Fast-changing features on social media sites triggering new wave of compliance challenges

Fast-changing features on social media sites are triggering a new wave of compliance challenges for financial advisers at a time when many are just becoming comfortable with the technology in the first place.
As social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter develop new ways to engage users, financial advisers and their firms will start 2013 with related compliance hassles to make sure they are not running afoul of firm policies. For some, it means adding new policies.
Case in point a new LinkedIn feature that lets users "endorse" the skills and expertise of other users. That may be a great tool to show off an adviser's professional acumen, but receiving endorsements could also violate securities industry advertising regulations, say compliance professionals.
LinkedIn's "Skills & Expertise" feature is just one of an explosive number of changes in the fast-growing social media landscape. Many brokerages and registered investment advisers, once skittish about letting employees use the sites, now have little choice but to allow access while at the same time monitoring outgoing changes to avoid regulatory trouble.
The task can be overwhelming. Last year, Facebook made an average of 41 changes per week, according to Actiance Inc, a software company that provides social media compliance and monitoring services to businesses. LinkedIn and Twitter each made up to four changes weekly.
Many changes are small technical fixes, but others ultimately lead to sweeping new features, said Joanna Belbey, Actiance social media and compliance specialist. They include ways of posting updates to wider audiences for a fee or sending new types of virtual gifts to friends. But these new features, if used, can also push advisers into dangerous waters.
"Social media is going to improve and the rate of enhancements will happen even faster now," said Michael Byrnes, a practice management coach and president of Boston-based Byrnes Consulting LLC. "It will be a challenge for advisory firms to keep up."
Endorse me
LinkedIn's "Skills & Expertise" endorsement feature, launched in September, complements an older feature that lets contacts write recommendations for one another.
Users can endorse contacts by clicking on subjects of expertise that hover above each person's profile, such as expertise in "venture capital" or "retirement plans." They can also add new categories. LinkedIn profiles publicly display the names of those who "endorsed" those individuals.
The sticking point: Endorsements are testimonials, which are heavily restricted for advisers working at brokerages - and the firms themselves - and not permitted for registered investment advisers, say compliance professionals.
There is only one option for most advisers: Turn off the endorsements feature so they do not publicly appear, said Cathy Vasilev, vice president of Red Oak Compliance Solutions LLC in Fredericksburg, Texas. That is especially true for advisers who register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and are flatly prohibited from using testimonials.
While securities brokers who register with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) can use testimonials, they must include a wordy disclosure explaining, among other things, that the adviser did not pay for the endorsement, Vasilev said. That could be difficult to squeeze into a LinkedIn profile, she said. What's more, many brokerages have their own policies that prohibit testimonials.
To hide LinkedIn endorsements, click on "edit profile," under the "profile" tab. Scroll down to the "Skills & Expertise" section and click on the pencil icon. There is an option to click on "no, do not show my endorsements," using the "manage endorsements" feature.
In control
Some firms eliminate possible social media regulatory snafus by using software that watches out for new social networking features, among other things, and automatically turns them off. The service, available through companies such as Actiance Inc and Global Relay Communications Inc, can cost between $5 and $25 monthly per adviser.
That can buy some time while firms get up to speed on new features and develop policies for their use, such as requiring advisers to hide endorsements, or bar them from sending gifts.
Firms that have not fully thought out their social media compliance programs should shy away from the sites to solicit clients, said Jervis Hough, founder of Taurus Compliance Consulting LLC in Aventura, Florida.
Before they undertake client solicitation, advisers must be taught how their existing policies apply to certain activities on social networking sites, he said.
Also, advisers who pay to "promote" their Facebook posts and Tweets, for example, could easily run afoul of industry and firm communication rules that require safeguards, such as preapproval from the compliance department, said Hough.
Another possible stumbling block is a Facebook feature that lets users send gifts through the site, such as credits for coffee company Starbucks Corp. Regulators and firms already impose strict limits on gift-giving tied to business. Advisers could exceed them, or fail to follow their firm's procedures for keeping track of gifts.
Firms and advisers should hold off on ramping up social networking activities until they put compliance parameters in place, Hough said.

© Thomson Reuters 2012

Teen entrepreneurs tap their mothers' Facebook connections

When mother of three Angela Allyn takes to Facebook, it's usually not to post pictures of her latest party, but to drum up business for her entrepreneurial teenage son, Alec.

"Teenage boy available for schlepping, sitting and various cleanup. Message me if interested" is her typical post. She has put her social networking skills behind Alec's business in part because she realizes that the traditional job market is tight and "it's really hard to get a job as a young person."

The Allyns seem to be succeeding in that space where the growing underground teen economy meets proactive and socially networked parents. Angela has been finding Alec enough work to fill the time left after homework, cross country and track, activities, and he's using his earnings to support his expensive cycle racing hobby.

