According to the reports, the company responsible for the sale of user-data was InfoChimps, an Austin, Texas-based company that collects and fish out MySpace users’ information before selling to the market.

InfoChimps also holds ownership to all the data and other server logs of MySpace and its users since it own the web hosting of the site.
Many of the users think that they own the accounts since they are the ones who are configuring the privacy options. But what they don’t know is that they have already waived their rights in exchange for the “free” web hosting and access to all MySpace features.

Technically, being “free” means that InfoChimps could meddle with anything that you post in your MySpace account.

Most of the valued “items” were the users’ photos, locations, blog posts, reviews, and their status updates. The user-data are important to third parties because they can use it to promote or create products that they have based on the fished out information.

The reports also cited that most of InfoChimps’ clients were academics, marketing firms, and analysts.

Meanwhile, in his talk about the privacy and safety online, Columbia University Law professor and Software Freedom Law Center founder Eben Moglen said that MySpace and InfoChimps are using the technique called cloud computing where users are led into thinking that they are safe under the terms that they have agreed on.

Moglen also said that instead of allowing companies like InfoChimp to acquire ownership of all the data that users post in MySpace, the development of peer-to-peer social networks would be a better way to ensure the safety and privacy of the users.

He said that with P2P social networks, the users can retain the ownership of the data, thus, preventing any unnecessary usage by third parties and other Internet-sharks.

Related posts:

1. Dark Future Ahead for MySpace as Traffic Goes Down After year
2. MySpace Plans Business Remodeling, Eyes Social Media as Film and Music Portal MySpace Pl
3. MySpace Music Begins Experimenting With Audio Ads Online soc

The document also mentioned how the feds are targeting known relatives and friends of the suspects by exchanging messages with them.

Meanwhile, the US government defended its agents from the said “wrong” use of the Internet, saying that the purpose of the investigation through the web is to check the suspects’ alibis with what they have posted on their “tweets” and Facebook shout outs.

The feds also said that photos of the suspects’ friends can help the agents identify whether they are really involved in robberies and burglaries, saying that most of the criminals have the tendency to give out valuable jewelry to their family.

It will be recalled the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group based in San Francisco, has filed a case against the Justice Department over the misuse of social networking accounts by the agency and five other agents just to obtain private information about the suspects.

In a 33-page complaint, the EFF has underscored the importance of control over the privacy of the people using social networking sites.

Meanwhile, the FBI, Secret Service, and other federal agencies said that they are now implementing a new strategy that would help all coordinating departments to “keep out of each other’s way” or the “deconfliction” method.

The agencies also said that the deconfliction method will mean a more productive investigation for the government.

Related posts:

1. Twitter User Facing Charges after Helping G20 Protesters Evade Arrest A 41-year-
2. Google Rides Wave of Social Networking Internet g
3. More Affluent People Flock Social Networking Sites A new repo

Gloria Gadsden, a professor at East Stroudsburg University, has been suspended for “ranting about her job and expressing violence on her students”, one school official said in an interview.

Vice president for academic affairs Marilyn Wells has defended the school’s decision, saying that it has the obligation to take “threats seriously” especially when there is a security concern in schools following the series of shooting incidents which happened over the past years.

When asked for comments, Gadsden said that she posted the comments as a way to vent out her feeling, adding that she did not intend to hurt or insult anyone.

The professor also said that she was surprised that one of her students saw the comments even if only her close friends and family are included in her “friends” list.  She then realized that her privacy setting has changed to public setting after Facebook has fixed a security hole in December.

Meanwhile, communication experts believe that many people are not responsible users of social networking and do not realize how a simple comment can get them into trouble.  This is the reason why many occupational psychologists believe that workers should not post comments and messages that might offend a co-employee and supervisor or hurt relations with the customers.

Such incident happened to 13 airplane crews who were fired after posting offensive comments on their social networking accounts about their passengers.

Related posts:

1. Facebook updates privacy options Popular so
2. Beware: Doctors Talk about You on Facebook and Twitter A new surv
3. Obama Warns Youth about Indiscriminate Facebook Postings US Preside

Hitwise director of media relations Matt Tatham said the social networking site has surpassed the popular search engine tool between March 6 and March 13, a trend which may continue for the next several years.

Tatham explained the new trend as a proof that “content sharing is now becoming a huge driving force online” especially when online users are preferring “information from friends they trust” rather than “anonymity of search engines.”

According to the survey, Facebook has accounted for 7.07 percent of all the US web traffic while Google search engine has accounted for 7.03 percent last week.

While the margin is minimal, Tatham believes the result “is a big moment for Facebook” especially when there are countless of social platforms and search engine tools competing for the attention of online consumers.

Aside from toppling Google search engine tool, Facebook has also experienced a significant year-over-year growth that outpaced Google.  According to the survey, Facebook’s traffic growth increased by 185 percent compared to last year while Google’s traffic growth jumped by 9 percent compared in 2009.

