Facebook stays on top in UK with 14.35m users

The latest ComScore data has been released and Facebook is still steaming ahead in the lead of the 3 biggest Social networks! And it has had phenomenal growth between March and April of 7.2%. I am not surprised as I am still a huge fan of Facebook, its superb for keeping in touch with people and knowing what they have been up to.

I am surprised that so many people are still using myspace and bebo though, but am excited to see the developments of social networking platforms that will update all the social network profile at once.

Sarah

Worth a read!

Here are a few industry articles that are well worth a read!

When asked to predict the No. 1 business model in five years, 62% bet on advertising-supported models.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_displa/news/e3i06a73bb9ccfd10cfdaeb508884094ac7

Story Bids - this almost deserves it whole own blog!

http://www.storybids.com/

You can put your content on line and see of anyone wants to pay for product placement - highest bidder wins! We may just have a look at this for FootballFanCast.com!

Bloggers unconcerned by legal pitfalls on-line!

Still the debate rumbles on about the accountability of bloggers and people making comments on web-sites. It doesn't suprise me that only 1/3 of posters have actually read the legal T&C's of the forum they are posting on, it actually sounds quite high to me. Web publishers must take the moral high ground and have some kind of system for moderation or a suitable reporting procedures for unsutiable comments so that they can be removed as soon as possible.

DLP Piper are a digital media law specialist company.

DLP Piper offers some useful legal pitfalls relating to user generated content:

• Defamation: This country has tough libel laws and from the earliest Web 1.0 bulletin boards posters have got into difficulty with defamatory comments -- as have the online services that carry them.
• Offensive messages: There are a range of laws from the Protection from Harassment Act to specific restrictions in the Telecommunications Act that can be invoked.
  
• Incitement: There have been high profile cases relating to terrorism but any encouragement of others to commit unlawful acts can result in prosecution.
• Intellectual property: There is a copy and paste culture online, but using other people's material (whether it's an article, photograph, logo or even another blog posting) can cause problems.
• Linking: Bloggers need to think about what is on their own site, but also keep an eye on the links they provide to other pages (eg to offensive or illegal material).
• Reporting: The law of contempt and other statutory reporting restrictions carry strict penalties if breached.
• Corporate blogging: The legal pitfalls can be even more pronounced in the case of corporate blogs where additional commercial concerns will apply.