Hashtags Help Coordinate Relief Efforts in Philippine Floods

In the midst of widespread flooding in Manila, which displaced more than 80,000 residents and caused at least 50 deaths by unofficial count, a digital lifeline emerged. Filipino citizens, non-profit organizations and government agencies have been using social media to coordinate relief efforts and rescue missions.

The Philippines, one of the most social media-savvy countries in the world, relied on Facebook and Twitter to disseminate information as people pleaded for rescuers to retrieve them from the rooftops of their homes.

Roughly half of the population uses social networks — something that government rescue workers, volunteers and media outlets used to their advantage by creating unified hashtags to spread information more efficiently. #RescuePH is for rescue calls; relief aid’s hashtag is #ReliefPH, breaking news falls under #FloodsPH, and official government alerts are tagged with #PHalert.

Social media users also created a relief center map on Google Maps and a rescue request form.

Do you think consolidated hashtags and online coordination make a noticeable difference in disaster response, or is an official rescue request form an unnecessary step in relief aid? Let us know in the comments. (Mashable.com)

Not on Facebook? Employers, Psychiatrists May Think You’re a Psychopath

There are more than 955 million Facebook users, and it could hurt you to not be one of them.

Some psychiatrists and employers now find it suspicious for an individual to keep off Facebook, reports The Daily Mail. That’s because for today’s young generation, having Facebook is considered “normal,” while opting out is considered “abnormal.”

Employers may suspect that an applicant’s absence from the social network means the account is so full of offensive material that it had to be deleted. After all, 90% of recruiters check out candidates’ online profiles.

Similarly, psychologists see Facebook activity as a reflection of a healthy social life.

“The Internet has become a natural part of life,” psychologist Christopher Moeller told Germany’s Der Taggspiegel. “It’s possible that you get feelings of positive feedback through online friends.” [Translated from German]

In excess, Moeller says, Facebook interactions can reinforce feelings of social anxiety experienced offline.

As the German magazine points out, both suspected Aurora theater gunman James Holmes and the Norwegian massacre shooter Anders Behring Breivik share an absence from Facebook. The publication went as far as to say that Facebook abstainers have reason to be suspected mass murderers.

The two shooters had online footprints on more obscure social networks — Breivik on MySpace and Holmes on Adult Friend Finder.

Do you find it suspicious when you meet someone who’s not on Facebook? Do you think being active on Facebook reflects a healthy social life? Let us know in the comments. (Mashable.com)

How to Reach Out to Potential Employers on Social Media

It’s no secret that employers are incorporating social media into their recruiting plans to find top talent. For job seekers looking to stay current, you know the opportunities exist. But, knowing how to properly reach out may be the barrier between you and your dream job.

Job candidates commonly struggle when it comes to effectively leveraging social media platforms to connect with employers. Out of fear of being a nuisance and making an awful first impression, many refrain from getting themselves a step ahead in the job search.

Deciding what is appropriate in the eyes of recruiters and hiring managers online can be a daunting process to sort through. Below, we outline two very important elements of reaching out to employers on social media properly.

Find People for Informational Interviews

Informational interviews are your way of gaining a more in-depth look at a potential employer by gathering first-hand knowledge from past or current employees; a casual, coffee-shop conversation can yield a lot of insights. Social media gives you the opportunity to add two-way communication to the research you have already conducted regarding the company. You can network with alumni, new hires and former employees with the following:

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the professional online network most used by employers. First, make sure you have at least 150 connections prior to utilizing it as an asset to your job search. When you visit your desired company’s page, review “Your College Alumni.” These individuals are great candidates for informational interviews.
• Twitter: Twitter is a level playing field that enables you to reach out to company employees with a likely chance of getting a response. Since many employees mention their employers in their bios, take advantage of Twitter directories such as Twellow to help you find profiles mentioning your desired company. You can also @reply to the company’s personal Twitter account inquiring about an informational interview source.
• Facebook: There are many Facebook applications, such as BranchOut, intended to ease the process of finding connections to companies within in your own network. These applications will help you effectively incorporate the largest social network in your job search.

How to Ask for Their Time

The catch with reaching out to employers online is that they are not obligated to respond to your requests. Therefore, it is your responsibility to make their contribution as simple as possible. Here is how:

• Have a plan: Before ever sending your LinkedIn inMail, direct message or Facebook message to their inbox, be sure you have put some thought behind it.
• Get to the point: Don’t throw your resume and your life story on them from the get-go. Be clear of what you want from the start and leave all the fluff for later.
• Express your commonalities: Having something in common with the person sparks their interest. If you have a shared interest, their ears may open.
• Be specific, avoid generalities: There is a difference between wanting just any job and wanting to work for that specific company. Let the employer know why you are pursuing them.

