The COVID-19 pandemic has rewritten the way we approach pandemics in so many ways. It has brought to light new dimensions that also have a part in pandemics in the age of social media and the internet. However, it has, more importantly, highlighted the importance of data and technology in managing the spread of a deadly virus.
Facebook is looking to help with the data portion of the equation when it comes to managing the COVID-19 outbreak. With many country’s public health sectors being bogged down and overwhelmed, the company is looking to step in to help monitor hotspots and predict infection clusters before they occur. Partnering with Carnegie Mellon University Delphi Research Center, the company has developed a symptom tracker which can help predict hotspots based on surveys.
These opt-in survey ask participants if they have experienced any of the symptoms currently associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. These include coughing, shortness of breath, loss of smell, loss of taste and fevers. Using these symptoms are precursor markers, the data collected is able to help forecast potential patient loads for hospitals during the outbreak and if the curve is being flattened. These responses are sent directly to researchers in Carnegie Mellon University.
This is work that social networks are well-situated to do. By distributing surveys to large numbers of people whose identities we know, we can quickly generate enough signal to correct for biases and ensure sampling is done properly.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook
Facebook is facilitating this research as part of its Data for Good program. The social media platform is proving its efficacy as a platform for data collection. On a daily basis, about 2 billion users interact on the platform; making it uniquely suited as a potential data silo. This application could potentially help countries still struggling with COVID-19 predict and manage outbreaks and disease clusters more effectively. It can also be a game changer for countries which do not have the resources to deal with the pandemic effectively.
After a month of trials, Facebook is looking to make the survey available internationally. During the trails, the company saw the efficacy of using the collected data to create a county-by-county heat map for COVID-19 spread; something that was apparently hard to get in the U.S.
Facebook and Google are arguably the largest content providers in the world. They have, in some cases, become the sole source of content for users. The companies have played the role of content aggregator and ad providers for many years. However, some countries are beginning to take a hard look at how they could have played a role in the slow demise of news outlets over the years.
The main issue being looked at in a lot of countries is the distribution of ad revenue. In most of these countries, the argument is that Facebook and Google’s hold on an unprecedented share of ad revenue has led to the decline in overall revenue for news outlets. This has led to an increased scrutiny by governments. Unsurprisingly, governments are beginning to argue that companies such as Google and Facebook should be paying for the content they are using on the platform.
The latest country to seriously consider the possibility of introducing such laws is Australia. The country has ordered that its Competitions and Consumer Commission (ACCC) create a mandatory code of conduct to address the issue. The code of conduct would, essentially, require companies like Facebook and Google to pay for using content generated by others; this would include listing the content. While we’ve already seen similar measures adopted in countries like France, the ACCC’s code of conduct would also require companies to share data, algorithm changes, news ranking and adopt some form of revenue sharing with content companies.
The move to introduce some form of legislation is spurred by the economic impact of COVID-19 on the news and content sectors. The country is also citing the disproportionately large share of online revenue taken by Facebook and Google in the country. A draft of the Australian code of conduct is expected to be prepared by July 2020. However, there is no clear indication of when the code of conduct will finalised.
This whole COVID-19 situation has been quite trying for plenty of people. For Malaysia, the country is in its third phase of a state sanctioned quarantine, or Movement Control Order (MCO) in their words. The MCO means that there are some imposed restrictions to how you can move about in the region. No one can come into or out of Malaysia at this time too. In other words, we are under a limited lock down.
This also means that most organisations in Malaysia are on a work-from-home policy, including us. Working from home is not a new concept though. Funnily enough, it is not tech-based firms that has gone big with work-from-home concepts. Still, this is the time when everyone just must start adopting the work-from-home culture. Not like they have a choice anyway in Malaysia.
Facebook has been one organisation at the forefront of business transformations in the region. They have also transformed how businesses work and sell their products in the modern world. They are more than just a Social Media app you have on your smartphones. Facebook is more than an app just to keep in touch with your friends.
It has become a live news channel, where you can view live updates on the most current news. You can set up watch parties (limited to Facebook Watch and videos) to a live event. It has become a live event space, if you might for the public. With Messenger and WhatsApp, it is a communication powerhouse; an all-in-one tool for your daily communication needs.
If you need to, Facebook can be your marketplace, or the place where you shop with marketplace. With Facebook Watch, it is your source of entertainment. It can even be your calendar if you really need it to be. It is truly a one-stop, go-to, solve-it-all platform where you can find anything and everything.
That is also why when we were given the chance to sit down with Nicole Tan of Facebook Malaysia, we took the offer up.
