Facebook pays $40,000 to bug spotters

Facebook wants you to try to hack into its site -- and if you succeed, it will pay you for the details.

Facebook said this week that that it has paid out more than $40,000 under its new "bug bounty" security initiative. Launched three weeks ago, Facebook's program invites security researchers -- both the professional kind and hacker hobbyists -- to send it the details of any Facebook vulnerabilities that they uncover. If the report checks out, Facebook will pay a finder's fee of at least $500.

It's willing to go higher for extra-impressive bug spotting.

"We've already paid a $5,000 bounty for one really good report," Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan wrote in a blog post. "One person has already received more than $7,000 for six different issues flagged."

Although the social networking has its own security team, Facebook launched its bug bounty program to tap into the collective wisdom of the site's 750 million users.

"We hire the best and brightest, and have implemented numerous protocols," Sullivan wrote. "We realize, though, that there are many talented and well-intentioned security experts around the world who don't work for Facebook."

Researchers from more than 16 countries have successfully submitted bounty bugs, Facebook said. Its public "thank you" list names dozens of contributors.

Facebook also took pains to assure bug-hunters that it won't take any legal action against those who submit bugs, even if they were uncovered through less-than-legal routes into Facebook's systems.

That's often how hackers find vulnerabilities, but even those without any ill intent -- so-called "white-hat hackers" -- can land in hot water with companies if they tell them about their intrusion.

"We worked with several third-party groups to ensure that the language in our policy protects researchers and makes clear our intent to work with, not punish, those who report information," Sullivan wrote.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group that often weighs in on Internet-related legal issues, is a fan of that approach.

"We hope to see others follow Facebook's lead and go even further," the EFF wrote last year about Facebook's security policy. "The more transparent companies are about their approaches to vulnerability disclosure -- and the more they encourage users to come forward -- the more often they will learn about problems that need to be fixed." 

Story source: www.cnn.com

Older Facebook Users Click More, Like Less

While propensity to click-through on Facebook is positively correlated with age, propensity to like is not, according to data released in August 2011 by Facebook marketing consulting firm SocialCode. Age has a strong positive effect on whether a user will click, but has a less pronounced opposite effect on the likelihood of them becoming a fan of a page.

Fifty-plus-year-old users, the oldest segment in the study, are 28.2% more likely to click through and 9% less likely to like than 18-29-year-old users, the youngest group observed. Compared to the rest of the younger population, 50-plus users see a 22.6% higher CTR and 8.4% lower like rate.

CTR Rises More Directly than Like Rate Falls

Interestingly, CTR by age rises much more directly than like rate by age falls. CTR rises almost continuously as user age progresses, rise in an almost direct line as users age, with a minimal plateau inside the 30-39-year-old age bracket.

However, the like rate shows some strong fluctuation before plummeting once the user enters the 50-plus bracket. Among 18-to-29-year-olds, the like rate is about 39.5%, and then dips to about 38.5% in the 30-t0-39-year-old demographic.

However, the like rate jumps back to its highest point of slightly more than 39.5% among 40-to-49-year-olds. It then dramatically drops to slightly more than 36% in the 50-plus group of Facebook users.

Women Click More, Men Like More

Overall, women are 11% more likely to click on an ad than men. Like rates, however, are almost even for men and women, with men actually 2.2% more likely to like an ad than women.

In addition, when broken down by age, age has a much more pronounced effect on CTR for women than it does for men, whereas for men there is a stronger effect on like rate than for women.

For women, CTR is 31.2% higher for the 50 plus age group compared to 18-29-year-olds, whereas men only see a 16.2% difference. Compared to all age groups, 50-plus women’s CTR is 22% higher, compared to a 16.4% difference for males.

However, the oldest male segment has an 11.7% higher like rate than the youngest segment, and 9.5% higher like rate than all age groups. Women only see 7.2% and 7.9% differences, respectively.

trendwatching.com: ‘F’ is for F-Factor

Consumers are tapping into their networks of friends, fans, and followers to discover, discuss and purchase goods and services in ever-more sophisticated ways, according to an August 2011 advisory from consumer trends firm trendwatching.com. As a result, trendwatching.com advises it’s never been more important for brands to make sure they too have what it calls the “F-Factor,” with “F” standing for friends, fans and followers.

trendwatching.com identifies five key ways the F-Factor influences consumer behavior:

1. F-Discovery: How consumers discover new products and services by relying on their social networks.
2. F-Rated: How consumers will increasingly (and automatically) receive targeted ratings, recommendations and reviews from their social networks.
3. F-Feedback: New ways in which consumers can ask their friends and followers to improve and validate their buying decisions.
4. F-Together: How shopping is becoming increasingly social, even when consumers and their peers are not physically together.
5. F-Me: How consumers’ social networks are literally being turned into products and services.

