Have the urge to send a Facebook message to your ex at goodness knows what time in the morning saying Zeus only knows what? If you want to make that mistake on your phone, soon you’ll have to download the social network’s entirely separate Messenger app, or forever keep your peace. Until the next time you hang out with your pal tequila, at least. [More]
Facebook Creates Save Feature, Because You Really Do Want To Read That Article Later – Right?
By 7.21.14
Have you ever happened across your high school bestie’s highly anticipated new baby-filled photo album on Facebook, but didn’t have time to scan through 200 photos? But, alas, when you went back to peruse the site later you forgot all about that album, essentially depriving yourself. Apparently, that’s a problem (if you can call it that) the engineers at Facebook have found a solution to. [More]
Beware Scammy Facebook Pages And Fake Charities Taking Advantage Of Flight MH17 Tragedy
By 7.21.14
It is a disgusting reality that when tragedy strikes, there’s always going to be someone out there trying to take advantage of it for personal gain. That’s what’s happening in the wake of downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was reportedly shot down over Ukraine Thursday on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. All 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 were killed. [More]
Now Facebook Is Testing A “Buy” Button In Its Ads
By 7.17.14
Because you should apparently never, ever have to even consider leaving Facebook to do anything, the online baby photo depository and place where recently divorced singles go to try to reignite high school romances has begun testing a “Buy” button that allows you to purchase crap you could buy elsewhere. [More]
Waitress Claims She Was Fired After Facebook Friend Printed Out Her Complaint About Bad Tippers
By 7.2.14
It’s always tricky when it comes to dealing with work woes and social media — sure, you want to complain about a rough day on the job, but whatever you post on Facebook or Twitter can always come back to haunt you. In the case of one Ohio waitress, one of her Facebook friends happened to be one of her customers, who then happened to read her complaint against bad tippers. [More]
Contempt Threat Gets Facebook To Turn Over Full Info For 381 Users
By 6.27.14
While Facebook loves sharing incredibly detailed information about users’ interests and web-browsing habits with marketers, the social media network isn’t so keen on making massive amounts of user info available to prosecutors, presumably because the district attorney’s office isn’t looking to buy ads. Facebook announced last night that it’s currently fighting warrants from authorities in New York who are looking to get data on a group of 381 users. [More]
People Around The World Forced To Live Through 30-Minute Facebook Outage
By 6.19.14
While you were sweetly slumbering last night, tucked in your bed and snoring delicately like the little angel you no doubt are, people around the world were apparently freaking out because Facebook had a global outage. Status messages went un-updated, photos of babies couldn’t be quickly scrolled past, and birthday wishes… well, they foundered, useless. [More]
Supreme Court To Decide When Online Rants Cross Line Into Criminal Threats
By 6.16.14
If I go on Facebook and tell someone in Florida that I am going to beat him into a bloody pulp and maybe kidnap his kid for good measure, I’m in violation of federal law. But does it matter whether I actually intend to do any of these things or if I’m just ranting with no intention of getting up from my comfy couch to do anyone any harm? That’s the question the Supreme Court will soon have to decide. [More]
Facebook Is Now Selling Your Web-Browsing Data To Advertisers
By 6.12.14
You know how it’s really creepy when you go looking for a new TV online and then go to Facebook and the ad spaces that you typically ignore are now populated with advertising for the very brands of TV you just checked out? Until now, they’ve been the product of third-party ad networks and creepy data aggregators like Acxiom while Facebook itself had kept its hands clean by not selling the data it had acquired about your Web browsing habits. But in an effort to bring you even creepier, more targeted ads, Facebook will now be making more info about you available to advertisers. [More]
Facebook Accidentally Launches Snapchat Rival App Slingshot Early, Yanks It
By 6.10.14
Seems like someone over at Facebook had an itchy trigger finger, as the social media site released a new Snapchat rival photo service yesterday that it didn’t mean to show to the public yet. It’s since been pulled, and Facebook admits that it was a bit premature. [More]
It’s Time To Start Treating Video Game Industry Like The $21 Billion Business It Is
By 6.9.14
The majority of video games in the U.S. are purchased and played by adults. The largest titles make money that Hollywood films could only dream of raking in, and the biggest players in the industry run multibillion-dollar multinational operations that employ thousands of people. Yet many consumers still think of gaming as a kid’s thing that doesn’t merit serious consideration or scrutiny. In an age where our culture recognizes previously sniffed-about industries like professional sports as much more than child’s play, it’s time to get over that same hump about video games. [More]
Yahoo Ditching Google, Facebook Logins For Flickr Accounts By End Of The Month
By 6.6.14
After announcing in March that it would phase out third-party logins for photo-sharing site Flickr, Yahoo says it’ll be killing off Google and Facebook logins on June 30. That means you’ll need a Yahoo account to sign in and access your photos. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Medical Center Employees Posted Patient’s STD Diagnosis To Facebook
By 6.5.14
Sharing a patient’s medical record with anyone other than the patient is a big, fat no-no. Not only can companies found to be leaking the super-sensitive information be fined millions of dollars, but it opens them up to a range of lawsuits. And one Ohio medical center has found itself in that exact situation. [More]
Finding The Guy Who Stole Your Stuff Is Easy When He Sends You A Facebook Friend Request
By 6.2.14
When you find yourself suddenly bereft of personal belongings because some dastardly villain took them off you during a robbery, often the only recourse is to call the cops and wait. And wait. And hope that you can get your stuff back. Or, you can just wait until the suspect sends you a friend request. [More]
Facebook Makes “Friends Only” The Privacy Default For New Users
By 5.22.14
For years, when new users joined Facebook, the default privacy setting had been to share your every baby photo/quote of the day/quiz result/divisive political rant with the public at large. Users had to opt into higher levels of privacy to limit their updates to smaller groups. But today Facebook announced that the default setting for new users is to only share posts with folks on their lists of friends. [More]
Facebook Can Now ID What You’re Listening To Or Watching On TV
By 5.21.14
Do you want all your Facebook friends to know exactly which song you’re listening to whenever you post something online? How about which TV show you’ve got on in the background? What’s that — you do want to tell the world these things, but you don’t feel like going through the onerous task of having to type this info out? Then the newest feature for Facebook’s mobile apps is up your over-sharing alley. [More]
When You Give Silicon Valley Permission To Spy On You, It’s Kinda Hard To Say “No” To The NSA
By 5.20.14
The fundamental goal of the ad-supported web is to collect and capitalize on data from its users; rather unsurprisingly, that data is just as valuable to the government as it is to Facebook and Google. You may think you’d never willingly provide the FBI or NSA with a map of your entire private life, but, in fact, you probably already have. [More]
Facebook Updates Its Login System With New Privacy Controls, Anonymous Sign-In
By 4.30.14
If you’re like me, you spend plenty of time muttering, “No I do not want to log in using my Facebook profile!” while accessing other sites. Because why does the fundraising site du jour need to know I like a bluegrass band called No Vests On Our Chests? It doesn’t, so Facebook has now updated the privacy controls on those connected logins. [More]
