Social networking

Teens: Facebook is just, like, too much drama

When your hormones are harassing you to within an eyebrow-width of your sanity, all you want is a simple life.

You want to be able to curl up with the kind of social network that understands you and doesn't give you headaches.

That kind of social network is, increasingly, not Facebook.

At least this is what teens seem to have told the Pew Research Center during its latest study.

Indeed, the teens surveyed were disturbed by the increased presence of adults and the increased tendency of other teens to angst-ridden self-expression on Mark Zuckerberg's site.

There is, as … Read more

GIF creator: It's a soft 'g', Mr. President

You thought it had been settled, didn't you?

You've been practicing the new pronunciation (or the old one).

And now you're going to have to think again.

Recently, the White House very presciently decided to open its own non-purple Tumblr account. It took the occasion to declare with seeming finality that GIFs -- those very files that so many people find funny -- are hard, not soft.

Hard as in hard "g." Gif like "gift." Not like "jiffy."

Some giffers fell in line. Now they will have second thoughts. For the … Read more

Flickr users: We hate the new site

Many Flickr users seem none too happy about the new layout, at least according to a heavy dose of comments posted on the site's help forum.

On Monday, Flickr's parent Yahoo unveiled a slew of changes to the photo-sharing site, revamping the familiar style of the home page, photo page, and photo stream page. The company also increased the free storage space per user to a hefty 1TB and updated its Android app. So, what's the problem?

Several users chiming in on the forum say the photos are now too big and "in your face." Others say the large layout makes it difficult to interact with their fellow Flickr users. And some say they just find the new look confusing and messy. Many of them are asking Yahoo to at least offer them an option to use the old layout.… Read more

Flickr's free terabyte not big enough

Eight years after buying Flickr, Yahoo hopes to entice people to take a fresh look at the photo service it let languish, with a fresh coat of paint and a free terabyte of space. Too bad today's photo-sharer has found a home elsewhere and is already accustomed to free.

Monday at a press event in New York, Yahoo announced major changes to Flickr to make the product "awesome again." The biggest change was the addition of a free terabyte of storage, a shift that transforms Flickr from a very restrictive subscription service to something that a majority … Read more

Yahoo wants to make Flickr 'awesome again'

NEW YORK -- Yahoo on Monday unveiled updates to its Flickr photo-sharing site that the company hopes will make Flickr "awesome again."

Among the changes are a new redesign with larger images, the ability for users to upload full-resolution photos, and 1TB of free storage for all users. Yahoo also launched a redesigned Android app for smartphones and tablets, which goes along with the recently revamped iOS app. The changes are available immediately, an executive said.

"The look and feel here is about photos and being unbounded," CEO Marissa Mayer said Monday. "That's what … Read more

Young and old: A side-by-side look at Tumblr, Yahoo audiences

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Yahoo has agreed to acquire 6-year-old blogging powerhouse Tumblr for $1.1 billion. The mammoth deal has sent the Internet into a tizzy, especially since most would have pegged the two companies as unlikely bedfellows just a week ago.

The simplest and most obvious reason for Yahoo's interest in Tumblr can be seen in the chart above, which highlights the dramatically differing demographic profiles for the media portal and the blogging network.

It's a tale of two audiences. Tumblr is a fountain of youth. Yahoo is practically a retirement … Read more

Pinterest now offers more than pretty pictures

Pinterest now offers users more information behind all those pretty pictures.

The scrapbooking social network today tweaked the power of certain pins to provide more details on the showcased items, thanks to new active links to third-party Web sites. As described in the company's official blog, Pinterest is working with popular Web sites to enrich the pinning experience. For instance, some of the tasty dishes in the Delicious Eats area now have active links that point to Web sites featuring the recipes.

Product pins reveal pricing and retail outlets where the items are sold. And movie pins offer more … Read more

Purple Haze: Tumblr faithful blast Yahoo deal

I am drawn to pain like Einstein to thought.

So when I heard that Yahoo had allegedly bought Tumblr for $1.1 billion, there was only one thing to do. (Editors' note: Shortly after this story was published, Yahoo and Tumblr officially announced the acquisition.)

Wrap myself in foil, log on to Tumblr and survey the posts tagged "Yahoo."

I tried to let my eyes waft at random in the hope of finding fair balance or at least something more than purple haze.

The first thing I saw was a post from someone called "world-peace-not-war." I … Read more

Twitter will damn your soul, Saudi cleric says

Life becomes more meaningful when someone from a long way away reflects your own thoughts.

It makes you feel less alone, less forlorn on your island of one.

I was, therefore, lifted to heights previously unimagined on hearing that the head of Saudi Arabia's religious police has declared that Twitter is an appalling waste of time, mind, and soul.

Actually, it's worse than that.

As the BBC reports, Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh mused that anyone who uses Twitter "has lost this world and his afterlife."

It may well be that the Sheikh's biggest … Read more

Fugitive to police on Facebook: Catch me if you can. They do

Thin is the line between the brave and the foolhardy.

Thinner is the brain that thinks it's brave to taunt the police on Facebook.

Perhaps it comes from watching too many movies or too few, but those who are wanted by the police sometimes turn to Facebook to offer a "na, na, na-na, na."

A couple of years ago, a man in Utica, N.Y., allegedly tried to dare the police to catch him, with troubling results (for him).

The world learns as slowly as it turns. For today I have news that an English teen, wanted … Read more