Facebook submits ownership law evidence

Facebook lawyers have revealed evidence they say proves a New York man fabricated a contract that he says entitles him to part ownership of the $US50 billion ($A47.68 billion) social network.

Included in an after-hours court filing is an image of a two-page contract signed by Paul Ceglia of Wellsville, New York, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, recovered by forensics experts from Ceglia's computer.

The image is blurry and difficult to read but appears only to refer to a street-mapping database Ceglia hired Zuckerberg to work on in 2003 - and not Facebook.

Ceglia's lawsuit against Zuckerberg is based on a contract that he says shows that when he hired Zuckerberg for the streets project, he also invested $1,000 in the then-Harvard University student's fledgling Facebook idea on the condition he'd own half if it expanded.

From the beginning, Facebook has said the contract submitted by Ceglia was doctored. Now, lawyers said, they've got the original, retrieved from embedded electronic data.

Facebook alluded to the find as 'smoking gun' evidence in earlier court filings but was barred from publicly identifying it by a confidentiality order which has since been modified.

'This smoking gun evidence confirms what defendants have said all along: the purported contract attached to the complaint is an outright fabrication,' lawyer Orin Snyder of Gibson, Dunn Crutcher LLP, wrote on Monday.

Ceglia's lawyer, Jeffrey Lake of San Diego, did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press on Monday night. Ceglia is in Ireland, according to emails he's written to his hometown newspaper, the Wellsville Daily Reporter.

In court papers filed last week, Ceglia's lawyers took issue with Facebook's claims that Ceglia had concealed certain documents.

'No good-faith basis has been shown for such an accusation,' Lake wrote.

He said Cegla had complied with the court's instructions to turn over all of his computers and electronic media as part of the discovery process in the case.

Zuckerberg's lawyers say six removable storage devices containing files entitled 'Zuckerberg Contract' and 'Facebook Files' are missing.

The lawyers are scheduled to appear before US Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio in Buffalo on Wednesday to argue a series of motions. Ceglia wants the judge to compel Facebook to turn over emails between Ceglia and Zuckerberg captured from Zuckerberg's Harvard account from 2003 and 2004.

He's also asked that the case be sent to mediation for possible settlement to avoid protracted proceedings.

Facebook wants the judge to require Ceglia to produce the original electronic version of the contract and other electronic files and to allow further ink sampling from a hard-copy version of the contract.

Zuckerberg's lawyers oppose mediation as 'pointless,' saying the only resolution to the case they're willing to accept is to see it thrown out.

Facebook launches free SMS alternative

Facebook is attempting to play a strong card against telcos with the release of a new instant messaging app that will also send free SMS.

The world's largest social media company released Facebook Messenger for iPhone and Android phones earlier this week in the US, with Australia to soon follow.

The application allows for instant free messages between friends and groups with several options for when you are notified.

But Telstra said it doesn't expect a move away from SMS despite the availability of free alternatives.

"Telstra has seen continued SMS growth in the face of mobile social networking" said a spokeswoman speaking to News.

The app will also be in competition with Blackberry's instant messaging service, which sends encrypted messages, preventing them from being read by any one other than the sending and receiver.

Blackberry's maker, Research in Motion went under the microscope recently when it was found that rioters in the UK were using the service to coordinate acts of violence and destruction.

A similar card will also be played by Apple next month when it releases its iMessenger app with the iOS 5 software update.

It will provide iPhone and iPad users the ability to exchange SMS style messages without using a mobile carrier.

Google+ social network adds games

Google+ added games, including the hugely popular Angry Birds, to the fast-growing social network vying with Facebook to be the hub for people's online lives.

'We want to make playing games online just as fun, and just as meaningful, as playing in real life,' Google senior vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra said in a blog post.

'When you're ready to play, the Games page is waiting.'

Along with global game sensation Angry Birds, the initial array of offerings available at Google+ included Bejeweled Blitz, Zynga Poker, and Dragon Age Legends.

Google is a latecomer to social networking but its new site, Google+, has grown rapidly to more than 10 million members since its launch on June 28.

While Google+ may be the fastest-growing social network ever, it remains to be seen whether it can pose a serious threat to the social networking titan Facebook, which has more than 750 million members.

