The scary thing with location is that when you announce where you are, there's some security implications to that with people knowing that your home can be robbed. I think as a society people are starting to get more comfortable with location but it's going to take people some time to get used to it given all of the horror stories we've seen.

I think that the reason that Google is working so hard on pushing Google+ is because Facebook has so much structured social data - they have the ability to create a different search experience that might threaten Google. Google needs more data for its algorithms to improve. Facebook doesn't have as many engineers that have long-term experience with search products, but if they can use the social data they have, they don't need that expertise. I think that if Facebook emphasized search more in their coming designs, they could potentially make a big dent in Google's search share. Already products like Siri are putting a bit of a dent in that market. I think Facebook is going to make a big push in this space along with ecommerce, location services, identity services, software platforms, payments, and other spheres. That's why Facebook might be drastically undervalued at $100 billion if they play their cards right and execute over the next decade.

Heh, search Facebook later for how many people are complaining about the changes. A few weeks from now people will love it. Every time Facebook makes a change, you can find thousands of complaints that are so comical IMO.

There are lots of great apps out there for getting a new profile cover, but if you have photoshop and even some minor artistic skill, make your own. The Timeline excels at the personal touch......gather some free textures and things from art websites, find a few pics of yourself and whatever you want to include, and do your best to make your own thing. Even if its not perfect, I think your friends will love that more.

I wouldn't want an autoresponder because I think that different friends might require a different level of interaction. With some people, you might want to make an inside joke and with others you might have nothing much to say. So I guess it saves time if you have hundreds of friends, but its probably just worth taking an hour and just writing people a short thank you yourself. Still a clever idea though.

Too bad that Facebook is blocked in China or we'd see Facebook usage over 1 billion active users by now. I think that over time the increasing free market in China will allow alternative ideas to break through their barriers and the regime will die off. It's just a question of how long they can maintain power. Ideas are more powerful than bullets and can't be stopped. Facebook will eventually be able to enter China...its just a matter of time.

Very interesting stats. I think that the key is in the bigger pictures.

Creative brands can use that to tell their story in some way and increase engagement.

Uncreative brands will suffer though.

That's my opinion.

I think that a lot of new moms are just excited about their kids and want to show off. That's never been something that annoyed me about Facebook. I think that sharing your phone number anywhere is pretty stupid, agreed. Most online privacy issues can be prevented by common sense and posting identifying personal information like that isn't wise. Particularly problematic for many people is seeing how they post personal information on Facebook, neglect to use privacy settings, and are surprised when their personal information is stolen weeks later. While you can be careful about what you post about yourself, you can't prevent other people from posting about you. Also problematic for people is how there are sites like http://www.dirtyphonebook.com where people post personal information about each that can't be removed. With Google making all of this information widely available, being vigilant about seeing what people can find out you is critical to maintaining your online reputation. Facebook can do a bit more to prevent people from accidentally messing up their own lives by encouraging more sensible defaults, but in the end people have to be smart about what they post about themselves online, and this doesn't solve all potential problems. Facebook has improved, but can still improve further. Regarding people using Facebook as a way to sell stuff to their friends, a lot of times a friend doesn't directly want to buy another person's bike or rent their apartment or whatever, but often people will know somebody who is looking. So if people care about you, its worth a shot to post it on FB IMO.

I think that way too many folks go on Facebook when they're bored and drunk and say stuff that they'll regret the next day. That's why you should use your privacy settings on FB....that way at least if you post something you don't want known, at least only your personal friends know about it and it can't affect you if an employer Googles you or something.

I thought that all of the marketing and trailers for this movie is very good and it has a compelling story. Might be a big hit. 2012 looks really good for movies!