Technology, Social Media | featured news

Twitter pages are getting a bit fancier (some might say more Facebook-like) whether you like it or not, starting Wednesday. For years, a user's Twitter page has featured the option of a profile photo and a page background of your choosing. Now, there's a third element being added to your page's look, a "header" photo that surrounds your profile photo. The short messaging blog has been doing a soft rollout the past few months of the three-element look, but on Dec. 12, it goes site-wide to all users.

For a few brief weeks, you could see posts from the Pakistani Taliban in your Facebook feed, right next to Post articles and baby photos. But over the weekend, Facebook shut down a recruiting page for the TTP, or Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan — much to nobody's surprise.

Images from Instagram, the photo-sharing app that lets user spruce up their work with a slate of arty and retro filters, no longer show up on Twitter, a popular place to share them.

After a long period of closed beta testing, Microsoft made the beta version of its social network, Socl, available to everyone on Tuesday.

Facebook users have until 3 p.m. ET/noon PT on Dec. 10 to cast their votes on changes proposed to the social network's data use policy and statement of rights and responsibilities — among them, the very right of Facebook users to vote on policy.

The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would begin posting messages on Twitter next week under the handle @pontifex, a term for pope that means bridge-builder in Latin.

Not complacent at a billion users, Facebook is parachuting into markets all over the globe. But overseas growth that once seemed to come so easily is slower now.

Facebook Inc. and Zynga Inc. are changing the rules of their relationship. In a bid to become less reliant on Facebook, Zynga disclosed in a filing on Thursday that it has amended the terms of its relationship with the world's largest social network so that it can now host its Web games outside of Facebook's platform, among other things. The new agreement also leaves the door open for Facebook to produce its own games and become a direct competitor to Zynga.

Is it possible to say something profound, to create something beautiful or essential, 140 characters at a time? Of course it is! No it isn’t! Oops, that’s already 141 characters. Clearly, the writers in the first-ever Twitter Fiction Festival don't have an easy task. The virtual literary gathering, brought to you by Twitter, begins today. The writers come from 20 countries and were chosen by a committee “composed of experts from around the publishing industry in the U.S.,” according to the official launch page.

With so much consumption going on, giving back can easily be overlooked. The 92nd Street Y in New York hopes to change that with its social media movement #GivingTuesday. #GivingTuesday is not a charity drive to benefit one cause but a call for many organizations and individuals to give to those less fortunate during this time of year, say its organizers. Retailers around the country will host donation drives in stores on Tuesday. Meanwhile, participants with an online presence are soliciting charitable contributions from their social media followers.