facebook calls it “a better way for actors, athletes, musicians and other influencers to stay in touch with their fans and the people and things they care about.” It basically allows celebs to filter out the noise and better manage their pages.

    Last month, Facebook added livestreaming capabilities to the app in order to compete with the surging Periscope (Twitter-owned) and Meerkat.

    If you’re a public figure and you think you should be verified, you can apply for that here. Then you can enjoy Mentions and live streaming. You’re probably not a public figure, however, but maybe all of us will someday get livestreaming capabilities.

  • Facebook Verified Profiles Will Soon Get Mentions, ‘Live’ Streaming Video

    Just over a year ago, Facebook launched Mentions, one of its Creative Labs apps, for public figures. It’s basically a way for celebrities to better manage their Facebook presence and engage with fans.

    The official description is: “A better way for actors, athletes, musicians and other influencers to stay in touch with their fans and the people and things they care about.”

    Facebook recently announced an addition to the product, enabling users to broadcast live streaming video. “Tell your story as it happens with live video. Make an announcement, start a Q&A or just show your fans what’s happening in real time.”

    In the media, this has largely been seen as Facebook’s answer to popular new apps like Periscope and Meerkat. But again, it’s only available to celebrities.

    mentions-live

    That changes “soon,” however. TechCrunch’s Josh Constine reports:

    In replies to requests from Verified Pages about when they’d get access to the VIP-only Facebook app Mentions that houses Facebook Live, the company wrote “In the future, Mentions will be available to verified Profiles”. When I asked if that would include Facebook Live, it told me it plans to roll Mentions out to verified Profiles soon, which includes access to Live.

    Facebook verifies celebrities, public figures, global brands and businesses, and media. If your page or profile isn’t verified, and you think it should be, there’s a form here that you can fill out to apply for verification.

    So far, Mentions is still only available for iOS. It’s unclear if an Android version is on the way alongside expanded availability.

    Image via Facebook

  • Facebook Now Lets Celebrities (Not You) Livestream

    Facebook Now Lets Celebrities (Not You) Livestream

    Facebook has officially entered the livestreaming game. Kind of.

    If you’re a celebrity, you can now livestream to your fans. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a regular person without millions of Facebook followers. That’s ok, you’re still a special snowflake and your life has meaning. But you can’t livestream on Facebook. Yet.

    Facebook ‘Live’, as it’s calling it, is only available through Facebook’s Mentions app. Mentions, of course, is Facebook’s app for public figures only. The company launched it about a year ago.

    “Starting today, public figures can share live video from Facebook Mentions, the app that makes it easy for athletes, musicians, politicians and other influencers to talk with their fans and each other. You can discover these live videos from public figures you follow in your News Feed, says Facebook’s Vadim Lavrusik. “You can comment on, like or share the video while watching a live broadcast. You can also see when your friends or other public figures start watching.”

    It’s clear that Facebook is going after Meerkat and the Twitter-owned Periscope, both livestreaming apps. The big difference between Facebook Live and those apps is permanence, however. Once a Facebook livestream is completed, those videos simply become regular old videos on the streamer’s timeline (unless they choose to delete them, of course).

    Both Meerkat and Periscope’s videos vanish after a certain amount of time.

    For now, you can only watch while The Rock livestreams. Maybe soon, you can livestream on Facebook. For now you’ll have to stick to Periscope.

  • William Shatner Not Happy With Zuckerberg App

    William Shatner Not Happy With Zuckerberg App

    William Shatner is clearly not happy with Mark Zuckerberg’s new app–the one that is available to celebrities only. Called ‘Mentions,’ the app is available to celebs and notable people so they can keep track of how often their names are mentioned on Facebook.

    Shatner dissed ‘Mentions’ via his Tumblr account, sharing his dislike (no, they still don’t have a button for that) of the fact that in order to utilize ‘Mentions,’ celebs must ‘like’ others.”

    “When you install the Mentions App you cannot proceed further until you follow another one of their other ‘celebrity’ accounts,” Shatner explained. “The first person on the list I was given was George Takei (rolling my eyes.) I ended up choosing Robert Downey Jr. to follow and then I hid his posts (sorry Robert!) I think that is a big flaw in the set up. If this app is for celebrities then WHY force them to follow another celebrity in order to set up this app? I think that is a flaw; I’m already following those who I want to follow – why insist I follow that short list of others?”

    “Rolling my eyes,” Shatner wrote about the rather awkward suggestion that he follow George Takei. The two actors have a bizarre feud going on.

    Incidentally there was no mention by the Star Trek star as to whether or not Robert Downey, Jr. chose to follow him back. Hmmm….doesn’t seem likely.

    William Shatner summed up his feelings about Mark Zuckerberg’s new ‘Mentions’ app as follows:

    “I’m not quite sure why Facebook released this app for “celebrities”. It seems to be ill conceived,” he wrote. “I will probably use it to post to my Facebook when I’m on my phone but it doesn’t allow for mail or groups. I will continue to use my regular Facebook App as well as the Pages app.”

