Bebo is a social network a few rungs down from Facebook, which for all practical purposes means it may as well be someone’s WordPress blog. That’s why AOL is finally admitting it missed the window for social network dominance and will sell it or close it “soon,” according to an internal memo. If you’ve been hanging on to a Bebo account and hoping the tide would turn, you might want to start checking out the other more popular social networks out there. [More]
Data & Privacy
Facebook Really Wants You To Identify Your Favorite Brands
By 3.30.10
If you’ve used Facebook for more than 30 seconds in the last couple of years, you’ve no doubt been asked to be a “fan” of a movie, a food product or maybe your favorite consumer news site. But, apparently that didn’t work well enough for the companies that invest millions in marketing on Facebook, because the whole “fan” thing will soon be replaced with the more popular “like” option. [More]
TJX Hacker May Have Also Been Working For The Secret Service For $75,000 A Year
By 3.23.10
Albert Gonzalez, the mastermind behind most of the multi-million dollar credit card breaches in the past few years, is being sentenced this week. (Feds are asking for 25 years.) Now his former accomplice, Stephen Watt, has told Wired that while Gonzalez was busy stealing and selling credit card data he was also being paid under the table by the U.S. Secret Service to inform on others, earning as much as $75,000 in cash annually. [More]
How Safe Is Your Facebook Info From The Feds?
By 3.18.10
Newly released documents under the Freedom of Information Act reveal not just the Justice Department’s guidelines for how to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for investigative purposes, but which ones are the most friendly to their requests for access to user info. [More]
Young, Dumb, Full Of Risk For ID Theft
By 3.17.10
A new study finds that the young and the feckless are the most at risk for identity theft. 18-24 year olds are more likely to be victimized because they don’t check their accounts frequently or thoroughly enough. You can beat the statistics, though, if 1 in 20 times you’re tempted to check your friend’s Facebook updates you instead scrutinize your account statements. [WashingtonPost] (Thanks to Timothy!) [More]
Report: Facebook Beats Google For Web's Most-Visited Site
By 3.16.10
It’s official — playing Farmville and tagging friends in photos (and consequently untagging embarrassing photos of yourself from your friends’ photos) has become more popular than actually trying to find things on the internet, as a new report shows Facebook edged out Google as the most-visited site on the internet last week. [More]
Cyclists Take Their Beef With United Airlines To Facebook
By 3.4.10
You’d think United Airlines would have learned a lesson from the whole “United Broke My Guitar” thing. But they’ve once again let a passenger’s problem go global. This time, it’s almost 6,000 Facebook users who think the airline charges too much to check your bike on their planes. [More]
Facebook Fan Consumerist
By 2.22.10
Become a fan of Consumerist on Facebook and get new post updates, connect with other readers, and meetup infos in your news feed. Post your horror stories and consumer spit-takes. Facebook! Or not! Anyway, it’s there! [More]
9/11 Terrorist Stars In Facebook Ad
By 2.16.10
Online advertisers will do anything for clicks, and Facebook will take anybody’s money. A Facebook advertiser decided the best way to grab eyeballs was to put a picture of a 9/11 terrorist in his banner ad. Yep, it’s good ol’ Mohamed Atta, the guy who steered the first plane to crash into the World Trade Center. [More]
Google Wants To Be Facebook, Facebook Wants To Be Gmail
By 2.8.10
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google has plans to make Gmail “more social,” according to an anonymous source. The idea is to make it easier to post links and share status updates. Meanwhile, Facebook is apparently planning a “Gmail killer.” [More]
Beauty.com Facebook Revolt Quelled Within Minutes With Free Stuff
By 1.30.10
Kim’s Beauty.com order was eligible for a pretty neat “free gift with purchase” deal, but the free item ran out before her order went through. She, and other customers, took to the company’s Facebook page to complain about the situation. A company representative reached out on Facebook, offering to send a new free item out to the dissatisfied customers. This representative turned out to be the company president. [More]
Waldenbooks Employees Protest Orders To Destroy Unsold Books
By 1.25.10
If you’ve ever worked in a bookstore, you’re probably intimate with the practice of pulping mass market paperbacks. Publishers reimburse booksellers for inventory they don’t sell, but paperbacks are so cheap to produce that it would cost more to return them than to throw them away. Instead, stores tear off the covers, mail those back as proof of unsold inventory, and throw the books in the trash. [More]
AT&T Randomly Logs You Into Someone Else's Facebook Account
By 1.19.10
A glitch at AT&T is causing some mobile phone used to be randomly shuffled into other people’s Facebook accounts. Apparently the carrier has confused which phones should be logged into which accounts. Whoops. [More]
Facebook Security Check Words Freaked Me Out
By 1.18.10
While messing around on Facebook, Ian got this horrifying combination of security words that seems like something straight out of a Final Destination flick. He writes: [More]
Anonymous Facebook Employe Says Network Keeps Track Of Whom You Stalk Most
By 1.12.10
In an interview with an unnamed Facebook employee, the Rumpus revealed some disconcerting revelations about the privacy, or lack thereof, in the social network. The most eye-popping of these is that Facebook keeps track of the profiles you click on the most. [More]
Facebook Founder Says People Don't Even Want Privacy
By 1.11.10
Mark Zuckerberg thinks you don’t even really care about your privacy anymore because the “social norm” has changed. This makes it OK for his company to change the privacy settings of 350 million users. [More]
Ah Yes, Facebook Flavored Vitaminwater. We Needed That.
By 1.8.10
Coca-Cola has announced the debut of a Facebook-flavored Vitaminwater called “Connect.” Facebook apparently tastes like “black cherry-lime,” which, by the way, does not sound delicious to us. [More]
Would-Be Facebook Suicides Not Permitted Death With Dignity
By 1.4.10
Facebook has shut down the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine’s access to the site, claiming the service violates Facebook’s “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.” [More]
