Insurance companies have been increasingly mining social networking websites as a way to see whether customers are engaging in risky behavior, or worse, committing insurance fraud.
Kurt Norland, who was receiving worker’s compensation benefits while awaiting surgery to fix torn cartilage in his shoulder, found out the hard way just how easy it is for investigators to get pictures from someone’s Facebook account, and second that the insurance companies can use these photos to justify …

Cornell University researchers carried out a study using the micro-blogging website Twitter to identify a pattern in human moods based on users’ tweets, and not surprisingly, they found people tend to be happiest on weekends.
 

Cornell University researchers examined the tweets of more than 2.4 million people in 84 countries around the world.

The researchers used a computer to look for words indicating mood, such as happy, ecstatic, excited, sad, afraid, and anxious, in more than 500 …

A survey of 4,640 organizations by research firm the Ponemon Institute showed that companies and organizations are more at risk from virus and malware attacks because their employees are using Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking websites while on the job.  Security firm Websense, based in San Diego, sponsored the survey carried out by the Ponemon Institute, which is based in Traverse City, Michigan.
 

Ponemon study finds higher security risks go with increased social media …

Facebook’s f8 event this year highlighted the increasing importance of mobile social media.  AdAge contributor David Berkowitz said the f8 event this year will be recognized as “one of the most important milestones in the progression of social media”, and he explains why:
 

Mobile social media becoming more important

Facebook earlier this year reported that it had hit the 750m user milestone figure but this has already increased to 800m active monthly users, and the 1 billion mark …

Indian Government may start using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to weigh public opinion on different issues, reports PTI.
A government official revealed that the government is trying to create a framework for “Citizen Engagement” that will use social networking sites to get the public views. This new framework will be created by the Department of Information Technology that works under Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. However, approval of …

The Missouri State Senate passed a law last month, “The Amy Hestir Student Protection Act”, which made it illegal for teachers in that state to “Friend” students on Facebook, but the Senate this week repealed it, after action taken byThe Missouri State Teachers Association.
 

Missouri State Senate unanimously passes SB1

The Hestir law, named after a student in Missouri who was molested by a teacher more than 20 years ago, aimed to prevent inappropriate contact between teachers …

Nielsen’s quarterly social media report shows that Americans spend about 25 percent of their internet time at social networking sites and blogs, with Facebook the most visited website, accounting for 53 million minutes from 140 million visits in May.
 

Social networking sites most popular online activity for Americans: Nielson's Q3 social media report

Google’s Blogger website was the second most visited among social media users, and although its audience was a substantial 50 …

The result of a new study published by Pew Research Center on Friday says that 50 percent of U.S. adults use social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.

Half of U.S. adults say they use social media, a study from the Pew Research Center reveals. Image: Jeff Kubina / Flickr (CC)

“Fully 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn,” Pew said in the result it published.
According to the research center, this translates to 50 …

After reports came out earlier saying that the U.K. government may propose to ban social media for suspected troublemakers in the country, reports coming out of the U.K. and elsewhere say that the U.K. government will not be banning social media after all.

The U.K. government will not be banning social media after riots, reports say. Image: Jax60 / Flickr (CC)

According to a report from British publication The Guardian, Home Secretary Theresa May told representatives of social media firms …

Five months after an employee of Chrysler’s previous social media agency –New Media Strategies (NMS), dropped the F-bomb in a derogatory tweet about Detroit, Ignite has been named its social media agency of record.
 

Chrysler makes Ignite official social media agency of record.

The employee tweeted: “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one knows how to fu#@#! drive”, and within 24 hours Chrysler announced it would not renew the NMS contract, and …