ACLU Sues School For Punishing 12-Year-Old Over Facebook Comment

Can a school district punish a student for making derogatory comments about staff members online? Not according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit Tuesday against a Minnesota school district and sheriff’s office.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court, the ACLU claims a 12-year-old student was disciplined by administrators of the Minnewaska Area School District after she posted on Facebook that she “hated” a hall monitor who was “mean” to her.

In an interesting twist, Facebook’s sign-up policy requires users to reach 13 years of age before they are granted an account. We reached out to Facebook for a comment on the matter, and we’ll update this post when we hear back.

According to the lawsuit, the girl’s principal decided that the Facebook post constituted “bullying.” As punishment, she was given detention and made to apologize.

She then posted another comment, saying that she was annoyed someone had shown her first comment to school officials. This second comment contained off-color language. The school district’s response?

“She was given an in-school suspension and was prohibited from attending a school field trip,” according to the ACLU.

The young girl’s struggle with her school district didn’t end there. The ACLU’s lawsuit says that the girl was later forced by a school administrator to hand over her Facebook and email login information after she was accused of chatting online with another young student about sex. The ALCU said that a local police deputy was present while administrators searched through her online chat record, and that the student’s parents were not informed of the search before it occurred.

None of the posts or emails the school district found offensive were posted from a school computer or on school property.

The ACLU claims the punishments were a violation of the student’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech and Fouth Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.

“Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the school house gate,” said Charles Samuelson, executive director for the Minnesota branch of the ACLU, in a statement. “The Supreme Court ruled on that in the 1970s, yet schools like Minnewaska seem to have no regard for the standard.”

                      SEE ALSO: Dad Shoots Daughter’s Laptop Over Facebook Post [VIDEO]

Do you think the school district was right to punish the student for her posts or ask her for her login information? Sound off in the comments below.

Most Parents Monitor Kids on Facebook — And Have Their Passwords

If you think parents are keeping tabs on their kids’ Facebook profile pages and pictures, you’re absolutely right.

According to a new infographic released by market research firm Lab42, parents are keeping a watchful eye on their child via Facebook, with many checking out their pages daily (43%).

The study — which was conducted among 500 social media users – found that 92% of parents are Facebook friends with their children (of all ages) and more are turning to the site to monitor their kids’ interactions. Safety was named as the top reason for looking at their profiles (40%), followed by curiosity (15%).

But 55% of parents are also making sure the site isn’t it interfering with homework, chores or other activities. Other top concerns include not spending enough time with friends and family (45%), the potential of meeting strangers (41%), bullying others (17%) and being a victim of bullying (16%).

Meanwhile, a high majority – 72% — even have their kids’ Facebook passwords. (Lab42 didn’t provide details on which age demographics for their kids fall into this category.)

However, kids are also checking out their parent’s Facebook pages too. In fact, they are almost equally writing on their parent’s wall (54%) and commenting on photos (51%) as their parents. But even still, it’s mostly the parents initiating the friend requests, with 55% sending it rather than receiving.

Although most children make fun of their parents for their lack of Facebook knowledge (76%), most parents consider themselves very proficient (67%).

For more stats on parent-child interactions on Facebook, check out the infographic below.

Source : Mashable.com

फेसबुक, गूगल पर पाबंदी लगा सकते हैं : हाई कोर्ट

नई दिल्ली: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय ने गुरुवार को सोशल नेटवर्किंग साइट फेसबुक इंडिया और सर्च इंजन गूगल इंडिया को चेतावनी दी कि अगर वे अपने वेब पेज से आपत्तिजनक सामग्री नहीं हटाते हैं और उनको रोकने का तरीका अपनाने में विफल रहते हैं तो चीन की तरह वेबसाइटों को ‘अवरूद्ध’ किया जा सकता है।

