Category Archives: Facefeed

Facefeed, Snapchat, Social Networking

Snapchat vs. Facefeed – and the winner is?

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Snapchat and Facefeed are two popular and relatively new mobile apps which share a similar purpose: meeting people. No, these aren’t replacements for the online dating sites, they’re far more casual, less intense and a lot more fun. Initially we were going to do separate posts but since they’re more the same than different, we decided to do a comparison. Here we go!

Similarities: 

1. Both Snapchat and Facefeed are available for Android and iOS devices. Facefeed started out as iOS only but now it’s available at Google Play for Android.

2. The two apps require a camera, something that WeChat etc. don’t. Like Instagram, both of these are image based. They let users display themselves and/or their lives. Facefeed requires a front facing cam, Snapchat can use either front or rear cam.

 

Differences: 

1. There is no log-in with Facefeed. You show up, give your preferences and you’re on your way. Snapchat requires a username and an email address.

2. The camera thing mentioned above. Facefeed cannot use your rear cam, just the one that sees, guess what, your face. Snapchat lets you shoot your own ugly mug or those of your friends.

3. You can keep track of friends/strangers on Snapchat. You can add them to your feed and send messages directly to them. While Facefeed allows you to follow people, you can’t directly message someone unless you keep a continuous stream of messages going back and forth. Facefeed is not one-on-one, at least as far as broadcasting messages (snaps) is concerned. It’s easy, almost too easy, to lose connections.

4. Facefeed is pics and text on pics only, no video and no art. Snapchat uses still photos, videos as well as art. You have to take a photo or video before you can draw on your screen but most users shoot a pic of a blank ceiling, for example, then draw on it. You can add text and/or your own drawings. Here are a few examples from Snapchat users:

Photo of Ryan Seacrest
Cyreneq is a real artist, here shown with a pretty good Ryan Seacrest.
Photo of Drawing of Cat
A smiling cat. Take the pic, add the art and send it off.

 

5. Of the two apps, Facefeed is more instantaneous, more current. The feed is always there, sometimes with repetitions but more often than not, fresh every time. Snapchat only shows the current snaps, ones that the people you follow send out. If everyone is busy, you’re got nothing to look at.

6. On Facefeed, the stream of faces is your source of contacts. You can’t add people from a list of names, you can only send them a message when you see their face on the flow. With Snapchat, there are sites that allow users to share their Snapchat names. Here’s a link to one of those places:

http://www.the11thsecond.com/

Photo of website
Cyreneq seems to work at or run this site. Lots of names here.

Decisions, decisions: 

Which app is best? We like both but we lean towards Snapchat. It’s more fun, has far less of a single’s bar atmosphere and it allows you keep in touch with your contacts. Facefeed is frustrating, to be honest. While we’re not going to get into instructions for these two, we will warn you to be very careful with your swipes. Swipe the wrong way at the wrong time and your contact is lost, often forever. You can be in the middle of a conversation with a friend and, bam, they’re gone. Once you install the app you’ll see what we mean. Just read the comments on many of the photos and you’ll get an idea of exactly how exasperating Facefeed can be.

One feature that we like on Snapchat is the weekend feeds from various social events. Things like college football games, rock concerts, charity events, conventions, etc. These come automatically, you don’t subscribe to them. Watch them or not, it’s up to you, but they add a whole other element of fun. At this point they’re all from the U.S. but we hope to see more from around the world.

Snapchat also allows video chats, text chats with no photos and, of course, the drawing function. Add both but we think you’ll grow to like Snapchat more. Single guys and girls can play around with Facefeed but we think you’ll see it’s not much different from WeChat’s Shake feature. Everything about it is a shot in the dark.

There you have it. A short synopsis of Facefeed and Snapchat. If you have questions or comments, use the comment form below this to share them with us. Alternatively, Like our Facebook page and make a comment there. Here is the link: Computers Made Simple on Facebook.   Thanks for reading!

 

Facefeed, Snapchat, Social Networking, WeChat

Things We’re Working On – Social media, apps, low-tech stuff

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We’ve been quiet this summer, and we use the term summer very loosely. Our short break from several posts a week trickled down to a couple a month. That’s about to end. Here’s what you can expect from Computers Made Simple in the near future:

1. Reviews of a few new software products, one is a somewhat confusing app that syncs such things as your Facebook photo albums as well as some cloud storage sites. We’ve got strong reservations about recommending this one. Another is a VPN product that we just haven’t had time to experiment with.