Nicole Tan is not just a random person in Facebook Malaysia. She is the Facebook Malaysia’s Country Director. When you say top brass, she is it for Facebook Malaysia. The buck stops with her. Of course, no one is better qualified to talk about Facebook’s presence and efforts in Malaysia than her.
Source: Facebook
We started the interview with a burning question of ‘how?’ Everyone is in this trying period that is the MCO and plenty are forced to bring work home. In that case, everyone has to adapt to a completely new working environment and culture. Every other person is of course looking toward the big tech names for guidance and inspiration.
Facebook has always had a very flexible approach toward this issue of course. Being a tech firm there are already measures in place for a work-from-home situation. In fact, Facebook Malaysia has adopted the work-from-home policy even before Malaysia’s MCO is implemented. According to Nicole Tan, the firm has adopted to the situation very quickly. Naturally, there has been a lot more web-conferencing that is needed for daily operations. For Nicole then, it is almost just like any other day in the office; just with more video conferencing than ever.
There is one big concern for consumers who are on Facebook though. The platform has become one of the biggest news channels in the world. In Malaysia at least, plenty rely on Facebook for the latest updates in the region. In these trying times, more so rely on Facebook and its services for information. With fears of cyber attacks and scams related to COVID-19 as well, fake news is another big concern. In that, Facebook has been working very closely with their partners which include health institutes and certain government departments to verify news sources. They are not just doing it on Facebook as a platform though. They are also doing it on Whatsapp, Messenger and even Instagram.
Source: Facebook
All this accumulates to Facebook’s very own COVID-19 specific information center. The section is also an accumulation for your benefit. Facebook, through the center is working to bring forward tips and resources from experts and other certified sources to keep you healthy and informed at this time. This is not something new for Facebook. At this time though, to verify all the news, they have spent quite a significant amount of money to work with fact-check networks just so that you get the correct information.
That is not all they have been doing in the fight for COVID-19 though. Being one of the largest tech firms in the world, they could contribute plenty to the efforts around the world. They join other multinationals in donating relief funds and even development of vaccines. In total, they probably has put forth about US$ 70 million in the efforts of not just fighting the disease, but also fighting the side-effects of the global pandemic.
In that also, Facebook is using their platform to help Small Medium Enterprises (SME) even here in Malaysia. Globally Facebook will be offering grants for SMEs or even guide businesses to survive this period of MCO. If you need more information on that, do visit their website.
Source: Facebook
Nicole also added that they are also working with certain Non-Government Organisations (NGO) and Non-Profit Organisations; one of them is Yellow House KL. Of course, there are more that they are doing in the global fight of COVID-19. You can keep yourselves updated on their efforts on their newsroom.
Nicole also gave us a lot of good insights on how Facebook has adapted to the global pandemic situation. For that you should refer to the interview video. Facebook is a free Social Media platform that is available for free on Google’s Play Store for Android and Apple’s Play Store for the iOS.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most unprecedented events to have occurred in the past decade. In fact, the last time a major pandemic hit was in the 1910s. Since then, there have been milder pandemics which have occurred more recently in 2009 (Influenza A H1N1). The world has changed drastically since these pandemics. That said, the fact that the world is so interconnected and digitally dependent, makes the COVID-19 pandemic even more unique.
It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that with the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve learnt that pandemics aren’t just about being biologically compromised anymore. In fact, Flavo Aggio, the Chief Information Security Officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO) attributes more than 15,000 deaths worldwide in this pandemic alone to the cyber attacks that healthcare agencies such as WHO face on daily basis. What’s more apparent is the number of cyber attacks related to COVID-19 have increased substantially since the pandemic began. Great Horn, a cloud-based security platform, reports that currently about 2% of email traffic related to COVID-19 comes from malicious players looking to get access to pertinent, personal information. Other security companies have reported that the number of cyber attacks linked to the COVID-19 pandemic have more than doubled since its emergence.
Proof is in the Pudding – Increased Cyber Attacks are putting Patients& People at risk
In the most recent attack against the WHO, a malicious hacker group known as DarkHotel setup a site to mimic WHO’s internal email page in an effort to get login information of WHO employees to access sensitive information. The group’s activities were first detected by Alexander Urbleis, a cyber security expert and attorney at Blackstone Law Group in New York. Urbelis mentions that he detected the site’s activation on 13 March.
This attack comes from the group after it vowed not to attack healthcare agencies and research centers during the pandemic. That said, the WHO was able to fend off the attack without getting compromised.
However, this hasn’t been the only COVID-19 based attack. During the same time, Brno University Hospital was forced to shutdown their technological services. This was due to a breach in cybersecurity which forced the hospital to take preventative measures. The attack compromised the health of all of the patients who required advanced testing. It forced doctors and nurses to chart manually which caused delays in care.
