Social Media

In the state's first decision involving juries and social media, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has called on judges to better police jurors' use of the Internet to make sure they do not discuss cases online, and thus risk a mistrial. The court said judges need to do more to explain to jurors that refraining from conversations about a case also means not posting anything about it on Facebook or Twitter, common practice in today's technology-driven world. "Jurors must separate and insulate their jury service from their digital lives," the court said in a ruling involving a Plymouth Superior Court...

Less than a week after Facebook's troubled debut as a public company, Sheryl Sandberg, the social network's chief operating officer and a Harvard Business School alumna, returned to Cambridge Wednesday to deliver the keynote address for the school's graduating students. In her speech, Sandberg barely mentioned Facebook's recent $16 billion initial public offering, which is drawing scrutiny from federal regulators and investors. Instead, she spoke about gender roles in the workplace and her own path to becoming second-in-command at the giant social media company.

Relatives and friends of the grandmother and stepmother charged with running a 9-year-old girl to death as a punishment have been defending and attacking the women on Facebook and in at least one case nearly divulging what could be considered evidence. A judge has warned prosecutors and defense lawyers not to discuss the murder case, and so far they have obeyed. But experts say the hundreds of messages posted online since Savannah Hardin died in February show the legal system has yet to catch up with the social media explosion.

All this time I've been hate-watching and I never even knew it. Turns out, "hate-watch" is a fancy term for watching shows you don't like but get perverse satisfaction from. Hate-watching is a sport that used to fall under the broad term "guilty pleasure," but now seems retrofitted for the age of social media. It goes something like this: You watch a show you wouldn't choose to watch for any reason other than to mock it for its awfulness — say, by sharing snide Twitter exchanges with like-minded hate-watchers when the program airs.

It's Facebook's big day. The site, which was born in a dorm room eight years ago and has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people, is making the most talked-about stock market debut in years. Here's some of what Associated Press reporters are finding. Check back all day for updates. All times EDT. –– 1:47 p.m. UPDATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA STOCKS Facebook stock is trading at about $41.25, a healthy gain of more than $3, but it appears to be disappointing investors in other social media companies, especially those with ties to Facebook.

Facebook was supposed to soar. Instead, it plunged. After the social network's stock fizzled on Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent on Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied. The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to the stock market — Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still...

The race for the state Senate's Third Middlesex District seat this year has drawn a crowded field of Democratic candidates, featuring a former state legislator, Iraqi war veteran, businessman, lawyer, and a political novice. After 15 years in the Senate, Democrat Susan Fargo of Lincoln announced in February that she would not be seeking reelection, setting the stage for the five-way party primary. The Democratic candidates are Mike Barrett of Lexington, Alex Buck of Chelmsford, Mara Dolan of Concord, Joe Kearns Goodwin of Concord,...

Repairs to the aging Sagamore Bridge during the spring have slowed traffic leaving Cape Cod to a crawl most nights and backed it up for miles on Sundays, culminating in a Mother's Day morass when the stalled line of cars stretched past multiple exits on Route 6 and triggered all-day gridlock on nearby Route 6A. "Whoever conceived of this plan should be fired," said Anne Kilguss, a Boston social worker and psychotherapist with a second home in...

When Cambridge marketing software firm HubSpot Inc. launched in 2006, e-mail pitching was considered old-fashioned and spam-riddled. Consumers struggling with e-mail overload were often not receptive to more electronic clutter. HubSpot didn't even build e-mail marketing products. That changes on Tuesday, when HubSpot will at last offer its own tools to manage, create, and track e-mail marketing campaigns in its standard menu of services. It's a mark of how much life the company thinks is left in the old Internet standby.

A lot of people are hyperventilating over Facebook Inc.'s coming initial public stock offering, a giant sale sure to rank among the biggest IPOs ever. I wouldn't say the same about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He has seemed almost reluctant about the social media giant's plans to go public. The initial registration for a Facebook IPO - the first step that would probably lead to an actual stock sale by May or June - may be filed in the next few days. If not this week, soon.

