Category Archives: Social Networking

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

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 – More high school hallway than main street

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 is Fun!

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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WeChat vs. WhatsApp

We’ve been shouting about WeChat for quite a while. In fact, one of our posts on it is the most popular piece we’ve ever done. WhatsApp has been around a bit longer and claims more users than WeChat but the figures don’t include the hundreds of millions of users  in China. We think that in a worldwide comparison, WeChat would have more users. As more people leave Facebook, it seems they are turning to other social networking apps to keep in touch with friends and to meet new people. Today we’ll take a look at these two, relatively new instant messaging tools.

Photo of WeChat Instant Messaging
WeChat is still our favorite IM app.

Who’s Got Your Number?

Only WhatsApp asks for your mobile number so we’ll start with a warning. Do you really want instant messages from anyone on your phone’s contact list? We don’t. That condition alone would keep most people from choosing WhatsApp over WeChat. The only time WeChat gets your number is when you give it to them in order to link your mobile contacts with it. It is not a mandatory part of the signup process. Ten points for WeChat.

Which App Helps You Find New Friends? 

Only WeChat lets you search for new friends and it does it in a very unique and fun way. Shake your device and you instantly find others users who are doing the same thing. Why is this important? None of the other instant messaging apps allow for this kind of reaching out to users who are searching for friends. WhatsApp relies on your current contacts, blindly assuming that those contacts are the only people you are interested in messaging. Clearly, judging from the huge success that WeChat has found with its Shake and People Nearby features, this isn’t the case. The beauty of WeChat’s Shake is that both parties are shaking at the same time, essentially telling each other that they are open to new contacts. There is no misinterpretation and no privacy issues with Shake. You only use it when you have time and the inclination to search the world for potential contacts.

Free? We Love Free!

WeChat wins here because it is free, totally free. WhatsApp is only free for the first year, after which it costs a whopping $0.99. OK, so ninety-nine cents isn’t anywhere near whopping but you get the point. We’re not sure how WeChat makes any income from their app but the fact that it is still free after several years of being available, they must be getting income from somewhere. There is word of Tencent selling accounts to retail and commercial clients, so far we’ve only seen that as an opt-in choice. This means that you can choose to follow a retail chain, let’s say American Apparel, and get their directed messages but that’s it. Nothing that you didn’t already ask for comes your way. More points for WeChat.

Photo of WhatsApp Instant Messaging
WhatsApp is popular only because people don’t know about WeChat, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Privacy. Who’s On and When Did You Last Show Up? 

With WeChat, no one knows if you are online or sleeping or in the middle of a meeting. Your contacts can send messages and you might, or might not, respond immediately. With WhatsApp, users are shown as offline, online or ‘last seen at’. Add this to the problem we mentioned before, that of receiving instant messages from anyone on your contact list who uses WhatsApp, and we think WeChat wins again. WeChat asks you first if it’s OK to receive a message from a stranger.

We think you get the idea by now. WeChat is a free, full-featured instant messaging app that protects your privacy but let’s you have fun, too. As far as features go, WeChat wins hands down. You can send any kind of message you can think of: video, text, voice, photos, links to web pages…instantly. WhatsApp has recently added Group Chat and some other features but WeChat has had these for a lot longer. Which apps do you use? Let us know what you think is best and why. Make a comment below or, better yet,  Like us on our Facebook page and comment there. Here is the link:  Computers Made Simple on Facebook  We’ll be glad you did.

Thanks for reading!

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Here’s a link that might help us if you are interested in hosting your own blog with Fatcow Hosting. We’ve signed up to become an affiliate and we make a bit of money if you sign up for hosting via this link: FatCow Hosting Thanks!

 

Snapchat Explained

Snapchat is one of those quirky but fun mobile apps that grow to be very popular then disappear completely. Right now Snapchat seems to be booming but we expect it to vanish sometime in the middle future. That’s a bit sad really, at least for its creators. Why? Because they turned down an offer of three billion dollars for their company. The offer was from Facebook, believe it or not. We’re not sure what Facebook was going to do with the app but they didn’t get it. Here’s what Snapchat is all about.

Basically Snapchat represents the fleeting moments of time that we use to wish we could share with others. Whether by photos or short snippets of video, Snapchat allows you to capture a moment in your timeline of life, share it, then watch it disappear forever. (Sort of. More on that later.)  Users have a list of friends and send these snippets out to them, singly or in groups.

Photo of Snapchat Logo
Snapchat Logo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since there is no way to find other users,  meeting strangers is difficult. Because of this, users can feel reasonably safe when they share a moment with a friend because the person they share it with is usually just that, a real friend. They may also feel safe because the things they share disappear as soon as the recipient sees them. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.

In reality, thanks to the screen capture feature built into virtually every mobile device, a savvy user can receive a Snapchat image and save it to their phone.  The snaps are also stored on Snapchat’s servers for a certain length of time, perhaps forever, just in case the justice system needs them for reference. If you do happen to give Snapchat a try, keep in mind these two ways that a photo just might come back to haunt you later.

We came to Snapchat by chance, actually. In doing research for this post, we downloaded the app and tried to sign up for an account. Strangely enough, it seems we already had an account, or at least Snapchat thought we did. Obviously someone had used one of our email addresses to sign up for Snapchat and simply left it that way. We were able to change the password, essentially hijacking the account, and now receive Snaps meant for the other person. Honestly, we don’t think this is a bad thing, specially since we can’t contact the real owner of the account. We did change the profile name but  we still get snaps every day from many ‘friends’ who aren’t really friends.

If you’re really stuck and can’t find other users, there is a Facebook group called ‘Snapchat Usernames’. You can post yours or simply look for interesting people to add to your account. Be careful though. There is no age limit on Snapchat and, from what we’ve seen and read anyway, there are many times more guys looking for girls than vice versa. That shouldn’t be news to anyone, right?

If you’ve had some interesting Snapchat experiences, we’d love to hear about them. Our opinion after using Snapchat for a month or so it this: the creators should have taken the money and run. We may be wrong but we don’t think Snapchat is going anywhere. WeChat is still our favorite way to meet new people.

Thanks for reading! Questions, comments and suggestions are all welcome. Comment below or Like us on our Facebook page and comment there. Here is the link:  Computers Made Simple on Facebook 

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Here’s a link that might help us if you are interested in hosting your own blog with Fatcow Hosting. We’ve signed up to become an affiliate and we make a bit of money if you sign up for hosting via this link: FatCow Hosting Thanks!