Facebook Wants Your Kids: Oh boy, Mark is going to get a lot of heat for this one: at a recent summit on innovation in education, Zuckerberg expressed his belief that younger kids should be allowed on social networking sites, including Facebook. He said that he will eventually take on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits websites that collect information about users (like Facebook does) from allowing anyone under the age of 13 to sign on. While I’m sure all sorts of parents associations will get bent out of shape over this, but as recent surveys have shown, there are already millions of underage FB users. At least if it was made official there would be more regulation and protection for young social network users. CNN
The Army Wants to be Your Friend: All aboard the social train! The Army is trying to catch up with the times and reach out to young people by integrating digital media and social networking into their recruitment efforts. The idea is to open up lines of communication between the public and those in uniform in order to create and continue a dialogue. The Army already has a Twitter account, @USArmy, which as of now has just over 74,270 followers. While social media networks are a good place to get in touch with youths, I’m not sure how many young people who are avid Tweeters are going to want to sign up for the Army. I’m pretty sure there is no Facebook allowed during Army training. NYT
iPlank, Do You Plank?: Apple employees are embracing this new (and stupid) fad called planking. If you are unfamiliar with the term, it is unfortunately exactly what it sounds like, lying face down, stiff, with your arms at your sides, in weird and random places and documenting it. Apple employees have really gotten into it, and now there’s a blog devoted to Apple employees planking in Apple Stores. Is that why going to the Apple Stores is always a nightmare? Because employees are busy planking? Ugh. The Next Web
More on planking, in case you are still curious:
Tumblr of the Day: OMG this may be my favorite tumblr of the day so far, for obvious reasons (it involves the best TV show, sex crimes, and Elliot Stabler). Inappropriate Stabler
Happy Birthday YouTube!: Yesterday was YouTube’s sixth birthday, and in honor of the site’s continuing success, YouTube thanked its users and released this remarkable stat: more than 48 hours (two days worth) of video are uploaded to the site every minute, which is up 37 percent from six months ago and up 100 percent from last year. Oh, and this weekend the site reached the 3-billion-views-a-day mark. No biggie. YouTube’s challenge to its users? Get to 72 hours of video a minute, or 4 billion views a day by next year. Ready, set, go! YouTube-global
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