‘FB-Jio deal will empower MSMEs’
Ajit Mohan, Facebook India’s vice-president and managing director, tells HT in an interview that as part of the Facebook-Jio deal, digital tools will be made available to workers in the MSME sector. Edited excerpts:
How does the Facebook-Jio deal change things for users in India, and the MSME sector?
Facebook and Jio platforms will work together to further accelerate India’s digital transformation and will open new opportunities for people and businesses across the country. An early focus area for us would be about giving micro, small and medium businesses access to digital tools that empower them to expand their business while helping them connect with customers.
The pandemic has come with a deluge of misinformation. What are the strategies in place for Facebook?
A big part of our efforts has been to ensure that everyone has access to accurate information and that we do everything to reduce misinformation and harmful content. Globally, we have directed over 2 billion people to resources from the WHO through our Coronavirus Information Center and popups on Facebook and Instagram with over 350 million people clicking through. Most recently, WhatsApp limited highly forwarded messages to just one chat, which has resulted in a 70% reduction globally in number of forwarded messages.
Between the coronavirus WhatsApp helpline and the Facebook messenger chatbot, how many people have been reached out to in India?
With specific reference to the
Facebook Messenger Chatbot, we launched the MyGov Corona Hub chatbot on Facebook Messenger in partnership with MyGov and MOHFW in April to raise awareness, provide authentic information and bust fake news. Our partnership has extended to nine state governments today, and the chatbots are available in Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, besides Hindi and English. MyGov and MOHFW launched a helpline with WhatsApp as well. By the end of March, over 2 crore people had hit the helpline number for information.
Will Instagram TV live videos be made accessible for more than 24 hours?
Culture is clearly going virtual and the increase of Instagram Live views by 60% in India is a clear indication of that. We’re also seeing interactivity spur with the release of new tools and features . We’re testing a way for you to save your Live videos to IGTV, so they stick around longer than the 24-hour limit in stories.