• social networks

    Why Facebook wants to spam your News Feed

    Social networks have a lifecycle: They start with a small core of early adopters, swell as mainstream users get pulled in by their friends, and then see growth taper off as people get turned off by spam. That's why Friendster is forgotten and why MySpace is looking increasingly stagnant. The price for reaching an audience advertisers care about seems to be a site users can't stand. Facebook, however, isn't following the fashionable trend. More »

    Feature

    9:00 AM on Mon Dec 1 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    5,255 views, 9 comments

    Most discussed Migrant Blogger: Wow, this is, like, a real article. more »

  • cubicle culture

    Facebook less like a college dorm than you'd think

    One imagines Facebook as a geek utopia, where hackers who dropped out of college play Rock Band all day, then stay up all night coding. The reality: It's as depressingly Dilbertian as any other company — and COO Sheryl "No-Fun" Sandberg is making sure it keeps getting more boring every day. Take the latest tiff we happened to hear about — in the social network's business-development department, the home of glad-handing charmers who negotiate deals. You'd think they'd be experts at sucking up to each other. Tim Kendall (shown left), the company's director of monetization — Valleyspeak for "guy who comes up with ideas to make money" — was left fuming after his boss, VP Dan Rose, instructed him in the art of time management. More »

    5:00 PM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    7,078 views, 16 comments

    Latest by Shadowlayer: Whoa, a to-do list! nobody told me this contraption existed! Wait, actually my dad told me about it, when I was more »

  • facebook

    Mark Zuckerberg wants to know how you feel

    Why have social networks blossomed in as antisocial an environment as Silicon Valley? Because they allow computers to become a crutch for a task most engineers find imposing: dealing with other human beings. Turning relationships into a social graph that can be fed into a database and ruled by algorithms is a genius move for tech's clumsy savants. Alex French, a writer for GQ, interviewing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a profile, wonders if his cold stare and cagey responses are an incredibly calculating attempt to intimidate, or merely a sign that he's awkward. Either way, Zuckerberg shows a disdain for displays of emotion. Asked if he celebrated Microsoft's $240 million investment in Facebook, Zuckerberg seems puzzled by the question's premise. And yet emotion is at the core of Zuckerberg's plan for world domination. More »

    1:00 PM on Tue Nov 18 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    7,447 views, 35 comments

    Most discussed its_a_feature: That's a truly awesome picture of the Zuck -- in a "40-year old virgin" sort of way. more »

  • great moments in pr

    Three's a Trendrr

    Dear Trendrr publicist who sent us a data dump on the presidential candidates' social-networking prowess a day after the election: Here's your "hit" on a hot "influencer" site that thinks you're "dumb." Hands up, everyone who still cares how many MySpace friends John McCain has this afternoon. Thought so.

    3:00 PM on Wed Nov 5 2008
    By Paul Boutin
    397 views, Comment

  • mysteries

    Microsoft in the dark about Facebook's finances

    Is Facebook making money? Losing money? One would think that investing $240 million in a company entitles one to answers to such questions. But one would be wrong. Microsoft executives are so in the dark about the social network's finances that they have taken to quizzing reporters for information, we hear. (Photoillustration by Richard Blakeley)

    10:20 AM on Mon Nov 3 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    2,396 views, 6 comments

    Most discussed fashionistaontheprowl: can Steve Balmer please keep his tongue in his mouth? It is so disgusting. more »

  • social networks

    No poking your television

    "Some of the tools that allow people to build communities and socialize on Internet sites like MySpace and Facebook are making their way to the living room," reports the Wall Street Journal. Awesome! That means we'll be able to throw a sheep at Tina Fey while watching 30 Rock, right? Wrong. The article actually talks about using Xbox Live as a cheap voice-chat service, a Sony service which doesn't exist yet, and a bunch of startups. Too bad, because I'd love to multitask my two favorite brain-dead activities: watching TV and clicking "ignore" on Facebook friend requests. (Illustration by Jason Schneider/Wall Street Journal)

    3:00 PM on Mon Oct 27 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    180 views, Comment

  • xochi birch

    Bebo founder admits her fortune came from ripoffs

    Imitation is the sincerest form of getting rich. MySpace got bought early, on the cheap; Facebook has yet to cash out. Michael and Xochi Birch's sale of Bebo, a social network more popular overseas than in the U.S., to AOL for $850 million has been the best social-network cashout to date. And how did they manage it? Shamelessly copying other sites, Xochi Birch admits to the BBC. More »

    12:00 PM on Thu Oct 23 2008
    By Owen Thomas
    3,410 views, 9 comments

    Latest by HardyEurytus: Xochi is the most endearing person you may ever meet. And what's so surprising about copying other sites? more »