फेसबुक और गूगल इंडिया को चेतावनी देते हुए न्यायमूर्ति सुरेश कैत ने कहा, ‘चीन की तरह हम भी ऐसे सभी वेबसाइटों को अवरूद्ध कर देंगे।’ उन्होंने इन साइटों से ‘हिंसक एवं आपत्तिजनक’ सामग्री को वेब पेज से हटाने और ऐसा करने से रोकने का तरीका विकसित करने को कहा।

मजिस्ट्रेट की अदालत में इन दोनों वेबसाइट के खिलाफ कार्यवाही पर रोक लगाने का न्यायमूर्ति कैत ने समर्थन नहीं किया। बहरहाल वे वकीलों की इस याचिका से सहमत थे कि कल निचली अदालत में वे प्रभावी सुनवाई के लिये दबाव नहीं बनाएंगे।

गूगल इंडिया की ओर से उपस्थित होते हुए पूर्व अतिरिक्त सोलीसीटर जनरल मुकुल रोहतगी ने कहा कि ‘आपत्तिजनक, अश्लील और अपमाजनक’ लेखों एवं अन्य सामग्रियों को लगाने से ‘न तो रोका जा सकता है’ और न ही ‘उनकी निगरानी’ की जा सकती है।

उन्होंने कहा, ‘इसमें मानव हस्तक्षेप संभव नहीं है और ऐसी घटनाओं को रोकना सुसंगत नहीं है। दुनिया में अरबों लोग वेबसाइट पर अपना लेख लगाते हैं। हां, वे अपमानजनक, अश्लील हो सकते हैं लेकिन उन्हें रोका नहीं जा सकता।’

Source : khabar.ndtv.com

Google, Facebook case: Govt to explain current policy by this evening

New Delhi:  Court hearings today did not bring any respite for Google or Facebook, both of who are in legal trouble over obscene material posted on their sites. Yesterday, the Delhi High Court warned that like China, India can shut down these sites. Today, a lower court that had summoned executives from the companies fixed the next hearing for March 13. A crucial development is expected this afternoon, when the government will explain in writing what, in its opinion, can be done to prevent objectionable content from being posted online, and how it currently deals with the issue.

Google and Facebook have appealed against the lower court's proceedings in the Delhi High Court, which will consider the matter on Monday.

Internet companies say they cannot develop a method to monitor defamatory or obscene material that's been posted on their sites. "No human interference is possible, and moreover, it can't be feasible to check such incidents. Billions of people across the globe post their articles on the website."  That met with an angry response from the Delhi High Court yesterday, which said, "You just have a stringent check.  Otherwise, like China, we may pass orders banning all such web sites."

The case centres on a petition filed in December by a man named Vinay Rai, who referred to obscene depictions online of Jesus Christ, the Prophet Mohammed, and various Hindu deities.  In response, a Delhi magistrate summoned the executives of 21 companies and suggested they face trial for criminal conspiracy.

Source : www.ndtv.com

If I Die: Facebook App Lets You Leave Sweet Last Words

Facebook profiles don’t die the same way people do. If I Die is a Facebook app that makes sure, even if you die, your social self can still send out your last wishes and post messages to your friends years after you’re gone.

If I Die lets “you” post a final message to your wall and loved one when you’re dead. After installing the app, you choose three “trustees” (Facebook friends) who are charged with verifying your death. Users can then record videos or craft any number of Facebook posts to be published posthumously. When your trustees confirm your death, your messages can be published all at once to your Facebook wall or released on a designated schedule.

It might be a little morbid to start recording farewell messages, but Wilook, the Israel-based company behind the app, built the app because nobody really knows when death will come: “We all have things to say and don’t necessarily have the audience with the patience to hear us,” says Eran Alfonta, the app’s co-founder and CEO. “Actually we all want to leave something behind, we all want to leave a stamp behind us.”

Alfonta got the idea when two of his married friends traveled to Italy without their children and narrowly escaped a fatal car crash with a truck. “They stopped aside and drank water and relaxed and started speaking between themselves: ‘Oh my god, what would happen to the kids if something happened to me?’” They asked Alfonta to create a website where they could record something secret to their kids that would only be sent if they died.

