The Nation Newspaper

Tag: facebook

  • Chamber, Facebook train over 50 SMEs

    The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), in collaboration with Facebook and Digivate 360, has trained over 50 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on growing their businesses by leveraging the digital media.

    The training, which was held in Lagos, drew participants from various sectors of the SME value chain.

    NACC Communications Executive Ebuka Ugochukwu said the training became imperative because SMEs are the backbone of the economic growth.

    “We have come to understand that SMEs are the backbone of any economy. We do expect that as these businesses grow, they will be able to contribute more to the economy and leverage the connections and opportunities that we provide them to scale up,” he said.

    Ugochukwu recalled that when Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria in 2016, one of his objectives was to try to see how Facebook could empower SMEs in the country.

    According to him, that objective resonated with the Chamber’s commitment to empowering businesses with digital skills to grow, manage their brand and increase revenue.

    Ugochukwu said NACC stands out as a pillar of the relationship between the United States of America and Nigeria, while also supporting bilateral commercial relations between Nigeria and the United States

    “We organise other trainings and events, one of which is a monthly breakfast meeting, where participants are exposed to networking and creating new business connections for the growth of their enterprises,” he added.

    NACC has continued to facilitate business-to-business relationships and advanced economic cooperation between Nigeria and the United States through the promotion of business and services that improve trade relations and prosperity of both nations.

    The Chamber is also committed to providing programs and services that improve economic prosperity and sustainability of businesses in the country.

     

     

  • Facebook, Google tools reveal political ad removal data

    Public databases that shine a light on online political ads launched by Facebook and Google before Tuesday’s U.S. elections, offer the public the first broad view of how quickly the companies yank advertisements that break their rules.

    The databases also provided campaigns unprecedented insight into opponents’ online marketing, enabling them to capitalise on weaknesses, political strategists told Reuters.

    Facebook Inc and Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, introduced the databases earlier in the year to give details on some political ads bought on their services.

    This was in response to U.S. prosecutors’ allegations that Russian agents who deceptively interfered in the 2016 election purchased ads from the companies.

    Russia denies the charges. American security experts said the Russians changed tactics this year.

    Reuters found that 436 ads, 375 on Facebook and 61 on Google from May through October related to 34 U.S. House of Representatives contests declared competitive in October by RealClearPolitics, which tracks political opinion polls.

    Out of the 258 removed ads with start and end dates, ads remained on Google an average of eight days and Facebook 15 days, according to data Reuters collected from the databases.

    Based on ranges in the databases, the 436 ads were displayed up to 20.5 million times and cost up to 582,000 dollars, amounting to a fraction of the millions of dollars spent online in those races.

    Asked for comment, Google said it was committed to bringing greater transparency to political ads. Facebook said the database was a way the company was held accountable, “even if it means our mistakes are on display.”

    In some cases, the companies’ automated scans did not identify banned material such as hateful speech or images of poor quality before ads went live.

    Ads that are OK when scanned may also become noncompliant if they link to a website that later break down.

    Google’s database covers 54 million dollars in spending by U.S. campaigns since May and Facebook 354 million dollars, according to their databases.

    Facebook’s figure is larger partly because its database includes ads not only from federal races but also for state contests, national issues and get-out-the-vote efforts.

    The databases generally do not say why a particular ad was removed, and only Facebook shows copies of yanked ads.

    The American Conservative Union political organisation, which had 136 ads removed through Sunday on Facebook, said some commercials contained a brief shot of comedian Kathy Griffin holding a decapitated head meant to portray U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Removing the bloody image resolved the violation for sensational content, and the organisation said it had no qualms about Facebook’s screening.

    Some removals were errors. The Environmental Defense Action Fund said Facebook’s automated review wrongly misclassified one of its ads as promoting tobacco.

    Ryan Morgan, whose political consulting firm Veracity Media arranged attack ads for a U.S. House race in Iowa, said Google barred those mentioning “white supremacy’’ until his team could explain the ads advocated against the racist belief.

    Five campaign strategists told Reuters they adjusted advertising tactics in recent weeks based on what the databases revealed about opponents’ spending on ads and which genders, age groups and states saw the messages.

    Facebook blocks accounts citing foreign interference

    Ohio digital consultant Kevin Bingle said his team reviewed opponents on Facebook’s database daily to take advantage of gaps in their strategy.

