Nielsen says people spend more time on social networks, blogs than a year ago

June 4th, 2009 Social networking is getting hotter and hotter in US. Ultimately its bulging into a war of social sites, where each site is looking to hook their visitor for maximum hours.

March 12th, 2009 LONDON - Brits take home the trophy for being the biggest fans of the social networking giant Facebook with more than two thirds logging on as members, reveals a new study. According to analysts Nielsen, an astonishing 47 per cent had joined the free-access website, as one in every six minutes was spent online on a social network site.

June 29th, 2009 SYDNEY - Parents need not worry if their teens are into social networking sites - they are savvy enough to minimize risks for themselves, according to a recent study. Kerry Mallan, of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and colleagues who interviewed 170 students, found that teens who spend time on social networking sites are savvier than thought.

May 13th, 2009 LONDON - A survey on the most popular online brands in the UK has revealed that Facebook tops that chart, accounting for 13 per cent of all UK internet time last month. As per Nielsen Online, which tracked the top 10 most popular online brands, this equated to the UK users spending one in every eight minutes on the site.

April 29th, 2009 Is quitting Twitter more popular than re-tweeting?SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter quitters outnumber the flock of habitual tweeters on the rapidly growing online communications service, a new study suggests. Most people aren't joining the Web site's jumble of conversations for very long.

May 2nd, 2009 LONDON - Social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace might be a great way of meeting new people, but they are turning British people into introverts, a new survey has found. In the study led by market research company Mintel, over 50 pct of the adults revealed that they spend more time chatting online than they do actually speaking to friends and family.

July 17th, 2009 MUMBAI - PlaySpanT, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced a new marketplace storefront for Facebook, and coming soon to MySpace, which enables consumers to purchase online game items, virtual goods, and game currencies from many of today's most popular online games and applications. The news marks the first time that consumers will have the ability to participate in a universal virtual goods commerce marketplace that also enables them to buy, trade, and sell goods within social networks and use the items in their online game environments.

April 13th, 2009 LONDON - Twitter is not longer the domain of younger generation, for a majority of people who use the chatting site are over 35, according to a new survey. The research conducted by web monitoring company comScore showed that those aged 45 to 54 are 36 per cent more likely than average to visit the site.

March 30th, 2009 Now this was the last thing to happen and it has now. Much to your joy, now date while you study and study while you make friends online.

September 21st, 2009 Facebook to end Beacon tracking tool in settlementNEW YORK — Facebook is shutting down its much-maligned Beacon marketing program, launched nearly two years ago amid fanfare only to generate a storm of privacy complaints over the tracking of user activities at partner Web sites. Facebook agreed to end Beacon and create a foundation to promote online privacy, safety and security as part of a $9.5 million settlement in a lawsuit over the program.

August 19th, 2009 LONDON - Intelligence agencies are building up a Facebook-style databank of international terrorists in order to sift through it with complex computer programs aimed at identifying key figures and predicting terrorist attacks before they happen. According to The Independent, the aim is to amass huge quantities of intelligence data on people - no matter how obscure or irrelevant - and feed it into computers that are programmed to make associations and connections that would otherwise be missed by human agents, scientists said.

August 27th, 2009 LONDON - People who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are more prone to getting robbed, as burglars might be stealing their personal details from such websites, says a research. The research said that these sites could face higher insurance premiums because burglars may be using them to find out their personal details.

March 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With young adults comprising 90 percent of cyber cafes visitors in India, these informal getaways offer significant potential for advertising and brand promotion that is yet untapped in the country, says a survey by global media and marketing consultancy Nielsen. Conducted by Nielsen with internet media solutions firm Ideacts Innovations at 3,500 cyber cafes in the top eight Indian cities, the survey indicates the untapped potential of interactive brand promotions through desktop advertising in cyber cafes.

August 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Popular social networking websites' users could be leaking their personal information to tracking sites, warn researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). They have found that the practices of many popular social networking sites typically make that personal information available to companies that track Web users' browsing habits, and allow them to link anonymous browsing habits to specific people.

October 5th, 2009 Ask.com mines online coupons with new aggregatorSAN FRANCISCO — Ask.com hopes to persuade consumers that are fond of discount Web sites to bring their bargain hunts to its search engine. On Tuesday, Ask is rolling out Ask Deals, a service that will let visitors search for online coupons and bargains that it indexes from several dozen popular coupon Web sites, along with retail Web sites, message boards and blogs.