Internet, Social Networking | featured news

Facebook users who check in to a store or click the "like" button for a brand may soon find those actions retransmitted on their friends' pages as a "Sponsored Story" paid for by advertisers....

Even as it struggles to become mainstream--just 4% of online adults use location-based social networking services--Foursquare has just released several statistics that point to the company's staggering growth over the past year, as well as usage patterns and the locales in which it has yet to catch on.2010 was "just insane," Foursquare wrote in a blog post.

Google Inc co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO from Eric Schmidt, a surprise that signaled Silicon Valley's most powerful Internet company was taking the offensive against fast-moving rivals like Facebook.

Twitter has reached nearly 200 million users who post 110 million tweets per day as of the January 1, 2011, Twitter spokesperson Carolyn Penner tells me. That’s up from 190 million users as of June 2010 and 95 million tweets per day as of early December — steady, but not explosive, growth. That’s why the company is now focused on building out its international presence.

A strong holiday shopping season will help Google Inc beat Wall Street's quarterly targets again, but investors may need more convincing to buy into the Internet giant's longer-term future.

Goldman said it was restricting participation in its new Facebook investment fund only to foreign clients, after receiving intense public scrutiny over the move.

Did you hear? Or, perhaps the better question is, did you read it on your news feed? Mark Zuckerberg plans to shut down Facebook on March 15.

News Corp. isn’t ready to pull the plug on MySpace just yet, but it is prepared to cut the cord. CEO Mike Jones told employees yesterday that the media conglomerate is “exploring strategic options” for the past-its-prime social network. That could mean a sale, a merger (Yahoo could be a candidate) or a spinoff. The last scenario is the most likely, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Back in December, Facebook introduced its new profiles to the world. For the first month, users could choose between the new profile and the old profile.

Long-rumored layoffs at News Corp.'s Myspace social-networking site will be announced Tuesday. More than 500 jobs are expected to be cut.