Social Software and Tagging

The More You Tweet, the Bigger the Narcissist You Are, Researchers Say

Young narcissists use Twitter as a megaphone. Older narcissists use Facebook to purge their insecurities and gain a sense of belonging. Now, researchers have concluded that the amount of time a person spends on a social media site speaks volumes about his or her personality. The more you tweet, th ... More >>

Behind the Tweets: The Secretive People Behind S.F.'s Fog, Seagulls, and Bridges

How Social Media Breeds Assholes and Narcissists

There are several types of human behavior that social media tends to reveal in sharp relief, most of them negative. Basic assholery is the chief one. If you judge by comments sections (especially on certain sites, like YouTube, but really just about everywhere), it appears that we're up to our elb ... More >>

Todd Akin: Reaction to Rape Comment Shows the Real Power of Social Media

Social media is no doubt a powerful force. But in what ways? How does this power manifest itself? Some people, perhaps confused by the word "media," seem to think it's a replacement for dying traditional media outlets -- particularly newspapers -- despite there being zero evidence that this is takin ... More >>

Man Beats Wife's Facebook Friend to Death With Baseball Bat

For some users, "defriending" someone on Facebook isn't satisfying enough. A jealous Taiwanese man beat his wife's Facebook friend to death after the two were busted leaving flirty posts on the social networking site. According to the China Post, the woman, Chen, wrote on her Facebook page: "I want ... More >>

SOPA, Limbaugh, Komen: This Is What Happens When the Mob is Right

​There is far too much cheerleading for the "wisdom of crowds." The undiscerning among us, often motivated by an understandable (if often mindless) disgust with institutions, tend to employ buzzwords like "crowdsourcing" and to preach the idea that "the people" are always right even if "the people ... More >>

Is Zynga's 'Evil' Corporate Culture Now a Business Liability?

Doing evil?​In a business sector known for cutthroat, amoral maneuvering, social-game developer Zynga stands out as, well, particularly cutthroat and amoral. At least that's the view of many of its competitors and former employees, some of whom we interviewed for a September 2010 SF Weekly cover s ... More >>

Zynga Pressures Employees to Give Back Stock Ahead of IPO

Mark Pincus​Social-gaming company Zynga, along with a handful of other large tech businesses, was successful earlier this year in getting the city of San Francisco to forgo its share of tax revenue on the firm's stock options. Now it appears that wasn't enough: Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has reportedly ... More >>

Now You Need to Have Facebook to Sign Up For Spotify

​ Last week's Facebook f8 conference meant a windfall of new users for Spotify, after it teamed with Facebook to allow users to share their music listening. But the increased cooperation also comes at what some call a heavy cost: Starting today, newcomers to Spotify need have to have a Facebo ... More >>

California Asks Facebook to Close Down Prisoners' Accounts

Would you be his Facebook friend?​Prison is just that place where you have tons of time to kill (no pun intended) and not that many friends. So it makes sense that inmates in California prisons are finding creative ways to access Facebook and other social-networking sites. However, the state has c ... More >>

Zynga, Vostu, SocialApps: Are Legal Squabbles Signs of the Social Gaming Apocalypse?

Drought years ahead?​Zynga has always been the target of various allegations of pirating other companies' ideas, but in the last week, tech-world buzz on the twin topics of Zynga and copyright infringement has risen to a deafening level. Last Thursday, Zynga filed a lawsuit against Brazilian game ... More >>

Will Somebody Please "Like" the Department of Elections?

Elections officials want to give you a reason to "like" ranked-choice voting​Are you following San Francisco's Department of Elections on Twitter? Yeah, we didn't think so. Granted, the department's foray into social networking just began two days ago, but you would think it could scrounge up more ... More >>

Zynga Has a Hit with 'Empires and Allies'

Empires and Allies allows users to build cities and go to war​Zynga's latest Facebook game, Empires and Allies, is being closely watched. Tech-industry observers see the combat and city-building game as a gambit by the successful social-game developer to expand its offerings beyond the breathtakin ... More >>

Foursquare: The Silliest Thing Ever Invented

​Before I started using Twitter a couple of years ago, I, like many people then and now, assumed it must be the silliest thing ever invented. The stupid name didn't (and doesn't) help. Mainly, I thought people used it for telling the world what they had for lunch, but I then looked into the matter ... More >>

No, Twitter Hasn't Replaced CNN

​It's become perfectly predictable: Every time there's a major news event, people spend several days talking about how Twitter and Facebook are replacing traditional news organizations -- the (sigh) "MSM." Even if the word "replacing" isn't used, that's often the implicationIn the present case -- ... More >>

Mayor Ed Lee Is on Twitter Now; Six Followers -- and Counting

Mayor since Jan. 5?​Our not-so-tech-savvy Mayor Ed Lee gave in and created a Twitter account, sending out his first tweet this morning. "Good Morning, San Francisco. Short and to the Point. I love Twitter! Follow me to get real time info on sf city govt."But the account was curiously created on Ja ... More >>

All Cellphones Off, Please

Caltrain Joins Twitter -- @Caltrain Handle Already Taken

Look! An @Caltrain ... er, @CTWkendBullets!​In hopes of pulling riders off the internet and onto a baby bullet, Caltrain has broken out Twitter and Facebook accounts. Sadly for the rail service, however, the train has already left the station when it comes to snatching up the Twitter handle @Caltr ... More >>

FrontierVille, Latest Zynga Release, Is Quickly Losing Users

That little bastard might not be smiling for long​One of the issues raised in our September cover story on social-gaming company Zynga was the long-term viability of a business based on copying and aggressively marketing inane but addictive game concepts. The Facebook applications that are making ... More >>

