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Zuckerberg weighs in on SOPA -  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg weighed in on the Stop Online Piracy Act on Wednesday, writing in a Facebook post, “We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the Internet’s development.”

Facebook fifth in video viewers – ComScore reported this week that Facebook was the fifth most popular destination for online video behind Google, VEVO, Yahoo and Viacom. This is among the 182 million Internet users in the U.S. who watched online videos in December. Last year Facebook placed sixth, but generally has not seen steady growth in this category. [Image via ZDnet]

Employees increasingly use social media at work -  Palo Alto Networks found a 300 percent increase in social networking on corporate networks this year. Specifically, bandwidth consumption for Facebook apps, social plugins and posting increased from 5 percent to 25 percent since October 2010.

Update on Koobface virus -  Facebook security team posted an update about the Koobface virus this week, noting that after three years the company is been able to keep the virus off the platform, but is still seeking those responsible.

Next gen iPad includes Facebook code - iMore is reporting that buried within the iOS 5.1 beta 3 code for iPad3 are “ongoing references to Facebook.”

MTV uses Facebook for scholarships -  MTV has partnered with the College Board and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to run a campaign called My College Dollars, which guides students to college scholarships for which they can apply.

Under the agreement, Facebook:

• cannot misrepresent the privacy or security of users personal information;
• must get user consent before releasing changes that override existing privacy settings;
• must prevent people from accessing a user’s material no more than 30 days after that user has deleted their account;
• has to establish and maintain a privacy program that addresses risks that come with “the development and management” of products and services and that protects the privacy of user’s information;
• and — within 180 days and every two years afterward for the next 20 — must seek out third-party audits verifying that the privacy program is in place and that it satisfies the FTC’s order.

The agreement comes nearly two years after the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation raised concerns over Facebook’s 2009 changes to its privacy settings that exposed personal information — namely profile name, profile picture, list of friends, current city, gender, networks, and Pages — to a larger audience than the social network previously allowed. Earlier in 2011, it was reported that Facebook would settle with the FTC over charges that these changes deceived users and violated their privacy — making any changes that retroactively expose user data an opt-in instead of a mandatory change.

At this point, Facebook would have to take pretty intentional steps against the terms of the agreement to cause the FTC to pursue action against it again. In the last year alone, Facebook has also added or changed many features that affect privacy in ways that address the FTC’s complaint — like protecting user IDs from falling into the wrong hands.

In a Facebook response post to the agreement, Mark Zuckerberg says that he feels the platform has a positive track record for providing transparency and control over privacy settings.

“That said,” his post reads, “I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we’ve done. I also understand that many people are just naturally skeptical of what it means for hundreds of millions of people to share so much personal information online, especially using any one service.  Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected. It’s important for people to think about this, and not one day goes by when I don’t think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.”

Zuckerberg also announced that Erin Egan will become Chief Privacy Officer, Policy and that Michael Richter will become Chief Privacy Officer, Products.

During a media call in session with the FTC, Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Bureau of Consumer Protection Deputy Director Jessica Rich, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection Associate Director Maneesha Mithal, and Division of Privacy and Identity Protection Staff Attorney Laura Berger explained carefully that the settlement does not count as a ruling that Facebook violated the law in changing its privacy settings or that it knowingly shared private user data with advertisers. They also stressed that, while this order is very broad, it prohibits any deception about privacy in the future whenever Facebook introduces changes or updates.

Facebook, Google Pair Up to Fight Anti-Piracy Law

Facebook IPO Rumors Swirl – Business Insider reported that Facebook employees are reporting that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the IPO is coming soon, as early as next month.

Porn, Violence a Recent Problem – Facebook acknowledged to ZDnet this week a series of problems with unwanted pornographic or violent content showing up in their news feeds. The Wall Street Journal reported that it was a “coordinated spam attack” coming as the company ramps up to release Timeline.

FCC, Facebook Settle Over Privacy Issues – The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook reached a settlement over privacy issues, even as the FTC encourages people to Like them on Facebook.

