Professors say that the art of essay writing is deteriorating, no thanks to social media.
One of these professors is historian David Abulafia of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.
He expressed his concern and dismay on the poor essay writing skills of college students who spend hours every day on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Abulafia said that netizens on these sites tend to write short messages filled with spelling and grammar errors, which he dubbed as “some …

As the Internet is still a relatively recent concept, the governments of most countries are still studying how to secure, manage, and legalize it. France, however, stands out, as it has been looking into how companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google – all US-based companies – have been making money from French residents but paying little in local taxes. Thus, President Francois Hollande of France has tasked the making of a report about taxing the

While we all know that there are downsides to our choice to use Facebook – like significantly less privacy to name one – this seemingly obvious but rarely talked about pitfall is worth noting: Facebook use tends to make people jealous of their peers.
In a new study, researchers detail how Facebook promotes feelings of envy which leads to people competing with their “friends” ultimately leading to a cycle of more envy and decreased satisfaction in life.
The paper, authored by …

College students think they are using Facebook for more than two hours per day on average, but when a researcher dug deeper, the actual number fell to less than half an hour.
A new study (PDF) by Reynol Junco, a scholar at the Berkman Center of Harvard University, reveals that college students overestimated spending a daily average of 149 minutes on Facebook, but when he installed software to monitor their computers, the actual data showed a mere 26 minutes.
Junco said the student-respondents …

While everybody flocked to the launch of Facebook’s new search tool Graph Search this week, the social network subtly announced a potentially revolutionary project.
On Tuesday, Facebook had a much-deserved fanfare during its introduction of Graph Search at the Facebook headquarters, and no other than its CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg did the honors.
The media and the public gathered around outlets – offline and online – to discuss the pros and cons of this new social search technology, …

After 65 years, Clifford Boyson and Betty Billadeau met again with the help of an enterprising 7-year-old and Facebook.
According to The Associated Press, 7-year-old Eddie Hanzelin used his mother’s Facebook account and searched using Billadeau’s maiden name.
Hanzelin, whose mother is the 70-year-old Boyson’s landlady, saw the likeness between Boyson and Billadeau when he saw the 66-year-old lady’s photo on her Facebook account.
Sixty five years after the two were separated by being …

iPhone users in the United States are in for a treat as Facebook’s Messenger for iPhone is now offering free calls. The application, which has recently been updated, makes it possible for anyone in the US to make voice calls to his or her social network pals – for absolutely free of

It might not seem as “big” as other social networks, but Tumblr, a microblogging platform, is fast becoming a force to reckon with. A new survey reveals that more people are actually using the seemingly fledgling network, as opposed to

Social networking sites can blow up self-esteem, as positive feedbacks – Facebook likes, retweets, plausive comments, etc. – shape user behavior, according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Columbia Business School.
The paper entitled “Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control” shows that social network users tend to boost self-esteem and reduce self-discipline (both online and offline) after receiving favorable feedback; …

Facebook users can longer eschew being searchable on the world’s biggest social networking site.
It is now apparent that Facebook has made this change to how it runs its site as a prelude to the worldwide availability of Graph Search – that “Third Pillar” of Facebook as its cofounder Mark Zuckerberg has dubbed.
Graph Search is still in a limited beta rollout stage but Facebook has already moved to set the conditions right for the new feature once it will be officially launched for every …