The survey, participated by some 716 people online, has dispelled the notion that social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace has an addicting effect even to people who are known as wide readers.

Results showed that out of 716 people, some 536 or some 75 percent said that social networking sites rarely affects their reading habits while 180 people or 25 percent voted it has somewhat or significantly altered their love for books.

Of the 25 percent that said their habits have been changed, majority showed interest in interactive games that can be found on social networking sites. Among the leading online games were Texas Hold ‘Em Poker, FarmVille, and other popular flashgames commonly found on Facebook.

The readers said that the online games help them relax from hectic work schedules while still maintaining constant interaction with their online friends.

Some of the respondents said that they are maximizing the potential of social networking as a way to express themselves.

Meanwhile, majority of those who said that they were not addicted to Facebook and other social networking sites, cited privacy concerns as the major reason why they opt to keep out of such websites.

Also, majority of the non-addicts said that they still prefer to read hard copies rather than digital files.

Meanwhile, analysts said that the trend could change in the coming months as Facebook announced that it is adopting a “location finder” feature to its homepage, which would allow people search a particular “hotspot” in town.

The new mobile feature is particularly designed for people who own Smartphone and other e-reader readers.

And with the increase in the number of people who have iPhones and Android phone, there is no doubt users will be more addicted to the social network’s mobile feature.

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The propaganda campaign includes tweets, shoutouts, and updates on popular social networking websites and even video clips posted on YouTube, authorities said.

Authorities also said that the “top secret” Twitter account has already been blocked by the South Korean government, adding that the propaganda will have no bearing to the worldwide community.

The north, under the leadership of Kim Jong-Ill, has been isolated from the rest of the world for several decades.

The regime, under the username @uriminzok, has been using Twitter microblogging to urge dozens of its followers to rise against the South and the US. The said tweet can also be seen on the country’s official webpage (http://www.uriminzokkiri.com).

Most of the followers of the Twitter account even posted harsh comments against the allied nations, even denying that the North Korean government has ordered the torpedo attack against a South Korean warship in March.

Another posting condemned the US-led war against Iran, and economic sanction against North Korea.

Seoul-based authorities believe that the postings are part of the desperate propaganda campaign being implemented by the North to gain sympathy from the global community.

Tension on the Korean peninsula heightened following investigation results, showing that North Korean intentionally torpedoed the Cheonan, the South Korean warship, which has sank near the border.

However, the North vehemently denied the accusations, even threatening to conduct nuclear attacks if provoked by the US.

Meanwhile, despite desperate hacking and other cyberattacks conducted by the North Korea, the South and the US even held a joint military exercise as a show of force against the socialist regime.

Seoul views the Twitter and social networking postings as a “pitiful” and “desperate” action by the Pyongyang because it now fears to be overtaken by the much stronger military force of the United States.

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Dubbed as “Torrent Tweet,” the new in-house developed application works by allowing uTorrent users to easily manage, track, and organize their Twitter discussions on certain torrents of their interest.

With the new in-app tweeting capability, uTorrent users can send or receive automatically-created unique hashtags for the desired torrent file.

In its blog post, BitTorrent said that the new add-on is best for online users who are frequently browsing and sharing torrents via Twitter since the application automatically separates the best files from those considered as “unsolicited.”

Torrents, using Twitter or other search engine browsers, are not indexed by file names or SEO generated links but by infoshash, which is the digital fingerprint of a particular file.

While there are similar torrents in dozens of various BitTorrent websites and pieces of the associated files were from thousands of different peers, using Torrent Tweet can assure P2P users that they will download the files that they need and not something with similar file name.

BitTorrent also advised other torrent websites to refer their respective torrent files using a shortened hashtag prefixed with “#bt” that would allow them to integrate their individual commenting systems with Twitter for the benefit of torrent fans.

For their part, other peer-to-peer file-sharing websites are following the lead of BitTorrent, saying that online presence through Twitter would help more fans to be aware of the situation of the system and how they want to expand its uses.

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In a letter dated July 29, the FDA warned drug manufacturer Novartis Pharmaceuticals after it has used the Facebook Share button in promoting its medication for cancer called Tasigna.