2. Lots of social networking reviews and updates. We’re heavily involved in some of the more popular apps such as Instagram as well as some fun new apps that few people know about. Feedly is one of those, we can tell you know. We’re also revisiting some of the older S/N (social networking) sites such as Tumblr and Pinterest. Stay tuned for updates and news/reviews on these and others.

3. In the last few months we’ve been trying out some cool mobile apps too. (Yes, Instagram is a mobile app but you can access parts of it from your computer.) The ones we mean in this area are things such as Facefeed and Snapchat, etc. We’ll jot down some short notes on those two farther down the page today.

4. More how-to/do-it-yourself posts on networking, computers, gaming hardware, etc. Sometimes the mass of wires in our entertainment room drives us crazy even though we know that they all do, mainly because we put them there. It’s still a ball of confusion and we’re going to try to straighten it all out for you.

5. Reader suggestions. Alright, we don’t have any yet but our readers are loyal, dedicated and VERY smart. We’ll get suggestions, hopefully, and we’ll write about them, solve them, answer them…well, you get the idea.

For now, here are some comments about Facefeed and Snapchat.

Facefeed: We’ve already written about this app. Read our post here: Facefeed  This simple and fun mobile offering has the potential to take over the world, we think, but it keeps getting mired in the silliness of spontaneity. Once wrong swipe on your screen and you’ve lost someone who looked interesting. Talk about ships passing in the night! We’ve written to the creator, tweeted him, bugged him on Facefeed itself but he doesn’t seem to want to change the way people interact on his creation. It’s still fun, don’t get us wrong, but many, many users are frustrated with it.

Snapchat: We don’t have a full grasp of this app’s potential but we’re working on it. Recently, let’s say in the last three months, Snapchat has moved from a frivolous adolescent time waster to a real, almost artistic time waster. Besides text and photos or videos, users can draw on their screens. While that sounds pretty simple, you should see the kind of art that comes out of it. That change alone has made Snapchat a very entertaining bit of fluff. Try it, tell us your experiences. We’ll share them here.

Photo of cyreneq from Snapchat
Art from the very popular cyreneq. This Snapchat user draws amazing pics. Check her out.

Of the two products mentioned above, Facefeed has the most potential, we think. Why? Simply because you can meet 100s of new people a day if you have the time to spend. We loved WeChat for its promise in that area, specially with its Shake and People Nearby features. Facefeed is a much easier way to interact with strangers. It’s also completely safe. You choose who you want to say hi to and a simple swipe gets rid of the obnoxious idiots who sometimes troll the Internet.

Finally, just so you don’t get stressed out, we’ll continue our posts about Facebook. We’ve covered this prime social networking site for a few years but we’re still noticing things that need explaining. All in all, stay tuned for our posts and updates. As always, check out our Facebook page. Like it and you’ll be the first to hear our news. Here is the link:  Computers Made Simple on Facebook

Thanks for reading! Feel free to share us with your friends.

 

Facefeed, Social Networking

Facefeed – More high school hallway than main street

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Facefeed purports to ‘mimic real life’. We’ve been using the new app for a few weeks now and, in our opinion, that’s not quite the way it is. Facefeed is really a game, no matter how much it pretends to imitate real life.  Here’s our post on how it all works, just in case you missed it: Facefeed

On Facefeed, your popularity is carefully measured, just as it was back in high school. You’re either ‘in’ or you’re ‘out’. In order to up your popularity, strangers have to respond to your greetings. Every person who eventually does say hi to you, ups your popularity by ten points. Here’s a screencap:

Photo of Facefeed 1
38 people, 380 points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you finally get a ranking, Facefeed will tell you just how popular you really are…at least on Facefeed:

Photo of Facefeed 2
Still a long way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People that you finally end up chatting with on Facefeed have no qualms about telling you that they’re only doing it to increase their popularity. That’s why we see it as a game, nothing that resembles real life at all. The more spaghetti that you toss on the wall, the better your chances are that some will stick. It also helps to be funny, attractive, smart or, in some cases, sexy.  If your photo stands out, more people will say hi to you. It’s simple really but it’s also completely phony. It’s definitely more high school hallway than main street but, in spite of that, it’s fun and quite addicting. You’re not blowing up pigs with missiles or birds but the end result is the same. You’ve spent some time trying to get a high score and it didn’t cost you a dime.

