Facebook

The purge has commenced. Facebook is throwing out all fake users, accounts, and likes. That's right, all of those thousands of questionable thumbs ups are starting to disappear.

The social network announced last month that it'd start this massive deletion process, but it was unclear when. According to TechCrunch, Facebook confirmed today that the time is now.

Over the course of the day, tens of thousands of fans were quietly dropped from Facebook Pages. Data from Facebook metrics site PageData shows that Zynga's Texas HoldEm Poker lost 96,000 fans today, while Rihanna lost 22,198, and … Read more

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is headed to Russia next week to meet with a billionaire who is developing a Silicon Valley-like business park near Moscow, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

In addition to visiting "billionaire industrialist" Viktor Vekselberg and the Skolkovo Innovation Center just outside Moscow, Zuckerberg will meet with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Skolkovo Innovation Center representative told the Journal. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to CNET that Zuckerberg is indeed planning to visit Russia.

Vekselberg heads the Skolkovo Foundation, which aims to develop a high-tech complex that will draw top tech talent to Russia, and … Read more

Facebook users can now share their Dropbox-stored files from inside their Facebook groups, the cloud storage service announced today.

The two companies have partnered up to roll out the new integration today. Soon, all users will have the Dropbox option in their groups.

"Now you can share notes with your study group, add the latest game schedule to your basketball team's group, or post a birthday video to your family's group at lightning speed from wherever you are," Dropbox engineer Chris Varenhorst wrote in a blog post.

To share a file, users can click on the &… Read more

Twitter isn't interested in selling out, the company has no plans to go public, nor does it feel any pressure from its investors to get ready for an IPO.

That was the word from Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, whose recent interview with CNBC was aired this morning.

"Nothing external to the company has had any bearing on how I think about when to take Twitter public or not to," Costolo told CNBC, adding that he's not interested in selling the company. "We have every hope and belief that we will be a successful -- independent … Read more

Facebook released a new developer kit today that will make it easier to integrate Facebook into apps running on iOS 6.

This upgrade, which Facebook says is its most significant ever, means developers can create apps that functions more as a built-in part of the operating system rather than as an afterthought. Facebook said this will drive installs and encourage users to spend more time on apps.

"This integration opens up new opportunities for mobile app developers as you can easily build the foundation for a social app, Facebook log-in and sharing functionality, into your product," Platform Product … Read more

A friend of mine recently sent me a direct message on Twitter, it said "lol u didnt se them taping u" and had a link to Facebook. I hadn't remembered being taped in the past few days and I'd never seen my friend use this type of Twitter-shorthand, along with typos. To me, it was obviously spam.

I'm not the only one to be getting these spammy direct messages on Twitter that lead to bogus Facebook links. Apparently a lot of people have been complaining of these messages, according to Sophos analyst Graham Cluley who … Read more

Facebook users can post to their timelines that they have a new tattoo, they're learning how to play a new instrument, and other "life events;" and, as of today, they can also announce that they're registered to vote.

The social network is rolling out this new "life event" as the 2012 presidential election season heats up.

"Election Day in the United States is right around the corner and people are increasingly using Facebook to discuss candidates, campaigns, and critical issues facing the country," Facebook wrote in a blog post. "Starting today, … Read more

A Facebook Timeline feature that rounds up old posts has people crying privacy violations, but Facebook says it's just a part of its ongoing Timeline roll-out.

A French newspaper reported today that users were seeing private messages from past years posted to their Timelines. The messages were curated in a box labeled "Friends," which was created to display all the wall posts from each year.

Media reports and user panic ensued, but Facebook swears no private messages were published.

Facebook said this is a new feature that was incorporated into Timeline, but the viewable messages are not … Read more

Looks like the Facebook pessimism has returned.

Shares of Facebook, which have been on a tear since CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to calm Wall Street during an in an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt less than two weeks ago, are getting slammed today. The stock fell more than 10 percent at one point and triggered the SEC's short-sale restriction, which is designed to keep short-sellers from battering the stock even further. Shares closed down more than 9 percent at $20.75.

Why the sudden change of heart? The broader market is taking a hit, which of course doesn't help. … Read more