_____________________________________________________________________________ The two photos below were provided by Nicholas Presser via Facebook on March 4, 2011. Thanks Nicholas!!! .
Facebook 'Smart Lists' For Friends Makes Organizing Your Contacts Easier
huffingtonpost.com September 14, 2011 __________________________________________________________________________
NEW YORK — It's a modern-day dilemma: You really want your Facebook friends to see that wild party photo of you wearing bunny ears. But you're not so keen on explaining it to your mother-in-law. Well, Facebook aims to make life easier. Beginning Wednesday, the social network will make it easier to share photos, posts and links with smaller, isolated groups of people. While the site has allowed users to separate their friends into lists since 2007, this option took quite a bit of work and only a small fraction of Facebook users took advantage of it. Now, Facebook will automatically group your friends based on whether they live near you, went to your school or work with you. You can read posts or share updates with specific groups instead of dozens, or hundreds, of "friends" at a time. Facebook will use the colleges, workplaces and geographic locations that users share on the site to organize people into groups. Called "smart lists," the feature is optional to use, and the lists are customizable. "Users don't really want to spend a lot of time creating and maintaining friend lists," said Naomi Gleit, the director of product at Facebook who worked on the feature. In addition, you can create your own friend groups with as few or as many as you would like, based around hobbies, work projects or relatives, for example. Listing people as "close friends," meanwhile, will ensure that you will see the posts and photos from the dozen or so friends you care about the most. Updates from these people will feature more prominently in your news feed and you can opt to receive email notifications every time they post something on Facebook, Gleit said. Conversely, those categorized as "acquaintances" will feature less prominently on your Facebook page, and you will see just big news, such as marriages and new babies. Facebook's latest move takes a page from Google Plus, the fledgling social network launched this summer by the online search leader. Google's service so far has not threatened to unseat Facebook as the world's biggest online social network. But its sleek design and innovative, privacy-focused features piqued the interest of many Facebook users and critics, helping to foster healthy competition among these Silicon Valley neighbors.
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By Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies, Beacon reporters stlbeacon.org __________________________________________________________________________
The Missouri Senate gave first-round approval Monday afternoon to a bill aimed at correcting language in a newly enacted law -- already in the courts -- that appears to ban most private teacher-student interaction on the Internet, including via email, Facebook and Twitter. The voice vote signals that the measure -- one of several on the special session agenda -- will likely move quickly out of the Senate and to the House, which does not reconvene until Wednesday. The Senate bill could face resistance from Gov. Jay Nixon, however, because it attempts to revise the provision in question. Nixon, Missouri's former attorney general, wants an outright repeal. He has called for a commission to then consider the matter. State Sen. Jane Cunningham, (right) R-Chesterfield, sponsored the bill revising the language. She also sponsored the original bill, which was aimed at discouraging communication that could encourage educators who are sexual predators. Cunningham's revision won unaninmous approval of a Senate committee last week -- largely because the new wording is supported by associations representing teachers, administrators and school boards, as well as social-conservative groups. The new wording, in effect, requires local school districts to come up with a policy for social-media communication. But the compromise doesn't go into the particulars of what the policy should be, beyond some broad outlines. It also gives districts more time, until March 2012, to put some a policy in place. Two lawsuits have been filed since the original provisions went into effect in late August, with a judge already barring its implementation over free-speech concerns. Cunningham told the Senate before today's vote that the new language will "protect teachers' rights" and provide school boards with the flexibilities to enact policies of their own. She also said that educating groups - such as the MNEA and MSTA - signed off the bill. "This allows the local school district the burden and the responsibility and the authority to develop and implement a policy." While supportive of Cunningham's efforts, state Sen. Jolie Justus, (left) D-Kansas City, said she was concerned with trying to statutorily regulate technology "because it changes so quickly." Said Justus in an exchange with Cunningham, "I had a couple of teachers over the weekend ask me a question ... 'Can I have a Facebook page?' And the answer, I think is, 'I don't know.' Is that the answer? I mean, is it going to be up to the school boards?" "Yes it will be up to the school boards," Cunningham replied, adding that she believed the changed language did address the issue of rapidly changing technology. Justus and Cunningham :23 mp3[1facer2] :18 “school board” Cunningham maintins the legisalture has the power to go beyond the specifics in the governor’s call for a special session. Governor Nixon had called for lawmakers to repeal questionable parts of a bill passed in the spring. But he specifically says he wants no new language in its place until January. Cunningham says he cannot place such tight limits on the general assembly.
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VIDEO: MISSOURI THE BEAUTIFUL Take a patriotic tour of the Show Me State's natural wonders . . ==========================================================
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State Sen. Jane Cunningham, (right) R-Chesterfield, sponsored the bill revising the language. She also sponsored the original bill, which was aimed at discouraging communication that could encourage educators who are sexual predators.
While supportive of Cunningham's efforts, state Sen. Jolie Justus, (left) D-Kansas City, said she was concerned with trying to statutorily regulate technology "because it changes so quickly."
Justus and Cunningham :23 mp3