Social Networking Journal

Saudi Arabian Woman Beaten To Death By Father For Using FaceBook

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A Saudi Arabian woman has been beaten to death by her father. Apparently the woman was chatting with a man she met on Facebook, when the father came into the room. Enraged, he beat her until she was dead, according to the al-Arabiya website.

The death actually occurred in August of 2007, but only recently came to light when a firebrand Saudi cleric mentioned the case during one of his speeches. Ali al-Maliki, who is a vocal opponent of FaceBook said: “Facebook is a door to lust and young women and men are spending more on their mobile phones and the Internet than they are spending on food”.

He recommends that women be entirely banned from the social network.

Some are worried that the entire nation will soon block FaceBook.

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Britain Seeks Ban For Pedophiles On Facebook

Britain is seeking to enact a law that would prevent pedophiles from using online social networks like FaceBook. Of course enforcement could be an issue. The plan calls for pedophiles to give their email addresses to the police, who will contact the social networks and have the person banned by email address.

The plan involves forcing sex offenders to give any e-mail address they use to police, who will then ask the Web sites to block their access, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said.

Smith said the proposal is aimed at sending out the message that the Internet is “not a no-go area when it comes to law enforcement.”

“We are changing the law … so that we have got better control over the way in which child sex offenders are able to use the Internet,” Smith said on GMTV.

The government wants to prevent pedophiles from using social networking Web sites to groom children to be sexual abuse victims, according to the Home Office.

The proposal faces a great number of hurdles, especially in its’ current format . Everyone knows just how easy it is to fake an email address, so many revisions must be made before the plan becomes reality.

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Social Networks For Baby Boomers Growing

Baby Boomers are getting in on the act at social networks. Not only that, but the boomers are attracted to the services for the same reasons as younger people. They are looking to meet people and be social.

Eons is one of at least two dozen social networks aimed squarely at baby boomers, the population bubble born between 1946 and 1964 that has defied traditional perceptions of aging and retirement. Many boomers jumped into the Internet mashup to keep track of their kids on Facebook or MySpace, then moved on to their own networks in search of more common ground.

They’re blogging about the virtues of oatmeal and the beauty of aging, posting video clips from their favorite old movies, and sharing ideas and support on grieving the death of a spouse, caring for a sick parent or sex after 50.

As many Baby Boomers are already retired, they have the time it requires to make the most of a social network. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of this trend.

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Frengo Introduces OpenSocial Mobile Toolkit

Frengo today announced a new OpenSocial Toolkit. The company says the software extends the functionality of social networking by allowing developers to build complex applications on of their API.

“Our services on Facebook attract millions of users and we are excited to support OpenSocial networks and the thousands of developers building applications across that platform,” said Mahi de Silva, Frengo CEO. “We learned very quickly that social networking has no geographic boundaries and are especially excited about social networks extending the reach of fun, social experiences to places where the Internet is more likely to be accessed on a mobile phone than a PC. Mobility brings a level of intimacy and convenience, making it easy for people to stay connected in ways not possible on a PC.”

Frengo also has some nice options for users of Hi5.

“As we launch third-party applications to hi5 members, we’re pleased to include ones that are already mobile enabled,” said Ramu Yalamanchi, CEO of hi5 Networks, Inc., the leading social network in over 20 nations, a founding adopter of OpenSocial, and the 8th most-trafficked website in the world. “We think it’s great that Frengo’s OpenSocial mobile toolkit is helping to bring mobile applications to our 80 million registered members.”

Look for more out of Frengo in coming months.

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Over One Million Downloads Of Facebook For BlackBerry

Facebook has passed a milestone of over one million downloads for Blackberry phones.

“When we launched Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones, we believed that consumers would recognize the value of marrying social networking with mobility and that vision has now been validated more than a million times,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President of Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “This innovative mobile application, combined with the refined usability of BlackBerry smartphones and the incredible convenience of the push-based BlackBerry service, makes it easier than ever for Facebook users to stay connected with people wherever they choose.”

The Facebook for Blackberry uses the Facebook API and allows users of the popular social networking service to do a lot of features on their Blackberry they couldn’t before.

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