Facebook threatens other Mark Zuckerberg

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Article source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-threatens-other-mark-zuckerberg/2011/12/19/gIQAodZi4O_story.html

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More daily Facebook users on Android than iPhone

Facebook

Facebook for Android update, with Timeline

Even though Facebook for Android came out later than Facebook for Apple, the Android app — like the mobile OS itself — has taken the lead over its iPhone/iPad counterpart.

AppData documented the rise in Facebook for Android’s daily users, which culminated in this week’s technical knockout with 58.8 million daily active users, vs. Facebook for iPhone’s 57.6 million. (These are, by the way, the official mobile apps made by Facebook, not third-party ones.)

Of course, considering the increasing ubiquity of Android devices and downloads, it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to anyone that it’s on top, especially since it’s a free download.

It was never a question of if  Facebook for Android would gain more users, but rather, when it would surpass the iPhone Facebook users. Just this past week, it added 1.3 million users. Consider that about a month ago, on Nov. 19, Facebook for Android had a little over 53 million daily active users. 

AppData

In contrast, Facebook for iPhone added only 300,000 daily active users in the past week, and during the same month duration only gained 2.5 million daily active users.

On a monthly active user basis, Facebook for iPhone is still ahead, with 99.5 million vs. Facebook for Android’s 86.1 million. But again, Android picked up 1.6 million monthly active users in the past 7 days, showing a faster rate of additions than Facebook for iPhone, which only gained 500,000 monthly active users in the same time period.

The latest update to the app, released on Android Market Dec. 15, aligns it with the Timeline changes on Facebook, which is also reflected in the most recent Facebook for iPhone update. Other improvements include: one-press navigation to groups, apps, pages and settings; zoom on friends’ photo tags; and faster notifications.

In a recent Nielsen report, Facebook is second only to the Android Market as the most used app on Androids.

More stories:

• Facebook iPhone app updated with Timeline support
• Nielsen: Android users are on Facebook … a lot
• Nielsen: Google Facebook rule Android use
• Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other site
• It’s Android or Apple for 71 percent of US smartphone users 

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.

Article source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/19/9559307-more-daily-facebook-users-on-android-than-iphone

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Suit challenging Facebook’s ‘like’ ads gets judge’s OK to proceed

A San Jose federal judge rejected Facebook’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit claiming that ads telling Facebook users that their friends “like” the advertisers violate a California law on commercial endorsements.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled Friday that the case can move forward but dismissed a claim that Facebook, which makes an estimated 90% of its money from online advertising, was unfairly profiting from the ads.

“We are reviewing the decision and continue to believe that the case is without merit,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an e-mailed statement.

The world’s most popular social networking site began running the ads called “sponsored stories” in January. Such an ad shows a friend’s name and profile picture and notes that the friend “likes” the advertiser.

The lawsuit was brought by Facebook users who contend the site is making unauthorized use of their names and likenesses, violating the state’s “right of publicity” statute. Facebook says the law does not apply because of an exemption. The plaintiffs seek to represent tens of millions of Facebook users.

Facebook’s revenue will reach $6.9 billion in 2012 from $4.27 billion this year, according to estimates by research firm EMarketer. Its major selling point to advertisers is the persuasive nature of advertising when a product or service is recommended by a friend. People are twice as likely to remember commercial endorsements from friends and three times as likely to buy the product, according to Facebook executives.

Privacy issues continue to dog Facebook, which reached a privacy settlement three weeks ago with the Federal Trade Commission.

RELATED:

Facebook looks to cash in on user data

Facebook nears settlement with FTC on privacy

Facebook and FTC reach agreement on privacy protections

– Jessica Guynn

Photo: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows off Timeline, a dramatic redesign of users’ profiles, in September. Credit: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg 

Article source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/12/facebook-lawsuit-like-ads-proceed.html

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Twitter Relates to Death of Kim Jong-il By Endlessly Referring to Stupid …

Brutal and cultish North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il is dead, and as the news spread last night, Twitter users reflected on the news the only way they knew how: by referring to the same racist Team America song so much that it hit the trending topics.

