Most of us don’t realize it right away, but we’re pretty seriously invested in Facebook. Once we have been hooked in, it is almost impossible to let go. Even if you are not that active, you are probably using a bunch of passive Facebook services. Are you even aware of how deep you have slipped into the comfy confines of social networking? Before you think about leaving, find out what it is that you got yourself into!
Remember why you joined Facebook? You probably wanted to keep in touch with all those special people. Maybe you wanted to find out more about someone, but had to join Facebook and friend them to see their profile. Whatever the reason, I’m pretty sure you were curious and wanted to see what it is all about and what everyone was talking about. Yes, peer pressure probably played into it as well.
And guess what? That’s exactly what is keeping you actively engaged with Facebook until this day! You love to see what your friends are up to and…
There is nothing like Facebook to send a quick message and say ‘hi’ to someone. Email can be so daunting, but a Facebook message can be short and simple, it’s more like a chat anyways. And if your friend happens to be online, you can simply IM them.
You want to stay in touch with people or at least have the feeling that you still have a connection with someone. It’s probably Facebook’s most compelling feature as it makes people both join and stay. After all, almost everyone you care about is there and it’s so easy to add more people to your collection of friends.
What would other people think if you suddenly didn’t use Facebook anymore? Well, frankly, the worst that could happen is that they wouldn’t even notice. In any case, they would probably get over it and forget about you pretty fast. To be insignificant and forgotten is what scares you most.
No, you literally Like to be Liked! You enjoy being part of the group and want people to take notice of you. Nothing boosts the ego like receiving a Like.
For many people, Facebook is much like a personal archive. It stores personal memories like photos, status updates, and messages from others. Imagine you lost all that.
Fortunately, you can download a copy of most of what you have shared on Facebook. The archive includes photos and videos you have shared, wall posts, messages, chat conversations, friends names, and most email addresses. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to restore this information to a new account.
Are you maintaining a Facebook page as part of your job or freelance career? Facebook owns you right there and you know it.
Facebook not only knows the birthdays of most of your friends, it also reminds you of them on site, via email, or through your connected calendar. And if you don’t see your friend personally or forgot to send a card, it’s acceptable to congratulate them via Facebook. No more hard feelings; at least you did think of them on their Birthday. Or was it Facebook?
If you do decide to quit Facebook, remember to export your friends’ Birthdays first!
It has become common practice to organize, announce, and invite to events via Facebook. If you’re not on Facebook, you will most likely miss out. That’s unless you hear about the event via other avenues. Ask yourself how likely that is to happen.
When you leave Facebook, all existing events that you have been invited to will disappear from your connected calendar. For a smooth transition, be sure to export your Facebook events.
Social logins are extremely convenient. On how many websites did you use Facebook to sign up, rather than creating a separate account? And do you really want to visit several dozen websites and update your account with new login information?
Well, if the answer is yes, go to your account’s App Settings to get an overview of where you have been using Facebook to sign in.
Facebook is convenient, but also sneaky. Did you permit it to sync your friends’ contact data to your phone contacts? I bet half your address book is provided by Facebook. It couldn’t be easier; after all your friends are curating their own contact data for you. However, if you ever lose access to Facebook, you’ll notice how much you rely on that information.
Facebook doesn’t allow you to directly export your friends’ contact data. However, you can import it into other accounts, including Yahoo! Mail, but not Google.
It takes a lot of determination to quit Facebook. If you have relied on a lot of Facebook’s services, you need to export data, set up new routines, and find other ways to socialize online. Staying in touch with everyone will be the hardest part. You might even have to drop a few friends. However, if this frees up more time for real friendships, then that’s actually a good thing. In any case, you better have a Plan B because sometimes Facebook quits on you.
What makes Facebook so attractive to you?
Image credits: Curious Kid via Shutterstock, Keep in Touch via Shutterstock, A Look from Darkness via Shutterstock
The post 9 Ways in Which Facebook Holds You By The Balls [Weekly Facebook Tips] appeared first on MakeUseOf.
While HTML5 is far from ubiquitous at this point, an increasing number of websites are using it, and in increasingly inventive and impressive ways. What follows are five fun things to do with HTML5, and all you need is a compatible browser; the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer, for example.
The Rational Keyboard is an HTML5 Web app from Fritz Obermeyer. It comprises a melody maker that constantly plays a harmony, with the user able to change the note the harmony is based on.
The notes constantly shift around and change size in order to keep the song playing in an aurally pleasing manner. Until the sound glitches, at which point you’re advised to pause the keyboard to reset it.
There are four different instruments featured, though changing them only changes the look, not the sound. Having said that, ‘Wedges’ worked the best for me, offering a simple interface that resulted in glitch-free playback.
The source code for The Rational Keyboard is available on GitHub, while the audio encoder can be grabbed for use in other apps.
