genpop.net

Many of Germany’s top companies are blocking access to Facebook and other social networking sites over fears of industrial espionage and other security concerns, according to a report released Sunday. (c) 2010 AFP

All the ballyhoo that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook are diminishing our need for e-mail can be best summarized by paraphrasing Mark Twain: Reports of e-mail’s death have been greatly exaggerated. (c) 2010, Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

A price has been put on Google’s mistakes surrounding the launch of Google Buzz: $8.5 million. That’s what Google will pay to settle a privacy lawsuit filed in the wake of the Google Buzz launch. The social-media service was heavily criticized for automatically including users’ frequent Gmail contacts on public Buzz profiles when it first [...]

Google has added new functionality to its real-time search engine, and moved it from an obscure feature buried in the options on the left pane of the standard Google search, to its own website. The new Google Realtime can be a powerful tool for businesses that know how to use it. Search rivals Google and [...]

In this Friday, Aug. 13, 2010 file photo, a Kashmiri protester throws stones at Indian paramilitary soldiers during a protest in Srinagar, India. Ahmed, who calls himself “an anonymous soldier of Kashmir’s resistance movement,” is part of a wave of Web savvy protesters in Kashmir who have begun using social networking sites to publicize their [...]

Updated 11:23 a.m. PDT throughout with additional information and background. Google has changed the way it presents real-time search updates, giving those search results their own section and a “conversation” view designed to cluster like-minded updates. Back in December, Google first introduced into its search results the concept of “real-time” search results from sources like [...]

New ComScore figures show that Facebook now has a traffic advantage over social network Orkut in India, one of the Google-owned site’s long-lasting strongholds and a major target for Facebook. Use of social networks in India grew 43 percent from July 2009 to July 2010, the numbers show. More than 33 million people in India [...]

A South Korean journalist looks at a computer screen showing an alleged North Korean Facebook account which carries content condemning “warmongers” South Korea and the U.S. in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 20, 2010. Reclusive North Korea appears to have added Facebook to the list of social network services it has recently joined to ramp [...]

It looks like Google may be looking for a new online fight. While the search giant has been engaged in a drawn-out and heated battle with Microsoft, it seems to be prepping for war on yet another front: by taking on social networking behemoth Facebook. [ Also on InfoWorld: Building a Facebook killer will be [...]

Google on Friday confirmed that it has acquired Slide, an online entertainment company focused on virtual communities. The acquisition may help Google boost its social networking aspirations and fuels speculation that it is developing a social networking platform centered on games. [ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First [...]