Info Pioneer

A new patent awarded to Facebook this week could have some big implications for the entire social media industry. The world’s largest social network now own the patent for the news feed. Patent #7,669,123 , first unearthed by All Facebook , credits Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and seven other current and former Facebookers as inventors and assigns the rights to the patent to Facebook , Inc. Depending on what this patent actually covers, Facebook could use it to protect its intellectual property and force other companies with news feeds . First though, we have to begin to understand what this patent is all about. Overview: The News Feed Patent While we’re going to take some time to really dig into this patent, its basics are simple enough. The patent awards Facebook protection for technology “dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network.” While that synopsis is very general and could definitely apply to a lot of well-known social media apps and startups, the p...

Facebook’s not just for keeping tabs on friends and filling out quizzes — it can also be used as a highly effective business tool. It’s great for marketing your products, landing gigs and connecting with your customers. Here are 32 ways to use Facebook in your business. Manage Your Profile Fill out your profile completely to earn trust. Establish a business account if you don’t already have one. Stay out of trouble by reading the Facebook rules regarding business accounts. Install appropriate applications to integrate feeds from your blog and other social media accounts into your Facebook profile. (Although you should be careful before integrating your Twitter feed into your Faceboook profile, as a stream of tweets can seem overwhelming to your contacts.) Keep any personal parts of your profile private through Settings. Create friends lists such as “Work,” “Family” and “Limited Profile” for finer-grained control over your profile privacy. Post a professional or business casual photos o...