However, Google is still dominating the online industry since its properties like Maps and YouTube accounted for 11.03 percent of all the traffic visits in US; this was followed by Yahoo which accounted for 10.98 percent of traffic visits.

In 2007, Google has toppled MySpace.com as the most visited site.  And over the past several years, the social networking site’s traffic has plummeted after Facebook emerged in the market.

Related posts:

1. Google Rides Wave of Social Networking Internet g
2. Google to Face-off against Facebook as its Email Gets Social Internet s
3. 50 Percent More Personnel Will Be Added to Facebook in 2009 – Zuckerberg Facebook I

But with the advancements in the tools, plugins, widgets, and other applications, people are becoming more and more hooked up into social networking fever. Many of the online users visit or use social networking sites much more than they needed to.

What they did not know is that they are now addicted to the presence of social media, which can greatly affect their social lives and office productivity. Here are several tell-tale signs that you are addicted to social networking:

1. Updating Facebook or Twitter account whenever you are going to do even the simplest of things like drinking coffee, reading news, or leaving the office for lunch.
2. Spending more time on social networking conversations than you do in real life. This includes chatting with friends or sending tweets to your followers.
3. Considering photos as Facebook updates and not for a special keeping.
4. Instead of replying “laughing out loud” to the person who tells you a joke, you send “lol”.
5. You have more than 1, 000 friends on your social networking accounts than those in real life.
6. Using Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter as your main communication tool with friends.
7. You can type faster than two months ago. Sometime, you can even type faster than you can talk.
8. Even if you are away from the computer, you can hear something familiar or synonymous with social networking like “ping” sounds.
9. Buying a Smartphone just so you can update your social network accounts every minute even if you’re away from home or on vacation.
10. Feeling lonely whenever you missed feeding your pet fish on fishville or plant your crops on Farmville.
11. Somewhat feeling the withdrawal syndrome.
12. Instead of handing down your phone or cellphone number to your newly meet friends, you give them your Facebook or Twitter account.

Once you are experiencing this signs, then you are now a certified social networking addict.

Related posts:

1. Google Rides Wave of Social Networking Internet g
2. More Affluent People Flock Social Networking Sites A new repo
3. Experts Warn of Increasing Porn Spam on Social Networking Sites IT experts

In an order, the Pentagon said that troops in the field, civilian leaders, as well as high-ranking military officials, can now use social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. However, the order also stated that only non-classified computers or PCs that is not connected to sensitive files and top secret system can be used to post blogs, photos, and announcements.

“We need to take advantage of these capabilities that are out there, this Web 2.0 phenomena. The idea is be responsible and use these tools to help get the job done,” said David Wennergren, deputy assistant secretary of defense for information technology.

The Defense Department has issued the order following an extensive seven-month review, which aimed to weigh in the threats and benefits that the Internet, particularly social networking sites, can do to the entire Pentagon network.

The review also aimed to identify the management options that the Pentagon can use on their recruitment, public relations, and information dissemination using social networking sites.

The Pentagon, according to the order, recognized the big help that social media present to the military, especially the troops in the field, incommunicating with their families.

Meanwhile, officials said that they can always cut off access instantly to all computers whenever they needed, adding that it will be done during missions and high-risks situations where the whole bandwidth is needed.

With the new directive, viewable Internet sites will be in uniform with the entire Pentagon system allowing no other unwanted websites being viewed by the military men.

It will be recalled that the agency has blocked the entire Internet connection of their men after discovering that the computers inside the Pentagon was being used to watch pornographic materials and playing online games.

These sites where among the many online websites can slow down the connection because of a large bandwidth requirement.

Related posts:

1. US Marine Corps Imposed Ban on Social Networks The United
2. Social Networking “Very Disturbing” – Bruce Willis Social Net
3. Cyberattacks in Social Networking Rise – Sophos A new repo

In a statement, social media consultant and writer Paul Gillin said that a large number of companies, big and small, that he has interviewed for the survey have been consistent with the use of social networking websites as a way of communicating with the people in their community.

On an average, Gillin said that companies are now using more than eight different social networking sites today compared to some four years ago, when social media was considered as a major factor to low productivity of employees.

Likewise, the companies that answered participated in the survey said that they are getting highly-valued results from their clients, especially when they want to know about their performance in terms of customer satisfaction.

“It was really surprising especially when is reviewed that preliminary results. I was shocked by how the 53 respondents were using social media for their companies and some of them use at least eight platforms,” Gillin said.

The social media expert said that the situation was also similar to large household brands like Coca-Cola, Cisco, and Ford Motor Co, saying that most of these companies also used social media to spread their products and services across the online community.

“Companies, whether big or small, are being aggressive in the use of these social networking platforms,” he said.

Gillin also said that the recession has played a major role to the shift of marketing strategy from television ads to social networking.

