Facebook to let advertisers republish user posts

NEW YORK – Facebook users who check in to a store or click the "like" button for a brand may soon find those actions retransmitted on their friends' pages as a "Sponsored Story" paid for by advertisers.

Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.

Facebook says this lets advertisers promote word-of-mouth recommendations that people already made on the site. They play up things people do on the site that might get lost in the mass of links, photos, status updates and other content users share on the world's largest social network.

The new, promoted posts would keep the same privacy setting that the original posting had. So if you limit your check-ins to a specific group of friends, only these same friends would see the "Sponsored Story" version later.

The promoted content will appear on the right side of users' home pages, not in their main news feed. That's where regular ads, friend requests and other content are located.

Involving users in advertisements without their consent has been a thorny issue for Facebook. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said in this case the company is making money off a person's name or likeness without their consent. He calls it "subtle and misleading" and says users should object.

Twitter already offers advertisers something similar, called "promoted tweets." These are Twitter posts paid for by advertisers to show up in search results and on top of popular topic lists on the site. But while Twitter's ads are written by the companies that pay for them, Facebook's sponsored stories are created by users.

Both represent an effort to make advertisements more akin to what people are already experiencing on the site instead of putting up virtual billboards that users might ignore or find tacky.

Resource from: http://news.yahoo.com

Isu Payudara: Terima KRITIKAN HEBAT

RANCANGAN bual bicara WHI di TV3 membincangkan tajuk Salahkah besarkan payu dara? yang mengundang rasa kurang selesa penonton. 

KUALA LUMPUR – Segmen bertajuk Salahkah besarkan payu dara? yang disiarkan dalam program Wanita Hari Ini (WHI) terbitan TV3 pada pukul 12 tengah hari semalam mengundang reaksi kurang senang pelbagai pihak di negara ini.

Kosmo! semalam menerima banyak panggilan daripada penonton yang rata-rata melahirkan rasa kurang selesa dengan tajuk dan cara segmen bual bicara itu diadakan.

Tinjauan di laman peminat rasmi program WHI di Facebook juga mendapati ramai yang tidak bersetuju topik itu dibincangkan secara terbuka.

Paparan visual yang memfokuskan kepada bentuk payu dara model-model yang lengkap berpakaian dalam laporan segmen tersebut juga dianggap tidak sesuai kerana ia ditonton oleh segenap lapisan masyarakat termasuk kanak-kanak.

Aksi nakal jurukamera TV3 yang didakwa sengaja memfokuskan kepada payu dara pengacara dan tetamu jemputan semasa segmen itu juga dikecam.

Sumber: KOSMO!

Arnold Schwarzenegger: I'll be back on the big screen

Hollywood homecoming ... former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering a return to the movies

Arnold Schwarzenegger has identified three screenplays that may form the basis of his return to the movie industry after serving seven years as governor of California.

Interviewed in Austrian newspaper the Krone, Schwarzenegger said a return to movies was inevitable, but added that he was waiting for the right script and director.

"I'm reading three scripts," he said. "One topic/script, which I considered a long time ago before governor, is delighting me particularly. I would play an older [German] soldier, who gets the order at the end of the war to kill a bunch of kids. But he doesn't do it and gets them to safety at the risk of his life. It has all kinds of adventure. The script is based on a true story."

The screenplay described by Schwarzenegger sounds like With Wings As Eagles, by Braveheart writer Randall Wallace, and is based on Ostermann's War by James J Cullen. Schwarzenegger became attached to the project in 1996, when second world war films were all the rage with studios – Saving Private Ryan was made during the same period and hit cinemas in 1998.

With Wings As Eagles is the story of a German colonel ordered by the SS to kill thousands of American prisoners of war in the final days of the war. He refuses – and fights against his former comrades. Wallace's screenplay was written with Schwarzenegger in mind, and describes Ostermann as a man with "a muscular body of physical power". The full screenplay can be read online here.

In the Krone interview, Schwarzenegger cites Clint Eastwood as an example of a former action star with a productive late-period acting career, hinting that he will choose smaller films with lower budgets on his return to Hollywood. "Throwing myself around the room and shooting people is no longer in there," he says. "[But] I'm like a sponge that soaks up knowledge and is constantly willing to learn new things."

Schwarzenegger also told the Krone that taking the California job cost him as much as $200m in savings and lost earnings. He said he did not regret taking on the role, however. He also talked about his intention to become an international advocate for environmental reform.

Resource: The Guardian