Tag: Facebook

BBC World News unveils plans to help global audiences

MUMBAI: As the United Kingdom looks towards the EU Referendum, the BBC has today unveiled its plans to help global audiences make sense of the vote.

From documentaries and debates to live streaming on social media, BBC World News and BBC.com/news will provide a multiplatform offer, which means people around the world can keep up with the latest on the campaign wherever they are.

The BBC’s international news service will be mobilising its team of experienced correspondents and presenters with live broadcasts from across Europe to explain key moments in the campaign and help people understand what the result could mean where they are, while also offering a wealth of content online at bbc.com/eureferendum (www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum)
Sharing content and analysis via Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter will be at the heart of the coverage as Outside Source presenter Ros Atkins takes his innovative daily news show on the road. He will be presenting his TV programme from Paris, Manchester and Edinburgh as well as live steaming on the BBC News Facebook page. He will also be covering the BBC’s live, televised EU membership debate at London’s SSE Arena, Wembley on Tuesday June 21st. Ros will use social media to bring viewers key points as senior politicians and other key figures explore both sides of the argument, while BBC World News will broadcast the debate live.

On results day Ros will be joined by World News presenter and former BBC political correspondent Philippa Thomas in London’s Westminster as they cover the reaction to the referendum’s outcome in a special day of live broadcasts. Presenters David Eades and Karin Giannone will be bringing the view from Brussels, and Kasia Madera will be in Poland. BBC World News America anchor Katty Kay will be keeping American audiences up to speed, with a special London edition of her show while business correspondents Karishma Vaswani and Michelle Fleury will gauge the reaction of the financial markets and business communities around the world.

Alongside the service’s news reporting BBC World News will also be broadcasting special documentaries. These include an Our World special with Gabriel Gatehouse considering what has become of the European dream and an hour long film ‘The Truth About EU Migration’ (title TBC) presented by Mishal Husain taking an impartial look at the effects of migration from other European Union countries to the UK.

Unveiling the wealth of content, BBC World News digital and editorial director Richard Porter said, “This is a historic referendum for the British people, which we know is being watched closely around the world. It’s our responsibility to ensure audiences get the clearest explanation of the issues, with coverage they can trust. Audiences can expect the same quality of coverage whether they come to us on TV, on our website, our app or on social media – and we’ll reflect back what they’re saying to us, as well as what the politicians are saying to them. We’ll draw upon all the knowledge and experience of our expert correspondents to ensure audiences get the whole story.”

Key Content

• Our World: The European Dreamwith Gabriel Gatehouse-It’s more than 65 years since Europe set out on a journey that’s led to today’s complex union of 28 states. As the European Union struggles to stay united in the face of 21st century crises, for Our World Gabriel Gatehouse asks what’s happened to the European dream. Tx Friday June 10th 0930 GMT

• The Truth about EU Migration – Mishal Husain takes an impartial look at the effects of migration from other European Union countries to the UK. From the economy and jobs market, through education, housing, and the NHS, to security and national identity, this documentary explores the true impact of EU immigration on Britain.Tx date tbc

• EU Referendum: The Great Debate -As the campaign reaches its climax, BBC presenters David Dimbleby (Question Time) will be joined by Mishal Husain (Radio4 Today) and Emily Maitlis (This Week’s World), live at SSE Arena, Wembley in London for the BBC’s biggest ever campaign event as thousands of voters are invited to question representatives from the ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ camps
– TxJune 21st.

• Outside Source Specials / BBC World News live broadcasts

o Paris – June 9 and 10

o Belgium – June 14

o Manchester & The Netherlands – June 16

o Scotland – June 20

• Results Day – rolling coverage from Westminster and Brussels with in-depth analysis as the result becomes clear – June 24

June 8, 2016
Facebook appoints Umang Bedi as managing director India

MUMBAI: Facebook has appointed Umang Bedi as Managing Director, India, where he will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country. He will take over from Kirthiga Reddy, who will be returning to United States to take on a new role at the company’s headquarters at Menlo Park.

“I am thrilled to join Facebook and am looking forward to working with the talented teams in India, to help brands and agencies grow their business on our platform. For me it’s a promising opportunity to participate in India’s digital growth, and I can’t think of a better place to be at.” said Bedi on her new appointment.