“Many of the companies, especially in the US and Europe were forced to improvise and to be more creative for them to save up on high advertising costs. They have tried social media and they have hit the jackpot,” Gillin said.

Related posts:

1. MySpace Plans Business Remodeling, Eyes Social Media as Film and Music Portal MySpace Pl
2. Facebook Challenges Businesses to Allow Social Network Innovations The use of
3. Social Networks Earn Mixed Reaction among Businessmen A new stud

Harris said that the new law would now consider the use of social networking sites by some 63, 000 sex offenders as a crime.

Harris, together with Pomona Assemblywoman Norma Torres, has tagged the social networking sites as “the new schoolyard” and has become the playground for many of the sex offenders in the state.

“This law tackles the growing problem of sex offenders logging in on social networking site, which has now been their school grounds. We want to protect the users from being the next target to these criminal minds,” Harris said.

Harris said that there will be no problem with the prohibitions of the new law but admitted that the implementation and enforcement would be the problem for them.

Unlike that of New York’s online law, California will not require all known sex offenders to register their online accounts and other alias with the state authorities for them to be monitored closely.

In New York, some 3, 500 known sex offenders have already registered their online accounts.

She also hopes that the threats made by this people to other users could be considered by the authorities so that they could be locked in jail or deters them from committing the same kind of crimes.

Meanwhile, Harris called on all social networking sites to consider the legislations against the sex offenders as a priority, saying that they should lead the action against sex offenders.

“They should be the one who will instigate the action to protect their users,” she added.

“You won’t allow a sex offender to enter your home. But through the portal of the iPhone or a laptop they are entering your home. We want to make sure we shut the door on them,” Harris added.

Related posts:

1. Victoria University Aims To Prevent Suicide in Social Networks thru New Software A team of
2. BeautifulPeople.com Kicks Out Thousands of Members for Holiday Weight Gain BeautifulP
3. Facebook, Twitter Leave Users Bare Against Cybercriminals A recent s

E-commerce is not new on the Internet but the special thing about “Buxter” is the way online transaction takes place. The new Facebook application uses real money instead of the hip virtual currencies.

According to ClickandBuy, Facebook users will have to register and load their “Buxter” electronic wallet with Euro or Dollar currencies for them to transact with other 400 million Facebook users.

After registration, users can now receive, transfer, and request funds from their families and friends, even business partners, free of charge.

Also, ClickandBuy is only charging some 1.9 percent interest rate if users wanted to withdraw money from their accounts.

Many technology experts said that Facebook will be the biggest winner with the use of the new application, which aims to transform the social networking site into the best e-commerce marketplace that is not confined in a closed system.

Buxter is designed by ClickandBuy to be a system allowing third-party developers by giving them more access to the new application. This way, the companies and other developers will be able to create their own business solution process in Facebook and then send and receive payments through the new application.

Meanwhile, ClickandBuy said that services within Buxter will include movie tickers, food, and other services that are already being offered online.

User can also integrate Buxter in their own homepages and use the application to raise funds for birthdays, programs, and charities.

Related posts:

1. MySpace Opens Submission for App Developer Challenge Social net
2. Facebook Topples Google as the Most Visited Site in US Facebook h
3. PayPal to Accept Facebook Advertisement Payments PayPal Inc

But the company, in a statement, said that it will not be rolling out the service in the next couple of weeks, saying that there will be several adjustments that would be made before the official start.

PayPal also said that the new money payment scheme would make life easier for advertisers, saying that instead of using their credit cards to buy advertising space on Facebook, all they have to do is sent the payment online.

The company also said that they recognize the difficult situation of small international companies that wanted to buy ads space on Facebook, saying that PayPal transactions are much easier than credit card payments which usually took longer period of time.

Aside from buying ads, PayPal revealed that Facebook has also allowed the payment system to let users buy credits on Facebook. This feature will include popular gaming platforms on Facebook like Mafia Wars, Poker, and Farmville. Users can also use the PayPal service to buy gift items and other virtual goods on the social networking site.

According to a data from eMarketer research firm, advertisers and small business around the world have spent over $605 million (39 percent higher than in 2009) in the first quarter of the 2010 and the number is expected to further increase with the introduction of the new PayPal payments on ads.

To date, Facebook has over 350 million unique users from around the globe making it the biggest social networking site. From its humble beginning as a social hub for college students, the online giant is now considered as one of the most profitable business in the Internet.

With this, advertisers are expected to flood more money into the social networking websites. Experts said that the PayPal-Facebook deal would generate higher income for all the parties concerned, which could potential reach to billions of dollars.

Related posts:

1. No Plans for Advertisement in 2009 – Twitter Biz Stone,
2. New App for Facebook to Turn Social Networking Site into E-commerce Marketplace E-payment
3. More Sophisticated Attacks to Hound Facebook, Twittter – McAfee More Sophi