Yes, only a short while after Kim’s death became public, so many people on Twitter had decided to quote the title lyric of the song “I’m So Ronery” that it became a “trending topic.” “I’m So Ronery,” if you don’t remember it, is a hilarious ditty from the 2004 film Team America about how Kim Jong-il is lonely, only with an edgy twist: he’s Asian. Asian! So he talks funny! Yikes! Talk about politically incorrect! (Or should I say “porriticarry”?!) As always, leave it to Matt Stone and Trey Parker for some really cutting-edge, up-to-date race humor.

And leave it to Twitter—the best place in the world at the moment news breaks and the worst place in the world five minutes later—to reference that race humor, dimly remembered years later, as its first collective response to a world-historical event. I love it! Why even bother coming up with a whole new joke on your own when you can use a seven-year-old bit of “funny accent” humor that trades on stereotypes that were stale in the 1940s? Maybe next time we can work in a bit about how he looked yellow, or something? Or does that require too much thought? Hopefully the next big piece of foreign policy news was covered in Team America, too.

Article source: http://gawker.com/5869426/twitter-relates-to-death-of-kim-jong+il-by-endlessly-referencing-stupid-racist-song

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Waka Flocka Vents On Slim Dunkin’s Death Via Twitter

By Rob Markman

The shooting death of Brick Squad Monopoly rapper Slim Dunkin has affected a number of members of the hip-hop community. While artists like French Montana, Wooh Da Kid, Styles P and producer Sonny Digital have all expressed their condolences over Twitter, Waka Flocka Flame seems to be the most affected. On Saturday, the day after his friend and rhyme partner was murdered, Flocka took to Twitter to express his pain. “WISH IT WAS ME … MY F—ING RIGHT HAND IS GONE,” Flocka tweeted the day after the murder.

The “O Let’s Do It” MC continued to vent over Twitter, writing, “damn I feel dead” and “IM LOST” in reaction to the tragic news.

Dunkin, who was born Mario Hamilton, was fatally shot once in the chest after an altercation with another man inside an Atlanta recording studio. Slim was an up-and-coming rapper in Waka’s Brick Squad Monopoly crew and had collaborated heavily with both Flocka and BSM-affiliate Gucci Mane. Atlanta police have interviewed a number of witnesses who were on or around the scene at the time of the shooting, but police have been unable to identify the gunman.

“Right now we’re just trying to … identify who may have seen what, really just trying to put the pieces together,” Atlanta Police Major Keith Meadows told The Associated Press. “It seems everybody witnessed something very different. We’re just trying to go back and make sense of everything.”

Despite their musical beef, rival rapper Kebo Gotti explained that he was in no way involved in the murder of his onetime friend. “I just don’t know what to say rite now,” Kebo said in a statement issued to MTV News. “What can u say u know when people are pointing the finger at you saying you killed someone you cared about just [because] you just had a fight, what can you say, what are you supposed to say about something like that. He was my brother.”

Kebo, who was an original member of Brick Squad, split from the crew and has been involved in a beef with both Dunkin and Waka for some time now. The drama has even gotten physical. In an edited viral video that surfaced on World Star Hip-Hop in October, Gotti spews numerous insults at Flocka and is seen having a street fight with Dunkin.

On Halloween, Slim released Menace II Society, a 20-track mixtape featuring Gucci Mane, Roscoe Dash and Pastor Troy.

Rest in peace, Slim Dunkin. Leave your condolences in the comments below.

Tags Gucci Mane, Kebo Gotti, Slim Dunkin, waka flocka, Wooh Da Kid

Article source: http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/12/19/waka-flocka-vents-on-slim-dunkins-death-via-twitter/

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Saudi Prince Invests $300 Million in Twitter

Fahad Shadeed/ReutersPrince Walid bin Talal holds assets worth an estimated $21 billion.

LONDON — Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia announced he had taken a $300 million stake in the social media site Twitter, as he continues to expand his holdings in the United States.

Prince Walid, who owns 95 percent of Kingdom Holding, said in a statement that the purchase was part of a strategy “to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact.”