    Morgan said his team tripled its online ad budget to 600,000 dollars for a San Francisco affordable housing tax after Facebook’s database showed the other side’s ads were reaching non-Californians.

  • NACC, Facebook train 50 SMEs

    The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), in collaboration with Facebook and Digivate 360 have trained over 50 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on leveraging digital media to grow their businesses.

    Communications Executive at NACC, Ebuka Ugochukwu, in a statement  in Lagos, said the training attracted participants from various sectors of the SME value chain.

    The statement said it had become imperative that the chamber should include SMEs in its business model.

    “We have come to understand that SMEs are the backbone of any economy.

    “We do expect that as these businesses grow, they will be able to contribute more to the economy and leverage the connections and opportunities that we provide them to scale up,’’ the statement read.

    It recalled that when the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg visited Nigeria in 2016, one of his objectives was to see how Facebook could empower SMEs in the country.

    The statement added that the objective resonated with the chamber’s commitment to empower businesses with digital skills to grow, manage their brands and increase revenue, amongst others.

    “As a Chamber which stands as a pillar of the relationship between the U.S. and Nigeria, and also serving as an important catalyst in bringing together people and ideals to bolster bilateral commercial relations between the two countries, it is very important that people know how we are changing the business landscape, so they can reach out to us on how we can help them scale up,’’ it said.

    The statement added that the training was still ongoing; that its first phase had just been concluded, and the advanced stages of the training would continue soon.

    The NACC is the first and oldest bilateral chamber of commerce in Nigeria.  It was established in 1960 to enhance business relations between the United States and Nigeria.

     

  • Facebook removes fake accounts tied to Iran

    Facebook Inc said on Friday it had deleted more accounts originating in Iran that attracted no fewer than one million U.S. and British followers.

    It said this was its latest effort to combat disinformation activity on its platform.

    The social media company removed 82 pages, groups and accounts on Facebook and Instagram that represented themselves as being from American or British citizens, then posted on “politically-charged’’ topics.

    Topics such as race relations, opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump and immigration, Facebook’s head of cyber-security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said in a blog post.

    In total, the removed accounts attracted more than one million followers.

    “The Iran-linked posts were amplified through less than 100 dollars in advertising on Facebook and Instagram,’’ Facebook said.

    While the accounts originated in Iran, it was unclear if they were linked to the Tehran government, according to Facebook, which shared the information with researchers, other technology companies and the British and U.S. governments.

    Read Also: Six Catholic nuns kidnapped in Delta

    The action follows takedowns of hundreds of accounts linked to Iranian propaganda efforts by Facebook, Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.O).

    Social media companies have increasingly targeted foreign interference on their platforms.

    This follows criticism that they did not do enough to detect, halt and disclose Russian efforts to use their platforms to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential race.

    Iran and Russia have denied allegations that they have used social media platforms to launch disinformation campaigns.

  • Facebook to partner Nigeria to battle fake news

    MINISTER of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said the National Campaign Against Fake News has received a boost from the social networking platform, Facebook, which plans to partner with the Federal Government to check the menace.

    The minister announced the planned cooperation in Abuja yesterday, when he visited Daar Communications, owners of AIT and Raypower, in furtherance of the campaign.

    He said the national campaign, which was launched on July 11, 2018, has succeeded in bringing the phenomenon to the front burner of national discourse.

    Mohammed said: “We are not under any illusion that our campaign will immediately end the menace of fake news. But we know that by creating national awareness, we are putting the issue of fake news on the front burner.

    “Fake news is now a subject of national discourse, workshops and conferences. In the coming days, the social networking web platform, Facebook, will be meeting with us and other top policy-makers across the country in the days ahead to see how to assist us in fighting fake news. That, to us, is a major step forward, and we thank all our partners, and indeed all Nigerians, for this achievement,” the minister said.

    Mohammed, who described fake news as a global phenomenon, said different countries are adopting various measures to tackle the menace, but said Nigeria has decided to appeal to the sense of responsibility of media practitioners, bloggers and Social Media Influencers,  instead of engaging in coercion or censorship.

    He said if left unchecked, fake news has the capacity to disrupt the peace and unity of the country and it’s also a clear and present danger to the nation’s democracy.

  • Technology firm launches app that locates advertising targets on internet

    Technology Company, Dochase, has developed computer application software that is capable of locating consumers of certain kind advertisement on the internet and delivers it to them.