Job opportunities for teens have declined in recent years, in part because older and sometimes overqualified applicants compete for the burger-flipping, shirt-folding gigs that used to be their specialty. The number of young people aged 16 to 24 employed during the peak summer month of July was down to 48.8 last year from 59.2 percent five years earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There's anecdotal evidence that an increasing numbers of teens are filling the gaps in the economy and their wallets by doing odd jobs or selling the technical skills at which many excel. And their parents are promoting them - via Facebook, LinkedIn, neighborhood chatrooms and more.

"You're your kid's pimp," joked April Rudin, a Fort Lee, New Jersey, publicist who has brokered her two sons' abilities to do everything from shovel driveways to create Powerpoint presentations.

Tapping social media connections is an ideal way to leverage those sites' networking potential, especially because it is the medium teens "love and live in," says Nimish Thakkar, a New York job coach. He has observed several of his clients engaging in the practice on behalf of their teens. But it raises some questions as well, about how much help parents can offer without being overinvolved, and about how to keep kids safe online while promoting their businesses.

"I don't negotiate"
Allyn advertised on Facebook and Craigslist for her son in part because at his age, 15, Alec's own network includes few people with hiring potential. He hasn't built a website, she said, largely because it might draw interest during periods when he is overloaded with schoolwork and extracurricular activities. The two have worked together to research how to price jobs but she leaves it to him to work out the details.

"I will hand him the contact information," said Allyn, an arts educator for the city of Evanston, Illinois. "I don't get in the middle of negotiating."

That's one way she draws the line between herself and the dreaded "helicopter" syndrome of parental overinvolvement.

"It's one thing to help kids build bridges, it's another to help them cross," said Michael Woodward, an organizational psychologist specializing in workplace issues. "You have to be the coach - not the doer."

It doesn't always work out that way, Rudin found. Her expertise in social media led her to broker the services of her teenage sons online, sometimes without asking first. She recalled promising that one of them would shovel a neighbor's drive; when he didn't show up, she in the uncomfortable position of having to make excuses.

Rudin, who also subcontracted portions of her own work to her older son honing his skills as a creator of online slide presentations. After he completed jobs, she would send tweets about his expertise to her Twitter following, sometimes leading to additional requests.

That son, also named Alec, is now a college sophomore. He conceded his mother sometimes took a heavy-handed approach, but said he has no complaints. The experience he gained has been parlayed into a healthy side business creating PowerPoint presentations for students and corporate customers. A typical job brings in $200 to $300.

"It's worked out for everyone," he said. "It taught me the meaning of a deadline. In the professional world you don't have much leeway."

Most kids have a much harder time pushing much above minimum wage, one reason parents should stay apprised of terms being set on each job, said Denise Drake, a Kansas City employment attorney. She stressed that it is important for parents to understand work rules in their particular state.

"They need to be cognizant of the what the child labor laws are so that kids don't get taken advantage of," said Drake, conceding: "It's abundantly clear that most kids and parents don't report that kind of income. It's not legal but it happens."

Safety first
Marketing experts point to safety as another justification for parents to play a supervising role in how online jobs are being procured.

"I think there is a lot of caution required," said Sima Dahl, a social media consultant who blogs about career promotion at marketmycareer.com. She advises parents to steer clear of responding to posts on open sites such as Craigslist, where it is difficult to screen the source of listings.

"The first course of action is always your own network," she said. "It is a very safe way to go."

Debra Nussbaum Cohen, a New York-based writer and mother of three, said a collaborative approach to part-time job hunting worked well with her son, Aryeh, now a sophomore in college. She regularly culled brooklynian.com, a neighborhood site, as well as a listserv for local parents, to help him secure a variety of jobs beginning when he was a young teen. He supplemented those efforts with old-fashioned leafleting, leaving fliers in neighbors' mailboxes.

Initially, she took a fairly hands-on on role, pre-interviewing parents requiring babysitting services, for instance. As Aryeh got older and she was more comfortable with his judgment, she turned over more responsibility, and focused more attention on her two daughters, now 13 and 11. They are already experienced at feeding let lizards and caring for cats, if anyone on her social network is interested.

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012

9 million thanks, Tendulkar tells Facebook fans

Undoubtedly one of the most widely followed Indian celebrities on Facebook, Sachin Tendulkar's fan following on the social networking site has crossed nine million and it's still counting.
"9 million thanks!!! Thankyou for making me feel so special," Tendulkar posted on his facebook account.
Tendulkar had joined Facebook last September and within hours, had a staggering four lakh likes to his name.
The cricketer started his Facebook innings with a video message welcoming everyone to his official page.
"I'll like to welcome you to my facebook family. As a child I always dreamt of playing cricket for India and I chased my dream of winning the World Cup for 22 years. It wouldn't have been possible without your support. I wanna take this opportunity to thank all of you for having prayed for me and wish well for me," he had posted the first time.
"I look forward to sharing my experience with you, join me on my facebook so that we both can share this experience and go through this journey together."
The page gives a time line of important events in the cricketer's life right from when he was born on April 24, 1973 to the World Cup win in 2011 to taking oath as a Rajya Sabha member.
The page is managed by Seven3Rockers.
Tendulkar, arguably the greatest batsman in contemporary cricket, recently retired from One-day Internationals, bringing the curtains down on a glorious career spanning 23 years during which he re-wrote record books with his phenomenal feats.