The FDA said that information about Tasigna on Facebook was “incomplete” and “misleading.”

“The shared content is misleading because it makes representations about the efficacy of Tasigna but fails to communicate any risk information associated with the use of this drug,” the letter stated.

The food and drug regulator also said that the content of the webpage has “inadequately communicated” the FDA-approved indication for Tasigna and has implied superiority over other anti-cancer drugs in the market today.

The FDA also ordered Novartis to immediately seize using the Facebook Share application in promoting the anti-leukemia medication.

“The promotional materials are misleading if they suggest a drug is safer or more effective than another drug when this superiority has not been demonstrated by substantial evidence or substantial clinical experience,” the FDA letter said.

Meanwhile, Novartis spokespersons said that they are taking the FDA’s warning seriously, saying that they have already taken down the widget referred by the agency.

Novartis also said that they plan to have an active talk with the FDA to address all the agency’s concerns over drug promotion on the Internet.

Center for Digital Democracy executive director Jeffrey Chester said that it was the first time that the FDA issued a warning against a drug company for using Facebook as its advertising tool in promoting its products.

He said that the first-ever warning letter has highlighted the major problems of multi-billion dollar advertising on Facebook and other websites that have been used by such pharmaceutical companies in the past years.

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According to a recent study, the use of Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, reduces the productivity rate of employees by 1.5 percent.  This finding is not surprising given the fact that more than 60 percent of US workers admitted that they are using Facebook during work time.

While most experts believe that companies should not completely ban access to social networking sites, most of them agree that employers should have a strict policy regarding the use of these online properties.

However, a survey conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics revealed that only one out of three companies in the US have employee online policies including the use of social network sites.

The survey, titled “Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Compliance: What are Companies Doing?” also found that a significant percent of online policies do not include Internet activities outside work.

In addition, only 10 percent of the US businesses have a specific policy on the use of social network sites.

“Companies should have a clear policy regarding the use of these online properties.  However, supervisors and should still encourage their employees from using social media as a way to communicate with their industry peers”, Society’s CEO Roy Snell said.

With a clear and strong policy, experts believe that employers can protect their worker’s productivity rate, sensitive business information, and rapport between workers and supervisors and management.

A recent survey shows that about 45 percent of US companies were “concerned about their employees leaking sensitive information through the use of social sites.”

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The finding shows that about 65 percent of parents believe that their children are frequently distracted by social sites from doing their homework which may lead to poor grades.

With this growing concern, cyber-safety expert Martyn Wild is encouraging parents to place computers in common areas such as the lounge or living room so they will know the online activities of their children and prevent them from being distracted with social media sites.

“Usually, parents do not allow their children to socialize with their friends during late hours on a school night.  However, that is what they (children) are doing online and right under their parents’ nose”, Wild added.

The survey, which included parents who have children aged between 10 and 17 years old, shows the problem of social networking distraction is more common between teenagers aged 14 to 17 years old.

Despite some problems brought by the digital media, especially with the growing popularity of social networking sites, Wild said that turning off the Internet access is not the right solution.

“The answer is all about implementing online behavior and limiting the use of the Internet based on realistic expectations”, Wild said during an interview.

However, Wild said that parents “should not act like an Internet big brother” but should only “be setting realistic guidelines that would help their children from using the computer responsibly.”

Wild has also encouraged children to use their own judgment on using the online media so they can balance their “non-Internet” lives.

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Based on records, Twitter traffic increased to as high as 2, 940 tweets per second every time a World Cup goal is scored. The average daily traffic in Twitter is 750 tweets per second.

The highest number of tweets (2, 940) was recorded after Japan scored against Cameroon during Monday’s match.

The micro-blogging site also said that nearly as much traffic was recorded during a soccer match between Brazil and North Korea on the same day, when Brazil scored its first World Cup goal.

Tweets also increased significantly when Mexico made a tying goal against South Africa on June 11.

The micro-blogging site predicted that the record number of tweets will be broken by the United States vs. Slovenia (2-2) match on Friday. However, the company has yet to release the official figure.