People have been leaving posthumous messages for a long time. Why should a Facebook app replace pen and paper or a recorded video? Facebook provided a way to verify your death with “trustees” but it also guaranteed a delivery mechanism. Too many times a letter can sit unread in a desk, but If I Die ensures a message reaches its destination.

It also allows messages to come out on a schedule. For example, when one user was diagnosed with cancer, she started recording videos for her daughter to be posted on her birthday every year until she was 18.

In a way, If I Die gives its users a measure of social media immortality. Even when they die, their profiles can live on, posting comments and sending personal messages for as long as they have messages to send.

If I Die currently only publishes to a user’s public profile, but the team is working on features to allow for discrete messages and even messages that can be sent to people not on Facebook. The public postings will be free to use, though the discrete messages will work on an annual subscription model, Alfonta says.

Source : Mashable.com

Facebook Business Cards Are Here: 200,000 Users Get Free Bundles

MOO Cards, the makers of MiniCards—petite-sized business cards the size of a stick of gum—DIY business cards, and postcards, wants to make artsy business cards out of your Facebook Timeline.

MOO Cards has partnered with Facebook to make what are simply dubbed Facebook Cards. Each Facebook Card is made from a template using your Facebook Cover picture and information from your profile.

From Wednesday onward, MOO will be giving away free 50-card bundles to the first 200,000 users. For those who struggle with math, that’s 10 million business cards.

A steady flow of free cards will be released, ensuring that the 10 million cards are not ordered within the very first hours of the promotion. For the next 10 days, 50,000 orders will be processed, followed by an additional 150,000 orders, says Paul Lewis, the head of marketing at MOO. Those first 50,000 will also have free shipping, but the rest will have a “small” shipping fee, so act fast. The promotion’s end date hasn’t yet been determined.

Announcements about these releases will be posted on the MOO blog and the company’s Twitter account @overheardatmoo.

    SEE ALSO: Facebook Timeline Redefines Your Facebook: Pics of the New Profile Design

All 800 million Facebook users can take advantage of the promotional freebie, as long as they’re one of the first 200,000 customers, of course.

“MOO.com is very excited to announce this integration with Facebook to provide a revolutionary new customer experience that brings together Facebook Timeline with MOO’s high-quality printed products,” said MOO CEO and Founder Richard Moross in a press release.

To get the offer, first click on “About” under your basic info on your Timeline. Then scroll down to “Contact Info” and roll over the little business card icon — you should see a rollover box that will direct you to MOO. In order to take advantage of the offer, Facebook users will need to have enabled Timeline.


To place a regular paid order on MOO.com, sign in through Facebook and check that the aggregated information from your profile is correct on the card. Then you can flip the card over to add a favorite quote or phrase before printing. Currently, the cards are for sale in 50-card bundles. Facebook Cards are available at $15 for 50, $30 for 100, $45 for 150 and $60 for 200.

How do you feel about the mix of online social networking and offline business networking? Let us know in the comments.

Source : Mashable.com

Need a Kidney? More Are Turning to Facebook [VIDEO]

Facebook is a place to catch up with friends, share articles and information, and now find kidneys.

According to Seattle news station KHOU, 36-year-old Dan Garrett recently received a new kidney after his wife put up a message on Facebook looking for a donor. Although the couple couldn’t find a match among friends and family, Facebook member Aly Carr, 26, offered up hers.

Acts of generosity like this have been popping up more and more on social networking sites. In fact, according to the French Tribune, organ donation groups are becoming more common on Facebook, with about dozens of pages available under the search term “need kidney.”

Facebook isn’t the only site people are using to help find kidney matches. In fact, in 2011, a Twitter member with kidney disease tweeted that he needed a kidney and 19 people offered to find out if they might be a match — and when the match came back positive for one of his acquaintances, he received the kidney.

                          SEE ALSO: Facebook Reveals 2011′s Most-Popular Status Trends

Meanwhile, a woman in Florida recently received a kidney after posting an ad for one on Craigslist.

