WebProNews

MySpace Suicide Mom Indicted

The woman whose bizarre MySpace hoax led to a 13-year-old girl's suicide was indicted today on federal charges. If convicted on all counts, Lori Drew could face a maximum of 20 years in prison. The country was stunned by the alleged actions of Drew some months back when news broke of the sadistic mind game she was playing with a neighborhood teenager and classmate of her daughter. Posing as a teenage boy, the 49-year-old Drew is said to have rejected the romantic interest of Megan Meier and told her the world would be better off without her. Meier later hanged herself.

MySpace Wins $234 Million Spam Judgment

MySpace has won a $234 million legal judgment over spam messages sent to members of the social networking site.MySpace won the judgment after spammers Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines failed to appear in court. The judgment is believed to be the largest ever awarded in a spam email case.

Google Friend Connect - Sharing Social Networking Profiles

First MySpace announced data portability, then Facebook announced Connect, and now Google has Friend Connect. Each is making it easier to share profile information from one social networking site to other web sites (and hoping to be place you go to do that).

Facebook Connect Announced

Yesterday MySpace announced that you can use your MySpace profile on other sites. Not to be outdone, today Facebook announced their version. It’s called Facebook Connect and it’s a good sign that data portability is catching on. Especially because Facebook usually doesn’t follow suit when it comes to sharing data (unless it’s for advertising).

Facebook Making Their Site Safer For Kids

It’s been nearly four months since MySpace announced a joint agreement with 49 state Attorneys General to protect minors online—and now Facebook’s finally gotten around to signing on. CNET reports (emphasis added):

Sharing Your MySpace Profile

PROFILE SHARING VIA YAHOO, TWITTER & MORE

Facebook Agrees To Child Safety Plan

Facebook has announced an agreement with 49 U.S. state attorneys general and the District of Columbia to take significant steps to protect children on the social networking site.The move comes after a similar agreement was reached with MySpace in January. The Facebook agreement is aimed at better protecting children from online predators and inappropriate content.

MySpace Launches Data Availability Effort

MySpace is launching what it calls the MySpace "Data Availability" initiative that will allow users to share their information with a number of partner sites.

MySpace Experiencing Ad- Related Revenue Difficulties

The good news, from News Corp's perspective, is that MySpace is continuing to grow.  The bad news is that profiting off social ads is tougher than the corporation had expected.

MySpace, Facebook Still On Top

If MySpace were to lose its top spot among social networks, it'd have a long way to fall. Though US visits to the powerhouse were down five percent since last year, MySpace still commanded nearly 74% of the social networking market, according to Hitwise.  Facebook, long in second place but up 32%, pulled in nearly 15% of US social networkers, a share that towers over its nearest competitor's.