Social media places our future employers within arm’s length. Although it simplifies the process for us, remember to remain professional and polite when reaching out to employers online. Believe me, your online network works. You just have to use it properly.

Have you utilized social media in your job search? Have you found success in reaching out to potential employers via social media? Share with us below! (Mashable.com)

Underemployed? Social Networking Can Help

Most would agree that having a job is better than not having a job in today’s economy. But therein lies the problem — you do the job because you have to, not because you want to. Job seekers not only face a selective job market with high unemployment, but with high underemployment.

Underemployment, despite its advantages over unemployment, is an issue not to be overlooked. It includes people working part-time who would like full-time employment, and people working at lower-level jobs than what they are qualified for, or earning less than they should be, due to the lack of available jobs. According to Gallup data, 18.1% of U.S. adults in the workforce are underemployed, while one in three young adults are underemployed (and twice as likely as older adults to be so).

The disadvantages of underemployment aren’t too different from being unemployed. People seem to lose motivation in their career path and are set back from advancing, potentially for a few years. An even bigger and distinct disadvantage is not having the time to look for employment because of current job obligations. The recession produced layoffs and a selective job market, leaving many qualified professionals settling for jobs that don’t utilize hard skills and their degree at large. Those baristas with MBAs, those waiters with biochemistry degrees, and those receptionists who went to nursing school are just as unable to find and land the job that’s a fit for them.

The underemployed have a different set of challenges — they are more set on building a career with relevant positions, but also need to find these positions without much digging. Fortunately, social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, make the job search much more direct and accessible. Below, you’ll find three ways to optimize your social networking if you’re one of the many underemployed.

Target Companies

The underemployed aren’t just looking for another position, they are looking for careers. Careers are built by companies, not just one job. Companies related to your degree and career interests will take people with common backgrounds and place them into roles that are challenging, and they’ll advance upward.

Make a list of target companies that offer roles on your projected career path. Follow them on Twitter and LinkedIn, and “like” their Facebook pages. Also look for “insiders,” or current employees, on social media to connect with. Your best bet is to reach out to someone at, or just above, your career level with a similar professional experience and background, and ask a few questions related to the job search and that person’s career.

Don’t simply ask for a job, but see if they can provide insight into the job market in your area, or advice on how they advanced their career, or even if they can connect you with relevant contacts within the company. Do this periodically (set a time about once a week) so that you can start finding better leads to jobs you want and can see yourself enjoying. Even if you’re offered entry-level work, despite ten years in the field or a master’s degree, consider what you can do to advance in the position, or better yet, ways you can meet people in the field more easily if you get your foot in the door.

Target Connections

In line with the tactic of reaching out to insiders, consider tapping into your own extended network. Your co-workers, friends, family and colleagues all serve as connections to jobs within your and their own networks. Remember that connections produce direct opportunities to jobs, whether it’s by a warm lead or through referrals.

When using your social network, be transparent about your job search progress and what you’re looking for through status updates, tweets or your bio. Don’t worry about coming off as desperate, unless you’re literally begging for someone to help you. Just simply state your current situation and what the next best (but relevant) situation you’re looking to gain. For example, “Emerging public relations practitioner looking for opportunities in non-profits and government agencies.” It’ll give everyone who is willing to help a better idea of what you’re fit for when they come across an employment opportunity.

Go in a New Direction

After being unemployed and then underemployed, some may feel their career path is just not working out for them. It may be saturated, or the person might not be in the right area with enough jobs, yet be unable to relocate. For some, changing fields is a last resort. For others, it can be a rewarding way to build a stable career path.

Social networking can ease this transition smoothly. First, meeting professionals in your new career path is easier than ever. You can find them usually occupying industry-related spaces, like Twitter chats or groups on LinkedIn and Facebook. Ask questions, participate in discussion and absorb all the advice you’re given. Additionally, these social networks are vast in sharing specific career resources — conferences, webinars, ebooks — anything and everything to craft your hard skills for your new career. Use social media to engage with your connections, and you’ll be able to learn what you need to do to lessen the impact of your minimal work experience.

