Facebook (formerly [thefacebook]) is an online social networking service. Its name comes from a colloquialism for the directory given to students at some American universities. Facebook was founded in 2004. The founders had initially limited the website’s membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to their high-school students. Facebook now allows anyone who claims to be at least 13 years old worldwide to become a registered user of the website, although proof is not required.
Users create a personal profile, add other users as friends, exchange messages, post status updates and photos, and receive notifications when others update their profiles. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists such as “People From Work” or “Close Friends”. Facebook had over one billion active users as of September 2012 (of which approximately 9% were fake). Facebook held its initial public offering in 2012 and reached a peak market capitalization of $104 billion.
Facebook has updated its bi-annual report on government data requests. The update reflects a now-familiar increase in data demands, but also the frequency with which Facebook is the subject of Patriot… Read more »
Facebook hopes to make push notifications better with its new free tool for app creators. But don’t be fooled — it’s a Trojan Horse in the company’s battle to woo mobile… Read more »
Facebook has come under fire before for manipulating the newsfeeds of its users without their knowledge, and now a Mother Jones report says the social network’s experiments may have significantly affected… Read more »
Microsoft’s newest device is meant to keep you healthy and productive. I bought one last night and see great promise with a few future improvements. My first impression? Great for health… Read more »
The social network has come out with a .onion address that works with SSL and lets users access Facebook without disclosing their true location. Read more »
Microsoft, a software power, wants to have a greater say in how data center hardware is designed. And now it’s even got some hardware partners in this effort. Read more »