I recently joined Facebook. ”  If you search for me on Google, say “ John Battelle Facebook ,” you see that I am already there , and that I have nearly 5000 “friends.” ” (The interplay between Google search and Facebook is worthy of an entire treatise, I’ll leave that for later). MORE >>

Among other things, it has continued to try to mimic aspects of Twitter and Facebook, as it tries to entrench itself as a social network for the corporate market. The change appears to have actually occurred a couple of months ago, when the service updated its privacy policy. Who thought opt in by default was a good idea? MORE >>

On Friday evening, Facebook quietly announced to application developers that third-party apps will be able to access the addresses and mobile phone numbers of its users. This change is consistent with Facebook’s policy of encouraging openness. Do you include your personal contact information on your Facebook page? MORE >>

It’s been caught with its hands in Apple’s cookie jar , and despite the fact Facebook and others previously condoned the practice , it was savaged for doing so. It’s Or rather, the fact that Google doesn’t have a direct relationship with us, in the way Apple or Facebook does. It’s why Facebook is winning. MORE >>

did make a conscious choice to *not* use Facebook’s Commenting system. Last night I asked this question  on Quora:  How many websites use facebook commenting? I’m I also emailed people I know at Facebook, and tweeted it. Four months later, in August, Facebook reported that it was at 400,000 sites. Any takers? MORE >>