Communications Major

This summer’s pop hit, Carly Rae Jepsen’s cheerfully flirty “Call Me Maybe,” shows how much the hitmaking machine, and the music industry, has been upended by social media.

Whether the leave-taking is voluntary or pink-slipped, anyone with a Facebook page, Twitter account or Tumblr feed can issue a very public kiss-off to a former boss or company.

Maine-based photographer Tanja Hollander has set out to meet up with and photograph all 626 of her Facebook friends in or near their homes. So far, she's shot 256 of them along the Eastern seaboard, New Orleans, Austin, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. With friends all over the world, Hollander's The Facebook Portrait Project will be taking on a more international flavor as it goes on.

Members of the United States men’s basketball team have taken to Instagram in a big, not always flattering, way.

Data exchanged over the Internet can go only so far, so online dating services are hosting offline events to bring people together more quickly.

You remember those parlor games. Back from the days before Facebook and Twitter when we actually say around and came up with our drag queen names, soap opera character names and porn star names. Well, times are hard now and we have mobile devices to expedite things. Find out your hobo name. It's the first and most important step toward a life of riding the rails.

What has the power to finally bring the stars of '90210' back together? $19 jeans. Watch Old Navy's viral new ad campaign, starring some old familiar faces.

Using Facebook has become a sign of having a healthy social network. The German magazine Der Taggspiegel points out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.

Who will get the Olympic gold for best coverage? Tape delay or live streaming and social media? What's hotter - Ryan Lochte's all-American grill or Danell Leyva's abs? How can we miss you Sarah Palin and Chick-Fil-A, if you won't go away? R.I.P. Gore Vidal, Twitter's most common misspellings and where in the world is Rafalca? That's what people are talking about online this week. Catch up. Join the conversation.

Oh, Twitter. This is why we love you....

There is no shortage of opinions on Twitter about this year's presidential race and candidates. The Twitter Political Index, or Twindex, launched this week will track tweets that mention President Barack Obama or presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. It's an attempt to measure the public's shifting moods, as well as to establish Twitter as "a platform for civic debate."

Twitter has turned into a fiery digital soapbox against NBC, as its users have merged their resentment over tape delay with problems viewing the live streams.