social

Gideon Yu, YouTube's former chief financial officer, has been hired as Facebook's new CFO, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

Yu, 36, replaces Mike Sheridan, who joined Facebook in September, according the Journal story. Why Mike Sheridan is leaving remains unclear.

Facebook is the place to be right now, as rumors of a sale or possible public offering continue to follow the company. Employees stand to profit in the event of a sale or IPO and this hasn't hurt Facebook's recruiting efforts.

"We're not looking to sell the company, and we'… Read more

Forget the protest rally and cyberpetition, the new activist tool is Facebook.

In an unprecedented action, members of the social-network phenomenon Facebook have launched a movement to save Business 2.0 from folding. Two Canadians launched a new group, titled "I read Business 2.0--and I want to keep reading!" late last week, and since then more than 1,700 members have joined the group. The list reads like a who's-who of tech and media insiders. But, like the thousands of signatures on electronic petitions protesting everything from the Iraq War to factory farming, it's unlikely … Read more

If indie cinema hero Wes Anderson--of Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums fame--directed a quirky courtroom drama, there's a chance that it might bear some resemblance to what could unfold at Wednesday's impending showdown between social-networking sites Facebook and ConnectU.

The backstory of the legal squabble, after all, in which the three founders of college-centric start-up ConnectU have accused Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their business plan and code, reads like classic Anderson.

It's a melange of gossip about upper-crust Silicon Valley, allegations of old-school Ivy League skulduggery and an oddball cast of characters that ranges from … Read more

Tomorrow morning, I'll be heading from New York to Boston to sit in on the dismissal hearing for the lawsuit that social networking site ConnectU has filed against current Silicon Valley darling Facebook. It's a long-running drama that goes back to when the founders of both sites were students at Harvard, and no one's entirely sure how it's going to turn out.

I'll have a story on the subject on News.com very soon. In the meantime, here's what some other news outlets have been saying in the weeks leading up to the case: … Read more

Sometimes, it pays not to be linked in. Ignorance is bliss.

Security researchers are reporting a public exploit has been designed that could take advantage of critical security flaws in the LinkedIn Internet Explorer Toolbar.

The vulnerabilities do not apply to the Linkedin.com Web site, only the LinkedIn IE toolbar.

Users of the LinkedIn social-networking site that have the IE toolbar installed on their computers could be at risk of a remote attack, should they visit a malicious Web site, according to a posting by VDA Labs' Jared DeMott and Justin Seitz, who discovered the flaws.

The security flaws … Read more

Media-sharing site Twango updated its Web site on Monday to announce that it's been chomped up by cell phone manufacturer Nokia. With its cool new toy, Nokia hopes to make it easier for handset owners to share multimedia content among desktop, Web, and mobile platforms.

"The Twango acquisition is a concrete step towards our consumer Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks--at any time, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose," said Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's executive vice president and general manager of multimedia at Nokia, in … Read more

On Tuesday, MySpace will take another step in its gradual global expansion by fully launching the MySpace Mexico portal. The site has been in beta since January; MySpace has highlighted its success with ComScore statistics that put MySpace Mexico's total unique active visitors. at approximately 1.5 million per month.

MySpace, which gained much of its early buzz in the U.S. by catering to the independent music community, has aimed for a similar strategy in Mexico--in May, it sponsored the Vive Latino festival in Mexico City. To commemorate the launch of MySpace Mexico, the News Corp.-owned social … Read more

Hi, I'm Caroline! This is my new blog, which the benevolent dictatorship at CNET News.com has generously allowed me to create as part of our fun new personal blogging endeavor. Here, I'll talk about the social dimension of the digital world--from the unwritten etiquette of Facebook to the viral sensation of the Dramatic Chipmunk to hilarious misadventures in text messaging. I like to think of it as new media with more cowbell, but seeing as this is the first post, I can't really illustrate that yet. You'll just have to take my word for it.… Read more

If anyone's added you as a friend on Facebook recently, you may notice something different: previously, upon confirming a friend request, you were redirected to a separate page that asked you to check a few boxes and fill out a text field or two describing your relationship with the person in question. The options range from "Went to school together" to "In my family" to "We hooked up." The Facebook member on the other end of the "relationship" must then confirm the detail before it becomes visible to anyone who's … Read more