Starting October 31, 2013, subscribers can dial *143# and select FREE FB to know more about Globe Free Facebook.
Great news for Facebook users! Globe shared this piece of news to me. Take note they did not invite me to their launch so I am sharing this press release and removing superlatives just so you get to know what this is about.
Globe Telecom is giving the telco’s over 36 million subscribers free access to Facebook on mobile phones for an initial period of three (3) months. Globe worked closely with Facebook to enable customer experience innovations for the best free Facebook offer yet.
Available to all Globe Prepaid, Postpaid, and TM subscribers using feature phones and smartphones* and accessing either through the mobile site of Facebook or the Facebook app, users can post, like, comment, chat, add friends, upload photos, share posts, and more on Facebook without the need for Wi-Fi.
Aside from offering Facebook at zero data charges, the collaboration between the two global companies has also paved the way for subscribers to experience innovations.
Working with Silicon Valley-based Facebook engineers, Globe has put together innovations such as availability of access on feature phones and smartphones across all Facebook mobile platforms whether via the Facebook app or Facebook’s mobile site m.facebook.com; no billshock or “nakaw load” as customers will be notified if they will incur data charges once a link that leads out of Facebook is clicked; and one-click registration to the data plan of choice to continue browsing without having to leave the site. Recommended data plans consider a subscriber’s available prepaid balance and/or megabytes (MB) balance of existing data plan.
Moreover, customers with not enough prepaid load can “loan” a 10MB data plan for only P10 which will be deducted on their succeeding top-up so they can fully explore content outside Facebook, making the experience seamless and worry-free.
Globe is progressively rolling-out availability of the Free Facebook service to cover all its subscribers by October 31, 2013.
Bithos added, “Over the past months, the engineering, business development and marketing teams at both Globe and Facebook have worked together to plan and design the customer experience from scratch – which includes making the service available across all Facebook mobile platforms, rolling out a system that alerts users once they are about to click a link that will incur them data charges, paving the way for subscribers to easily subscribe to a data plan without having to leave Facebook, and allowing data access lending for subscribers who don’t have enough prepaid load to continue browsing links outside Facebook. This service testifies how Globe is transforming itself beyond just an access carrier. Globe is striving to be a leading digital brand catering to the needs of digital Filipinos who need to be connected to their social circles around the world.”
“Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected,” said Chris Daniels, vice president of partnerships at Facebook. “Globe understands the opportunities giving people access to the Internet brings and we’re thrilled to be working with them to give Globe subscribers access to Facebook without data charges across our apps and mobile website.”
Starting October 31, 2013, subscribers can dial *143# and select FREE FB to know more about Globe Free Facebook.
Initial reaction of this free service came from my sister.
i got the invite from Globe about ‘free’ access to FB which I did not understand because access to FB is really free. The invite did not say anything about not needing the internet to access FB, only something about no data charges. Well, I pay for unli internet monthly already. Since I already have free access to FB, I turned down the invitation. Globe should make their invitation clearer and to the point. Under ‘Learn more’, there was just a statement that Globe would be given access to all my contacts, etc in exchange of this ‘free’ service. So I declined.
I also heard two other friends concerned with their privacy. Globe should clarify how they will guard our privacy with the condition of this free service.
*Except BlackBerry. Free Facebook will soon be available to Nokia Xpress and Opera Mini users