social

The Sims Social was once heralded as Electronic Arts' "most successful Facebook game," but now it's being laid to rest along with SimCity Social and Pet Society. These three social games will be extinct from Facebook as of June 14.

The game maker made the announcement today, saying that it was a hard decision but had to be done in order to "reallocate servers and resources to more popular titles," according to the FAQ section of its Web site.

"Today we are informing players of the difficult decision to retire some of our Facebook games: The Sims Social, SimCity Social, and Pet Society," EA wrote in a blog post today. "After millions of people initially logged in to play these games, the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off."… Read more

People in the Boston area, and those close to people possibly affected by today's explosions there, are understandably worried about their ability to find or communicate with each other. As a result, a number of organizations have created resources to help. This is a collection of several of them.

Tracking friends and family

For those trying to track down people they worry might have been victims of the explosions, there are at least two people finders. First is one set up by Google, and a second comes from the Red Cross. A third service is a list of runners who checked in … Read more

As news spread of the blasts at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, people in the area reported that phone lines were down and cell phone calls could not get through. However, smartphones enabled some to send text messages and update social media accounts.

People took to social media sites like Twitter and Instagram to notify loved ones that they were OK. Others were using Twitter as a tool to reach out and ask those in the area to post updates.

Facebook and the National Association of Attorneys General for the U.S. have signed a deal that will see the world's largest social network educate both kids and parents on Internet safety.

Facebook has been the subject of much debate among attorneys general around the U.S. who have been concerned about children's safety on the social network. Facebook has said for years that it has worked on ensuring the protection of children, and has aided attorneys general from time to time with cases or issues they're working on.

This agreement, the latest between the parties, is … Read more

In an age of information overload, apps like Flipboard provide the much- needed organization and curation tools to keep it all in one place. By taking your RSS subscriptions, Twitter account, Facebook account, and other online accounts and combining them into one easy-to-use interface, Flipboard simplifies the consumption of information on an iPad and makes it faster and easier than ever before to get what you need from your device.

When you first open Flipboard, you'll be prompted to create an account. This account will store all of your subscriptions, and you can choose to either create a new … Read more

In a quest to learn what leads some people to turn to Facebook to connect with others, doctoral student Russell Clayton of the Missouri School of Journalism found that anxiety and alcohol use seem to play a big role.

For his master's thesis, which appears in the May issue of Computers in Human Behavior, Clayton surveyed more than 225 college freshman about two emotions, anxiety and loneliness, and two behaviors, alcohol and marijuana use. He found that the students who reported both higher levels of anxiety and greater alcohol use also appeared the most emotionally connected with Facebook. Those … Read more

Foursquare has been able to raise a whopping $41 million, but the funding hasn't come in the form you might expect.

The company announced the news today, saying the cash came from a host of well-known Silicon Valley investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and others. However, rather than give those firms equity, Foursquare raised the $41 million through a combination of tapping into the Silver Lake Waterman growth debt fund, as well as asking for convertible debt from the aforementioned investors, among others.

The cash raised helps Foursquare fund its growth and also aids the company in … Read more

Facebook users in the U.K. are being treated to the same premium charges their counterparts in the U.S. have been hit with when sending messages to certain high-profile members on the social network, as well as people outside their circle of friends.

According to U.K. news site The Sunday Times, Facebook users in the U.K. late last week started being charged as much as 10 British pounds (about $15) to send messages to celebrity-status Facebook members. Olympic diver Tom Daley and former Children's laureate Michael Rosen are the most expensive celebrities to contact.

Facebook last year announced what it called a "small experiment" … Read more