Perhaps more alarming is how hacker groups have also been targeting research centers and pharmaceuticals. Hammersmith Medicines Research (HMR), one of the companies involved in developing a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, reported that it was part of a ransomware attack. This attack compromised the information of about 2,300 patients involved in trials. The group behind the attack demanded money after gaining access to the files. These patient files have since found their way to the dark web, making them vulnerable to further compromise.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that while malefactors are targeting healthcare institutions and companies, the ones who truly pay the price are the patients. With their data at risk and treatments being delayed or interrupted, we are seeing a larger, more worrying pool of victims.
Compromised Cyber Security Could have Lasting Effects
That is only the tip of the iceberg. With pertinent patient information in the wild, these patients have been exposed to a larger cyber threat; one that could be even more devastating to them after the pandemic. Information such as their addresses, social security and passport details are now available online – if you know where to find it. Another question remains: “Were these patients informed of such a data breach?”.
With the compromised information, malicious players will be able to gain access to a number of things including bank accounts and other important accounts. In fact, hackers will able to social engineer this information to gain access to emails, social media and more by simply connecting the dots. The fact of the matter is, most passwords and logins are linked to a person’s social history or items like their social security numbers.
These breaches have potential psychological and physical repercussions that not many are aware of. Being the subject of a data breach or having an email or bank account compromised as a result will result in lost time and psychological stress. Keep in mind, that some of these attacks hold your vital information ransom and demand for money. This would definitely lead to increased anxiety.
Personal Hygiene Must Include Your Digital Footprint
It can’t be any more obvious that we are in an age where our digital lives are increasing intertwined with our daily lives. Even in an epidemic, we are seeing the effects of cyber attacks on our daily lives Hence, with attacks on the rise, users like you and me must also take precautions to protect our digital footprint. It is as essential as washing our hands and avoiding touching our face in this pandemic.
Source: Kaspersky
We can start with one simple step – pay attention to the details. Kaspersky has reported that there has been an uptick in look-a-like domains since the onset of the COVID-19. In particular, when it comes to authoritative domains. In particular, they’ve highlighted an email supposedly from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in America. The official domain for the CDC is cdc.gov; however, emails have been sent from an email from cdc-gov.org. The small difference when it comes to this domain could be the difference between getting compromised or getting official information.
The next step you can take is, like washing hands, spend a little time refreshing your passwords. Good password hygiene is essential to keeping your information secured. Look at changing your passwords on a bi-monthly, if not monthly basis. If you’re working in an industry that requires heightened security and privacy, you know that they have policies that require you to change your password every 3 months, at the very least. So, why are you worth any less?
One of the most basic things you can do for increased security is to activate two factor authentication (2FA). When you activate 2FA, you will be prompted to give an additional item for authentication. This will help verify your identity. That said, activating 2FA is no excuse not to change your password on a regular basis.
With these steps as a starting point, you’ll have better security on the internet. That said, it’s just a start. Don’t get too comfortable with yourself when it comes to internet security. With more and more attacks focused on taking advantage of lapses of judgement, we need to be more alert. Even when we’re searching for information, it’s important we pay attention to the details, check website addresses and keep vigilant on the links in your email. While things may seem bleak, it’s no excuse to stay away from the internet. Just be more alert and vigilant and enjoy one of the best inventions since sliced bread.
Facebook is arguably one of the largest social media platforms across the world. What started as a small project to keep a class of college mates connected is now a multi billion dollar platform. The platform has become so big that it has an estimated 2.5 billion active users. In fact, in Malaysia, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who isn’t on Facebook.
The platform has come a long way from when it first launched though. Its design has been through many revisions since the days of Vampire Wars and Pokes. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that most users today may not recognise the Facebook of the past. The design we know now is a totally different from the original Facebook.
Facebook is about to get another redesign. Yep. You read that right. The social media platform has started testing out a new design which looks like its ready to make a debut. While it would be a stretch to call it fully refined, the redesign is more content focused and easy to navigate.
The Good: You get YOUR Content in and Dark Mode
The new layout seems to have an increased focus on content; particularly content that you’ve curated yourself through liking and subscribing. It also looks like the News Feed has been redesigned to be more chronological. In my short time with the redesign, I’ve seen more posts from my friends that are more up to date than I have in years! Now this is the best thing to happen to Facebook in recent years, in my opinion. It brings a more organic, personalised feed to the user and you don’t end up commenting on something that happened months ago just cause the algorithm decided it.
