You can now set a video as your Facebook profile picture

You can now set a 7-second looping video as your Facebook profile picture. The update was rolled out by Facebook as a part of multiple other changes that will let users better personalise their Facebook profiles and control their privacy settings more easily.

Facebook has sought to improve and ease its mobile profile experience as it makes more of its $10 billion-plus in annual ad revenue off of phones. The updates also come during New York City’s 12th Advertising Week, where Facebook is courting the world’s largest advertisers and companies.
Users can also set a temporary profile picture that reverts to their old picture at a specified time. Those who want to support a sports team or charitable cause for a specific week, for example, can choose a picture to display for a short time period.

Facebook also introduced more ways to control privacy settings so that users can curate what pieces of information are public and which are only viewable to “friends,” or people that they have allowed to view profiles.

Google's flagship project Loon impresses PM Narendra Modi

Impressed by Google's flagship Project Loon - that takes internet to the remote and inaccessible areas - Prime Minister Narendra Modi believes this has multiple uses like long distance education, rural schools and telemedicine, officials said.


He was given a briefing about Loon during his tour to the Google headquarters in the Silicon Valley over the weekend.


Google officials told Modi that they were already doing a pilot project in Andhra Pradesh and the idea is to target rural areas which still do not have internet penetration.


"So, the Prime Minister felt that this could be a very very significant innovation to help us with rural connectivity," Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Vikas Swarup said.


The Google officials said their research tells them that 160 million people can be lifted out of poverty if given internet access.


"So, the Prime Minister immediately felt applications of Project Loon in areas such as long distance education, rural schools and telemedicine etc. And they said that the technology exists to scale up," Swarup said.


"As of now, it simply a means to deliver internet to places where no internet exists, but depending on what the requirements are, this could be scaled up," he added.


In his interaction with Google officials, the Prime Minister talked about his favourite concept called 'JAM' where the 'J' stands for the Jan Dhan Yojana, the 'A' stands for the Aadhaar platform and the 'M' stands for mobile governance.


Modi told them that the Jan Dhan Yojana is more or less done, 180 million people who were outside the banking sector have now been covered by bank accounts.


The Aadhaar project is about 90 per cent done.


"But mobile governance is where he wanted to move on next and that is where he sought inputs from Google, how that could be made possible," Swarup said.


Specifically, there was a discussion on the possibilities of Google technologies for the agricultural sector in terms of if they could develop algorithm etc. to predict rainfall or to say what is going to happen next in terms of crop patterns etc. which could really be of transformative use in agriculture, he added.

Whatsapp most popular video sharing platform for Indians, Facebook second: Vuclip study

Whatsapp is the most preferred social media and instant messaging platform for Indians to share videos on smartphones, while Facebook comes a close second, according to a survey which revealed the drivers and emerging trends behind video sharing.

Vuclip Global Video Insights survey done over July to September covering 5,000 mobile video viewers spanning India, Middle East and South East Asia, revealed that Whatsapp was the most popular medium in India to share videos, followed by Facebook.

"People respond to this powerful combination by sharing. This has been the key driver for the tremendous organic growth and consumer driven adoption of mobile videos in the emerging markets that we operate in," ArunPrakash, COO, Vuclip said. Vuclip is a leading premium mobile video on demand service for emerging markets.

About 51% respondents shared videos via Whatsapp, 45% on Facebook and 15% using Google+, the survey revealed, highlighting the soaring use of instant messaging platforms and social networks. About a fifth of the respondents share videos at least once a week while 14% indicated that they share videos at least once a month.

As more Indians use smartphones, video quality and content have become key factors in driving video sharing on mobiles, which itself is increasing, a trend similar to that prevalent in emerging markets of Middle East and South East Asia. About 49% of respondents reported to be using Android OS based devices, while 40% used feature phones and 4% used other OS based devices.

Consumers in India reported the top three key criteria for sharing video was high quality, followed by quality of content and celebrity appeal and popularity of the video.

User generated content generates maximum sharing followed by professionally created music video content, as 23% preferred to share them. About 58% of these videos are in the 'Funny Videos' segment. In the professionally created content category, music videos (21%) are most frequently shared, followed by comedy clips (15%) and movie trailers (12%).

