Happy Birthday Facebook Your Officially 8

Facebook has turned 8 today. It's been just 8 years since Facebook started in 2004.

Facebook launched on February 4th 2004. When Facebook first started it was intended for college and university students. Now it is open to mostly everyone except young children. It started with just a few employees but now has over 3000.

Facebook continues to grow as it is now at 845 million active members.

Happy Birthday Facebook!

Mark Zuckerberg Spends $700 000 on Private Jet

Once Facebook's IPO was released some interesting expenses were shown. This includes Mark Zuckerberg spending $700 000 on private jet expenses.

These expenses were “chartered in connection with his comprehensive security program and on which family and friends flew during 2011.” The $700 000 includes fuel, crew, catering, and more. 

Mark Zuckerberg's salary last year was $483 333 plus a bonus of $220 500. The $700 000 was considered "other compensation." Another $90 850 was for “costs related to estate and financial planning.” 

The total "other compensation" was totalled at $783 529. That is on top of Zuckerberg's initial salary plus the "bonus" of $220 500.

Mark Zuckerberg is spending an awful lot on things which really aren't needed. I wonder what the outcome will be of this since everybody now knows about it.

Facebook App Says Your Last Words When You Die

A brand new Facebook app called "If I Die" is out. This app lets users create a final message which will be posted when they die.

The message is posted when three friends agree that the person is dead. You pick people to do this when you create your final message. The message is posted on the users Facebook profile once the three friends confirm. This message can either be text or a video message.

Apps have covered topics you usually wouldn't suspect. Will you use this app?

Google+ Reaches Ninety Million Users

Google+ has finally reached ninety million users. Google+ continues to climb the user count.

Google+ doubled its user count compared to last quarter. Over sixty percent of users are active daily and over eighty percent of users are active weekly.

Some sources are complaining about Google+'s personnel search. Twitter and other social networks say it is unfair that Google promotes its social network using its popular search engine.

Google+ has grown steadily but will need time to get anywhere near Facebook. Like I've said in another post Facebook has a lot of fake accounts so the numbers are closer than they appear.

iCrossing Predicts Facebook to Reach One Billion Users by August

iCrossing, an online analytics firm, has examined the trends on Facebook and predicts Facebook will reach one billion users by August 12 2012.

Facebook reached 800 million users in September Facebook reported. iCrossing has looked over Facebook trends and came up with a prediction of when Facebook will reach one billion users worldwide. The exact date is August 12 2012.

Personally I don't think these stats are completely true. Any person can simply create multiple accounts on Facebook and they are counted as new users. So even though the number of accounts may reach one billion, not all those accounts are really people.

These large numbers are simply making Facebook look bigger then it truly is. What do you think?

Facebook Accounts Hijacked by Malicious Browser Extensions

Scammers have found yet another way to get a hold of your Facebook account.

This new method encourages users to install a "plugin" to watch a video. This "plugin" uses Facebook's API to post messages onto your Facebook. These messages can be anything the scammer wants them to be. Websense demonstrates how this scam works here.

The unique thing about this scam is Facebook can't do much about it. It's the user who is downloading the plugin and not knowing what it is doing. Facebook doesn't have control over the users plugins. Facebook can only promote to uninstall these malicious plugins and to try to watch out for any suspicious ones.

Facebook has been fighting scams for years but this specific scam is harder to exterminate. Facebook can only hope the user listens and does the right things. Don't fall for those false plugins or you could see things being posted on your account which aren't from you!

Google+ Facial Recognition Lets You Choose

Google+ now has a facial recognition feature available. You have the ability to choose to use it or not.

The new feature has been liked by Google+ users. One of the reasons was you could choose to use it or not. Facebook's facial recognition feature doesn't allow you to choose. This has been a bonus to Google+ recently because of this.


The facial recognition feature helps tag people in photos. But it could also be considered an invasion of privacy. Since Google+ lets you choose, it isn't a problem for the users who don't want it.

This one thing which is different from Facebook's facial recognition makes Google+'s much better for the user. Google+ gives you options instead of making you agree to things you might not want.

Facebook Gets Exploited - Security Hole Exposes Private Pictures

A security flaw in Facebook enabled private pictures to be viewed by anyone.

Private pictures were exposed from reporting the target with an inappropriate profile picture. You then had the option to further help Facebook by selecting other pictures that the target had. Doing this enabled you to see their private pictures without friending them.

This security flaw has been patched recently to prevent further abuse. Facebook released a statement claiming they have shut down that feature and are fixing it as soon as possible.

Send Money on Facebook Using PayPal

PayPal recently launched Send Money on Facebook. Send Money allows you to send money to other Facebook users.

You can send the money as a greeting card or choose not too. You can choose from hundreds of greeting cards.

The cards are posted to the recipitents' wall. The message is kept private though.

PayPal is getting out to people through social networks. I think this is a great method for PayPal. They can get to their customers much easier this way.

Google+ Brings you Pages

Google released a video today featuring the new add-on to Google+. Pages! Pages enable you to make a page for your business. Much like the pages on Facebook. Not much information is know about them yet. But when they are out I will try them out for Unknownware like I have on Facebook.

--Pages are public!--


You can now create your own page! Simply find another page and look for the "Create a Google+ Page." Then follow the instructions and you will have a page.

What are your thoughts on Google+ pages? Do you think they will be better than Facebook pages?