    Per William Shatner’s assessment of Mark Zuckerberg’s new app, do you think it will live to see lots of celebrity action? Is Captain Kirk being harsh or is it really a rather silly notion?

    Do you think lots of people will take Facebook app advice from William Shatner?

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • William Shatner Craps On Zuckerberg’s New App

    William Shatner took to his Tumblr account recently to write up a review of Facebook’s new app, Mentions. The Mentions app is not available to everyone, but is intended for celebrities and public figures who would get “mentioned” on Facebook. The idea is that it allows said celebs to interact better with fans and to keep track of their “publicity stock”, so to speak.

    Shatner said he has three Facebook apps: Facebook, Pages, and now Mentions. Having all three, he felt he was in a good position to give the rest of us who can not access Mentions an idea of how well it works.

    The first thing that rankled Kirk was the requirement that the celeb using the app “follow” another celebrity. True to Facebook form, the app offers suggestions. Apparently there is no algorithm to take into account decades-old rivalries and beefs.

    “When you install the Mentions App you cannot proceed further until you follow another one of their other ‘celebrity’ accounts,” Shatner explained. “The first person on the list I was given was George Takei (rolling my eyes.) I ended up choosing Robert Downey Jr. to follow and then I hid his posts (sorry Robert!) I think that is a big flaw in the set up. If this app is for celebrities then WHY force them to follow another celebrity in order to set up this app? I think that is a flaw; I’m already following those who I want to follow – why insist I follow that short list of others?”

    Shatner then proceeds to do a thorough breakdown of the of the app’s features, complete with screenshots. And, in the end, he offers his takeaway judgement on the app.

    “I’m not quite sure why Facebook released this app for “celebrities”. It seems to be ill conceived,” Shatner said. “I will probably use it to post to my Facebook when I’m on my phone but it doesn’t allow for mail or groups. I will continue to use my regular Facebook App as well as the Pages app.”

    Image via YouTube

  • William Shatner: Facebook’s Mentions App ‘Ill Conceived’

    Last week, Facebook announced the launch of its latest app Mentions. It’s an app aimed at letting “public figures” (or celebrities) manage their Facebook presence, talk with fans, and talk with each other from their mobile devices.

    Celebrity William Shatner is not impressed. He even went so far as to write a review of the app on Tumblr. He says he discovered the new app from a banner ad at the top of his Facebook account. He also uses the Facebook app and the Pages app (which anyone can use to manage their Facebook Pages).

    “When you install the Mentions App you cannot proceed further until you follow another one of their other ‘celebrity’ accounts,” he writes. “The first person on the list I was given was George Takei (rolling my eyes.) I ended up choosing Robert Downey Jr. to follow and then I hid his posts (sorry Robert!) I think that is a big flaw in the set up. If this app is for celebrities then WHY force them to follow another celebrity in order to set up this app? I think that is a flaw; I’m already following those who I want to follow – why insist I follow that short list of others?”

    He proceeds to pick through the feed, mentions/activity, posting, notifications, etc.

    Shatner’s conclusion is as follows: “I’m not quite sure why Facebook released this app for “celebrities”. It seems to be ill conceived. I will probably use it to post to my Facebook when I’m on my phone but it doesn’t allow for mail or groups. I will continue to use my regular Facebook App as well as the Pages app.”

    At least he’s going to use it.

    Mentions is the latest app from Facebook Creative Labs, which is also responsible for the strange Slinshot app launched last month.

    Image via Tumblr

  • Facebook Launches ‘Mentions’ App For Public Figures

    Facebook announced the launch of a new iPhone app for public figures called Facebook Mentions. It’s the latest from the Facebook Creative Labs team, which is responsible for the company’s Slingshot and Paper apps.

    The app is designed to make it easier for public figures to talk with fans and each other from their mobile devices. It lets them see what fans are saying about them and respond, share updates, photos and videos, host live Q&As, join popular Facebook conversations and see the latest posts from people they follow, and get notifications about posts (including mentions) and other things.

    “Nearly 800 million people are connected to public figures on Facebook, and interacting with athletes, musicians, actors and other influencers is an important part of their experience,” says product manager Allison Swope. “From cheering on World Cup players to checking out updates from favorite celebrities, there are more than a billion interactions between public figures and their fans on Facebook every week.”

    The app is only available to those with verified pages in the US, but it will become available to more countries and profiles in the coming months. No word on an Android release.

    Images via Facebook

  • LinkedIn Tests Direct Mention Links in Status Updates [UPDATED]

    LinkedIn Tests Direct Mention Links in Status Updates [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: LinkedIn is now beginning to roll out the feature out to all English-speaking users.

    LinkedIn is currently testing user mentions, something that other networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ have had for some time and that users rely on quite heavily. Simply put, user mentions in posts let the people you’re talking about know that you’re talking about them.

