Social Media

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

WASHINGTON - As the Obama campaign doubles down on the use of Bain Capital to question Mitt Romney's economic philosophy, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is backing off his criticism of a line of attack he called "nauseating. "   During an appearance Sunday on "Meet The Press," Booker, an Obama supporter and rising star, seemed to equate the Obama campaign's Bain strategy with the scuttled plans of a GOP "super PAC" to raise Obama's past ties to Jeremiah Wright, a retired Chicago pastor whose controversial speeches became a campaign issue in 2008.

There wasn't much to like about Facebook's first day as a public company. The social media giant's stock rose by mere pennies in its initial public offering. The shares closed at $38.23, barely above the $38 IPO price. The performance fell far short of the grandiose expectations of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and raised questions about whether the company's stock will be the sure bet many had counted on. "There was all this pressure and hype and attention with all eyes on Facebook — and the starlet tripped on the red carpet," said Max Wolff, an analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management in New York.

Wall Street didn't get the Facebook effect it was hoping for. In a sign that the social networking giant may have already become a bellwether for its sector, shares of virtually every social media company sank Friday with Facebook Inc.'s lackluster debut on the stock market. Anticipating that Facebook would have a big day, investors had loaded up on social media stocks in recent weeks. Many backpedaled when Facebook's shares barely budged, rising just 23 cents, or less than 1%, from the initial public offering price of $38. "They were playing for a pop and didn't get it," said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities.

Sister Simone Campbell doesn't wear a habit. A nun for more than 40 years and an attorney for 35, the executive director of a Roman Catholic social justice lobby called Network doesn't feel she should wear one. Her voice mail refers to her simply as "Simone," and she hasn't worn the long, gray dress habit since her early days as a nun. Such an approach doesn't sit well with some Catholics. "Love the traditional nun ... I really would like to see the habit back," Patricia Earp, a Catholic, said on Twitter.

Welcome to the post-privacy era. What's most striking about Facebook's initial public offering isn't that it values the 8-year-old company at up to $100 billion, or that this will be the biggest-ever IPO for an Internet firm. What's most striking is that Facebook is serving up to investors the prospect of 845 million users (read: consumers) worldwide being a captive market for businesses looking to sell them stuff. And in a twist that would have been unimaginable before social media took the Net by storm, we've become willing partners in the devaluing of our privacy.

Before we all get our knickers in a tweet … Let's just say the mini-controversy that erupted late Wednesday night after the official Kings Twitter account circled and jabbed at the Canucks is way more interesting than most back-and-forth between teams. Or mayors. Thankfully, we haven't been subjected to some boring, cliched bet between the mayors of Los Angeles and Vancouver for this first-round playoff series. Hmm, has Antonio Villaraigosa been to a game in the Jeff Carter era?

Like many people, Evan Cunningham spends time on Facebook and Twitter while at the office. He sends out party invitations or chats about beer. But unlike most people, he gets paid for it. And he gets a title. Cunningham's job is one of the newest in corporate America: social media manager. It's also known, depending on the company, as social media wizard, social media ninja, social media diva or just plain online communities manager. No matter what they're called, experts in marketing a company's name and wares on social network sites — such as Facebook, Twitter and special interest forums — are in demand.

Wall Street didn't get the Facebook effect it was hoping for. In a sign that the social networking giant may have already become a bellwether for its sector, shares of virtually every social media company sank Friday with Facebook Inc.'s lackluster debut on the stock market. Anticipating that Facebook would have a big day, investors had loaded up on social media stocks in recent weeks. Many backpedaled when Facebook's shares barely budged, rising just 23 cents, or less than 1%, from the initial public offering price of $38. "They were playing for a pop and didn't get it," said Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities.

Be careful about the personal information and opinions you broadcast online, we are wisely and repeatedly told. Anyone from a prospective employer to an insurance company might be interested in details that you'll regret divulging someday. But employers cross a bright, hard line when they demand, as some do, that job applicants divulge their passwords to Facebook and other social media sites, or have them log on so the interviewer can scrutinize their likes and dislikes, their relationships, their photos, their friends' personal information.

