Tag Archives: Facebook

Facebook Helps Researchers See How Friendships Form

*Long-term study analyzes social selection and peer influence in online environments*

New research funded by the National Science Foundation and published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by three Harvard University sociologists examines how we select our friends and the role that friendship plays in transmitting tastes and new ideas.

Relationships are basic building blocks of society, and understanding who befriends whom can therefore provide insight into patterns of social segregation, mechanisms for the reproduction of inequality, social support (including mental and emotional health), and access to job opportunities. Some have even viewed these relationships as a means to influence behavior whether to control obesity or target advertising. But is it really that easy, even on the Internet, to make friends with people who have different cultural upbringings, different interests, different backgrounds and different tastes in movies, music and books? (more…)

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Serendipitous News Reading Online is Gaining Prominence, MU Study Shows

*Media should place news links on different sites to take advantage of this phenomenon*

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Traditional media, such as newspapers and television news, require readers and viewers to intentionally seek out news by picking up a newspaper or turning on the television. The Internet and new technologies now are changing the way readers consume online news. New research from the University of Missouri shows that Internet users often do not make the conscious decision to read news online, but they come across news when they are searching for other information or doing non-news related activities online, such as shopping or visiting social networking sites. (more…)

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W3C Announces First Draft of Standard for Online Privacy

*Do Not Track Approach Balances User Preferences with Personalized Web Experiences*

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – 17 Nov 2011: To address rising concerns about privacy on the Web, W3C has published two first drafts for standards that allow users to express preferences about online tracking:

  • Tracking Preference Expression (DNT), which defines mechanisms for users to express cross-site tracking preferences and for sites to indicate whether they honor these preferences.
  • Tracking Compliance and Scope, which defines the meaning of a “Do Not Track” preference and sets out practices for websites to comply with this preference.

These documents are the early work of a broad set of stakeholders in the W3C Tracking Protection Working Group, including browser vendors, content providers, advertisers, search engines, and experts in policy, privacy, and consumer protection. W3C invites review of these early drafts, which are starting points of work to come. W3C expects them to become standards by mid-2012. (more…)

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comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage in September 2011

30 Percent of European Internet Users Seek Career Information Online
Russia Overtakes Germany as Market with Largest Online Audience

LONDON, UK, 14 November 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 373.4 million unique visitors went online in September 2011 for an average of 26.4 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Amongst its findings, the study showed strong growth in September 2011 for the Career Services and Development category with a 14 percent increase in unique visitors from the previous month. (more…)

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Tune in — Only on Yahoo!: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 World Premiere Official Live Stream on Yahoo! Movies

See Your Favorite “Twilight Saga” Stars LIVE from the Red Carpet Premiere During the Official Live Stream TODAY Monday, November 14th

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)-– Yahoo! Movies, (https://movies.yahoo.com) in conjunction with Summit Entertainment, presents the Official Live Stream of the red carpet premiere of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ today Monday, November 14 at 5:00 p.m. PT on Yahoo! Movies: https://movies.yahoo.com/twilight (more…)

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Bing Social Search Team Makes Search ‘Less Lonely’

*Three members of Bing’s social search team chat with Microsoft News Center about working in the exciting technological frontier of search – and what they do when they’re not hard at work.*

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Sean Suchter’s last name is a misspelling of the German word for searcher, which has to be one of the greater aptronyms in the technology industry.

Suchter heads up Bing’s social search team on Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus, where he relishes his job as a frontiersmen in the field of search, particularly social search. (more…)

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