Being unemployed or underemployed isn’t fun. It’s time consuming and frustrating, to say the least. But, making the most of the connections you have and fully utilizing your social networks can help you determine what direction you need to go in, and how to get yourself where you want to be.

What do you think? How have you used social media to find more relevant positions? Share your thoughts in the comments below. (Mashable.com)

Mark Zuckerberg’s Sister Is Now a Google Employee

In what may make for awkward family get-togethers, Mark Zuckerberg‘s sister, Arielle, is now a Google employee.

The younger Zuckerberg is presumably making the move as part of Google’s acquisition of Wildfire Interactive, which was announced on Tuesday. Arielle’s blog lists her occupation as junior product manager for the social media marketing firm. Arielle previously offered constructive criticism of her brother’s company’s site overhaul last fall.

Arielle’s not the only Zuckerberg sibling in the business. Randi Zuckerberg, former director of marketing for Facebook, left the company last August to pursue other projects. Randi is an executive producer for Silicon Valley, a Bravo reality TV show that is raising hackles in the Valley for bringing Hollywood voyeurism to tech. Randi tweeted about the move on Tuesday, alluding to the fact Arielle’s not the only Zuckerberg at Google:

Randi Zuckerberg
@randizuckerberg
Congrats Wildfire! There are officially now more Zuckerberg family members working for Google than Facebook! #awkward ;)

Zuckerberg also has another sister, Donna, who was born in 1987. (Mashable.com)

Twitter clocks half-billion users

PARIS—Over 500 million people are on micro-blogging site Twitter and Americans and Brazilians are the most connected, according to a study by social media monitor Semiocast released Monday.

Twitter surpassed the half-billion mark at the end of June, with the United States accounting for both the most users and largest number of “tweets” or short messages of no more than 140 characters posted on the site.

The Paris-based monitor carried out the study by analysing data like time zone, geolocation and language available for the social networking site’s total 517 million accounts.

The US accounted for more than 141 million of Twitter users, with Brazil ranking second with 41 million after seeing its number rise by 23 percent since the start of the year. Japan came in third with 35 million users.

Americans also posted the highest number of Twitter messages, with 25.8 percent of all tweets hailing from the US.

Japan came second accounting for 10.6 percent of all tweets, making Japanese the second most common language on Twitter after English.

The study found Jakarta to be the most active Twitter zone, with 2.4 percent of all tweets originating in the Indonesian capital.

The popularity of Twitter continued to soar in the Arab world following the site’s key role in the “Arab Spring” revolutions last year, with Arabic now the site’s sixth most common language. (Inquirer.net)

Apple Considered Investing in Twitter

Apple isn’t currently in talks with Twitter to invest in the social-networking site, but according to a report from The New York Times, the two companies were previously in such discussions that would value Twitter at more than $10 billion.

“Apple has considered an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, one that could value Twitter at more than $10 billion, up from an $8.4 billion valuation last year, these people [briefed on the matter] said. They declined to be named because the discussions were private,” the Times reports.

Social media, so far, isn’t in Apple’s wheelhouse, and it’s had fragile relations with Facebook in the past. Things with Twitter, on the other hand, have been a little more friendly. As the Times points out, Twitter’s baked in to Apple’s operating systems.

“Those guys are a great partner,” Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said of Apple in a separate interview, according to the Times. “We think of them as a company that our company looks up to.”

In the paired-up world of tech giants and social media, Microsoft and Facebook have each other and Google (which owns Apple’s mobile competitor Android) has Google+. Could Twitter and Apple be the next hot couple? (Mashable.com)

On Reddit, Rapists Say They’re Sorry

A Reddit thread circulating the Internet on Friday tells the “other side of the story” with accounts from rapists.

On Thursday, a Redditor started a thread soliciting comments from rapists by writing, “Reddit’s had a few threads about sexual assault victims, but are there any Redditors from the other side of the story?” According to a Jezebel report, the original Redditor also asked, “What were your motivations? Do you regret it?”

More than 11,000 people have commented on the thread, with votes up and down split nearly even. One of Friday’s top comments came from a self-identified “post-college aged male” who admitted to raping “several women through use of coercion, alcohol, and other tactics over a course of 3 years.” He went on to write that he feels bad and has since changed his ways, adding that he’s now a “fervent volunteer in the community.” Some of the commenters explained that they thought the women they assaulted had “wanted it” or that women need to better protect themselves from uncontrollable men. Other commenters, not surprisingly, were horrified by what they read.