With Twitter, Prince Walid — who also own stakes in American blue chip companies including Citigroup, General Motors and Apple — gains a foothold in the fast-growing social networking space. Under the terms of the transaction, Prince Walid and the Kingdom Holding Company purchased shares from early investors that value Twitter at $8.4 billion — the same value of its last fundraising round, completed this summer, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Twitter did not issue any new shares.

Twitter, the microblogging service, has more than 100 million active users and is part of an elite group of Internet companies that have rapidly attracted users and carry multibillion dollar valuations.

Twitter has been increasingly popular in the Arab world, where it was credited with playing a role in the recent social uprisings across North Africa and the Persian Gulf. Arabic-language messaging is the fastest-growing segment on Twitter, according to the data intelligence company Semiocast. The volume of Arabic messages increased 2,146 percent in the 12 months ended Oct. 31.

“We believe that social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years. Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend,” Ahmed Reda Halawani, Kingdom Holding’s executive director of private equity and international investments, said in a statement.

Unlike many of its peers, Twitter is not rushing to go public. Earlier this summer, the company raised $800 million from private investors. The fund-raising effort, led by DST Global, the investment firm headed by the Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, valued the company at $8.4 billion. In the offering, Twitter issued $400 million worth of new shares, while early shareholders sold the rest.

Twitter’s patience contrasts with decisions by other social networking sites to brave the volatility of the public markets. Last week, the social game company Zynga raised $1 billion in an initial public offering that valued the company at $7 billion. But after its debut at $10 a share, Zynga’s stock closed at $9.50 on Friday.

Groupon, the daily deals site that raised $700 million in November, has been mixed. Shares of the company had dropped below the offering price, but have made a modest recovery of late.

The Saudi prince, who is a nephew of the country’s king, is one the of the Arab world’s richest men, holding assets worth an estimated $21 billion, according to Arabian Business magazine.

Kingdom Holding stock was up about 6 percent in midday trading on Monday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Evelyn M. Rusli contributed reporting.

Article source: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/

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iPhone Facebook use trails Android app use in daily users

When it comes to how many folks use a given app there are several companies that track that data. One of those firms is AppData reports TechCrunch. The company has been tracking the official Facebook app for iPhone and Android devices and has found that Android is beating the iPhone app in one metric. According to the company, the Android app is beating iPhone for daily active users.

The stats firm has found that the Android app is ahead of the iPhone app for the first time ever in daily users. The Android app over the last few weeks has 58.3 million daily active users. The iPhone app has 57.4 million active daily users. Android was also first to get Timeline access showing that Google tends to favor Android development first, which is no surprise.

The daily active user stat is apparently more important than the number of users that are using the apps monthly. The iPhone has more monthly active users at 99.1 million while the Android app racks up 85.4 million monthly active users.

[via Android Community]

Article source: http://www.slashgear.com/iphone-facebook-use-trails-android-app-use-in-daily-users-19203171/

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Facebook can be sued over use of ads liked by friends, rules court

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Facebook has landed in some legal hot water over its use of ads that snatch the names of members of the social network to promote a product or business.

In a ruling issued last Friday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose denied Facebook’s request to dismiss a lawsuit against it over the practice of sponsored stories. Such “stories,” which first started popping up this past January, create an ad based on the “likes” of a member’s Facebook friends.

The ads typically display the friend’s name, photo, and a caption asserting that the person likes a certain advertiser. The ads are generated when a Facebook member clicks on the “Like” button for a particular page, product, or company.

The plantiffs who filed the suit claim that sponsored stories violate California’s Right of Publicity Statute, which prevents the use of a person’s name or photo in a paid advertisement without that person’s consent. They also allege that they were unaware that the act of clicking on a “Like” button would be considered an endorsement or an “expression of consumer opinion.”

In its attempt to dismiss the suit, Facebook had argued that using the names and photos of members in connection with their “likes” is newsworthy rather than advertising since the plantiffs are considered public figures on the social network to their friends.

But in denying Facebook’s request to dismiss the suit, Koh found that even “newsworthy actions may be subjects of liability when published for commercial rather than journalistic purposes.”

