Social Networking Sites

[Prashanth]

Internet social media company Facebook plans to allow outside developers access to core parts of the website so they can build new services.

The new capabilities would let third-party developers build services that access content uploaded by Facebook users such as pictures and videos with the users' permission.

Facebook, which has more than 200 million active users worldwide, does not plan to charge for the service.

The company is expected to brief developers on the plan, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, at an event it is hosting for developers at its Palo Alto, California headquarters on Monday.

Facebook would not comment on the plans to open its service to outside developers.


Source: zeenews

[sajiv]

Facebook plans to give developers more access: Report

Internet social media company Facebook plans to allow outside developers access to core parts of the website
so they can build new services, a person familiar with the situation said.

The person said that the company is expected to announce the plans on Monday. The new capabilities would let third-party developers build services that access content uploaded by Facebook users such as pictures and videos with the users' permission.

Facebook, which has more than 200 million active users worldwide, does not plan to charge for the service.

The company is expected to brief developers on the plan, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, at an event it is hosting for developers at its Palo Alto, California headquarters on Monday.

Facebook would not comment on the plans to open its service to outside developers, but the company said it was preparing an announcement on Monday related to developer opportunities.

[sajiv]

Facebook shuts down KKK group

The Isle of Man is, perhaps, one of the lesser-known parts of the world.

Perched in the Irish Sea, slightly to the left of some of the more miserable parts of England, it is most famous for a motorcycle race in which someone always seems to get killed.

Now the Isle, whose strange three-legged flag looks like something the Masons might appreciate, is famous for something more: a Ku Klux Klan Facebook group.

It seems some wise and sensitive people decided to get together and "Keep the Isle of Man white and free from foreigners." They dubbed themselves the "Isle of Man KKK."

95 deep-thinking humans from the island's population of some 76,000 signed up for this group. One described the group's goal as wanting to "clense (sic) the Isle of Man".

The members left charming messages such as "Damn blacks and indians (sic), coming over here taking our jobs - who the **** do they think they are?"

One might also wonder who the members of the group think they are. According to the local newspaper, the Isle of Man Today, 33 of the KKK members were students at the Ballakarmeen High School.

Perhaps one of them was the bright spark who used a slightly more colloquial version of what is known here in the U.S. as "the n-word."

After Ballakarmeen High School officials got wind of the ill breeze being created by the group, they alerted Facebook, who swiftly (for Facebook) shut the group down.

However, those same school officials appear not to believe their students are racists. Deputy Head Teacher Paul Kane told the Isle of Man Today: "There are one or two ambiguous remarks from our students but we think these were intended as sarcasm. I'm pleased that the vast majority disagree with the sentiments of this group and want nothing to do with it."

However, after one BHS student had left a message that the group was "racist and immature," a student from King Williams College replied: "I'm not paticularly (sic) immature, but I am slightly racist."

Perhaps it is slightly pleasing that this site has been removed. However, one commenter to the Isle of Man Today's article suggests that the issue may go far beyond these 95 Facebook group members.

Using the moniker BS, the commenter wrote: "Thank you for putting this up! I came to the Island a couple of years ago and hand on heart I have never been anywhere so racist in my life!"

[sajiv]

Canada takes to Facebook, Youtube to combat flu 

New cases of human swine flu took the Canadian total to 51 Friday even as the government launched a Citizen Readiness Campaign to check the spread of the virus.

As part of the nation-wide campaign, the government is putting advertisements in dailies and weeklies May 2 and May 4 to raise public awareness about flu infection.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is using Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and others social networking tools to reach out to the Canadians to give them tips.

"It is one of many measures we are taking to protect the health of Canadians at this time,'' said Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

"Our goal is to give Canadians advice on how to avoid the flu and on what to do if they already have symptoms,'' she said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said health officials were keeping a close watch on H1N1 flu cases and dealing effectively with the outbreak.

Of the new 17 cases reported Friday, four came to light in the Toronto area where authorities are extra-vigilant after the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak that claimed 44 lives. All the Canadian cases - which have been linked to visits to Mexico - have shown only mild symptoms so far.

Expecting more cases, Canada's chief public health officer David Butler-Jones said so far "we continue to see mild cases and full recovery... "But as we've been saying, the more surveillance we conduct, the more we look, the more cases we are likely to find. Severity will vary and we might see deaths as we do with every seasonal flu.''

[sajiv]

FBController allows for hijacking of Facebook accounts

A computer security enthusiast in India has released a tool designed to allow people to take complete control of strangers' Facebook accounts if they can get hold of the targets' session cookies. It also could be used to manage large quantities of hijacked accounts.

FBController analyzes the communications that Facebook has with computers when they interact with the site and uses that information, along with the cookie data, to allow for accounts to be hijacked, said 26-year-old Azim Poonawala, who wrote the tool and provides details on his blog.

Cookies, meanwhile, can be obtained using network sniffing, cross-site scripting exploits, social engineering, and via open proxies where cookies are logged, he said in a recent interview over chat.

Poonawala, who goes by the alias "Quaker Doomer," said he wrote the tool as a proof of concept and because "writing network-related gray hat tools has always been an adrenalin rush."

Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer of WhiteHat Security, said he believed the purpose of the tool is to manage control over large numbers of accounts rather than merely hijack accounts one at a time.

"This is much easier than using a browser to log in and modify accounts individually," Grossman said in an e-mail. "The mere existence of such a tool leads me to believe that huge numbers of FB accounts are and continue to be compromised and the bad guys need to scale their access."

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said the company is aware of the tool and that it does not impact the firm's ability to detect potentially malicious behavior.

"We have systems to detect phished or fake accounts on many different points, including at point of compromise, point of creation, point of login, and point of a spam send, among others," Schnitt said. "Multiple accounts taking the same action, at the same time, as this tool enables, can actually make this detection easier." Poonawala said his intention in creating FBController was not to allow control of multiple accounts, although "it can definitely be misused by bad guys to achieve that since it is free."

[sajiv]

Netbook phenomenon caught Intel by surprise

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-- The popularity of the Netbook caught Intel by surprise--more than once.

Shipments of this category of inexpensive, ultra-light, handy laptops--almost all powered by Intel's Atom processor--are set to hit at least 20 million units this year, about twice the number shipped in 2008, according to IDC. But if an analyst had suggested these numbers to Intel in March of 2008, executives would have dismissed the forecast out of hand--or laughed.

This failure, by many in the industry, to grasp the significance of the Netbook, forced Intel into perpetual catch-up mode at the beginning. "I'm the one who had to explain to our factory--I'm really, really sorry I miscalled the demand," said Noury Al-Khaledy, general manager of Nettop and Netbook Computing at Intel in an interview last week. "And the next month, I didn't quite get it right either," he said.

"I think we under-called how easily people would comprehend how useful the device was," he added. For the record, Asus launched the phenomenon with the Eee PC in late 2007, followed in 2008 by Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Dell, among others.

Al-Khaledy continued. "I think there was sort of this pent-up desire for an affordable, portable, Internet-access light editing sort of device and many of our customers--with our help--nailed it. They helped us so much."

One of the distinct advantages that Intel Atom-based Netbooks have over other similar devices--such as those based on ARM processors--is Windows. ARM-based devices today don't run Windows XP or Vista--and won't run Windows 7. Intel-based Netbooks can run all of these operating systems and versions of Windows 7 may run as well, or better, than XP on Netbooks.

"People bash (Microsoft) all the time. But then what do you really want to buy?" Al-Khaledy asked. "People really do want Windows...the XP attach rate was really, really good." Though Al-Khaledy praised Asus' initial Eee PC and its Linux operating system, some consumers were disappointed when they found out that it wasn't Windows.

"The Linux thing wasn't clear to people. If you think you're getting Windows and then you get home and it isn't (that's a problem)," he said.

And what impact will Windows 7 have on the Netbook market? Pricing will be critical. Unless Windows 7 is priced aggressively, Al-Khaledy doesn't see it as a catalyst necessarily for a spike in Netbook sales. "I don't see it as a big tipping point. It's all about pricing. If you have to pay $30 more for Windows 7, it might make (consumers) pause. There's just not a lot of margin in the box," he said. "(But) if Microsoft prices Starter and Basic aggressively, why wouldn't you?"