Facebook invites media to "come and see what we're building"

Facebook has circulated a rather mysterious invite amongst the media fraternity asking all to join the social network at its headquarters in Menlo Park, CA on Tuesday January 15 at 10 a.m. PT.

The invite that comes amidst the on-going CES event, has suddenly attracted attention due to the curiosity element leaving little to guess. It just reads, "Come and see what we're building."

Considering that the social networking giant doesn't host many events at its headquarters, this ought to be something big.

Could it be the new Facebook phone, rumours of which surfaced recently? In a set of HTC device codename leaks, the list mentioned the Opera_UL more commonly recognised as the Facebook Phone. Talks of this phone have been around since November 2011, though HTC and Facebook have collaborated earlier and launched the ChaCha and Salsa phones with a dedicated Facebook button and deep integration of the social network.

Further reports from The New York Times in May last year mentioned that the social networking giant has hired more than half a dozen Apple engineers who worked on the iPhone and iPad to build a Facebook smartphone. Then Bloomberg reported that the phone will debut in mid-2013. In that case, an announcement now would make sense.

So, if it is the Facebook phone, then we'd say it was already playing on our mind. Last time Facebook hosted such an event at its Palo Alto headquarters in California about a year and a half ago, where Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced the company's partnership with Skype. 

Updating Facebook status may make you feel less lonely: Report

Frequently updating your Facebook status can help you feel less lonely, according to a new study.
College students who posted more status updates on the social networking site than they normally did felt less lonely over the course of a week, even if no one "Liked" or commented on their posts, researchers found.
"We got the idea to conduct this study during a coffee-break sharing random stories about what friends had posted on Facebook," psychology researcher Fenne Deters, of the Universitat Berlin, told LiveScience.
"Wondering why posting status updates is so popular, we thought that it would be thrilling to study this new form of communication empirically," Deters said.
Deters and her colleague recruited about 100 undergraduates (all Facebook users) at the University of Arizona.
All participants filled out initial surveys to measure their levels of loneliness, happiness and depression, and they gave the researchers access to their Facebook profiles by friending a dummy user created for the experiment.
The students were sent an analysis of their average weekly status updates (online wall-memos) and some of the participants were then told to post more statuses than usual over the next seven days.
During that week, all completed a short online questionnaire at the end of each day about their mood and level of social connection.
Compared with the group of students who didn't adjust their social media habits, those who went on a status-writing blitz felt less lonely over the week, the team found.
"Their happiness and depression levels went unchanged, suggesting that the effect is specific to experienced loneliness," the researchers wrote.
A drop in loneliness was linked to an increase in feeling more socially connected, which the researchers believe is the cause behind the positive effects of status updating.
Interestingly, the team found that loneliness levels did not depend on whether the students' status updates garnered any comments or "Likes" from Facebook friends.
One might assume that a lack of response could be considered a form of rejection, but the act of writing a status update itself might help people feel more connected, the researchers said.
When crafting a clever status, Facebook users have a target audience in mind. Simply thinking about their friends (or at least their Facebook friends) can have a "social snacking" effect.
The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Private picture of Mark Zuckerberg's sister leaks online

