In an interview, Togetherville co-founder and chief executive officer Mandeep Singh Dhillon said that the new social networking site will give kids the “spirit of friendly neighborhoods” within the online world.

Togetherville will also educate more children on how to be a good digital citizen when they grow up, with the help of their guardians.

“Just like the friendly neighborhoods that we grew up in, Togetherville will give our children the safe feeling of having friends and people around you,” Dhillon said.

“And just like what we remember in our own childhood, everyone knows everyone and we’ll watch out for each other to help build a safer and more child-friendly environment for our children,” he added.

Togetherville, which is aligned with the advocacies of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), was specifically designed for children who are too young to have Facebook accounts (6 to 10 years old).

Dhillon said that kids can engage with their real-world buddies in several games that have been designed to build up their mental health as well as educational videos to help children gain more knowledge while surfing the Internet.

“They can also create art and showcase it among their friends,” he added.

“This is the best training ground for children and their parents in setting an example to the rest of the online community. Plus, the website is ad-free, so no outside interruption can be seen while children play and make new friends,” he said.

To avoid unnecessary entry of unwanted people, the website has an extensive log-in application procedure. The parents will serve as the security force of the website by taking full responsibility of each family that join the account.

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AOL made the announcement on Monday, saying that the business opportunity for the website has declined drastically in the last couple of years.

“Bebo, unfortunately, is a business that has been declining and, as a result, would require significant investment in order to compete in the competitive social networking space,” AOL said in a statement.

It will be recalled that AOL paid over 557 million pounds for Bebo, which then had more than 40 million unique users all over the world. The social networking site was very promising back then, forming a younger generation audience compared to its larger rival Facebook and MySpace.

To date, Bebo has only 12.8 million users left worldwide.

With the announcement of the sale, many experts believe that AOL would only be able to fetch a fraction of the price it has paid for the said website.

Experts also believe that the social website is most likely to be closed down rather than being bought by anyone.

“AOL will have a hard time finding a buyer for Bebo, especially with the disappointing turn out of its users for the past years,” a technology expert said.

Bebo is a social networking website that allows its users to create profiles where they can share videos, photos, and messages.

The social networking website also gained momentum in Europe, particularly in the UK, than in the United States.

Based on records, it is still the fourth most popular social networking site in the UK next to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.

Meanwhile, Bebo’s following in the US continued to drop as survey companies reported that there are only 5.1 million users as of February 2010, a relatively low turn out compared to more than 209.7 million Facebook users.

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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.

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The new feature, which is called Google Buzz, includes many of the popular characteristics that can be seen in Facebook. These familiar features are also the reason why Facebook is so dominant in the social networking world.

However, the new Google Buzz will not be readily available to more than 176 million Gmail users. But they can opt to acquire the new service just by clicking the service button on the top left of the page.

Google has launched the new Gmail channel less than a week after Facebook initiated several changes in its homepage interface.

Like the new Facebook homepage, Gmail also has the same chatting window placed on the left side of the page, where users can see who among their friends are online.

Like the one in Facebook, Google Buzz will allow users to post updates about themselves and the activities that they are doing at the moment. Users can also choose which friends can view their thoughts and comments.

Google Buzz will also allow users post video, photo, and web links for their friends.

Also, the new Google Buzz also host the same feature as to those of Twitter, which gives users added communication tool that can send 140-character messages to their friends. But the Buzz is only limited to the people within the same vicinity as those sending the updates.

It will be recalled that Google had already tried its fate in the social networking arena with the launching of Orkut some six years ago. But unlike Facebook and Twitter, the social networking site failed to gain traction from the online audience.

This time, Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google, said that Google Buzz will be a success, citing the new capabilities of the new application.

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Cautious but excited Chinese users were surprised when they suddenly found themselves browsing the webpage of the social networking websites that has been banned by their government as part of the strict Internet control called the “Great Firewall.”

News of the outage spread like wildfire with estimated number of  users in China reaching more than 200 million were able to check out websites that has long been scrutinize by the Chinese government.

One of the bloggers who broke the news to other people was identified as EfanZh. He said that he was surprised to see that the websites were open and has no restrictions like several months before.

“It’s finally unblocked, reasons unknown. I hope nothing gets blocked anymore. I can’t take it any longer,” EfanZh wrote in his blog posts.

However, several hours after his first glimpse of Facebook and Twitter, the Great Firewall has been reconstructed restricting anew the websites.

“By the time I woke up, strict restrictions had returned. Error messages once again flashed across computer screens for sites blocked by the nation’s censorship filter. It seemed just like a dream,” EfanZh wrote after several hours.

Meanwhile, Michael Anti, a social critic and an advocate for the anti-Great Firewall, expressed disappointment anew to China’s grip to its people. Anti was among the thousand of users who “tweeted” the development.

Based on reports, the outage in the Great Firewall was because of some maintenance works being administered by the government and its Internet provider, China Unicom.

Several reports also suggested that the downfall in the restriction was brought by heavy snowstorms in Northern China, which has blanketed the entire region with more than three feet of snow.

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A panel of judges has dismissed the complaints of the hospital against Prita Mulyasari, a bank employee, after months of trial that has outraged the people of Indonesia.

In their ruling, the judges said that the email sent by Mulyasari does not contain any kind of defamation, pointing that it only constitutes criticism by the defendant to protect her friends and the public from being mistreated by any doctor or hospital.

