At least two Twitters users and bloggers have openly called for US President Barack Obama?s assassination, following the passing of his controversial health care reform bill. Many American conservatives have fiercely opposed any attempt to extend health care benefits to 32 million citizens who currently have no coverage at all, arguing that the US cannot afford such generosity and this is an encroachment of the government on the private sector. But things turned ugly when two Twitter users openly mused about assassinating the president, perhaps not realizing that among those following their tweets is the Secret Service.</p> <p>A conservative blogger and Twitter user by the name of Solly Forell described himself as an ?authentic? African American and told his followers in a tweet that if the States managed to survive the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, then ?we?ll surely get over a bullet to Barack Obama?s head.? Forell then went on to add in a separate tweet that the ?next American with a clear shot should drop Obama like a bad habit.? ABC News found that the Secret Service was aware of the threats posted on Twitter and that they had launched an investigation into Forell?s comments and whether further action should be taken.</p> <p>But Forell was not the only Twitter user to tweet about a presidential assassination. A blogger who identifies himself at Jay Martin wrote that if he ?lived in D.C., I would shoot him myself.? While neither of the two Twitter users boast a large following of subscribers, both have been active and vocal as conservative bloggers, and can now count the Secret Service among their readers.

While many small and medium-sized companies have yet to build a Facebook profile or fan page for their firm, market research published by Chadwick Martin Bailey indicates that ensuring a presence on social networking site is crucially important for success in the business world. Research shows that Facebook and Twitter users are far more likely to both recommend their favourite products and services to their friends and then purchase products suggested by others than those who do not yet use the world?s largest social networking site. In fact, 60% of Facebook users have recommended their favourite products, by posting status updates or links on their wall, and 51% also went ahead to purchase items that have been suggested on the social networking site.</p> <p>The proportion of Twitter users willing to recommend brands and services to their followers was even higher than on Facebook. Fully 79% of those who use the micro-blogging site have tweeted their favourite products and 67% went out and bought consumer goods suggested on the site either by themselves of by others. Chadwick Martin Bailey?s survey is considered representative of Facebook and Twitter users and is based on the responses of 1,500 participants.</p> <p>This research confirms that businesses must join Facebook and Twitter, in order to tap into an important and growing market. Facebook already boasts 400 million users worldwide, while Twitter has nearly 74 million. Combining a quality, informative blog with a dynamic presence on the world?s largest social networking sites is becoming the key to success for businesses in the twenty-first century.

Ryan Seacrest, American Idol?s host, is an avid Twitter fan; so much so, that he decided to tweet which contestant would be voted off from the televised talent show before the program had even aired on the West Coast. As such, Seacrest managed to spoil the show for millions of viewers, from Seattle all the way to down to Los Angeles. Seacrest is among a growing group of celebrities who uses Twitter to promote his shows and stay in touch with his fans. This is precisely what the American Idol host was doing when he told his followers that he would be interviewing Lacey Brown, the contestant who had just been voted off the show, on his radio program the next morning. But rather than eliciting cheerful tweets from enthusiastic fans who could hardly hold their breath until Seacrest?s radio debut, the star was surprised by the fury that he unleashed on Twitter for spoiling the show. American Idol judge Randy Jackson, however, was not that shocked, as he noted that Seacrest may be somewhat ?obsessed? with the micro-blogging site.</p> <p>The question among many of Seacrest?s three million Twitter followers is when the host might issue an apology for his ill-timed tweet. So far, the television star hasn?t tweeted a single word that might indicate a sense of remorse. But American Idol?s producers might not take too kindly to similar instances of poor Twitter etiquette in the near future, considering the fact that Seacrest?s actions may have helped bring the show?s ratings to an all-time low. The Washington Post indicated that American Idol?s ratings among those between 18 and 49 years of age has never been so low than earlier this week, following the Twitter spoiler.

For the first time, Google has been knocked to second place in the race to see which website receives the most hits in a given week. According to international research firm Hitwise, Facebook received more hits than Google last week in the United States, thus becoming the country?s most popular website. But while Facebook just managed to climb to first place on its home turf last week, the social networking giant had already trounced Google before in Canada, where it has been the most visited site for the past nine months. Accorging to Hitwise, 7.07 percent of all online visits went to Facebook, while Google?s proportion stood at 7.03 percent. Interestingly, however, Facebook is even more popular in Canada, where it received 10.4 percent of all website visits, with Google lagging behind at 8.48 percent.</p> <p>Matt Tatham, Hitwise?s spokesperson, could not offer a clear explanation as to why Facebook was so noticeably more popular in Canada than in the States. One theory floated by Tatham is that the ability to share photos easily among family and friends may have given Facebook the edge in a vast country, where travel from one point to another can be very expensive.</p> <p>One of the reasons why Facebook is growing internationally is that it managed to expand its service last year by offering users a range of popular games. The site is also changing it message system to make it more closely resemble e-mail and to allow users to comment without actually having to log on to Facebook. The social networking site nearly tripled its share of hits last year.

