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Dad on Facebook? There's a Support Group for That

(Newser) - Facebook is graying, and the Web has already produced an outlet for youngsters fleeing the site to escape friend requests from—gasp!—their parents, Time reports. MyParentsJoinedFacebook.com collects horror stories of parental incursion into the once uniformly young realm of social networking. “No matter how embarrassing your...

Jackson Smashes Facebook Popularity Record

(Newser) - Michael Jackson has become the most popular person in Facebook history, AllFacebook reports. A Jackson page on the site has now surpassed one for Barack Obama with a total of 6.4 million fans, and is gaining 20 more per second. A virtual version of Jackson's glove has become Facebook's...

Wife of Would-Be Brit Spy Chief Blows Cover on Facebook

Posts beach trip photos, location information

(Newser) - Britain’s incoming spy chief has blown his cover even before he takes office this fall, thanks to his wife, who posted family pictures on Facebook—without that pesky privacy protection, the Daily Telegraph reports. Anyone in the London network could see vacation photos of the soon-to-be head of MI6...

Facebook Streamlines Clunky Privacy Settings

(Newser) - Facebook is starting a pilot program to test a more user-friendly version of its sprawling privacy controls, CNET reports. The 40 different settings now occupy six separate pages, and are so complicated that many users ignore them completely. “These can add up and pile up and not be as...

Facebook Adds Twitter-esque Public Posts

Users can restrict content—or open it to the whole web

(Newser) - In a clear challenge to Twitter, Facebook is testing a system that allows users to publish updates for all the world to see,  Wired reports. The new feature technically allows users to restrict their content, allowing, for example, only family to see this photo or only certain friends to...

Mont. City Wants Facebook Password From Job-Seekers

Mont. city requires applicants to give access to social networking accounts

(Newser) - Job applicants for the city of Bozeman, Mont., had better be prepared to submit their passwords for social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. A miffed applicant emailed Montana's News Station about the practice, which City Attorney Greg Sullivan quickly defended. "We do those types of investigations to...

Mousavi: I'm 'Ready for Martyrdom'
 Mousavi: I'm 'Ready 
 for Martyrdom' 
UPDATED
Jun 20, 2009 2:10 PM CDT

Mousavi: I'm 'Ready for Martyrdom'

Iranian opposition leader calls for election 'annulment'

(Newser) - As thousands of Iranian dissidents defied the decree of the supreme leader to end their demonstrations, the symbolic face of the protests told supporters in Tehran today that he is "ready for martyrdom,” the New York Times reports. Mir Hossein Mousavi urged protesters to stage a general strike...

Bruno's Blitz Turns MySpace Into 'MeinSpace'

(Newser) - Sacha Baron Cohen has partnered up with MySpace to promote his new film, Bruno, in a move that could help revive the struggling social networking site, Advertising Age reports. MySpace is hosting a movie site for the gay Austrian fashionista—MeinSpace—and the parent site has started running an unrestricted...

Facebook, Google Roll Out Persian Updates

Internet companies rush new tools for Iranian protesters

(Newser) - Twitter has taken extraordinary measures to keep its site running during the Iranian election protests, and now other websites are speeding up developments. Today Facebook launched an early version of its site in Persian, relying on 400 volunteers to translate pages into the local language. "We felt it was...

How MySpace Lost Its Crown
 How MySpace Lost Its Crown 
ANALYSIS
Jun 17, 2009 7:50 AM CDT

How MySpace Lost Its Crown

Failure to innovate halts site's once red-hot momentum, letting Facebook take the lead

(Newser) - MySpace was overtaken by Facebook for the first time last month and without some serious innovation, Rupert Murdoch's big buy may end up joining Friendster in the ranks of the also-rans, Dawn Chmielewski and David Sarno write in the Los Angeles Times. The world of social networking moves at an...

For Latest on Iran Unrest, Check Online First

(Newser) - Traditional media are having a tough time covering the Iranian election fallout, but fear not: Web 2.0 is up to the task. The Washington Post runs down the best destinations for those hoping to stay on top of the situation:
  • PicFog.com: Current, unedited photos containing "a level
...

GOP Activist: Gorilla on Lam Just Michelle's Ancestor

South Carolina Republican apologizes, sort of, for racist remark

(Newser) - Turns out that pegging a primate as a member of the first lady's family tree on a public website might not be the best career move, as an activist in the South Carolina GOP is finding out. Rusty DePass has apologized after making a comment on a friend's Facebook photo...

550 Facebookers Per Second Vie for New URLs

Members claimed vanity addresses at more than 550 a second

(Newser) - Facebook’s offer of personalized URLs drew 500,000 members in 15 minutes after midnight today, Bloomberg reports. “We saw higher than usual traffic,” said a spokesman. “Planning allowed us to handle that traffic well.” The feature, designed to make Google searches easier, allows the site’...

Army Lifts Ban on Social Media
 Army Lifts Ban on Social Media 
Jun 11, 2009 2:21 PM CDT

Army Lifts Ban on Social Media

Soldiers can use Twitter, Facebook from bases

(Newser) - The US Army has lifted a years-long ban on online social networks, commanding bases to let soldiers access sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr so they can “tell the Army story,” Wired reports. The change doesn’t apply to all overseas bases or other armed forces, and it...

Facebook Set to Offer Personalized URLs

(Newser) - Facebook will now offer users an alternative to the clumsy random URLs currently assigned for personal pages, Mashable reports. Starting Friday, users can apply for an actual named website to supplant a mix of numbers, such as facebook.com/john.q.public. The “vanity URL” system has been available on...

Twitter Growth Stalls, Study Shows Just 10% Tweet

(Newser) - Just last week, Twitter was on the cover of Time; today, everyone’s crowing about its demise, writes Om Malik for GigaOm. According to Compete.com, Twitter’s unique visitor growth stalled in May after months of sensational gains, up a mere 1.47% compared to Facebook’s 8%. The...

Facebook Photo Busts Student Charged in DUI

Pics of tequila-swilling 20-year-old incite judge's wrath

(Newser) - A 20-year-old college student awaiting trial on reckless homicide and DUI charges learned the perils of too-candid Facebook photos yesterday, the Chicago Tribune reports. Erika Scoliere is now sporting an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet after violating a court order not to drink while out on bail. “It appears the defendant...

Real-Life Social Network Stays Same Size

You replace half of old friends with new ones every 7 years: study

(Newser) - It might not be so on Facebook, but the size of people’s actual social networks stays about the same throughout life, LiveScience reports. Most people replace half their friends every 7 years, a survey of 1,000 people finds. The study—which also notes that people often make new...

Facebook Wants Your Friendship and Your Money

Site rolls out payment system aimed at getting profit from apps

(Newser) - Facebook is breaking an age-old business rule: Never do business with friends. In a bid to achieve profitability, the social-networking site is testing an internal payments system that allows its 300 million users to purchase credits redeemable for virtual goods, from Facebook itself or third-party applications. “Over time, this...

Twitter and Facebook Come to Xbox 360

Microsoft console gets motion-sensor camera, Spielberg to show it

(Newser) - In a bid to make its Xbox 360 more interactive, Microsoft is bringing Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, a lightning-speed video service, and—brace yourself—a motion-sensing camera that knows who you are just by reading your face to the console, Ars Technica reports. The company even brought in Steven Spielberg...

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