The judge’s ruling now paves the way for the lawsuit to move ahead. A verdict against Facebook could hit the social network directly in its wallet. As the court document points out, the company earns most of its revenue by selling targeted advertising that appears on a member’s Facebook page.

Facebook’s sales could climb as high as $6.9 billion next year from $4.27 billion this year, according to EMarketer estimates cited by Bloomberg. And almost 90 percent of those sales will come from ad revenue.

Facebook did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.

Article source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57344989-93/facebook-can-be-sued-over-use-of-ads-liked-by-friends-rules-court/

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Will Facebook Sue Mark Zuckerberg?

Technology – SCITECH

Published December 19, 2011

| NewsCore

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  AP

  Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

TEL AVIV –  An Israeli entrepreneur has legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg in an attempt to avoid being sued by Facebook.

According to tech blog ZDNet.com, last week’s odd maneuver came after Facebook threatened Rotem Guez with a lawsuit over allegations that his company violated the social networking giant’s terms of service.

“If you want to sue me, you’re going to have to sue Mark Zuckerberg,” said Guez, who is betting that Facebook won’t want to attract publicity from suing somebody with the same name of the company’s founder.

The lawsuit came after Guez launched an online company that sells advertisers “Likes” for their Facebook pages.

Guez’s Like Store promises companies increased traffic to their Facebook pages by offering Facebook users free content from the companies’ sites, which is a violation of Facebook’s terms of service.

Facebook served Guez with a lawsuit earlier this year threatening to shut it down. Guez has since counter-sued, saying that Facebook kicked him off the site for “no apparent, legitimate reason.”

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Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/19/facebook-sues-mark-zuckerberg/

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Kim Jong-il: Team America film references trend on Twitter in wake of death

Stone, 40, and Parker, 42, also wrote the screenplay and supplied voices of
many of the characters to the cult movie. Parker voiced Kim’s voice. Neither
have commented about the death.

“When the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong II, joins a group of pacifist actors
and actresses with the intention of using weapons of massive destruction,
the Team America (team) tries to avoid the destruction of the world,” says
its page on IMDb, the internet movie database.

In the hours after his death was announced on North Korean State Television on
Monday, several references to the film started “trending” on Twitter,
indicating that they were the most discussed terms on the micro-blogging
site.

Among the popular phrases included “Team
America”, “Hans Brix” – in reference to another character, the
former UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, who was said by Jong-il that he was “breaking
my —-s” – and “So Ronery”.

It was one of many good natured references in an otherwise serious news story.
It has been reported that the dictator was a well-known film buff,
reportedly owning between 10,000 and 20,000 DVDs of all genres.

TheMediaTweets,
a twitter page linked to a media-related blog, tweeted: “Trending topics
right now: http://on.fb.me/rtJbcq …Team America has a lot to answer for.
#ItsHowHeWouldWantToBeRemembered.”

In a 2005 review when it was released on DVD, The Daily Telegraph’s
Benjamin Secher, described the film as “good, unclean fun”. Fans, he added,
do not “have to be a smutty schoolboy to fall for the puerile charms of Team
America”.

“The cast of Thunderbirds-style marionettes may look like something you
once had in your toy cupboard, and a few too many of the gags rely on the
comic potential of sex, but the script – by South Park’s Matt Stone and Trey
Parker – is flecked with enough moments of genuine, if low-brow, brilliance
that it would take a worryingly stern viewer not to laugh at anything here,”
he said.

“Among the highlights of 93 uneven minutes of mayhem are: a fabulous parody of
the Broadway hit Rent (called Lease); terrifically wry puppet incarnations
of Hollywood’s finest thesps, from Sean Penn to Matt Damon; and a fiendish
satirical sensibility that makes a mockery both of war mongers and anti-war
campaigners, policy-makers and film-makers.

“The film’s production staff – seen beavering away obsessively, on the
accompanying behind-the-scenes documentaries – manage to make the creation
of astoundingly accurate doll’s-house sized film-sets and an immaculate
array of costumes for the string-operated stars look like child’s play.
Good, unclean fun.”

Article source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/8965325/Kim-Jong-il-Team-America-film-references-trend-on-Twitter-in-wake-of-death.html

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