Facebook’s Name Policy Hones in on Salman Rushdie - Writer Salman Rushdie became a target for Facebook’s real name policy this week. After the author took to Twitter to protest the deactivation of his account, the company restored his profile. The New York Times writes about the dilemmas caused by this policy in today’s world. [Image Via david_shankbone]

Google+ Works with Page Management Companies – Google announced last week the creation of Google+ Pages for brands to share information with users on Google+ and Page management companies like HootSuite, Context Optional, Vitrue and Buddy Media are set to work with brands on managing this new platform.

Orange Launches Facebook Phones – Orange is set to release three affordable Android smartphones for customers who heavily use Facebook.

Dems, GOP Participating in DC Hackathon – Congressional members from both parties are set to participate in the first ever DC Facebook Hackathon to find new ways to use social media in the political process. [Image Via Facebook]

Creepy Zuckerberg Fan Appears at Carnegie Mellon – A student at a recent Mark Zuckerberg appearance at Carnegie Mellon University instilled fear in the audience, and CEO, when he made some creepy and cryptic comments. The student apparently snuck into the venue the night before to place some speakers under Zuckerberg’s seat.

PayPal Releases Facebook Payment App – PayPal released a Facebook app, Send Money, that allows users to send money to friends without a fee.

Other Announcements:

Coupons.com for Pages – Coupons.com released its Brandcaster Social platfor to allow brands to create secure, printable coupons directly on their Pages in 48 hours or less.

Napkin Labs Brings Crowdsourcing to Pages – Napkin Labs’ Brainstorm app allows brands to gives brands a way to get feedback from fans anything from new products to coming changes.

NASCAR, ESPN to Livestream Driver’s Camera -  NASCAR and ESPN announced that the two will provide a livestream of driver Tony Stewart’s live in-car camera on Facebook during the season finale on Sunday, November 20.

Could Yahoo’s Patents Hurt Facebook’s IPO? – Forbes has a piece this week that compared Yahoo’s extensive IP portfolio as potential revenue to Facebook’s ads-centric revenue approach, speculating that whoever owns that IP could charge licensing fees to Facebook.

Facebook Not Planning Taiwan Data Center – Facebook is not set to open Asia’s largest cloud data center in Taiwan, at the Central Taiwan Science Park, contrary to a widely republished article.

Mark Zuckerberg Officially Visits Harvard – The Atlantic gave an overview of Harvard University’s newspaper, The Crimson’s, coverage of Mark Zuckerberg while he attended the school.

Facebook COO to Interview NJ Gov – Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is set to interview New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, taking questions from users in an online town hall Monday. Note that Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to the Newark New Jersey school system. [Image Via Facebook]

Vitrue’s Social Mobile User Engagement Report – Vitrue released a report this week looking at social engagement with brands via mobile devices. Some interesting results included negative engagement with punctuation marks, short posts get more engagement, images improve engagement and weekends are when the most mobile interaction occurs.

How Well Does the Facebook Translate Button Work? – Lexiophiles compiled a brief analysis of how accurate Facebook’s translate button is.

NATO Uses Facebook to Announce Libya Pullout Plans

Irish Government Considers Fine for Facebook’s Data Retention Policies – This follows revelations that Facebook has continued storing data that users had already deleted, as we covered in detail recently. A commission of the Ireland government (where Facebook’s regional headquarters are based) is investigating if any local or regional laws were broken, and may fine Facebook if it turns out that they were.

Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant Program Concludes Latest Round - The company says it will announce more details about the next submission round later this month. The program lets developers go through a voluntary approval process in order to receive its endorsement — “What separates a Preferred Developer Consultant (PDC) from most other development firms is the ability to understand social mechanics and technical possibilities on Platform,” in Facebook’s words — as well as a place on its Preferred Developer page.

Facebook’s Taylor Says Most Users Change Privacy – Most users of Facebook have altered their privacy settings, Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor said at a conference earlier this week.

Forum for Pages Mimics Facebook Discussions Apps – Forum for Pages is an app that allows Page admins to add a discussion tab to their Page, important since Facebook is set to remove this app from all Pages on October 31. The app allows users to import and save all existing discussions, too.