As the day went on the thread was filled with more comments from victims of rape and sexual assault, as well as stories from men who “almost” raped someone.

Reddit has long had a reputation for lacking credibility. For a long time, it’s been filled with memes and other viral content, but lately more legitimate and informed conversations have started on the site.

So will the people who claimed to have committed rape in the past ever be prosecuted due to this thread? Probably not.

Users have a right to free speech but there is a fine line between First Amendment rights and saying something incriminating. For law enforcement to go after people on Reddit who claim to have committed rape, their posts would have to be more factual (with names and dates, for example) to warrant investigators getting subpoenas to look into their backgrounds. As is, these Redditor’s admission are simply hearsay.

Should the commenters who admitted to rape on this thread be investigated by law enforcement? Tell us in the comments. (Mashable.com)

Twitter Apologizes for Massive Outage

Following a lengthy outage on Thursday, Twitter said it is “deeply” sorry for the inconvenience it has caused users.

“We are sorry,” Twitter said via a blog post. “Many of you came to Twitter earlier today expecting, well, Twitter. Instead, between around 8:20 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. PT, users around the world got zilch from us. By about 10:25 a.m. PT, people who came to Twitter finally got what they expected: Twitter. ”

The social network added that the outage came from within its data centers.

“Data centers are designed to be redundant: when one system fails (as everything does at one time or another), a parallel system takes over,” Twitter said. “What was noteworthy about today’s outage was the coincidental failure of two parallel systems at nearly the same time.”

The outage was first noticed at around 11:15 a.m. ET and experienced issues for well over an hour. The platform slowly come back across the U.S.

“We’re aware of the issue and are looking into it,” a Twitter spokesperson told Mashable. “We will let you know when we have an update, and keep an eye on status.twitter.com for updates as well.”

The company also posted a note on its blog informing members of the issue: “Users may be experiencing issues accessing Twitter,” it said on the site. “Our engineers are currently working to resolve the issue.”

Today’s outage didn’t just take down Twitter.com but also some of its mobile clients. The issue also disabled the t.co URL shortener. (Mashable.com)

Facebook Has 955 Million Active Users — Still Shy of a Billion

Those champagne bottles are staying on ice at Facebook HQ.

The social network has been inching ever closer to the major milestone of a billion monthly active users (that is, folks who log into Facebook at least once a month). In April, as part of an amendment to its IPO filing with the SEC, the company announced it had 901 million monthly active users.

Some observers — and more than a few Facebook employees — had hoped this number would hit the magic billion by the time its second quarter results came out (ie. today). Others, such as Gregory Lyons, a senior analyst at iCrossing, predicted the billion mark would be reached in August. Now it’s looking more like those champagne corks will pop in September, or even October.

Nine hundred and fifty-five million users, of course, is still a superlative achievement. Facebook can also boast that 552 million of them log in every day — up from 526 million in April. The 955 million number also represents 29% growth in users year on year.

When Facebook first filed its IPO paperwork with the SEC in February, the network had 845 million users. It hit the 500 million mark back in mid 2010, hence the tag line for that year’s award-winning movie The Social Network: “you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” The number was out of date by the time those posters hit billboards.

But of course, even 955 million users isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion users. (Expect to see that joke roll out with increasing frequency over the next few months.)

How big can Facebook get? Let us know in the comments if you think the social network will ever hit two billion monthly active users. (Mashable.com)

US man’s ‘confession’ obituary goes viral

LOS ANGELES—A US man’s self-written obituary, in which he reminisces about the good times – and makes a few confessions, including never having earned the PhD he claimed in life – has gone viral.

Val Patterson, who died of throat cancer last week, professed his abiding love for his wife and remembered the joy of being young in Utah. But he also admitted to some things he shouldn’t have done.

“As it turns out, I AM the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June, 1971. I could have left that unsaid, but I wanted to get it off my chest,” he said in the obituary in the Salt Lake Tribune.

“Also, I really am NOT a PhD. What happened was that the day I went to pay off my college student loan… the girl working there put my receipt into the wrong stack, and two weeks later a PhD diploma came in the mail.

“I didn’t even graduate, I only had about three years of college credit. In fact, I never did even learn what the letters ‘PhD’ even stood for.”

The 59-year-old described himself as an “artist, inventor, business man, ribald comedian, husband, brother, son, cat lover, cynic.

“I had a lot of fun,” he wrote.