Based on the court documents, Mulyasari had sent the email to some 20 of her close friends, narrating the misdiagnosis committed by the doctors at the said hospital. The doctors claimed that she had a dengue fever, when in fact, she had mumps.

Upon learning about the circulation of the said email, the hospital immediately filed charges against the defendant. The hospital said that the “defamatory” email message has been circulated on social networking site Facebook.

However, the defendant said that she had no knowledge about the circulation.

Mulyasari was arrested on May 13 while she was still breastfeeding her youngest child. She had spent more than three weeks in jail while awaiting trial.

Her detention caused massive public outcry, with support groups in various social networking sites such as Facebook growing to more than 100, 000 members.

This forced authorities to release her from custody and brought her before the court, which eventually dismissed all the charges against her.

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Millions of Twitter users found it difficult to log-in into the website on Friday as they continuously being redirected to a website that has a picture of a green flag.

A message also popped out of the webpage, saying that “this site has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army.”

However, further investigations revealed that there was no actual link of the website’s connection to Iran or nearby countries.

Meanwhile, investigators said that there could have been a direct connection with the attack and the constant attention brought by Twitter users to the recent elections in Iran.

It will be recalled the social networking websites has been instrumental for Twitter and Facebook users in bringing the attention to the recently concluded elections in the country.

The government’s crackdown against Iranian opposition had been constantly posted on users’ updates in their Twitter accounts, some of the users even gone as far as posting violent videos of dispersals by government forces.

It was late Friday when Twitter administrators were able to fix the problem and immediately sent messages through its blog, saying that the domain name systems’ records of the company had been temporarily compromised by the attacks.

Twitter officials said that they will come up with a more elaborate report on the matter once they are finished with the investigation.

On the other hand, online users remained confident that their Twitter accounts remained in tact despite the attacks.

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Analysts said that it will surely be a dark future for the once bright star of the Internet as it continues to lose visitors to other social networking media.

Also, analysts pointed that the social networking site may not get the total $900 million deal with Google Inc following its dismal turn out this year. It will be recalled that the two online giants signed a deal in 2006 that would allow MySpace use the search engine prowess of Google in its homepage.

But recent turns of events have cost MySpace a lot, including key market shares to rivals Facebook and Twitter.

Some economic experts said that Google may soon break off from the deal, which promised some $900 million to MySpace when it meets certain hits or traffic milestones. However, data from the companies showed that it will now be impossible for MySpace to meet any.

The issue has now fueled a debate as to how much MySpace should get despite failing to meet the requirements.

A report from news outlets in the US quoting Rupert Murdoch said that MySpace should get at least $300 million from the foiled deal. However, the News Corp CEO clarified the reports, saying that the social networking site would get just a little over $100 for the entire year.

Some technology expert believe that it the Google payment, whether small or big, would be beneficial for the ailing MySpace, which has earlier claimed that it is no longer trying to compete directly with Facebook and Twitter.

Asked for comments, MySpace officials said that they are now doing major brainstorming on how they could bring back the former glory of the social platform, stressing that “it is a work in progress.”

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According to research firm Gartner Inc. chief analyst Ray Valdes, Google Wave has the feature that would further shape its potentials in the long run. With its new and innovative way of presenting “social” to the Internet, the Wave is set to be a game charger for all the existing platforms today.

“Despite the infamous stumble of Google when it has entered the social networking arena, the launching of the new Google Wave would redefine the way people use the World Wide Web. It may as well represent the first real trophy of the company when it comes to social networks,” Valdes added.

To date, the social networking market has been flooded by Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. But with the integration of all the vital components of each social network, Google Wave can bring a totally new Internet experience to consumers rather than limited and isolated servicing.

According to people familiar with the system, Google Wave has endless capability as it hosts e-mails, conference chatting, document-sharing, music, blogging, photo-editing and sharing, video hosting, maps, and other unheard before social networking features.

Valdes said that these features are crucial if Google wants to take over the “social networking era in the Internet.” This period in the age of the technology has been considered by many users as the height of social networks and entertainment.

Wave hit the headlines after Google unveiled the product at a software developer conference last May.

Some 100, 000 users have already experience the Wave feeling as the company previewed invitations a couple of weeks ago.

Some even earned cash as they auctioned the limited preview slots at eBay for more than $5, 000. The review of the Google Wave is also phenomenal.

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In line with this, Admiral James Stavridis has opened his own Facebook account to help NATO employing its policies and reach out to people by explaining the allies’ role in the region’s security.

“We need to find creative ways to send out our message to the people that we protect. We need to make use of these social media to let them know why our stay here matters, what we are doing here, and where we are involved and what we want to do once we arrived in the area,” said Stavridis, who took over as commander in chief of NATO in Europe last July.

“I’m on Facebook, friend me,” he further exclaimed.

He said that the Internet, through the use of social networking websites, can be a powerful tool in convincing the people of the region to understand the policies of the alliance due to the sheer number of users.

To date, social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have over five hundred million users.

It will be recalled that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen have started his Facebook account, at the same time, logged in with Twitter, the popular microblogging website, to make postings about all of the meetings he attended.

The latest tweet he posted was about his meeting with United States President Barack Obama and the cabinet members.

With these kinds of posting, according to the officials, have a striking effect on the hearts and minds of the people, making them more acceptable to the security provision of NATO.

It has also made relief operations for the affected people easier and faster, the officials said.

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