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Amazon Adds Goodreads to Its Library of Social Networks March 29, 2013 
Amazon announced Thursday that it had acquired Goodreads, the social networking site for bibliophiles. Goodreads will join Amazon's other online book communities, Shelfari and LibraryThing, as the retailer looks to expand its social insight into what book lovers are buying and sharing. Since its launch seven years ago, Goodreads has grown to include more than 16 million worldwide users.
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Facebook to Slap Targeted Ads on News Feed Billboards March 27, 2013 
Facebook announced this week that it will test a new feature that allows select advertisers to run additional targeted ads in user's News Feeds. The test is an expansion of Facebook Exchange, one of the social network's most profitable advertising initiatives. The service allows marketers to check users' online viewing habits via a cookie-based system.
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Google+ App Updates Focus on Photos, Tweak Text March 26, 2013 
Google has made another bid in its attempt to take on Facebook for social media supremacy with the launch of iOS and Android updates for Google+. The revamped apps have improvements in four areas -- photos, posts, profiles and communities. "Everybody wants to share whatever they're doing whenever they're doing it, and mobile is the place to be," said Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo.
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LinkedIn Lets Users Cast Wider Search Net March 26, 2013 
LinkedIn revealed revamped search features this week, making it easier for professionals to identify and engage with possible contacts on the networking site. The company added auto-complete and suggested search functions designed to give LinkedIn users a more complete set of results.
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China's Great Big Holey 'Twitter' Net March 23, 2013 
A recent study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong suggests that China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo -- which boasted in February that it had surpassed 500 million users -- might be overrun by zombie accounts. The study, which looked at a random sample of 30,000 Sina Weibo accounts, revealed that 57 percent of users had nothing in their timelines.
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The Perils of Making Up Your Social Media Policy as You Go March 21, 2013 
Social media and its close relative, social CRM, allow you to connect with customers in new and meaningful ways, on a greater scale and at a greater velocity than ever before. When it's done right, that is. When it's done wrong, like anything in this era of increasingly automated communication, your mistakes are amplified and intensified by customers.
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Street View Captures Sky-High Mountain Views March 20, 2013 
Google Street View has unveiled shots from some of the world's highest mountains. In addition to Argentina's Mount Aconcagua, Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro and Russia's Mount Elbrus, Google has now also captured photos from Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Because Street View's camera-equipped vehicles were unable to make the trek, a tripod and digital camera were used.
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New Targeting Tools Help Ads Zero In on Twitter Users March 19, 2013 
After a year of testing and much feedback, Twitter on Monday released a set of tools for small businesses and self-service advertisers -- tools that will give businesses more of an opportunity to speak directly to consumer interests. Targeting was the most requested feature in the feedback that the social network gathered from select advertisers.
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China's State-Run Anti-Apple Campaign Backfires March 18, 2013 
March 15 marks Consumer Rights Day in China. To honor the day, state-run CCTV runs a special program to out scams, malpractice and defective products. This year, CCTV set its crosshairs on Apple, declaring that the company downgraded post-sale customer service to Chinese consumers.
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Spam Boom Prompts Call for Businesses to Ditch Email March 18, 2013 
Just when we thought the spam scourge was over, it appears it's making a comeback. After four straight quarters of decline, spam volumes on the Internet rose 92 percent in February, according to security firm Eleven Research Team.Phishing emails jumped 69.8 percent.
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Slices Pro for Twitter Cuts Through the Chaos March 15, 2013 
We're seeing an entire genre of Twitter clients proliferating within the Android
ecosystem -- each app with its own idea about the best way to interact with the
monolithic, 500 million-strong social network. OneLouder's Slices Pro for Twitter is the latest client to grab my attention -- not least because it provides a way to browse
Twitter directories by category to find the best Follows.
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Twitter May Rock the Music Scene March 14, 2013 
Those who eagerly await the latest tweets from Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Justin Bieber may soon have one more reason to tie their musical interests to Twitter: The social network will reportedly use a recent acquisition to set up a Twitter Music app. Technology from the music discovery company We Are Hunted, which Twitter bought last year, will reportedly serve as the app's foundation.
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Netflix, Facebook Integration Brings Back the Water Cooler March 13, 2013 
Movie and TV buffs will soon be able to share what they've watched on Netflix more easily, the service announced Wednesday. Users in the United States will be able to take advantage of "frictionless sharing" with their friends on Facebook in the coming days. The sharing will be available only on Netflix by default. Users will be able to allow their friends to see which titles they viewed and to see their friends' ratings.
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Feds Probe Hack of First Lady, Biden, Celebs March 13, 2013 
Police in Los Angeles have teamed with the FBI to investigate Russian hackers suspected of stealing and posting sensitive information about Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, law enforcement officials and Hollywood celebrities. The material in question was posted on a website using .su as a suffix -- reportedly a tip-off that the perpetrators have a Russian connection.
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Pinterest Analytics Lets Marketers Pin Down Who's Sharing What March 13, 2013 
The social bookmarking site Pinterest, one of the fastest-growing social networks of the last two years, released a new analytics tool Tuesday so that users -- especially businesses and marketing professionals -- can do a better job of tracking traffic and sharing aspects of the site.
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Likes Can Tell the Story of Your Life March 12, 2013 
It is possible to predict intimate personal characteristics such as sexual orientation by studying a person's Facebook Likes, according to findings released Monday by
University of Cambridge researchers. Just by studying Likes, the team was able to determine a person's race, age, IQ, personality type, level of substance use and political views with a surprising degree of accuracy.
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HTC May Be Taking Another Swipe at a Facebook Phone March 09, 2013 
A day after Facebook announced a mobile-centric makeover of its News Feed, rumors have resurfaced that HTC may be working on a phone that features special integration with the social network. The spark for speculation is the Friday publication on the Web of the device's specifications.
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Facebook's Rejiggered News Feed: The Ads Have It March 09, 2013 
Facebook unveiled its new look this week, providing bigger photos and more links in users' News Feeds, along with additional ways to view specialized streams based on topics of interest, such as music. This is apparently an attempt to corral all the random musings and disjointed pictures users are accustomed to sorting through. Facebook's move seems geared toward bringing order to the chaos.
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New Facebook News Feed Features In-Your-Face Photos March 07, 2013 
Facebook on Thursday announced a major makeover of its News Feed page with an emphasis on bigger images, more user control and a recognition that more members are accessing the social network on mobile devices. "News Feed has become primarily about visual content," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
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Facebook Denies Promoted Post Hanky-Panky March 05, 2013 
Facebook has flatly denied the suggestion by a New York Times columnist that it might be gaming its own system -- that is, that the way it pumps up views of fee-based promoted posts could be by limiting the sharing of ordinary posts. "This is not true," Facebook says in a post labeled "Fact Check."
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