Many people use Facebook and Twitter daily to interact with friends, family, and others. Smart phones have made it very easy to browse from almost anywhere in the world, which is another reason these platforms are getting more popular each day. However, you have to be careful when utilizing these platforms from your mobile phone because they tend to pull a lot of data. This is NOT a major problem for those who have an unlimited plan and can afford the monthly costs, but for everyone else, it can be very difficult to cover the costs.
Recently, both Facebook.com and Twitter.com incorporated auto play video ads, which are great for those looking to advertise, but NOT so good for mobile users with limited data. Today, I’d like to go over some fundamentals on how to save bandwidth on these networks while still being able to browse your favorite social platform.
Let’s get started…
Disable the Feature
In Twitter, this setting can be adjusted by going into settings then disable auto play videos. You can also set this to only play on Wi-Fi connections. In Facebook.com, you can also disable this option by going into settings then making the tweaks on the same settings.
Alternative Options
If you are a big social platform user, especially when using Facebook.com and Twitter, you do have other options available to help you save on data. Let’s explore the two MOST common:
Wi-Fi Connection –
One of the most popular things these days is the use of Wi-Fi and its availability. Many business owners now provide FREE access to Wi-Fi simply because it is what their customers are expecting. In turn, this has increased business because many will come to their establishment to simply do work while using a FREE internet connection. For someone with data issues and living in the 18th century, “Wi-Fi†pulls from a router connection and NOT from your data plan.
All you need to do is find the businesses name listed in the Wi-Fi networks then add them and their password.
Unlimited Data Plans –
Mobile phones use to be so expensive at one point and the plans were through the roof. However, signing up with the right service provider can give you a handful of options. For example, many of them are offering unlimited data for an affordable price and this is something you should consider. You can update your plan by going into the backend of your billing then adding the unlimited data feature. I’m speaking from my experience because this is an option through my service provider.
Final Thoughts…
This was a quick post just to cover social platforms and mobile usage. Another reason I decided to write this was because I see this question pop up in a lot of forums and someone recently sent me an email. Many of you are NOT aware of how much data you are using by leaving some of the auto play options enabled on your mobile phones. Going forward, make the change in your social backend to avoid any data issues. However, you can always leave some of these options enabled, but be more aware of your connection methods.
If you have any feedback, please post it in the comment box and share some of your strategies.