Umang comes to Facebook with close to two decades of leadership experience covering sales, marketing and partnerships where he successfully built teams and grew businesses for multinational companies. Prior to joining Facebook, Umang was the Managing Director of the South Asia region at Adobe. He was responsible for growing their business in India and helping India grow to amongst the leading markets for Adobe in the APAC and global regions.

Umang is an engineering graduate from University of Pune, an alumni of Harvard Business School and the recipient of the prestigious ‘40 Under Forty: India’s Hottest Business Leaders Award 2014’ given by The Economic Times and Spencer Stuart in 2014.

On the other hand, Kirthiga Reddy, who was the face of Facebook in India, is set to join the Global Accounts team at Menlo Park, CA where she will manage a set of global brands and also lead the emerging markets efforts globally for the Global Accounts team, which manages Facebook’s relationships with the world’s largest global advertisers.

“After six years in India building our operations and business, it’s hard to leave a team I now call family. The good news is that we will continue to work together. As I look ahead, I am excited about how well positioned our business is, to grow from strength to strength with Umang’s leadership, and with my next opportunity to shape and drive our emerging markets strategy across some of the world’s biggest brands,” Reddy shared.

Umang will officially start at Facebook in July 2016. Kirthiga will start her new role in August 2016.

“India is known for its great talent pool and we are really pleased to have Umang Bedi, a proven business executive to lead our business in India. I also want to wish Kirthiga the very best in her new global role. Kirthiga has played a huge and key role in building our India business from scratch, and I know she will continue to deliver the same impact in the US,” said Facebook Asia Pacific VP Dan Neary.

He further added, “Facebook is where people and businesses connect on mobile and with close to 150 million monthly active people in India, we see significant opportunities to help Indian business – large and small – deliver against their business objectives in the mobile world.”

Facebook works with more than 85% of the top 100 advertisers in India identified by Kantar. 100% of those advertisers use video within their Facebook campaigns in India.

June 7, 2016
Facebook appoints Umang Bedi as managing director India

MUMBAI: Facebook has appointed Umang Bedi as Managing Director, India, where he will lead in building and maintaining strategic relationships with top clients and regional agencies in the country. He will take over from Kirthiga Reddy, who will be returning to United States to take on a new role at the company’s headquarters at Menlo Park.

“I am thrilled to join Facebook and am looking forward to working with the talented teams in India, to help brands and agencies grow their business on our platform. For me it’s a promising opportunity to participate in India’s digital growth, and I can’t think of a better place to be at.” said Bedi on her new appointment.

Umang comes to Facebook with close to two decades of leadership experience covering sales, marketing and partnerships where he successfully built teams and grew businesses for multinational companies. Prior to joining Facebook, Umang was the Managing Director of the South Asia region at Adobe. He was responsible for growing their business in India and helping India grow to amongst the leading markets for Adobe in the APAC and global regions.

Umang is an engineering graduate from University of Pune, an alumni of Harvard Business School and the recipient of the prestigious ‘40 Under Forty: India’s Hottest Business Leaders Award 2014’ given by The Economic Times and Spencer Stuart in 2014.

On the other hand, Kirthiga Reddy, who was the face of Facebook in India, is set to join the Global Accounts team at Menlo Park, CA where she will manage a set of global brands and also lead the emerging markets efforts globally for the Global Accounts team, which manages Facebook’s relationships with the world’s largest global advertisers.

“After six years in India building our operations and business, it’s hard to leave a team I now call family. The good news is that we will continue to work together. As I look ahead, I am excited about how well positioned our business is, to grow from strength to strength with Umang’s leadership, and with my next opportunity to shape and drive our emerging markets strategy across some of the world’s biggest brands,” Reddy shared.

Umang will officially start at Facebook in July 2016. Kirthiga will start her new role in August 2016.

“India is known for its great talent pool and we are really pleased to have Umang Bedi, a proven business executive to lead our business in India. I also want to wish Kirthiga the very best in her new global role. Kirthiga has played a huge and key role in building our India business from scratch, and I know she will continue to deliver the same impact in the US,” said Facebook Asia Pacific VP Dan Neary.

He further added, “Facebook is where people and businesses connect on mobile and with close to 150 million monthly active people in India, we see significant opportunities to help Indian business – large and small – deliver against their business objectives in the mobile world.”

Facebook works with more than 85% of the top 100 advertisers in India identified by Kantar. 100% of those advertisers use video within their Facebook campaigns in India.