Another thing I’ve enjoyed is the accessibility of the new design. Everything is laid out for you to interact with. You don’t have to click endlessly into menus and pages you’ve never been into before. Getting to your privacy settings is also a lot more intuitive than before. It only took two clicks to get to the privacy menu.
Everything is within your view. Your notifications are kept neatly in the top right under the bell icon. You settings in the down facing arrow. Messenger is tucked neatly to the right side and integrates into the overall design. If that isn’t your style you can choose to have it as a pop up over your Facebook. You have you shortcuts and pages tucked neatly on the left.
The highlight for me is dark mode. The darker design to Facebook is a lot neater and easier on the eyes. That could be a bad thing too since it was easier to look at the screen for longer periods of time.
The Bad: Gradients Everywhere!
That said, Facebook feels a lot less refined thanks mainly to the amount of gradients in the design. The design team at Facebook has adopted gradients and a pretty fluorescent colour scheme. You’d have seen this colour scheme in the many Facebook apps on Android and iOS. They’ve now made it to the main page of Facebook.
The gradients and colour scheme is atrocious. It brings a very childish and immature feel to the platform. It also forces me to use dark mode so my eyes don’t bleed as much. I’d prefer it if the colours were a little less in your face and more subtle and easy to look at. Facebook could also afford to hit the brakes on the gradients.
That said, if the changes in the News Feed and the accessibility are staying. Facebook is taking a step in the right direction to being more open and more user centric. That said, not everyone will like the new redesign, but I’m looking forward to seeing the final version.
A little while back, the team at techENT had the privilege of catching up with Nana Murugesan, Managing Director for International Markets at Snap Inc. and Ba Blackstock, CEO of Bitmoji at Snap Inc. The interview was done shortly after the launch of Bitmoji TV. Snap had acquired Bitstrips, the company that owned Bitmoji, back in 2016 for a healthy USD$64.2 million.
During this interview, techENT posed questions to Nana and Ba regarding Snapchat and also Bitmoji TV. In particular, how the new integration will benefit and change the scene for Snapchat. Here’s the full interview text.
techENT: Looking back a little bit, Snapchat had a boom in the social media space with its unique offering of creating “disappearing” content. When Facebook introduced its own with Stories across its apps, the drop in users on Snapchat was heavily reported. What has changed with Snapchat and how have users responded to this?
NanaMurugesan: First of all, Snapchat isn’t social media. From the very beginning we designed Snapchat to enhance your experience outside of the app and reflect the way that people have interacted with their best friends, long before the creation of the smartphone. To a certain extent, this was a reaction to what we were seeing on social media and the issues these platforms face. So just like in real life, your conversations with your friends disappear and your stories unfold in chronological order.
Bitmoji of Nana Murugesan
While other platforms may now have these features, their underlying philosophy is very different. On Snapchat, people are free to be themselves, with their real friends. There have never been likes or comments, so it feels like less of a competition. That way, Snapchatters aren’t pressured to be pretty, perfect or popular; and we don’t stockpile data so our community doesn’t have to worry that everything they send will be kept for eternity. Snapchat also opens directly to the camera and over 3.5 billion Snaps are created each day.
We’re focused on creating engaging experiences through which our community can stay close with their real friends and when not chatting or Snapping with those they love. For example, we introduced Snap Games last year and recently launched Bitmoji TV.
techENT: What is the user base for Snapchat now?
NanaMurugesan: We are really happy to see a continuous growth in our Daily Active Users. During our last earnings call (Q4, Feb 2020), we shared that there are 218 million people on average, globally using Snapchat every day. This is a 17% year over year growth (31M).
Bitmoji of Nana Murugesan
techENT: What are some of the new features that users are crazy about on Snapchat?
Nana Murugesan: Apart from Bitmoji TV, we’ve been finding all sorts of ways to let Snapchatters have fun with their Bitmoji. So far, Bitmoji Stories have been a hit amongst users, with an average of 18 million viewers per comic strip. Created as a personalised comic that features the Bitmoji of Snapchatters and their friends, it also eventually became the inspiration behind Bitmoji TV.
Bitmoji of Nana Murugesan
We’ve also since introduced several games that feature your Bitmoji such as Bitmoji Tennis, a battle-royale style game called Tiny Royale, and recently we released Ready Chef Go, a co-op cooking game played with your friends and Color Galaxy – where you can conquer the galaxy together.
Adding to more shareable moments, Snapchat also launched Cameos in December which lets you put your face on animated memes and short GIFs that also feature you and your friends.
While Lenses aren’t a new feature, both Snapchat’s internal team and Snapchat’s Official Lens Creators are constantly creating new, innovative and fun lenses that are loved by many Snapchatters. In fact, every day over 70% of Snapchatters play with AR Lenses, and over 600,000 Lenses have been created by our community through Lens Studio.
techENT: Snap Inc, Snapchat’s parent company, acquired Bitstrips back in 2017. What was the strategy behind the acquisition?