Sweepstakes With Grand Prizes Make Most Effective Contests – A single, big-ticket grand prize was the most effective incentive for marketers to get users to enter a Facebook contest, according to a study from ShortStack. Becoming “Fan of the Week” was also highly attractive. In terms of entry volume, simple sweepstakes received the most entries, while high-friction video submission contests received the fewest.

Randi Zuckerberg Profile - Randi Zuckerberg was profiled by The New York Times this week, in an attempt by her to establish her identity separately from the company that her younger brother founded.

Facebook Ups Lobbying Dollars in Q3 – The $360,000 is going towards the promotion of its views on a wide variety of issues. As TechCrunch details, this includes “global regulation of software companies and restrictions on internet access by foreign governments; patent reform, online safety measures, internet privacy regulations, freedom of expression on the Internet; discussion of location-based services, cyber security, discussing House, Senate, and Government rules to allow more Government and Congressional offices to access social media to engage with citizens, and lobbying for Oregon power and water needs to support high-tech growth and investment in Oregon.”

Other Announcements:

BranchOut Launches Recruiter Tool - Professional networking app BranchOut launched RecruiterConnect, allowing recruiting to search on Facebook for job candidates from those using the app.

GroSocial Raises $450K - GroSocial raised $450,000 in seed funding this week, led by Kickstart Seed Fund with additional contributions by Monarch Ventures, Rock & Hammer Ventures, plus other angels.

SNAP Interactive Launches Developer Blog – SNAP Interactive launched a developer blog this week.

Facebook Claims Ceglia Forged Docs – Facebook’s lawyers have revealed that they believe to be in possession of the “real” contract signed between Mark Zuckerberg and Paul Ceglia, who claims to own half of Facebook. The original contract, Facebook’s lawyers say, does not mention anything about Facebook. This same contract was also found on the servers of a law firm in Chicago. [Image Via Facebook]

Comments Box Helps Websites – A side-by-side comparison by the LA Times of Facebook’s Comments Box social plugin and an unauthenticated identity commenting system showed Facebook’s plugin improved civility of comments, drove more referral traffic, and sped up site loading.

Interpublic Group Sells Half Facebook Stake – IPG sold about half its Facebook stake, initially purchased for $5 million in 2006, for about $133 million this week. Now the group will take its profits and buy $450 million worth in shares.

Apple Store Incorporates Facebook - Apple’s online store now incorporates Facebook and Twitter integrations, allowing customers to share what they plan to purchase.

Facebook, Yahoo Test 6 Degrees of Separation – Facebook and Yahoo have partnered for a social experiment to see by how many associations people around the world are connected. The Small World Experiment will test the hypothesis that people are connected by “six degrees of separation.”

Facebook Publishes Security Guide – Facebook has published “A Guide to Facebook Security”, a 20-page .PDF written by security researchers designed to teach Facebook users how to protect themselves. It outlines how to avoid common scams, use Facebook’s security features, and explains that hackers might pretend to be popular apps like FarmVille, but Zynga and other developers aren’t to blame.

Facebook Zip Code Ad Targeting Inaccuracies - ClickZ reports that some early tests by Ads API developer XA.net indicate that in some cases Facebook may be showing that the expected audience for ads targeted to a specific zip code is higher than the census population for that zip code. This could be due to inaccuracy in how Facebook assigns users a zip code based on the city they list in their profile or where the site believes their IP address is located.

Sony’s PSVita to Include Facebook – Sony’s Vita handheld game console will include Facebook and other social apps when or soon after it launches, according to Electronista. The apps will be available for free on the PlayStation store.

Ceglia Facebook Ownership Facebook Looking Even Worse — Despite some turgid articles not too long ago about the possibility of upstate New York entrepreneur and scam artist Paul Ceglia winning his court case claiming that he owns half of Facebook, his big-name lawyers recently left. And now, Facebook says it has found “smoking gun” evidence that he fabricated documents purporting to show his ownership stake. It says it can’t reveal the evidence yet, though.

Facebook Expands in London - Facebook is renting a 36,000 square-foot building in London for its 70 employees that will focus on ad sales.

Unauthorized Pages in Users’ Feeds – Some users are reporting that they are seeing Facebook Pages appearing in their news feeds despite having never Liked them. Facebook has yet to confirm the issue. Thanks to Mike for the tip.