But despite the huge number of traffic in Twitter’s network, World Cup fans failed to amass enough messages to set the highest recorded number of tweets.

According to Twitter, the NBA Championship match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics on Thursday trampled the World Cup numbers after it has recorded at least 3, 085 tweets per second.

Meanwhile, Twitter technicians disclosed that the continued heavy traffic due to the World Cup series has caused major problems to the website’s network, which often resulted to outages.

The online giant said that it will implement a network overhaul right after the World Cup to avoid any interference in the fans’ celebrations.

Twitter, which has been popular among people who wanted to spread the news about different events, has been one of the most heavily used social networking sites in reporting the happenings in the World Cup.

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Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said that the “Like” feature will make the Internet smarter and “more social” than it was before.

The new Like button can will allow millions of Facebook users to view websites like Yelp.com, ESPN.com, and CNN.com directly from their social networking accouts.

However, Internet privacy advocates criticize Facebook for the new feature, saying that the world’s largest social networking website’s plugins collect user data from the application while the publishers’ webpages were being loaded, even without clicking the “Like” button.

Such user data is valuable to Facebook since many of the online advertisers buy these collected figures, which could be worth millions of dollars.

Lawyer Nicole Ozer of the ACLU in Northern California said that Facebook violated the privacy of millions of subscribers, saying that the user control needed to be in default setting to prevent unwanted data gathering by the websites.

It will be recalled that Facebook was underfire from politicians and privacy activists who were calling for a “formal” investigation on the alleged anomalous privacy practices of the second most popular website in the world.

In response, Zuckerberg vowed to make the privacy setting in each application of the website “simpler.”

On the other hand, a company familiar with the data gathering techniques on the Internet defended Facebook, saying that user data collected from such applications were sold to advertisers only after three months of the collection.

Zuckerberg said that more than 50, 000 publishers are expected to employ the “Like” button in their websites this month.

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The groups, led by the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), has filed a complaint before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) calling for a regulatory intervention to prevent further privacy violations being committed by social networking sites like Facebook and others.

CDD executive director Jeff Chester said that “more is needed” even with the positive changes in Facebook’s approach to its users’ privacy.

“Specifically, we want an opt-in approach on even the most basic personal information in Facebook, as well as the website’s Instant Personalization option,” he said.

Facebook’s Instant Personalization feature allows the automatic displays of any website-related information on its partners like Pandora and Yelp.

On Wednesday, Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg announced the changes in the privacy setting of the website, saying that the privacy option is made simpler for users.

Among the changes in the privacy setting is the one-stop webpage which allows users to choose their settings depending on who they would to view their accounts – they can choose whether everyone, friends of friends, or just friends.

Personal information of the users are also made less publicly available and users can now opt-in or opt-out in any third-party applications in the website.

Also, users can choose to limit the display of the webpages that they clicked or “liked.”

But despite all the changes made in the social networking website, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) called on federal regulators to continue its investigations and file the necessary charges against the Internet giant if there were evidences that people’s privacy was violated.

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Experts at Pew Internet said that the trend has gone against the conventional wisdom where adults used to lecture kids about their habits on the Internet.

“This is definitely surprising for us. It is now adding fuel to arguments that the youth has now become the ‘gurus’ to older generation Internet users.

They are now the ones teaching them about online reputation management, particularly in social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter,” a Pew Internet official said in an interview.

One of the most common advices being given by the younger people to the adults is how to limit their personal information being shared online. The youth also has more knowledge about their privacy options while using online networking services.

Many of the young adults who have social networking accounts are now scouring their profiles to remove unwanted and explicit contents that would prevent them from getting the jobs they want.

The youth said that while their public profile in their respective neighborhood will not hurt them, their social networking accounts can certainly give the wrong signals to the people who might see their pictures – including their potential employers.

According to Pew Internet, this topic has been disregarded by many adult users and has now taken its toll to many unemployed people looking for new jobs, saying that employers are looking to a person’s social networking account once he applied for a job.

Pew Internet and American Life Project hoped to bring the idea to millions of adult social networking users to help them gain more and suffer less when they log-in on their accounts.

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