Even Mark Zuckerberg's family can get tripped up by Facebook's privacy settings.
A picture that Zuckerberg's sister posted on her personal Facebook profile was seen by a marketing director, who then posted the picture to Twitter and her more than 40,000 followers Wednesday.
That didn't sit well with Zuckerberg's sister, Randi, who tweeted at Callie Schweitzer that the picture was meant for friends only and that posting the private picture on Twitter was "way uncool." Schweitzer replied by saying the picture popped up on her Facebook news feed.
The picture shows four people standing around a kitchen staring at their phones with their mouths open while Mark Zuckerberg is in the background.
Randi Zuckerberg, who used to run Facebook's marketing department and now produces a reality television show, eventually said Schweitzer was able to see the picture because they had a mutual friend. Those tweets have since been taken down.
Schweitzer declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. Randi Zuckerberg didn't reply to a message via Twitter seeking comment.
Randi Zuckerberg used the dustup to write about online sharing etiquette.
"Digital etiquette: always ask permission before posting a friend's photo publicly. It's not about privacy settings, it's about human decency," she posted on Twitter.
But Randi Zuckerberg's comments sparked sharp reactions from people who thought the issue wasn't about etiquette, but rather Facebook's often changing and often confusing privacy settings.
"The thing that bugged me about Randi Zuckerberg's response is that she used her name as a bludgeoning device. Not everyone has that. She used her position to get it taken it down," said Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group in San Francisco.
While Facebook has made improvements in explaining the social network's privacy settings, Galperin said they remain confusing to most people. She added that with people using Facebook as part of their everyday lives, the consequences of fumbling privacy settings can become serious.
"Even Randi Zuckerberg can get it wrong. That's an illustration of how confusing they can be," she said.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company recently announced it is changing its privacy settings with the aim of making it easier for users to navigate them.
The fine-tuning will include several revisions that will start rolling out to Facebook's more than 1 billion users during the next few weeks and continue into early next year.
The most visible change - and perhaps the most appreciated - will be a new "privacy shortcuts" section that appears as a tiny lock at the top right of people's news feeds. This feature offers a drop-down box where users can get answers to common questions such as "Who can see my stuff?"
But Galperin said Wednesday's incident also illustrates a general concern about Internet privacy. Essentially, she said, if you share information or a photo with your social network, people in your network have the ability to share that with whomever else they choose.
The mobile photo-sharing service Instagram, which is owned by Facebook Inc., had to answer to backlash to privacy concerns recently when new terms of service suggested user photos could be used in advertisements. The company later said it would remove the questionable language.

RCOM offers unlimited Facebook, Facebook Messenger access for Rs. 16/ month

Reliance Communications (RCOM) is looking forward to spreading some Christmas cheer amongst its GSM subscribers. The company has launched a new 'Facebook Messenger Plan,' which offers unlimited access to Facebook (including the Facebook Messenger), for Rs. 16 per month.
To activate 'Facebook Messenger Plan, Relaiance GSM subscribers will have to send text message "FB" to 53739 from their mobile phones. Once activated, this plan will be available for the users for the next 30 days and will get auto renewed on the completion of this period.
"We are confident that 'Facebook Messenger Plan' with unlimited usage of Facebook without any extra data charges is set to provide a compelling new experience with incredible affordability to Smartphone users across the country on our superior network. We are hoping this offer to trigger a significant shift of youth customers using Smartphones to our superior network," Nilanjan Mukherjee, Wireless-Chief Revenue Officer at RCOM, said.
Facebook Messenger is an instant messaging service and software application that enables text and video communication. It is a cross platform app and is available on smartphones as well as feature phones.
In the beginning of December, the social networking giant had rolled out a new version of Messenger app. With the help of this new app, mobile phone users who do not have a Facebook account too could sign up the service by entering their phone number. Thus eliminating the need to login via a Facebook account or an email address in order to chat with their Facebook friends.

Facebook rolls out new messenger app, targets non-Facebook users

Social networking giant Facebook has rolled out its new messenger app, allowing mobile phone users without Facebook account to sign up the service with a phone number.
With no Facebook account and email address required, app with the new feature will be first available to users of phones running on Google's Android platform in India, Indonesia, Australia, Venezuela and South Africa, reported Xinhua citing the company.
The sign up option using phone number will be rolled out globally and its version for users of Apple's iPhone as well as other smartphone platforms are also under way, said Facebook.
Facebook Messenger is an instant messaging service and software application which provides text and video communication.
Its mobile version was released last year for major smartphone platforms, but users need to sign up with a Facebook account.
The latest move is expected to help Facebook reach a larger audience, attracting smartphone users with no Facebook account to gradually use more Facebook services.

Facebook releases Poke iPhone app with self-destructing messages

Facebook has announced a new app that erases pictures and messages within 10 seconds of being sent, the Daily Mail reported.
It is an advanced version of one of the social networking site's original apps, the "poke".
The equivalent of a head nod or wink, the "poke" in its old form is rarely used today as the site has become more advanced.
It has now been reinvented to be called "Facebook Poke" and allows users to send fleeting messages, pokes, photos and 10-second videos to friends, the Mail said Saturday.
The messages expire after a set period of time, from 1 to 10 seconds, and cannot be retrieved by either party again, making it perfect for sending salacious images without leaving a trail.
Facebook Poke (iPhone, free)

Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends

Facebook tests $1 fee for messages to non-friends

Facebook on Thursday began testing the feasibility of charging to guarantee that messages from strangers make it into inboxes of intended recipients at the social network.
Dabbling with getting people to pay to connect with Facebook members comes as the social network strives to tap the potential to make money from its membership base of more than a billion people.
The Facebook Messages test, limited to the United States, lets a sender pay a dollar to make sure an electronic missive is routed to someone's "inbox" even when the person isn't in their circle of friends.
Facebook messaging system was billed as being designed to deflect seemingly unwanted correspondence into an "other" folder that can be ignored.
Facebook said that it wanted to determine whether adding a "financial signal" improves its formula for delivering "relevant and useful" messages to members' inboxes.
Facebook already uses social cues, such as connections between friends, and algorithms that identify spam messages.
"This test is designed to address situations where neither social nor algorithmic signals are sufficient," Facebook said in a blog post.
"For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their inbox."
The Menlo Park, California-based social network in 2011 introduced "other" folders as repositories for messages of dubious interest to recipients.
The test was introduced along with updates that included "basic" or "strict" filtering settings for inboxes.
The strict setting limits inboxes to little more than messages from friends at the social network, while the basic setting opens the door to friends of friends.
Facebook on Wednesday halted a test of placing ads in "apps" that synch to the leading social network, renewing questions on how it will boost revenues from members using smartphones or tablets.
Facebook contended that it was making a priority of developing ways to profit from posts shared between friends at the social network.
Facebook sparked a rebellion of Instagram users this week with proposed policy changes intended to improve the ability to make money from the smartphone photo sharing service it bought this year.
Instagram backed off the policy changes in the face of the backlash.
Changes to the Instagram privacy policy and terms of service set to take effect January 16 had included wording that appeared to allow people's pictures to be used by advertisers at Instagram or Facebook worldwide, royalty-free.
Instagram, which prior to the controversy had some 100 million users, this month distanced itself from Twitter in order to route photo viewers to its own website, where it has the potential to make money from ads or other mechanisms.
The service made it impossible for Internet users to view its images in messages at Twitter.
Previously, Instagram pictures shared in messages tweeted from smartphones could be viewed at Twitter. Instagram rose to stardom with the help of Twitter.
Facebook completed its purchase of Instagram in September. The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of a decline in the social network's share price.
Facebook went public in May with a resounding flop, its $38 initial public offering price immediately plunging to eventually less than half that. Shares were trading at $27.36 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq exchange on Thursday.

Facebook rejects German demand to allow fake names

Facebook rejects German demand to allow fake names
Facebook will fight a German privacy watchdog's demand to allow users to register with fake names, insisting Tuesday that its current practice fully complies with the law.
The California-based social networking site has long required users to register with their real names - a policy that the data protection commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein state says is in breach of German law and European rules designed to protect free speech online.
The commissioner, Thilo Weichert, ordered Facebook on Monday to rescind its real name policy immediately.
"We believe the orders are without merit, a waste of German taxpayers' money and we will fight it vigorously," Facebook said in a statement. The company claims that its real name policy is intended to protect users.
Weichert told The Associated Press that Facebook has two weeks to respond. If it fails to comply with the order, his office can impose a penalty against the company, said Weichert.
The maximum fine would be only €50,000 ($66,000) - peanuts for a multinational company, but nevertheless a symbolic blow that could also lead to a tougher stance from other German and European privacy regulators.
"We have the right to prevent this data protection breach," he said. "Theoretically we can order the website blocked, but that would be disproportionate."
German privacy rules have posed a legal headache for Facebook, Google and other web giants in recent years. The country has strict laws on data protection that give consumers significant rights to limit the way companies use their information.
Weichert has previously warned investors against buying Facebook shares, warning that the company's "business model will implode" because Facebook users' private information is used in breach of European law.
Facebook says it has more than 20 million active users in Germany.

Facebook puts mobile ads experiment on hold

Facebook said Wednesday it is halting a test of placing ads in "apps" that synch to the leading social network, renewing questions on how it will boost revenues from members using smartphones or tablets.
"We are pausing our mobile ads test off of Facebook," a company spokesman said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
"While the results we have seen and the feedback from partners have been positive, our focus is on scaling ads in mobile news feed before ads off of Facebook."
The test of placing ads in Facebook-linked apps will be halted by the end of the year as the California-based firm makes a priority of developing ways to profit from "news feeds" of posts shared between friends at the social network.
Facebook shares were down slightly on the news, slipping less than a percent to $27.60 in late afternoon trading on the Nasdaq exchange.
Facebook stock rallied in October after the company reported quarterly earnings that showed gains in tapping the mobile advertising market.
During an earnings call with analysts, founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company was "just getting started with our mobile product development and monetization.
Facebook went public in May with a resounding flop, its $38 initial public offering price immediately plunging to eventually less than half that.
That angered many investors who had built hopes that the company's huge popularity would result in huge gains in the share price.
Analysts have questioned the company's ability to earn money from smartphones, where Facebook is finding its users more often now.

Tech news :: Facebook responds to anger over proposed Instagram changes

Jeremy Pinnix, an app developer in Spring Hill, Tenn., has been a regular user of the photo-sharing service Instagram since it was introduced in 2010, posting pictures of his family, local scenery and favorite moments.