Do you think this is a part of a bigger trend? Will more people find organs online in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source : Mashable.com

Is Facebook Hiding Your Messages? [VIDEO]

There is a tab under Facebook Messages you may have never noticed. It filters out what’s supposed to be less-than-important messages from events and people you have no apparent connection with.

Although it’s not a new feature, the “Other” inbox upsets some users who have only just discovered it and are reportedly missing important messages.

Check out the video to learn more.

Tell us: Are you annoyed by this hidden inbox? Or do you appreciate that it doesn’t clog your email inbox?

Source : Mashable.com

Facebook to Launch Subscribe Button for Websites

In its latest move to colonize areas of the web currently outside its orbit, Facebook is planning to roll out a “Subscribe” button for websites.

Joanna Shields, vp and managing director for Facebook Europe, Middle East and Africa announced the program at Le Web in Paris on Wednesday, according to TechCrunch. The plugin will let visitors to a web site click on the button to begin following all of the news from a journalist, celebrity, public figure, politician, celebrity they want to follow on Facebook. The feature will only work for users who have already enabled Subscribe on Facebook.

Facebook began offering the option to subscribe to public figures and journalists, among others, in September. Meanwhile, users who are interested in getting updates from organizations, like for instance The New York Times, can do so by “Liking” it.

In practice, the Subscribe button will act very much like Twitter’s Follow button does for websites.

It’s not currently known which organizations will use the button or when it will launch. Facebook offered the following statement about the move: “We will soon launch the Subscribe plugin, an extension of the Subscribe button, that publishers and other developers can add to their web sites to make it easy for people to connect to reporters and public figures in one click. We have no further details to share at this time.”​​

Source : mashable.com

Facebook to Open New York Engineering Office

Facebook is expanding its engineering operations to the East Coast of the U.S. with a new engineering office in New York City, the company announced Friday.

The office will open early next year, according to a statement issued by the company. Applications are now being accepted at facebook.com/nycjobs. “New York has a strong history of innovation and is home to thousands of talented technical people, and we want them to help us solve the challenges of designing and building the next generation of Facebook,” said Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s vice president of engineering.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was part of the press event announcing the new office, proudly noted that this is Facebook’s first engineering operation outside of the West Coast. Serkan Piantino, a longtime Facebook engineer, will head the company’s engineering efforts in New York.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, was joined at the press conference, which was held in the company’s Manhattan headquarters, by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s head of engineering, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer and Mayor Bloomberg.

“We are looking for the smartest folks. And after detailed analysis, the best place by a large margin was New York,” said Schroepfer.

Bloomberg urged other tech companies to move to New York City. “I think you’ll find this is the best place to recruit and retain the world’s top talent,” he said. “Don’t wait for your competitors to move here and get the best talent.”

Sen. Schumer provided some levity during the press conference, noting that both he and Bloomberg have actually met one Facebook employee “over 26.” He then glanced over at the 42-year-old Sandberg. The Facebook exec also joined in the fun. When Schumer said, “It’s hard to say that a company has changed the way we live.” Sandberg shouted from the side, “Go ahead, say it.” Schumer then continued, “but in the case of Facebook, it really has.”

Sandberg said Facebook did not know how many engineers they would hire next year. “We’ll hire as much as we can,” she said. She also noted that the company would probably need more office space.

In a follow-up interview, Mashable asked Sandberg why Facebook was hiring engineers in a city where engineering talent is already scarce. “New York is a great place to live,” she said, noting that it can sometimes be difficult for those educated on the East Coast to make the move west. She did not confirm whether CEO Mark Zuckerberg would be spending more time in New York, or if an existing group of Facebook engineers would be moved from the West Coast.

Source : Mashable.com

Condom Ad Disguised as Facebook Friend Request From Your Future Son

An advertising campaign from Olla Condoms, which sends Facebook users unsolicited friend requests from their yet-to-be-born sons, has attracted plenty of attention — but is also a violation of Facebook policy.

