facebook

Facebook reported ready to lift 5,000-friends cap

If you're among the fraction of Facebook users who have bumped up against the social-networking service's 5,000-friends cap, breathe easy: you might well soon be able to climb into the upper reaches of four figures' worth.

That's according to a Friday post on TechCrunch, where Michael Arrington reported that Facebook is getting ready to lift the limit.

As Arrington wrote, there are only about 1,000 Facebook users--out of 70 million--who have reached the cap, but "a disproportionate percentage of bloggers and press are at the limit, so the issue tends to get a lot … Read more

Facebook to open the gates with 'Facebook Connect'

This post was updated at 1:56 p.m. PDT.

Social network Facebook announced Friday the debut of Facebook Connect, a new technology for members to connect their profile data and authentication credentials to external Web sites. It makes the company the latest major Web site to embrace the concept of data portability.

The formal announcement was made through a post on Facebook's developer blog by senior platform manager Dave Morin, who has been one of the company's most visible evangelists in the developer community over the past year. Facebook Connect will launch within the next few weeks.… Read more

Facebook crowd blamed for trashing English garden

A water fight announcement posted on social-networking site Facebook is being blamed for damaging an award-winning public garden in England.

More than 350 people descended on the Millennium Square garden in Leeds on Monday with water guns and buckets, leaving plants trampled, turf torn up, and water features full of foam and debris, according to a report in The Daily Mail, which included before and after photos of the garden. The centerpiece garden won a bronze medal at the 2004 Chelsea Flower Show, according to the report.

Organizers allegedly called the event a "success," but videos posted on … Read more

After long negotiations, Facebook agrees to safety plan with state AGs

This post was updated at 11:02 AM PT with comment from MySpace.

Facebook on Thursday reached a user safety agreement with the attorneys general of 49 states and the District of Columbia, much as rival MySpace.com did several months ago.

"We've agreed with 49 states and the District of Columbia to set up principles around Internet safety," Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly explained in an interview with CNET News.com. The agreement is centered on "largely features that (Facebook) has in place already, but that we've committed to continuing and to enhance … Read more

Microsoft: Saving face by buying Facebook?

Microsoft, we get it: That Yahoo thing fell through, and picking up the pieces can be messy. But according to Kara Swisher at All Things D, Redmond just won't give up. The company has reportedly put together a Plan B that it refers to as "Project Granola," a name that makes "Zune" sound good.

And part of "Project Granola," Swisher wrote, is exploring the possibility of turning that $240 million stake in Facebook into an outright ownership.

More specifically, Microsoft's bankers have been shooting "subtle signals" in Facebook's direction, … Read more

Study: Developer activity on Facebook's platform is slowing

All gold rushes must come to an end, and according to one new report, Facebook's developer platform is no exception.

Facebook developer Jesse Farmer, creator of developer analytics service Adonomics, did an extensive amount of number-crunching after coming to an odd observation earlier this year: "Something is wrong in the Facebook developer community," Farmer wrote in a blog post Tuesday. "Starting in March I began noticing that the level of activity in the Facebook developers forum was dropping sharply."

Farmer's research confirmed his speculation: activity in the Facebook developer forum, from posts per day … Read more

Report: Facebook wants Marc Andreessen on its board

Facebook has asked tech veteran Marc Andreessen to join its board of directors, according to Kara Swisher at All Things D. The deal isn't finalized, apparently, but Andreessen has "verbally agreed" to the commitment.

The Netscape founder is currently at the helm of his own social-networking site, Ning, which lets Web users create their own branded community sites without technical expertise. Because of its focus on niche communities rather than mass communication, it's not a direct Facebook competitor.

Facebook, meanwhile, has been padding its ranks with seasoned industry leaders as a means of competing with the … Read more

Top-shelf Googler heads to Facebook

Another prominent Google employee has jumped ship to Facebook.

Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications and public affairs at Google, has been hired in a similar role at the fast-growing social network, reports Kara Swisher of All Things Digital.

Schrage's role at both companies, founded in a legal rather than marketing background, involves dealing with D.C. lobbyists and policymakers in addition to the press. His move to Facebook follows Sheryl Sandberg, who became chief operating officer at Facebook after a stint as vice president of global sales at Google. Schrage will report to Sandberg, Swisher writes, but … Read more

OK, so what's Microsoft's plan B?

With Yahoo apparently off the table, it's time to see what Microsoft's back-up plan looks like.

Microsoft has said for some time that it has a strategy with or without Yahoo, but it's a strategy clearly in need of a jump-start.

In search, for example, Microsoft has been trying to take on Google for some time, but it remains a distant third in search queries and also has struggled in the all-important battle of monetizing each search query.

Microsoft outlined two key reasons for buying Yahoo--adding its talented engineers and getting the significant boost in scale that … Read more