The FBI is increasingly relying on Twitter and other major social networking sites to catch suspects or fugitives. A growing number of federal authorities in the United States are setting up profiles on major social networking sites, in order to nab people on the run. A US Department of Justice document discovered by the Associated Press clearly outlines the process of going undercover on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and befriending potential suspects in order to gather crucial personal information from them. Detectives also use these sites to look through the tweets, photographs, status updates and videos posted by suspects, in order to verify their alibi once apprehended by authorities. The document reveals that the FBI is especially interested in browsing photos posted on social networking sites in cases of robberies or other felonies, as pictures displaying suspects brandishing a gun or adorned in jewelry can serve as highly potent evidence of their crime.</p> <p>In many cases, FBI agents will even contact suspects on Twitter or Facebook using their undercover identity and they might befriend them. The use of social networking sites in these investigations shows how much the internet has changed over the past 10 years. A decade ago, police officers were busy patrolling chat rooms run by Yahoo and AOL, in order to uncover suspects . These days, however, most of these chats have fallen out of favour and social networking sites are far better sources of information and online activity.</p> <p>But the FBI is not the only American organization turning to Twitter and Facebook in order to gather information. As tax time approaches, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly also using Facebook in order to help investigate taxpayers whose filings raise red flags.

Facebook has decided to disable and remove all applications on the world?s most prominent social networking site that claim to allow users to find out who is viewing their profile. A number of the applications currently available for download indicate that they provide Facebook users with private information and many more have spread over the past few days, usually entitled ?stalker apps.? But Facebook is warning its users that these are all examples of rogue software and that none of them provide the private information on who views profiles that they purport to offer. Reports suggest that many of these rogue applications have spread rapidly over the past week, including one called ?Stalker Check.? In addition to finding and removing any applications that make such claims, Facebook is urging all users to keep in mind that private information on profile visits is never made public. But it looks like the makers of these stalker applications aim to make money above all else, and some have been successful.</p> <p>Most of the rogue Facebook applications require users to view or click on advertisements after downloading a program and this has generated an income for their developers. An even more pernicious possibility is the risk that these rogue applications will divert Facebook users to external websites containing spyware or a range of viruses. One way to cut down on the number of rogue applications would be for Facebook to vet any program before it is uploaded onto the social networking site, but the site?s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, indicated that he does not favour this more restrictive approach.

According to media reports, Google is set to terminate its presence in China, after the world?s largest search engine failed to comply with Chinese laws requiring the censorship of its web content. The Wall Street Journal reports that Google may close the Chinese branch of its company within a matter of weeks, after it was unable to reach a deal with officials at China?s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Google announced earlier this year that it would no longer filter search results on its Chinese site, in order to adhere to the communist country?s stiff censorship of web content. Ministry officials, however, were quick to warn that if Google did not filter out material that the state found objectionable, the firm would ?have to bear the consequences? for its ?irresponsible? decision. The most damaging end result for Google would be its removal from a country, which has more than 400 million internet users and therefore represents the world?s largest market for online content.</p> <p>More than 250,000 people join China?s rapidly growing community of internet users every day and despite this massive audience, this promising online market has virtually no international players when it comes to search engine technology. Google currently controls approximately 36% of the country?s search traffic and revenue, but it faces competition from Baidu, a local Chinese firm offering a search engine closely modeled off of western pioneers, such as Google, Yahoo and Alta Vista. Baidu controls 58% of China?s search revenue. If Google closes its Chinese business in the coming weeks, the world?s largest country will either offer a world of possibilities for another major western internet company to launch a search tool, or will expedite the development of an alternative, filtered internet system based exclusively on local companies, and often referred to as the ?Chinternet.?

Google has announced an important upgrade to Blogger, the world?s first major blogging platform. Founded 11 years ago and after having played a major role in popularizing blogs, Blogger users are now promised more freedom than ever before when it comes to customizing their site?s design. In addition to choosing from a wider range of professionally-designed blog templates, bloggers will have more control when it comes to adding their own personal touch. Users will now have the option of modifying the colour palette they use when setting up their blog, selecting from a wide range of stock photos as background images and even making major design changes to their template by using an HTML and CCS interface.</p> <p>The new upgrade is still in its testing phase, but users can already access the service by signing on to Blogger in Draft (draft.blogger.com).</p>

Within a month, Facebook users will be able to share with their friends precisely where in the world they happen to be whenever they post status updates to their profile.</p>

Blog fatigue is really just another way to describe ?writer?s block,? a phenomenon which can wreck havoc in the lives of freelance writers, journalists and novelists alike. According to a recent study produced by IBM, blog fatigue is one of the main reasons why the majority of bloggers?both corporate and personal?give up on their blogging and let their website flounder. In fact, 80 percent of those who launch a corporate blog only end up posting five or fewer posts, before giving up on the project. Yet the world?s largest corporations, the most famous politicians and celebrities all realize what a crucial role blogging can play in reaching and expanding their target audience, so giving up on a blog due to writer?s blog can have very significant ramifications. One solution is to turn to content creation firms, where a large team of skilled freelance writers can produce regular blog posts on just about any topic under the sun. But the most effective option, might be to use this service in conjunction with a new widget introduced by IBM, which predicts the topics that a given blogger?s audience would most like to read.</p> <p>IBM?s program, entitled Blog Muse, offers two widgets, similar to those already used on platforms such as Wordpress. By using one widget, readers can indicate what topics they would most like their favourite bloggers to write about. By using the second widget, however, they can even vote on topics recommended by other readers.</p>