Comment on Facebook through Email

Facebook has a notification feature that sends emails to inform users about comments on posts that they had created or commented on. Today, the company launched a new feature that allows users to participate in these conversations –including status updates, photos, videos and Wall posts — by replying directly through Facebook’s email notifications without having to log into the social networking site.

When users receive an email notification about certain comments or messages, they can now simply click “Reply” and start typing a comment at the top of the email. Once they press “Send”, the reply will automatically be featured as a comment on Facebook.

Facebook CEO Says “Social Norms” of Privacy are Changing

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerman made comments that could be seen as troubling to Internet privacy advocates. During an interview with Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com during the site’s Crunchie Awards presentation, Zuckerman suggested that people’s expectations for privacy are shrinking as they become more heavily involved in social media.

“People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that’s evolved over time,” Zuckerberg said. “We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are.”

Zuckerman’s comments run contrary to the recent problems Facebook has had with privacy issues in recent years. The site’s most recent privacy policy change angered many users by making potentially sensitive, private information open to the public by default.

Facebook Supports PH.D. Students with New Fellowship

Facebook today announced its Facebook Fellowship Program, offering Ph.D. students enrolled in the 2010-2011 school year an opportunity to help solve challenges facing the social Web and Internet technology. The program is open to full-time Ph.D. students who are working on research in academic topics such as Internet economics, cloud computing, social computing, data mining, machine learning and systems and information retrieval.

According to the company blog, students who qualify can apply for one of five fellowships, which will cover their tuition and fees and provide a $30,000 stipend in addition to conference travel and other benefits. Applications must be submitted by February 15 and award recipients will be notified via email on March 29.

“We look forward to working together with leading Ph.D. researchers across the country to take on the big technological challenges facing our engineers and the social web,” wrote Greg Badros, director of engineering at Facebook. “We are eagerly awaiting your applications for our first Facebook Fellowship Program.”

North Carolina Issues Social Media Policy

Government News reports that on December 23, 2009 North Carolina became the first state government to issue a social media policy. The guidelines and video tutorial are designed to encourage state agencies to become more active on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter while maintaining compliance with public records laws.

“Social networking is not the next big thing. It’s here now, and state government must stay current if we are to be fully transparent and accountable to the public,” said Governor Bev Perdue. “I encourage all state agencies to take advantage of social media to increase communication and interaction with the citizens of North Carolina.”

According to the report, the guidelines focus on three key areas:

• appropriate implementation, authorization and acceptable use of social media;
• security measures to protect individuals, sensitive information and state systems; and
• proper records management and preservation.

Facebook Top-Visited Site on Christmas Day and New Year’s

Although the main Google page has been ranked the most visited site on a daily basis for U.S. Internet users in 2009, Facebook was able to claim that title on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, according to data from Hitwise.

“One possible explanation might be that being home for the holidays might also mean being physically separated from one’s social group, leading to greater virtual contact,” writes Bill Tancer, General Manager of Global Research at Hitwise.

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