social-networking site

Social media sites including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have influenced 28 percent of U.S. holiday shoppers in gift-buying decisions this year, according to a survey by ComScore Inc.

Shoppers were most swayed by product reviews written by other consumers, the Reston, Virginia-based research firm said yesterday in a statement.

"We are getting our first real glimpse at the impact social media will play on commerce as we enter the next decade," ComScore Chairman and co-founder Gian Fulgoni said in the statement.

As it struggles to reinvent itself, the struggling former America Online has the savvy, technology and assets to succeed, but may not have the time, according to a former executive of the company. "AOL has quite a number of hidden gems and Internet properties that many users don't even know are part of the brand," says Jules Polonetsky, who was AOL's chief privacy officer and a senior vice president from 2002 to 2008. "That includes dozens of the most highly visited blogs, like the leading technology blog Engadget, that draw substantial advertising revenue."

As it struggles to reinvent itself, AOL has the savvy, technology and assets to succeed, but may not have the time, according to a former executive of the company. "AOL has quite a number of hidden gems and Internet properties that many users don't even know are part of the brand," says Jules Polonetsky, who was AOL's chief privacy officer and a senior vice president from 2002 to 2008. "That includes dozens of the most highly visited blogs, like the leading technology blog Engadget, that draw substantial advertising revenue."

As it struggles to reinvent itself, the former America Online has the savvy, technology and assets to succeed, but may not have the time, according to a former executive of the company. "AOL has quite a number of hidden gems and Internet properties that many users don't even know are part of the brand," says Jules Polonetsky, who was AOL's chief privacy officer and a senior vice president from 2002 to 2008. "That includes dozens of the most highly visited blogs, like the leading technology blog Engadget, that draw substantial advertising revenue."

Life on FarmVille has had a transformative effect on Laura Phillips.

For 45 minutes a day, Phillips, a 41-year-old marketing contractor in the Silicon Valley town of Morgan Hill, Calif., gets lost in the digital game on Facebook, managing crops and animals on her virtual farm.

"This is my escape from city life; it's my relaxation," she says. "Since Day One, I've been a complete addict. I lose sleep at night, worrying about my farm."

From anesthesia to the recovery room, 70-year-old Monna Cleary's children followed her surgery -- 140 characters or less at a time.

Twitter is opening doors to the sterile confines of operating rooms, paving the way for families -- and anyone else for that matter -- to follow a patient's progress as they go under the knife.

Most of the Cleary family chose to track the developments from a laptop computer in the hospital's waiting room. But one daughter-in-law kept tabs from work.

Sony Ericsson is hoping to boost its sagging handset sales through the launch of two new camera-enabled mobile phones on AT&T's national network, beginning Sunday.

Priced at $179.99 after an AT&T rebate, Sony Ericsson's C905a Cyber-shot sports an 8.1-megapixel camera -- the highest resolution ever offered in a mobile phone from AT&T. And the W518a Walkman phone combines a 3.2-megapixel camera with interactive features targeting the Facebook social-networking site.

Facebook will again tweak its privacy controls to give its 200 million users simplified control over what they want the public and their friends to see. In the past months, Firefox has added multiple privacy controls that confused and angered its members.

Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly said Wednesday that Facebook will begin a series of tests to simplify choices. "With the test we're announcing today, we'll move toward simplifying these settings and putting them all on the same page," Kelly said.

At 12:01 EST Friday, a new cyber landrush will get under way, as the social-networking giant Facebook introduces so-called "vanity URLs" to its popular service. On a first-come, first-served basis, Facebook subscribers will be able to choose customized descriptors for their profiles.

Any parent can vouch that time spent on social-networking sites is rapidly growing, but a new report puts some numbers on that perception. The report, released Wednesday by Nielsen Online, indicates that the total minutes spent on such sites have increased 83 percent in the U.S. alone, year over year.

The report, which covers the month of April, shows that the overall leader in total minutes, Facebook, grew an astounding 699 percent-- 13.9 billion minutes this April, compared to 1.7 billion minutes in April last year.

'Remember Friendster?'