“It was an honor for me to be friends with some truly great people. I thank you. I’ve had great joy living and playing with my dog, my cats and my parrot.

“But, the one special thing that made my spirit whole, is my long love and friendship with my remarkable wife, my beloved Mary Jane. I loved her more than I have words to express.”

Nonetheless, he said: “My regret is that I felt invincible when young and smoked cigarettes when I knew they were bad for me.

“Now, to make it worse, I have robbed my beloved Mary Jane of a decade or more of the two of us growing old together and laughing at all the thousands of simple things that we have come to enjoy.”

He concluded: “If you knew me or not, dear reader, I am happy you got this far into my letter. I speak as a person who had a great life to look back on.

“If you knew me, remember me in your own way. If you want to live forever, then don’t stop breathing, like I did.”

The online obituary was linked to a memorial video on the website of a local funeral parlor – which crashed Tuesday under the weight of people trying to log on to see more, at one point receiving 100,000 hits a minute.

Here's the actual obituary written by Val.

I was Born in Salt Lake City, March 27th 1953. I died of Throat Cancer on July 10th 2012. I went to six different grade schools, then to Churchill, Skyline and the U of U. I loved school, Salt Lake City, the mountains, Utah. I was a true Scientist. Electronics, chemistry, physics, auto mechanic, wood worker, artist, inventor, business man, ribald comedian, husband, brother, son, cat lover, cynic. I had a lot of fun. It was an honor for me to be friends with some truly great people. I thank you.  I’ve had great joy living and playing with my dog, my cats and my parrot. But, the one special thing that made my spirit whole, is my long love and friendship with my remarkable wife, my beloved Mary Jane. I loved her more than I have words to express. Every moment spent with my Mary Jane was time spent wisely. Over time, I became one with her, inseparable, happy, fulfilled. I enjoyed one good life. Traveled to every place on earth that I ever wanted to go. Had every job that I wanted to have. Learned all that I wanted to learn. Fixed everything I wanted to fix. Eaten everything I wanted to eat. My life motto was: “Anything for a Laugh”. Other mottos were “If you can break it, I can fix it”, “Don’t apply for a job, create one”. I had three requirements for seeking a great job; 1 – All glory, 2 – Top pay, 3 - No work.

Now that I have gone to my reward, I have confessions and things I should now say. As it turns out, I AM the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June, 1971. I could have left that unsaid, but I wanted to get it off my chest. Also, I really am NOT a PhD. What happened was that the day I went to pay off my college student loan at the U of U, the girl working there put my receipt into the wrong stack, and two weeks later, a PhD diploma came in the mail. I didn’t even graduate, I only had about 3 years of college credit. In fact, I never did even learn what the letters “PhD” even stood for. For all of the Electronic Engineers I have worked with, I’m sorry, but you have to admit my designs always worked very well, and were well engineered, and I always made you laugh at work. Now to that really mean Park Ranger; after all, it was me that rolled those rocks into your geyser and ruined it. I did notice a few years later that you did get Old Faithful working again. To Disneyland – you can now throw away that “Banned for Life” file you have on me, I’m not a problem anymore – and SeaWorld San Diego, too, if you read this.

To the gang: We grew up in the very best time to grow up in the history of America. The best music, muscle cars, cheap gas, fun kegs, buying a car for “a buck a year” -- before Salt Lake got ruined by over population and Lake Powell was brand new. TV was boring back then, so we went outside and actually had lives. We always tried to have as much fun as possible without doing harm to anybody - we did a good job at that.

If you are trying to decide if you knew me, this might help… My father was RD “Dale” Patterson, older brother “Stan” Patterson, and sister “Bunny” who died in a terrible car wreck when she was a Junior at Skyline. My mom “Ona” and brother “Don” are still alive and well. In college I worked at Vaughns Conoco on 45th South and 29th East. Mary and I are the ones who worked in Saudi Arabia for 8 years when we were young. Mary Jane is now a Fitness Instructor at Golds on Van Winkle – you might be one of her students – see what a lucky guy I am? Yeah, no kidding.

My regret is that I felt invincible when young and smoked cigarettes when I knew they were bad for me. Now, to make it worse, I have robbed my beloved Mary Jane of a decade or more of the two of us growing old together and laughing at all the thousands of simple things that we have come to enjoy and fill our lives with such happy words and moments. My pain is enormous, but it pales in comparison to watching my wife feel my pain as she lovingly cares for and comforts me. I feel such the “thief” now - for stealing so much from her - there is no pill I can take to erase that pain.

