His account apparently compromised by a spammer’s program, FCC chair Julius Genachowski sent out a message this morning to all his Facebook friends that said, “Adam got me started making money with this.” Adam Smith perhaps? We’ll never know, as the website Julius linked to is now unavailable. [More]
Data & Privacy
Kill Off Your Online Identities With The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
By 12.30.09
Supposedly the most depressing day of the year is just a few weeks away, and that sucks. But if you off yourself, you can’t drink, so it’s a conundrum. What you can do is use the website suicidemachine.org to remove yourself from unnecessary social media sites that either you’ve stopped using or don’t really enjoy anymore. [More]
Transforming Online Kvetchers Into Brand Boosters
By 12.15.09
Researchers announced that consumers who kvetch using social media are more likely than others to also spread positive word of mouth online. [More]
Planet Hollywood Responds To Negative Facebook Comment With Free Wine And Chocolates
By 12.13.09
Frustrated with a room mix-up and subsequent bad customer service at Planet Hollywood’s hotel/casino in Las Vegas, Brad expressed his frustration in a note on their Facebook fan page. [More]
Get Virtual Game Cash For Health Reform Astroturfing
By 12.9.09
Don’t want to fork over actual cash or start a shady “free” trial in order to get sweet, sweet virtual currency for your favorite game on Facebook or MySpace? Well, you could always take a health care survey that pays you to tell your representatives in Congress how opposed you are to health care reform. Mmm, smell that astroturf! [More]
Facebook Will Let You Determine Privacy Levels For Each Update
By 12.9.09
The next time you don’t get that job because someone in HR saw your Facebook pics of you at the weekend cosplay orgy, you’ll have only yourself to blame. (But not for the orgy, which sounded like a really good idea at the time.) Starting soonish–it’s being rolled out now–you’ll have the ability to set privacy levels for each status update. That sound you hear is the collective wail of moms everywhere who are about to be shut out of the more salacious aspects of their kids’ lives. [More]
My Bloomin' Onion Coupon Vanished
By 12.8.09
Aaron was so close to a free Outback Steakhouse Bloomin’ Onion appetizer he could practically feel the fried batter clogging up his arteries. [More]
Lee Declares All Facebook Contest Entrants Winners
By 12.5.09
Something appears to have gone wrong with a contest that Lee Jeans ran on Facebook, and the company was forced to change the rules partway through. However, instead of canceling the contest or changing the rules in their own favor, the change means that everyone who entered the contest before Wednesday, December 2, under the original rules, won automatically. Yay! [More]
Depressed Lady Loses Benefits Because Of Her Facebook Photos
By 11.20.09
A depressed woman has lost her benefits because her insurance agent found Facebook photos where she appears to be having fun.
PS3 Tacks On Facebook Two Days After Xbox 360
By 11.20.09
With a surprisingly short turnaround from rumor to official announcement to reality, Sony cranked out a PlayStation 3 firmware update that added Facebook access to the console Thursday, just a couple days after Microsoft’s ballyhooed addition of a portal to the social networking service.
Citibank To Customer: Charge $750 And We Won't Gouge You So Badly
By 11.18.09
Mike says Citibank boosted his interest rate to 20 percent, then said they’d knock off half of it as long as he paid on time and charged at least $750 a month.
AmEx Sends Legal Notice Warning Of Random Denials
By 11.17.09
Steve says American Express sent him an off-putting letter letting him know it could refuse to authorize his charge at any time. He writes:
Mafia Wars CEO Brags About Scamming Users From Day One
By 11.9.09
From the beginning, the profitability and viability of popular Facebook social networking games Mafia Wars and Farmville were predicated on the backs of scams, boasts Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in this video. “I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues,” he crows in the clip to a gathered bunch of fellow scumbag app developers.
Social Network Games: Fake Mobsters, Real Racket
By 11.9.09
You might enjoy raking in money as a fake mobster in Mafia Wars, or collecting cotton subsidies in FarmVille, but TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington argues that the real racket in virtual games is for the companies that run them, and for the social networking sites that host them.
Seattle Coffee Direct Decides You Need $40 Worth Of Coffee Per Day
By 11.7.09
If you’ve been tempted by Facebook ads promising cheap “introductory” offers from Seattle Coffee Direct or World Bean Cafe, located in the world coffee capital of Evanston, Illinois, readers Adam and Ivan say, “don’t do it!” The ads promise t-shirts or a free coffee grinder as an incentive to sign up, or tempting introductory offers. But you’re really signing up for a coffee delivery service for close to $80 per month. Or more, as reader Ivan learned. He says that the company accidentally billed him for, and sent, two bags of coffee per day.
Facebook Nags You To Communicate With The Dead
By 11.1.09
If you’ve logged in to Facebook lately, you may have noticed the site’s suggestions on the right-hand side telling you to write on the wall of someone you haven’t communicated with in a while. This is merely annoying for most of us, but sort of a punch in the gut when the person you’re being told to get back in touch with is dead.
Facebook Sues Spammer; Wins $711 Million
By 10.31.09
Facebook won $711 million in a lawsuit against a notorious spammer. Don’t cheer too hard, though. The same spampresario owes MySpace $234 million for the same thing.
State Job Website Has Great Opportunities For Self-Starting Identity Thieves
By 10.26.09
CBS 5 exposed a “gaping hole” in the code of California’s state-run employment website that allows anyone who views the site to access and modify other users’ resumes and personal info simply by changing some numbers in the URL.
