Social Media

Think back six months. You probably never had heard of a little website called Pinterest. Now it's the third most-visited social-networking site in the United States, according to a report released Thursday by Experian Marketing Services, a digital marketing firm. Pinterest, which lets its users "pin" photos and info from the Internet onto virtual boards, ranks behind only Facebook and Twitter in terms of total visitors, according to the analysis, titled "The 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report.

One day recently, Cynthia Newton's 12-year-old daughter asked her for help with homework, but Newton didn't want to help her, because she was too busy on Facebook. So her daughter went upstairs to her room and sent an e-mail asking her for help, but Newton didn't see the e-mail, because, well, she was too busy on Facebook. "I'm an addict. I just get lost in Facebook," Newton said. "My daughter gets so PO'd at me, and really it is kind of pathetic. It's not something I'm particularly proud of. I just get so sucked in. " Newton (that's not her real name; she's embarrassed by her Facebook use and requested anonymity)

Before the explosion of social media, Ken Altshuler, a divorce lawyer in Maine, dug up dirt on his client's spouses the old-fashioned way: with private investigators and subpoenas. Now the first place his team checks for evidence is Facebook. Consider a recent story of a female client in her 30s, who came to Altshuler seeking a divorce from husband. She claimed her husband, an alcoholic, was drinking again. The husband denied it. It was her word against his word, Altshuler says, until a mutual friend of the couple stumbled across Facebook photos of the husband drinking beer at a party a few weeks earlier.

South Korea plans to intensify the review of its social networking sites and smart phone applications to combat a surge in "illegal and harmful" information, government officials said. The Korea Communications Standards Commission said it will reshuffle departments to make way for a review team that will oversee new media content. Review of Internet content has been in place since 2008, but the commission said the move will boost effectiveness and meet growing demands. Social media users and civic groups decried the Thursday announcement, saying it clamps down on freedom of expression.

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. Sixty-one percent of Americans said they get at least some of their news online, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That's compared with 54 percent who said they listen to a radio news program and 50 percent who said they read a national or local print newspaper.

Rants about your boss or your job may have once been reserved for during after-work drinks at a bar, but employee gripes are now being voiced in the social media sphere. Workplace complaints posted on popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace could get you fired. But one federal agency has taken an unusual step to protect one complaining worker. The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against a Connecticut ambulance service company after it fired a worker for posting unflattering and sometimes vulgar comments about her boss on Facebook.

British Home Secretary Theresa May sat down with officials from the social media industry Thursday, her office said, as the government considers trying to ban people from social networking during or after crises. But the government "did not seek any additional powers to close down social media networks," the Home Office said. Twitter, Facebook, and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion all declined to say beforehand what position they would take at the meeting. Top police officers and other government officials were also present for the meeting, which follows riots that swept England earlier this month.

Mesh Gelman's button-down khaki shirt has turned two shades darker with sweat. But he is more concerned about who will sew the perfect placket on the knit polos he hopes to deliver to Beverly Hills Polo Club. The ones that will carry a "made in Haiti" label. On this sweltering April day, New York entrepreneur Gelman and his business partner, Elizabeth Brown, are making the rounds at Port-au-Prince garment factories, scoping out the potential. Gelman's mission is simple in theory.

Marissa Tarabocchia, a student at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, says she doesn't subscribe to any newspapers. Instead, she gets her news from the Web. "I can go [online] and find out what's happening in a matter of minutes," she says. "It's definitely more convenient and accessible -- and fast, easy and free. " Print newspaper subscriptions have declined for years as younger readers increasingly turn to digital sources for news. And surveys have shown that more younger readers are getting their news not through traditional news sites, but from Facebook and Twitter.

British girl Madeleine McCann, who vanished during a 2007 family vacation in Portugal, may still be alive, UK authorities said Wednesday. Madeleine was a few days shy of her fourth birthday when she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as her parents dined in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends. Despite a huge police investigation, massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, and a public riveted on social media, she remains missing. London's Metropolitan Police on Wednesday released a new image of the girl created in collaboration with the family that shows how Madeleine might look at age 9. Her ninth birthday is May 12. Timeline of the case An investigative review formed in May last year has been going through details from the case.