Google has a billion users worldwide that could be drawn into the California-based internet giant's social network.

Games are among the most popular activities at Facebook, where social game startup Zynga rose to stardom.

Most Google+ users -- 6.4 million -- are in the United States, followed by India, with 3.6 million, Canada, with 1.1 million, Britain, with 1.1 million, and Germany with over 920,000, according to online tracker comScore.

In unveiling Google+, Google stressed the ability it gives users to separate online friends and family into different 'Circles,' or networks, and to share information only with members of a particular circle.

One of the criticisms of Facebook is that updates are shared with all of one's friends unless a user has gone through a relatively complicated process to create separate Facebook Groups.

‘Super Greenies’ are Heavy Online Users

“Super Greenies” (adults who engage in 10 or more environmentally friendly activities on a regular basis) tend to use the internet more heavily than average adults, according to [pdf] an August 2011 study from Scarborough Research. For example, data from “All About the Super Greenies” indicates 51% of Super Greenies have visited Facebook in the past 30 days, making them 36% more likely than average adults to use Facebook.

The social networks where Super Greenies overindex the most, however, are LinkedIn and Twitter. Thirteen percent of Super Greenies have visited LinkedIn in the past 30 days, making them 179% more likely than average to have done so. And while only 9% have visited Twitter in the past 30 days, this is still almost double (96%) the average rate.

Super Greenies Consume Online Media

Super Greenies are avid consumers of online media beyond social networks. Forty-two percent have visited a newspaper website in the past 30 days, 61% more than average. And 38% have visited a broadcast TV website in the past 30 days, 38% more than average.

As with social networks, Super Greenies’ highest levels of overindexing on media sites is actually highest where their overall usage is lowest. Only 12% have visited Hulu in the past 30 days, roughly double (99% more) the average rate. And the 19% who have visited a radio station site in the past 30 days is 48% higher than average, second only to newspaper site usage for overindexing.

Super Greenies Stay Local Online

Super Greenies also consume local online content at rates higher than the overall population. Sixty-nine percent have checked local weather in the past 30 days, 51% more than the average adult. The most notable local content Super Greenies check online more than the total population is traffic, which 15% of Super Greenies have checked in the past 30 days, 231% higher than the average rate.

Other Findings

• Super Greenies are top spenders in all retail categories measured by Scarborough.
• Super Greenies are 71% more likely than the overall population to own a foreign luxury vehicle.
• Half of Super Greenies have volunteered in the past year, and are 90% more likely than the average adult to have done so.
• 42% of Super Greenies have visited an art museum in the past year, making them 220% more likely than the total population to have done so.

Merchants Split on Groupon Satisfaction

Even when local merchants make money, many remain unhappy with deals

The long-term profitability of participating in daily deal promotions remains an open question for local businesses, even as services like Groupon remain popular and more businesses jump on board with deal offers.

July research from UK-based Cooper Murphy Copywriters found that nearly two-thirds of US businesses that had run a Groupon promotion said the particular promotion had been profitable for them. While a few were unsure, only 35% said they did not make money off the deal itself—an early worry among many businesses due to the deep discounting offered for such programs.

Yet businesses remained unsatisfied. Fully 82% were unhappy with the level of repeat business their Groupon promotion brought in, and nearly as many said Groupon users were more price-sensitive than the average customer.

In the end, a slight plurality of respondents said they would not advertise with Groupon again.

Other research into merchant satisfaction with daily deals has indicated a similar ambivalence. According to a Rice University study, businesses reported that as of May 2011 just 20.4% of customers who came in because of a Groupon offer became repeat visitors, and that less than half of the businesses were interested in another such promotion. But consumer-based research from ConsumerSearch.com and The About Group found that more than two-thirds of daily deal users said they returned to businesses at which they had previously redeemed a deal.

These stats do not necessarily disagree. Consumers polled about their behavior indicate they returned to at least one business after using a daily deal, but may have redeemed many other deals at businesses they never returned to.

Furthermore, many merchants are satisfied with the level of business daily deals bring in; a MerchantCircle survey of small businesses found that, contrary to the Cooper Murphy study, 77% of them would run another daily deal promotion after their first experience.

Facebook Monthly Visitors More than Double MySpace, Twitter Combined

As of May 2011, the number of unique US visitors to Facebook.com was roughly 2.5 times the combined number of unique visitors to MySpace and Twitter.com, according to a July 2011 white paper from comScore. Data from “The Power of Like” indicates in May 2011, Facebook had almost 160 million unique US visitors, while MySpace has a little less than 40 million and Twitter had a little more than 20 million.