The promo video (see below) for the “Unexpected Babies” campaign from Brazilian agency Age Isobar details the ad’s concept: Take a male user’s name, create a new profile using that name with “Jr.” tacked on the end, and send a friend request to the unsuspecting user. When he visits his virtual son’s profile, he sees a condom ad from Brazil-based Olla.

Facebook, however, expressly forbids fake profiles. The condom ad campaign appears to violate several policies found under “Registration and Account Security” in Facebook’s Terms. And Facebook’s Help Center even has a section to report fake accounts that “list a fake name” or “don’t represent a real person.”


While fake profiles can sometimes entertain, they more often than not lead to unwanted consequences. For example, earlier this year, one woman unsuccessfully used a fake profile to dig up dirt on her husband — and instead found herself in a fake-murder plot.

What do you think of Olla Condom’s ad campaign?

Source : Mashable.com

Delete Your Fake Facebook Friends on National Unfriend Day

Come on, everyone knows your hundreds (or tens, or maybe thousands) of Facebook friends aren’t always the same as your real friends. ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel says you should start deleting those folks you barely know.

Thursday marks the second annual “National Unfriend Day,” which Kimmel is sponsoring to encourage Facebook users to delete anyone who isn’t actually their friend. Kimmel says millions of Facebook friends were deleted during last year’s “National Unfriend Day.”

“Half of the the people in this country are on Facebook and many of those people have hundreds, if not thousands of friends,” Kimmel told the Jimmy Kimmel Live audience last week. “I find this unacceptable that no one has thousands of friends … If you have ten friends in your life then you’re doing very well.”

Kimmel may be a comedian, but he does have a point. Most of us are guilty of never actually speaking to the majority of our Facebook friends. We may have “friends” who pop up on our News Feed every so often, but we can’t seem to recall how or even if we know them.

So what do we do with these acquaintances, and in some cases, strangers? Kimmel’s advice: Cut anyone who isn’t actually your friend.

If you can’t decide whether to unfriend someone, check out this video to hear Kimmel’s point system that will help you decide who stays and who goes.

Will you unfriend your Facebook “friends” today? Let us know in the comments.

Source : Mashable.com

Facebook blames

Facebook has said that the spam attack that unleashed massive quantities of violent and pornographic images across newsfeeds was caused by using of a browser with a security flaw rather than any problem with the social networking site.

"During this spam attack users were tricked into pasting and executing malicious javascript in their browser URL bar causing them to unknowingly share this offensive content," the Telegraph quoted a Facebook spokesman, as saying. "No user data or accounts were compromised during this attack," the spokesman added.

The social networking giant said the attack exploited a 'vulnerability' in an unnamed browser. The vulnerability meant that when users were on Facebook and were tricked into pasting a piece of malicious javascript into the browser's address bar, it was able to take control of their News Feed to post the shocking images.

"We've built enforcement mechanisms to quickly shut down the malicious pages and accounts that attempt to exploit it," Facebook's spokesman said. "We also been put those impacted through educational checkpoints so they know how to protect themselves.

We've put in place backend measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defences to find new ways to protect people," he added.

Facebook has advised users not to enter unknown software codes into their address bar, and to always use and up-to-date browser and report suspicious content they see on friends' profiles. (ANI)

Source : http://in.news.yahoo.com

Quotes From the Mark Zuckerberg Interview

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg addressed Google+, Steve Jobs and privacy concerns during Monday’s interview with Charlie Rose. Zuckerberg commented on Facebook’s perceived competition with companies like Amazon, Apple and Google, while Sandberg urged women to be more ambitious in the tech and entrepreneurial industries.

SEE ALSO: What Advice Did Steve Jobs Give to Mark Zuckerberg?
Rose pushed tough questions, and we’ve collected 12 of Zuckerberg’s and Sandberg’s most significant responses. Tab through the gallery above to discover the Facebook perspective, communicated by its most powerful executives.