Ba Blackstock: In late 2014 Bitstrips launched Bitmoji, which surged in popularity in 2015, becoming a cultural phenomenon. It resonated with people because it gave them a way to represent themselves in their online interactions that felt more personal, authentic and fun.
Bitmoji of Ba Blackstock
The massive popularity of Bitmoji led to a conversation with Snap, in which we realised that our companies shared the same passion for creativity, self-expression and visual communication, so it seemed like a natural fit to join forces.
Through the acquisition we were able to use Bitmoji to bring a new kind of visual identity and expression into Snapchat, and to grow Bitmoji to become bigger than ever before. Since joining Snap Bitmoji has been the #1 iOS app in over 100 countries.
techENT: Have any of Bitstrip’s Bitmoji features been introduced in Snapchat? How popular/well-received is Bitmoji since their introduction?
Ba Blackstock: Bitmoji has transformed the experience within Snapchat by becoming Snapchatters’ visual identity in the app, as well as giving them lots of new ways to communicate and express themselves – from stickers in chat, to geofilters on Snaps, to 3D Bitmojis in AR lenses, to Bitmoji Stories in Discover.
Bitmoji of Ba Blackstock
Bitmoji has proven to be incredibly popular and over 70% of Snapchatters now have a Bitmoji.
techENT: Tell us what is Bitmoji TV.
Ba Blackstock: Bitmoji TV is a fully animated show starring your own Bitmoji, that you can watch now on Snapchat – with new episodes coming out every Saturday morning. Each episode is between 3-5 minutes long and makes your Bitmoji the main character, alongside celebrity guest stars like Andy Richter, Jon Lovitz and Riki Lindhome, to name a few.
Bitmoji of Ba Blackstock
The premise of Bitmoji TV is that you are the biggest new star on TV – you’ve been cast in every show, every movie, every commercial, and each episode is a fast-paced combo of very different scenes. One minute you’ll see yourself in an action movie, the next minute you’re in a soap opera, then you’re in a sitcom. We’ve created our own animation style that is an audiovisual feast for the senses, with you at the center.
techENT: What sets Bitmoji TV apart from other platforms such as IGTV and YouTube? / Why introduce another platform in a space that seems so crowded?
Ba Blackstock: Bitmoji TV represents the beginning of an entirely new category of entertainment – a personalized experience that is unique for every single viewer. It’s also one of the first fully animated shows that’s designed to be viewed on your phone, in the vertical format. We had to build our own experimental animation and rendering technology to make it possible for this show to exist. But more than that, it’s a new experience that you can share with your friends that doesn’t exist anywhere else.
Bitmoji of Ba Blackstock
Bitmoji TV represents the beginning of an entirely new category of entertainment – a personalized experience that is unique for every single viewer. It’s also one of the first fully animated shows that’s designed to be viewed on your phone, in the vertical format. We had to build our own experimental animation and rendering technology to make it possible for this show to exist. But more than that, it’s a new experience that you can share with your friends that doesn’t exist anywhere else.
techENT: What type of content can we expect from Bitmoji TV?
Ba Blackstock: Bitmoji TV makes you the star of just about every type of TV show imaginable – talent shows, cop shows, sitcoms, soap operas, action movies and more. Every episode is different and is a fast-paced collection of various shows, as seen through the lens of Bitmoji’s unique sense of humour.
App designs have come a long way. Heck, interface designs
have come a long way. Your smartphones are now more interactive and intuitive
than it could ever be. In the progression of the mobile interface, obviously there
were some not-so-good stuff along the way from time to time. Still, the
interface that we have today is so intuitive and simple that operating a
smartphone can be done by babies even.
We remembered interface designs with bright colours, plenty
of whites, with a screen busier than Tokyo’s famous intersection. Those days
are quite far gone though. Users prefer simpler designs. They prefer cleaner
looking screens, despite having a larger than life physical display. They want
as little things as possible on the display but still communicate as much
information as before.
Just about a year ago too, there has been another design
element that has gotten plenty more popular. It was just a simple colour scheme
change that changes the contrast and feel of the interface. That is what people
call the Dark Mode.
Dark mode is mainly designed with the thought of using your
device in dark conditions. The white colours of your super-bright smartphone displays
will really hurt your eyes when you look at in dark conditions. That is simple
biology really, so we are not going into that.
The idea of a dark mode stems from the use of e-books. The black
backgrounds hurt your eyes less while the whites of the words stand out enough that
you can clearly read it. This works when you are the type that reads at night,
in your bedroom, before you sleep.
