OUR POPULATION:350 million(facebook users)

Facebook’s CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg annouces that the social network he started in 2004 has now reached 350 million users.

Zuckerberg also said that Facebook will be removing their regional networks. Facebook’s current privacy model revolves around networks which works well for smaller groups of people. However, some of the regional networks, like India and China have now millions of members and this is no longer the best way to control the privacy issues of users. About 50 percent of all Facebook users belong to some regional network. Facebook will be adding features that many users have already asked for; for instance the ability to control who sees the content you create or upload. In addition, the privacy settings page will be made simpler by combining some settings. This is actually a very good upgrade as their privacy settings are quite a mess. So the next Facebook update will remove the current regional networks and create some new privacy features. In the next couple of weeks Facebook will ask users to review and update their privacy settings. Facebook will suggest settings for users based on their current level of privacy, but the best way to do this is to customise them yourself.

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Facebook was launched five years ago on February 4^th in 2004. Its founder, Mark Zuckerberg launched the Facebook as an experimental social network exclusively for Harvard University students. It was a huge hit right from the beginning. The current board members are Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, Jim Breyer, Don Graham and Peter Thiel, David Sze (observer) and Paul Mader (observer). Facebook’s headquarters are in Palo Alto, California and they have offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, New York, Venice Beach, Dublin, London, Paris, Sydney and Toronto.

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FACEBOOK trials to buy TWITTER fails!!

Twitter rejected a $500 million acquisition offer from Facebook.

Facebook started the talks about buying Twitter in mid October this year. Twitter was offered $100 M cash and $400M worth of Facebook stock. The talks ended as Twitter rejected the offer as their investors decided that $500 million for over 63 million registered users was not enough. They were also concerned wether the Twitter <> Facebook integration could be done properly.Twitter executives also believe that Twitter is able to earn its own revenue as it’s user base is rapidly growing. It remains to be seen how they will actually start earning revenue, as currently they are not making any money. Pretty bold to say no to $500 million!

Now that Facebook has expressed it’s interest in Twitter it is almost certain that Twitter will get more offers in the future – after all, Twitter is a huge hit in terms of the number of users and the onlinepopularity it already enjoys.

Twitter was launched in mid 2006 as a social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to post updates. A Twitter post is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through their own web form, a text message or an instant message. The company adds constantly new features to their product, such as browser plug-ins, iPod and Facebook integration and Gmail import and search. In April 2008 Twitter launched their Japanese version, which includes advertisements as well.

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Retweets on FACEBOOK

Facebook started the talks about buying Twitter in mid October this year. Twitter was offered $100 M cash and $400M worth of Facebook stock. The talks ended as Twitter rejected the offer as their investors decided that $500 million for over 63 million registered users was not enough. They were also concerned wether the Twitter <> Facebook integration could be done properly. Twitter executives also believe that Twitter is able to earn its own revenue as it’s user base is rapidly growing. It remains to be seen how they will actually start earning revenue, as currently they are not making any money. Pretty bold to say no to $500 million!

Now that Facebook has expressed it’s interest in Twitter it is almost certain that Twitter will get more offers in the future – after all, Twitter is a huge hit in terms of the number of users and the online popularity it already enjoys.

Twitter was launched in mid 2006 as a social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to post updates. A Twitter post is limited by 140 characters and can be posted through their own web form, a text message or an instant message. The company adds constantly new features to their product, such as browser plug-ins, iPod and Facebook integration and Gmail import and search. In April 2008 Twitter launched their Japanese version, which includes advertisements as well.
This is how you do re-tweet (or Facebook via) on Facebook: 

When you see a friend’s posted item in your news feed that you would like to re-post click the ‘share‘ button below it. A new window opens up and and you will see a mention ‘via johnsmith (Remove)‘ below the comment box. Write your comment in the box and click the Share-button. If you don’t want to use the via-feature then click the Remove-button before you post it on your profile. Once you have shared your friend’s post it will appear on your profile with a via link that points to your friend’s profile. Your friends will also see the item in their News Feed and they can in turn do a re-post creating a viral loop of the message. Pretty cool, eh? Go ahead now and give it a go… and let me know how you find this feature.

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!NEW! Mafia Wars Properties Upgrade !NEW!

We have more cool updates coming your way on Mafia Wars! This time we're revamping the New York properties. We'll be introducing some changes to promote the return of robbing, so read on and check out the upgrades we're planning on making...

1) We'll have properties switched to Flash mode, so make sure you have the latest version (Get Adobe).

2) We'll be getting rid of 'undeveloped space'. The costs of undeveloped space will be folded into the costs of the updated properties. If you currently have any undeveloped properties, it’ll be sold off and you'll have your money returned to you.

3) Instead of owning 30 Mega Casinos, you will have 1 Mega Casino, but it will have been upgraded 30 times.

4) You won't be able to sell properties anymore, but you can continue to upgrade them. If you still haven't earned your "Cashing Out" achievement, do it soon!

5) All properties will have the same payout over time that they currently do, but some of the rates will change. They will take between 8 hours and 2 days to fill up. For example, say you currently owned 2 mega casinos. They produce $1,800,000 every 3 hours for you to collect. In the new system, you will now own a single level 2 Mega Casino, and it will produce $28,800,000 every 48 hours for you to collect.

6) You can only collect on your property once it is done producing. There will be progress bars and countdown timers letting you know how long it will be before you can collect on each property.

7) Properties will no longer "shut down". *Note: This only affects users who have started playing in the last few months.

8) People who have Rackets will be folded into the new system as well, but that change will take place a week or two after the launch of the new properties.

An important point we want to emphasize is that you will NOT be losing any money when we change the New York properties; it will all stay within the game. These upgrades are going hand-in-hand with the robbing feature that we'll be bringing back due to popular demand.

Stay tuned, there's more to come!

QA About Properties VS Rackets

Q: Why are you changing the system?

A: We felt that the current system was a bit clumsy. Having to purchase an empty lot and then convert it over into the property you actually wanted added unnecessary steps that didn't add anything to the Gameplay. While the new layout is going to be a bit different, it should also look cleaner and will be easier to use. As noted in the original post, it also is a step towards the reintroduction of robbing.

Q: I don't want to have to click on a dozen different properties to collect my income.

A: We are going to include a "Collect All" button - as you can see in the screenshot posted - so a visit to the properties page doesn't need to be a clicking extravaganza (unless that's something you really enjoy).

Q: I use Rackets; what happens to the points I've put into Influence?

A: We are going to make sure that all skill points spent on Influence are refunded to players who have invested in that stat, to be reallocated as you wish.

Q: I liked my boost rackets and don't want to give them up!

A: While we understand that players with rackets have come to enjoy some of the benefits that come from that system, having two different groups of players using completely different property systems was not an ideal situation and made the reintroduction of robbing more or less impossible to accomplish.

The initial businesses in New York are going to be cash only. However, we have plans to introduce new businesses that produce other goods down the road.

Q: How is robbing going to work?

A: I can't give out all of the details on robbing just yet, as they haven't been completely worked out, but all properties we roll out initially will be robbable, with the exception of Mafia Mikes and Louie's Deli. Players will have a certain period of time after their property has finished production to return and claim the income before the property becomes vulnerable to robberies. We'll be releasing more details on robbing as we approach it's launch date.

Q: What about the businesses in the other cities?

A: We plan to roll this system out to the other cities in the near future (including the ability to rob businesses in each of the other cities).

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