    Dochase is co-founded by two young Nigerian programmers, Chibuike Goodnews and Saint Germaine Onwukeme.

    “Over the years, we have discovered that 75 percent of media spending, especially on adverts is wasted, and this is because the advertisers are probably advertising to people that have no connection with what they want to project. You are probably advertising diaper to everybody in the society, whereas diaper is supposed to be advertised to nursing mothers,” Goodnews said.

    He said nursing mothers visit sites and consume media that talk about taking care of babies and how to handle infant issues. He said through the key words they use in their search; the technology can get insight of all the people who fall within the group of nursing mothers and push the diaper advert to them on those places they spend their time on the internet.

    He said when adverts are pushed out on the internet without identifying or having insights of the people the advert is intended for, it gets wasted.

    “We now looked at how we can solve all these things. We saw that a major way to solve it is let’s apply data to it. That is, we harness data of people who fall within that expected potential customer of each product and target them,” he said.

    Read Also: How innovative technology is driving retail industry

    He explained that while Nigeria probably has about 45 million people on the internet, “you cannot be advertising to 45 million people. You need a fraction of those people who are your direct and potential customers. And how do you know them, you need to get their insights. And that’s why we developed this technology that use data to bring out those kinds of insights,” he said.

    He explained that with the huge number of people on the internet, the technology is able to take it down to those people who have the potential to buy the products.

    He said an aspirant for instance who wants to reach people in his constituency in Lagos State, won’t need to advertise in Delta or the entire country because such advert will be misplaced.

    “We break it down, using our parameters to target only Lagos State.  For brands, it can be used to do media buying by getting insight of who should be your customers and creating campaign that will appeal to those people and using the right media that those people consume,” he explained.

    He said the technology can also categorize people into those who have the potential to do shopping, those who are likely to travel and other such groupings.

    “For somebody who has the potential to travel, you will be able to target your advert to them. For somebody who is doing real estate, you should be able to target people who have the potential to buy homes,” he explained.

    He said the technology is a win-win for all those involved in the chain.

    “Some media houses’ sources of revenue are dwindling. Some are moving online. This technology locates the niche people that are consuming your product. If the site is dedicated to probably real estate, the person that is targeting real estate will pay you more because he is targeting niche customers, that is real estate customers. Then the real estate publisher is earning more because he is getting more adverts that is targeted at specific people that his content appeal to,” he said.

    Onwukeme, on his part, said it is regrettable that a good number of publishers in Nigeria and Africa are still operating on the old form of media buying and media sales, while Europe and America are moving into programmatic.

    “Publishers need to understand that when you open up your website, which is like a piece of land you sell every day, you have 10,000 people that visit your website, so you have 10,000 people you can optimize.  Using Dochase, it helps you to open your inventory to multiple sources, whereby as we know the benefit of a free market, people tend to compete and get the best benefit,” he said.

    Dochase started its programmatic business two years ago as a Nigerian business, now becoming a programmatic influencer in Africa. It recently represented Africa in the global gathering of advertising technologies including Google, Facebook, LinkedIn which held in Germany.

  • 50m accounts affected by security breach – Facebook

    Mr Guy Rosen, the Vice President, Product Management of Facebook says 50 million Facebook accounts are been affected by security issue.

    Rosen said in a statement on Friday, that in the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25, Facebook’s engineering team discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts.

    He said that the company was taking the issue seriously and wanted to let everyone know what happened, and the immediate action taken to protect people’s security.

    According to him, investigation is still in its early stages.

    ”But it is clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted ”View As”, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else.

    ”This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens, which they could then use to take over people’s accounts.

    ”Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook, so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app,” he said.

    The vice president said that Facebook had already fixed the vulnerability and informed law enforcement.

    He said that the company had reset the access tokens of the almost 50 million accounts in order to protect their security.

    Rosen said that Facebook had also taken precautionary step of resetting access tokens for another 40 million accounts that had been subject to a ”View As” look-up in the last year.

    He said that as a result, around 90 million people would now have to log back into Facebook, or any of their apps that use Facebook Login.

    According to him, After they have logged back in, people will get a notification at the top of their News Feed explaining what happened.

    ”We are temporarily turning off the ”View As” feature, while we conduct a thorough security review.