Everything from your Operating System (OS) to Facebook
Messenger has a dark theme. Of course, every single person out there is begging
for a dark theme for everything else too. One app that have not gone on dark
theme yet was WhatsApp. That has changed with the latest WhatsApp app update
from your Google Play Store and Apple App Store today.
Once you update the app, either the app just follows your OS
theme settings and go on dark mode, if you are in dark mode already. If not,
you might want to switch that to dark mode. Or, you can manually switch WhatsApp
to dark mode in the app settings. All you need to do is open the app, get into
the settings, got to ‘Chats’, and then click on ‘Theme’ to select ‘Dark’, and
voila; your WhatsApp is now in ‘night reading’ mode.
What that does is change the white and light grey backdrop of WhatsApp to a near black and dark grey backdrop. That also completely changes the look and feel of WhatsApp. It looks even simpler than before. Mind you, there is no significant interface change except for the colour scheme. We also concur that the ‘Dark’ theme may not be for everyone. But at least this hurts my eyes less when I first open WhatsApp in the morning or at night. Keep in mind though that the ‘Dark’ theme only applies to the mobile app at this time.
Facebook has internally started this thing they call Project
LightSpeed. It is exactly what it sounds like. Its aim is to simply make everything
move faster. Faster for the users that is. Then again, the world today revolves
plenty on user experience.
While the world in 2019 and 2020 has been putting plenty of emphasis on user security and privacy (Facebook just had a Data Privacy brief with us two weeks ago), it does not mean that user experience in terms of the User Interface (UI) design, speed, and intuitiveness can be ignored. They are supposed to be developed hand-in-hand; they are supposed to move forward together.
Source: Facebook
Facebook understands that completely, and that is why they
are introducing a new faster, lighter Facebook Messenger specifically for iOS.
Before we go on, we did ask on the reason for the exclusivity. If you go on Google’s
Play Store on your Android smartphone now and search for Facebook Messenger,
you will notice two types of Facebook Messenger apps on the device. One of them
is the normal blue pop-up coloured Facebook Messenger, and the other one is a white-faced
pop-up called Facebook Messenger Lite. We can explain the differences in that
further in the future (comment if you want that!). For now though, that also
means that Android users get to choose between using the full beans and might
of the regular Facebook Messenger app or choose to keep their devices running
nice and quick with Facebook Messenger Lite app.
Let us get back to Facebook Messenger app for iOS. It will
be available as an app update in the App Store, so if you already have the Facebook
Messenger app there is no reason you need to download another one. It should be
an update anyway, who are we kidding.
In layman terms, Facebook says that the new Messenger is
supposed to load up or start up faster. While you may not notice too big of a
difference at first, Facebook says that the benefit is plenty more visible over
time. Thanks to simplified mechanics of the app, it is also a smaller app than before.
That also means it consumes less storage space in your smartphone, which also
means you get to take more photos. It is not just simplified mechanics though. Apparently,
the engineers in Facebook has also simplified the experience within the app to not
only ensure a lighter load on the device, but for its users too.
Now for the technical bits. It is actually simpler than you think, not as scary or overly complex. The headline figures are 1.7 million to 360,000. That is the amount of codes that were in the previous iteration of the Facebook Messenger for iOS app, and the amount that it is reduced to with the current iteration. That also means that they managed to shrink the amount of codes contained within the app by 84%. Less codes means less processing needed, and so you get faster load times. It also means reduced complexities and less maintenance needed from Facebook’s side.
Source: Facebook
What happened to the other codes that was not used in the current
iteration? Cloud happened. To be specific, SQLite happened. What they did with
SQLite, like plenty of modern mobile apps is to simplify processes and start putting
plenty of the database on SQL’s database instead of storing every command on
the device. That also means that instead of loading everything on your
smartphone, whatever interaction you have with the app is happening on SQLite
instantly. That also means that everything on the database is stored and worked
on in a server farm somewhere. Again, less load on the device.
You are not losing the experience of a feature packed app
like the Messenger with the new update though. In fact, you might be getting
more. With the changes, you are not completely using a completely redesigned UI.
It is just a small improved UI with better response time. The key here is to
not make any major UI changes to the new Messenger build. Instead, Facebook
still wanted that familiarity with their users. Like previously mentioned though,
instead of storing each interaction as a unique interaction within the device,
they moved that to a server with SQLite.