Facebook, Twitter Show Dramatic 4-Year Growth

In June 2007, Facebook recorded a little more than 20 million unique US visitors, meaning that total has increased roughly eight times in the past four years. With virtually no unique visitors in June 2007 (it initially launched in March 2006), Twitter’s growth is hard to even put a number on.

In contrast, MySpace received roughly 70 million unique visitors in June 2007, meaning it has lost more than 40% of that total in the past four years.

Facebook Homepage Draws Most Interest

Within Facebook, the largest portion of users’ time is spent on the individual’s homepage which features the newsfeed. In May 2011, 27% of engagement on Facebook.com occurred on the homepage and nwsfeed, followed by profile viewing (21%), photo viewing (17%) and usage of apps and tools (10%) The remaining 25% of user time is spent on all other areas of the site.

Friends of Fans Offer Branding Opportunity

Reaching fans with marketing messages is certainly of interest to brands, but comScore research has found that the Facebook friends of fans represent a substantial potential audience, often well beyond the scale of fans alone.

A Facebook analysis of the top 100 brand pages suggests that for every fan, there are an additional 34 friends of fans that can be reached (with significant variance among brands). This multiplier grows even larger as we look beyond the top 100 brand pages (81x on average among the top 1,000 fan pages).

Branded Content Reach Grows Exponentially

Facebook analysis suggests that each incremental day of publishing branded content from the Facebook Page increases the reach among Fans by approximately 2.5%. Thus, a piece of branded Facebook content which averages about 7-8% reach on the first day of publication exceeds 20% reach by the seventh day it is published.

IgnitionOne: Facebook Ad Spend Grows

Spending on and impressions of Facebook ads both grew dramatically between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011, according to data from IgnitionOne. Results of the Q2 2011 US Online Advertising Report show that Facebook ad spend on all clients increased 281% year-over-year in Q2, while Facebook ad impressions of all clients grew 200%. IgnitionOne analysis indicates Facebook advertising has experienced high rates of growth due to new marketer adoption in the past year.

About the Data: Data in this paper was collected and analyzed using the comScore Social EssentialsTM product, which is a measurement service based on comScore’s proprietary 2 million person global panel of Internet users from a home or work computer (note: mobile-based Internet browsing is not included in this analysis). Opt-in panelists provide comScore with explicit permission to passively observe their online behavior, including site visitation, search activity, advertising exposure, and online purchases

Apple takes Samsung to court over tablet

Computer giant Apple has launched legal proceedings in Australia against Samsung Electronics, accusing the South Korean firm of infringing its patents with its Galaxy Tab 10.1, court papers show.

Samsung is already embroiled in a patent dispute over smartphones and tablet computers with Apple in the United States, in which both sides have filed infringement claims against the other.

Documents presented to the Federal Court of Australia show Apple is seeking to permanently ban the sale or promotion of the latest Galaxy Tab 10.1, which would compete with Apple's iPad, in Australia.

Apple says Samsung's tablet infringes 10 of its Australian patents, according to a document filed to the court.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1, launched in its home market last month, is not yet available in Australia and Samsung said Apple's complaint relates to a variant of the slim tablet which it had never intended to sell in Australia.

'Apple Inc filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Australia involving a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia,' Samsung said in a statement, seen on Wednesday.

A Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the Australian market would be released 'in the near future', it added.

Samsung has released its touchscreen Galaxy Tab 10.1, which it says is the world's thinnest tablet at just 8.6 millimetres, in five overseas countries, including the United States.

The patent tussle began in April when Apple filed a suit accusing Samsung of copying its smartphones and tablet computers.

Samsung responded with a claim in Seoul alleging five patent infringements by Apple.

US-based Apple later lodged a second lawsuit against Samsung with a district court in Seoul, asking for a sales ban on the South Korean firm's latest products.

New UK law makes copying CDs legal

An outdated law meaning millions of people are unknowingly copying music illegally is due to be swept away by the Government.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has backed proposals to update what some have called the country's 'archaic copyright laws'.

At the moment it is technically illegal to transfer content from CDs and DVDs onto a different format such as a computer or MP3 player.

The Government is putting the wheels in motion to change this, allowing people to transfer content and make copies for their own and immediate family's personal use.

However, at present millions of people are breaking the law, with many unaware they are doing it.

