We've reported on a number of social network-related suicides lately, most happening in the small Welsh town of Brigend, where 17 kids have killed themselves in an effort to get recognition from their friends on the popular networking site Bebo. Today, though, we have a different sort of suicide and a different social network. In Los Angeles, California, 14-year-old Megan Meier killed herself in October of 2006 after a MySpace romance with a 16-year-old boy turned sour. The catch is the boy didn't exist, having been created by a 49-year-old mother who lived up the street.

Lori Drew, mother of a classmate of Meier's, created a fake profile and started to draw the girl into an online romance, apparently to see what Meier was saying about her daughter. After a month of leading the girl along posing as the boy Drew ended the relationship with the message "The world would be a better place without you." Heartbroken, Meier hung herself within an hour, and died the next day.

Yesterday, Drew was indicted on charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers to obtain information to inflict emotional distress, which could result in a 20-year sentence. She was apparently assisted by an unnamed teenage assistant, possibly her daughter, and it remains to be seen whether she will face any punishment for this. [Source: AOL News/AP]

Social networking is obviously a lot of fun, but if anything it's getting a little too popular; you can't pick a movie on Netflix or upload a picture onto Flickr these days without having to wade through a web of friend recommendations.

What's more annoying is that each network is completely disconnected -- sign up for some hot new site, pick a crew of friends, then move on to the next hot site and try to find the same crew of friends again. Annoying. MySpace is finally looking to end that with a new initiative called "data availability" that will let you take your profile with you to other profile-based sites and services, including Twitter, Photobucket, and Yahoo!.

The changes, set to go into effect in a few weeks, will let you effectively sync up your profiles at a number of partner sites with your MySpace profile. For example, on Twitter you would be able to set up Twitter to pull in your picture and other information from your MySpace profile, in real-time -- so, if you update your main pic at MySpace, it would be propagated over to Twitter as well. You'll be able to do the same with your eBay profile, creating a more informative set of information about you that will "yield a deeper connection between individuals," according to the press release.

It would also let eBay shoppers learn an awful lot about you, something that many people will be uncomfortable with. The opportunity to save time by syncing up your profiles sounds quite appealing, but making yourself more identifiable to potentially irate eBay buyers and sellers sounds a little -- unnerving. [Source: BusinessWire, via New York Times]

Social networking is one of the biggest Internet phenomenons of the last few years, and it's still MySpace that dominates the online social networking landscape, according to Web measurement firm Hitwise.

As reported in ReadWriteWeb, MySpace takes the top traffic prize with 73.82 percent of all social networking traffic. Facebook only garners 14.8 percent of social networking traffic. Other sites take no more than two percent share, so this is really a tale of two brands.

The real story here, however, isn't who is on top traffic-wise but how long that traffic stays on a site. So, while traffic has slipped for MySpace by five percent during the last year, the average amount of time active MySpace members spend on the site has increased by a whopping 73 percent. So that means the members who do stick around really, really do stick around. [Source: ReadWriteWeb]

When the Pope arrived on our shores last month, much of the nation was subject to the pomp and fanfare that surrounded his every move. Now the Pope is making a trip Down Under for Sydney's World Youth Day next month, and those who can't watch him live (or online) will be able to follow the Pontiff via SMS.

The Pope (or one of his lackeys) will be sending "daily messages of inspiration" to the phones of thousands of Catholics during the event, which despite being called "World Youth Day," actually covers an entire week.

The Catholic church will also be setting up a social networking site similar to MySpace or Facebook, enabling believers to hook up -- and pray, of course. [Source: I4U/Reuters, via Textually.org]

MySpace isn't just a place for booty calls and sexual predators -- pop stars also use it as a recruiting tool for their international touring bands. Okay,sp usually they don't, but Alicia Keys must be really stuck for backup singers.

Alicia Keys wants aspiring R&B and soul singers to send 30-second videos of themselves singing, a cappella, to Keys's MySpace account. The winner will then join Keys' tour as it hops around the globe. The requirements are pretty basic: Be a 21-to-30-year-old woman with a valid passport, have some experience singing R&B and/or soul, and make sure you're physically fit enough to dance.

If you meet those minimum qualifications, then head on over and send in your video resume. We're pretty sure MySpace has fixed that whole virus problem by now. [Source: MySpace, Via: Reuters]

The Inquirer reports that British youths are signing online to sites such as Bebo and MSN and posing as middle aged pedophiles to scare classmates. Investigators thought that the reports of children being harassed were of the standard dirty-old-sexual-predator variety, but in nine separate cases, they found that the supposed pedophiles were actually classmates of the children attempting to scare them or settle rivalries.

The development is disturbing, but it does show a level of awareness and cleverness that we often assume children are incapable of. [Source: The Inquirer, Vva: Boing Boing]

Our first thoughts upon hearing about MySpace Karaoke were, "Didn't April Fool's Day already pass?" and "Oh God, no." Eventually our utter horror passed just long enough to do some research on this beta service from the company that is trying to ruin personal relationships. The scariest thing we found? It has competitors!

