Social network and groups

Instagram seems to be on a mission to add hipster photo filters to all your mobile devices this week. First, the long-awaited Android version of the popular iPhone app dropped and quickly racked up over a million downloads, and now an update opens up support to tablets and Wi-Fi devices in the Android universe.

The news is more salt in the wound of scorned iOS users who were apparently under the impression that their Vegas honeymoon with Instagram would live forever, but times are changing and it doesn't make sense for many apps to be monogamous these days. … Read more

The talk of e-commerce coming to Facebook has been discussed for years. But so far, it hasn't become a hot area. Still, some companies think that will change.

Reuters today published interviews with a host of startups, including BeachMint, Fab.com, and others, that believe Facebook is the next great e-commerce platform. The companies reason that with Facebook's more than 845 million active users -- dwarfing popular e-commerce sites, like Amazon and eBay -- they can take advantage and generate boatloads of cash.

It's something that Facebook's investors seem excited about. Millennium Technology Value Partners, which … Read more

Those of you who use Google Contacts as an address book will now be able to see your contacts' address and phone numbers directly in Google+.

Many people, myself included, use Google Contacts as an online repository to store a personal address book for my family, friends, and colleagues. As of Monday, that address book information will be accessible on your Google+ page, according to Google.

So instead of having to bounce over to Google Contacts to find someone's address or phone number, you can simply grab it within Google+ by clicking on the About tab in the person'… Read more

Facebook users can now rescue homeless cats and dogs by potentially fixing them up with the right owners.

Spearheaded by PetSmart Charities, the new Share a Pic, Save a Pet campaign is calling on users of the social network to spread the word among family, friends, and followers about pets available for adoption in their communities. Information and photos of local homeless pets, along with links to the local shelters currently hosting them, can be shared directly on your Facebook timeline and appear on the newsfeeds of your friends.

Facebook users who want to do their part can tap into … Read more

Teacher's aide Kimberly Hester has found herself on suspension and in the middle of a legal battle with her school after reportedly refusing to show a superintendent her Facebook account.

Working as an aide at the Frank Squires Elementary School in Cassopolis, Mich., Hester was employed by the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District, according to news site WSBT.

The issue arose in April 2011 when Hester posted a picture on her own time of a co-worker's pants around her ankles and a pair of shoes. Hester thought the picture harmless enough. But one of her Facebook friends, also … Read more

Facebook hasn't gone public yet, but investors have been trading the social network's shares for years. That may soon change.

Facebook has instructed secondary-market organizations, like SharesPost and SecondMarket, to stop trading its shares this week, Bloomberg reports. The move is designed to help Facebook determine who its shareholders are and to establish a proper valuation leading up to its initial public offering, Bloomberg's sources said.

Facebook filed for its IPO in February. The company hopes to raise $5 billion in the offering on a valuation that could soar past $100 billion. If that happens, it would … Read more

Have you ever followed someone on Twitter only to find that the person no longer appears in your follow status? Well, it's not you, it's Twitter.

The site has finally acknowledged a glitch that's causing people you follow to appear as if they've been unfollowed. Twitter is working on a fix but insists the bug only makes it seem like you're no longer following someone. Clicking on the user's actual profile page can confirm that you're still a follower:

It's time for Google, as it works feverishly to improve the capabilities of Google+, to add one particular feature to its social-network tool: permanent Web addresses for each comment.

I'd like this ability, and I think it would help expand the Google+ utility to its users. But it's for Google's own sake that I think comment permalinks are important.

Google+ offers what has become a pretty standard interface for social networking: members can post updates, then hold discussions in the comments below. But if you want to direct attention to a particular comment--forget it. Your best … Read more

Facebook has uncovered 200 allegedly forged e-mails that it says should be enough to throw out a case brought against it by Paul Ceglia.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which obtained court documents, Facebook's lawyers accessed Harvard University servers and recovered 200 e-mails between co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and Ceglia. The attorneys then compared those e-mails to those Ceglia furnished.

The e-mails Ceglia furnished are "fabrications and this entire lawsuit is a fraud and a lie," Facebook attorneys wrote to the court, according to the Journal.

Ceglia brought the case against Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2010, alleging … Read more