Social Networks

Facebook is testing a new version of its comments feature that elevates the most-engaged remarks on brand pages to the top of the list. The new format appears on the pages of celebrities and public individuals such as journalist Fareed Zakaria and quarterback Tim Tebow. "We are testing a new format ...

Google Maps' mobile app reportedly is losing market share to local competition in China. Statistics from the third quarter show that Google Maps has lost almost half its market share since the second quarter -- from 17.5 percent to 9.5 percent -- and fell to No. 6 from No. 2 among mobile map apps. A...

Facebook has rolled out a round of security features intended to better educate new users about what information they can keep private and how. Now, when new users sign up for the site, they will have the option to take an online privacy tour to get information on its privacy policies. It will inclu...

Federal authorities arrested Paul Ceglia on charges of mail and wire fraud last week. Ceglia is accused of tampering with, destroying and fabricating evidence in a scheme to defraud Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of billions of dollars. Ceglia originally filed suit in 2010, claiming that while Zuckerb...

Forty-seven percent of all social media users have used their networks to get customer service from a company, with usage as high as 59 percent among 18-24 year olds, according to a new study from NM Incite. Almost one in three social media users said they preferred to contact a company that way, an...

Facebook delivered a double whammy with its third-quarter earnings report: It came in slightly above Wall Street analysts' expectations, and it illustrated that, yes, it can deliver on its mobile promise. Although it recorded a net loss of $59 million, revenue reached $1.26 billion, a 32 percent yea...

Social media has become a channel through which many Americans participate in politics. Sixty-six percent of social media users -- or 39 percent of all American adults -- have engaged in some form of civic or political activity via social media, suggests a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Ce...

Twitter on Thursday blocked tweets from the accounts of a neo-Nazi group that is in violation of German law. The ban is effective only within Germany. This is the first time Twitter has acted on its "country withheld content" policy, which it first announced in January. Twitter enacted the policy in...

LinkedIn, the social network geared toward professionals, has unveiled a major revamp of its site design. The changes began rolling out this week and will continue throughout the next few months. The new LinkedIn places a greater emphasis on photos -- they are larger, serving as focal points on the ...

Cisco Systems was among the "array" of American tech firms lobbying against Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei and ZTE. Huawei and ZTE -- which were recently dubbed security threats by the House Intelligence Committee -- were targeted in a lengthy "marketing campaign" designed to discredit Chi...