"I would expect most (PC makers) will launch a Netbook with Windows 7," Al-Khaledy continued. "The Starter, Basic (versions) should run well." He isn't sure about the premium version of Windows 7, however, and said he is still in discussions with Microsoft.

And what is the pricing sweet spot for Netbooks? "The bulk today is between $350 and $299 but I would love to see it get to $250. Wait 'til Q4," he said.

Al-Khaledy takes issue with Netbook makers that price their systems above $600. Though he would not mention any names, Sony has come out with an Atom-based Netbook (which Sony insists is a notebook), priced well over $1,000. "Generally speaking, there have been people (PC makers) that have charged really high prices for Nettops and Netbooks, and those products have not done well because over time people start to compare them...if you spend $650 for something, you expect the 650 experience," he said.

[sajiv]

Facebook has no negative effects on academic grades

WASHINGTON: A new study may allay fears that Facebook use is related to lower college
academic grades.

Last month, an unpublished study suggested that using the popular social networking site could lead to diminished grades.

However, those findings did not replicate in the new research.

"We found no evidence that Facebook use correlates with lower academic achievement," said Eszter Hargittai, associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University.

For the study, the researchers used relevant information from three existing data sets- a sample of more than 1,000 undergraduates from the University of Illinois, Chicago; a nationally representative cross sectional sample of 14- to 22-year-olds; and a nationally representative longitudinal panel of American youth aged 14- to 23.

They, however, could not detect a significant negative relationship between grade point averages and Facebook use.

"I suspect that basic Facebook use -- what these studies measure -- simply doesn't have generalizable consequences for grades," said Hargittai.

According to the study, the doubts about the use of social networking sites with respect to students are reminiscent of those cast on earlier new media, including TV and motion pictures, and their effect on children.

"The Internet and social networking sites in particular can be used in many ways, some of which may be beneficial to the user and others less so. More important than whether people use these sites is what they do on them. Cultivating relationships, for example, can lead to positive outcomes," said Hargittai.

The researchers, however, insist that their findings should not be taken to mean that Facebook use can never have deleterious effects on academic performance.

"If students are spending excessive time on Facebook at the expense of studying, their academic performance may suffer, just as it might by spending excessive time on another activity," said Hargittai.

He added: " We need more research with more nuanced data to better understand how social networking site usage may relate to academic performance."

The study has been published in the online journal First Monday.

[sajiv]

Strong social networks benefit baboons

Washington: A monkey communication expert at the University of Pennsylvania has suggested that baboons benefit from strong social networks.

Robert Seyfarth came up with this proposition while delivering a lecture on May 5, the kick-off of the University of Delaware's Year of Darwin celebration, where he told a true story about a female baboon that herded goats in an African village.

He revealed that the baboon knew all of the relationships between the goats so well that at night she would carry a bleating kid from one barn directly to its mother in another barn.

"For all the centuries we've bred dogs, no dog has exhibited this knowledge of kids and mothers. The question is where does this mind come from?" said the Psychology professor at the university.

Seyfarth revealed that he and his research partner Dorothy Cheney, who happens to be his spouse, studied the baboons of Botswana's Okavanga Delta from 1992 to 2008.

He said that his study suggested that the baboon's ability to recognize social relationships was due to natural selection.

The researcher revealed that the baboons studied live in groups of 80-90 individuals. Males would leave the group in which they were born, while females stayed in the group for their entire lives, with close bonds to female relatives.

He said that the females were arranged in a matrilineal hierarchy of families, with ranks maintained for years. Although once in a while a coup was attempted, such moves were not often successful.

In their experiments, the researchers observed that baboons with names like Sylvia, Champagne, and Helen, and recorded their language, which consisted of no more than 18 sounds, and the interactions of their families.

They found that baboons used certain calls only in certain contexts. Screams and fear barks were only given from a lower-ranking to a higher-ranking baboon, while threat grunts were given only from a higher-ranking to a lower-ranking baboon.

The researchers recorded the various calls, played them in situations that "break the rules", and determined from the animals' behaviour that baboons were able to put together the discrete elements of identity, kinship, and rank.

"The animals somehow see this world in all of its complexity. It's an innate property of the baboon mind -- done instantly and unconsciously," Seyfarth said.

He and Cheney were also able to measure the animals' stress levels by analysing faecal samples for gluccocorticoid stress hormones. They found that pregnancy and incidences of predation to be major stressors.

Also, some high-ranking males practice infanticide, targeting infants by rank. Mothers may form relationships with lower-ranking males who will help look after their babies.

"Females respond to stress by associating with their closest grooming relationships. They turn to their support network if they lose someone. They broaden and extend to replace old relationships with new ones. Female baboons with strong social bonds survive better," Seyfarth said.

Seyfarth and Cheney's work is highlighted in the award-winning book Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2007. (ANI)

[sajiv]

Facebook Launches Indian Language Interface

Leading social networking site, Facebook has launched Indian language interface on Thursday (May 7). With the help of the new interface, people can navigate Facebook in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and Malayalam. The social networking has recently announced that it's user base has crossed 200 million mark. With the help of the new Indian language interface, Facebook is expecting to further increase its user base.

The new move by Facebook will help it combat with Google's Orkut, which is by far the dominant social networking site in India. But, the drawback with Facebook's new Indian language service is that there is no transliteration available. The social networking site can benefit from Indian language services only if it allows users to compose messages in Indian languages. However, Google has also not incorporated transliteration into Orkut.

The success of Facebook's new service will depend on its usage. Considering the preferences of the tech-savvy Indian youth, it is expected that English language will get more marks. It is very much unlikely that young people will use Hindi, Bengali, Tamil or Telugu to connect with their friends and companions. Well, only time can tell whether Facebook's new move is worth or not.

[sajiv]

Facebook tops 10 most popular online brands poll in the UK

A survey on the most popular online brands in the UK has revealed that Facebook tops that chart, accounting for 13 per cent of all UK internet time last month.

As per Nielsen Online, which tracked the top 10 most popular online brands, this equated to the UK users spending one in every eight minutes on the site.

The amount of UK time spent on Facebook increased by 3.8 billion minutes in April 2009 if compared with April 2008, when UK users spent 2.4 billion minutes on Facebook.

Second on the list came Windows Live, the new name for Hotmail, which includes Microsoft's email and instant messaging tools, with users spending 4.5 billion minutes on the site, accounting for a 9.2 percent share of the total time spent on the internet by UK users in April.

Google came in third, with users spending 2.6 billion minutes on the search site, occupying 5.3 percent share of total Internet time.

The top 10 web brands accounted for 45 percent of the total UK Internet time. Consequently the other 7,625 brands tracked by Nielsen Online, have to fight for the remaining 55 per cent of time Britons spend online.

"The Internet is a complex and varied ecosystem and I think most people would be surprised by just how much time is accounted for by a relatively few brands who, in turn, are increasing their share of the pie," the Telegraph quoted a Nielsen Online spokesperson as saying.

In April 2009, the average Briton spent 22 hours 20 minutes online or using internet-related applications.

This represents a 34 percent increase on a year ago when the figure was 16 hours 36 minutes.

The top 10 most used web brands in the UK during April 2009, according to total minutes spent on the site:

1. Facebook - 6.2 billion minutes
2. Windows Live - 4.5 billion minutes
3. Google - 2.6 billion minutes
4. eBay - 2.0 billion minutes
5. Yahoo! - 1.7 billion minutes
6. AOL - 1.5 billion minutes
7. BBC - 1.1 billion minutes
8. YouTube - 898 million minutes
9. Microsoft - 733 million minutes
10. Apple - 719 million minutes (ANI)

[sajiv]

200 Million Facebook users at risk of being robbed of their passwords

London: In the latest phishing scam to hit Facebook, almost 200 million users of the social networking site are at the risk of being robbed of their passwords.

A Facebook spokesman has said that Internet fraudsters have stolen the passwords of a number of members in a successful attack on May 14.

Users were fooled into clicking on links posted from accounts, which had already been hacked.

They were then directed to fake Facebook log-on pages, which requested the visitors, re-enter their usernames and passwords.

And those who obliged fell into the hackers' trap and lost the keys to their profile.

While it's not clear how many accounts have been compromised, but Facebook has said that it was working to block those taken over by the hackers and minimise the fallout.

They have deleted all references to the fake domains - which include www.151.im, www.121.im and www.123.im - from the website.

According to Facebook's security team, the hackers intended to wait until they had collected a large number of details before taking over the accounts to spam other members with adverts for fake pharmaceuticals and other products. (ANI)

[sajiv]

Facebook CEO says IPO a few years out

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to eventually take his company public but said it won't be for a few years, and stressed that the world's largest online social network is in no immediate need of capital.

The 25-year-old co-founder of Facebook said he is always open to partnerships and investments, but stressed that Facebook can achieve its business goals with its current financial base -- despite numerous media reports that it has had talks on a new round of funding with various investors.

"If there's an investment to be done on very good terms, we will consider it if for no other reason than to have more buffer if we want to do something in the future," Zuckerberg told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.

"Some of the rumblings that people are reporting on, are just different conversations that have happened, but there's really nothing new to talk about there," he added in a telephone interview from Palo Alto, California.

The TechCrunch blog said earlier on Tuesday that Facebook had turned down a $200 million funding offer, which valued the company at $8 billion. Earlier this week, VentureBeat reported that Facebook was in discussions for $150 million in funding.

Zuckerberg declined to confirm these reports.

Facebook has more than 200 million active users, double the number it had last August. The company also ranks as one of the top photo-sharing websites, with more than 15 billion pictures uploaded onto its service.

In 2007, Microsoft Corp invested $240 million in Facebook in exchange for a 1.6 percent stake in the company, giving the social network a $15 billion valuation.

Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that Facebook was not rushing to go public.

"I know for a lot of companies the IPO is the endpoint or the goal," Zuckerberg said. "For us it will be an event on the path to where want to get eventually."

Asked when the time would be right to float shares to the public, he said the 5-year-old company was still "a few years out from that."

Zuckerberg said advertising remains the core revenue source for the company, with Facebook on track to increase sales 70 percent this year and be cash flow positive next year. He declined to specify how much revenue Facebook expects to generate this year.

Facebook works with more than 70 percent of the top 100 largest advertisers in the United States, Zuckerberg said, and the company was also seeing fast growth in international markets, where it has begun to create a direct sales staff.

And with Facebook increasingly taking steps to make aspects of the service available on other websites, like its recent Facebook Connect feature, Zuckerberg said the company could eventually develop a type of online advertising network.

"You can see over time us wanting to offer more ways for people to monetize their site and help out with that, and it could be a pretty natural extension for us to do something with ads or a number of other things that we've considered," he said.

For now though, he said Facebook was focused on the basic user-focused features of extending the service across the Web.

[sajiv]

Facebook barring unusual name accounts

Alicia Istanbul woke up one recent Wednesday to find herself locked out of the Facebook account she opened in 2007, one the networking site suddenly deemed fake.

The stay-at-home mom was cut off not only from her 330 friends, including many she had no other way of contacting, but also from the pages she had set up for the jewellery design business she runs from her Atlanta-area home. Although Istanbul understands why Facebook insists on having real people behind real names, she wonders why the online hangout didn't simply ask before acting.

Facebook's effort to purge its site of fake accounts, in the process knocking out some real people with unusual names, marks yet another challenge for the 5-year-old social network. As Facebook becomes a bigger part of the lives of its more than 200 million users, the Palo Alto, California-based company is finding that the huge diversity and the vast size of its audience are making it increasingly difficult to enforce rules it set when its membership was smaller and more homogenous.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt acknowledged that Facebook does make mistakes on occasion, and he apologized for "any inconvenience". But he said situations like Istanbul's are very rare, and most accounts that are disabled for being fake really are.

[karthick]

US social networking site, Facebook decries Iranian ban



US social networking site Facebook on Saturday said it had received reports its wesbite had been blocked in Iran, lamenting the
apparent government bar as "a shame."

"We are disappointed to learn of reports that users in Iran may not have access to Facebook," the company told media in a statement.

One Iranian news agency reported earlier that the government had blocked access to Facebook ahead of June presidential polls, allegedly to prevent supporters of the leading opposition candidate from using the site for his campaign.

Facebook said it was investigating the reports, and expressed disappointment that the site was apparently blocked "at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions.

"It is always a shame when countries' cultural and political concerns lead to limits being placed on the opportunity for sharing and expression that the Internet provides."

One Facebook page, dedicated to Mir Hossein Mousavi, a rival of the incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has more than 5,200 supporters.

Iranian state-controlled television and radio have already been the focus of debate over whether candidates will get equal treatment.

Facebook, founded in 2004 by then Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, claims to have 175 million members worldwide.

In Iran, the service is normally available in Farsi and in English.

[sajiv]

Facebook, Think settle trademark dispute

Facebook and Think Computer have settled a dispute over whether the former actually owns the term "facebook."

Under the settlement announced late Friday, Think has agreed to abandon its efforts to get the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark issued to Facebook in 2006.

The story behind the dispute between Think and Facebook is a long, convoluted one. But according to the joint statement, Think founder Aaron Greenspan attended Harvard with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this decade. In 2003, Think released HouseSystem, a Web-based student portal that included a section called "The Universal Face Book" or "The Face Book." At launch, the statement said, HouseSystem didn't include member profiles because of security concerns. Think added profiles after Zuckerberg launched Facebook in 2004, the statement said.

"Aaron and I studied together at Harvard and I've always admired his entrepreneurial spirit and love of building things," Zuckerberg said in the statement. "I appreciate his hard work and innovation that led to building houseSYSTEM, including the Universal Face Book feature. At school, I was even a member of houseSYSTEM. We are pleased that we've been able to amicably resolve our differences."

Greenspan likewise offered courtesies in the statement. "I am glad that my contributions have been recognized by Facebook. Mark has built a tremendous company at Facebook, and I wish them continued success in the future," he said.

Greenspan, who wrote a self-published book called "Authoritas: One Student's Harvard Admissions and the Founding of the Facebook Era," had contended that the terms "facebook" and "face book" were generic terms that couldn't be trademarked. He wasn't seeking the trademarks himself but wanted them invalidated because of problems advertising his book with Google AdWords. Greenspan has also claimed ownership for the idea behind Facebook.

The amount of the settlement was not released. But last summer, one-time Harvard rival ConnectU settled a dispute with Facebook over whether Zuckerberg stole ConnectU's code and business plans for a social network. That lawsuit, which was particularly messy, apparently was settled for $65 million in cash and Facebook stock.

Facebook originally was started as a social-networking site solely for Harvard students. It is now one of the most popular social-networking sites in the world.

News of the latest settlement comes on the heels of the announcement that a Facebook tell-all book will hit store shelves in July.

In related news about Facebook's corporate side, The Wall Street Journal cites unnamed sources who say Russian investment group Digital Sky Technologies wants to invest $200 million in the company "at a $10 billion valuation for the company's preferred stock."

[sajiv]

Iran blocks Facebook

London:Social networking site Facebook has been blocked in Iran by the country's government to stop supporters of a reformist candidate in the upcoming presidential elections from using the site for the campaign, BBC News reported Sunday.

'According to certain Internet surfers, the site was banned because supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi were using Facebook to better disseminate the candidate's positions, ' it reported quoting Iranian news agency ILNA (Iranian Labour News Agency).

Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was Iran's prime minister when the post was abolished in 1989, is seen as one of the leading challengers to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June 12 elections, BBC reported Sunday.

Mousavi's page on Facebook has more than 5,000 supporters. People trying to visit the site in Iran received a message in Farsi saying: 'Access to this site is not possible.'

Facebook has expressed its disappointment over the ban saying that its site was blocked 'at a time when voters are turning to the Internet as a source of information about election candidates and their positions'.

[sajiv]

MySpace CEO: We need to innovate faster

MySpace's problem is pretty simple, says former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta, who is now MySpace's CEO.

"If you don't continue to innovate...people are going to shift interest elsewhere," Van Natta said, appearing on stage at D: All Things Digital, along with with News Corp. digital chief (and former AOL executive) Jon Miller. "We need to continue to innovate a lot more rapidly than we have been."

Van Natta said that, on the plus side, MySpace is more open than a lot of its rivals.

"There's a lot of self-expression that is happening," he said. "We need to seize on that."

Van Natta took over as MySpace CEO last month, shortly after Miller was installed to lead News Corp.'s digital efforts.

Kara Swisher asked Van Natta to compare Facebook and MySpace.

"I think they are both driving this notion of social activity on the Webl," he said, but adding there are fundamental differences, such as the role of music and self-expression on MySpace.

Swisher pressed them on whether MySpace can regain lost ground.

"Certainly we're not the darling of the press right now, that's pretty clear," Van Natta said. At the same time, he said the company still has a huge audience if it can deliver compelling features. ""We already have 130 million people that are coming to the site every day."

Miller said that the trick for companies coming from behind is to not focus on checking the boxes of things offered by competitors, but rather to figure out what you need to do to leapfrog those rivals.

Van Natta said that opportunity is part of what attracted him to the job.

"'When I look at MySpace there's just so much to build." Van Natta said, noting that in high school he used to always choose construction jobs because he likes "to build stuff."

Van Natta was asked whether the company's ad deal with Google has paid off. He said it had for them. As for Google, he said, "You'd have to ask Google."

But he said, long-term deals often take work to be mutually beneficial. "Good partners work together to close the gaps."

[sajiv]

Your Facebook profile can tell who you really are

The Facebook profile of any person can easily tell what kind of a person he or she is in real life, according to a new study.

The study found that university students considered likeable by people, who met them in real life, appeared to make a similar impression on people who view their Facebook profiles.

"People who were expressive in tone of voice and facial expression were also socially expressive on Facebook. They posted a lot of pictures, they posted photo albums, they seemed to have a lot of conversations with people," New Scientist magazine quoted lead researcher Max Weisbuch, a psychologist at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, as saying.

Facebook's 200-million-plus members maintain their personal pages where they reveal their interests and photos, as well as comments from friends.

For the study, the researchers recruited 37 university students, 18 of them women, to come to his lab for a one-on-one chat with another study participant, and were told to get to know each another by asking questions for several minutes.

However, one of each pair was actually a researcher masquerading as a student.

Later, the role-playing researchers rated each participant's likeability, based on their tone of voice, how much they smiled, how much they revealed about themselves, and other verbal and nonverbal factors.

Soon after, the researchers downloaded the Facebook profile of the volunteer and a panel of 10 students from another university was asked to rate the likeability of its owner.

It was found that the Facebook pages that earned the highest likeability rating were the most expressive, loaded with pictures and wall posts.

Also, the people tended to be rated as the most affable volunteers in person.

In fact, the undercover researcher assessed them as being very animated and with expressive body language.

People who talked a lot about themselves in the conversation also tended to share a lot of information on Facebook.

However, they also tended to score lower on likeability in person, compared to people who shared less. (ANI)

[sajiv]

A more streamlined Facebook for BlackBerry

It's only been about a month and a half since RIM released the last update to Facebook for Blackberry (and then a fix to that update just after that), and BlackBerry's maker has already come out with a more streamlined version of the popular social networking app it codeveloped with Facebook's help.

Facebook for BlackBerry 1.6 folds its status feed content, originally in its own screen, right onto the home page. The result is immediate access to view your friends' status update, and a slightly quicker way to update your own status message. The same goes for poking a friend or commenting on their photos.

In addition, the app update removes some of the hassle in the previous version of getting to your pal's Wall. Instead of having to switch to the mobile site to view it in its glory, a click to your buddy's profile picture shows you their wall within the application itself. Facebook for BlackBerry 1.6 also shows photo albums in a modified slideshow ticker format. In the past, you needed to click on each thumbnail to see the image; now you can scroll.

The final change is added support for Thai, Indonesian, and Portuguese (European) languages.

Get Facebook for BlackBerry 1.6 for free on your BlackBerry--running version 4.2 of the operating system or higher--by pointing the mobile or desktop browser to www.blackberry.com/facebook.

[sajiv]

Twitter to roll out 'Verified Accounts' this summer

Following the filing of a lawsuit by St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa over fake tweets made in his name, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has taken to the company blog to respond to the suit and detail Twitter's future plans to combat false accounts.

"With due respect to the man and his notable work, Mr. La Russa's lawsuit was an unnecessary waste of judicial resources bordering on frivolous, " Stone wrote in a post that went up Saturday. "Twitter's Terms of Service are fair and we believe will be upheld in a court that will ultimately dismiss Mr. La Russa's lawsuit."

Stone reiterated that the microblogging company suspends, deletes, or transfers control of accounts known to be started by impersonators. He said such action was taken in La Russa's case, and also called untrue reports that Twitter has settled the suit.

Nonetheless, Stone said the company recognizes an opportunity to improve its customer service, and will experiment starting this summer with a beta preview of a feature, rumored for some time, called "Verified Accounts." These accounts will feature a special seal indicating that they belong to the person (or persons) they say they belong to.

The experiment will begin with "public officials, public agencies, famous artists, athletes, and other well-known individuals at risk of impersonation," Stone wrote. He said the company hopes to subsequently verify more accounts, but verification will begin with a small set due to the resources required.

According to the La Russa complaint, filed last month in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, one tweet of the now-deleted account read, on April 19: "Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher." The latter comment was presumably a reference to Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile, who died in his hotel room in 2002 of an arterial blockage, and/or to relief pitcher Josh Hancock, who was killed in a car accident in 2007.

In his lawsuit, La Russa said the fake tweets were "derogatory and demeaning" and caused emotional distress.

In another recent well-publicized case of Twitter impersonation, tweets allegedly sent from jail by convicted music producer Phil Spector were later determined to have been sent by an imposter.

[sajiv]

Now a networking site for Indian senior citizens

Facebook and Orkut along with other social networking sites are not sole domain of youngsters alone, senior citizens are also using technology to catch up with lost friends or share views with like-minded communities.

To fill the colour in retired life of lonely Indians, a website completely dedicated to the elderly has been launched recently.

"Many surfers of our website have been vocal about their need to make friends, have space to voice their thoughts without being judged by younger generation and remain active.

One member feels our website helps bring out their "pachpan ka bachpan," says Ishita Sukhadawala, promoter of Verdurez.com, a social networking site for senior Indians.

"The website is for Indians and NRIs aged 55 years and above to connect and engage with fellow senior surfers. The aim is to reduce the feeling of loneliness and isolation which comes with old age and promote life after fifty-five," she adds.

The members of the website can network through blogs, forums, book clubs, image galleries, polls, daily discussions, classifieds and chat rooms.

"The only condition to join the site is that the member must be above 55 years old. The authenticity of the information is the responsibility of the user," says Sukhadawala.

According to a report by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the number of senior Indians going online is rapidly increasing. The study shows that "these are successful senior Indians enjoying living life to the full and have adopted and adapted to technology and predominantly use it for emotional reasons."

The report showcases that 15 per cent of senior netizens access the Internet from cyber cafes with 81 percent using the Internet for more than five hours a week.

"Internet has become a household thing in India. And with the current lifestyle in most parts of urban India, the senior members of the family feel lonely. And going on social networking sites to make friends is nothing unusual. With less physical activities, where will they find friends to chat?," says psychologist Samir Parikh.

According to a report by HelpAge India, India is home to over 80 million elderly. The figure is expected to increase to 177 million by 2025.

Apart from social networking sites, the elderly are also using the online medium to earn money through stock market or jobs.

The 65-year-old Ramaswamy, who lives in a rich old age home in the capital, keeps abreast with the latest market developments from his personal computer
with internet connection.

"Internet is the best thing to happen to this generation. I am earning after retirement all because of internet. I have a DMAT account and as the market is showing signs of recovery with Sensex touching 15000, I am making money again," he says.

Bureau Report

[sajiv]

'Spam king' could face criminal charges in Facebook caseIn a move that could land Sanford Wallace in jail if convicted, a federal judge on Friday referred a lawsuit Facebook filed against the "spam king" to the U.S. Attorney's office for possible criminal proceedings.

A written ruling from Judge Jeremy Fogel in U.S. District in San Jose, Calif., is expected early next week, a court clerk said. The action came at a hearing on a Facebook motion that Wallace be found in criminal contempt for allegedly continuing to send spam on Facebook.

Facebook sued Sanford and two others in February alleging they used phishing sites or other means to fraudulently gain access to Facebook accounts and used them to distribute phishing spam throughout the network.

The judge had earlier entered a preliminary injunction against Wallace for failing to appear in court for the original proceedings, said Sam O'Rourke, Facebook's lead counsel for litigation and intellectual property. Wallace appeared in court on Friday in what is believed to be his first court appearance in any of the cases filed against him, according to O'Rourke.

Facebook also had asked for a default judgment in the case, but the judge was prevented from taking action on that since Wallace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday and civil actions seeking monetary sanctions are automatically stayed when a defendant files for bankruptcy, O'Rourke said. Facebook believes Wallace filed for bankruptcy to avoid a default judgment and criminal contempt order, he said.

Facebook plans to ask the bankruptcy court to lift the stay so a ruling can be made on the default judgment to become a creditor, O'Rourke said.

"We're very pleased Judge Jeremy Fogel agreed that there were grounds for criminal contempt and that the U.S. Attorney's office should investigate Wallace," Facebook said in an e-mail statement. "Wallace filed for bankruptcy, which is not unexpected and only delays our judgment temporarily. We will continue to pursue the judgment and will be reviewing his filing very closely."

The order should serve as a strong deterrent against spammers, Facebook said. "Fogel's ruling demonstrates that judges will enforce restraining orders and spammers who violate them face criminal prosecution" the statement said.

A year ago, Wallace and another defendant were ordered to pay MySpace.com $234 million following a trial at which Wallace repeatedly failed to turn over documents or even show up in court.

In the largest judgment in history for a case brought under the Can-Spam Act, the federal court in San Jose awarded Facebook $873 million in damages late last year against a Canadian man accused of spamming users of the site.

[sajiv]

Social networking sites can raise publicity legal issues

Social networking tools like Twitter might offer a platform for people to make new friends, but it can also raise a variety of legal issues concerning the right of publicity, says an intellectual property attorney.

Citing the examples of Peyton Manning and La Russa incidents, Faber said Indianapolis Colts issued a statement on www.Colts.com that a Twitter user posing as Peyton Manning was not the 'real' Peyton.

Similarly, Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa filed a lawsuit against Twitter for unauthorized and offensive content that was posted in his name.

The lawsuit filed by La Russa's claims that an unauthorized page that used La Russa's name to make light of drunken driving and two Cardinals pitchers who died, damaged La Russa's reputation and caused emotional distress.

It also claimed that someone created a false account in La Russa's name and posted "tweets" that appear to have come from La Russa.

"In addition to other potential legal issues like fraud and defamation, such activity also could drive attention and traffic to the fake site, creating various possible benefits to the impostor," said Faber.

"Historically, user-driven websites have enjoyed a certain safe-harbour when users post content that violates some law.

"But it is conceivable that certain sites are so susceptible to abuse that those safe-harbours might be reduced, and an affirmative duty to regulate content and prevent infringements would apply," Faber added. (ANI)

[sajiv]

Engineers design Facebook games to improve music search engine

Electrical engineers at UC San Diego have designed novel music discovery games on Facebook in order to improve their experimental music search engine that is capable of listening to new songs and accurately labelling them with words-with no help from humans.

The engineers launched the music discovery games on Facebook as an application called Herd It.

"The Facebook games are a lot of fun and a great way to discover new music," said Gert Lanckriet, the electrical engineering professor and machine learning expert from the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering steering the project.

"At the same time, the games deliver the data we need to teach our computer audition system to listen to and describe music like humans do.

"To play Herd It, log in to Facebook, open the Herd It app, select a genre of music, and start listening to song clips and playing the games.

"Some games ask users to identify instruments, while others focus on music genres, artist names, emotions triggered by the song, and activities you might do while listening to a song.

"The more your answers align with the rest of the online crowd playing the game at the same time, the more points you score," he added.

"The more examples of romantic songs our search engine is exposed to, the more accurately it will be able to identify romantic songs it has never heard before," said Luke Barrington, the UC San Diego electrical engineering Ph.D. student leading the project.

"Once enough people play our new music discovery games on Facebook, I'll have the data I need to both improve our search engine and finish my Ph.D.," he added.

For the music search engine from UC San Diego to "listen and describe music like a human," it must find patterns in the songs using the tools of machine learning.

For example, for the system to learn to identify and label romantic songs, it must be exposed to many different romantic songs during the training period. The Facebook games provide the data necessary for the algorithms to learn to label songs on their own.

Once trained, the system can identify romantic songs that it has never before encountered.

The research was presented at IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. (ANI)

[sajiv]

Social networking sites can raise publicity legal issues

Social networking tools like Twitter might offer a platform for people to make new friends, but it can also raise a variety of legal issues concerning the right of publicity, says an intellectual property attorney.

Citing the examples of Peyton Manning and La Russa incidents, Faber said Indianapolis Colts issued a statement on www.Colts.com that a Twitter user posing as Peyton Manning was not the 'real' Peyton.

Similarly, Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa filed a lawsuit against Twitter for unauthorized and offensive content that was posted in his name.

The lawsuit filed by La Russa's claims that an unauthorized page that used La Russa's name to make light of drunken driving and two Cardinals pitchers who died, damaged La Russa's reputation and caused emotional distress.

It also claimed that someone created a false account in La Russa's name and posted "tweets" that appear to have come from La Russa.

"In addition to other potential legal issues like fraud and defamation, such activity also could drive attention and traffic to the fake site, creating various possible benefits to the impostor," said Faber.

"Historically, user-driven websites have enjoyed a certain safe-harbour when users post content that violates some law.

"But it is conceivable that certain sites are so susceptible to abuse that those safe-harbours might be reduced, and an affirmative duty to regulate content and prevent infringements would apply," Faber added. (ANI)

[sajiv]

Facebook testing real-time search before Twitter becomes defacto

Facebook has announced the testing of a new feature that would allow its members to search the site for things their friends and others are saying and sharing about particular topics - from links and comments to photos and videos - all in real time.

Yes, I know it sounds an awful lot like Twitter Search, which allows anyone - not just members - to tap into the keywords of Tweets to get a sense of what's being said about a particular topic at any given moment. The advantage that Twitter has over Facebook, of course, is that anyone can see the tweets. By default, Twitter is a public forum.

Also see: Why Facebook can't open up like Twitter: Life doesn't operate in 140 characters

Facebook, on the other hand, can offer more than 140 characters and a link in its results. Being able to see results in a number of ways - photos, videos, and so on - offers deeper insight into the topic being searched. In its blog post, the company says:

    The people around us are a powerful source for finding information about new and interesting information — from the latest on last night's episode of "The Office" and suggestions on what to do for your next vacation to current events.

    I'm interested in the latest updates on the aftermath of the Iranian election. By entering the term "Iran" in the "Search" field in the upper-right corner of any page on Facebook, I will see up-to-the-minute results from my friends and the Facebook Pages of which I'm a fan, not to mention people who have chosen to make their profile and content available to everyone. I'm able to discover what blogs and news sources my friends are following, what my friends are saying about President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and how people in general are reacting to the election results.

For now, Facebook is testing the feature on "a fraction of a percent" of its membership. It's also important to note that Facebook has heard loud and clear from its membership in the past that privacy is important. In its blog post, it reminds users that they maintain control over who sees what and offers a link to the privacy settings page.

I think it's great that Facebook is jumping into real-time search and it's smart to run this through a small test group first. It's early in the business of real-time search of social media and there's still time to decide what it will become. Just because Twitter had the jump start is no reason for Facebook to back off and let it become the defacto source for what's being said in real-time.

[sajiv]

Facebook: Our targeted ads aren't creepy

Facebook's targeted advertising program is "materially different from behavioral targeting as it is usually discussed," Chris Kelly, the social network's chief privacy officer, said in remarks prepared for a Thursday morning hearing before two House subcommittees.

"In offering its free service to users, Facebook is dedicated to developing advertising that is relevant and personal without invading users' privacy, and to giving users more control over how their personal information is used in the online advertising environment," read the remarks for two subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The hearing, titled "Behavioral Advertising: Industry Practices And Consumers' Expectations," was also slated to include testimonies from Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy; Scott Cleland, president of Precursor; Charles Curran, executive director of the Network Advertising Initiative; Edward Felten, director of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University; Anne Toth, vice president of policy and head of privacy at Yahoo; and Nicole Wong, deputy general counsel at Google.

Kelly, a White House staffer under President Clinton, has announced an exploratory bid to run for attorney general in California.

Social-media sites like Facebook, where members fill out extensive personal profiles that can detail everything from their music tastes to travel plans to political leanings, are at the forefront of new developments in behavioral ad targeting. The Facebook Ads program lets advertisers fine-tune their campaigns to reach specific demographics and audiences. Kelly insisted that this does not constitute an invasion of user privacy, an Internet-wide concern that the Federal Trade Commission has been exploring at the request of privacy advocates.

"The FTC's behavioral advertising principles recognize the important distinctions made by Facebook in its ad targeting between the use of aggregate, non-personally identifiable information that is not shared or sold to third parties," Kelly's remarks read, "versus other sites' and companies surreptitious harvesting, sharing and sale of personally identifiable information to third party companies."

Privacy concerns are nothing new to Facebook. The social network went through a user backlash over the introduction of its News Feed in 2006, and a bigger one over the controversial Beacon advertising program. More recently, a revision to Facebook's terms of use prompted consumer advocacy blog The Consumerist to highlight language that it said meant that Facebook claimed ownership of user profile data and photos.

"In February of this year, we looked to revise our Terms of Use, simplifying them to cut out as much legalese as possible and explain them in plain language," Kelly's remarks explained. "When we released a first version of our new terms, a blog misinterpreted our simplification of our copyright license, claiming that it meant we were seeking to own user content. The user reaction was predictably swift and severe, and we needed to choose among weathering the storm, revising the language, and introducing an entirely new process that would directly involve users in the governance of the site."

Facebook ultimately underwent a "notice and comment period modeled in part on the federal governments rulemaking procedure...(with) a user vote at the end of the process."

The points he tried to drive home the most: that Facebook members have extensive control over their personal information and that Facebook does not allow advertisers access to "personally identifiable" data in the Facebook Ads program.

Kelly also included a general mea culpa of sorts: "Perhaps because our site has developed so quickly, Facebook may have sometimes been inartful in communicating with our users and the general public about our advertising products," he said. We learned many lessons about the importance of user education and extensive control from the imperfect introduction of our Beacon product in 2007. As a result, Facebook continues to be dedicated to empowering consumers to control their information in both the noncommercial and the commercial context because we believe that should be the future of advertising."

A few other interesting tidbits from Kelly's remarks: out of Facebook's 200-million-plus active users, about 65 million are in the U.S.; over 10,000 sites are using the Facebook Connect universal log-in product; and Facebook plans to continue the discussion-and-feedback-period strategy on any future changes to its "critical site documents."

[sajiv]

A facelift for Facebook in-boxes, but is it enough?

Well, according to a post on the official Facebook blog, the social network's messaging feature is getting a much-needed revamp from its cruddy, bare-bones state. Select users have the new in-box now; it'll be rolling out to everyone else over the next few weeks.

The catch is that there aren't actually very many new features, just a better presentation of existing ones for the most part. You'll now be able to accomplish such technological marvels as filter your in-box for unread messages (wow!) and flag unwanted messages as spam.

There's also a more clearly delineated division between messages from friends on your friends list and updates from brands' "fan pages" that previously all went into the same in-box.

Some more updates are on the way. "Over time, we plan to migrate messages from Groups and Events to Updates as well, so you have more control over the communication you receive," the post by Facebook's Scott Marlette read. That means the message from the guy who just reconnected with you on Facebook after not speaking to you since the fourth-grade spider-in-the-lunchbox incident will have a different destination than the message to all guests of next week's Bocce ball tournament.

So, no, Facebook probably won't be replacing your e-mail client yet. But more importantly--it's prettier. Oh, and you can flag spam now--that's important.

[jayanthi mandhalapu]

According to the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England, modern technology is declining people's ability to communicate properly, retarding social skills and, in worst case scenarios, increasing suicide risks.

"As a society, we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community," said Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

"Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanises what is a very, very important part of community life and living together," he added, stressing the importance of face-to-face interaction, or at least telephone conversations.

According to him social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace do not provide "rounded communication, so it won't build a rounded community".

"The trend leaves children unable to form proper friendships and to put more weight on the number, rather than the quality, of their online friendships, he said. That can, in some cases, lead to suicide", he said.

"They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate," he said. "But friendship is not a commodity. Friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right."

[sajiv]

Facebook app lets Intel PCs donate processor power

Can't donate your personal time to a good cause? Intel is providing what may be the next best option.

Intel teamed up with GridRepublic on Monday to launch a Facebook application that allows the spare processing power in a PC to be used to fight diseases and study climate change.

The massive amount of data crunching necessary for high level research is often extremely expensive or not readily available--or both. Intel's solution is Progress Thru Processors, a computing application built on the Facebook platform that allows people to donate their PC's available data processing capacity to research projects such as Rosetta@home, which uses computers to determine the 3-dimensional shapes of proteins that may ultimately lead to finding cures for some major human diseases.

In addition to Rosetta@home, Progress Thru Processors participants can choose to contribute processor power to the research efforts of Climateprediction.net and Africa@home. Climateprediction.net is dedicated to increased understanding of global climate change by predicting the Earth's climate and testing the accuracy of climate models. Africa@home is currently focused on finding optimal strategies to combat malaria by studying simulation models of disease transmission and the potential impact of new anti-malarial drugs and vaccines.

"By simply running an application on your computer, which uses very little incremental resources, you can expand computing resources to researchers," Deborah Conrad, Intel vice president and general manager of corporate marketing, said in a statement.

The application was launched Monday as a public beta and available to all Facebook users and is available for download here.

The application will activate only when a PC's performance is not being fully utilized. When the participant's computer usage demands more processor performance, the application defers and sits idle until spare processing capabilities become available again, Intel said. The application runs automatically as a background process on a PC and will not affect performance or any other tasks, according to Intel.

Progress Thru Processors does not require participants to leave their computers powered up unnecessarily. By keeping their PCs on only as they normally would, participants will still be contributing, Intel said.

[sajiv]

Facebook to face off with new web rivals

San Francisco: Facebook's vision of becoming a "utility" that offers activities to keep people online for hours could set it on a collision course with the web's giants.

In recent days, the No 1 social networking company revamped its search engine and bought a start-up that some call a rival to hot micro-blogging service Twitter. It is also testing a stripped-down version of its service to boost growth overseas and is developing an electronic payments system.

These moves mark a new phase in Facebook's evolution as the five-year-old company meshes the viral power of social networks and its huge member base to barge into new markets.

"When you become the site that people spend enough hours on everyday it's very natural to take advantage of that and to become the site that tries to provide all the services that portals provide," said Haim Mendelson, a professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

The site, co-founded by 25-year-old Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard University dorm room, could challenge web portals like Yahoo Inc and Google in content and communications, Brigantine Advisors analyst Colin Gillis said.

Facebook, which Zuckerberg has described as a "social utility", could take on eBay Inc's PayPal online payments system and maybe Apple Inc's iTunes for digital downloads, he added.

"People only do so many things on the web," said Jeffrey Rayport, founder of digital media consultancy firm Marketspace. "There are a lot of companies that would like to own that set of activities."

[sajiv]

Facebook 3.0 for iPhone pours on the features

The third major edition of Facebook for iPhone has just crept into the iTunes App Store. It's a huge update, with numerous advanced features that make Facebook more interactive than before and which bring the app as close to the desktop experience as it's ever been.

Facebook for iPhone opens on your news feed as usual, but the upper left corner now sports a tiny grid icon that serves as the main organizing feature for this new build. Click it to see a screen equipped with a search bar on top, a notification alert area on the bottom, and a grid of nine activities you can perform in the middle. These include the news feed, your profile details, your message in-box, Facebook chat, friend requests, events, photo albums, and notes.

Those who use Facebook on the iPhone frequently will notice that quite a few of these actions are brand new, like viewing events and submitting an RSVP from your phone. You'll also be able to view friends' birthdays and upload photos to any album. Anyone sporting an iPhone 3GS gets the added bonus of uploading video.

Photos received a lot of attention in this update. You'll now be able to zoom into photos, create albums and delete them, as well as upload and delete photos and photo tags, all from the Facebook interface. In addition, you can upload a new profile picture.

Facebook has also poured energy into how it deals with friends. You're now able to call or text friends from the interface, which brings Facebook's social connectivity into the real world. You can see friends of friends and mutual friends from the app, too, as well as the Pages you subscribe to. If you're trying to locate a friend from within a page, Facebook has thought of that too, by equipping the page with search. To top it off, you can subscribe to Pages from the phone, not merely view them passively.

The new built-in Web browser is one feature addition that some may miss at first, but which is ultimately one of the most practical and useful for keeping the Facebook experience on iPhone firmly within the Facebook app. Before this integration, clicking a link would kick you out of the app and open a Safari browser. You would have to restart Facebook to resume your place.

There are more additions besides, but we thought we would start you off with a little taste and some first impressions. To see the full list, visit the Facebook page on iTunes.

So far, this app impresses, but we'll keep you up to date on any quibbles we develop as we spend more time with this it and really get to know both its strong points and its flaws. iPhone and iPod Touch users, what do you think?

Tip: If iTunes is still showing version 2.5 on your desktop, click the "Facebook" breadcrumb on the page's top navigation. Refreshing the Web page won't necessarily do the trick. On the iPhone, delete the Facebook application and download it anew from the App Store on your phone. Even if the app page does not say it's version 3.0, the new version should install.

[sajiv]

Facebook Lite is here. Verdict: Better

As expected, Facebook is slimming down. The new "Lite" version of Facebook is available for users in the United States and India, according to TechCrunch.

The new version of the site appears to be much cleaner and simpler. It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbies or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming or noisy. It also pushes the old-school Facebook apps off a cliff, which is just as well for the newest Facebook-connected services. Try it at lite.facebook.com.

The major visual change in Facebook Lite, compared Facebook "Classic," is simply that most of the the navigation and info page that was on the left of the page is now gone. The user is not distracted by the mostly superfluous details that resided there. The input box is also gone, replaced by buttons (Write, Post Photos, Post Video) that pop down the actual input forms only when needed.

Other tweaks that diehards might notice: the "Friends" tab in the top navigation of Facebook Classic is missing in Facebook Lite, replaced by a new "Events" link that opens up a page of invitations.

All pages on the site seem to be affected. They are simpler, easier to read, and faster. They load faster, partly due to what appears to be HTML optimization at Facebook. My profile page in Facebook Lite weighed in at 11K, compared to 44K in the Classic version. However, the smaller pages may also come courtesy of a dramatically decreased advertising load, which I doubt we can count on continuing, once Facebook Lite enters the mainstream.

I like the Lite site more than the old Facebook and am moving over to it now. Nice job, Facebook.

[sajiv]

Facebook going for some Twitter sensibility

SAN FRANCISCO--Like a balding hipster who imitates a young trendsetter's style, Facebook is updating itself to look a lot more like Twitter.

Unlike Facebook, where friends mutually agree to let one another into their online lives, Twitter lets people share updates and links with anyone who cares to read them.

That has turned Twitter into a tool for people to peer into the collective mind and see what people are talking about in real time. It is also a tool for businesses to reach customers and monitor what their customers are saying about them.

Facebook seems to be very interested in those features. Since last fall, when Facebook tried and failed to acquire Twitter, it has been slowly introducing features that mimic Twitter.

Last week, Facebook added two new, Twitter-like features. Users can now "tag" friends or companies that they mention in status updates, and they can use a pared-down version of the site called Facebook Lite that resembles Twitter's stream of status updates.

Meredith Chin, a Facebook spokeswoman, played down the changes. "We've been making iterations to our product over time to reflect the rapid evolution of how people share information online," she said.

But others see another force at work. "Twitter envy: Facebook has it, absolutely," said Jeremiah Owyang, a social media consultant at the Altimeter Group, which advises businesses on using new technologies. "Facebook absolutely recognizes that Twitter is a threat, and they're doing what they can to replicate the features before Twitter gets mainstream adoption."

To tag another Facebook member in a status update, users type the @ symbol before the friend's name. The @ symbol is a convention that Twitter users started. In response, Twitter added a section on its site where people can see any tweets that mention them. The mentions are hyperlinked so others could click on them to see the subject's profile page.

Andrew Huang, a product manager at Facebook, said it is "a common Internet mechanism," and he expects Facebook members to use it more for storytelling than Twitter users do.

Facebook has long allowed people to tag friends in pictures, but until now, not in status updates. When people are tagged, they get notified by e-mail, the update appears on their profile pages and their names are hyperlinked to their pages.

Huang, who developed the new tagging feature, said it would enable users "to talk about their real-world connections" and "interact with each other more." It will also enable people and businesses to monitor what others are saying about them on the site, which was previously much harder to do. That has been one of Twitter's vital selling points to businesses.

Adoption by businesses is a revenue-generating opportunity for both companies. Twitter, which does not yet have any significant revenue, has said that it will soon introduce features that help businesses interact with customers. Facebook offers businesses special pages and the option to buy ads to show to users who like similar companies.

Luna Park, a chain of three restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles, uses both Facebook and Twitter to send out promotions. Chuck Meyer, Luna Park's general manager in San Francisco, said Facebook is more useful because the restaurant can post photos and longer updates. But he said customers use Twitter more because they think of it as a place to follow businesses and Facebook as a place to chat with friends. Luna Park has about 1,580 fans on Facebook and 2,350 followers on Twitter.

Meyer is pleased that Facebook added a tagging feature similar to Twitter's because when people mention Luna Park, their friends can go to Luna Park's profile page with a single click and Luna Park will get an alert. The new feature will also lure people to the site with e-mail notifications that they have been tagged.

"A lot of companies are envious of Twitter because people spend a lot more time there, and this allows Facebook to do the same thing--it gives them another opportunity to get people to come back to the site," said Jason Keath, a social media consultant in Charlotte, N.C.

The second new feature, Facebook Lite, is meant for people with very slow Internet connections or new users who want an introduction to the core features of the site, Chin said. But it might also appeal to veteran Facebook users who like the simplicity of Twitter.

Facebook Lite is essentially a stream of updates, like Twitter. It includes photos and comments, which are not available on Twitter, but disposes of other distracting sections that clutter the traditional Facebook homepage.

Facebook has made other Twitter-like changes. In March, it updated users' homepages to show the full stream of updates from all friends in real time, instead of just the updates selected by an algorithm. And last month, Facebook allowed brands and celebrities to send status updates directly to Twitter without visiting Twitter's site. Twitter users can send tweets to Facebook.

Twitter says it is happy to share with Facebook. "Twitter continues to reduce friction between many services," said Biz Stone, a founder. "Our services are complementary to mobile networks, social networks, search engines, software platforms, television networks and maybe a few other areas we haven't thought of yet."

No matter how many features they share, it is unlikely that Facebook will make Twitter unnecessary for its users--or vice versa, Keath said. "I don't think that divide is going to close soon. There's going to be certain aspects where Facebook can compete or maybe take over Twitter, but over all, they are safe in their niches."

[sajiv]

Facebook supports username log-in

We knew that Facebook had bigger plans for vanity URLs/usernames when it opened them up for registration this summer.

The popular bet was that it would create a mention/reply system similar to Twitter's @replies. That was shot down this week when Facebook launched its mentions system, which uses real names. But now Facebook has started letting users log in with their usernames.

This might not seem like a big deal at first glance since most Web sites use username log-in. But this is a time saver, compared with typing in your full e-mail address every time. I still suspect that we will see our Facebook usernames being used for more things in the future, though it's unclear what those things may be.

[sajiv]

Social networking sites prone to virus attacks

The increasing popularity of online social networking has opened up new avenues for cyber criminals. In the last few months, one must have witnessed repeated attacks on highly popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Though these attacks may be first encounter with cyber criminals, for millions of users, the trend of attacking social networking sites is not a new one.

It has, however, grown to become the most obvious choice for attackers due to numerous reasons, says Ratnamala Dam Manna, Director, Security Technology and Response, Symantec. For starters, these social networking pages are easy for criminals to spoof and since they are generally trusted by users. Profiles on social networking sites often contain a significant amount of personal information about the user. Also, spoofed social networking pages can include links to false download that require users to enter confidential data such as authentication information or credit card information that can subsequently be used for fraudulent purposes.
Customisation

Ms. Dam Manna said in a recent report by Symantec Corporation that social networking sites, in fact, topped the list when it came to phishing attacks in most countries. Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details. The biggest advantage of social networking sites for spammers is the fact that they provide users with a wide variety of customisation options and third party applications. Users can customise details in their profile, include links to other sites and upload images.

Over the past year, Symantec observed a 192 per cent increase in spam detected across the Internet, from 119.6 billion messages in 2007 to 349.6 billion in 2008. According to the Internet Security Threat Report XIV, 29 per cent of all spam originated in the U.S. in 2008. The reason is that the U.S. has the second highest number of broadband Internet users in the world. This allows spammers to send out high volumes of spam at any time of the day. Russia was ranked number two for originating spam in 2008, with 6 per cent.
Festive targets

Ms. Dam Manna says India is definitely one of the top targets for spammers. The penetration is increasing over the years. In fact, Symantec has recently discovered a malicious campaign centred on Diwali that entices users into opening spam messages. While spammers traditionally used global festivals such as Christmas and New Year, this year, they turned their attention specifically to an Indian festival.

Unfortunately, spam is not just an irritant, but also a method of delivering dangerous malware into an unwary and unprotected user's machine, she said.

India is becoming a significant region from where spam originates. Twelve per cent of the spam detected in the Asia Pacific region in 2008 originated in India, making it the third-ranked country for this category.
Malicious activity

Due to a rapidly growing Internet infrastructure, a burgeoning broadband population and rampant software piracy, India is expected to witness increased malicious activities. According to Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report XIV, India saw a substantial increase in its proportion of malicious activity in almost every category. It had the fifth highest number of broadband subscribers in the Asia Pacific region in 2008 and the third highest volume of malicious activity, 10 per cent of the regional total.

Among the cities in India with the highest number of bot-infected computers, Mumbai figured at the top with 37 per cent followed by Chennai at 24 per cent and Delhi at 7 per cent. Cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Pune too had a sizable share of bot-infected computers.

Another alarming trend for Internet users in India is the threat landscape being heavily infested with worms and viruses.

In the Asia Pacific region, India ranked first on worms and viruses attacks prevalence chart. Nine of the top 10 malcodes found in India consisted of worms (55 per cent) and viruses (15 per cent) that disabled security related processes, downloaded additional threats and stole confidential information.

[dhilipkumar]

Experts at Defrag believe e-mail can benefit from lessons learned on the social Web.

Wading through e-mail is one of the primary woes of office workers everywhere. Despite many theories on how workers should process their incoming messages, most people still seem to feel buried in the flood. This week at Defrag 2009, a technology conference in Denver focused on tools and technologies for handling online data, experts suggested that the best strategies for fixing e-mail might rely on information and strategies drawn from social Web technologies.

"E-mail is kind of this giant, endless task list, and you're really the slave to a lot of stuff that comes to you," said Lili Cheng, general manager of Microsoft's future social experiences labs. She believes that incoming messages need to be organized and sorted in a more automated fashion.

Particularly within a corporation, Cheng noted, there's a lot of data that could be used to process e-mail more intelligently. Corporations have access to instant messages, desktop searches, and e-mail messages, on top of external information from social networks such as LinkedIn or Twitter. That constellation of information could be mined to organize e-mail within an in-box around certain projects, or certain groups of contacts.

Just as importantly, she added, it could be used to deemphasize less important e-mail. Cheng said her group found that about 70 percent of the e-mail people receive is information they don't actually need to read, though many like to have it on file. Her group built a prototype that created a different section of the in-box for this type of e-mail and extracted a daily summary of it that could be displayed to the user.

E-mail needs to be put in a lot more context, echoed Michael Cerda, founding CEO of cc:Betty, a system designed to help organize group discussions. "Let's wake up the data," he said. "Let's bring it to life. If there's a place, give it an address."

Services do exist that attempt to treat e-mail more intelligently. Google's e-mail service, Gmail, for example, extracts mentions of dates and times from e-mails and offers to move them to a calendar. Xobni, a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook, provides statistics and social data on the people with whom a user exchanges e-mails.

[sajiv]

Hungry fail whale eats up Twitter lists

Something has been rocking the boat over at Twitter, where stability issues on Monday afternoon caused the company to temporarily take down Twitter Lists, a popular and relatively new feature that lets members group Twitter accounts into categories.

"We began experiencing a very high rate of errors and we are working on the underlying problem," a post on the Twitter status blog read. It was later updated saying, "We are now recovering from this unexpected downtime. The Lists feature is temporarily unavailable as we diagnose the cause of the outage."

Many members had reported sightings of the "fail whale," Twitter's error message featuring a cartoon whale, earlier on Monday. It may have been more noticeable than usual because of the day's status as "Cyber Monday," a big day for holiday e-commerce deals--which in this day and age means plenty of people hunting on retailers' Twitter accounts for fire-sale promotions.

[sajiv]

Longtime Facebook employee Dave Morin announced on his personal blog Friday that he's leaving the company and will be starting up a new endeavor with original Napster creator Shawn Fanning.
At Facebook, which Morin joined late in 2006 following a marketing gig at Apple, he served as "senior platform manager." He became one of the company's most high-profile representatives when it launched its developer platform in 2007 and then Facebook Connect in 2008.
His departure is not surprising. While Morin, now 29 and recently engaged to a Googler, had been extremely prominent at Facebook for quite some time, he wasn't a C- or VP-level executive, and his work with small-time developers building businesses on Facebook's platform tapped into an obvious desire to build a company of his own. With Facebook now numbering well over 350 million members, both the Platform and Facebook Connect thoroughly matured as products, and the company's executive ranks rapidly filling up with longtime Silicon Valley, advertising, and D.C. veterans, Morin's time was drawing to an understandable close. Developer initiatives at Facebook, too, may soon be turned to more specific niches like geolocation and payment transactions, two fields that would require a different kind of expertise.
As for the new company, all Morin says in his blog post is that it will be "part of the Facebook Connect community on the other side," and that he and Fanning will "be exploring a few ideas and hope to come back to you with something interesting soon." He characterizes their current stage as a "stealth-ish mode."
The Facebook-Napster connections, too, go way back. Fanning's co-founder at Napster, Sean Parker, went on to become Facebook's founding president after meeting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the social network's early days. (Parker will be played by pop star Justin Timberlake in the unauthorized film adaptation of Facebook's early days, "The Social Network.") As for Fanning, after the Napster debacle that saw the groundbreaking peer-to-peer file-sharing service shut down and then relaunched as a second-tier subscription service that eventually sold to Best Buy, he built a start-up called Snocap that by all accounts failed to pay off well. But he then sold a gaming start-up, Rupture, to Electronic Arts for $80 million.
Fanning remains a perennial idol of young, fight-the-system hackers; Morin spearheaded what's arguably the Web's best example of a well-groomed, strictly regulated developer environment. Whatever they do together, it'll be interesting to watch.

[sajiv]

Italian mafia boss held after using Facebook
ITALY: One of the Italian mafia's mostwanted members has been arrested thanks to his use of the socialnetworkingwebsite Facebook.

Police arrested Pasquale Manfredi, an allegedmafia killer, in the southern Calabrian town of Isola Capo Rizzuto,after theypinpointed his location via his frequent visits to Facebook using aprepaid pendrive.

33-year-old Manfredi, also called 'Scarface', had been on therun since last November and was among the country's 100 'mostdangerous'fugitives.

When police raided the apartment building in Isola CapoRizzuto where he had been living, Manfredi tried to escape across theroof butsurrendered after he was surrounded.

Investigators describedManfredi as "cold and calculating". Besides murder charges, he facescharges ofarms trafficking and extortion.

Investigators believe he may haveattended a training camp near the northern Italian city of Pavia, wherehelearned to use bazookas and other heavy weapons.

So Do U StillWanna Use FACE BOOK ?? What Happens to Your Privicy ?

[Marcella]

Someone changed my facebook account now i cant get mine back can you help solve this promblem for me.

[dhoni]

now a days social networking sites in high level

to use more funds to develop the customer with user facebook,twitter,whatsup etc they are using more

[dhoni]

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they given more details about facebook social site