Source :  Mashable.com

Bank Transfer Day Attracts 81,900 RSVPs on Facebook

It started as a Facebook event page on Tuesday, and now it’s grown into a national movement. Today (Nov. 5) is Bank Transfer Day (BTD), a deadline activists set for transferring funds from for-profit banking institutions into not-for-profit credit unions closer to home.

Organized by Kristin Christian, her Bank Transfer Day Facebook page has attracted more than 81,900 RSVPs for the event since Tuesday (Nov. 1). Why? Kristen Christian wrote on the Bank Transfer Day Facebook page’s FAQ:

“I started this because I felt like many of you do. I was tired — tired of the fee increases, tired of not being able to access my money when I need to, tired of them using what little money I have to oppress my brothers & sisters. So I stood up. I’ve been shocked at how many people have stood up alongside me. With each person who RSVPs to this event, my heart swells. Me closing my account all on my lonesome wouldn’t have made a difference to these fat cats. But each of YOU standing up with me… they can’t drown out the noise we’ll make.”

The protest, not affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement, had already gathered momentum with a similar push to “Move Your Money” started in July by Arianna Huffington. That project also encourages people to withdraw funds from “too big to fail” national banks and deposit them in smaller local banks and credit unions.

What’s the result of these social media-fueled protests? According to the Credit Union National Association, “at least 650,000 consumers across the nation have joined credit unions in the past four weeks.” That mass influx of credit union customers was further ignited on Sept. 29, when Bank of America announced it would begin charging consumers a $5-per-month fee for debit cards. Bank of America has since retracted that rate hike because of the public outcry.

What do you think of this movement? Will it convince those large for-profit banks, widely touted as “too big to fail,” to further change their ways?

Source : http://mashable.com

Facebook Says 600,000 Accounts Compromised Per Day

In a blog entry on Thursday, Facebook stated that about 600,000 log-ins every day are compromised.

The factoid, first noted by security site Sophos, was in the context of an entry introducing new security features for the social network. The figure was extrapolated by a stat showing 0.06% of 1 billion logins per day are compromised. Less than 0.5% of Facebook users experience spam on any given day.

Facebook’s proposed solution for such breaches is to find three to five “trusted friends”. That way, if you’re locked out of your account, Facebook will send codes to your friends to give to you. Facebook is also testing app passwords that the company will generate on your behalf and you won’t need to remember.

What do you think? Are you surprised at the extent of the breaches or does this seem low to you? Let us know in the comments.

Source : mashable.com

Facebook partners with U.S. Labor Department to help unemployed

Announced earlier today, Facebook and the United States Department of Labor are collaborating to bring more visibility to three million job openings.

This initiative is called the Social Job Partnership and also combines the efforts of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies and the DirectEmployers Association. Facebook will be targeting areas of high unemployment through geographic data and posting public service announcements to draw attention to the new effort as well as the main Facebook page for the Social Job Partnership.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is also hoping to branch out to other social networking sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn to bring more attention to the Social Job Partnership. According to research conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, over 70 percent of career centers already have a Facebook page setup to help the unemployed find jobs. Another recent survey from Jobvite found that 89 percent of employers are planning to use social networks to recruit new candidates and 64 percent of recently employed people were hired through contact on a social network.

Partners will be able to create delivery systems to roll out new job postings on Facebook more efficiently, likely helpful for Facebook’s audience of over 850 million members. When asked if Facebook poses a threat at the Web 2.0 Summit earlier today, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman stated that he didn’t believe Facebook was a competitor to LinkedIn. According to a Nielson study conducted this year, Internet users with a post-graduate degree are three times more likely to visit LinkedIn over other social networks. LinkedIn’s demographic also skews towards a much older group than Facebook, mostly averaging in the early to mid-40s. However, LinkedIn’s total user base is approximately 15 percent the size of Facebook’s total user base as of the end of June 2011.