Foursquare Makes Pages Self-Serve - Foursquare’s organizational Pages are now self-serve and aimed at allowing brands to market themselves on the platform.

Facebook Becomes Back-to-School Hub – As happened last year, Facebook is set to become a big place for back to school shopping, giving users the chance to win free items, take advantage of limited time deals and receive discounts.

Spam King Sanford Wallace Indicted – Sanford Wallace, known as the Spam King, was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose this week for fraud on the Facebook platform. He faces 16 to 40 years in prison, plus fines.

Zuckerberg Named Silicon Valley’s “Worst Dressed” – GQ magazine named Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg worst dressed man in Silicon Valley despite some stiff competition. [Image Via David Terrar]

Facebook to Offer Digital Citizenship Grants – Facebook has pledged $200,000 in grant money for research “that improves understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with how kids are growing up in a world of media and technology”, such as cyber bullying prevention.

Other Announcements: 

SocialVibe Focuses on Political Ads – SocialVibe announced this week that it would be offering services tailored specifically to political campaigns and action committees ahead of the 2012 election. The company specializes in digital advertising.

DealBurner Sends Group Deals When You Check In - DealBurner is a new service that sends users alerts when they check in to a location on Facebook Places or Foursquare about daily deals and pre-paid coupons offered at that business. The service aggregates deals from Groupon, LivingSocial, ScoutMob, and more.

Facebook Set for Another Oregon Datacenter

Facebook to Expand in Seattle – Facebook is currently looking for more office space in Seattle, according to GeekWire. The company wants as much as 40,000 square feet more that might accommodate about 200 more people (the office is currently at about 40).

Privacy Glitch Makes Videos Public – TechCrunch reported that this week Facebook’s video privacy settings stopped working, allowing users to see listings, names, thumbnails, descriptions and tagged users in others’ videos. The company reported it had addressed the issue.

Alleged Facebook Owner Ceglia’s Case gets Complicated – Paul Ceglia is the man who claims to own half of Facebook. His lawsuit against Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg is playing out in New York, and he recently lost a fourth law firm in his case. Edelson McGuire just withdrew from the case, according to AllThingsD, as did DLA Pipe, Lippes Mathias, Wexler Friedman and Connors & Vilardo earlier this year.

Also, a Scathing Profile of Paul Ceglia – The Buffalo News wrote a scathing and very unflattering profile of would-be Facebook co-owner Paul Ceglia. Acquaintances and classmates basically call him a con artist, shyster, joke, grifter, lowlife and more. [Image Via Facebook]

User Ads Generated by Ad Companies – John Battelle wrote an interesting post this week detailing how he found out a company (AppSumo) that wasn’t Facebook was using his likeness in an ad, and that this apparently violated Facebook’s terms of service, promoting the social network to look into the issue.

Topps Buys Facebook Gift Card Provider – AllThingsD reported this week that Topps, the trading card company, purchased GMG Entertainment, the company which makes Facebook Credits gift cards. The terms of the purchase were not released.

Vodafone Releases Facebook Phone – Vodafone’s 555 Blue is a “Facebook phone” designed to be popular in emerging markets like India. The phone allows users to logon to Facebook when the phone is turned on, and open an account if they don’t already have one. [Image Via Vodafone]

LivingSocial Shutters Visual Bookshelf – AllFacebook reported this week that, after four years, LivingSocial is closing its Visual Bookshelf app and encouraging users to export their accounts to GoodReads.

Other Announcements:

Migrate Facebook to Google+ – Lifehacker reported this week on how to migrate your Facebook profile data to Google+.

North Social Releases Facebook Faux Pas – North Social released a series of 11 “fan Page fail” videos this week featuring the hapless Jonny Like who demonstrates what not to do to grow your Page’s community.

Trulia, Real Estate Social Search – Trulia.com is a social recommendation service using Facebook to leverage word-of-mouth when it comes to buying and selling real estate.

Shoutlet Releases 4.0 Analytics – Shoutlet released the 4.0 version of its platform this week with better analytics and the ability to take these and transform them into graphics.

BranchOut’s 1 Year Anniversary

China Facebook Investment Rumor – A rumor that an official Chinese government wealth fund, SWF, was interested in a $1.2 billion stake in Facebook was shot down in part this week.