MySpace Karaoke works like this -- first you decide that you are ready to shed all self respect and dignity, then you pick a song from MySpace's catalog of two-or-three thousand licensed tracks to sing along to, and, just like karaoke in any cheesy bar you've frequented, the words scroll across the screen for you to warble along to. The fun part comes when you decide to record and share your complete lack of tunefulness with your unsuspecting MySpace public. You can post your tracks as bulletins, embed them right in your profile, or just save them as favorite tracks. MySpace will let you store up to 10 tracks for free, any more than that will incur a small fee.

We're not anti-karaoke per se, we just think it should be confined to black out drunk nights at trashy bars. [Source: MySpace Karaoke, Via: BetaNews]

Do you have a nostalgia addiction? Are your best moments those spent singing Def Leppard and Twisted Sister karaoke at the top of your lungs? Do you scour eBay for signed photos of The Fonz, and cry tears of joy when you inevitably win? Do you actively miss high school?

Well, have we got the site for you. Getback.com is a destination for all things retro: essentially a multimedia social networking site (think: MySpace), it attempts to chronicle the most memorable pop-culture events of the '60s, '70s, and '80s ... and allow you to chat longingly about them with your friends. There are separate channels (Music, Movies, Games, Life & Style), each packed with various audio/visual content.

"We set out to create a social media experience that will resonate with pop culture enthusiasts of all ages. We are creating a feel good experience for our users: listening to music, looking at album art, remembering their favorite films, playing games," states Chris Dominguez, President, of GetBack Media. "We developed GetBack to connect users to a digital reincarnation of year's past in an emotional and impactful way."

Our tour of the site included precisely one listen to Harold Faltermeyer's Axel F, one This Day in 1972 (including John Lennon's attempt to form his own country, Newtopia), and a joyride through a chunk of the 1980's Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) library. You can even browse by year: click on 1986, for example, and you'll find blurbs about The Kids in the Hall, the price of jeans, and Boy George guest starring on an episode of the A-Team.

The site has some major backers -- Getty Images, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, All Media Guide, and Intellivision (to name a few) -- so there's no dearth of content.

Now, make with the reliving your glory years. [Source Getback.com]

Those with insatiable sexual appetites used to have to go to underground swingers clubs, key parties, or put ads in the newspaper, but then the Internet happened and the super-randy started to hook up 24/7, first via instant messaging programs, then via dating/sex sites and Craigslist. Now, of course, they have Facebook and MySpace Technically, these sites are just for making friends, not for quick hook-ups, and the rules strictly forbid nudity and sexual solicitation, but every now and then, the ultra-horny go a little 'Craigslist personals' on Facebook's ass.

Take Laura Michaels of Bristol, England, who, according to the UK's Sun newspaper, created a Facebook group called "I Need Sex." Within 10 minutes, 35 men had joined the group. After an hour, 100 men had joined. She invited the men to contact her and met up in person with those she liked. In the end, Michaels slept with 50 men in total from the Facebook group, which, for those of you who are slow, is literally half of the group.

"I Need Sex" has since been taken down, but Laura has no regrets. She says that she was satisfying her own desires, despite what other people may think of her. All we can say is "kudos".

From Newsvine

Related links:

• One-Third of Women Who Meet People Online Have Sex on First Date
• Senior Singles Hooking Up Online
• Females Flock to Facebook to Post Pictures of Their Drunken Antics

MySpace, the popular social networking site, has come up with a creative solution to a lawsuit filed by Universal Music Group. Instead of just settling with Universal, Myspace (owned by News Corp) announced a new joint business venture with three major record labels: Warner, Sony BMG and Universal.

The company will be called Myspace Music and will launch in July or August of this year. It will be owned by News Corp and the three labels, with an initial investment of $120 million distributed among the labels. The new service will include the streaming rights to the entire catalogs of the three labels, as well as a DRM-free online music store. Users will also have access to an improved music player that supports the creation of playlists, in addition to the increased amount of streaming music available for their profiles. The venture will redistribute ad revenues to the labels based on their stake in the company, not based on the number of plays their copyrighted material. The advertisements will initially be display ads, but may move to an audio format embedded in streaming music files at a later date.

All in all, it sounds like good news for MySpace users and bands, with greater availability of music to stream and a proper company to promote the bands on the Myspace Records label. The deal also serves as a reminder that the record companiwa are no longer counting on getting paid directly for the music they hold copyrights to, and points toward an ad-supported future business model. Looks like MySpace will be trying to cram a few more ads into their crowded interface soon, but we don't mind as long as we can listen to whatever music we want for free.

Related links:

• 50 Cent Launches Myspace Like Social Networking Site
• Facebook Adds "People You May Know" Feature
• Radiohead Invites Fans To Make Its Next Music Video
• Facebooks Own Isreali-Palestinian Dispute

Never one to miss a marketing opportunity, rapper Curtis Jackson, a.k.a. 50 Cent, has opened the doors to his new social networking site, ThisIs50.com.

