Category Archives: Social Media

May 19, 2012

Senators to Saverin: Don’t come back. Ever.

Posted on May 19, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“Saverin has turned his back on the country that welcomed him and kept him safe, educated him, and helped him become a billionaire. This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong.” Senator Chuck Schumer

Eduardo Saverin’s decision to leave the United States with his money, but not his citizenship, has apparently touched a nerve in the Senate.

Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey held a press conference Thursday morning on Capitol Hill where they outlined legislation that would prevent the Facebook co-founder from ever returning to the United States.

Saverin, who now lives in Singapore, renounced his U.S. citizenship earlier this year. He will become astronomically wealthy on Friday when his former venture is listed on the NASDAQ. By renouncing his citizenship, Saverin is likely to avoid capital gains taxes on his Facebook shares.

Schumer called Saverin’s decision “outrageous” and labeled his tactics a “scheme.”

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Posted in Fraud, Government, Social Media, Technology

May 5, 2012

Facebook and free speech under debate in Virginia

Posted on May 5, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“Going to a candidate’s Facebook page and liking it in my view is a political statement. It’s not a very deep one, but you’re making a statement when you like a person’s Facebook page,” Messner said.

The “like” button on Facebook seems like a relatively clear way to express your support for something, but a federal judge says that doesn’t mean clicking it is constitutionally protected speech.

Exactly what a “like” means – if anything – played a part in a case in Virginia involving six people who say Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts fired them for supporting an opponent in his 2009 re-election bid, which he won. The workers sued, saying their First Amendment rights were violated.

Roberts said some of the workers were let go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies while others were fired because of poor performance or his belief that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.”

One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, had “liked” the Facebook page of Roberts’ opponent, Jim Adams.

While public employees are allowed to speak as citizens on matters of public concern, U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that clicking the “like” button does not amount to expressive speech. In other words, it’s not the same as actually writing out a message and posting it on the site.

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Posted in Elections, Free Speech, Social Media, Technology

April 12, 2012

Selling You on Facebook (Video)

Posted on April 12, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

Many popular Facebook apps are obtaining sensitive information about users—and users’ friends—so don’t be surprised if details about your religious, political and even sexual preferences start popping up in unexpected places.

Not so long ago, there was a familiar product called software. It was sold in stores, in shrink-wrapped boxes. When you bought it, all that you gave away was your credit card number or a stack of bills.

Now there are “apps”—stylish, discrete chunks of software that live online or in your smartphone. To “buy” an app, all you have to do is click a button. Sometimes they cost a few dollars, but many apps are free, at least in monetary terms. You often pay in another way. Apps are gateways, and when you buy an app, there is a strong chance that you are supplying its developers with one of the most coveted commodities in today’s economy: personal data.

Some of the most widely used apps on Facebook—the games, quizzes and sharing services that define the social-networking site and give it such appeal—are gathering volumes of personal information.

A Wall Street Journal examination of 100 of the most popular Facebook apps found that some seek the email addresses, current location and sexual preference, among other details, not only of app users but also of their Facebook friends. One Yahoo service powered by Facebook requests access to a person’s religious and political leanings as a condition for using it. The popular Skype service for making online phone calls seeks the Facebook photos and birthdays of its users and their friends.

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Posted in Social Media, Technology

March 29, 2012

Facebook tool demotes ‘Friends’ to being ‘acquaintances’ – even suggests who might be ripe for the chop

Posted on March 29, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

‘Last autumn, we introduced the Close Friends and Acquaintances lists to help you see more posts in news feed from your close friends, and fewer from acquaintances you don’t know as well,’ says Facebook engineer Jonathan Coens.

Facebook has unveiled a new tool which lets you demote ‘friends’ to just being ‘acquaintances’.

The tool actually suggests friends who might be ripe for the chop – based on people who you haven’t messaged or interacted with for a while.

Once a friend has been ‘demoted’, you see fewer of their posts in your news feed – but they’ll never know of their new, lower status.

‘Last autumn, we introduced the Close Friends and Acquaintances lists to help you see more posts in news feed from your close friends, and fewer from acquaintances you don’t know as well,’ says Facebook engineer Jonathan Coens.

‘Today we’re announcing a tool to make it easier to add friends to your Acquaintances list.’

The tool works like a negative version of the ‘suggested Friends’ the site occasionally offers.

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Posted in Social Media, Technology

December 5, 2011

Video: Dan Gillmor, Expert on Citizen Media and the Internet – Extended Interview

Posted on December 5, 2011 by ifnm| Leave a comment

Journalist, professor, and citizen media expert Dan Gillmor sees tremendous potential in the rapidly diminishing costs of technology, reaching people in numbers we’ve never contemplated before.


Dan Gillmor


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Posted in Citizen Journalism, New Media, Social Media

November 24, 2011

How Facebook is ruining sharing

Posted on November 24, 2011 by ifnm| Leave a comment

In search of “frictionless” sharing, Facebook is putting up a barrier to entry on items your friends want you to see–that is, they’re creating friction. Even if it’s just a onetime inconvenience, any barrier to sharing breaks sharing. The barriers will keep popping up as more content publishers create social apps that have to be authorized before you can view their content.


CEO Mark Zuckerberg describes how Facebook will connect people to media based on the strengths of their connections to other people.

I’m afraid to click any links on Facebook these days.

No, it’s got nothing to do with the spam attack and the flood of nasty images making their way into news feeds all last week. Instead, it’s because the slow spread of Facebook’s Open Graph scheme is totally ruining sharing.

I know you’ve seen this at the top of your news feed: a list of stories your friends have been reading. Or, simply, a single post with a great headline leading to a story that you’d really like to read. So you click it, because your friend shared it, and you really want to read it. And instead of the story, you get this:


I want to read a story, not install an app.

If your friends are using an app like The Guardian or The Washington Post’s new Social Reader, you’ll get an intercept asking you to authorize the original site’s app so that you can read the story. And, of course, so that every story you read will start being shared automatically on Facebook, thanks to the magic of Open Graph!

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Posted in New Media, Social Media, Technology