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Parents use Facebook to pick baby’s name
Social networking enthusiasts are cheering the world’s first “Facebook baby” after Canadian parents turned to the popular website when choosing a name for their unborn child. A couple from Ontario are awaiting the birth of their fourth child and with less than four weeks to go, they asked Facebook users to provide them with suggestions for what to name their baby. Jenn Marsh, a professional photographer, soon faced an avalanche of over 500 comments and suggestions posted to Facebook on the best name for her child. Marsh told The Globe and Mail newspaper that many of the names were highly creative and unique, and she is overwhelmed by the fact that so many Facebook users responded with interest to her unconventional request. But Marsh did help entice people to join her curious Facebook venture with a proposition that appealed to hundreds of users
Twitter reveals that Ricky Martin is gay
Iconic pop singer Ricky Martin has decided to use Twitter, the world’s largest micro-blogging site, to tell all of his fans that he is gay. The singer posted a simple, straightforward tweet and then a blog posted on his own website in both English and Spanish, in which he noted that he is a “fortunate homosexual man.” Rumours about Martin’s sexual preferences have long circulated in tabloid newspapers, but Twitter users and readers of his blog were the first to see this successful 38 year star come out of the closet. Ricky Martin has two young children, and the pop icon claims that his kids were the ones who gave him the strength and inspiration to admit his sexuality to the world.
Inappropriate Facebook posts land police officer in hot water
The Canadian Royal Mounted Police (RCMP) is famous for the bright red uniforms worn by its members, but one officer is making much less savoury headlines, after posting lewd updates on his Facebook profile. The Vancouver Sun and the Nanaimo Daily News both reported on the scandal, but neither paper disclosed the officer’s name. According to reports, the RCMP officer used Facebook to muse about how he would “drop kick all the drunk idiots” out celebrating on St. Patrick’s Day, and how he wanted to “catch a ginger.” But the officer’s Facebook status updates only got worse and his superiors have now launched an internal investigation into this faux pas.
Twitter hacker arrested in France
Over the past months, Twitter had been the target of a long list of hackers. But one of the most prominent trouble-makers on the micro-blogging site was arrested by French police earlier this week, after breaking into the accounts of celebrities and major corporations. “Hacker Croll” is reportedly a 25 year old unemployed man who still lived at home in his parents’ house and clearly had a lot of extra time on his hands. Recently, the hacker managed to break into US President Barack Obama’s Twitter account and also interrupted Britney Spears and Lilly Allen in their micro-blogging efforts. French police reportedly cooperated with the FBI in tracking down the prominent Twitter hacker, but authorities provided little concrete information into how Hacker Croll managed to break into so many popular accounts.
Blogging may be therapeutic for teens
Parents and teachers have long been worried that encouraging teenagers to blog about their thoughts and lifestyles might lead to the glorification of misbehaviour, but research conducted by Ohio State University suggest that getting youth to write blogs can actually be therapeutic for troubled teens. Dawn Anderson-Butcher, a social work professor at Ohio State, discovered that most teens wrote blogs to develop a sense of community among their peers and that rather than blogging about misbehaviour, the vast majority wrote about entirely innocuous subjects, such as attending church service with their families, the challenges of school assignments and extra-curricular activities, like sports and the performing arts. These research conclusions dismiss previously held assumptions that teens would naturally want to blog about anti-social behaviour, including drugs or alcohol use.
Twitter assassination threats worry Secret Service
At least two Twitters users and bloggers have openly called for US President Barack Obama’s assassination, following the passing of his controversial health care reform bill. Many American conservatives have fiercely opposed any attempt to extend health care benefits to 32 million citizens who currently have no coverage at all, arguing that the US cannot afford such generosity and this is an encroachment of the government on the private sector. But things turned ugly when two Twitter users openly mused about assassinating the president, perhaps not realizing that among those following their tweets is the Secret Service.
Facebook and Twitter use crucial for companies
While many small and medium-sized companies have yet to build a Facebook profile or fan page for their firm, market research published by Chadwick Martin Bailey indicates that ensuring a presence on social networking site is crucially important for success in the business world. Research shows that Facebook and Twitter users are far more likely to both recommend their favourite products and services to their friends and then purchase products suggested by others than those who do not yet use the world’s largest social networking site. In fact, 60% of Facebook users have recommended their favourite products, by posting status updates or links on their wall, and 51% also went ahead to purchase items that have been suggested on the social networking site.
Twitter spoiler causes fury among American Idol fans
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol’s host, is an avid Twitter fan; so much so, that he decided to tweet which contestant would be voted off from the televised talent show before the program had even aired on the West Coast. As such, Seacrest managed to spoil the show for millions of viewers, from Seattle all the way to down to Los Angeles. Seacrest is among a growing group of celebrities who uses Twitter to promote his shows and stay in touch with his fans. This is precisely what the American Idol host was doing when he told his followers that he would be interviewing Lacey Brown, the contestant who had just been voted off the show, on his radio program the next morning. But rather than eliciting cheerful tweets from enthusiastic fans who could hardly hold their breath until Seacrest’s radio debut, the star was surprised by the fury that he unleashed on Twitter for spoiling the show. American Idol judge Randy Jackson, however, was not that shocked, as he noted that Seacrest may be somewhat “obsessed” with the micro-blogging site.
Facebook more popular than Google in US and Canada
For the first time, Google has been knocked to second place in the race to see which website receives the most hits in a given week. According to international research firm Hitwise, Facebook received more hits than Google last week in the United States, thus becoming the country’s most popular website. But while Facebook just managed to climb to first place on its home turf last week, the social networking giant had already trounced Google before in Canada, where it has been the most visited site for the past nine months. Accorging to Hitwise, 7.07 percent of all online visits went to Facebook, while Google’s proportion stood at 7.03 percent. Interestingly, however, Facebook is even more popular in Canada, where it received 10.4 percent of all website visits, with Google lagging behind at 8.48 percent.
FBI relies on Twitter to catch suspects
The FBI is increasingly relying on Twitter and other major social networking sites to catch suspects or fugitives. A growing number of federal authorities in the United States are setting up profiles on major social networking sites, in order to nab people on the run. A US Department of Justice document discovered by the Associated Press clearly outlines the process of going undercover on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and befriending potential suspects in order to gather crucial personal information from them. Detectives also use these sites to look through the tweets, photographs, status updates and videos posted by suspects, in order to verify their alibi once apprehended by authorities. The document reveals that the FBI is especially interested in browsing photos posted on social networking sites in cases of robberies or other felonies, as pictures displaying suspects brandishing a gun or adorned in jewelry can serve as highly potent evidence of their crime.
