It’s been more than two months since the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, and just as long since heartless, greedy scammers immediately jumped on the event as an opportunity to enrich themselves with fake Facebook pages. Now the site is finally doing something about it. [More]
Data & Privacy
DKNY Apologizes For “Inadvertently” Using Photographer’s Photos In Store Display Without Compensation
By 2.25.13
In yet another lesson to retailers that social media won’t let them get away with any shenanigans, DKNY has issued an apology to a New York photographer mere hours after he claimed on Facebook that the company lifted his photos without his consent, and used them in a store display in Bangkok. [More]
Facebook Reportedly Working On Location-Tracking App So Friends Can Stalk You More Efficiently
By 2.5.13
Have you ever stared at your phone, cursing its inability to pinpoint your exact location and broadcast it to your large group of friends on a popular social network? Probably not — there are apps for that, Foursquare being one that pops to mind — but if you did, Facebook has a solution. The company is reportedly working on its own location-tracking app so your friends will be able to see where you go, when you go and who you’re with. Whew. [More]
Just What We Don’t Need — More Gift Cards! And This One’s From Facebook
By 1.31.13
Say the word “gift card” around Consumerist HQ and hackles will raise at an alarming rate. Which is why we’re greeting the news of a new gift card offered by Facebook with what one might call, “extreme wariness and trepidation.” Building on the social network’s recent launch of Facebook Gifts, these cards will be able to hold balances for multiple retailers and are reusable. [More]
Regulators Looking To Rein In Debt Collectors Who Use Facebook To Contact Consumers
By 1.24.13
Even though there’s a lengthy “no-no” list of things debt collectors can’t do, it makes no mention of how collections agencies can use social media. But that may be about to change as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gains oversight control over the largest members of the collections industry. [More]
Use Facebook’s New Search To Find Married People Who Like Prostitutes & Other Fun Stuff
By 1.23.13
When Facebook revealed that its latest, super-secret project was really nothing more than an internal search engine, the general public greeted it with a shrug. But Graph Search may have one amusing aspect — uncovering users’ peculiar behaviors. [More]
Facebook Won’t Remove My Dead Brother’s Page
By 1.23.13
Sylvie’s brother died at a tragically young age. It’s awful enough that his loved ones have to face life without him, but they also have to deal with his continued presence on Facebook. People still comment on his … wall, timeline, whatever Facebook is calling a person’s profile this week. They don’t want to un-friend him, which feels wrong, but Facebook won’t delete or memorialize his pages, even when family members have submitted his death certificate and specifically requested to have them taken down. She doesn’t know where else to turn. [More]
Can You Get Away With Complaining About Your Job Online? Maybe, Says NLRB
By 1.22.13
Any number of people have gone online to vent their exhaustion after a particularly tough day at work. But where do you draw the line between innocuous, “What a day!” posts and statements that could actually get you fired from your job? And what about valid gripes with working conditions? [More]
Don’t Call Your High School Crush: Facebook Launches Free Voice Calls On Messenger App
By 1.17.13
In case it isn’t embarrassing enough to realize you may have had one drink too many and sent your high school crush a gushing, nostalgia-filled message on Facebook the night before, the company is rolling out a new feature with its Messenger app —the ability to place voice phone calls over a WiFi network. So far the feature is only available for U.S. users so don’t get any ideas about calling your cousin in Australia. [More]
Instagram Reminds Users That Updated Terms Of Service Goes Into Effect This Week
By 1.16.13
It seems like only last month (because it was) that everyone was threatening to quit Instagram over the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy it introduced in December, and now here we are on the brink of that update happening. Of course, the policies that go into effect Jan. 19 — instead of today as originally planned — don’t include those pesky advertising efforts that caused such a stir. [More]
Report: Your Facebook News Feed Will Soon Know A Lot More About You
By 1.14.13
The Facebook News Feed is that place where people you haven’t seen since high school post endless photos of their kids, and occasionally share sage wisdom in the form of a quote from Gandhi or Lemmy from Motorhead. But a new report says the Feed is about to become more personalized. Perhaps too much so. [More]
Would You Pay $100 To Give Mark Zuckerberg A Piece Of Your Mind Via Facebook Message?
By 1.11.13
Here’s a way to make some cash — how about monetizing the ability to send Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg a message on the social network? Facebook says it’s trying out some “extreme price points” to allow people to pay for their messages to be seen by others who aren’t on their friends list. Which means instead of a missive reading “Yo, what up?” going to Zuckerberg’s “Other” folder, he might actually read it. [More]
Could Facebook’s Mysterious Invitation Mean It’s Finally Launching A Phone?
By 1.9.13
That whirring sound you hear is the rumor mill kicking into high gear, probably splashing water everywhere (it is a mill) while it gets to spinning: Facebook has issued a mysterious invitation for the media to come hang out on its campus in Menlo Park, Calif. next Tuesday and of course, now everyone’s all abuzz as to what it is the social network has to share with us. Could it be a phone? A new superhero? A fancy haircut for Mark Zuckerberg? [More]
List Of Companies With Worst Customer Service Scores Is Full Of Familiar Names
By 1.8.13 — Updated: 3.19.13
Bank of America, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Delta, Charter, American Airlines — these are just a few of the all-too-familiar companies sitting comfortably in the back of the pack in terms of customer service for 2012. [More]
Hollywood Realizing That Facebook Likes Don’t Result In Box-Office Bonanzas
By 1.8.13
For years, Hollywood studios have been tossing piles of cash at Facebook in the hopes that getting people to “like” a movie or TV show would somehow translate into box-office returns or high ratings. But some studio executives are reportedly wondering if this might be a waste of money. [More]
If You’re Going To Rig A Sweepstakes, Don’t Give The Prize To Your Facebook Admin
By 1.7.13
For some reason, some people are still convinced that Facebook “likes” are some sort of currency and will do just about anything to get them. For example, the jewelry store that is now being accused of rigging a sweepstakes and then accidentally outing its misdeeds online. [More]
It Is Apparently Rather Easy To Suspend Someone’s Facebook Account Just By Saying They Are Dead
By 1.4.13
The process for “memorializing” a deceased user’s Facebook page has apparently been simplified to the point where all it takes to have someone’s page suspended is that they share the name of an actual dead person. [More]
Some Of Those Threats Weren’t Empty: 25% Of Instagram Users May Have Quit Over TOS
By 12.28.12
UPDATE 4:15 p.m.: It seems those numbers from AppData indicating that Instagram is leaking users aren’t quite all they’re cracked up to be. To that end, a spokeswoman for Instagram denies the app is losing users, saying in a statement: “We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram.” [More]