If you knew me or not, dear reader, I am happy you got this far into my letter. I speak as a person who had a great life to look back on. My family is following my wishes that I not have a funeral or burial. If you knew me, remember me in your own way. If you want to live forever, then don’t stop breathing, like I did.

Source: Inquirer.net, starksfuneral.com

Digg Is Being Rebuilt From Scratch And Needs Your Help

More than a week after news surfaced that the once popular site Digg was purchased for $500,000 by Betaworks, its new parent company said it will be rebuilding it from scratch in the next six weeks. And it wants your help.

“We are a startup team with ambitious principles and we need to move quickly,” according to the post on rethinkdigg.com. “The old Digg infrastructure was expensive and it afforded us little latitude to innovate and build at a fast clip. So four weeks ago, we set an a aggressive goal to move to a new infrastructure by August 1. We are starting with a fresh code base — it’s modern, it’s fast and it’s shiny and new.”

The team — made of 10 engineers, designers and editors by a team at News.me — said that “after an adrenaline and caffeine-fueled six weeks,” it plans to roll out the latest version.

“With this launch, we’re taking the first step towards (re)making Digg the best place to find, read and share the most interesting and talked about stories on the Internet — and we want your help.”

SEE ALSO: Digg: The Rise and Fall of an Internet Darling

The company urges Digg fans to take a short survey to help it strategize the redesign. Questions range from evaluating the quality of stories on the homepage, if you would recommend the current version to a friend and what type of phone you own.

“We care because Digg represented the messiness of the Internet at its best,” the site said. “It showed us that, out of the noise and the clutter, between the lolcats and the Kim Kardashian stories, a passionate but uncoordinated group of strangers could come together to create something coherent and substantial.”

It continued: “Alone, each of these individuals had no following, but together they were able to capture a global audience with stories that the mainstream media had mistakenly deemed unimportant. Digg is worth protecting. To do that, we need your help, your input and your support.”

What would you like to see on the new Digg? What worked with the last version and what didn’t? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Mashable

Facebook Monitors Your Chats for Criminal Activity

Facebook and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behavior is detected, according to a report.

The screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language.

The software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also “smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.

If the scanning software flags a suspicious chat exchange, it notifies Facebook security employees, who can then determine if police should be notified.

Keeping most of the scanned chats out of the eyes of Facebook employees may help Facebook deflect criticism from privacy advocates, but whether the scanned chats are deleted or stored permanently is yet unknown.

The new details about Facebook’s monitoring system came from an interview which the company’s Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan gave to Reuters. At least one alleged child predator has been brought to trial directly as a result of Facebook’s chat scanning, according to Reuters’ report.

When asked for a comment, Facebook only repeated the remarks given by Sullivan to Reuters: “We’ve never wanted to set up an environment where we have employees looking at private communications, so it’s really important that we use technology that has a very low false-positive rate.”

Facebook works with law enforcement “where appropriate and to the extent required by law to ensure the safety of the people who use Facebook,” according to a page on its site.

“We may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests (including criminal and civil matters) if we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law. This may include respecting requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law under the local laws in that jurisdiction, apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are consistent with generally accepted international standards.

“We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities.”

Indeed, Facebook has cooperated with police investigations in the past. In April, it complied with a police subpoena from the Boston Police Department by sending printouts of wall posts, photos and login/IP data of a murder suspect.

Is Facebook doing a public service by monitoring chats for criminal behavior? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Mashable

Without Social Media, 18% Of Teens Would Stop Communicating

18% of teens would stop communicating altogether if their favorite social networks shut down. That’s according to a recent survey of American high school and college students done by email marketing company AWeber.

According to the survey, 90% of teens are on Facebook, and an astounding 93% of teenagers use mobile phones -– the same amount that use email. 74% of teens are YouTube users, and 47% use Skype to keep up with others.

Facebook and Email own almost equal parts of teens’ hearts. With teenagers going for both when they wake up in the morning, while they’re in class, and even while they’re on vacation.

6% of teens thought they might replace their cell phones with a landline or writing more letters if mobile phones suddenly became unavailable. A whopping 18%, however, thought that they would stop communicating altogether if their favorite channel of communication disappeared.

Check out the infographic below for a closer look. What would you do if your favorite social network suddenly closed? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Mashable