Facebook Buys Rival FriendFeed for $50M

(NEWSER) - The founders of Twitter keep insisting it's not for sale, but perhaps they should think again, writes Ben Parr of tech blog Mashable. Only two weeks ago Twitter looked smart for refusing its suitors—but then Facebook made a series of big moves, from buying FriendFeed to launching a speedy Twitter-ish search engine. If the microblogging platform wants to triumph, selling for $1 billion or more to Google or Apple might be wise. More»

Social network valuations head to the sky

(NEWSER) - Facebook and Google are among the companies circling Twitter and considering a colossal buyout deal, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . The talks haven't gone anywhere yet, but the price under discussion is somewhere between $8 billion and $10 billion—roughly 100 times the amount of revenue Twitter, which lost money last year as it invested in expansion, expects to earn this year. More»

FriendFeed buy is bid to consolidate Internet

(NEWSER) - Facebook’s $47.5 million purchase of FriendFeed is about more than competing with Twitter in real-time search, Chadwick Matlin argues for the Washington Post. Facebook could use FriendFeed and Facebook Connect to become a “social media aggregator”—a hub for all content its users create and peruse on the Internet at large. More»

(NEWSER) - Online shoppers have discovered "a world beyond Amazon," Ben Parr writes on Mashable. Now they can swap advice, start up shops, and even get to know designers on sites like:

• Pikaba. Post requests for purchases ("I need to buy a new laptop for $500"), receive merchant offers, and trade suggestions via Facebook and Twitter.

Guess what? A lot of them should be followed by the general public

(NEWSER) - The US Army has some rules for social media use—but even if you’re not a soldier, you might do well to adhere to some of those rules. From the Atlantic Wire :

• On Facebook: DO “spell check every post prior to posting; the Army’s reputation is at stake.”
• On Facebook: DON’T “use social media (teen) language in professional posts (ex: i wanna b ur bff 2day & 4evr)."