Intellectual property lawyer for Mishcon De Reya Adam Morallee believes legislation is merely catching up with what is already being done.

'It really does have to catch up and look at what's happening. The people who operate the fast sharing sites are miles ahead of the where the legislators are.'

These proposals are in response to a review of Intellectual Property legislation carried out in May. The government is expected to agree with much of the report.

Sharing of copyrighted material over the internet will still be illegal.

However some critics in the entertainment industry believe these proposals are merely altering an outdated law.

What they are not doing is tackling the real and pressing problem posed by illegal downloading.

Jonathan Shalit, chairman of Roar Global which represents artists, told Sky News he is worried about the repercussions for his clients.

'The minute you say it is legal to copy something you're then legitimising it and where does the barrier or boundaries of immediate family end.

'I think it has not been well thought through and a lack of respect remains for artists who create the original product.'

Online spoofs are also expected to receive legal protection.

The makers of Newport State of Mind, a song which satirised singer Alicia Key's Empire version by moving it from New York to South Wales, was removed from YouTube recently after a legal battle.

MJ Delaney, the director of the track, did not realise she had been breaking the law when she made the video and agrees with the changes.

'EMI who took it down, they weren't a victim in any sense of what we've done.

'By the time we'd done that video the song Empire State of Mind was pretty old. It was long gone out of the charts so if anything all we did was raise the profile of the song and remind everyone what a great song it was.'

It is hoped the moves will benefit the UK economy, in part because individuals will be able to legally back up their music, films and e-books, encouraging the development of new technology.

It will clear the way for companies such as Google and Amazon to market online content storage systems for UK consumers, allowing them to create back-up files of their music and film libraries in a 'cloud' on the internet, so they can be retrieved even if their own computer or MP3 player is stolen or lost.

4 in 10 Use Facebook for Social Sign-in

Facebook Social Sign In

About four in 10 (39%) users of the Janrain Engage social connection service used Facebook for social sign-in (SSI) during Q2 2011, according to data from Janrain. This was 30% more than the 30% of users who used number two SSI site Google.

Yahoo (12%) and Twitter (8%) remain well behind in third and fourth place, respectively. SSI allows users to sign into a restricted access site using existing sign-in data, rather than having to create a new account.

Facebook Ascends Since Mid-2010

Tracking quarterly SSI preferences since Q4 2009, Janrain finds Facebook, after losing popularity between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010, began a dramatic ascent in SSI usage during Q2 2010, hitting 30% in Q4 2010. In Q1 2011, previous number one Google sharply lost close to 10 percentage points of SSI usage as Facebook surged past it to claim the number one spot.

The other most interesting SSI trends in the past seven quarters have been slight but steady growth in Twitter use and a dramatic drop in use of combined “Other” social networks for SSI.

Facebook Jumps in Mobile SSI

There has been significant jump in the popularity of Facebook for social login on mobile apps in the last quarter, moving 60% from 35% in Q1 to 56% in Q2. Facebook’s growth in this segment came mostly at the expense of Google, which dropped 7%, and Twitter, which dropped 6%. Yahoo’s share dropped slightly, but it remained ahead of Twitter.

Google Passes Yahoo for Media Site SSI

On media and digital publisher sites, Facebook is the most popular choice. Yahoo’s share has declined 6% during the past year and half, but its popularity as a sign-in provider is still more pronounced in this space than in any other vertical. However, for the first time, Google has eclipsed Yahoo as the second-most- popular choice.

Other Findings

• After a consistent quarterly growth rate of 5% since Q1 2010, Facebook’s share of social sign-ins on retail sites has stabilized at a shade under 50%.
• On entertainment and gaming sites, Facebook’s leading share has declined a bit, with Google showing substantial growth and Windows Live having its best performance in any vertical with SSI share of almost 15%.
• In Europe, Facebook remains atop the list at 43%, with Google maintaining its position as the second most popular option.
• Facebook and Twitter are the leading destinations for socially shared content. 59% of users choose to share to their friends on Facebook, and 33% choose to share with their followers on Twitter.

ROI Research: Facebook Users Like Entertainment

Looking at the different kinds of companies/products Facebook users are fans of, an April 2011 study from ROI Research and Performics finds the highest percentage (46%) are fans of entertainment-related products. This category is followed by food (41%), restaurants (40%) and apparel (35%).

Service providers tend to be among the least popular categories, including categories such as educational institutions (22%), telecommunications (19%), and financial service companies (15%).