But when Mr. Pinnix, 40, learned this week about changes to the company's terms of service that would apparently allow his photos to be used as advertisements, he did not hesitate. He deleted his account and has not looked back.

"Many of the photos I take are of my wife and kids," he said. "The idea that those could be used in ads without my consent is disconcerting."

Concerns like those have been mounting on social networks this week as Instagram users reacted to the coming changes, part of a push by Facebook, which bought Instagram this year, to make money from the service.

On Tuesday evening, the complaints, which included angry Twitter posts and images on Instagram protesting the changes, prompted action. Kevin Systrom, a co-founder of Instagram, wrote a blog post saying the company would change the new terms of service to make clearer what would happen to users' pictures.

"We've heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about what the changes mean," he wrote. "I'm writing this today to let you know we're listening and to commit to you that we will be doing more to answer your questions, fix any mistakes and eliminate the confusion."

Eric Goldman, an associate professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law, said the latest skirmish between Facebook and its users was part of the sometimes uncomfortable dynamic between companies offering free online services and their eventual need to turn a profit from them.

"The interest of the site is never 100 percent aligned with the users, and the divergence inevitably leads to friction," Mr. Goldman said. "It's unavoidable."

When Facebook announced the changes on Monday, it provided few details about how it would integrate advertisements and photos, other than to say that when the changes took effect on Jan. 16 they would not affect any photographs uploaded to the service before then.

That did not prevent unhappy users from threatening to take their portfolios of photographs to rival services, such as EyeEm, another social photo-sharing application. Many, including Mr. Pinnix, considered returning to Flickr, the former king of photo-sharing services, which is owned by Yahoo. In a stroke of lucky timing, Flickr had just released a new application for the iPhone that has drawn considerable praise from users.

The operators of services like Instaport.Me and Instabackup, which let people create copies of their Instagram photos, said they were seeing higher-than-average volume.

Linus Ekenstam, who helped found a service called Copygram that lets people back up their Instagram accounts and order physical prints of their favorite photos, said demand for the company's free exporting tool had skyrocketed.

"It's a thousand percent more activity than we're used to," he said. "Today is crazy."

He estimated that 10,000 people were using the exporting tool, and 1.5 million photographs had been backed up.

Of course, that is a sliver of the expanding Instagram universe. The company has said that more than 100 million users have contributed more than five billion photographs to the service. But should that momentum slow, it could damage the plan for producing advertising revenue on the scale Facebook was counting on after spending $735 million in cash and stock to buy Instagram. The company also risks scaring off skittish brands and advertisers who would not want to anger Facebook or Instagram users who disagree with how their images are used.

The history of the social Web is full of cautionary tales of companies, including Digg , whose users eventually got so fed up with how the companies meddled that they fled, leaving the companies in ruin.

In Tuesday's blog post, Mr. Systrom sought to quell the mounting unrest and reassure users that the company would not be peddling photographs of children playing on the beach or friends partying in nightclubs to the highest bidder.

"To be clear, it is not our intention to sell your photos," he said.

He said that the company also did not intend to put its members in advertisements.

"We do not have plans for anything like this, and because of that we're going to remove the language that raised the question," he said. "Our main goal is to avoid things likes advertising banners you see in other apps that would hurt the Instagram user experience."

He did concede that the company might do something like promote a brand like Topshop and show Facebook visitors which of their friends already follow Topshop, blurbs that could include their user name and avatar.

Mr. Systrom also reassured Instagram users that they still "own their content and Instagram does not claim any ownership rights over your photos."

"Nothing about this has changed," he said.

Of course, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, said nearly the same thing in April: "We need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram's strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook. That's why we're committed to building and growing Instagram independently." Since then, the company has cut off Instagram's easy integration with Facebook's rival Twitter and bound the photo service more tightly into Facebook.

Rebecca Lieb, an analyst with the Altimeter Group, said worries about Facebook changing for the worse had become common almost any time Facebook altered its site, whether in the design or in its privacy policies. It underscores the importance and omnipotence of the service in its users' lives as much as it signals a distrust of Facebook.

"There's always a reaction when Facebook does anything because the user base is so unbelievably large," Ms. Lieb said. "But while what its users say can be very loud and very viral, what they do can be two very disparate things."

"There are always Facebook users who say 'This is the last straw,' " she said. But in the end, she said, "There's not a lot of portability. Where would you go?"

