Should a Facebook “like” be considered free speech, and protected under the First Amendment? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Carter appealed the decision, and Facebook stepped in to argue that a like is free speech in the same way that a political bumper sticker is. Facebook filed a brief in Carter’s defense, saying, “When a Facebook User Likes a Page on Facebook, she engages in speech protected by the First Amendment.”

“The district court’s holding that ”liking’’ a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection’ because it does not ‘involve actual statements,’ J.A. 1159, betrays amisunderstanding of the nature of the communication at issue and disregards well-settled Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit precedent,” the company continued. “Liking a Facebook Page (or other website) is core speech: it is a statement that will be viewed by a small group of Facebook Friends or by a vast community of online users.”

“When Carter clicked the Like button on the Facebook Page entitled ‘Jim Adams for Hampton Sheriff,’ the words ‘Jim Adams for Hampton Sheriff’ and a photo of Adams appeared on Carter’s Facebook Profile in a list of Pages Carter had Liked, J.A. 570, 578 – the 21st-century equivalent of a front-yard campaign sign,” Facebook continued. “If Carter had stood on a street corner and announced, ‘I like Jim Adams for Hampton Sheriff,’ there would be no dispute that his statement was constitutionally protected speech. Carter made that very statement; the fact that he did it online, with a click of a computer’s mouse, does not deprive Carter’s speech of constitutional protection.”

The debate certainly has large ramifications for not only practices on Facebook, but on the Internet at large, which as we all know, has become very, very social.

This week, a panel of three judges in Richmond, Virginia heard the case, and Facebook once again stepped up to defend Carter, though really it’s a defense of Facebook users in general. It can’t be good for Facebook if people start becoming afraid of what they can or cannot say on Facebook. Some people have even talked about leaving the social network because they don’t allow pictures of breasts. More censorship can’t be good for user growth.

According to a report from Bloomberg’s Tom Schoenberg, Facebook lawyer Aaron Panner told the judges, “Any suggestion that such communication has less than full constitutional protection would result in chilling the very valued means for communication the Internet has made possible.”

The company was reportedly given three minutes of argument time, and the judges refrained from asking Facebook any questions. The report also shares some quotes about Facebook “likes” from Robers’ lawyer:

“It’s like opening a door into a room,” Rosen, of Pender & Coward PC in Virginia Beach, Virginia, said. “You can’t see what’s in there until you click on the button. That’s not speech.”

“Facebook has 3 billion ‘like’ clicks a day,” he said. “Is each one of those speech? I don’t think so.”

As far as Facebook and many others are concerned, yes, each one of those is free speech.

At the same time, Roberts is claiming that the Facebook activity is not even the reason Carter (along with other employees) was fired, and that performance was the real reason. Still, the subject of the Facebook “like” remains the hot button issue, and has been argued throughout the case.

What do you think? Should a Facebook “like” be considered free speech, or do you not consider a “like” to be an act of speech at all? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Luckily for the video’s creator, IAmAhYell, those who are simply fans of Radiohead on Facebook also get to see it, thanks to a Facebook feature that says things like, “Thom Yorke is posting about a Page you like: Radiohead.”

Radiohead has over ten million fans. It should be a good day for IAmAhYell’s YouTube views.

With that, you would probably do well to check out these three Google+ talks from the event, which dive into buttons, badges, etc. for publishers, getting the most out of Google+ in your organization, and a fireside chat with the Google+ platform team.

Here’s a basic walkthrough of all the new features.

Oh yeah, and today, Google revealed that it is bringing some new Google Offers visibility into Google+.

Starting today, with a initial test run of a handful of brands, Google+ users will be able to see, save and share Offers from their stream.

“Millions of people follow brands they love on Google+ to keep tabs on them, get the latest news on products, join in on the conversation or simply to be entertained. Many people also engage with businesses to get great deals and discounts. Starting today, we’re making it easier to discover, save and share offers right from Google+.” says Google’s Dennis Troper.

The small group of brands that are part of this include ZAGAT, Hello Kitty, Art.com, NOOK, and Adafruit Industries. They will now be able to share offers with those who have them in circles. With one click, you’ll be able to save these offers straight from the post in your stream. After that, simply redeem using the Google Offers app of via email confirmation.

We noticed a new type of notification this morning, one that comes from Facebook and informs you that a certain post on a page on which you’re an admin is “performing better than 90% of other posts on the Page.” It then suggests that you “advertise it to get even better results.”

