Using Omnitures products, companies will be able to measure how effective their ads are on Facebook. They will also be able to use Omnitures search engine marketing management tool to buy Facebook ads. And they will be able to compare how well their ad campaigns do on Facebook compared with other outlets.
EMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said the deal is a “really big move” because many large online marketers use Omniture on a regular basis.
“Marketers have been so interested in Facebook, but frustrated by the lack of analytics that Facebook is providing them,” she said.
[...]

Users in the U.S. and other countries reported problems beginning Saturday morning. Some could not log in, and the site was unusually slow and glitchy for others. Users in London, Bangkok and Mexico City reported problems. Many used Twitter to complain.
Facebook spokesman Matt Hicks it was a “small percentage of users” who had problems accessing Facebook, their friends profiles or specific site features because of an isolated server problem.
At 6 p.m. Saturday, Facebook said it had restored access to the users who were having access problems.
Facebook, which has more than 400 million users, has [...]

The companies said Thursday that advertisers on the worlds largest online social network will be able to use eBay Inc.s online payments business to buy ads. The service will roll out over the next couple of weeks.
Using PayPal instead of credit cards, PayPal says, would make life easier for small international companies to buy ads on Facebook.
In addition, Facebook users will be able to use PayPal to buy Facebook Credits. These credits let users buy virtual goods on the site, like gifts or items in games.
Research firm eMarketer estimates expects ad spending on Facebook [...]

Facebook is already testing the payment option in at least 17 games, including “Happy Aquarium” and “Restaurant City.” The company will make the service available in more games ahead of its annual developers conference in April, said the people, who declined to be named because the plans arent public.
After relying on advertising for almost all of its revenue, Facebook is moving to take a bigger piece of the market for virtual items bought in games, which may quadruple to $3.6 billion in the U.S. by 2012, [...]

AOL said Wednesday that a new version of AIM connects with the instant-messaging function on Facebooks Web site, letting AIM users communicate with friends who are logged on to the social network and available to chat.
Once an AIM user downloads the new software and links it with their Facebook profile, their buddy list will include a list of online Facebook friends.
Excluding mobile, AIM has about 17 million users - a fraction of the more than 400 million on Facebook. It launched a “lifestreaming” feature last year that let users see friends latest posts on social sites [...]

“Its been unbelievable,” said Azaria, a singer who lives in San Francisco. “It was just a quick post on Facebook, but one of my Facebook friends is friends with some people in Austin,” and those friends sent her tips on everything from yoga studios to local bus service.
Social media is changing the way people travel. Its replacing recommendations from experts and strangers with a targeted selection of information from acquaintances and their networks.
“Social media and travel are a perfect fit, because they both are built around this idea of sharing experiences and storytelling,” said Mary Madden, a senior researcher at [...]

You may have procrastinated by hitting “skip for now,” but Facebook eventually took away that button and forced you to update your settings before continuing to use the site.
After finally accepting Facebooks recommendations or tweaking the privacy settings yourself, though, you might have made more information about you public than what you had intended.
At the same time, Facebook has given users many granular controls over their privacy, more than whats available on other major social networks.
So if you want to stay out of peoples view, but still want to be on Facebook, here are some things to look out for [...]

At least one South Florida judge warned her pals with a Facebook status update that they could be “unfriended,” and the ruling has prompted others to do the same. The committee ruled Nov. 17 that online “friendships” could create the impression that lawyers are in a special position to influence their judge friends.
The committee did conclude that a judge can post comments on another judges site and that during judicial elections, a judges campaign can have “fans” that include lawyers. And the ruling doesnt single out Facebook.
“Although Facebook has been used as an example in this opinion, the holding of [...]

To make matters worse, his Facebook account proved almost impossible to put to rest, haunting her like a ghost with new wall-posts from network pals and holiday photos from the past.
Until now, there have been few ways to control our virtual afterlives, but a Swedish Internet site is launching a new service that offers to manage email and social networking accounts after death.
My Webwill is set to test launch in Sweden and the United States this month and go live in Britain and Germany in the beginning next year. An upgraded version is expected in May, expanding to more countries.
Users [...]

The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union say the new settings expose too much private information. The changes, rolled out this week, make information such as gender and location easier to find outside of Facebook on the Internet, said Nicole Ozer, a policy director at the ACLU.
“Facebook should be doing an about-face on these privacy changes,” said Ozer, who focuses on technology and civil liberties from San Francisco. “These privacy changes were not good for privacy and users [...]