Deflating the Social Media Hot Air Balloon

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Not a revolutionary​Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and their ilk -- standard bearers for the ill-defined phenomenon known as "social media" that is now supposed to be the future of the Web -- are having a tough time these days in the thinking person's press.Over the past f ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

'Halo: Reach' Earns $200 Million, Shows Console Games Are Still Big Business

Still printing money, it seems​One of the more vivid side discussions provoked by our story last week on social-gaming company Zynga's allegedly predatory business practices was about the merits of Zynga-style games. The company specializes in Facebook apps that entice users to compulsively build ... More >>

Zynga Offers Customers Who Waste Their Lives Playing Its Games Up to $24,000 Today

Today, FarmVille crops yield real cash​It ain't been a great week in the press for Zynga, the San Francisco-based creator of popular online games such as FarmVille. Last Wednesday we published a cover story in which ex-employees dished on Zynga's allegedly "evil" practice of copying competitors' g ... More >>

FarmVillains

Steal someone else's game. Change its name. Make millions. Repeat.

Former Zynga Employees Talk About Copying Games for Mark Pincus' 'Evil' Online Empire

The latest SF Weekly cover story explores Zynga's culture of game-copying​Zynga's cutthroat business practices have long been a subject of speculation in the social-gaming industry. The company behind such hit Facebook applications as FarmVille and Mafia Wars has, in the words of a recent tradem ... More >>

Zynga Sued over 'Mafia Wars' Trademark by Digital Chocolate: Read the Lawsuit Here

Who says a war is bad for business?​San Francisco-based social-gaming company Zynga is being sued for alleged trademark infringement over its popular Facebook game, Mafia Wars.Digital Chocolate, another online gaming company, claims in a lawsuit filed in federal court that it owns rights to the na ... More >>

Zynga Off the Hook for Mafia Wars Vandalism, S.F. City Attorney Says

​It looks like Zynga is not going to face legal or financial consequences for alleged sidewalk vandalism carried out as part of a marketing campaign for the San Francisco-based company's new online game, Mafia Wars: Las Vegas.Instead, according to Matt Dorsey, spokesman for San Francisco City Atto ... More >>

Zynga Fingers Ad Agency for Alleged 'Mafia Wars' Sidewalk Vandalism

The city attorney sends his regards...​We reported here yesterday on accusations against social-gaming company Zynga by the San Francisco City Attorney's office. The city is ready to go to the mattresses over alleged vandalism of city property carried out as part of an advertising campaign by the ... More >>

Zynga in Hot Water with San Francisco City Attorney Over 'Mafia Wars' Marketing

Dennis Herrera is taking off the gloves over Zynga's 'Mafia Wars'​The San Francisco City Attorney's office is going after social-gaming company Zynga -- maker of such popular Facebook applications as FarmVille and Mafia Wars -- for what it calls an "illegal and actionable" marketing campaign to pr ... More >>

Geeks Take a Break From Social Media to Celebrate Social Media

via Twitter​"Today is Social Media Day! How are you celebrating?" a Twitter user tweeted."Refreshing Twitter to see how everyone else is staying at home on Twitter" would have been the predictable answer. Instead, users responded: "Getting a cake." "Heading to Boston tonight." "Watching fireworks. ... More >>

Meadowlark Lemon

Three Tips for Restaurant Web Sites in 2010: Check. Your. Info.

...all too often. (A good book, BTW.)​We here at the SFoodie international HQ are thankful that Flash intros and musical soundtracks died off in the mid-noughts, but too many San Francisco restaurant Web sites are riddled with errors and rickety site architecture. We spend a lot of time poring ove ... More >>

If Facebook Tied to Syphilis -- What Diseases Linked to Other Sites?

You don't even have to leave the Internet to find syphilis on Facebook... ​According to British researchers, Facebook users get a new friend, just like MySpace users get "Tom." That friend? Syphilis. Simply put, users of the site met lots of interesting folks, "friended" them, and, Step Three, syp ... More >>

@sk Jamie Varon: My friend is selling weed on Facebook. Is he high?

Politician Assures Us Her Twitter Silence Isn't Due to Hawaiian Sojourn

Oh the things you'll find on a politician's Facebook page...​So far, nothing on Twitter has brought us more entertainment than the Freudian adventures of Assemblywoman Fiona Ma. Whether it's boasting about a colleague's experience shoveling manure, expounding on bat feces, or chronicling the explo ... More >>

S.F. man tries selling his condo on Twitter

Serious About Your Social Media? Watch This Show

​While most of us live on the outskirts of the social media landscape, tweeting the occasional brain fart and using facebook to update our relationship status, there are a select few who choose to take their engagement with the networks that be to a whole new level. For those special people who th ... More >>

An open letter to would-be Twitticians

Yielding to Facebook reunions at Yield

Sorry Bloggers - The Internet is BAD for Kids' Brains

Tribe.net: Going the way of Friendster?

MP3 of the Day: Box Elders

Kidneys for Sale on Facebook, Orkut

BetterKnowanSFBlog: LiveJournal

Russian Company Buys LiveJournal, Blog Pioneer's Community Still Intact: BetterKnowanSFBlog

Which Assholes Are Banning the Net?

MySpace Presidential Candidates Need to Monitor Comments

LastNight: Murdoch, Tom, and MC Hammer: MySpace Party Notes

MySpace To Open SF Office -- Emperor Murdoch Visits System

Outgrowing Tom?

Musicians look beyond MySpace