OKCupid experimented on users just like Facebook did because “That’s how websites work” July 29, 2014 Dating site OKCupid has boldly admitted to performing experiments on users in the same way as Facebook because “that’s how websites work.” OKCupid founder Christian Rudder detailed three experiments the website performed on users in a blog post titled “We Experiment On Human Beings!”. Despite the public outrage after Facebook was found to have experimented [...]
Facebook share price soars to record high, double its IPO value July 24, 2014 It wasn't that long ago that Facebook's stock was on a downward spiral, as investors questioned the social network's ability to make money with an increasing number of people logged in via their mobile devices. What a difference two years makes in the world of social media and tech stocks. Today, Facebook shares surpassed $76, [...]
Almost one in three Facebook users access the social media site only on their mobile phones July 23, 2014 Facebook has just revealed a bumper earnings report once again, topping analyst estimates for the ninth consecutive quarter. While the topline figures are no doubt impressive, featuring a jump in revenue, net income, earnings per share and advertising revenue, delving deeper into the numbers demonstrates how mobile is the motor behind Facebook's growth and that will [...]
Facebook profits continue to surge as mobile ad revenue soars July 23, 2014 Facebook has smashed Wall Street revenue and earnings estimates – again. The social network reported that its revenues jumped from $1.8bn in the second quarter of 2013 to $2.9bn in the three months from April to June this year. Profits soared to $791m, earnings per share of $0.30, up by more than double the $333m, [...]
Facebook isn’t just for procrastinating: How using social media could be a career booster July 16, 2014 It's all too easy to put the words “social media” and “career” together and immediately think “disaster”. Well-publicised mishaps, not least former US congressman Anthony Weiner’s alleged salacious tweeting back in 2011, have led to the conception that Facebook, Tumblr and the like are nothing but a minefield for professionals. But this is a misconception. [...]
Facebook experiment: Now privacy group makes complaint to US regulator July 4, 2014 A US privacy group has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission regarding a controversial psychological experiment performed on Facebook users without consent. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has asked the business regulator to investigate Facebook, claiming “the company purposefully messed with people’s minds” and the experiment “violates a privacy consent order and [...]
Facebook buys up LiveRail for around $500m July 3, 2014 Facebook has announced it has bought online video advert targeting firm LiveRail, as the social network site seeks to gain from fast growing revenues in online video advertising. LiveRail, founded in 2007, works to help target more relevant adverts for online videos, and does business with a range of companies, including DailyMotion and Major League [...]
Facebook to face UK probe over user study July 2, 2014 BRITAIN’S data protection commissioner yesterday announced it would investigate Facebook over whether it had broken the law by conducting a controversial psychological experiment in 2012 on nearly 700,000 users without their consent. Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg yesterday apologised for “communicating really badly” about the experiment, which adjusted users’ news feeds to determine the [...]
“Facebook rape” is now a crime in Ireland July 2, 2014 Ireland's first case establishing so-called Facebook rape, or “frape”, as a crime has taken place in Dublin's central criminal court. The act involves posting updates from someone else's account without their permission. The case involved a man using a woman's mobile phone to access her Facebook account, publishing sexually offensive status updates from it. A [...]
Facebook faces regulator probe into user experiment July 2, 2014 Regulators in the UK are investigating Facebook to assess if any data protection laws were broken when it conducted a controversial psychological experiment on users without their knowledge. The Information Commissioners Office (ICO), the government body which oversees data and privacy regulation in the UK, said it would question Facebook about the experiment although it [...]