Kate Knibbs
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a job. You can find her at @kateknibbs on Twitter.
E-mail her tips, rants, comments, and pictures of your talented animal friends at kateknibbsfreelance@gmail.com
Facebook introduces tweak to News Feed, may clog your page with unwanted posts
Facebook continues to tweak Newsfeed and the way users see stories. This week, it introduced a new recommendation system for content based on Pages.
Anti-gun groups lobby Facebook and Instagram to change policies
Anti-gun groups lobby Facebook and Instagram for tighter rules. Even though selling guns isn't allowed on those services, it happens frequently.
9 things we learned from Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance at Mobile World Congress
Mark Zuckerberg talked about Internet.org and WhatsApp at Mobile World Congress. Here are the highlights from his conversation with David Kirkpatrick.
Facebook will make “Look Back” videos for dead users
Facebook changes settings for dead users, makes "Look Back" videos for the recently deceased upon request.
On Twitter, Tea-party and left-wing tweeters stay separate
Twitter is politically polarized, according to the Pew Research Center and Social Media Research Foundation.
Curses! People swear a lot on Twitter, and here are the most popular words
Ever wonder which bad words get the most action on Twitter? Well, wonder no further: researchers studied how we swear on social media.
Facebook loses privacy case in Germany, may help Europeans protect data
Facebook must comply with privacy rules in Germany, a Berlin court ruled this week. This may have big implications for data protection rules in Europe.
Venezuela censors tweets amid protests, Twitter confirms
Amid protests, it appears Venezuela was blocking images on Twitter last week. Users report that they could not access photos as other censorship took place.
Intro, we hardly knew you: LinkedIn gets rid of its 3-month-old email-centric iPhone app
LinkedIn has "retired" its barely-three-months-old iPhone app, LinkedIn Intro. The reasoning being that LinkedIn wants to focus on other projects.
Don’t like your Facebook ‘Look Back’ video? Here’s how you can edit it
Facebook lets users edit their "Look Back" videos, so people embarrassed by one of the photos or trying to purge evidence of an ex can rest easy.
Facebook gives grieving father a ‘Look Back’ video for his dead son
A grieving father asked Facebook to make him a "Look Back" video for his dead son. His plea went viral and Facebook said yes.
Twitter scolds U.S. government for censoring its transparency reports
Twitter published its transparency reports today, along with a blog post taking a stand against the current U.S. policy on releasing information.
Everything you need to know about Twitter’s first earnings call (like why stock is falling)
Twitter gave its first earnings call today as a newly public company. Unfortunately, revealing its revenue didn't inspire investors.
Facebook debuts open-source Android security tool that encrypts data on SD cards
Facebook decided to share security software it developed to protect its Android app. The decision to open-source is good news for other developers.
Twitter wants to be the place where you’ll discover the next Justin Bieber (Updated)
Twitter announced a partnership with the 300 music company to work on software and analysis tools that could help discover the next Justin Bieber.
For its 10th birthday, Facebook gave itself the gift of soaring stocks
Facebook has plenty to celebrate as it turns 10: the company's stock is spiking, thanks to an earnings call that revealed a successful mobile ad plan.
Instagram hoax: Oprah is not giving scholarships just because you follow her
A hoax is gaining steam on Instagram: An account set up to look like Oprah's OWN network is gaining followers by promising fake scholarships.
Racist anti-Obama Facebook rant gets New York cop punished and suspended
A police officer in suburban New York was suspended for posting a racist diatribe against the President of the United States on Facebook.
Twitter found a way to make money every time you refresh your feed
Twitter is attempting to make more money from page refreshes by coming up with ways to encourage users to refresh their Timelines.
Facebook users will have a chance to be on ‘American Idol’ without judges’ scrutiny
Facebook has teamed up with reality show "American Idol" to show the profile pictures of people who vote through social media on the program.
Twitter refocuses on Instagram, adds photo-tagging to Android app
Twitter released an update for its Android app that gives users new photo-editing tools. This update is meant to help the platform compete with Instagram.
Facebook rumored to be hiring editors to curate stories for its upcoming ‘Paper’ project
Facebook is said to be hiring editors for its upcoming mobile news app, Paper, sources say. Will these curators make Facebook a true news destination?
Prince understands the Internet like it’s 1999, sues Facebook users for $22 million
Prince filed a lawsuit against Facebook and Google Blogger users. If the eccentric singer wins, 22 individuals will each have to pay $1 million each.
Syrian Electronic Army hacks CNN’s Twitter and Facebook accounts
The Syrian Electronic Army has turned its attention away from Microsoft and has targeted CNN for its representation of the conflict in Syria.
Professional photographers reach out to citizen journalists on social media
Photojournalists are helping social media citizen journalists navigate the confusing world of photo licensing, even though they should be rivals.
Twitter adds new analytics tool to help power users get more clicks to their links
Twitter debuts Analytics for Twitter cards, a new analytics service for the micro-blogging site's power users.
Facebook pays $33k to security researcher for finding, reporting huge bug in social network
Facebook handed out its biggest bug bounty yet, giving a Brazilian computer engineer $33,500 for finding a potentially devastating bug.
Snapchat unveils new anti-hacking tactic that it hopes will close security loophole [UPDATED]
Snapchat has a new anti-hacker tactic to prevent abuses. That's certainly a good sign for the app, which is prone to security mishaps.
Facebook, Twitter, Google just say no to marijuana ads
Even though marijuana is now legal in Washington and Colorado, major Web companies are not letting weed-related businesses advertise online.
Facebook adjusts Newsfeed to make updates from Pages better, prefers links over plain text
Facebook adjusted the way it promotes Pages in the Newsfeed, choosing to privilege posts that include link-sharing instead of posts that just have text.
Instagram is growing faster than Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest combined
A global survey indicates that Instagram continues to grow faster than competitors. It also underscores Facebook's continued dominance.
Email is 40 times more effective for marketers than Facebook and Twitter, survey says
If you want to tell everyone how you're feeling or share a link, social networks are the way to go. But if you want to acquire customers, use email.