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Facebook Inc. could file papers for its initial public offering as early as this coming week, people familiar with the matter said, as anticipation mounts for what is likely to be one of the biggest debuts for a U.S. company.

Facebook looks set to file papers for its public stock offering by as soon next Wednesday, CNBC reported Friday. The highly anticipated IPO will value the world's largest social networking site at between $75 billion and $100 billion, CNBC said, citing The Wall Street Journal as the source.

Twitter on Thursday announced that it is now able to block tweets that run afoul of certain countries' restrictions on speech, but that has prompted backlash from users who fear the micro-blogging service will honor takedown requests from repressive regimes.

Facebook announced in a blog post Tuesday that Timeline will be coming to all users in the next few weeks. According to a Facebook blog post Tuesday -- or rather, an update to the post published when Timeline became available to all users -- you will have seven days to preview your Timeline and hide content you don't want out in the open.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider how much free speech protection students have for items they post on the Internet, turning away a set of cases involving the use of the social-networking site MySpace.com.

Over the past few months, I have become increasingly interested in #Twitter with the help of my friend, Julie Hunt (@juliebhunt) of . Like (@Univ_of_Oregon) #Prof. Kyu Ho Youm (@Marshall Youm), I use Twitter to share, learn, and keep virtual note cards. As you've immediately noticed, I (@BenKerschberg) am writing this short piece in a ...

Facebook will hit the 1 billion user mark in August, according to an analyst... You know what’s cool? A billion. Users, that is. Having passed the $1 billion revenue mark some time ago, Facebook is now closing in on 1 billion users. The company claimed 800 million users in September, so it’s not surprising that claiming membership of one-seventh of humanity is now within the social network’s grasp.

One of the newest Twitter-ers: First lady Michelle Obama.

For Google, it's personal. The Internet search giant is no longer going to roll out the same search results to everyone... It's doing this in three ways. First, it's expanding search beyond public Web pages to the photos and posts you and others have shared privately. Second, as you type a person's name into Google, it will automatically suggest people you are close to or may be interested in. Third, Google is guiding users to profiles and Google+ pages related to the topic of interest.

SoundCloud, a startup focusing on audio-sharing in social media, has announced a new (and reportedly sizable) round of funding. The round, which was led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, may have been as large as $50 million, TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher reports. A SoundCloud rep confirmed all the details except the amount in an email exchange with VentureBeat this afternoon.