    If you’re currently part of the test, you’ll see a new tip box on your status update box. It’ll say “Now you can type a name to mention a member of company.”

    LinkedIn User Mentions

    Typing a name of a person or a company prompts a drop-down menu with choices arranged with the most likely suggestions (your actual connections) at the top.

    Like Facebook, the mentions simply appear as links to the users’ profile inside the status. When someone mentions you in a post, you’ll receive a notification.

    Apart from the aforementioned ability to tip people off to your statuses, mentions give users browsing their feeds and easier way to check out other users.

    A LinkedIn spokesperson told The Next Web:

    “We are currently testing the ability for members to directly mention each other in professional conversations on LinkedIn. This test is part of our ongoing efforts to help members further engage with their networks in meaningful ways across the LinkedIn platform.”

  • Foursquare Now Links to Businesses’ Twitter Accounts on Cross-Posted Check-ins

    Foursquare is making a small tweak that could make a big difference for businesses trying to connect with their patrons (and wishing to court new patrons).

    Starting today, businesses will be given the option to connect their Twitter accounts with check-ins shared on Twitter.

    This mean that your businesses’ Twitter account will be mentioned in check-ins when any user shares that check-in on Twitter.

    Up until now, Foursquare check-ins cross-posted to Twitter take on this format: “Blah blah I’m doing this blah blah (at Butter Lane w/ 19 others).”

    If a business decides to link their Twitter account, the tweet would mention their Twitter account instead of simply their name. “”Blah blah I’m doing this blah blah (Butterlane w/ 19 others).”

    “It’s a small change to help you better reach out to and connect with people who love your business,” says Twitter.

    And they’re right. It makes it easier for someone who sees the check-in tweet to find your business.

    Foursquare says that if you’ve claimed your business and already linked your Twitter account, this change will happen automatically. Otherwise, head here to turn on the new feature.

  • Twitter Now Highlights Links While You’re Composing Your Tweets

    Twitter has made a minor tweak to its dekstop site that should help users better understand what they’re about to tweet out to their followers.

    Now, when you’re composing a tweet, links (anything that’s clickable on the site) will appear blue – even before you hit send. That means hashtags, @ mentions, and even links to outside sites.

    Before, you had to actually send your tweet in order to make your hyperlinks look like hyperlinks.

    Although the highlighted links aren’t clickable, you can right-click and open them up in a new tab or window. This allows you to quickly glance at the other conversation surrounding a hashtag, or glance at the profile of someone you’re tweeting at before you hit the send button and make it final.

    As of now, the new link highlighting is only live on desktop.

    [via L.A. Times]

  • Foursquare Lets You Tag Facebook Friends, Even If They Don’t Use Foursquare

    Foursquare Lets You Tag Facebook Friends, Even If They Don’t Use Foursquare

    On Monday, Foursquare updated their apps with a new rating system for locations. Now, when you find a business using the explore feature, it will have a number rating (from 1-10) attached. According to the company, this type of rating is determined through various signals including tips, likes, popularity, loyalty, and more. They say that it’s a much better rating method than star ratings, which appear on many other local search services.

    Today, they’re announcing another feature that shipped with that update. Now, you can tag Facebook friends in your check-in updates even if they aren’t on Foursquare using the “add friend” icon at the bottom left corner of the text box.

    “With Monday’s iOS update, you can now mention Facebook friends who aren’t on Foursquare in your check-ins. Just tap the add friend icon when you’re checking in and scroll down to find them. Your friends will get a notification on Facebook, and will be tagged in the Facebook post if you choose to share it there,” says Foursquare.

    This function is currently only available on iOS, but Foursquare says that the Android update is on its way.

    Foursquare has been busy retooling the user experience to go “beyond the check-in” and to cater to non-members. Last month they opened up Foursuqare.com’s explore feature to non-users, and last week they debuted that functionality on mobile.

  • Instagram Now Converts @ Mentions to the Correct Twitter Handle

    Instagram has just solved an ultimate first world problem. But first world or not, it was pretty annoying and this is an excellent fix.

    What if you @mention your friend on Instagram and cross-post it to Twitter, but your friend has a different handle there than he does on Instagram. Then your tweet features a worthless @ mention that is definitely not your friend and could be someone random. Yikes.

    Now, that problem is no more. Starting today, @ mentions on Instagram automatically translate to the correct @ mention Twitter.

    That means that if your friend’s Instagram handle and Twitter handle are different, the Instagram handle will automatically be converted to the correct Twitter handle on cross-posts. That is, assuming that your friend has already connected his Instagram account with his Twitter account.

    If he hasn’t, well, the @ sign will simply be removed when it’s posted to Twitter. If you Instagram a photo with an @ mention that doesn’t correspond to any user, the @ sign will stay when it cross-posts to Twitter.

    Here are the types of tweets we’re talking about, ones that make an @ mention and also include an instagr.am link.

    So go out and @ mention without fear, Instagrammers.