Social network and groups

Microsoft has tweaked its Mail, Calendar, and People apps for Windows 8 and RT users with some much-need improvements.

The three core apps, which are bundled together, received some long overdue tweaks last night that make them a bit more user-friendly. But along with those improvements comes one negative: the Calendar app will no longer sync with Google Calendar appointments.

On the plus side, the Mail app now offers full folder management. You can create, rename, and delete folders and subfolders to better organize your e-mail.

Managing individual messages is also much easier. You can select multiple e-mails to delete, … Read more

The Federal Trade Commission has updated its consumer protection rules for online activities, and has specifically taken aim at celebrity tweeters.

The agency released the rules yesterday (PDF), and outlined how celebrities who want to promote a product on Twitter should do so. To illustrate its point, the FTC used a fictional celebrity it called Juli Starz. The original tweet shows her endorsing a "Fat-away" pill that helped her lose 30 pounds in six weeks. That tweet was accompanied by a URL to the product's site.

According to the FTC, that kind of endorsement is now illegal. … Read more

Pinterest has launched a new Web analytics tool for site owners who want to see how well their pages are performing on the social network.

The tool, dubbed Pinterest Web Analytics, is available to companies with a verified Web site on the social network. The analytics provide detailed information on how many people have pinned something from their site, seen pins from their pages, or visited their site from the social network. The analytics also show repinned items, most clocked, and most recent pins.

Getting verified on Pinterest isn't a long process. Site owners who have a Pinterest profile … Read more

Facebook users may be in store for some design tweaks to their Timelines.

The popular social network is testing a revamped layout for the Timeline among select users in New Zealand, a spot where Facebook typically tries out new features.

A representative for the company told CNET that "this is a new design Facebook is testing with a small percentage of people to make navigating Timeline even easier."

The new layout sports a single-column for all the posts and updates on your Timeline, according to a screenshot obtained by The Next Web. That by itself would be a … Read more

Pope Benedict XVI might have only joined Twitter in December, but he's already saying so long to the social network.

According to CNN, Vatican Radio announced today that the Pope's postings on @Pontifex will officially end on February 28 when he ends his reign as the leader of the Catholic Church. Vatican Radio reportedly said that Benedict's last tweet will come on February 27.

It's no surprise that the Pope's tweets will be ending. Earlier this month, Benedict announced that he'd be resigning from the papacy at the end of the month due to … Read more

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin isn't convinced that the social network's fast-growth strategy is a good one.

Speaking at a conference in Singapore today, Saverin said that while growth is a "huge asset," it can lead to a very real problem that shouldn't be overlooked.

"The biggest risk is growing too fast," he said, according to Bloomberg, who had a reporter at the event. "When you grow too fast, it's hard to iterate, educate."

Facebook is making no secret that it wants to grow as quickly as possible. Last month, CEO … Read more

Facebook has won an important ruling on its ban of pseudonyms across its social network.

A German court yesterday ruled that it had no jurisdiction over Facebook because its European headquarters are in Ireland and therefore, could not offer an opinion on the social network's pseudonym use. The Associated Press was first to report on the court's ruling.

The court's ruling comes just two months after data protection agency Unabhaengiges Landeszentrum fuer Datenschutz (ULD) in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein ordered Facebook to allow for its users to employ pseudonyms. The company has a policy that … Read more

Twitter is tops when it comes to social network mentions in Super Bowl commercials.

The social network was mentioned in 26 of 52 national television commercials at the Super Bowl last night, according to a tally from Marketing Land's Matt McGee. Facebook mustered four mentions in the commercials, followed by one each for Instagram and YouTube. Google+ got no mentions.

In order to arrive at his tally, McGee started counting only after the opening kickoff. He stopped counting when the clock reached 0:00. Only national commercials were included, and anything from the NFL or CBS promoting their own … Read more

Some Facebook users can now go beyond simply updating their status -- they can put an emoticon on the moment.

Facebook last night rolled out what it's calling "a really small test" across its Web site and mobile app that lets users pick from an array of emoticons -- smiley faces and other little bits of graphic art that have now been around for some 30 years -- to express how they're feeling at any given moment.

TechCrunch was first to report on the feature.

Facebook provided CNET with screenshots of the emoticon feature in action. … Read more