50 Examples: Brands Thanking Facebook Fans [viralblog]

Facebook, the social network juggernaut that amassed almost 1 billion active members, introduced Facebook (fan) pages in November 2007 as a way for businesses, organizations and bands/artists of many types to easily establish a brand presence on Facebook and build an audience of fans.

Facebook’s Facial-Recognition Acquisition Raises Privacy Concerns: Mashable

Right now, Facebook’s facial-recognition software can sense who is in your pictures and make tagging suggestions, but what if the social network could further learn behaviors and preferences by reading the Gap sweatshirt you’re wearing and seeing that Coca-Cola can in your hand?
Following Facebook’s recent acquisition of facial-recognition software company Face.com for an undisclosed amount of money last week, some users have expressed concern that the expansion of this type of technology on the social network could encroach on their privacy rights. Facebook hasn’t said what it’s future plans are for Face.com or its technology and would not comment for this story.

6 Ways to Stay on Top of Social Media: Mashable

Cara Friedman is the president of Likeable Community College, a social media training program for community managers and other social media professionals.

To be successful in social media and community management you need to keep track of the constant changes to that ecosystem. That’s because everything you know about Facebook, Twitter, and other social spaces today will somehow be different in six months. Layouts will be altered, features will be added or removed, and new social networks may pop up.

So how should you keep track of all these moving parts? Here are six tips for staying on top of social media.

Twitter Search Adds “Search Within People You Follow”, Autocomplete, Related Results : techcrunch

Twitter has just implemented a massive set of improvements to search, allowing you to search just within tweets of people you follow, autocomplete, and related results including similar hashtags and usernames. These will all help you find what you’re looking for even if you’re unsure of the exact hashtag or someone’s handle.

Yahoo and Facebook settle patent brawl: CNN

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Facebook and Yahoo are officially friends again. The two companies said Friday that they have settled the patent lawsuit Yahoo filed against Facebook four months ago, in a "strategic" deal that includes no cash.

Facebook Planning Mobile Ad System That Tracks Users’ Apps [REPORT] : mashable

Facebook is planning to roll out a new mobile advertising strategy that targets users based on which apps are installed on their phones, according to a reportfrom the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook engineers are said to have created software that can track what apps a user has downloaded. By using this information, Facebook can determine other apps that may appeal to them, serving up ads for those apps in the news feeds on their phones or tablets. Typically, Facebook users only see ads in the news feed from brands they’ve “Liked,” but this system would serve app ads whether they’ve liked the brand or not.

Tech is getting more gay-friendly :CNN

James Lazar, right, of Chicago, didn't update his Facebook page to include his marriage until the icons changed.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Facebook adds icons for users to commemorate same-sex weddings
• The icons look like cake toppers and show two men or two women
• Previously, same-sex married couples were given icons of a man and woman
• This is the latest example of tech companies pushing for LGBT inclusion

(CNN) -- James Lazar is married to a man. He won't buy anniversary cards that picture a man and a woman. He didn't want his Facebook page to show those symbols, either.

"I don't like being forced into typical gender roles -- because we aren't," he said by phone. "I think it's offensive."

Twitter to Announce a Big Search and Discovery Change Today : Mashable

Twitter has a big search and discovery announcement today, according to a tweet by the company’s Personalization and Recommender Systems Chief Pankaj Gupta.

“Search & discovery in @twitter set to change forever after tmrw,” tweeted Gupta Thursday, without giving away any other details.

It’s a long shot, but today’s possible announcement could be somehow tied to Twitter’s recent criticism of Google, after the company tightly integrated Google+ into its search results.