© 2012, The New York Times News Service

Zuckerberg donates half a billion dollars in Facebook stock for charity

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is donating half a billion dollars in Facebook stock to a Silicon Valley charity, his second major donation since committing to giving away most of his wealth.
The 28-year old co-founder of the world's largest online social network said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that he would work with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to "look for areas in education and health to focus on."
Zuckerberg, whose stake in vested Facebook shares is worth roughly $11 billion, announced plans in 2010 to give a $100 million gift to the beleaguered public schools of Newark, New Jersey.
The gifts are part of Zuckerberg's involvement in The Giving Pledge. Launched by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett in 2010, the group asks U.S. billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or after their death and to publicly state their intention with a letter explaining their decision.
Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that he made a contribution of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to "lay the foundation for new projects."
At Tuesday's closing price of $27.71 per Facebook share, the gift translates to $498.8 million.
Zuckerberg founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in 2004, turning it into the world's most popular online social network with roughly 1 billion users. With its high-profile initial public offering in May, Facebook became the first U.S. technology company to debut with a $100 billion-plus valuation, though questions about its long-term money-making prospects have pressured share prices.
© Thomson Reuters 2012

sam4sammy :: Instagram updates privacy policy to allow data sharing with Facebook

Smartphone photo sharing service Instagram on Monday refined its privacy policy to clear the way for sharing data with Facebook, which bought the company earlier this year.
"Nothing has changed about your photos' ownership or who can see them," Instagram said in a blog post.

"Our updated privacy policy helps Instagram function more easily as part of Facebook by being able to share info between the two groups."

The changes were slated to take effect January 16.

Instagram maintained that the coming updates to its privacy policy and terms of service will help it improve the reliability of the service and fight spam.

Policy tweaks include allowing sharing of user information with "affiliates" in a move that could open the door to targeted advertising.

A social media feud between Twitter and Instagram escalated this month as the popular smartphone photo-sharing service made it impossible for Internet users to view its images in "tweeted" messages.

Instagram, which has some 100 million users, is seeking to route photo viewers to its own website, where it has the potential to make money from ads or other mechanisms, instead of letting Twitter get the benefits.

Previously, Instagram pictures shared in messages tweeted from smartphones could be viewed unaltered at Twitter.

Twitter responded by adding Instagram-style photo sharing features of its own.

Instagram rose to stardom with the help of Twitter, but has distanced itself from the messaging service since Facebook completed its acquisition of Instagram in September.

The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of a decline in the social network's share price.

Instagram last month was given a Facebook spin with the roll-out of online profiles that let people showcase themselves and photos they have taken with the smartphone application.

People can share their profiles with whomever they wish, as well as "follow" other Instagram users, commenting on or expressing "likes" for pictures.

sam4sammy :: Confirmed: Twitter had agreed to buy Instagram before Facebook swooped in

Weeks before he accepted a $1 billion buyout offer from Facebook Inc, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom had verbally agreed to a $525 million offer from Twitter, according to a report in The New York Times citing unnamed sources close to Twitter and Facebook.
Twitter executives were then shocked that Systrom went ahead with the Facebook deal without giving them a chance to make a counteroffer, the Times reported.
Systrom later told California state regulators under oath that his company had not received any "formal offers or term sheets" from potential buyers aside from Facebook, the Times report said, adding that its sources said Twitter executives had given Systrom a term sheet outlining the details of a proposed deal.
A spokeswoman for Facebook declined comment. Twitter could not be immediately reached for comment.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ultimately acquired Instagram after pushing through a cash-and-stock deal just weeks before Facebook's May initial public offering. The transaction closed in September at a $715 million valuation, reflecting Facebook's stock drop since the offering.
Relations between Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have soured since Facebook successfully swooped in on the photo service. Earlier this month, Instagram shut off a functionality that allowed Twitter to display Instagram pictures, while Twitter has introduced its own photo color-filters to compete with Instagram.
© Thomson Reuters 2012

Sam4sammy :: Facebook goes the native route with new Android app

Facebook has moved further away from HTML5 after releasing a native version of its Android app.
Facebook for Android version 2.0 has been built from scratch leveraging native Android controls, as compared to previous versions of the app which were built using HTML5.

While HTML5 offers cross-platform compatibility which means you can use the same code across various platforms like Android and iOS but its overall performance and integration cannot match that of apps using controls native to the platform.

Speed - more than anything else - is the reason Facebook switched from the old HTML5 iOS app to a new native app back in August. Now it has done the same on the Android platform. Facebook claims the new app "is twice as fast when looking at photos and opening your Timeline and noticeably quicker to launch".

There's further good news for developers. Facebook announced that Facebook SDK 3.0 for Android is out of beta. The new SDK makes it easier to build social Android apps by providing native UI controls for Facebook login, simplifying session management, and improving API support. Other native controls included in the API are Friend Picker, Places Picker and Profile Picture control. For full details of the new API visit the Android page on Facebook Developers portal.

Facebook has been talking about mobile as a key area of focus since its IPO earlier this year and native apps for the two major mobile platforms is definitely a step in the right direction.

