Facebook Stock Hits New Low reports Answer IT

Answer IT is keeping a close eye on the falling stock prices and weighing up the pros and cons of Facebook going public following on from news reporting stock falling 8.5 percent during the regular session Thursday, then dropping even further in extended trading after the company reported quarterly earnings for the first time as a public company.

The stock has been up on 20 trading days and down on 28 since its initial public offering.

Facebook began trading publicly in mid-May following one of the most anticipated stock offerings in history. The IPO priced at $38, at the top of a projected range that Facebook had already boosted just days earlier.

Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened on May 18 at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day. It closed barely above its IPO price, at $38.23.

The stock had fallen sharply in the weeks following the IPO, going as low as $25.52.

Investors have been concerned about its ability to keep increasing revenue and make money from its growing mobile audience, though many analysts hold positive long-term opinions.

The company, along with the investment banks that led the IPO, is the subject of dozens of shareholder lawsuits. They allege that analysts at the large underwriting investment banks cut their financial forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO and told only a handful of clients. Facebook and the banks overseeing the IPO insist that nothing about its IPO process was illegal or even out of the ordinary.

Answer IT observes latest claims that Facebook monitors your chats for criminal activity…

Answer IT found this recently published article which stated that according to reports, Facebook and other social platforms are watching users’ chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behaviour is detected.  Answer IT, in favour of any steps which will bring perpetrators of Social Network crime to the fore wonders how effective this will be?

The screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language.

The software pays more attention to chats between users who don’t already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also “smart” — it’s taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.

If the scanning software flags a suspicious chat exchange, it notifies Facebook security employees, who can then determine if police should be notified.

Keeping most of the scanned chats out of the eyes of Facebook employees may help Facebook deflect criticism from privacy advocates, but whether the scanned chats are deleted or stored permanently is yet unknown.

The new details about Facebook’s monitoring system came from an interview which the company’s Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan gave to Reuters. At least one alleged child predator has been brought to trial directly as a result of Facebook’s chat scanning, according to Reuters’ report.

When asked for a comment, Facebook only repeated the remarks given by Sullivan to Reuters: “We’ve never wanted to set up an environment where we have employees looking at private communications, so it’s really important that we use technology that has a very low false-positive rate.”

SEE ALSO: State Law Requires Sex Offenders to List Status on Facebook

Facebook works with law enforcement “where appropriate and to the extent required by law to ensure the safety of the people who use Facebook,” according to a page on its site.

“We may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests (including criminal and civil matters) if we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law. This may include respecting requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law under the local laws in that jurisdiction, apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are consistent with generally accepted international standards.

“We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities.”

Indeed, Facebook has cooperated with police investigations in the past. In April, it complied with a police subpoena from the Boston Police Department by sending printouts of wall posts, photos and login/IP data of a murder suspect.

Answer IT in favour of a recent NCSU study...

Answer IT takes on board recent results in respect of research carried out surrounding the use of Social Media sites as a recruitment tool when they invited their own employees to take part in an survey.  Results were conclusive and supported the study, leaving Answer IT in no doubt that this could prove to be a practice best left well alone.

While job candidates might be concerned how recruiters view them after checking out their Facebook page, new research shows employers that use social media recruiting should have the same worry.

A North Carolina State University (NCSU) study found that organizations that implement online screening practices through sites like Facebook and Twitter may reduce their attractiveness to both applicants and current employees.

As part of the study, 175 students applied for a fictitious temporary job they believed to be real and were later informed they were screened via their social networks. The results showed that the student applicants were less likely to take a job offer after learning their Facebook page and other social networking accounts were reviewed by the potential employer.

One of the study’s authors, Will Stoughton, said the students in the experiment not only felt their privacy had been invaded, but that the action also reflected poorly on the organization’s fairness, trust and treatment of employees.

“By doing this, you assume the applicants that organizations end up choosing are more conscientious, but no studies show that these individuals are any better,” Stoughton said. “They could actually be losing better applicants.”

Screening applicants’ social media presence as part of the recruiting process can also impact the view current employees have on their employer. Stoughton said employees that see the organization looking at their social networking site might be likely to leave because their perception of the companies’ fairness and trust has changed.

[7 Unexpected Ways Facebook is Good For You]

A recent Jobvite survey revealed 92% of U.S. companies this year are using social media to find new talent. Among the benefits recruiters point to are an increase in the amount of qualified candidates to choose from, as well as an upgraded candidate pool.

Stoughton advises businesses that are using social media recruiting to not get too attached to the tactic. As social networking becomes more integrated into society, legal issues could develop and organizations could face invasion of privacy claims, he said.

“If organizations are going to screen social networking websites, they should weigh the possible benefits with its costs,” Stoughton said.

Stoughton, along with NCSU co-authors Lori Foster Thompson and Adam Meade, presented their research at the recent 27th Annual Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference in San Diego.

Answer IT keeping tabs on Social Media management

Whilst keeping abreast of latest market advancements Answer IT noted with interest the new photo-sharing app that HootSuite has added to its Apps Directory.  The perpetual drive to produce the next best app continues…

Social media management dashboard HootSuite added popular photo-sharing app Instagram and three more social apps to its App Directory on Thursday.

The Instagram app on HootSuite allows people to view photos, comments, likes and searches, as well as add comments, like photos and share photos to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and more.

Instagram doesn’t have a browser service so this gives users a way to play with the app on desktops.

Update: Instagram redesigned its web view Thursday afternoon, allowing users to like and comment.

HootSuite also now supports presentation-sharing platform SlideShare, document-sharing app edocr and engagement app Zuum. To begin using the apps, people must install them via the 7-month-old App Directory.

Before the directory’s debut in November, users already had the ability to distribute content on Facebook (and FB Pages), Foursquare, LinkedIn, Mixi, MySpace, Ping.fm, Twitter, and WordPress.

HootSuite has since added YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr, Trendspottr, Digg, MailChimp, Chime.in, Identi.ca, RSS Reader, Vision Critical, Get Satisfaction, Constant Contact, InboxQ, Orkut, HubSpot and SocialFlow, some of which are only available for users with Pro and Enterprise accounts.

SEE ALSO: Rufus Wainwright’s New Music Video Features Fans’ Instagrams [VIDEO]

HootSuite, which launched in 2008 and unleashed Social Analytics in March, estimates it will grow to 6 million users by the end of 2012.