June 7, 2016
Baidu India launches a social campaign ‘The Last Conversation’

MUMBAI: On World Environment Day (WED) 2016, Baidu’s India office will launch a new social campaign named “The Last Conversation” to raise awareness of wildlife depletion. The campaign will feature Baidu’s mascot, the “DU bear”, having a final conversation with different endangered animals through a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter, with the goal of urging people to avoid products that cause harm to wildlife.

According to a 2014 report issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), India is home to 6.5 percent of the world’s total wildlife species, which includes 7.6 percent of all mammals and 12.6 percent of all bird species. Out of these, 15 species of birds, 12 species of mammals, and 18 species of reptiles and amphibians in India are recognized as critically endangered.

Baidu India will hold its campaign on Twitter and Facebook from June 1st to June 5th, 2016, with the hash tag #TheLastConversation. The animals featured in the conversations will speak their last words to the DU bear before they are turned into consumer products, in a strong message of the harmful impact of our purchases on wildlife.

Baidu has previously advocated other environmental causes in India and worldwide. Since 2014, Baidu’s Android apps DU Battery Saver and DU Speed Booster have partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on a yearly basis to raise awareness of Earth Hour, the world’s largest grassroots environmental movement organized by WWF.

WED is a yearly awareness campaign run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The theme of WED 2016 is illegal trade in wildlife, with the slogan ‘Go Wild for Life’.

May 30, 2016
Baidu India launches a social campaign ‘The Last Conversation’

MUMBAI: On World Environment Day (WED) 2016, Baidu’s India office will launch a new social campaign named “The Last Conversation” to raise awareness of wildlife depletion. The campaign will feature Baidu’s mascot, the “DU bear”, having a final conversation with different endangered animals through a series of posts on Facebook and Twitter, with the goal of urging people to avoid products that cause harm to wildlife.

According to a 2014 report issued by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), India is home to 6.5 percent of the world’s total wildlife species, which includes 7.6 percent of all mammals and 12.6 percent of all bird species. Out of these, 15 species of birds, 12 species of mammals, and 18 species of reptiles and amphibians in India are recognized as critically endangered.

Baidu India will hold its campaign on Twitter and Facebook from June 1st to June 5th, 2016, with the hash tag #TheLastConversation. The animals featured in the conversations will speak their last words to the DU bear before they are turned into consumer products, in a strong message of the harmful impact of our purchases on wildlife.

Baidu has previously advocated other environmental causes in India and worldwide. Since 2014, Baidu’s Android apps DU Battery Saver and DU Speed Booster have partnered with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on a yearly basis to raise awareness of Earth Hour, the world’s largest grassroots environmental movement organized by WWF.

WED is a yearly awareness campaign run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The theme of WED 2016 is illegal trade in wildlife, with the slogan ‘Go Wild for Life’.

May 30, 2016
Facebook’s first corp office in Mumbai, Abhishek Bachchan interacts live with fans

NEW DELHI: Media Savvy Star Abhishek Bachchan became the first visitor to the India corporate office of Facebook in Mumbai, spending time not merely learning about the services being offered, but interacted with fans in live sessions.

Facebook, which cliams more than one billion users, opened its office in the commercial business district of Mumbai in BKC (Bandra- Kurla Complex)

Abhishek entertained guests with his tongue in cheek humour and did the first ever Facebook Live from the new office and – as a Facebook spokesperson put it – had a blast in the process.

Watch Abhishek interact with fans in the live session here:
https://www.facebook.com/AbhishekBachchan/videos/430669957057430/
https://www.facebook.com/AbhishekBachchan/videos/430689863722106/
https://www.facebook.com/AbhishekBachchan/videos/430680283723064/

Not only did he participate in the live chat, Bachchan Jr.,also inaugurated a special room at the Facebook office called the Celebrity Room. He was the first Bollywood celebrity to sign on the celebrity wall built in the Facebook office premises for all celebs to pen down their best wishes.

May 27, 2016
Facebook’s first corp office in Mumbai, Abhishek Bachchan interacts live with fans

NEW DELHI: Media Savvy Star Abhishek Bachchan became the first visitor to the India corporate office of Facebook in Mumbai, spending time not merely learning about the services being offered, but interacted with fans in live sessions.