Facebook for Android (Free)

Facebook, Yahoo, Google most accessed sites by mobile Internet users: Airtel

Facebook, Google and Yahoo are the most accessed websites among mobile Internet users, who tend to consume maximum data between 10-11 PM, shows a survey by Bharti Airtel.
"Mobile Internet sees maximum data consumption between 10 pm - 11pm and Google is most visited website in terms of unique users, while Facebook clocks maximum time spent and leads all websites in terms of page views as well as data consumption," fourth edition of Airtel Mobitude 2012 survey said.

The annual survey of customer preferences is conducted to capture the 'mobile attitude' of over 186 million Airtel customers in the country.

According to the survey, wallpaper downloads witnessed a 300 percent jump and recorded 75 million downloads while music downloads number stood at over 150 million.

"Chikni Chameli from Agneepath was the most downloaded song of the year, its actress Katrina Kaif continued to maintain the leading position in the category of images downloaded for the 4th consecutive year," the survey said.

Among actors, Shah Rukh Khan led the category of Bollywood actors' wallpaper downloads, it added.

During the year, MMS crossed the one million mark on Diwali and jumped 145 percent on the festive day for the first time.

This year's analysis also highlighted a fast increasing customer preference for MobileTV, thus resulting in a 65 percent jump in traffic experienced by the service over last year.

"The data reveals an exciting picture of India's love for movies, music, gaming and social networking. The study also brings to light India's increasing dependence on smart devices and data usage as they access a whole host of new services on the go," Bharti Airtel Chief Marketing Officer Consumer Business N Rajaram said.

Social networking taking up toilet time - study

Blame social media the next time it feels like forever for your turn to use the toilet.
According to a study released Monday, 32 percent of people in the United States aged 18 to 24 say they use social networking in the bathroom.

The same report from marketing research firms Nielsen and NM Incite also found that 51 percent of US adults between 25 and 34 use social networking in the office more than any other age group.

While personal computers remain the primary tools for logging onto sites like Facebook and Twitter, the report posted at blog.nielsen.com noted a significant increase in the use of cellphones and tablets as well.

Forty-six percent of respondents said they used a mobile phone to connect online, up from 37 percent last year, while 16 percent used a tablet like Apple's iPad, up from just three percent in 2011.

Facebook remained by far the most popular social networking site among Americans but there was a stunning 1,047 percent year-on-year increase in the number of unique PC visitors to the online scrapbook Pinterest.

Facebook invites users to vote on Instagram data-sharing, email privacy

Facebook Inc opened the polls on Monday for its roughly 1 billion users to vote on a variety of changes to the social network's policies, including a proposal to scrap the user voting system that Facebook introduced in 2009.
Facebook also said it had "clarified" some of the proposed changes, specifying that a new policy allowing it to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram will be carried out in compliance with applicable laws and that Facebook will seek user consent when necessary.

The proposed changes, which Facebook announced on November 21, generated roughly 89,000 user comments as well as concerns from some privacy-advocacy groups and a request for more information from the Data Protection Commission in Ireland, where Facebook's European business has its headquarters.

"Based on your feedback and after consultation with our regulators, including the Irish Data Protection Commissioner's Office, we've further clarified some of our proposals," said Elliot Schrage, Facebook Vice President of Communications, Public Policy and Marketing in a post on Facebook's company blog on Monday.

Facebook is proposing to eliminate the 4-year-old system that allows users to vote on changes to its governance policies. The company says the voting system hasn't functioned as intended and is no longer suited to its current situation as a large publicly traded company subject to oversight by various regulatory agencies.

Facebook said on Monday that it would incorporate user suggestions for creating new tools to "enhance communication" on privacy and governance matters.

Another proposal would loosen the restrictions on how members of the social network can contact other members using the Facebook email system. The company said it planned to replace the "Who can send you Facebook messages" setting with new filters for managing incoming messages.

Facebook's potential information sharing with Instagram, a photo-sharing service for smartphone users that it bought in October, flows from proposed changes that would allow the company to share information between its own service and other businesses or affiliates it owns.

The change could open the door for Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people's personal data from its social network and from Instagram, similar to recent moves by Google Inc.

Facebook said on Monday that the proposed change was "standard in the industry" and "promotes the efficient and effective use of the services Facebook and its affiliates," such as allowing users in the U.S. to interact with users in Europe.

"This provision covers Instagram and allows us to store Instagram's server logs and administrative records in a way that is more efficient than maintaining totally separate storage systems," the company wrote in a separate post on its website Monday titled "explanation of changes".

"Where additional consent of our users is required, we will obtain it," Facebook said.

Facebook users have until December 10 to vote on the policies using a special third-party application provided by Facebook and Facebook said the results will be certified by an independent auditor.

The vote is only binding if at least 30 percent of users take part, and two prior votes never reached that threshold.

© Thomson Reuters 2012