There are widespread reports in the Chinese press that Facebook may circumvent China's ban on Facebook.com by partnering with the dominant local search engine Baidu to create a "new," jointly owned social network. Ten Yuan to one says this new social network will work in a manner suspiciously similar to Facebook.com. Facebook is slippery like that. [BI, image via Getty]
How's this for a bizarre blackmail setup: A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly tricking another man into committing statutory rape against a 16-year-old girl and filming the incident.
When Mark Zuckerberg took his "vacation" to China last year, it was largely interpreted as laying the groundwork for a possible introduction of Facebook to China. Now, Facebook is reportedly in talks with partners about a possible move. Bloomberg reports that Facebook has held "exploratory" talks with companies in China. Chinese bloggers have been floating rumors that Facebook is partnering with search giant Baidu for a joint Chinese venture.
Remember the government's color-coded terror alert system? Sure you do. It was fun, festive, and went with everything. Well, it's history. Back in January, the Department of Homeland Security announced plans to phase out the system. So what will replace it? As of April 27, terror alerts will come in just two forms —"elevated" and "imminent"— and will be broadcast over the two most popular social networks.
If you consider the Internet a drug, then we live in a world of addicts. A new study of 1,000 students around the world found that those who gave up the Internet felt intense withdrawal symptoms within 24 hours.
That was fast: Six months after he started seeing Alexandra Lenas, Sean Parker is engaged to the singer/songwriter. Parker has made a number of sudden life changes since Justin Timberlake played him in The Social Network, actually.
Last week, Facebook found itself at the center of a firestorm over a page set up calling for a third Palestinian intifada. The page was 'liked' by more than 350,000 users and condemned by the Israeli government and the Anti-Defamation league. Ultimately Facebook pulled it down because it said administrators and members were participating in ""direct calls for violence" in violation of its policies.
Coupon company Eversave surveyed 400 women about their Facebook friends. 83% of respondents admitted to being annoyed with friends' Facebook presences. 63% of women said their friends "complain all the time." 41% hated their friends' political views, and 32% were sick of their stupid perfect friends bragging about stupid perfect lives.
Get ready for some truly horrible jokes from our nation's least funny people, political pundits: Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs may be joining Facebook in "a senior role in helping to manage the company's communications."
Russian Venture Capitalist Yuri Milner is a billionaire thanks in large part to his early backing of Facebook. In case you had any doubt of his massive net worth, check out the $70 million, 25,000 square foot mansion he just bought in Silicon Valley, according to TechCrunch. Compare this to Mark Zuckerberg's modest Palo Alto home and you've got to wonder: What's Milner trying to prove?
Facebook already uses pretty much everything you put on your profile to direct ads at you. But they aren't targeted to your words at the very second you type them onto the Internet. But that could change with a new real-time ad targeting system, which Facebook is currently testing on about 1 percent of its users.