There is more to that though. Instead of storing or
processing each interaction as unique interactions, they group them together,
combine them and make them mere reactions from the database instead of completely
recoating the app whenever something changes. That also means that instead of
storing multiple different screens as unique screens, you are now only getting elements
of screens popping up as you go along your Facebook Messenger app. Yes, you never
noticed the transition. But imagine having to keep loading new screens whenever
you scroll through the app and layering them over the previous screen.
The new Facebook Messenger app for iOS with LightSpeed is available
for free on Apple’s ever-growing Apple App Store platform. For existing Facebook
Messenger app for iOS users, the fourth major iteration is available to users
as a simple app update via the Apple App Store as well. LightSpeed is also
coming to Android’s Facebook apps in time. For more information on Facebook
Messenger’s update and Project LightSpeed, you can visit Facebook’s news
release and their engineering
blog.
Late yesterday Alphabet, which is what Google has become since their 2015 restructuring made their 2019 revenue reports available to the public. Of course Wall Street was the first to pick up the reports and ate their way through it to see if it matches all expectations. It did not; shareholders were not happy.
Source: Alphabet
Alphabet announced a total revenue of US$ 46 billion for 2019. That is a fair 17% increase from 2018. Sounds healthy, right? Wall street and shareholders though are expecting nearly a billion more in revenue though. Google missed the mark by about US$ 800 million.
US$ 800 million is quite small compared to the US$ 46 billion that they have made. Or, so you thought. Apparently it is quite a big deal in the market since every other competitor is reporting a huge surge in their own ad game. People like Amazon, for example reported a large jump on their ad revenue in 2019.
Still, Google also made sure that their shareholders are happy by also announcing that out of the US$ 46 billion of revenue, US$ 10.6 billion of those are profits. That number is bigger than estimated by Wall Street too. At least that is that.
They broke down where their money was made too within the Alphabet empire. Google cloud business, that is their Drive, Docs, Sheets and what not, makes up US$ 8.91 billion in total. YouTube, our beloved red play button on our smartphones makes up US$ 15.5 billion in revenue for 2019. That is just from Ads.
Source: YouTube
One of the bigger contributing factors of Alphabet disclosing YouTube’s earnings this year, as suggested via experts, is that the organisation as a whole failed to meet revenue expectations. The numbers, as per presented by Alphabet, indeed are quite staggering and mind boggling. The disparity could be due to a number of reasons; we cannot know for sure until Alphabet says something. The earnings number alone though tells us that the tech giants are still here to stay and they are still quite untouchable for now.
Still, the fact that YouTube, a platform that we all use for free makes US$ 15.5 billion is quite mind boggling. That is six times more than Twitch and one sixth of Facebook’s ad platform. Yes, we apparently still spend more time on the blue ‘f’ logo app than the social video platform. Then again, Facebook’s platform is plenty more versatile.
The ad revenues are not about to dwindle down anytime soon though. We cannot get enough of YouTube, you have to admit that. Annoying ads will not stop us from watching our favourite videos. But there is a bigger picture in play here though.
YouTube as a platform, thanks to the now disclosed US$ 15.5 billion in ad revenue, will grow even bigger. There will be more people that could potentially see more money in YouTube. While that means that there will be even more content for us to enjoy, that could also spell more ads being shoved in your faces. It is quite inevitable though; the more you consume, the more of a target you become.
*This article is contributed byNicole Tan, Country Director of Facebook Malaysia*
A fisherman who uses WhatsApp and Facebook to change his quality of life and keeps his community safe by alerting each other on weather and tide conditions, a non-profit that empowers the homeless towards financial independence by turning them into tour guides, a delicious sambal recipe made in Malaysia that gained acclaim across borders from Indonesia and the Philippines — these are real examples of business innovation previously unimaginable.
The year 2020 crowns a
decade of change that has upended traditional ways of starting, marketing and
growing businesses across the world. This is even more pronounced in Asia,
where entire countries have leapfrogged to the mobile internet, making the
region home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. According to the
Department of Statistics Malaysia, the nations’ digital economy contributed
18.5% to the national economy in 2018, while e-commerce contributed 8%,
highlighting digital transformation as a catalyst for expansion[1].
Source: Facebook
According to a
McKinsey report, by 2040, Asia could account for more than half of the global
GDP with global cross-order flows shifting towards Asia. The report shows how
these changes could shift globalisation towards regionalisation with 60 percent
of goods traded by Asian economies being within the region. In addition, 71
percent of Asian investment in start-ups is intraregional, and 74 percent of
Asian travelers travel within the region[2].
Malaysia’s exports
accounts for more than 71.5% of GDP[3].
Digital adoption in increasing productivity is crucial for SMEs to expand
further[4]
and digital tools give SMEs a boost in economic growth (revenue and sales 65%)
and go global (82% of exporting SMEs in Malaysia say that at least half of
their exports depend on online tools usage)[5].
