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TECHNOLOGY

Facebook begins promotion to boost German membership

Social networking website Facebook has teamed up with a promotion agency to boost its nascent German unit via real-world recruitment, The Washington Post's internet edition reported on Friday.

Published: 26 September 2008 17:00 CEST
Facebook begins promotion to boost German membership
Photo: DPA

The German version of the site went live in March this year, but it is struggling to keep up with local rival StudiVZ, the TechCrunch.com blog on the paper’s website reported. Facebook supposedly has a German user base of 800,000, while StudiVZ has more than 10 million. But Facebook has only grown by 200,000 members since it went German, spurring the new partnership with the Zurich-based Smaboo promotion agency.

Smaboo is calling for Facebook “ambassadors” to work for a recruitment competition between Munich and Berlin. Winners can earn internships at Facebook, iPhones, Wii game consoles for their commitment to the cause. This tactic is apparently quite similar to one used by StudiVZ some years ago where university campus captains acted as “evangelists” who approached new recruits.

Meanwhile Facebook began pursuing a case to shut down StudiVZ in July under claims that it is a “knockoff,” of the widly popular American site.

“A great part, if not all, of StudiVZ’s success is due to copying and misuse of Facebook’s intellectual property,” Facebook lawyers said in a civil suit filed July 18 in US District Court in San Jose.

LIVING IN FRANCE

France to roll out ID cards app

Technology is being rolled out to allow people to carry their French ID cards in an app form - and could be rolled out to other cards, including driving licences and cartes de séjour residency cards.

Published: 4 May 2022 11:24 CEST
France to roll out ID cards app

Holders of French carte d’identité (ID cards) will soon be able to carry certified digital versions of them on their smartphone or other electronic devices, a decree published in the Journal Officiel has confirmed.

An official app is being developed for holders of the newer credit card-format ID cards that have information stored on a chip. A provisional test version of the app is expected at the end of May.

Users will be able to use the ID card app, when it becomes available, for a range of services “from checking in at the airport to renting a car”, according to Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market.

All French citizens have an ID card, which can be used for proving identity in a range of circumstances and for travel within the EU and Schengen zone – the new app will be in addition to the plastic card that holders already have.

Under the plans, after downloading the app, card holders will need merely to hold the card close to their phone to transfer the required information. According to officials, the holder then can decide what information is passed on – such as proof of age, or home address – according to the situation.

The government has not given any examples of situations in which the app would need to be used, but has set out the main principles and the ambition of the plan: to allow everyone to identify themselves and connect to certain public and private organisations, in particular those linked to the France Connect portal.

READ ALSO What is France Connect and how could it make your life simpler?

Cards will continue to be issued for the foreseeable future – this is merely an extension of the existing system.

Only French citizens have ID cards, but if successful the app is expected to be rolled out to include other cards, such as driving licences, cartes de séjour residency cards or even visas. A digital wallet is being developed at the European level – Member States have until September to agree what it could contain.

READ ALSO Eight smartphone apps that make life in France a bit easier

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