On the day Facebook went public other social media stocks have begun to drop like flies. Social media companies such as Zynga, LinkedIn, Groupon and Pandora that went public in the last year began Friday with some poor results, each seeing its stock price drop in the same fashion that Facebook stock began the day. Zynga, the social gaming site that relies on Facebook for the bulk of its users, was the biggest early loser. It saw an all-time low for its shares, at one point hitting $7.

There wasn't much to like about Facebook's first day as a public company. The social media giant's stock rose by mere pennies in its initial public offering. The shares closed at $38.23, barely above the $38 IPO price. The performance fell far short of the grandiose expectations of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and raised questions about whether the company's stock will be the sure bet many had counted on. "There was all this pressure and hype and attention with all eyes on Facebook — and the starlet tripped on the red carpet," said Max Wolff, an analyst at GreenCrest Capital Management in New York.

Sister Simone Campbell doesn't wear a habit. A nun for more than 40 years and an attorney for 35, the executive director of a Roman Catholic social justice lobby called Network doesn't feel she should wear one. Her voice mail refers to her simply as "Simone," and she hasn't worn the long, gray dress habit since her early days as a nun. Such an approach doesn't sit well with some Catholics. "Love the traditional nun ... I really would like to see the habit back," Patricia Earp, a Catholic, said on Twitter.

General Motors Co.plans to pull its paid advertising from Facebook Inc. after the nation's largest automaker determined its ads on the social network had little effect on consumers. The move represents an ill-timed setback for Facebook, which is gearing up for what is expected to be the largest ever initial public stock offering of an Internet company. In the run-up to its IPO, expected Friday, investors have been weighing Facebook's revenue prospects and have questioned the effectiveness of advertising on the social networking site.

SAN FRANCISCO - California is one step closer to becoming one of the first states to ban companies from asking job seekers and workers for their user names and passwords on Facebook and other social networking websites. The state Assembly on Thursday passed a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose) that would make anything workers designate as private on social networks off-limits to employers. The bill, which passed the Assembly without a dissenting vote, now goes to the California Senate.

In a bid to pull more users away from rival Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is rolling out the most significant revamp of Bing since its search engine's 2009 launch. "Over the coming weeks, we will be introducing a brand new way to search designed to help you take action and interact with friends and experts without compromising the core search experience," Microsoft's Bing Team said in a blog post. Leveraging its relationship with Facebook, Microsoft said the new features will personalize the search experience to make it more relevant to users.

General Motors Co.plans to pull its paid advertising from Facebook Inc. after the nation's largest automaker determined its ads on the social network had little effect on consumers. The move represents an ill-timed setback for Facebook, which is gearing up for what is expected to be the largest ever initial public stock offering of an Internet company. In the run-up to its IPO, expected Friday, investors have been weighing Facebook's revenue prospects and have questioned the effectiveness of advertising on the social networking site.

Channing Tatum lowers his green eyes and stares at the camera. "Your friend wanted me to tell you that they think you're pretty awesome," the 31-year-old actor says. "And they love hanging with you. " Tatum's performance wasn't from a movie, but a "Sweet Nothings" video that marketers for his new film, "The Vow," posted on Facebook in advance of its opening last weekend. It worked: The romantic tear-jerker blew past expectations to open at No. 1 with $41.2 million in North American ticket sales.

Thanks to Bitly, the popular link-shortening service, we can add another tool to our arsenal of tricks to get noticed on social media. Timing our tweets, and Facebook and Tumblr posts right. Researchers at Bitly have put together data that show that for each of the top three social media networks -- Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr -- there are optimal times for posting links to maximize click-through, and times when you might as well be posting into a vacuum. They also found that the optimal time differs, depending on the social media site.

Researchers at Harvard University have gotten to the bottom of why so many people are compelled to share our every thought, movement, like and want through social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram and Pinterest. In a series of experiments, the researchers found that the act of disclosing information about oneself activates the same sensation of pleasure in the brain that we get from eating, getting money or having sex. This may help explain recent surveys of Internet use that show that roughly 80% of posts to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook consist simply of announcements about one's own immediate experience.