Social Media Access via Mobile Browser Sees Triple-Digits

Access to social media sites via smartphones has increased 8.3 points in the past year, from 22.5 percent in January 2009 to 30.8 percent in January 2010, according to recent data from comScore. Access to Facebook via mobile browser increased 112 percent in the same time frame, while Twitter experienced... 

“American Idol” pulls plug on Twitter, Facebook pages

“American Idol” producers have pulled the plug on individual contestant Twitter and Facebook pages. According to the Los Angeles Times, they have all been consolidated into one shared social media page used by all of the contestants. Followers of individual contestants on Twitter received the following... 

LinkedIn Partners with Calendar Application

If you have ever been invited to a company meeting and wondered the title, role and background of the other attendees, now you can find out. LinkedIn announced yesterday that it has integrated its services with Tungle.me, a calendaring application company, making it easy for meeting attendees to view... 

Email Marketing Company Exact Target Acquires CoTweet

GigaOm.com reports that CoTweet, a Twitter management tool used by major companies like McDonald’s, Microsoft, Ford, Dell and Pepsi, has been purchased by email marketer Exact Target for an undisclosed sum. This move could create an interesting intersection of social media and traditional email-based... 

U.S. Military Can Now Use Social Media

CNN reports that U.S. military personnel are now allowed tweet. According to the article, the Pentagon announced Friday that military personnel can use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube “from non-classified government computers as long as the activity does not compromise operational... 

White Sox Manager Guillen Joins Twitterverse

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, whose reputation for speaking his mind has gotten him into trouble before, now has a new platform to share his thoughts with the world. The Chicago Tribune reports that Guillen has started to use Twitter, a move that has already drawn concern from team General... 

Yahoo! Announces Twitter Deal

Yahoo! today announced a partnership with Twitter to integrate the micro-blogging service’s real-time tweets in Yahoo!’s global network. The partnership will allow people to access their personal Twitter feeds across various Yahoo! properties including the homepage and Yahoo! Mail; update their Twitter... 

Farmville Monthly Subscription a Hoax

An email claiming that Facebook users will soon have to pay to play the popular game Farmville is a hoax, according to Caroline McCarthy at CNET. A fan site had posted an email that a reader said had come from Farmville parent company Zynga, claiming that the game was moving out of “beta” mode ending... 

50 Million Tweets Per Day

Twitter announced today that its micro-blogging service experiences 50 million tweets per day (TPD), an increase of 1,400 percent from 35 million TPD in 2009. In an effort to track the company’s growth over the past few years, the Twitter analytics team has posted a TPD report on the company blog,... 

Twitter Benefits from Google Real-Time Search Integration

At first glance, there were few surprises in the most recently released comScore numbers, which showed that Google had solidified its dominance in the search engine market and stabilized in-roads made by competitors (specifically Microsoft Bing). However, a closer look reveals that one of the big winners... 

Possible Lawsuit against Facebook and Social Media Sites

CNET News reports that in response to a massive snow ball fight that took place yesterday in Center City Philadelphia, two members of Philadelphia’s city council are requesting that legal action be taken against social media sites, which were reportedly used to organize the event. More than 150 teenagers... 

Fat Flight Fiasco Leaves “Clerks” Director Kevin Smith Fuming on Twitter

The Los Angeles Times reports that director Kevin Smith, known for his shocking comedies like “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy,” received a shock of his own earlier this week when he was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for “being too fat.” Now Smith has taken to his Twitter account to... 

Facebook and Twitter Growth Reach Triple Digits in 2009

Marketing Charts reports that Facebook and Twitter both experienced triple-digit growth in 2009, according to the comScore’s Digital Year in Review. For the first time in May 2009, Facebook rose to the top spot among social networks and maintained the position throughout the year, ending with 112 million... 

Facebook Chat Integrated with AOL Instant Messaging

InformationWeek reports that AOL has integrated its instant messenger service with Facebook, utilizing the social media giant’s new Chat application program and allowing users of either platform to chat with each other. Starting on Wednesday, Facebook users could send instant messages through their... 

Facebook Mobile Reaches New Heights

Less than six months after announcing that 65 million people actively use its services on their cell phones, the popular social networking site has reached a new milestone: 100 million people now use Facebook on their mobile devices every month, accounting for nearly 1/3 of its total population of 350... 

Google Announces Google Buzz

PC World reports that Google announced a new social media tool on Tuesday called Google Buzz that is designed to link people’s Gmail accounts with features found in popular social media tools including Facebook and Twitter. Expected to be fully deployed within one week, Google Buzz allows people to... 

‘Free the Hikers’ Cause Gets Attention on YouTube

In an effort to put pressure on the Iranian government to free the three American hikers who accidently crossed over the Iranian border six months ago, the “Free the Hikers” group continues to collect petition videos as the 200th day approaches, according to the YouTube Blog Citizen Tube. Led by... 

Facebook Home Page Undergoes Redesign

PC Magazine reports that leading social media site Facebook has completed a site redesign intended to make it easier for users to immediately access their most important pieces of information and applications. The rollout is being done incrementally, meaning that not all users will immediately see changes...