Is Facebook over?

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:37:00 +0000

Less than a week ago, Facebook made a stunning disclosure in its 10k annual report: teens might be finished with the social network altogether. "We believe," the report's authors noted glumly, "that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or a substitute for, Facebook." A new study released Tuesday suggests the company's problems go beyond the waning interest of its youngest demographic.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, as many as 61 percent of Facebook members have tuned out the website for weeks and sometimes months at a time. The reasons listed for these extended breaks are as banal as they are predictable: 21 percent of those surveyed "are too busy/don't have time for it"; 10 percent "just aren't interested/just don't like it"; and another 10 percent simply think it's a "waste of time."

CNET's Jennifer Van Grove has isolated some of the more biting -- and comical -- remarks of those polled:

The CNET-CBS TV technology debacle

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:54:00 +0000

What did the online technology news network CNET get for sending a 90-strong legion of reporters, editors and other staff to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas? A big fat conflict-of-interest mess. Staffers are quitting in protest, executives at both CNET and its corporate parent, CBS, are coming off as craven tools, and a story that CNET should own -- the future of TV -- has turned around and bitten the network on its ass.

The Verge's Joshua Topolsky has the most details of a debacle that is both awful and kind of hilarious. Last week, 40 CNET staffers gathered together to vote on their official "Best of CES winner." The prize went to the Dish Hopper, an every-bell-and-whistle-possible DVR cooked up by the Dish Network that does all kinds of neat things, like stream shows to your iPad.

Salon.com > CNET

Is Facebook over?

The CNET-CBS TV technology debacle