Facebook, which cliams more than one billion users, opened its office in the commercial business district of Mumbai in BKC (Bandra- Kurla Complex)

Abhishek entertained guests with his tongue in cheek humour and did the first ever Facebook Live from the new office and – as a Facebook spokesperson put it – had a blast in the process.

Watch Abhishek interact with fans in the live session here:
https://www.facebook.com/AbhishekBachchan/videos/430669957057430/
https://www.facebook.com/AbhishekBachchan/videos/430689863722106/
https://www.facebook.com/AbhishekBachchan/videos/430680283723064/

Not only did he participate in the live chat, Bachchan Jr.,also inaugurated a special room at the Facebook office called the Celebrity Room. He was the first Bollywood celebrity to sign on the celebrity wall built in the Facebook office premises for all celebs to pen down their best wishes.

May 27, 2016
Microsoft and Facebook to build an innovative new subsea cable across the Atlantic Ocean

MENLO PARK, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash., May 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ –Today, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT” @microsoft) and Facebook(NASDAQ:FB) announced an agreement to build a new, state-of-the-art subsea cable across the Atlantic. The new “MAREA” cable will help meet the growing customer demand for high speed, reliable connections for cloud and online services for Microsoft, Facebook and their customers. The parties have cleared conditions to go Contract-In-Force (CIF) with their plans, and construction of the cable will commence in August 2016 with completion expected in October 2017.

Microsoft and Facebook are collaborating on this system to accelerate the development of the next-generation of Internet infrastructure and support the explosion of data consumption and rapid growth of their respective cloud and online services. MAREA will be the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross the Atlantic – eight fiber pairs and an initial estimated design capacity of 160Tbps. The new 6,600 km submarine cable system, to be operated and managed by Telxius, Telefónica’s new telecommunications infrastructure company, will also be the first to connect the United States to southern Europe, from the data hub of Northern Virginia to Bilbao, Spain and then to network hubs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. This route is south of other transatlantic cable systems, thereby helping ensure more resilient and reliable connections for customers in the United States,Europe, and beyond.

Microsoft and Facebook designed MAREA to be interoperable with a variety of networking equipment. This new “open” design brings significant benefits for customers: lower costs and easier equipment upgrades which leads to faster growth in bandwidth rates since the system can evolve at the pace of optical technology innovation.

Microsoft and Facebook are working with Telxius to build upon Telefónica’s longstanding experience in subsea cables on this innovative new system. Telxius will serve as the operator of the system and sell capacity as part of their wholesale infrastructure business.

“As the world is increasingly moving toward a future based on cloud computing, Microsoft continues to invest in our cloud infrastructure to meet current and future growing global demand for our more than 200 cloud services, including Bing, Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live and the Microsoft Azure platform,” said Christian Belady, General Manager, Datacenter Strategy, Planning & Development, Microsoft Corp. “The MAREA transatlantic cable we’re building with Facebook and Telxius will provide new, low-latency connectivity that will help meet the increasing demand for higher-speed capacity across the Atlantic. By building the cable along this new southern route, we will also increase the resiliency of our global network, helping ensure even greater reliability for our customers.”

“Facebook wants to make it possible for people to have deep connections and shared experiences with the people who matter to them most — anywhere in the world, and at any time,” said Najam Ahmad, Vice President of Network Engineering at Facebook. “We’re always evaluating new technologies and systems in order to provide the best connectivity possible. By creating a vendor-agnostic design with Microsoft and Telxius, we can choose the hardware and software that best serves the system and ultimately increase the pace of innovation. We want to do more of these projects in this manner — allowing us to move fast with more collaboration. We think this is how most subsea cable systems will be built in the future.”

“Working with Facebook and Microsoft in this project will reinforce Telxius’ position as a worldwide leading infra company not only expanding on-net capabilities to Spain and the USA but also allowing us to capture market opportunities in Western Europe and new emerging routes in Northern Africa and other regions,” said Rafael Arranz, Chief Operating Officer of Telxius Cable.

May 27, 2016
Microsoft and Facebook to build an innovative new subsea cable across the Atlantic Ocean

MENLO PARK, Calif. and REDMOND, Wash., May 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ –Today, Microsoft (NASDAQ “MSFT” @microsoft) and Facebook(NASDAQ:FB) announced an agreement to build a new, state-of-the-art subsea cable across the Atlantic. The new “MAREA” cable will help meet the growing customer demand for high speed, reliable connections for cloud and online services for Microsoft, Facebook and their customers. The parties have cleared conditions to go Contract-In-Force (CIF) with their plans, and construction of the cable will commence in August 2016 with completion expected in October 2017.