The Two Minute Test does exactly what you’d expect it to: ask you several questions in order to test your general knowledge and intelligence level. The ultimate aim is to see whether you have the basic skills required to become a teacher.
The questions are all presented in a pleasing visual format, with floating numbers, representations of the planets in the Solar System, and answers that can be dragged into place.
You begin with 100 points out of 100 points, with your score dropping as you make errors. And unless you’re Stephen Hawking or another one of these popular scientists, you will make errors.
There are only six tasks to complete, but then it’s only meant to be a two minute test. If it takes you longer than two minutes then, well, I wouldn’t advise applying to join Mensa anytime soon.
Catifier has a very simple premise at its core, and in an age when cats appear to be some kind of tradable commodity on the InterWebs, it’s a fun tool to try out. At least for five minutes.
You’re presented with a sample image which you can choose to swap out for an image of your own choosing. All you need is a URL, hence I was able to augment the famous photograph in the screenshot above with a feline fragrance.
To be honest Catifier isn’t perfect. It takes some time for a click on one of the cats to register, but a little patience sees them eventually moved across to the main window ready for maneuvering into position.
I don’t quite know why this particular Web app hasn’t been better utilized by the bods at Reddit. Surely this is the perfect tool for creating upvote-worthy images featuring cats, cats, and more cats.
Brandon Generator, or The Random Adventures Of Brandon Generator to give it its full title, is an intriguing concept that’s part Web comic, part animated short, and part HTML5 experiment.
The content was written by Edgar Wright (director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun Of The Dead), illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards of LucasFilm, and narrated by Julian Barratt from The Mighty Boosh.
There are four episodes of Brandon Generator in all, with the storyline of the later episodes decided by the public who interacted with the content when it was first uploaded to the Web in 2012.
Microsoft was behind Brandon Generator, hence the appearance of the Internet Explorer logo around the site. However, thanks to HTML5, the content is available to view in all modern browsers.
Shiny Demos may be just one site, but it offers a veritable smorgasbord of HTML5 goodness. There are dozens of demonstrations of the power of HTML5 on offer, none of which will take more than a few minutes to try out.
The apps utilize different elements of HTML5, all divided into sections so that you can easily see which are responsible for bringing each app to life right in your browser.
As well as the games and interactive displays of audio and video, there are explanations of the various elements that make up HTML5. This could offer budding Web developers a way in to understanding the basics.
Shiny Demos should keep you occupied for a while, and if you’re anything like me you’ll keep the site bookmarked for further tries of Inbox Attack and Paranoid. Shiny Demos was made by Opera Software, but it will work across the full range of browsers.
These 5 websites represent just a small smattering of the cool destinations using the latest Web technology to improve our lives/provide a means of easing the boredom (delete as appropriate). We’ve previously seen impressive HTML5 Web Comics, impressive (and free) HTML5 games, and a selection of websites that quickly did amazing things with HTML5.
The especially observant among you may have noticed an acrostic lurking in this article. First, award yourself a peanut for your skills, then go and read my guide on creating a poem for a loved one. After that come back here and post your comments on HTML5, the websites mentioned above, and anything else that you might have on your mind that loosely fits the subject matter.
Image Credit: Yuki Honda
The post 5 Fun Things To Do Online With HTML5 appeared first on MakeUseOf.
You need not to convert your picture slideshows into a video for uploading to YouTube. Just drag the pictures into YouTube and it will transform them into a nice video with Pan and Zoom effects.
Google quotes a survey by StopBadware and Commtouch’s from 2012 which includes more than 600 webmasters who had their sites hacked. This survey found that 26% of site owners who were attacked reported that their site was still compromised, and 2% abandoned their sites completely. Clearly, website owners do not always have the knowledge required to fix their website, and this new guide from Google could be helpful in recovering from a malicious attack. Watch this overview to get a better idea:
Google’s new series of steps consist of dozens of articles and over 80 videos designed to help site owners recover from an attack, and while they do cover everything from the basics up, Google admits that some skill and knowledge are still required to overcome an attack:
“While we attempt to outline the necessary steps in recovery, each task remains fairly difficult for site owners unless they have advanced knowledge of system administrator commands and experience with source code. Just as you focus on making a site that’s good for users and search-engine friendly, keeping your site secure — for you and your visitors — is also paramount.”
Google’s new program also offers helpful tips to prevent an attack in the first place, but as is evident by the attacks on some of the largest sites on the Web, some attacks cannot be avoided, no matter how much security is in place.
Source: Help for hacked sites via TheNextWeb
The post Google Launches A New Program That Could Help Website Recover From Attacks [Updates] appeared first on MakeUseOf.
Social sharing widgets, like the Tweet button of Twitter or the Like button of Facebook, increase the overall byte size of your web pages. You can load these widgets conditionally on mobile devices and improve your site's performance.