    ”This attack exploited the complex interaction of multiple issues in our code. It stemmed from a change we made to our video uploading feature in July 2017, which impacted ”View As”.

    ”The attackers not only needed to find this vulnerability and use it to get an access token, they then had to pivot from that account to others to steal more tokens.

    ”Since we have only just started our investigation, we have yet to determine whether these accounts were misused or any information accessed,” he said.

    Rosen said that the company does not know those behind these attacks or where they were based.

    He said that Facebook was working hard to better understand these details and would give update when it had more information, or if the facts changed.

    The vice president said that if the company found more affected accounts, it would immediately reset their access tokens.

    ”People’s privacy and security is incredibly important, and we are sorry this happened.

    ”It is why we have taken immediate action to secure these accounts and let users know what happened.

    ”There is no need for anyone to change their passwords. But people who are having trouble logging back into Facebook — for example because they have forgotten their password — should visit our Help Center.

    ”And if anyone wants to take the precautionary action of logging out of Facebook, they should visit the ”Security and Login” section in settings,” he said. (NAN)

  • Instagram co-founders resign in latest Facebook executive exit

    Instagram said co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned as chief executive officer and chief technical officer of the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook Inc, giving scant explanation for the move.

    The departures at Facebook’s fastest-growing revenue generator come just months after the exit of Jan Koum, co-founder of Facebook-owned messaging app, WhatsApp, media reports on Tuesday.

    These exits leave the social network without the developers behind two of its biggest services.

    They also come at a time when Facebook’s core platform is under fire for how it safeguards customer data, as it defends against political efforts to spread false information.

    Younger users increasingly prefer alternative ways to stay in touch with family and friends. Concerns over Facebook’s business sparked the biggest one-day wipeout in U.S. stock market history in July.

    Systrom wrote in a blog post on Monday that he and Krieger planned to take time off and explore “our curiosity and creativity again”.

    Their announcement came after increasingly frequent clashes with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of Instagram, media reported.

    In a statement, Zuckerberg described the two as “extraordinary product leaders”.

    “I’ve learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next,” Zuckerberg said.

    Koum’s departure in May followed the exit of his WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.

    That led to a reshuffling of Facebook’s executive ranks, increasing Zuckerberg’s ability to influence day-to-day operations.

    Zuckerberg ally Chris Cox, who leads product development for Facebook’s main app, gained oversight of WhatsApp and Instagram, which had been given independence when Facebook bought them.

    Read Also: Facebook, Instagram unveil tools to help users manage time

    Adam Mosseri, who had overseen Facebook’s news feed and spent a decade working closely with Zuckerberg, became Instagram’s head of product.

    Instagram and Facebook have operated independently and the two services barely mention each other.

    Regulators have pushed Facebook to improve information safeguards for individual privacy, to combat addiction to social media, and to stop misinformation or fake news.

    Zuckerberg and other leaders have been under more pressure to monitor units beyond the core social network.

    Systrom and Krieger notified the photo-sharing app’s leadership team and Facebook on Monday about their decision to leave, Instagram said.

    Their departure would be soon, it said. The media reported the move.

    Systrom and Krieger met through Stanford University and worked separately in Silicon Valley before forming Instagram in 2010.

    Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for one billion dollars. The photo-sharing app has over one billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features such as messaging and short videos.

    In 2016, it added the ability to post slideshows that disappear in 24 hours, mimicking the “stories” feature of Snap Inc’s Snapchat.

    The photo app’s global revenue this year is likely to exceed eight billion dollars, showed data from advertising consultancy E-Marketer.

    Increased advertising on Instagram has seen the average price-per-ad across Facebook’s apps decline this year after a year of upswing. A new privacy law in Europe also has affected prices.

    Instagram had been hailed in Silicon Valley as a flashy acquisition done right, with the team kept relatively small and Systrom having the freedom to add features such as peer-to-peer messaging, video uploads and advertising.

    Video content has been a major emphasis for Facebook as it seeks to satisfy advertisers’ desire to stream more commercials online.

  • ‘No consensus resolution on APC guber candidate in Sokoto’

    A contrary stand came to bare against alleged resolution by the Sokoto state Chapter of the All Progressives Congress(APC) adoption of a consensus formular, emerged from Wafee Ahmadu Suka, Special Assistant on Media to Hon. Farouk Malami Yabo, a leading aspirant for the state governorship seat on the party’s platform saying “there is no consensus for any governorship aspirant to emerge as candidate of the party in the state.”