Various WebProNews writers received this same notification this morning (we’re all admins on the WPN Facebook page). Clicking on the notification takes us to the “Advertise on Facebook” page and gets us started on setting up a promoted post with said article.

Here’s what it looks like in the notifications:

I’ve reached out to Facebook for comment on the test, and will update this article accordingly.

This isn’t the first attempt that Facebook has made in recent memory to get page owners to promote more of their posts. Last month, Facebook made a few subtle changes to Pages, including the addition of a new analytics box inside the admin panel. Facebook also softened the language of page promotion, changing the “promote” post button to one that says “boost” post.

Today, Pinterest alleviates this annoyance with the new send button. You can now send pins directly to your friends and family on both mobile and the web, as long as you both follow each other on the network.

“Just tap Send from either web or mobile to send a pin. You can send pins to fellow pinners (if you both follow each other), Facebook friends, or email contacts. We’ll show you the most recent people you’ve sent pins to for easy access,” says Pinterest. “You can even include a message to give it a more personal touch!”

When you send a pin to another user, they’ll be notified. If they make an action on that pin, including commenting, liking, or repinning, you’ll see that in your notifications as well. It’s a nice little fix to a previously irksome issue.

According to Pinterest, users should start to see the new send option rollout over the next few weeks.

Speaking of notifications, Pinterest finally added them to the mobile experience (both the iOS and Android apps). That update, which launched earlier this week, also brought mentions and improved search to both apps.

The feature, called “Photos of You,” was given a two-week long soft launch period in which users could opt-in if they so chose. Today it has been turned on for everyone.

“We wanted to take a moment to remind you that – if you haven’t turned it on already—your Photos of You section on Instagram will become visible today to those who can currently see your profile. Remember, you can easily adjust your settings so nothing appears on your profile until you approve it,” says Instagram.

Instagram said that “many” users have already opted to turn the feature on, during the two-week soft launch.

All of the photos that you’re tagged in will now appear in a special new profile section, aptly titled “Photos of You.” As Instagram says, you’ll have full privacy control over this. You can adjust your settings to make sure Instagram asks you to approve any photo before it appears in the section.

Besides the creation of the new Photos of You section, this new feature clears up an irksome problem with Instagram tagging. Before, there was really no way of telling whether a photo’s @ mention was there to direct users to it, or if it meant that the user was actually present in the photo.

Some celebrities just rehash the stuff they’re sharing on Facebook or Twitter. That doesn’t go for Rose McGowan. I think it’s safe to say she’s an active Google+ user – one of the 390 million Google boasted this week as it launched a slew of new features.

If you want to see McGowan showing off her “fish face,” you’re going to have an easier time finding it on Google+ than you are on Facebook or Twitter.

Rose McGowan2 hours ago

The Eternal Fish Face

137    13 Powered by socialditto

Rose McGowan23 days ago

Afternoon fish face #naptime

345    41 Powered by socialditto

Rose McGowan65 days ago

Party (and fish) face

296    47 Powered by socialditto

There have been reports in recent weeks that Twitter was working on this, and now, here we are.

The app lets you share photos to Twitter, and the the tweet will automatically include the text, “Just shared a photo #throughglass”.

“In addition to sharing photos, you can also keep up with the people you follow on Twitter through notifications — for mentions, DMs and Tweets from users for whom you’ve turned on notifications,” says Twitter engineering manager Shiv Ramamurthi. “As always, you can reply to, retweet or favorite these Tweets.”

Glass users can go to google.com/myglass and turn on Twitter, and they should be good to go.

According to reports, Facebook, Tumblr, CNN and Evernote will also be launching Glass apps today.

LinkedIn, which boasts over 225 million users, has become a huge source for employers and those looking to boost their careers in the past few years. Networking used to consist of mixers and business cards; now, the site makes it easier than ever to find the right job or hire. Naturally, prostitutes want in on it.

The company has made it explicitly clear that they don’t want their site to be used for illegal activity and revised their policy to read: “Users must not create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution”. That includes anyone living in a state where prostitution is legal (we’re looking at you, Nevada). The full revision reads that no one may:

Upload, post, email, InMail, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that, even if it is legal where you are located, create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.

The company made the changes after realizing that people were being endorsed for prostitution on the site and getting away with it because of the way their terms of use was worded.

“In the old [user agreement], we had it covered by saying that one could not use a profile to promote anything ‘unlawful,’” a LinkedIn rep told Mashable. “However, in some countries, that activity actually is lawful.”

There were several users promoting their services on the site as of this week; take a look here to see a few.