Facebook Acquires Instagram in $1 Billion Deal

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed his company was acquiring free photo sharing application Instagram in an astonishing deal worth a staggering $1 billion!

The social media mega-site announced the acquisition in a message on its web site, stating that the deal to buy the San Francisco-based Instagram would be worth roughly $1 billion in cash as well as stock in Facebook.  The deal is expected to close later in the quarter.

"Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an official online statement regarding the acquisition.

Instagram has become extremely popular for its application that can add special effects to current, modern photographs and make them appear more retro, similar to photos taken with old-fashioned Polaroid or Kodak Insta-Matic cameras.

Instagram is a free photo sharing application that allows users to take photos, apply a filter, and share it on the service or a variety of other social networking services, including social media and blogging sites Facebook, Tumblr, twitter, FourSquare and Flickr. The application is compatible with any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 3.1.2 or above or any Android device running Android 2.2 or above.

Another Facebook Death as Woman Commits Suicide Live Online

Another death has been linked to social media mega-site Facebook after a woman in Taiwan allegedly committed suicide while carrying on conversations live via the site.

Taiwanese authorities say 31-year-old Claire Lin from Taipei gave a running commentary about her plans to kill herself  to at least nine people on her friend's list, but none of them contacted emergency services to prevent the tragedy. Lin lit up a charcoal grill in the enclosed space of her bedroom with the intent to asphyxiate herself, even going so far as to post a photograph of the flaming grill in her bedroom, burning next to two of her stuffed animals.

Although some of her friends begged her to stop, none of them contacted emergency services to try and help the disturbed woman. One of her Facebook friends, identified as Chung Hsin, told Lin: "Be calm, open the window, put out the charcoal fire, please, I beg you."

Lin responded with "The fumes are suffocating. They fill my eyes with tears. Don't write me anymore."

Her last online entry read, "Too late. My room is filled with fumes. I just posted another picture. Even while I'm dying, I still want FB [Facebook]. Must be FB poison. Haha."

Soon after, the woman's family reported her suicide to the authorities, but were unaware of her online conversations regarding her plans to kill herself. Apparently, Lin was distraught that her boyfriend was not on speaking terms with her and failed to visit with her on her birthday.  

Chai Ben-rei, a sociologist at Taiwan's Feng Chia University, said the incident reflected social isolation in the Age of the Internet, where many people view real life events playing out as a game or a form of entertainment for the masses.

"People may have doubts about what they see on the internet because of its virtual nature, and fail to take action on it," he said.

People You Might Know: Facebook Reveals Bigamist's Dirty Secret

A word of caution to all of you Wannabe Love Rats out there: If you plan on being married to more than one woman at the same time, you probably shouldn't be friends with both of your blushing brides on Facebook...

A Tacoma, Washington, man is in trouble with both The Law and two angry women after Facebook's friend connecting feature outed Wife Number Two to Wife Number One. Apparently, Alan L. O’Neill married his first wife in 2001, moved out in 2009, and later changed his name and remarried, without going through the legal motions of divorcing his first wife.

O'Neil (formerly Alan Fulk) then proceeded to have both of his wives as friends on his Facebook page. When the social media's friend app sent his first wife a notice that she might have a connection with O'Neil's latest wife, Wife Number One clicked on her profile and saw photographs of her Dearly Beloved slicing into a wedding cake with the strange woman!

O'Neil, who works as a Washington State corrections officer, told his first, legal wife not to tell anybody about his illegal Big Love ways, but she decided to let the authorities know about the situation.  O'Neill has been placed on administrative leave from his job and will be in court on March 22 to face felony bigamy charges.

Pin It: Mark Zuckerberg Gives His Approval to Pinterest

Facebook founder and billionaire philanthropist Mark Zuckerberg has given his stamp of approval to relative newcomer social media site Pinterest by creating his own profile for the popular site.

The site, which allows members to pin topics of interest to them and share the information with their friends and family, has exploded in popularity over the past six months, becoming one of the most visited new sites on the web, with millions of new members each day. Of course, most Pinterest readers connect to their profiles via their Facebook pages, so perhaps it isn't such a big surprise that Zuckerberg would place his own profile to the site. So far, the busy CEO hasn't pinned many topics of interest to his profile and he is only following a hundred or so profiles belonging to other people.

If Mr. Zuckerberg's profile becomes more active, however, it might definitely be a good sign for the new upstart on the block. "The simple content sharing site can easily be called the hottest start-up of 2012," adds Stan Schroeder from tech site Mashable.com.

Don't Fear the Reaper: New Facebook App Lets You Announce Your Death

Facebook has allowed billions of people to stay in contact with family and friends in ways many never thought possible. In fact, you can now even announce your own death on the social media website... from beyond the grave!

A new application now available for download called If I Die gives members a chance to write their final status update in advance. After downloading and installing the app, members then select three friends as "trustees" who will all have to verify that you've "departed to greener pastures".  Then, you will be able to record a video message or announcement that will be published to your Facebook or twitter feed, letting friends, family, acquaintances and people you've never met in person before know of your untimely fate.

The idea seems to be catching on, as more than 7000 people have downloaded the app in the first few days that it has been available. So, make sure you start checking all your Facebook friends' status updates everyday...just to make sure... As they say, there's an app for that...

How Effin' Ridiculous! Facebook Bans Irish Town with "Offensive" Name

"It's still a long way to effin' Tipperary, Seamus..."

A woman's attempt to have her Irish hometown listed on her Facebook page has been denied, as the town's name is recognized as being "offensive"!

Ann Marie Kennedy was unable to list her hometown of Effin, Ireland, on her profile page because the website's profanity filters recognized the word as a slang substitute for a much filthier word. (Imagine little Peter Billingsley as Ralphie saying "Ooooh, Fuuuuudddgggeee!" in A Christmas Story).

Ms. Kennedy then attempted to start up a Facebook group page titled "Please Get My Hometown of Effin Recognized", but it was also rejected with an error message marked "offensive". Ms. Kennedy is rightfully proud of her beautiful, tiny Irish hamlet located in famed County Cork, saying, "It will recognize Limerick but I'm not from Limerick city, I'm from Effin. I'm a proud Effin woman. And I always will be an Effin woman."

Kennedy has launched a new campaign to have her hometown added. A spokesperson from the social media site confirms the oversight is being investigated, so hopefully there will be an effin' solution to the effin' problem, effin' soon...