Microsoft and Facebook are collaborating on this system to accelerate the development of the next-generation of Internet infrastructure and support the explosion of data consumption and rapid growth of their respective cloud and online services. MAREA will be the highest-capacity subsea cable to ever cross the Atlantic – eight fiber pairs and an initial estimated design capacity of 160Tbps. The new 6,600 km submarine cable system, to be operated and managed by Telxius, Telefónica’s new telecommunications infrastructure company, will also be the first to connect the United States to southern Europe, from the data hub of Northern Virginia to Bilbao, Spain and then to network hubs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. This route is south of other transatlantic cable systems, thereby helping ensure more resilient and reliable connections for customers in the United States,Europe, and beyond.

Microsoft and Facebook designed MAREA to be interoperable with a variety of networking equipment. This new “open” design brings significant benefits for customers: lower costs and easier equipment upgrades which leads to faster growth in bandwidth rates since the system can evolve at the pace of optical technology innovation.

Microsoft and Facebook are working with Telxius to build upon Telefónica’s longstanding experience in subsea cables on this innovative new system. Telxius will serve as the operator of the system and sell capacity as part of their wholesale infrastructure business.

“As the world is increasingly moving toward a future based on cloud computing, Microsoft continues to invest in our cloud infrastructure to meet current and future growing global demand for our more than 200 cloud services, including Bing, Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live and the Microsoft Azure platform,” said Christian Belady, General Manager, Datacenter Strategy, Planning & Development, Microsoft Corp. “The MAREA transatlantic cable we’re building with Facebook and Telxius will provide new, low-latency connectivity that will help meet the increasing demand for higher-speed capacity across the Atlantic. By building the cable along this new southern route, we will also increase the resiliency of our global network, helping ensure even greater reliability for our customers.”

“Facebook wants to make it possible for people to have deep connections and shared experiences with the people who matter to them most — anywhere in the world, and at any time,” said Najam Ahmad, Vice President of Network Engineering at Facebook. “We’re always evaluating new technologies and systems in order to provide the best connectivity possible. By creating a vendor-agnostic design with Microsoft and Telxius, we can choose the hardware and software that best serves the system and ultimately increase the pace of innovation. We want to do more of these projects in this manner — allowing us to move fast with more collaboration. We think this is how most subsea cable systems will be built in the future.”

“Working with Facebook and Microsoft in this project will reinforce Telxius’ position as a worldwide leading infra company not only expanding on-net capabilities to Spain and the USA but also allowing us to capture market opportunities in Western Europe and new emerging routes in Northern Africa and other regions,” said Rafael Arranz, Chief Operating Officer of Telxius Cable.

May 27, 2016
Spuul is now available on Amazon Fire TV and Android TV

MUMBAI: The VOD platform for Indian and regional content Spuul will now be available on Amazon’s Fire TV and Android TV as an application. The app can be downloaded from the Amazon store and Android Play stores. lt will also be available on other devices such as Kindle, Fire Stick and Fire Phone.

“With multiple devices and multiple platforms, it’s getting increasingly difficult for consumers to maintain different accounts on different applications and different devices. The Amazon Fire TV and Android TV apps are a step further in make streaming content a smooth, seamless experience for our viewers. Spuul lets you browse through a variety of movies on your phone, tablet, laptop, e-reader or TV wherever you go”, says Spuul Global CEO Subin Subaiah.

Viewers can link their existing Spuul account with the Amazon Fire TV app and Android TV app whereas new users can sign up on using their existing Facebook account.

While the interface of both the apps looks simplified and user friendly, it has been designed keeping in mind the appearance of channels on a television set top box. To further enhance the experience, the apps are also entirely remote controlled. While Android TV users can log in with either their Facebook or Google accounts, Amazon users are free to use their gaming controllers as remotes for the Fire TV app too.

The apps are designed with built-in features such as regular updates of latest Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi and other Indian regional language titles. Through this app, Spuul’s 12 million (1.2 crore) viewers across India, Pakistan, UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Middle East will now enjoy fresh Indian content anytime and anywhere.

May 24, 2016