Who is popular? Here are shots of the number one female and the number one male on Facefeed:

Photo of Facefeed 4
She’s Number One! At least for today.
Photo of Facefeed 5
This fellow is the top male on Facefeed. He’s number 6 right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She may be famous, we’re not sure, but she’s very popular. The guy seems friendly but he’s definitely not a ‘hunk’ in the normal sense. In spite of that they are at the top of the heap, at least for today. The list changes all the time. By the way, you can’t say hi to these people when you’re checking out the ‘best of the best’ list. Why not? Well, they are higher than you, silly! Yes, the class system (or the caste system) is alive and well on Facefeed. If you happen upon one of these faces on the normal feed, you can say hi, just as you might on the street. If you see them on the most popular list, akin to the red carpet at the Oscars, you can’t. All you can do is dream about someday seeing your face in the number one position.

Do you use Facefeed? Have you had any fun or crazy experiences? Share them with us in a comment below or on our Facebook page. Here is the link:Computers Made Simple on Facebook.

Thanks for reading!

 

Facefeed, Social Networking

Facefeed is Fun!

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Photo of Facefeed's Founder
Facefeed’s Founder

Meeting people on social media is always a problem. Facefeed solves that problem in a fun and very addictive way. Imagine yourself walking down the street, people watching. As you pass someone, what do you do? You probably look at their face, right? Maybe indirectly, maybe with a glance but we’re quite sure you look at faces. Now, imagine that the street you are on has only women or only men on it. As you walk, you say hi to some, ignore others, smile or keep walking. That’s pretty much what you get with Facefeed.

Facefeed is a free app. Download it from the Apple App store. Unfortunately there is no Android version at this point and we don’t see one on the horizon. From what we’ve seen, it’s almost worth buying an Apple device just for this app. Yes, it’s that much fun. We use our iPod Touch and it works just fine. Obviously it would be better and more entertaining on something that could use a data feed but, hey, an iPod will do the job when you have a WiFi signal.

Here’s how Facefeed operates:

1. First, get your face on. Take a photo that will be you for now. You can change the photo any time you want but you have to start with a pic, preferably of your face. Sure, you can cheat by hiding but what’s the point? No one will say hi unless you post a face pic.

2. Make up a name or use your own. There is no email sign-in process. There’s just you and people on ‘the street’.

3. Choose the faces you want to see. Could be men, could be women, could be both.

4. Start walking. Scroll up to see the next person on the street. If you see someone who looks interesting, say hi. This is where the fun comes in. When you say hi, you have to send a photo along with your greeting. Hold up a cup of coffee or say cheers with a martini, it doesn’t matter. If you look decent, fun or whatever the other person is looking for, they just might say hi back to you. At some point after a few hellos, they or you can decide to make friends. At that point you can trade email addresses or just keep things simple on Facefeed.

Here are some screenshots from Facefeed:

Photo of Facefeed 1
If you see a face you like, say hi and smile, just like it says here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo of Facefeed 2
If you’re lucky, someone might just say hi to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If enough people say hi to you, your popularity rises.

Photo of Facefeed 3
We are number 5,684. Still a long way to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download Facefeed and have some fun. Take it easy and walk slowly. One of the things you will find out immediately is ‘you can’t go back’. Once you scroll up to see the next face on your screen, the face you just passed is lost forever. When we say walk slowly we mean take your time as you’re checking out the faces. Flip too fast and you just might miss your next best friend. 

TIP: If you want to add a friend, you can only do it when you’re sending a greeting back to them. Receive the message, press the reply icon and look for the star up on the top right of your screen. Choose ‘add friend’ and then send the message. If someone adds you as a friend, you can only accept them when you are replying. Again, look for the star icon up on the top right. If you have a problem, ask us. We’ll sort it out for you.

Thanks for reading! Share your experiences with us here or on our Facebook page.  Here is the link:Computers Made Simple on Facebook.

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