Social Networking, Mobile | featured news

Co-founder shares info about 'Deals,' other mobile apps, improvements for social networking site.

As companies actively court customers through Facebook and Twitter, and as more travelers spend time glued to their smart phones, it's time to ponder if travelers are overloaded by social media.

Facebook is working with mobile phone maker INQ Mobile Ltd to create two smartphone devices that may have a network tie up with AT&T Inc, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Facebook has rolled out its long-awaited location feature, Facebook Places, an application that lets users "check in" on their mobile phones so friends know where they're hanging out and what they're doing.

Nokia has announced it will bring social networking to the masses on its freshly minted C3, C6 and E5 phones. This comes just a day after Microsoft did the same for mobile Windows users, and Sony Ericsson is promising to catch up. The Nokia phones will communcate with Facebook and Twitter, as well as Ovi Mail and Chat. Meanwhile, Sony Ericsson's Spiro and Zylo add Walkman branding to the inevitable Facetwit connections, as money ceases to be a barrier to social networking.

More Americans get their news from the Internet than from newspapers or radio, and three-fourths say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites, according to a new report.

The social network reveals details of a stripped-down, text-only version of its mobile site called Facebook Zero.

"I didn't really use Facebook that much until I got my iPhone." Sound familiar? That sentiment and variations of it has provided powerful anecdotal evidence over the past several months about the impact smartphones are having on the way people are using the mobile web to connect with others.