IN FOCUS: Social media in the Middle East Facebook is launching its long-awaited Initial Public Offering this week. With nearly a billion users the social networking site is hoping investors will dig deep to buy a stake in the company that has become a global phenomenon. Recently, the role of social media has increased sharply in the Middle East and, as MME found out, is becoming a crucial part of doing business. FACETIME: Fadi Ghandour, CEO & founder, Aramex Aramex is a global logistics company with its roots in the Middle East.

The hugely popular Chinese micro-blogging site, Sina Weibo, is set to introduce new rules on what topics users can and cannot post, as the country's social networks face increasing pressure to crack down on online rumors.   A "user contract," due to come into effect on May 28, aims to stop users of the Twitter-like service from publishing content that "spreads rumors, disrupts social order, or destroys social stability. " Weibo posted the document on its website and it was translated into English by financial publication Caijing and other Internet users.

Twitter has been adopted by politicians and supporters alike, but recent controversies in Argentina and Mexico question whether some groups have crossed a line. The most recent dust-up happened in Mexico, where a video was released that revealed the tactics of one group supporting presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, the current front-runner. The video captures a roomful of activists who support Peña Nieto and the instructions that a speaker is giving the laptop-equipped crowd.

The Philippines Department of Tourism has a lot to boast about. The country has beautiful beaches, great scuba diving and a culture that is known for its hospitality. What it doesn't have is a lot of money for a global tourism campaign. Thankfully, the country's social media mad population is happy to help. In January, the government launched a campaign with the tagline "It's More Fun in the Philippines," openly inviting the country's bloggers, tweeters and Facebook friends to come up with their own ads. "We just opened another battlefront, which was the social media side and tapping into the fact that there are 27 million Filipinos on Facebook," says campaign creator David Guerrero.

The winners of the 2012 Webby Awards were announced on Tuesday, Established in 1996, the Webby Awards are arguably the Internet's best-known honors. After starting small, the Webbys now hand out more than 100 awards each year. Many of each year's honorees tend to be celebrities, big companies or well-known online entities. Among this year's big winners are Pinterest (best social media app), photo-sharing app Instagram (breakout of the year), and the comedian Louis C.K., honored by the Webbys for creating "a new precedent for distribution" by releasing his comedy special through his own website.

British girl Madeleine McCann, who vanished during a 2007 family vacation in Portugal, may still be alive, UK authorities said Wednesday. Madeleine was a few days shy of her fourth birthday when she disappeared from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz as her parents dined in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends. Despite a huge police investigation, massive coverage in the Portuguese and British media, and a public riveted on social media, she remains missing. London's Metropolitan Police on Wednesday released a new image of the girl created in collaboration with the family that shows how Madeleine might look at age 9. Her ninth birthday is May 12. Timeline of the case An investigative review formed in May last year has been going through details from the case.

Donations to the fundraising page of a young woman who died less than one mile (1.6km) from the London Marathon finishing line, are heading towards the $1 million mark. As news of Claire Squire's death spread across social media sites, so too did the link to her Just Giving fundraising page, sparking a flurry of donations reaching more than £400,000 ($650,000) and rising fast by Tuesday afternoon. The hairdresser, from North Kilworth in Leicestershire, died near St James's Park on the final stretch of the 26.2 mile (42km)

The comment on the Facebook page of the Norwegian tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang last July was unequivocal. "The death penalty is the only just sentence in this case!!!!!!" it said. Written by Thomas Indrebo, the "case" to which the message referred was the meticulously planned mass murder of 77 people in Oslo on July 22, 2011by Anders Behring Breivik. This week, the Breivik case has finally come to Oslo central criminal court. But Indrebo, who, as it happens, had been selected as a "lay" judge (the Norwegian version of the U.S. and UK jury system)

Can an election be won on social media? That question is being increasingly asked in France, before the first round of the presidential election. The French are very much online now: 75% of people surf the web while 25 million have Facebook accounts, out of a total population of 66 million, of whom 43 million are voters. "The truth is that nobody has yet worked out how to change a 'like' on Facebook into a real vote," declared Fleur Pellerin, digital economy adviser for socialist candidate Francois Hollande.

Where have you gone Walter Cronkite, and why have you been replaced by the likes of woopig.net? Well, at least in the world of sports journalism. Bobby Petrino is no longer calling Hogs at the University of Arkansas, because somebody by the handle of "hoggrad" on that popular woopig.net website for Razorback fans first reported that the Arkansas football coach wasn't exactly watching game film that evening. Let's just say Petrino was the April Fool on the first day of this month courtesy of a motorcycle, a crash and a blonde.