Technology
Why has my Facebook logo changed? New icon is genius celebration of International Women’s Day
FACEBOOK is swapping its logo for one day only in celebration of International Women’s Day.
When you open the app on Monday, the California company’s classic lower case branding changes to the faces of women from different cultures.
When you open the Facebook app on Monday, the California company’s logo changes to the faces of women from different cultures[/caption]
The logo swaps back after a few seconds, though three women’s faces remain[/caption]
The brief rebrand comes as nations and businesses mark International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8.
Celebrated for more than a century, the day highlights the achievements of women around the globe – as well as the inequalities they face.
While the world has made progress in recent years, no country is expected to achieve gender equality by 2030, according to the SDG Gender Index.
To mark IWD, the lowercase “facebook” logo in the top left corner of the app’s home screen swaps to the faces of eight women.
The lowercase ‘facebook’ logo appears at the top left corner of the app’s home screen[/caption]
The women push together in a hug before separating again. Users are then redirected to a page carrying Women’s Day related posts.
Any status updates or photos posted using #internationalwomenday or related hashtags show up here.
The seeds of International Women’s Day, or IWD for short, were planted back in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding better working conditions.
They wanted shorter working hours and better pay, as well as the right to vote.
A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Women’s Day.
The idea to expand the occasion to the international stage came from German activist Clara Zetkin.
The concept wasn’t cemented until a war-time strike in 1917, when Russian women demanded “bread and peace”.
The Tsar was forced to abdicate four days into the strike, and protestors were granted the right to vote.
The strike’s start date was translated in the Gregorian calendar to be March 8 – which is when IWD is celebrated in the present day.
Why does it feel like Facebook is snooping on you?
Here’s what you need to know…
- The magic of targeted advertising is that it should feel relevant to you – even if you can’t figure out why.
- Facebook doesn’t need to spy on your real-life conversations, because you hand over so much information anyway.
- Follow this link and you’ll be able to download everything Facebook knows about you. Most of you will quickly realise it’s a staggering amount of information.
- Advertisers can use information gleaned from your activity all across the web, on multiple devices, even if you’re not logged into Facebook or other services.
- They’ll likely know where you live, what you like, who your friends are, how much money you make, your political beliefs and much more.
- So when you get ads for something you’ve talked about out loud, it’s almost certainly just advertisers being very good at predicting your interests.
- It’s also possible that there’s an advertising campaign running, and you’ve seen an ad and not noticed. You’ve then spoken about it, never realising you’ve been advertised to, and only then notice future ads – which suddenly seem suspicious.
- Let’s say you talked about a holiday to Scotland, and then all of a sudden you’re being advertised holidays to Scotland.
- You may never have searched for anything to do with that before.
- But Facebook could use info about your level of wealth, your past holiday interests, the time of year (ads for wintry Scottish retreats are common in the colder months), and your location.
- What seems like snooping is actually just clever advertising.
Most read in Phones & Gadgets
In other news, WhatsApp has made a U-turn on its decision to thrust controversial new terms on users.
Bitcoin “whales” who hold staggering sums of the cryptocurrency could crash the market, experts have warned.
And a hacker has reportedly attempted to trap the penises of people using internet-controlled chastity cages.
What do you make of Facebook’s logo change? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk
