FaceBook Pundit

How Facebook's IPO Could Transform Marketing - Forbes

2012-01-31T19:09:00.000+01:00

How Facebook's IPO Could Transform Marketing - Forbes: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Facebook Use in Academics by Students

2011-11-03T17:04:00.001+01:00

Alexandra Rice has the story
at The Chronicle of Higher Education
in Students Push Their Facebook Use Further Into Academics

europe-v-facebook.org | EUROPE versus FACEBOOK

2011-10-03T15:01:00.000+02:00

europe-v-facebook.org | EUROPE versus FACEBOOK: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Facebook Privacy Settings After New Rollout of Changes to Core Features

2011-09-22T10:50:00.000+02:00

Ellis Hamburger at Business Insider give us 9 Critical Ways to protect Facebook privacy, especially in view of the Facebook rollout of changes to core features and a whole new set of privacy settings.

OK, Who Really Owns Facebook?

2011-05-26T22:54:00.002+02:00

John Egan at Technorati Blogging reports on the new website WhoOwnsFacebook.com.

Facebook and its Like Button Website Integration

2011-05-10T00:12:00.001+02:00

Danny Sullivan has a thought-provoking Facebook impact posting at Has Facebook Become The Master Key To Unlocking The Web?.

We have added new buttons, they work!

Facebook Redesign Launches Today

2011-02-11T21:25:00.000+01:00

Facebook launches pages redesign - CNN.com

The Amazing Impact of Social Media: Google’s Wael Ghonim Thanks Facebook For Revolution In Egypt

2011-02-11T21:19:00.000+01:00

The Amazing Impact of Social Media: Google’s Wael Ghonim Thanks Facebook For Revolution In Egypt

LawPundit: Facebook to Trademark the Generic Word Face via a Faceless USPTO

2010-11-27T23:23:00.000+01:00

LawPundit: Facebook to Trademark the Generic Word Face via a Faceless USPTO

Success Tips For Social Media Customer Service - Forbes.com

2010-11-05T17:42:00.000+01:00

Success Tips For Social Media Customer Service - Forbes.com

Facebook Makes Link Data Public With Share Analytics

2010-10-29T01:12:00.000+02:00

Facebook Makes Link Data Public With Share Analytics: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Facebook’s New Groups Feature: Is Opting In Really the Problem? — BlogWorld Expo Blog

2010-10-14T03:09:00.000+02:00

Facebook’s New Groups Feature: Is Opting In Really the Problem? — BlogWorld Expo Blog: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Diaspora as an Open Source Based Social Network: The New York Replacement for Facebook? New York Mag Reports

2010-10-01T12:25:00.000+02:00

At New York Magazine, Emily Nussbaum reports on "Who Runs New York?, on September 26, 2010 covering "Defacebook" at:

The Most Powerful People in New York:
How Diaspora Is a Very Different Kind of Social Network

Facebook Privacy: 6 Years of Controversy [INFOGRAPHIC]

2010-08-27T01:50:00.000+02:00

Facebook Privacy: 6 Years of Controversy [INFOGRAPHIC]

How To Use Facebook Places - PCWorld

2010-08-21T13:54:00.000+02:00

How To Use Facebook Places - PCWorld: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

The First Thing Young Women Do in the Morning: Check Facebook [STUDY]

2010-07-07T23:16:00.000+02:00

The First Thing Young Women Do in the Morning: Check Facebook [STUDY]

German Data Protection Officials Investigate Facebook for Possible Illegality of Privacy Policies

2010-07-07T22:57:00.000+02:00

In German officials latest to challenge Facebook | The Social - CNET News. Caroline McCarthy at the social writes at CNET News (on a story originally run by the AP):

"Data protection officials in Germany announced Wednesday the launch of a formal investigation into Facebook, saying they believe some of its much-maligned privacy policies are illegal. It's given Facebook until August 11 to respond formally."

Read the rest of this copiously linked article here for further background on Facebook fortunes in Germany, past and present.

Web Start-Ups Making Deals for Users’ Private Data - NYTimes.com

2010-06-01T22:30:00.000+02:00

Web Start-Ups Making Deals for Users’ Private Data - NYTimes.com

Divorce attorneys catching cheaters on Facebook - CNN.com

2010-06-01T20:42:00.000+02:00

Divorce attorneys catching cheaters on Facebook - CNN.com

"Quit Facebook Day" Only Affects 2% of U.S. Users | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

2010-05-31T11:48:00.000+02:00

"Quit Facebook Day" Only Affects 2% of U.S. Users | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

The Associated Press: Pakistan lifts Facebook ban

2010-05-31T11:47:00.000+02:00

The Associated Press: Pakistan lifts Facebook ban

Facebook Privacy Policies Have Litte Impact on Users as the Strategy of the Lowest Common Denominator -- also found in Blogging, Publishing, Academia and the Law - Captures the Mainstream

2010-05-26T11:59:00.000+02:00

Privacy concerns about Facebook have few teeth in the absence of laws which impose a stricter regimen on what customer data social networking sites are permitted to make public and what not. As written in a Business Week headline,Facebook Privacy Woes Make Little Impact on Site’s Popularity:

"While privacy is a consideration for users, many are wedded to Facebook’s features, such as messaging, social gaming and running feeds of friends’ status updates. The average user creates 70 pieces of content monthly and is connected to 60 pages, groups and events, according to Facebook."

The strategy of Facebook seems to approximate the same basic philosophy as followed by the major surviving Hollywood film studios, in fact the main reason for their survival, which was a strategy geared to pleasing the lowest common denominator, the same market group that drives mainstream television. Indeed, this strategy is the one which is successful for nearly any "mainstream" direction, including blogging, publishing, academia (academic schools of thought and "peer group pressure", also via "peer review") and yes, even the law (mainstream precedents represent the lowest common denominator, not the highest). To capture a "crowd" you have to pander to that crowd and Facebook is doing this better than anyone else at the moment.

Facebook Privacy Woes Make Little Impact on Site’s Popularity - BusinessWeek

2010-05-26T11:41:00.000+02:00

Facebook Privacy Woes Make Little Impact on Site’s Popularity - BusinessWeek

Zuckerberg: New Privacy Controls, But No Apologies | Epicenter | Wired.com

2010-05-25T00:57:00.000+02:00

Zuckerberg: New Privacy Controls, But No Apologies | Epicenter | Wired.com

Mark Zuckerberg - From Facebook, answering privacy concerns with new settings

2010-05-24T19:24:00.000+02:00

Mark Zuckerberg - From Facebook, answering privacy concerns with new settings

Facebook's Privacy Snowball Keeps Rolling - BusinessWeek

2010-05-24T12:35:00.000+02:00

Facebook's Privacy Snowball Keeps Rolling - BusinessWeek

Are You Planning on Quitting Facebook? Why? [SURVEY]

2010-05-21T22:07:00.000+02:00

Are You Planning on Quitting Facebook? Why? [SURVEY]

BBC News - Facebook mulls U-turn on privacy

2010-05-20T13:50:00.000+02:00

BBC News - Facebook mulls U-turn on privacy

Peter Thiel, the Stanford Law School Connection to Facebook: PayPal Founder was First Angel Investor in Facebook

2010-05-20T13:28:00.000+02:00

What makes a successful company? Money helps.

We were reading up on Facebook
and discovered that the first Angel Investor to invest in Facebook
(in 2004, when Facebook was just a small operation running out of an apartment)
was Peter Thiel,
a 1992 Stanford Law School graduate.

See what is written about Thiel at the Wikipedia.

Can New York University (NYU) take on Harvard, Stanford and Silicon Valley? Diaspora: Anti-Facebook social network site coming soon | Metro.co.uk

2010-05-20T13:17:00.000+02:00

Can New York University (NYU) students take on Harvard, Stanford and Silicon Valley? Take a look Diaspora: Anti-Facebook social network site coming soon | Metro.co.uk

Diaspora is planned to be an open source alternative to Facebook, the dominant social networking portal which was started at Harvard, and now is headquartered in Silicon Valley in the town of Palo Alto, right next to Stanford University.

As a Stanford Law School alum, we are always great supporters of Silicon Valley tech leadership, but we definitely also support those who are looking for a viable alternative to Facebook, which has quickly become too big for its britches and is running roughshod over the privacy of its users.

We do not think that the open source alternative is going to be serious competition, but that remains to be seen.

UPDATED: By the Numbers: Facebook vs. Zynga

2010-05-20T01:23:00.000+02:00

UPDATED: By the Numbers: Facebook vs. Zynga

Facebook Limits Landing Tabs To “Authenticated Pages”

2010-05-20T00:44:00.000+02:00

Facebook Limits Landing Tabs To “Authenticated Pages”

Farmville Is More Of A Social Obligation Than A Social Game

2010-05-20T00:40:00.000+02:00

Here is an eminently interesting posting about Farmville by Zynga at Social Times:

Farmville Is More Of A Social Obligation Than A Social Game.

I don't play Farmville because I do not have the time for this kind of game, but apparently it does make some people happy.

FarmVille Is The Worst Game Of All Time – I Am Offended By Its Popularity

2010-05-20T00:33:00.000+02:00

FarmVille Is The Worst Game Of All Time – I Am Offended By Its Popularity

Facebook Exodus Planned for May 31: Will You Quit?

2010-05-14T22:32:00.000+02:00

Facebook Exodus Planned for May 31: Will You Quit?

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing Leaves Facebook because of Privacy Violation Policies

2010-05-14T21:38:00.000+02:00

Tech Bigwigs Quit Facebook: Will Others Follow? - ABC News

Derek Thompson at The Atlantic on How Facebook Created Its Privacy Crisis

2010-05-14T21:19:00.001+02:00

Derek Thompson at The Atlantic magazine in How Facebook Created Its Privacy Crisis gives a good rundown on why Facebook is "facing" a self-made crisis.

Why Is It So Hard to Delete Your Facebook Account? - TIME NewsFeed

2010-05-14T19:55:00.000+02:00

Why Is It So Hard to Delete Your Facebook Account? - TIME NewsFeed

While Everyone Bitches, Facebook’s New Social Plugins Surpass 100,000 Installs

2010-05-11T23:15:00.000+02:00

While Everyone Bitches, Facebook’s New Social Plugins Surpass 100,000 Installs

Facebook glitch a nightmare for users » Tech Jackal

2010-05-09T22:55:00.000+02:00

Facebook glitch a nightmare for users » Tech Jackal

Privacy Rights : Violations at Facebook -- as reported by the New York Times

2010-05-09T21:53:00.000+02:00

It seems like a never-ending string of violations of privacy rights by social networking platforms.

Jenna Wortham at the New York Times reports on the newest Facebook incursion on privacy rights at Glitch Brings New Worries About Facebook’s Privacy:

"On Wednesday, users discovered a glitch that gave them access to supposedly private information in the accounts of their Facebook friends, like chat conversations."

The newest "glitch" comes on the heels of previous privacy rights violations at Facebook which suggest that no user should put sensitive information of any kind into the hands of social networking portals. As Wortham writes:

"Over the last few months, Facebook has introduced changes that encourage users to make their photos and other information accessible to anyone on the Internet.... Facebook began prompting users to link information in their profile pages, like their hobbies and hometowns, in a way that makes that information public.

That last change prompted the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group, to file a complaint on Wednesday with the Federal Trade Commission.

“Facebook continues to manipulate the privacy settings of users and its own privacy policy so that it can take personal information provided by users for a limited purpose and make it widely available for commercial purposes,” Marc Rotenberg, the group’s executive director, said in a letter to the commission."

Read the whole article here.

Business Week Reports that Facebook Policies Draw Criticism by Consumer Groups

2010-05-06T22:14:00.001+02:00

Douglas MacMillan for Bloomberg at BusinessWeek.com in Facebook Policies Draw Criticism by Consumer Groups (Update2, which Adds FTC comment in seventh paragraph) writes:

"Recent changes at Facebook “violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebook’s own representations,” said Marc Rotenberg, who runs the Electronic Privacy Information Center, one of 15 groups that complained about Facebook in a filing with the Federal Trade Commission late yesterday."

We agree that Facebook Inc. has greatly overstepped permissibile bounds and that new privacy laws in the United States are essential to counteract a stream of negative privacy developments in social networking.

Read the whole posting by MacMillan here.

EFF: Facebook Tries to Make User Use of Aggregating Services Into Criminal Trespassing Violations

2010-05-06T14:24:00.002+02:00

At EFF Seeks to Protect Innovation for Social Network Users: Facebook Tries to Make Violations of Terms of Use Into Criminal Violations, the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes:

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging a federal judge to dismiss Facebook's claims that criminal law is violated when its users opt for an add-on service that helps them aggregate their information from a variety of social networking sites.

"California's computer crime law is aimed at penalizing computer trespassers," said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. "Users who choose to give their usernames and passwords to aggregators like Power Ventures are not trespassing. Under Facebook's theory, millions of Californians who disregard or don't read terms of service on the websites they visit could face criminal liability. Also, any Internet company could use this argument as a hammer to prevent its users from easily leaving the service as well as to shut down innovators and competitors."

See:
Claire Cain Miller, Bits, New York Times, Facebook Is No Friend of Power.com
... and
Niall Kennedy's Weblog, Facebook v. Power Ventures and Data Portability, Authentication, and Authorization

Essentially, Facebook wants to deny users the ability to use aggregating services to connect to Facebook and to force every user to connect to Facebook only in the manner that Facebook dictates. Pure tyranny.

The more we learn about Facebook, the less we like what we see. Facebook apparently thinks it is permitted to do anything it wants while it attempts to keep its competition from doing anything that might reduce Facebook power. We predict that this philosophy will down the road end in severe legal sanctions against Facebook, who is otherwise trying to run roughshod over user privacy. Suing power.com for trespassing while at the the same time engaging in its own -- what we regard to be criminal -- privacy invasion of its users data has got to take the cake.

What Not to Post on Facebook and Other Social Networks to Protect Your Privacy

2010-05-06T14:23:00.000+02:00

In the Los Angeles Times at Internet Security 101: What not to post on Facebook Alex Pham provides us with a list of seven things which, according to Consumer Report, you should "stop doing now" on social networks to protect your privacy.

The Great Exploiter: Facebook Moves from Social Networking to Social Exploitation: How to Opt Out of Facebook Sharing YOUR Personal Data with the Rest of the World in Order to Make Money FOR THEM

2010-05-06T14:22:00.000+02:00

At MyFoxNY.com in Facebook to Share Your Information for Money, we discovered that Facebook is beginning to use, indeed, share with the world -- YOUR data -- in order to make money for the company, a practice totally contrary to the original social networking purpose of the Facebook website.

This is an incredible invasion of privacy which takes Facebook totally out of the ranks of "social networking" and into abusive and we think possibly criminal "social exploitation".
You are warned.

Here is how to OPT OUT of having your personal information shared all over the web:

1: Go to your Facebook page
2. Click on "Privacy Settings" under the menu item "Account".
3. Click on "Applications and Web Sites".
4. Find "Instant Personalization Pilot Program" and click on "Edit Setting".
5.Typical for the evil of this feature at Facebook is that the "opt out" statement is in tiny print at the bottom of the page and reads "Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites." This is checked with a checkmark by default -- a default which we think should be a per se criminal violation of privacy rights. Uncheck that statement to keep Facebook from using YOU as their meal ticket.

Warning: If your friends decide to share THEIR information and you have not blocked them from sharing YOUR information, then YOUR information can still also be shared with 3rd-party websites by your friends without your intending that sharing.

To cut off that possibility, proceed as follows:

1: Go to your Facebook page
2. Click on “Privacy Settings" under the menu item "Account".”
3. Click on “Applications and Web Sites.”
4. Find "What your friends can share about you" and click on "Edit Settings"
5. Remove the check mark from all of the items on the list that are not essential. When you use Facebook and miss something you really want to have, then you can always go back and check an optional feature that you want to have.

Dropdown lists that mask the "Only Me" Privacy Option with a "Custom edit" option.

One of the most seriously infringing aspects of Facebook is illustrated by the menu item "Applications and Web Sites” (there are other such cases too) which has "Activity on Applications and Games Dashboards" in its dropdown list. That dropdown list shows only THREE specific options: "Everyone, Friends of Friends, Only Friends" plus a fourth option called "Custom edit". ONLY If you click that last option are you then given a new dropdown list with the option of clicking "Specific people..." or "Only me". Why the privacy selection of "only me" is not given immediately to begin with in the first dropdown list is clear -- users are not "supposed" to use that option, so Facebook makes it harder for you, the user, to find it. Obviously, checking "Only me" has nothing to do with a "custom" edit. Diabolical.

You also have to control all of the check boxes under the various tab headings at the "Account Settings" in the dropdown list under the menu item "Account".

The tab headings are Settings, Networks, Notifications, Mobile, Language, Payments, and Facebook Ads.

Under Settings you will see Name, Username, Email, Password, Linked Accounts, Security Question, Privacy, Account Security, Deactivate Account. Check everything.

Under Networks you can enter a network, which we do not recommend. We have tried it and you merely expose yourself to a great number of people you do not know.

Under Notifications, there are currently no fewer than SEVENTY-TWO check boxes that can be check or unchecked in the following areas (talk about creating confusion pure):
    * Facebook
    * Photos
    * Groups
    * Pages
    * Events
    * Notes
    * Links
    * Video
    * Gifts
    * Help Center
    * Wall Comments
    * Other updates from Facebook
    * Translations
    * Other Applications
Examine these carefully and check only things you really NEED. All of those check-box options are not there for your benefit, rather, they are intended to make things such a mass of confusion so that something beneficial for Facebook will sneak through unnoticed.

IMPORTANT! Another feature of Facebook that is diabolical is that in some cases check marks are effective when made -- i.e. without any other clicking, but in other cases at Facebook, however, even if you make or remove the check marks you still have to SAVE the page in order to save your check mark settings. Notifications is one such page. If you go to the exhausting job of customizing those 72 check-mark settings and then think you have it done, if you do not scroll this page all the way down to the bottom and click the Save Changes button, it was all for nothing. The checkbox settings then revert to the default setting - with everything checked. There is method in this madness.

Check also everything under the other tabs:

Mobile (you can activate Facebook to send you text messages -- at your risk)
Language (set your Facebook language)
Payments (something we avoid, if possible)
and
Facebook Ads, which writes as follows (LOOK OUT !!!!!):

"Facebook does not give third party applications or ad networks the right to use your name or picture in ads. If this is allowed in the future, this setting will govern the usage of your information."

If Facebook follows past practice this "allowed in the future" will be a default check mark permitting the use of your name and photo for some advertised product or service unless you opt out. Again, we think this default "opt in" practice would be illegal -- even under current privacy laws -- as an invasion of privacy of the worst kind.

In any case, our first impression of Facebook is being confirmed -- raw social exploitation.

The Full Story: How Facebook Was Founded

2010-03-16T15:45:00.000+01:00

How Facebook Was Founded: The Full Story
by Nicholas Carlson, March 5, 2010

Facebook To Announce Plans To Take Over The Internet With Facebook Pages « Velocity - Forbes.com

2010-03-16T15:42:00.000+01:00

Facebook To Announce Plans To Take Over The Internet With Facebook Pages « Velocity - Forbes.com:
March 10, 2010 - 8:28 pm, by Nicholas Carlson

Zuckerberg Accused of Hacking | FlyByBlog | Harvard Life. To Go.

2010-03-16T15:40:00.000+01:00

Zuckerberg Accused of Hacking | FlyByBlog | Harvard Life. To Go.

Facebook patent a hot topic on social media | The Augusta Chronicle

2010-03-01T13:06:00.000+01:00

Facebook patent a hot topic on social media | The Augusta Chronicle

Facebook Secures Patent for News Feed

2010-03-01T13:00:00.000+01:00

Facebook Secures Patent for News Feed

Facebook Privacy Policy at LawBrain

2010-02-27T21:20:00.000+01:00

Facebook Privacy Policy at LawBrain

New EU Personal Data Protection and Privacy Laws to Target Social Media : Facebook, Twitter, Myspace et al.

2010-02-01T20:12:00.003+01:00

Leigh Phillips at the EUobserver in New EU laws to target Facebook writes that:

"[T]he European Commission ... announced plans for comprehensive new laws that have in their sights the massively popular website [Facebook]....

Underscoring its new powers under the Lisbon Treaty and the legal basis given to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the commission said it wants to create "a clear, modern set of rules" guaranteeing a high level of personal data protection and privacy....

Mentioning Facebook, Myspace and Twitter by name, [EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media] Ms Reding said she will start this year with a revision of the 1995 Data Protection Directive...." [link added by LawPundit]

Read the whole article here.

Marketers to Spend More on Social Media as Usage Skyrockets - ClickZ

2010-01-25T17:30:00.002+01:00

Marketers to Spend More on Social Media as Usage Skyrockets - ClickZ
By Douglas Quenqua, ClickZ, Jan 25, 2010

"[A] new Nielsen report ... says the average person spent five and a half hours on social media sites in December 2009, up 82 percent from December 2008. Significant traffic increases for Facebook and Twitter led the way."

Kippreport » The Media vs social media » : An In the Box Experiment

2010-01-25T17:26:00.001+01:00

Here is an interesting "in the box" social media experiment.

Kippreport » The Media vs social media »: Jan 25th, 2010

"Five journalists are getting set to assess the latest ‘threats’ to the traditional media-Facebook and Twitter. The reporters, from Canadian, French, Belgian and Swiss radio stations, will be locking themselves in a French farmhouse for five days with access only to the two social networking sites.

They will then aim to test the quality of news from Facebook and Twitter and try to find out if they are genuine “threats” to the traditional media, reports AFP. The experiment begins on February 1."

CrowdStar’s New Happy Island Game Is The First To Exclusively Use Facebook Credits for Virtual Currency Payments

2010-01-25T17:22:00.000+01:00

CrowdStar’s New Happy Island Game Is The First To Exclusively Use Facebook Credits for Virtual Currency Payments

Facebook's Version of the Retweet Has Arrived

2010-01-24T13:23:00.000+01:00

Facebook's Version of the Retweet Has Arrived

Facebook Guide Book: Mashable Launches Hub for Facebook Resources

2010-01-14T17:00:00.000+01:00

Facebook Guide Book: Mashable Launches Hub for Facebook Resources

Zuckerberg Comments Underscore Conflict Between Social Networking and Privacy - PC World Business Center

2010-01-13T17:44:00.000+01:00

Zuckerberg Comments Underscore Conflict Between Social Networking and Privacy - PC World Business Center by Tony Bradley

"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg added fuel to the ongoing privacy debate with recent statements that users no longer care about privacy. While the statement itself may be a little simplistic, the sentiment may be accurate and the success of Facebook is evidence to back up Zuckerberg's assertion."

Facebook / McAfee deal provides security software but little education | Social Business | ZDNet.com

2010-01-13T17:37:00.000+01:00

We call this "ripping off" the stupids:

Facebook / McAfee deal provides security software but little education | Social Business | ZDNet.com:

"Facebook tonight announced that it has partnered with McAfee to offer a six-month security software subscription to its 350 million users. In the announcement, said that it entered into its partnership to further demonstrate its commitment to securing its user base. After the six-month subscription runs out users will then be offered a discounted price on the security software, making it not a bad sales or marketing deal for McAfee, either."

Fabulous Facebook Follies of 2009 at Legal Blog Watch

2010-01-09T16:01:00.000+01:00

Fabulous Facebook Follies of 2009 at Legal Blog Watch. See

Legal Blog Watch

Check out this Video: 2009 in social media : At the Microsoft Blog : SeattlePI Blogs

2009-12-30T00:18:00.000+01:00

Check out this video:

Video: 2009 in social media

Year in review 2009: Social networking - CNET News

2009-12-29T18:37:00.000+01:00

Year in review 2009: Social networking - CNET News

"The brawn of Facebook, the brains of Twitter"

Sterile Pop Monopoly Deposed by Social Media Campaign : Raging The Social Media Machine | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

2009-12-29T18:15:00.001+01:00

Raging The Social Media Machine | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com:

"The Facebook campaign started and news outlets started picking up on it. On Sunday 20th December 2009 Rage Against The Machine were crowned winners, selling over 500,000 copies. “It’s more about the spontaneous action taken by young people in the U.K. to topple this very sterile pop monopoly,” said Rage singer Zack de la Rocha."

Social Network Ad Spending Jumps in 2009 and Will Keep Rising in 2010 - BloggingStocks

2009-12-29T18:10:00.000+01:00

Social Network Ad Spending Jumps in 2009 and Will Keep Rising in 2010 - BloggingStocks

Social media websites strengthened holiday season for retailers - The Denver Post

2009-12-29T17:57:00.000+01:00

Social media websites strengthened holiday season for retailers - The Denver Post

An updated guide to Facebook privacy: December 2009 edition

2009-12-29T17:45:00.000+01:00

An updated guide to Facebook privacy: December 2009 edition

This is the Facebook Step We Expected: Default Public - John Battelle's Searchblog

2009-12-10T23:09:00.000+01:00

This is the Facebook Step We Expected: Default Public - John Battelle's Searchblog

Facebook users have yet to learn privacy lessons, finds study | Pinsent Masons LLP

2009-12-10T00:59:00.000+01:00

Facebook users have yet to learn privacy lessons, finds study | Pinsent Masons LLP

THE Blogger's Guide to Facebook is Worth A Read

2009-12-03T12:44:00.001+01:00

See THE Blogger's Guide to Facebook

Privacy Controls Changed at Facebook | An Open Letter from Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg

2009-12-03T11:14:00.001+01:00

Facebook is changing its privacy controls in an update that will require all Facebook users to update their privacy settings. Mark Zuckerberg announced the changes at his Facebook blog:

Facebook | An Open Letter from Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg.

25 Blogs To Help You Stay Current With Social Media | FreelanceFolder

2009-11-29T20:26:00.000+01:00

25 Blogs To Help You Stay Current With Social Media | FreelanceFolder

Social Networking Watch : The Blog

2009-11-27T11:11:00.000+01:00

The Blog Social Networking Watch appears to be doing a good job of covering social networking news.

Betting that Brizzly will be huge, ex-Googlers are working on things | Technology | Los Angeles Times

2009-11-27T00:22:00.000+01:00

Betting that Brizzly will be huge, ex-Googlers are working on things | Technology | Los Angeles Times: "After gaining some viral interest through its invitation-only sign-up system -- a strategy that has worked exceedingly well for Gmail and now Google Wave -- Brizzly is unlocking its doors today. Anyone can sign up and plug in their social network credentials."

Central Valley Business Times CVBT - Louis Gray Video on Using Facebook, Twitter and more to beat the recession - by Melanie Sinclair

2009-11-16T12:32:00.001+01:00

Central Valley Business Times

Daily Educational Headlines: Facebook spammer ordered to pay $711 million

2009-11-05T23:24:00.000+01:00

Daily Educational Headlines: Facebook spammer ordered to pay $711 million

Aaron Greenspan Settles Trademark Dispute With Facebook : Facebook as a Trademark for a Social Media Network

2009-10-29T03:38:00.000+01:00

According to an InsideFacebook.com posting on May 22, 2009 by Justin Smith, Facebook Announces Settlement of Legal Dispute with Another Former Zuckerberg Classmate, and also according to a posting by Nick O'Neill on May 23, 2009 at All Facebook.com, which calls itself "The Unofficial Facebook Resource", Aaron J. Greenspan settled his trademark dispute with Facebook.com Aaron Greenspan Settles Trademark Dispute With Facebook.

But this does not mean in any way that the basic question of Facebook.com's rightful attempted appropriation of the name Facebook as a trademark is resolved.

Instructive in this regard is a posting at the Citizen Media Law Project, Naming Your Business: Choosing A Name Capable of Trademark Protection.

The trouble with the Facebook trademark claim is that allthough descriptive names can obtain trademark protection by use, a generic name can never receive trademark protection and there is little dispute that the term "face book" was used as a generic name for printed matter for the kind of thing that facebook.com is doing digitally.

As in the instant case, much is simply chance and circumstance involving forseeable developments in a given field, with the luckiest or cleverest or most ruthless operator winning.

InsideFacebook reported concerning the settlement as follows:

"In the statement, Zuckerberg said:
"Aaron and I studied together at Harvard and I’ve always admired his entrepreneurial spirit and love of building things. 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.""

So there you have it.

One of the principal areas in which the laws and courts have become hopelessly tangled is precisely in this arena especially in patent law, where the mere conversion of already invented things from printed format to digital application suddenly has been viewed by some to involve "an inventive step".

Legally, as a matter of trademark protection, Facebook can argue that in the digital field the trademark name Facebook for a social media network is not generic but descriptive, and as such is entitled by its already worldwide use to trademark protection as a social media network name. But in our view, that is all.

Is there a Trademark in Facebook.com's Facebook name and if so, Who Owns It?

2009-10-29T03:02:00.000+01:00

Is Facebook.com entitled to claim a trademark to the name Facebook?

Read
this article by Chris Williams at The Register

for some of the things that have gone on in the background in the past concerning the alleged Facebook trademark.

Facebook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2009-10-29T02:18:00.000+01:00

A lot of information about Facebook.com is available at the Wikipeida, although in this case I would be skeptical about the reliability of all statements found there. See Facebook at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Who Founded Facebook? The Case of Aaron J. Greenspan

2009-10-29T01:17:00.000+01:00

At the New York Times, John Markoff had a September 1, 2007, article titled:

Who Founded Facebook? A New Claim Emerges:

"Aaron J. Greenspan [a] Harvard classmate ... says he was actually the one who created the original college social networking system.... And he has the e-mail messages to show it.

As a Harvard student in 2003 ... Mr. Greenspan established a simple Web service that he called houseSYSTEM. It was used by several thousand Harvard students for a variety of online college-related tasks. Mr. Zuckerberg was briefly an early participant.

An e-mail message, circulated widely by Mr. Greenspan to Harvard students on Sept. 19, 2003, describes the newest feature of houseSYSTEM, as “the Face Book,” an online system for quickly locating other students. The date was four months before Mr. Zuckerberg started his own site, originally “thefacebook.com.” (Mr. Greenspan retained his college e-mail messages and provided The New York Times with copies of his communications with Mr. Zuckerberg.)"

DaveChaffey.com in Facebook case study writes:

"It is also alleged that another system predated Facebook. Aaron J. Greenspan, a Harvard student in 2003 created a simple web service that he called houseSYSTEM. It was used by several thousand Harvard students for a variety of online college-related tasks — six months before Facebook started and eight months before ConnectU went online. Mark Zuckerberg was briefly an early participant. No suit has been filed by Greenspan, instead he has published a book about his experience."

Greenspan can be found online at AaronGreenspan.com where he has a link to his book Authoritas: One Student's Harvard Admissions and the Founding of the Facebook Era.

Greenspan posts at the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan where his bio writes:

"Aaron invented The Facebook while attending Harvard College in September 2003 and graduated with an A.B. in Economics in 2004."

His most recent posting of October 5, 2009 at the Huntington Post is titled The Fallacy of Execution (and Sex), or Why Mark Zuckerberg Doesn't Answer Questions About Facebook's Origins and he writes as follows:

"I've been told time and again that the reason Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook succeeded over my own at Harvard is that I simply didn't "execute," while my classmate did. And so without casting any blame, I'd like to put everything that notion implies to rest. In his latest thirty-minute-long interview, Mark didn't mention anything about the fully-functional and heavily-marketed houseSYSTEM integrated student portal that was far more than a mere idea, the "Facebook" component that he joined along with his co-founders, the hours he spent visiting and re-visiting the site in January of 2004, or the Harvard College Student Entrepreneurship Council that created it, let alone the decades-long history of face books at educational institutions across the country. That doesn't mean that those products, organizations and events never happened, however. There's plenty of evidence indicating that they did."

Facebook Company Profile at CrunchBase

2009-10-29T00:32:00.000+01:00

CrunchBase writes about the origin of the name Facebook at facebook.com as follows:

Facebook Company Profile:

"The original idea for the term Facebook came from Zuckerberg’s high school (Phillips Exeter Academy). The Exeter Face Book was passed around to every student as a way for students to get to know their classmates for the following year. It was a physical paper book until Zuckerberg brought it to the internet."

But compare the next posting.

Twitter and 'Face Book' - Older Than the Internet

2009-10-28T23:25:00.000+01:00

Switched headlines:

"Twitter and 'Face Book' Are Older Than the Internet"

InstantShift List of Top Social Media Networking Sites as of October 2009

2009-10-28T22:20:00.000+01:00

Instant Shift has created a comprehensive list of top social media network sites as of October 19, 2009.

See:

List Of Top Social Media Network Sites | Showcases | instantShift

Facebook and Twitter Prototypes are "As Old as the Hills"

2009-10-28T22:05:00.001+01:00

Just how innovative are social media networking applications? Or are they merely successful (or less successful) digital conversions of concepts that have existed long before them?

The social media networking application hosted at Facebook.com has become very popular in recent years, but the idea of a "Face Book" is at least over 100 years old.

"Twitter" as gossip can be traced back more than 60 years.

Jenna Wortham reports at Bits Blog in the New York Times in The 'Face Book Fad' Is More Than a Century Old:

"Bryan Benilous, a historical newspaper specialist at the digital-archive company Proquest, said he and his colleagues came across a Boston Daily Globe article from August 24, 1902, titled, "Face Book The New Fad," describing a party game where revelers sketch out cartoony caricatures for fun."

As Wortham writes in addition:

"[Benilous has also] uncovered a 1942 Washington Post article titled "Think Before You Twitter" about gossiping and a 1903 article referring to the first "pocket telephone.""