Facebook's tepid start as a publicly traded company dragged other social media and related stocks lower on Monday. Facebook Inc., which began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday, fell $3.94, or 10.3 percent, to $34.29 in late afternoon trading on Monday. The company's initial public offering was one of the most hotly anticipated ones in history. But the resulting staggering valuation — more than $100 billion — likely gave investors pause as they sought to assign value to the world's largest online social network.

Bridget Houlihan rifled through her gift bag and pulled out a gray T-shirt with a circular Chicago Cubs emblem on the front and FOLLOWER emblazoned across the back, resting on a row of logos from the top social media websites. "This is awesome," she said. Baseball thinks Houlihan is pretty sweet, too, and major league teams like the Cubs are hoping to entice more fans like her to come out to the ballpark. Social media nights have become a common part of the promotional schedule, and some of the best ticket deals and giveaways can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

A handful of protesters briefly interrupted a speech calling for world unity delivered by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Colby College's graduation ceremony Sunday. "The world is connected as never before, make use of it," Blair told the class of more than 400 during the 191st commencement exercises at the college. Blair spoke of a global future and urged students to be generous of both spirit and person, saying "compassion is as important as ambition. " During the speech, police arrested Lawrence Reichard, 53, of Bangor, on a charge...

For David Sze and his colleagues at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners, the initial public offering for Facebook Inc. was a grand slam. Sze, 46, a Boston native who grew up on Beacon Hill, led Greylock's 2006 investment in the social media start-up. Back then, the firm put $12.5 million in what seemed like a risky deal. Today, that bet looks like every venture capitalist's dream — a stake worth $1.5 billion. On Friday, while hordes of small investors tried to buy into the much-anticipated IPO, Greylock was selling.

While Facebook's initial public offering Friday had all of Wall Street abuzz, its 900 million users had other things on their minds. They were busy sharing with the world their thoughts about the presidential election, Haitian Flag Day and the weekend. That's not to say there wasn't plenty of discussion of Facebook's $104 billion deal. There was. But many Facebook users simply took note of it and went on gushing with friends about other aspects of their lives — and maybe adding some photos they might one day regret.

The lukewarm response to Facebook Inc.'s initial public offering sent shares of other social-media companies tumbling Friday. The sell-off is a sign that Facebook is now a bellwether for the small sector, which is mainly composed of companies that have gone public in the last year. Facebook has a market capitalization more than 10 times larger than that of LinkedIn Corp., the closest equivalent already publicly traded. One of the biggest losers was game-maker Zynga Inc., whose shares fell so fast that trading was halted soon after Facebook...

The excitement surrounding Facebook Inc.'s forthcoming Wall Street debut arrived in Boston Tuesday as the company's top executives pitched the massive social media company to hundreds of potential investors, and Mark Zuckerberg, its 27-year-old celebrity chief executive officer, met privately with some of the city's premier money managers. It was the second stop in a nationwide "roadshow" ahead of the social network's initial public offering, when it will sell shares on public markets for the first time.

Army Major Ed Pulido knows what it’s like to feel the despair that comes with losing a limb and knowing his military career was over. Pulido, who had a traumatic brain injury and lost his left leg after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq, would lie in bed and wonder when the night terrors would end, how he would support his family, and whether he would ever feel like himself again. Pulido’s mother sought help for him, and now he is seeking help for others like him. The retired serviceman is speaking to...

In Silicon Valley, where sudden wealth is hardly something new and CEOs favor hoodies over bespoke blazers, Facebook's IPO on Friday didn't bring everyday life to a halt. Employees weren't popping champagne corks at company headquarters, at least not where anyone outside could see them. And locals had plenty to do —from finding a job to locating the next Facebook. The company's sprawling headquarters along the southern edge of San Francisco Bay was quiet except for security guards walking the parking lots, a dozen TV satellite trucks and an onslaught of reporters who were not...