Social network and groups

Facebook's Photo Syncing is being tested on Android-based devices, according to a new report.

The feature, which automatically uploads images that Android users snap with their devices to their Facebook profiles, is being tested on a small number of users, The Verge is reporting, citing comments from Facebook.

Upon snapping a photo with an Android-based handset, Facbeook's Photo Syncing automatically sends it to a private folder in the user's account. Those images can then be removed from Facebook or shared publicly, depending on the user's preference.

Photo Syncing isn't quite a secret. Facebook currently has … Read more

Users of the iPad, the iPhone, and Android devices will all spot a few changes the next time they fire up their Twitter app.

Unveiled today, Twitter's iPad app offers a new design that moves the Home, Connect, Discover, and Me categories to the left of the screen. You can now expand a tweet simply by tapping on it to quickly view its summary, and any linked photos or videos. Tapping on a link in a tweet smoothly opens it to reveal the linked Web page.

The Me page has adopted a slicker and cleaner look. The top of … Read more

Beware of social-media reviews in the coming years.

Between 10 percent and 15 percent of all user reviews on social-media sites will be paid for by companies selling the products, research firm Gartner reported today in a new study.

"With over half of the Internet's population on social networks, organizations are scrambling for new ways to build bigger follower bases, generate more hits on videos, garner more positive reviews than their competitors, and solicit 'likes' on their Facebook pages," Jenny Sussin, senior research analyst at Gartner, said today in a statement. "Many marketers have turned to … Read more

Twitter caved to a court order and handed over the tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester rather than face a stiff fine.

Twitter reportedly surrendered to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino tweets sent out last year by protester Malcolm Harris. Twitter had long resisted a prosecution subpoena demanding the data.

Reuters was first to report on the news.

Harris was arrested during an October Occupy Wall Street protest on the Brooklyn Bridge. He argues that the protesters were led to the bridge by police, so they could be arrested on charges of obstructing traffic. Prosecutors want to use … Read more

The tweets were flying in reaction to the launch of the iPhone 5 on Wednesday. So what types of responses did the new phone elicit?

A full 39 percent of the tweets about the iPhone 5 were positive, according to a report from research firm Crimson Hexagon. Among those, 14 percent said they were excited about the new phone or planned to buy it and 18 percent were eagerly anticipating or were excited about the launch itself. Just 7 percent of the positive tweets centered around new features such as the support for 4G LTE.

As examples, one eager iPhone … Read more

Wall Street is reacting positively this morning to comments made by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday as he tried to rally investors upset over the stock's recent nosedive.

As of morning trading, the stock has risen almost 6 percent, hovering at around $20.50. That's little more than a $1 dollar gain from yesterday. But it's still a hopeful and welcome change from the recent performance, which saw the stock drop below $18 a share last month from its initial IPO price of $38. The shares also were already up more than 3 percent yesterday in after-hours … Read more

Brian Stevens faces some challenges as Groupon's new chief accounting officer.

The daily deals site found itself in financial hot water earlier this year after admitting to an accounting error that triggered a higher fourth-quarter loss and lower sales than initially reported. This past April, the company was forced to restate results for last year's final quarter, increasing the net loss by $22.6 million and cutting revenue by $14.3 million.

The accounting snafu triggered shareholder lawsuits and concerns from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The "material weakness" in controls over its financial statement followed … Read more

President Barack Obama has set a new record, at least on Twitter.

The president's speech at the Democratic National Convention yesterday lit up the Twittersphere with 52,757 tweets per minute, a new record for the micro-blogging site, Twitter has revealed.

Overall, the DNC has generated heavy traffic on Twitter. From the starting festivities on Tuesday to the closing events last night, more than 9.5 million tweets about the convention have made the rounds. The final day saw around 4 million tweets alone, according to Twitter, many of them sent during Obama's speech.

The 4 million one-day … Read more

Facebook shareholders are back at it.

The company's stock is down again this morning, dropping to a new low of $17.58. The shares have since climbed a bit to $17.70, which is still down 2 percent compared to their opening price of $18.06.

After going public in May for $38 a share, Facebook shares have plummeted. On Friday, Facebook was down 5.3 percent after BMO Capital Markets reduced its 12-month price target from $25 to $15.

"We expected investor attention to return to fundamentals after the technical challenges presented by lockup expirations over the … Read more