Global News Post: Facebook

Facebook has been banned by Nepal Government

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By   <a href="http://www.groundreport.com/weaker41"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Shreedeep Rayamajhi</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIupnpI7ObogWBVcYxPVKOWFj15O_JH_AQMUNtsNRRIQJNafwqJ4QVHnWljCY99XnWPrgYVDG5S9ksV0lL8OrXDfRLGXHgP3H6_8tuXzCO7l_NqVK_-YRMmEhDhTNTqwZhoQa0EwcTzX0/s1600/phpThumb_generated_thumbnailjpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIupnpI7ObogWBVcYxPVKOWFj15O_JH_AQMUNtsNRRIQJNafwqJ4QVHnWljCY99XnWPrgYVDG5S9ksV0lL8OrXDfRLGXHgP3H6_8tuXzCO7l_NqVK_-YRMmEhDhTNTqwZhoQa0EwcTzX0/s320/phpThumb_generated_thumbnailjpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Photo © <a href="http://www.groundreport.com/includes/ajax/image_popup.php?image=2947446&image_id=1"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Groundreport</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">KATHMANDU, Nepal (<a href="http://www.groundreport.com/World/Facebook-has-been-banned-by-Nepal-Government/2947446"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Groundreport</span></a>): In the central administrative wing of Nepal Government Singha Durbar FACEBOOK has been officially banned. According to sources FACEBOOK was banned with due in consideration from the IT department reasoning more visits and clicks to the website.The social networking site has been seen as a huge threat from office effectiveness and efficiency where employees are seen chatting and wasting their times and resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the past few incidents workers have been caught writing their dissatisfaction in their status update and leaking official information in regards to their professionalism and personal life.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div></div>

Facebook has been banned by Nepal Government

By Shreedeep Rayamajhi Photo © Groundreport KATHMANDU, Nepal ( Groundreport ): In the central administrative wing of Nepal Governm...

Facebook Earnings Fall Despite Higher Revenue

Facebook Earnings Fall Despite Higher Revenue

By VOA News Facebook, the world's most popular social network website, says it lost money during the second quarter of the year, desp...

Facebook Mobile in Three New National Languages

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- Mobile phone users will soon be able to access Facebook in three new national languages, namely Hindi, Malay and Vietnamese via the "Facebook for Every Phone" application. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The application will also be made available in seven local Indian languages, namely Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali and Marathi. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The mobile application in Hindi and the phased-out launch in other languages will enable more people to connect and share, said Facebook Country Growth Manager Kevin D'Souza in a statement. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Earlier, users could access Facebook only in English. The application was originally launched in July 2011 and now works on more than 3,600 Java-enabled phones around the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">India is the second largest market for the social networking website after the United States. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are 800 million active users worldwide and 350 million of them access the Facebook on mobile devices. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Facebook Mobile in Three New National Languages

NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama) -- Mobile phone users will soon be able to access Facebook in three new national languages, namely Hindi, Malay an...

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter: Tools of Syrian Opposition

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>By Henry Ridgwell from London</b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Of all the uprisings across the Arab world, Syria is proving the hardest for the global media to cover. Opposition groups are therefore heavily reliant on social media - the likes of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter - to convey what is happening. Our reporter recently traveled to neighboring Lebanon for VOA, and found a sophisticated network of Syrian activists taking the opposition fight online.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="305" src="http://www.voanews.com/templates/widgetDisplay.html?id=141685273&player=article" width="480"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A shaky amateur video seemingly taken on a cell phone appears to show shells falling on the city of Homs.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It is one of hundreds, possibly thousands of similar videos uploaded to social media websites like YouTube in the past few weeks.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the absence of many foreign journalists, social media has become one of the key tools for telling the outside world what is happening is Syria.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Just over the border in Lebanon, Abdi Hakim Ijburi sits talking to other Syrian refugees at a camp in the town of Wadi Khaled. He says he had a good life in Syria, selling fabrics.  When the Arab Spring erupted he got online and found many others wanting to emulate the protests in Egypt and Tunisia.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"At first, we started using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to get a group of young people and activists together,” he said. “And from that group we started organizing. In Talkalakh where I come from, we started writing anti-government graffiti on walls.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hakim says as the protests built momentum, he was captured and tortured. Like thousands of other Syrians, he escaped into Lebanon from where he continues to help organize the online opposition.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“There were lots of people in my hometown of Talkalakh that I didn’t even know were part of the opposition movement, or were sympathetic with the movement,” he said. “And if it hadn’t been for the social media we wouldn’t have become united.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Activists are circulating advice online on how to film videos of corpses and torture victims for use in any future trials.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One message sent to VOA via Skype suggests filming both entry and exit wounds from gunshots so the type of weapon can be determined; and including a copy of the day's newspaper to prove the timing.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Emanuelle Esposti, a columnist and blogger in Britain, has been analyzing the use of such videos by foreign mainstream media.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">“It’s very difficult to know where that video has actually come from, who’s behind it, why are they behind it," said Esposti. "Because there’s nobody there on the ground, because there’s no reporter there that can say ‘Yes, I’ve looked out of my window and I’ve seen this.’”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the most prolific activists in Syria was Rami al-Sayed. He used the website ‘Bambuser’ to broadcast purported live pictures of the shelling of Homs to the outside world.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fellow activists say he was killed by shrapnel.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Media analysts say the recent deaths of two foreign journalists in Homs have left the outside world even more dependent on Syria’s citizens to document the violence. ---VOA News</span></div></div>