Against this backdrop
of macroeconomic change, people’s expectations for the experiences they have
with brands and businesses is evolving fast. As we have seen over the last few
years, people adopt new technologies long before businesses do, and it
influences how they discover, research and finally make purchasing decisions.
We see this every day
on Facebook, where every day 1.62 billion people across the world come to
connect with people, products and services they care about. We stand at the
intersection of community and creativity where brands can identify, take
inspiration from and participate in the communities that people inhabit. At the
start of 2019, we shared three social trends that were on rise across our
platforms: ephemeral sharing, videos and messaging. As we head into 2020, these
trends have only intensified in our region. Simply put, Asia is about more —
more mobile, more video, more stories, more conversation and more commerce.
Malaysia is a truly
mobile-first nation with 88% owning smartphones. According to the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), 77.6% of Malaysians are
spending time streaming or downloading videos online[6].
Last year we saw how
people show preference for sharing photographs or video over typing out a text
update, the comfort of knowing what you post isn’t going to stick around
forever and the need to share everyday moments with smaller audiences.
It’s interesting to note that video on mobile is far from a homogeneous experience. Unlike traditional video, mobile video experiences are not linear and vary based on a number of factors. Through our research and experience over the last few years, we’ve seen two distinct categories of video experiences that have accelerated largely due to mobile: “on-the-go” and “captivated viewing.” As a result of these changing viewing habits, people are most drawn to brands that are easy to discover and use, whether it’s through their strong presence in online communities or their high-quality mobile content across platforms. With the continued growth in streaming services, people will be looking to brands that can clearly communicate their offerings and to those that can create a more personalised viewing experience.
We’re continuing to
see fast adoption of ephemeral sharing as each of our Stories experiences
across Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp now have more than half a
billion daily users[7]. As more
and more people use Stories, we’re making it easier for marketers to adopt this
format and reach people where they’re spending their time.
The same goes for
messaging. At the start of 2018, we shared that over 8 billion messages were
sent between people and businesses on Messenger every month. That number has
more than doubled to 20 billion messages this year – which shows that people
expect to communicate with businesses in much the same way as they message with
their friends. As people increasingly use messaging apps, we’re helping
businesses make the shift too. There are now over 40 million monthly active
businesses on Messenger (i.e. sending or receiving a message on Messenger)[8]
and research shows that people in emerging countries in Asia-Pacific are more
likely than the global average to message a business. In fact, 63% of
people surveyed in Asia-Pacific messaged a business last Holiday season[9].
More than 5 million businesses are actively using the WhatsApp Business app
each month[10].
While last year we saw
the ability to message with a business made people feel more confident about
the brand and more connected to it and create a connection that fosters brand
loyalty, this year we see an interesting subset of this preference for
messaging; the growing use of messaging or online chat to buy and sell. A study
by the Boston Consulting Group in partnership with Facebook across nine
countries found that Southeast Asia outpaces other countries surveyed in both
awareness and adoption of conversational commerce. Of the nine countries
surveyed, the percentage of respondents who had undertaken a conversational
commerce transaction was the highest in Thailand and Vietnam, at 40% and 36%
respectively, followed by Indonesia (29%), Malaysia (26%) and the Philippines
(23%). The rate of adoption for other countries is still nascent – US (5%),
Mexico (6%), India (10%), and Brazil (11%), which shows substantial opportunity
for growth[11]. The
study unveiled a remarkable finding that discovery and spending behavior of
digital consumers in between Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities are very similar,
debunking the myth that Tier 1 digital consumers shop more online. Once a Tier
2 shopper adopts online shopping, habits and preferences become very similar to
Tier 1. Except for the discovery journey, where Tier 2 shoppers don’t know what
they want to buy even more, which means they are even more encouraged by
inspiration-shopping.
Source: Tech Crunch
All of these developments mean that the commerce landscape will continue to evolve with people opting to interact with businesses via experiences that are most relevant, personal, and seamless in their daily lives. With increasing affluence and access to the mobile internet, the ways people discover new products is very much about a connected experience. Therefore, ensuring that your business and brands are visible and discoverable is going to be an essential element to winning in the new era of commerce.
Today,
Most Malaysian consumers want everything almost immediately, making every step
or delay a chance for them to abandon their journeys. Awareness, information
gaps and the inability to optimise technology are some causes that contributed
to the friction[12]. So
what can businesses do to prepare for this new era of commerce? Bring
connection back to the equation.
Businesses can enhance connections by designing
mobile-friendly websites, apps, marketing and real-time communication to reduce
friction and establish the best experiences for customers[13].