Philippines (70%), Indonesia (66%) and Thailand (61%) are markets where Facebook is seen as the preferred medium for video sharing. Malaysia mirrors India in growing use of Whatsapp (46%) as a video sharing medium indicating a trend of moving from one-to-many platforms to one-to-one platforms

Malaysia (32%) and Thailand (30%) have the highest rate of UGC videos being shared among the emerging markets. Interestingly, Twitter is the second most preferred medium for mobile video sharing in markets such as Indonesia and UAE while Google+ is third in preference across most of the emerging markets.

Google+ and Instagram are more popular platforms for mobile video sharing than Whatsapp and Twitter in Philippines.

PM Narendra Modi tilts towards Facebook's Internet.org, draws flak

However, it was Modi's meeting with Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg that was keenly watched by India because of the contentious internet. org initiative of the social network. Facebook's internet. org, which was renamed "Free Basics" just before the Modi visit, aims to provide free access to basic Internet services by partnering with telecom companies.






Such practices, commonly referred to as "zero-rating", allows users to access select applications or websites, free of data charges, by striking deals with telecom operators.


"Any endeavor that promotes Digital India should in no uncertain terms be at odds with the spirit of an open internet," said Patel in the letter.


The net neutrality dialogue in India has hotly debated zero-rating practices which are seen as a "walled garden" that would provide selective Internet access to people who sign up.

Though the government did not take an explicit stand on zero-rating or internet.org during the visit, a controversy erupted in India when Facebook's launch of a profile picture tool to support the Digital India programme was seen as supporting internet.org.


"It's important to remember that Digital India should first be about public interest," said Chinmayi Arun, research director at the Center for Communication Governance at National Law University. "After that, if any industry is to benefit from the infrastructure, then the government should see it as an opportunity for growth of Indian industry," she added.

Some, however did not see anything amiss. "India's first BJP government enabled Indian poor to get access to mobile telephony at prices they can afford and its second could provide Indians with an Internet that reflects the world's largest democracy's commitment to equality and human dignity," said Mishi Choudhary, Legal Director, Software Freedom Law Centre.


"Prime Minister Modi's visit to Silicon Valley is to make that possible," she added.

During the visit, Zuckerberg, Modi, Minister Prasad and several other Facebook executives covered their Facebook profile pictures in the tricolour to show support for the Digital India initiative. Facebook had rolled out internet. org in India last year with telecom operator Reliance, and came under fire from several quarters who said the initiative violates the principle of net neutrality or enabling equal Internet access for everyone. "We should not be thinking of access to the Internet in terms of binaries- that we either subscribe to internet.org or not.


The question to ask is how to bridge the digital divide by best possible means, by free access to all information online, with no single company or institution playing gatekeeper," said CCG's Arun.

In a letter addressed to Communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said making Internet access universal should not be "held hostage by a few foreign corporations". Modi met Facebook, Microsoft, Tesla and Cisco among others during his visit to the Silicon Valley, and sought their support for the Digital India initiative - the Rs 1.13 lakh crore programm which seeks to "transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy".

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in India after his maiden Silicon Valley visit, the Opposition has attacked the government's apparent inclination towards Facebook's controversial internet.org programm, fanning the debate around net neutrality, which they feel may be compromised in a bid to realise Digital India's objectives.

ASCI tells Airtel to stop airing 'misleading' 4G advertisement

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said a Bharti Airtel advertisement promoting its 4G services by promising a "lifetime free mobile connection" was misleading. It asked India's No. 1 phone company to stop airing and printing the commercial by October 7. Airtel said it has asked for areview of the decision and is providing data to back the advertisement.


"The advertisement contravened Chapter 1.4 of the Code," ASCI said in its order, which came in response to a complaint against the advertisement. An Airtel spokesperson said: "We are confident of getting a favourable response from them." The advertisement was launched after Airtel announced nationwide 4G services in August. The advertisement promises: "If your network is faster, we will pay your mobile bills for life."


ASCI's Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) questioned some of the download speeds claimed in the advertisement. The 4G space is seen as the next telecom battleground. In August, Airtel announced plans to complete the rollout of services in 296 towns in all 14 circles where it has 4G airwaves. This was seen as a move to preempt Reliance Jio, which is expected to launch its 4G services by the year-end, apart from launches by rivals Vodafone and Idea Cellular.