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter: Tools of Syrian Opposition

By Henry Ridgwell from London Of all the uprisings across the Arab world, Syria is proving the hardest for the global media to cover. Op...

Your Facebook Friends Have More Friends Than You

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">And Other Surprising Findings from a New Facebook Study<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">By Doug Bernard from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Washington</st1:city>  <st1:state w:st="on">DC</st1:state></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Facebook was not originally created to be a company,” wrote founder Mark Zuckerberg in a letter this week. “Facebook exists to make the world more open and connected, and not just to build a company. We expect everyone at Facebook to focus every day on how to build real value for the world in everything they do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Those familiar with the story of Zuckerberg’s rapid rise from mischievous hacker to CEO of the globe’s most popular social network might find his claim a bit altruistic, but not unexpected. The letter was just one part of Facebook’s official request to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in support of its bid to begin selling stock publicly. The entire filing is massive, and analysts have been combing through its 150 pages (not counting index and associated documents) for hints about Facebook’s market value and economic potential. Billions of dollars are at stake.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But the real measure of its long-term viability may not be lay in balance sheets and profit statements, but in the little bits of time some 840 million registered users* spend every day updating their status, catching up with friends, or just “liking” something they’ve found on the web.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">And so Facebook’s SEC filing begs the question: is it building “real value for the world,” or is it little more than a website for selling ads and wasting time?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">More Social, Emotional Support and Companionship<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Facebook looks like a social good,” says <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Rutgers</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> researcher Keith Hampton. “People who use Facebook tend to do better on average than other folks.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Hampton</span></st1:city></st1:place><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> is the lead author of a new analysis, released by the Pew Internet Project, exploring how people actually use Facebook.  Titled “Why most Facebook users get more than they give” the study tracked a sample of users over the course of a month, exploring patterns of use, behavior and interaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">What they learned was in parts expected and surprising.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Facebook users are just busy,” notes <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hampton</st1:city></st1:place>:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“We see the majority of them are moderately active on any given day. But there’s a group of users, about 20 to 30 percent, who are very active in doing a lot of different things. And it’s really interesting to see that those 20 or 30 percent, on whatever metric we’re using, really drags along that group of other users, and makes them more involved.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">These members, dubbed “power users” in the study, post, comment, like, friend and play on Facebook significantly more than most other users. And, consistent with previous studies, it’s these users that provide much of the “real value” that Facebook members experience.  They’re the ones more likely to comment on you rather than the other way around. In other words, these are your friends who give more than they get: the ones who walk into a room and everyone notices.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">A graphic map of "Facebook connections" (courtesy Facebook)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">All fine and well, in the digital sphere. But researchers constantly wonder whether the online “friend” experience has any relation to real world, flesh-and-blood experiences. According to Keith Hampton, the line between cyber and life is becoming blurrier:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The overlap, and what we’ve found in the past, is that not many of these people are actual strangers. These are people you encounter in your everyday life, and our work shows that those people using Facebook a lot, they’re getting more social support, emotional support and companionship. They’re also more politically involved, and they tend to have more friends in the real world, and more diverse friends. We don’t see any tendency for people using Facebook, or really any Internet technology, be more socially isolated, or more cut off from a diverse set of people, or even having fewer close relationships. We see the opposite.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">So those who spend a lot of time online in social networks tend not to be of the classic, introverted dude-in-the-basement scenario. At least, on average.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Surprising as that may (or may not) be, there are what <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Hampton</st1:city></st1:place> calls paradoxes in the study. For example, the finding that your Facebook friends, on average, have more friends than you does.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Af first glance, that finding seems mathematically impossible, in the long run. However, says <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hampton</st1:place></st1:city>, it’s really an expression of the asymmetric relationships people have in the real world. In other words, if you think about it, it’s more likely you know someone who knows lots of people than someone who has a very small friendship base:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“If you think about it, very few people are socially isolated; very few people have a very small number of friends. And naturally, those people show up in your friendship networks less often. But people who have a lot of friends, they show up a lot in your networks. And when you look at these averages, these people get counted more than once. So as it works, you see that your friends tend to have more friends than you, and the magnitude of this fact is real. So for the typical Facebook user, as they look out over their Facebook friends, their friends appear to have on average about twice as many friends as they do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Other findings: women update their status significantly more often than men; people who are active online tend to be more politically active, and while your Facebook “friends” may have little connection with each other, users who are active – for example, “tagging” real-world photos of their friends – tend to have more robust real-world (or “offline”) social networks as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It would seem, at least according to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hampton</st1:place></st1:city>’s study that by and large people who are more engaged in their offline social friend network are going to be more engaged in their online one as well. And this, frankly, should surprise no one.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“A Success So Far”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">So big shock: people who are popular in the real world tend to be popular in the online one as well. So what?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Despite the blurring of differences people may feel sharing a coffee with a friend at a cafe and sharing messages online on Facebook, there are, says Prof. Hampton, still real differences between our real-world experience and that online – particularly when it comes to friendships:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“This is a very unique thing about Facebook and social networking websites, in that they provide networks that are persistent and pervasive in ways that we never had before. We used to go through life with various stages where we would lose friends – we would go off to college or start a new job. That’s no longer the case. These people stick with us forever, and we get these little tidbits of information about them on a regular basis on our Facebook feeds. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">That I think is very powerful, and it really reduces the separation between using this technology and what happens in what we call real life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Pervasive” is another term for “sticky” – one that Internet financial analysts use to describe how long a user stays on a website, and how often they come back, to evaluate its financial well-being. If Facebook is successful in keeping people “stuck” to its site and services, its financial future looks fairly bright.<span class="apple-style-span"> ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Your Facebook Friends Have More Friends Than You

And Other Surprising Findings from a New Facebook Study By Doug Bernard from Washington DC “Facebook was not originally created to be...

Indian Internet Lawsuit Puts Spotlight on Freedom of Expression

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<h2 style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: small;"><br />
</span></h2><div class="byline" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">By </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Anjana Pasricha<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="location"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Delhi</st1:place></st1:city></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8.5pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Internet giants such as<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Google<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Facebook<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>are fighting a lawsuit after the government authorized their prosecution for online content on their sites deemed to be offensive. The case has put the spotlight on free speech in the world’s largest democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
The criminal lawsuit filed by the editor of New Delhi-based Urdu weekly <em>Akbari</em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span>accuses 21 Internet companies of violating Indian law. Vinay Rai alleged that online material on their websites has the potential to incite religious conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Rai said his colleagues brought to his attention images of Prophet Muhammad which could offend Muslims. He cited other images and text which could hurt sentiments of Hindus and Christians. Rai wants Internet companies to screen content before it is posted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Google and Facebook have asked the Delhi High Court to dismiss the case against them. In an appeal, they said it is impossible to filter all content or stop individuals from posting material online.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Editor Rai filed the case after the government indicated its approval for the prosecution. The official go-ahead came weeks after the government also raised a similar demand.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Voluntary framework</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal told Internet company representatives to come up with a voluntary framework to keep offensive material off the net.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">After confronting them with photos and material derogatory of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi, he said the companies had not cooperated.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Both the court case and the government’s demands have stoked fears of net censorship in the world’s largest democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Advocacy groups say the dispute between authorities and websites began simmering last year when <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> tightened laws to block content which could be deemed offensive. Citizens and officials can ask sites to block objectionable material and failure to comply within 36 hours can attract penalties or imprisonment of up to seven years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sunil Abraham, with the Center for Internet and Society in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, said these rules have the potential to curtail debate and discussion on the net.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“These limits are vague.  They allow for all sorts of subjective tests by private parties and we predicted they would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression online," Abraham said. "Policy in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> has been headed in a very worrisome direction.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Abraham pointed out that one of his organization’s recent studies indicates that, faced with the threat of stiff penalties, most service providers removed content when asked to do so, even when it was not offensive or controversial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Free media?<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
<br />
The government insists its objective is not to encroach on the fundamental right of free speech guaranteed by <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s democratic constitution. The clarification came from Minister Kapil Sibal after his meetings with Internet companies last month.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“This government does not believe in censorship," noted Sibal. "This government does not believe in either directly or indirectly interfering in the freedom of the press, and we have demonstrated that time and again.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
<br />
<st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> does have a vibrant free media and Internet access is largely free, unlike in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>. But in a country with a history of religious violence, authorities have long tussled with the dilemma of balancing free speech with the need to not inflame sentiments among religious groups. <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> was one of the first countries to ban Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
Other books and articles have also faced bans. Many are challenged in courts and several have been overturned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
<br />
Now the focus is on the Internet and questions are being raised about whether the web should or can be policed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
<br />
<strong>Online freedom<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
<br />
In a remark widely quoted in the domestic media, a judge hearing the case had warned websites that like <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> might be compelled to block some of them if they did not create means to curb material seen as offensive.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<br />
However, Abraham from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype>  of <st1:placename w:st="on">Internet</st1:placename></st1:place> and Society hopes that, as the latest case navigates its way through Indian courts, online freedom will come up the winner.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
<br />
“I think the executive in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> has always been very conservative in freedom of expression. It is usually the courts in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> that protect freedom of expression, the precedent," Abraham said. "So we are every hopeful that the current case is in the appropriate venue, and we are confident that, as in the past, the judiciary in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> will stand on the side of freedom of expression.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
<br />
With 100 million people surfing the web, <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> has the world’s third largest number of Internet users after <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region> and the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"> ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Indian Internet Lawsuit Puts Spotlight on Freedom of Expression

By Anjana Pasricha from New Delhi In India , Internet giants such as Google and Facebook are fighting a lawsuit after the gover...

Internet Giants Fight Web Control in India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Internet giants Google and Facebook have told an Indian court that it is not possible to block offensive content that appears on their websites, in a case that underscores a clash over free speech in the world’s most populous democracy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">At the heart of the dispute is a law passed in India last year that makes companies responsible for user content posted on their websites, requiring them to take it down within 36 hours in case of a complaint.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Lawyers for Google and Facebook told the court Monday that they already remove content deemed to contravene laws in the countries in which they operate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But, they argued, the companies were not responsible for material posted by users on their platforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Civil rights groups in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place> have opposed the new laws. But politicians say that posting offensive material in the socially conservative country, which has a history of violence between religious groups, presents a danger to the public as Internet use grows.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The hearing will continue on Thursday.<span class="apple-style-span"> ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Internet Giants Fight Web Control in India

Internet giants Google and Facebook have told an Indian court that it is not possible to block offensive content that appears on their web...

India: Delhi Court Issues Summons to Google, Facebook over Objectionable Contents

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NEW DELHI</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> (NNN-EXPRESSINDIA) -- A Delhi court has issued summons to various foreign-based social networking sites, including Facebook and Google, to face criminal charges for allegedly hosting objectionable contents and directed them to appear before it on March 13.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It asked the Ministry of External Affairs to get the summons served on these companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court direction came after the counsel appearing for Facebook <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> said over ten out of 21 companies named as accused in the case were foreign-based and that the court would have to issue process to serve the summons on them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court was hearing a private complaint filed by a journalist Vinay Rai against these firms for allegedly web-casting objectionable contents. The summons were issued to the sites including Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Youtube.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Let the process (to serve the summons) on (foreign-based) accused be sent through the MEA as per the process," said Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Sudesh Kumar.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court listed the matter for further hearing on March 13 and directed the accused to appear in person before it on the next date. "The accused are allowed exemption for today only but are directed to appear in person on the next date of hearing without fail," the magistrate said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court passed the order after advocate Shashi Tripathi, appearing for the complainant, told the magistrate that he would file a fresh list of the addresses of the various foreign-based sites for the serving of the summons through the MEA.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">During the hearing, senior counsel Siddharth Lutra, representing Facebook <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, sought adjournment for the day, saying the matter was pending before the Delhi High Court and the case file was also in the High Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Luthra said, "The matter is listed in the High Court for January 16... No order has been passed by the High Court during yesterday's proceedings. Since the record (case file) is not here, we are seeking adjournment for today only".<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He said that one of the accused, who is chairman of the Facebook, is based in <st1:state w:st="on">California</st1:state> in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the court would have to direct the MEA for serving summons on him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The counsel for Google India Pvt Ltd also asked the court to adjourn the matter today. He said that summons issued to accused companies Orkut, Youtube and Blogspot have been mistakenly served at their premises here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court, which had earlier directed the Centre to take "immediate appropriate steps" in this regard, was told by the counsel for Ministry of Communication and Information Technology that they would file a report today itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The court had on December 23 last issued summons to them against which some of the accused companies had moved the High Court. The summons to the foreign firms had not been served.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The magistrate's December 23 order had come three days after another court in a civil case had restrained these sites including Facebook, Google and Youtube from webcasting any 'anti-religious' or 'anti-social' content promoting hatred or communal disharmony.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The magistrate had said, "It appears from a bare perusal of the documents that prima facie the accused in connivance with each other and other unknown persons are selling, publicly exhibiting and have put into circulation obscene, lascivious content".<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The magistrate had summoned the accused companies for allegedly committing offences punishable under section 292 (sale of obscene books etc), 293 (sale of obscene objects to young person etc) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He had said that as per the records placed before the court by the complainant, there were defamatory and obscene articles pertaining to various Indian political leaders which were being webcast by these sites. He had also noted that the material submitted by complainant contained obscene picture and derogatory articles pertaining to Prophet Mohammad, Jesus Christ and various Hindu gods and goddesses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According to the complainant, the alleged contents on these sites were obscene and might lead to "creation of obscene books, pamphlets, papers which can easily be downloaded from these social networking websites affecting the minds of children and were harmful for social harmony and may lead to increase in crime against women also". -- NNN-EXPRESSINDIA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Delhi Court Issues Summons to Google, Facebook over Objectionable Contents

NEW DELHI (NNN-EXPRESSINDIA) -- A Delhi court has issued summons to various foreign-based social networking sites, including Facebook and...

Facebook is rocking in India

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px;">By <a href="http://www.groundreport.com/vartika1nanda"><span style="text-decoration: none;"> Vartika Nanda</span></a> (<a href="http://www.groundreport.com/Media_and_Tech/Facebook-is-rocking-in-India/2940811"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Ground Report</span></a>)    </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Facebook/dp/1615640363?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Complete Idiot's Guide to Facebook" height="320" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1615640363&tag=glob036-20" width="214" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1615640363" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Count all the users of facebook and you will find a country with the third largest population in the world. 93% of the modern literate world is now hooked to the facebook. And how can one forget India. It is now world’s fourth biggest country with such huge number of facebook users.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When Prof Sreenivasan from Columbia University recently shared his views on facebook with the younger audience, there was lots of joy and energy in the auditorium. Venue was the American Center at New Delhi. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This thought provoking discussion revolved around the use and scope of social media networking and thus intentionally aimed at a young audience across Delhi.  From twitter to linkedin to facebook, it was quite evident that facebook is literally ruling the young mindset.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Effect-Inside-Company-Connecting/dp/1439102120?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1439102120&tag=glob036-20" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to a release given by the American Center, Professor Sree Sreenivasan is a journalism educator at<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1439102120" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> Columbia University and a technology guru who works to help journalists and consumers use technology in smarter ways. A commentator on tech and media issues, Sree is considered to be one of Poynter's 35 most influential people in social media; one of AdAge's 25 media people to follow on Twitter; one of  the top 25 journalists to follow on Twitter; and one of 22 professors named to the "Top 100 Twitterers in Academia" by OnlineSchools.org.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thus the data and experiences shared by him were mind boggling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Business-Customers-Awareness-ebook/dp/B003Z0D0YU?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Facebook for Business: How To Market Your Business on Facebook and Get More Sales, New Customers and Brand Awareness" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B003Z0D0YU&tag=glob036-20" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003Z0D0YU" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />India is a country with more that 50% people below the age of 30. This makes it a unique breeding ground for a new media option like facebook. It appeared at many occasions that the discussion turned to be a PR exercise for the promotion of facebook but it got a balanced look when the audience started posing questions on the ethics and legal issues pertaining to facebook and the success of the new tool called the google +. It was evident that it will take a while to equip ourselves with the tools to handle cyber crime.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There was hardly any mention of the traditional modes of communication which had a long history in a country like India. Nevertheless it was successful in highlighting the fact that facebook rocks!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.6pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 16.0pt; margin-bottom: 2.4pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Social-Networking-Career-Success-Personal/dp/1576857824?ie=UTF8&tag=glob036-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Social Networking for Career Success: Using Online Tools to Create a Personal Brand" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1576857824&tag=glob036-20" /></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the past six years, facebook has succeeded in creating an efficient cyber space and discussions like these<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=glob036-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1576857824" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> are sure to add new dimensions to the ongoing technology driven thought process. Looking at its speed, velocity and popularity, one is sure facebook will touch the mark of one billion users soon and thus, ignoring this smarter mode is just impossible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Published <span class="apple-style-span">under a</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License</span></a>.</span></span><o:p></o:p></div></div>

Facebook is rocking in India

By Vartika Nanda ( Ground Report ) Count all the users of facebook and you will find a country with the third largest population i...