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.
Having tried to insert the wording of the rejected Communications Data Bill into new U.K. anti-terror legislation, then having withdrawn the amendment before reintroducing it days later, securocrat members of the… Read more »
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Many consumers have grown resigned to the parade of privacy breaches that occur when apps or big tech companies like Facebook or Google misuse their personal data. These incidents typically result in a slap on the… Read more »
In a new research paper, sociologist Zeynep Tufekci argues that while social media can empower dissidents and make it easier to organize, governments are getting smarter — and the same things… Read more »
Ads dominated the discussion during Facebook’s fourth quarter earnings call this Wednesday. COO Sheryl Sandberg told analysts that the company is charging 335 percent more for each ad on average, despite the fact that… Read more »