SocialCode wasn’t the only company to use Facebook data as part of its methodology for selecting the winner of the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament and select Duke: Facebook itself chose the Blue Devils, as well, filling out its bracket based on participating teams’ buzz on the social network over the past two weeks.
Lisa Raphael (left), the social media producer at Katie Couric's daytime talk show Katie, is one of our featured speakers in Mediabistro's upcoming Social Media Marketing Boot Camp, an online event and workshop starting June 6, 2013. Lisa will share a case study on how the hit show uses Twitter to build interest and buzz around upcoming segments. Learn more about our our twelve event speakers and register here. 
With the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament set to tip off Tuesday, Michael Bailey of the Facebook Data Science Team filled out his brackets with information on Facebook likes in a note on the Sports on Facebook page.
People all over the U.S. were posting about either President Barack Obama or Republican challenger Mitt Romney on Facebook during Election Day. But buzz about ballots wasn’t limited to the 50 states. Facebook released statistics Wednesday showing that the U.S. presidential election was popular in Canada, the U.K., and Australia.
As more and more middle school and high school students log onto Facebook, courts have had to reassess the definition of virtual free speech. Many younger members use Facebook to vent frustration, but when posts are aimed toward teachers and faculty members, where is the line drawn? A Minnesota court recently ruled in favor of a 12-year-old student who posted unfavorably about a school staff member on Facebook, citing that the school’s demand for her social media passwords violated First and Fourth Amendment rights.
Not everyone was excited when Facebook acquired facial recognition software company Face.com. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), the radio host-turned-politician, called a hearing Wednesday to discuss issues regarding facial recognition. In particular, he didn’t care for Facebook’s opt-in by default setting and what it means for privacy.
A note to college students venting on Facebook: You can be punished for violent comments made on the website, even if the target is dead. That’s what the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled recently after the University of Minnesota punished a mortuary student for morbid comments about a cadaver.
A female student in the Minnewaska school district in Minnesota who has a Facebook page despite being one year under the social network’s age limit was hauled into a meeting with a school counselor and a deputy sheriff and pressured into surrendering her passwords for Facebook and email.
The remaining Republican presidential contenders are rallying Facebook supporters in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and Maine.
A Facebook movement is underway to boycott the annual Basilica Block Party in Minneapolis, sponsored by the city’s Catholic Archdiocese. But is the effort in danger of killing the music festival?
Tim Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota, is expected to announce on his Facebook page that he’s formed an exploratory committee to evaluate whether he will run for president in 2012.
