Facebook Sparks 'Retrosexual' Romance

Lawyers hail freedom of speech ruling

(NEWSER) - A former high school student suspended after criticizing a teacher on a Facebook page can sue the school for the disciplinary action, a Florida court has ruled. Katherine Evans can take action to expunge the penalty from her school record as well as sue for a "nominal" fee for violating her First Amendment rights. The honor student, now a university junior, was suspended for "cyberbullying" after she launched a Facebook page saying an english teacher was "the worst I've ever had." More»

Decoding today's teenage love vocabulary is a difficult task

(NEWSER) - A generation ago, gay teens hid their sexual orientation from everyone around them—now, straight girls “marry” each other on Facebook and write each other love poems, while parents struggle to catch up with the language of today’s love. “Was there a difference between going out, hanging out, and breaking up?” writes Candy Schulman on Salon . Her 15-year-old daughter simply rolls her eyes, making it clear “I would just never understand.” More»

Police have gathered intel on the cyberbeat for years

(NEWSER) - As teenagers embrace social networking, campus cops have started using Facebook and MySpace to prevent brawls, monitor gangs, and—in one case—identify an armed robber based on clothing he wore in his profile picture. Officers assigned to the cyberbeat regularly scour thousands of students' pages, many of which flaunt illicit behavior. "It's crazy, the things they put on there," a sheriff tells the Washington Post. More»

Breaking up via text or email? That's so outdated.

(NEWSER) - If couples are having fewer public fights nowadays, it might be because they're busy liveblogging their entire breakup on Twitter, NPR reports. Beyond dumping the dude in 140 characters, here are six other ultra-modern ways to become uncoupled:

1. Watch "The Break-Up Poem" on LiveVideo.com for tips on how to say "It's over" in sonnet form.
2. Take an online quiz to test whether your relationship is over—together.

Wis. native posed as girl, then blackmailed male students

(NEWSER) - A Wisconsin teen has been arrested for allegedly using Facebook to sexually blackmail male students at his former high school. Anthony Stancl, 18, solicited naked photos of at least 31 boys by pretending to be female. He then forced at least seven, all underage, to perform sexual favors to keep the pictures from being distributed at school, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. More»