    Accordingly, Suka said ” Farouk ‎Malami Yabo is still a gubernatorial aspirant on the party’s platform.”

    With the recent developments, it seems the party in the state has a handful of issues to resolve internally to avoid imminent consequence before the 2019 poll.

    ‎In a statement issued in reaction to an online publication being circulated on the Facebook timeline of one Malam Bashir Gidan Kanawa, an Islamic Cleric in the state, Ahmadu Suka said the party never in whatever form, guise or manner negotiated anything that would jeopardise the lawful aspirations of other aspirants.

    Read Also: Sokoto State Governor Tambuwal returns to PDP with 18 lawmakers

    According to the Media Aide “our attention has been drawn to the message contained in the publication which seems to suggest that the leader of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Sokoto state, His Excellency, Senator ‎Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko has handpicked Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto among other aspirants as the sole candidate of APC for 2019 governorship election in the state.”

    Suka, however, noted in the statement that” Malam Bashir ‎Gidan Kanawa is a respected Islamic cleric in the state who is neither the spokesman of Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko nor the Media Assistant to Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu, the Deputy Governor of Sokoto state. He is rather an enthusiastic facebook commentator with no political reliability for his followers.

    ” I wish ‎to against this background, point out to the good people of Sokoto state particularly teeming members and supporters of APC, that the party has not negotiated anything that will jeopardise the lawful aspirations of other aspirants.

    ” All aspirants are equal
    and wish to inform members of our great party that Hon. Farouk Malami Yabo MFR is still a gubernatorial aspirant and he respects the constitutional rights of other aspirants. Also, his respect and loyalty to his mentor, Sen. Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko remain unshaken”, the statement ‎concluded.

  • Facebook, Afrinolly partner top creatives on ‘Naija Storybuilders Bootcamp’

    FACEBOOK and Nigeria’s Afrinolly have announced the launch of ‘Naija Storybuilders Bootcamp’, in partnership with critically acclaimed writer/producers, Dayna Lynne North & Amy Aniobi from the groundbreaking US HBO series INSECURE.

    The collaboration follows a successful Facebook for creators’ training programme in Nigeria.

    Aimed at empowering creative communities across Nigeria and providing expert mentorship and advice, this week-long intensive workshop is designed for up and coming storytellers who are focused on developing short-form content for digital platforms.

    Led by Dayna Lynne North and Amy Aniobi, the programme will take 20 aspiring local storytellers and explore tailored topics such as creating compelling characters, grabbing and keeping your audience, practical first steps to creating your project, as well as best practices on how to create and promote content on digital platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

    Sherry Dzinoreva, Policy Programmes Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa at Facebook said: “We’re thrilled and honoured to be able to  work with Afrinolly, Dayna and Amy to bring this special one-off workshop to Lagos. As leaders in their creative fields, they have a wealth of experience to offer ambitious Nigerian storytellers. At Facebook, our goal is to continue to support and invest in diverse creative talent, not just in Nigeria, but across the continent and this is just another step in highlighting our commitment.”

    Once chosen, 20 selected participants will also receive support to build their projects after the bootcamp, with three-weeks of free office space and mentorship from Afrinolly’s team of screenwriters.

    Open to candidates from 18 years plus, interested attendees must be based in Nigeria, and have a script or piece of content currently in development.

    Commenting on the partnership and Naija Storybuilders Bootcamp Dayna Lynne North and Amy Aniobi said: “We are thrilled at the opportunity Facebook is providing! Nigeria is an exciting country, full of amazing creatives, talents and visionaries. For one of us, this is a chance to go back home to our roots and share the knowledge and experiences we’ve gained over the years; for the other, it’s an incredible opportunity to mentor the next generation. We are both passionate to meet the Naija Storybuilders and get started.”

    The Naija Storybuilders Bootcamp’ programme is set take place in Lagos from Monday 15th – Friday 19th October 2018, and will be free for selected participants.

    According to Chike Maduegbuna, CEO, Afrinolly: “The Naija Storybuilders Bootcamp is a further step in our partnership with Facebook. Having Dayna and Amy as central to this, and here in Lagos, is a great opportunity for the chosen 20. I look forward to seeing how they progress in their storytelling journeys.”