Social network and groups

Tim Berners-Lee, known as the father of the World Wide Web, says Internet users should demand all of their inaccessible data from Facebook, Google, and every other major Web site.

"One of the issues of social networking silos is that they have the data and I don't," Berners-Lee told The Guardian in an interview published today. "There are no programs that I can run on my computer which allow me to use all the data in each of the social networking systems that I use plus all the data in my calendar plus in my running … Read more

There's a little battle forming up in a new mobile app segment: the graffiti app. The idea with these apps, of which Catarina Fake's Pinwheel is one, is that when you go to a location, you mark that you've been there and then maybe leave a note or a photo. Later, when your friends (or maybe not your friends) show up at the location or nearby it, they can see what you said and add their own comments.

The highest concept of these new companies is Wallit, which makes an augmented reality tagging app. You hold your … Read more

After Facebook spent $1 billion on Instagram, one would think Twitter would try to buy a competitor of its own to keep pace. But that doesn't appear likely.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo told reporters in Japan yesterday that Twitter has no plans to buy an Instagram competitor to keep up with Facebook. Quite the contrary, Costolo said that he plans to improve his company's application programming interface (API) to help third parties improve integration on the social network.

"I think that sometimes there is a tendency for companies to react to events in the marketplace that are … Read more

A fair number of consumers in the United States are relying on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to help them with medical and health care issues.

Polling 1,060 U.S. adults in February, PricewaterhouseCoopers found that a third use social media to find medical information, research and share symptoms, and offer their opinions about doctors, drugs, treatments, and heath plans.

One in four of those surveyed said they've used social-media services to track down reviews from other consumers about treatments and doctors, while one in three have searched for information about medical ailments related by other … Read more

A U.K.-based Zynga competitor has made some strategic moves to assert itself in the social-gaming space.

Zattikka announced yesterday that it has completed the acquisitions of online-gaming firms, Hattrick Holdings, Sneaky Games, and Concept Art House.

According to Zattikka, Hattrick Holdings is best known for its free-to-play online soccer manager, Hattrick. Concept Art House is a development studio that has worked on a host of games, including Command and Conquer and World of Warcraft. Sneaky Games has a three-game portfolio focusing on online role-playing games.

"The vision for the company is to become a large scale, diverse … Read more

Foursquare is celebrating its third-annual 4sqDay in impressive fashion.

Whenever users check in on the service today, they'll be awarded the 2012 4sqDay badge, which is accompanied with a message announcing that the startup now has 20 million users worldwide, and has hit a whopping 2 billion check-ins since it was founded in 2009.

"In 2010, Foursquare fans declared April 16 4sqDay (4/4^2 - nerds after our own heart!)," the message that accompanies the badge reads. "Two years and two billion check-ins later, you're still why we get out of bed each day. … Read more

Facebook has made it easier for users to connect with, and e-mail, others.

The company announced yesterday that over the next few weeks, it will be "updating addresses on Facebook to make them consistent across our site." In order words, a person's username address on the site will match their e-mail address username.

Although the update is minor, it might go a long way in improving use of Facebook's e-mail services. With a person's username address and e-mail address matching up, it should make it simpler for users to determine what a person's e-mail … Read more

What would you do with the extra white space now gracing the pages of Google+?

That's a question many users of the social network have been answering with the usual sarcastic spin we always love to see on the Internet.

Launching yesterday, the latest face-lift for Google+ added a slew of changes, including a new left-side navigation bar and new ways to interact with the people in your circles.

But the one change that's put people into full mocking mode is the new and extra-sized white space. Click on any virtually any Google+ page, and a good 40 … Read more

Google is unleashing a new design for its social network aimed at making the site simpler to use but also easier on the eyes.

One of the first changes to pop out is a new Navigation bar nestled on the left. Replacing the old static toolbar at the top, the Navigation bar includes the usual icons for Home, Profile, Photos, and more. But this bar is customizable.

You can change the order of the various icons to drag your favorite ones to the top. You can remove icons for features you don't use or add other icons from a &… Read more