Canadian cities joins Facebook list of cities with higher friendship connections

With Facebook celebrating its 11th year. The social network is focusing on the foundation of the company: friendship. There are over 1.39 billion active monthly users around the world and 20 million of those are Canadians. Aside from that, Canadian cities have made it on a list of cities that are at least 10,000 km apart but have significantly higher than average friend connections. Vancouver, British Columbia is at number three and they share friendship with Hong Kong, Hong Kong. And at number 5, Brampton, Ontario Facebook users share friendship connections with Ludhiana, Punjab, India. For more stats and other trivia, you can check out this link.

Facebook to suggest nearby places to you on iOS app

In another move to encroach Foursquare's main business, Facebook is introducing a new nearby place recommendation feature into its iOS app. The social network calls the feature as Place Tips. It will display posts about a certain shop, restaurant, or other establishments when it sees you're in the area. It is currently testing in select areas, like New York, before a universal rollout. We don't know yet when that would be or if it'll come to Android. Let us know if you're able to try it out and what you think about it.

Source: Cult of Mac

Facebook opens registration for F8 developer conference

It’s almost that time of the year again. Facebook is opening registration for its F8 developer’s conference. The event will be happening on March 25 and 26 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center. The social network touts this as its biggest conference yet and would have every Facebook product and company (Instagram, Parse, Messenger, and WhatsApp). Oculus’ Chief Scientist Michael Abrash will be giving the talk on the opening day. There will be over 40 sessions and attendees will even get to try the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype and the Gear VR. You can find out more details below. If you can’t be in San Francisco then, they will stream the keynote and other sessions live on F8 site.

Source: Facebook F8

Facebook introduces 'lite' version of app for emerging countries

Facebook looks to bring its social network to emerging markets. They have just introduced a new simplified version of its mobile app for Android users in developing countries. Called Facebook Lite, it runs Facebook's core functionality while only taking up 252KB of space. Messaging has been integrated within the app to lessen the digital footprint it takes up. It is meant to run on slower 2G networks  for countries like Nepal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, South Africa, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. If you're in one of those countries, you can download the app below.

Source: Slate | Download: Google Play Store (Free)