Sorta like MySpace for the G-Unit set (wait, isn't MySpace for the G-Unit set?), the site features embedded videos and music players, along with plenty of G-Unit marketing fodder mixed in for good measure. ("You have two new messages in your inbox! Also, buy Lloyd Banks' new album!")

Of course, Jackson is no newcomer to the world of cross-promotional opportunities. With a clothing line, sports drink, and videogame (along with its forthcoming sequel) under his belt, the G-Unit new media empire continues to expand.

And yet still, he lets his 7 year-old cousin create the site. WTF, dude.

From TechDigest

Related Links:

• Hammer Launches Video Sharing Site
  
• Oprah Launches her Own YouTube Channel
• Top 11 Celebrity Messes Online

After releasing its last album, In Rainbows, as a pay-what-you-like download last year, Radiohead is holding a little contest: the winner gets $10,000 -- and the chance to make the band's next video.

Along with online animation studio Aniboom, Radiohead will be searching the world for someone fit to create a full-length music video for the band. They're asking contestants to submit storyboard treatments for the video that which will then be judged by Aniboom, Radiohead's label TBD Records, Adult Swim, and voters on MySpace.

All ten of the chosen semi-finalists will be awarded $1,000 each to produce one-minute versions of their videos; from those one-minute clips, the band will choose the best and award another $10,000 to produce a full-length video.

So make with the idea-having, young acolytes.

From AlleyInsider

Related Links:

• Did Radiohead's Experiment Fail?
• Nine Inch Nails Gives Away New Album Online
• iTunes is #2 Music Retailer, CD Sales Continue to Plummet

It was bound to happen eventually (if for no other reason than MySpace did it first) -- Facebook is finally offering up an instant-messaging service. Ironically, Facebook's new IM service may have the effect of killing off a couple of chat applications already available on the social-networking site.

Initial rumors claimed that the new Facebook IM service, which is to be embedded into people's profiles, would be based on Jabber, the same standard underlying Google Talk. This would have meant that other IM programs, such as Pidgin, Meebo, or even Google Talk, could connect to the Facebook service easily and bring it to the desktop. These rumors, of course, turned out to be false, and Facebook IM, at least initially, will only be available on Facebook pages.

With MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, AIM, Skype, Gizmo, and Google Talk already clogging the Internet, we're pretty confident we don't need any more new IM services. Especially not ones that can only be accessed on the Web by logging into a separate place from all your other IM services. But if Facebook ever manages to get all the other IM programs to work with its IM service, then it might become an attractive online chat place indeed.

From TechCrunch

Related Links:

• New Service Asks You To Sell Things to Your Facebook Friends
• Facebook Popularity on the Decline
• Exclusive, Would-Be MySpace-Rival Pownce Goes Public

Companies have been trying to figure out ways to generate revenue from social networks, though so far, they have had a tough time of it. Even Google and News Corp. are struggling with monetizing sites like MySpace.

A company called bSocial Media is trying a new approach: Don't advertise, get people to recommend products directly to others in their social networks. A previous version of their strategy involved the now reviled Beacon program at Facebook that tracked users' surfing and purchasing habits. Following a rebellion against Beacon by users, bSocial was forced to go back to the drawing board.

What they came up with is Market Lodge, a Facebook application that lets users create custom stores similar to Amazon's Associate Program. Facebookers can earn a 10 percent commission on anything sold through their Market Lodge.

Market Lodge currently has a stable of 1,200 products from over 50 retailers, though the vast majority of those products are world-music CDs and Yoga DVDs.

We have to guess that Market Lodge will fail to spark some revenue generating revolution on the social network. People are usually unwilling to openly shill for products to their friends, especially when the products are the sort of thing sold at 3 A.M. on basic cable. To make matters worse, after an hour of trying to use the new Facebook application, we were unable to even get a Market Lodge Store successfully created.

From USA Today

Related links:

• Facebook Under Fire for Spyware Ad System
• Makers of 'Scrabble' Want Popular 'Scrabulous' Removed From Facebook
• Best Facebook Apps for the Office

According to a recent study by the Solutions Research Group (Warning: PDF file), Americans just can't stand to be out of touch. According to the survey, 68 percent of Americans suffer from at least occasional disconnect anxiety when away from the computer or cell phone. The participants' feelings when away from the 'net range from general discomfort to inadequacy and panic.

Some other interesting statistics: Only 37 percent of laptop users frequently log on from their bed rooms, but 63 percent of Blackberry users admitted to using their device of choice while in the "washroom." That last number seemed particularly disturbing to our pals over at Engadget, but we'll be the first to admit that entire articles on Switched have been written from the comfort of the porcelain throne (desk?), which really just goes to show how terrified of being disconnected we are.

From Engadget

Related links:

• Senior Citizens Like Robo-Dogs As Much As Real Dogs
• Internet, Video Games Blamed for Drop In Camping
• One-Third of Women Who Meet People Online Have Sex on First Date