social networking

Twitter is looking to bring in some entertainment industry folks to sit on its board, a new report claims.

The company is interviewing several media company executives or industry bigshots to sit on its board, All Things Digital is reporting, citing sources. Chief among the candidates is former News Corp. executive and Hollywood bigwig Peter Chernin, All Things Digital's sources say.

Chernin is no stranger to the online world. He already sits on Pandora's board of directors, and according to All Things Digital, has made some investments in Asia that relate to digital media. After leaving News Corp., … Read more

Facebook users can post to their timelines that they have a new tattoo, they're learning how to play a new instrument, and other "life events;" and, as of today, they can also announce that they're registered to vote.

The social network is rolling out this new "life event" as the 2012 presidential election season heats up.

"Election Day in the United States is right around the corner and people are increasingly using Facebook to discuss candidates, campaigns, and critical issues facing the country," Facebook wrote in a blog post. "Starting today, … Read more

TweetDeck for Mac now ships with a brand-new, well-designed user interface and a Twitter-for-Mac-like look, and it has multiple additional features that power users will love. By switching to HTML5, the developers have eliminated the need to continuously update Adobe Air, and now users can enjoy a neat app for reading, tweeting, and searching for specific topics of interest.

We liked how simple to use TweetDeck is. As soon as you set up your Twitter (or Facebook) account, you are off. While Twitter for Mac does a very good job for everyday use, it can't compete with this app'… Read more

Some parties are a riot.

No really, they are. Riot police are called, because there's simply too much fun going on.

Indeed, my heart rocks to an exalted beat at hearing that such a party broke out in the small Dutch town of Haren.

As the BBC reports it, the 16-year-old girl posted an invitation to her birthday party on Facebook and wasn't quite au fait with the privacy controls.

Her little hometown became somewhat tense at the idea of thousands descending upon its leafy parts to party, for 30,000 people ended up receiving the invitation.

The … Read more

Facebook's Photo Syncing is being tested on Android-based devices, according to a new report.

The feature, which automatically uploads images that Android users snap with their devices to their Facebook profiles, is being tested on a small number of users, The Verge is reporting, citing comments from Facebook.

Upon snapping a photo with an Android-based handset, Facbeook's Photo Syncing automatically sends it to a private folder in the user's account. Those images can then be removed from Facebook or shared publicly, depending on the user's preference.

Photo Syncing isn't quite a secret. Facebook currently has … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--When Salesforce.com CEO and co-founder Marc Benioff took the stage at the giant Moscone Center here today, 14,000 people, mostly customers, packed the auditorium to hear his two-hour keynote as he preached the social enterprise gospel and announced a bevy of new products and upgrades. He was speaking at the 13-year-old company's 10th Dreamforce conference, a four-day event that attracted an estimated 90,000 people.

Legendary rapper MC Hammer, who is also a tech angel investor, preceded Benioff on stage with a signature performance, surrounded by more than a dozen gyrating dancers. Benioff bounded on stage … Read more

Beware of social-media reviews in the coming years.

Between 10 percent and 15 percent of all user reviews on social-media sites will be paid for by companies selling the products, research firm Gartner reported today in a new study.

"With over half of the Internet's population on social networks, organizations are scrambling for new ways to build bigger follower bases, generate more hits on videos, garner more positive reviews than their competitors, and solicit 'likes' on their Facebook pages," Jenny Sussin, senior research analyst at Gartner, said today in a statement. "Many marketers have turned to … Read more

The Winklevoss twins, best known for their courtroom battles with Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook, are taking another stab at the social-networking sector.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have made a $1 million investment SumZero, a social network aimed at professional investors, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company was founded in 2008 by former Harvard classmates Aalap Mahadevia and Divya Narendra, the latter of which was a party to the Winklevoss twins' lawsuit that claimed they were misled about Facebook's value.

The case stemmed from a settlement the Winklevosses and Narendra signed with Facebook in 2008 after claiming Zuckerberg stole … Read more

Twitter caved to a court order and handed over the tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester rather than face a stiff fine.

Twitter reportedly surrendered to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino tweets sent out last year by protester Malcolm Harris. Twitter had long resisted a prosecution subpoena demanding the data.

Reuters was first to report on the news.

Harris was arrested during an October Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge. He argues that the protesters were led to the bridge by police, so they could be arrested on charges of obstructing traffic. Prosecutors want to use … Read more