GSV Purchases Facebook Stock — The small investing group has put nearly $6.6 million in Facebook, via buying the company’s stock through a second market. The move sent the small public company’s shares up by 20% as more investors in turn bought into its Facebook stake.

Zuckerberg Uses Nature to Court Tech Talent - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly takes select potential employees on nature walks in Palo Alto, Calif. in which he shows them the layout of Silicon Valley companies and gives them his Facebook pitch.

Facebook to Grow Seattle Office – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that he wanted to expand the Seattle engineering office from 40 people, about 60% a year.

ProPublica Uses Facebook for Investigative Journalism – Non-profit investigative journalism organization ProPublica recently revealed that Facebook was used to help the organization compile a database of how resources are distributed to schools.

Austin City Limits Utilizes Credits – Austin City Limits released some information about a recent live concert in which 1,900 comments were made during teh show from 2,300 people watching and 100% of the people paid using Facebook Credits.

Google+ Aids Social Tracking – Google’s analytics tools now allow for more precise information about social engagement.

Import Facebook Friends to Google+ with Chrome – A Google Chrome extension allows users to automatically import Facebook friends into Google+.

British Govt to Offer Services on Facebook – The British Cabinet Office announced that some government services might soon be available via Facebook and Twitter.

Fellows App Generates Facebook Groups – The DNET team from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon released a Fellows app this week that automatically generates groups of people in your profile based on your connections. The group conducts research on social networks.

Announcements

American Express OPEN Finalists – American Express’ contest, Facebook Big Break for Small Business, selected 10 finalists. Facebook users will vote to select the finalist by July 19 on the Facebook Page.

Charity Buzz to Auction Off Facebook Tour - Facebook’s Director of Product Blake Ross has partnered with CharityBuzz.com to raise funds for the Peace Corp Morocco Country Fund.

Parature Summer ‘11 Released – Parature released its Parature Summer ’11 its most recent cloud platform, this week.

Antitrust Complaint Filed Against Facebook Over Credits – Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, has filed an antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission regarding Facebook’s Platform currency, Credits. Their complaint is that Credits is an “anticompetitive” virtual currency that could drive up prices of virtual goods.

Facebook Deals Coming to Three More Cities – Facebook tell us it is expanding the beta test of its prepaid coupon service Deals from its initial five cities to include Charlotte, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. Facebook says early feedback from businesses has been positive, though we haven’t seen much adoption in San Francisco.

Facebook Hires Hacker – Facebook hired George Hotz, the guy who jailbroke the iPhone. He’s now helping Facebook create its iPad app.

Photos From Facebook’s New Office – Gawker published photos from Facebook’s new headquarters in Menlo Park, which the company plans to start moving to soon. The gallery depicts an open office floor plan similar to the current Facebook HQ’s design.

Facebook Pitches Social Program Guide to Media Industry – Facebook’s SVP of Strategic Partner Development Andy Mitchell spoke at at the PromaxBDA conference, telling media industry representatives about how a television program guide that showed what a viewer’s friends watch could get people to watch more.

Hulu Botches Facebook Connect Integration –  A error in how Hulu implemented a Facebook login system on its video site caused people to become logged in to the accounts of other users. Hulu claims responsibility for the problem and says no highly sensitive information was exposed. The site will remove the Facebook integration temporarily before trying another implementation.

Facebook Scores in Ownership Lawsuit – Paul Ceglia, a man in New York who claims to own most of Facebook, has been ordered to give Facebook access to his emails and computer. The company is set to accuse him of forgery.

American Express Launches Free Social Media Monitoring Tool - In a bid to help and attract small businesses, American Express launched a free tool called YourBuzz that lets businesses monitor mentions of them on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and other web services.

How the NHL Gained 2.2M Fans - AllFacebook reported an interesting case study detailing the National Hockey League’s efforts to grow its Facebook Page by 2.2 million Likes by targeting its affluent and tech savvy fans. [Screenshot Via AF]

Thailand Bans Facebook Before Vote – The Thai government has banned Facebook political campaigning the day before a Saturday vote for prime minister.