Facebook Friend Count Linked to Brain Density

Brain 

All those hours you spend on Facebook may be adding grey matter, signifying greater density, to the part of your brain linked to social skills. Or, perhaps, people with larger areas of the brain for social skills may just have higher than average Facebook friend counts.

That’s the chicken-and-egg problem researchers at University College London are grappling with after finding a connection between brain structure and Facebook activity. The study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, was based on MRIs of a group of 165 adults who were asked to report the number of Facebook friends they have. (The study doesn’t delineate what is considered “high,” though it refers to Dunbar’s Number, which postulates 150 friends is the limit of the average person’s social circle.)

The research discovered that those with higher Facebook friend counts had more grey matter density in the amygdala, an area the study says was already known to be linked to real world social network size, as well as in other regions including the right entorhinal cortex, which is associated with memory.

“Taken together, our findings show that the number of social contacts declared publicly on a major web-based social networking site was strongly associated with the structure of focal regions of the human brain,” the researchers conclude.

Professor Geraint Rees, director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, told The Guardian it’s too early to tell how the structure of the brain and online social networking activity are connected. “What we’re attempting to do is get an empirical handle using the types of data we can generate to try and start that process rolling.”

Nearly 80 percent of people can't last 24 hours without checking Facebook

Based on a survey of 2,500 people conducted by Busted Coverage, Coed magazine and College Candy, 79 percent of people cannot go an entire day without logging into Facebook on a computer or mobile device.

In addition, nearly 50 percent of the respondents were very concerned by their growing dependence on the social network for news and updates on the lives of friends. Over 40 percent of the group even checks Facebook before brushing their teeth after waking up in the morning. Reinforcing the addictive nature of the service, 20 percent of the people that deleted their Facebook profile due to frustration with the service ended up creating a new Facebook profile.

However, 70 percent of the respondents claimed that they would delete their Facebook profile permanently if the social network ever starts charging for the service. Ninety-two percent admitted that Facebook status updates are not helpful. The most annoying updates chosen by the group included emo song lyrics, status updates and fan page updates. Political status updates were also found quite annoying followed by baby photos posted by friends and Facebook check-in location updates.

Over 50 percent of the respondents claim to have been angered by Facebook ‘s privacy settings when attempting to check out information on the new significant other of an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend. However, 65 percent would be embarrassed if other people could see which friends they check out the most frequently.

Six percent of the group claimed to have dumped a significant other through a private message or public wall post on Facebook. Over 45 percent of the people in the survey admitted to having photos in their albums that have been tagged while they were intoxicated. Finally, over 66 percent of the group says they do not judge other Facebook users based on the amount of Facebook friends on the user’s profile.

PayPal & eBay Get Friendly With Facebook

Auction giant eBay and Facebook are quietly forging stronger ties with a secret joint partnership and the addition of Facebook exec Katie Mitic to eBay’s board of directors.

Mitic, the current director of platform and mobile marketing at Facebook, will now become the twelfth member of eBay’s board of directors. She will join a board of directors that includes founder Pierre Omidyar, Marc Andreessen (Netscape, Andreesen-Horowitz), Scott Cook (Intuit) and William Ford, Jr. (Ford Motor Company). Mitic was previously an SVP at Palm and a VP at Yahoo.

The appointment comes at an interesting time for eBay. In less than two weeks, the company will host its X.commerce Innovate Conference, an event where the company will unveil its vision for the future of ecommerce under the PayPal, eBay, Magento and GSI Commerce brands. Katie Mitic is already slated to be one of the conference’s keynote speakers. Both companies are expected to make a joint announcement at the conference.

We expect the announcement to be related to the Facebook Platform and the new Facebook Open Graph. Our bet is that Facebook Credits will be given the spotlight in a joint effort between the two companies. We’re digging to find out more about the partnership.

Mitic is a whiz when it comes to mobile. She helped launch the Palm Pre and the company’s app store before it was snatched up by HP. Her background in building and promoting developer platforms, especially in the mobile arena, should prove useful as eBay strives to replace the wallet with the phone by 2015.