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A couple in Sanford, Fla., is afraid for their lives after a Twitter post said their address was that of George Zimmerman and urged people to "reach out and touch" the neighborhood watch captain who shot dead Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon Martin's death illustrates the growing numbers of black and Hispanic Americans harnassing the power of social networking sites.

Anyone worried about an erosion of America's global status might consider this modest fact: Facebook is the dominant social network in Mongolia. Along with its pervasive social media, the United States leads in myriad other ways - from the allure of its movies and music to the reach of its military. It's tough to match a nation that deploys troops to Australia and central Africa, propels Beyonce to global stardom, and produced the Twitter-style technologies that abetted the Arab Spring.

Today marks the sixth year since founder Jack Dorsey and Twitter’s first members started using the communications platform. And for its birthday, the company has posted a number of stats about its growth in usage.

Twitter just announced that it has acquired Posterous, the YCombinator-backed blogging and sharing platform that competed early on with Tumblr.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Newt Gingrich may occasionally refer to a Twitter hash tag as a hash mark but he is relying on the Internet to reach out to voters, one tweet and Facebook friend at a time.

Dean Obeidallah asks whether the Department of Homeland Security's surveillance of social media websites is an invasion of our privacy.

President Barack Obama will hold his first news conference of the year Tuesday, the same day his Republican rivals face off in 10 voting contests. White House spokesman Jay Carney announced the Tuesday afternoon news conference on Twitter. Obama held his last full news conference in November during the APEC summit in Hawaii.

A study of Twitter sentiment shows a high level of love for Woody Allen's latest movie.

A Kenyan chief in a town far from the bustling capital foiled a predawn robbery recently using Twitter, highlighting the far-reaching effects of social media in areas that don't have access to the Internet.