Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.

But the payments dried up this fall and when Blanchard called Manulife, she says she was told she was available to work because of Facebook.

She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on Facebook, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday.

Link

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

Other words considered for the honor included hashtag, sexting, and paywall, all of which are unfamiliar to my spellchecker. Link -via Mashable

With new users joining every day, many people either don’t know Facebook etiquette or they don’t care. The Golden Rule, and treating people as you would treat them offline is a good start, but just in case, here are some guidelines for how not to act on Facebook, and other social networking sites. For example, why would you post (and tag) unflattering or embarrassing pictures of your friends?

“I feel obligated to point out some of the obvious Facebook etiquette rules that people continue to break, in the hopes that one day, they think twice before posting.”

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by mrmunchies.

In yet another case of blurring between the lines of virtual and reality, a woman broke the law for poking via Facebook!  Shannon Jackson of Tennessee broke the law when she poked a contact on her Facebook list, by violating a restraining order.

The order specifically prohibits either telephoning, contacting, or otherwise communicating with the petitioner.  Violation of a restraining order in Tennessee is a class A  misdemeanor, punishable up to 11 months and 29 days in jail, as well as a fine up to $2500.

This does leave one big question on the table, however—if the plaintiff here felt so threatened by the defendant, why didn’t she block (a little-known option in the privacy settings) or at least de-friend her on Facebook? From what I can see, you can only poke friends (or possibly people on your network with public profiles). Yes, the accused is responsible and shouldn’t have poked her, but shouldn’t the plaintiff have taken steps to avoid contact if she was distressed enough by their interactions to get a restraining order?

What do you think? Should the perp here have known her poke counted as contact? Was she naive or hoping to subvert the court order?

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

Image: Facebook

Jason Kinkaid writes at Tech Crunch that Facebook has developed a new application that aggregates the published emotional states of users over time. The relative contentment that users express constitutes “Gross National Happiness”:

Data is collected from “public and semi-public forums” on Facebook, which is all anonymized before its analyzed. To determine if a particular status message is happy or sad (or neither), the app searches for popular phrases and words that the engineers have associated with each sentiment.

You can adjust the graph by sliding the bar at the bottom of the screen. You can also adjust the zoom by dragging the handlebars on the slider, and can actually watch happiness jump hour-to-hour, though it’s a bit difficult to navigate when you’re zoomed in that far. It’s fun to play around with, but you aren’t going to find many surprises: happiness generally hits a low on Mondays, then gradually grows up through the weekend when it drops again as the work-week begins. Peaks are all found around holidays, with Thanksgiving drawing the most happiness. Also worth nothing: this year there was an abrupt drop in happiness in late June, which is likely associated with the tragic death of Michael Jackson.

Link via Fast Company

Image:Chris Sims

Chris Sims of The Invincible Super-Blog created a gallery of Facebook status updates for superheroes at Comics Alliance. Among the featured heroes are Batman, Green Lantern, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The Punisher. Sims works in a comic book store, so he knows of what he writes.

Link via Urlesque | Writer’s Blog

I really get the most out of Twitter when events like the Iranian elections went down.  (the only reason to like Twitter, aside from this).

Chuck Klosterman has a seriously cool interpretation. Enjoy.

I’m more of a Facebook type that just shares links.  Have a nice weekend.

Hit Play or go to You Tube

Remember, your boss can see what you put on your Facebook page! This t-shirt design by Hogboy was not selected for printing, but I got a laugh out of it! Link -via Gizmodo

Dr. Alloway has developed a working memory training programme for slow-learning children aged 11 to 14 at a school in Durham, and she found out that Facebook did wonders for working memory, improving the kids’ IQ scores, while YouTube and Twitter’s steady stream of information was not healthy for working memory. Also, playing video games, especially those that involve planning and strategy, can also be beneficial.

Link via The Presurfer

Image: U.S. Department of Energy

Hello Neatoramanauts! It's been a while since our last Neatorama State of the Blog post, so I'd like to take a minute to update everyone.

Mystery Sale - July 2009
Thank you to everybody who participated! We truly appreciate your business and support. It took us a few days longer than I had initially expected to gear up to ship out orders, but the warehouse has started to ship out - we shipped the first batch two days ago and it'll probably take us another full week or so to complete every order.

Usually, we ship out your NeatoShop order within 1 business day or so, but the volume of shipment for the Mystery Sale is (like last time) extraordinarily high. We're working hard to continually improve this process and thank everybody for being patient :)

If you ordered from outside of the United States, please be extra patient - shipments can take up to 14 to 21 business days due to customs clearance (those guys can really take their time though they're usually much, much quicker). I'll do another round of update when we've finished shipping out.

Twitter Only Contest
We're going to post a Twitter-only contest where you can win cool stuff from the NeatoShop soon. It won't be announced on the blog, so you have to follow @neatorama on Twitter (we won't overload you with tweets, I promise!) to find out. Perhaps if it's a success, we can do the same thing on Neatorama's Facebook Fan Page ... what do you think?

Upcoming Queue Top Submitter Prize
Love it or not, I think the Upcoming Queue is one of the neatest feature of Neatorama. For those of you who are not familiar with the UQ, it is a way for the blog's readers to write a blog post. Submissions are voted up or down by other viewers and good posts are promoted to Neatorama's front page (details at the Upcoming Queue FAQ).

For the coming month of August, we're going to have a neat prize for the top 5 submitters: the number 1 submitter (based on frontpaged posts) will get an iPod Nano, whereas the rest will get some extra neat stuff from the NeatoShop.

Remember that quality, not quantity of submissions will be the key - please read the Formatting Tip first.

Neat Stories You May Have Missed
We posted a lot of neat stories on Neatorama in July, so be sure to check these out (in case you missed them):

Fun with Low Temperatures	What 'Chu Know 'Bout Wombats? (Photo: Shami Chatterjee)	7 College Pranks
Weird, Wacky World of the Platypus	5 Historic Train Robberies	Wonderful World of Big Science

Thank you for reading Neatorama! Please tell your friends about the blog!

So, I personally squatted on the /trendhunter username to make sure nobody else registered it…

The problem with this approach is that Facebook does not let users switch their username. So how could I get the Trend Hunter Fan Page to be /trendhunter?

This week I noticed that trademark owners could file trademark violation reports and secure back their trademarks… So I did.

Specifically, I filed a Trademark Violation against myself, and within a day, Facebook relinquished the username back to the trademark owner… Which, of course, is also me.

Link

Oh and by the way, we do have our very own Neatorama Facebook Fan Page, y’know!

A Venn diagram showing the psychological forces at work among users of social networking tools — a new shirt from the comedy geniuses at Despair, Inc.

Link

Sonoma County winemaker Murphy-Goode is looking for a "lifestyle correspondent" that makes it look good, all for the sweet salary of $10K a month plus living accomodations:

We at the Murphy-Goode Winery got to thinking about the new age of communications and we figured it was a pretty good thing. So to get going, we’re looking for someone (maybe you) who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about our wines and the place where we live: the Sonoma County Wine Country.

In exchange, we’re offering you a “Really Goode Job” — a six-month job paying $10,000 a month plus accommodations!

We want to hire a social media whiz (your title will be “Murphy-Goode Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent”) who will report on the cool lifestyle of Sonoma County Wine Country and, of course, tell people what you’re learning about winemaking.

Did we mention that the compensation was $10,000 per month Plus accommodations in a beautiful home in picturesque Healdsburg, a popular vacation destination in our neck of the woods. Working hours are flexible. And all you have to do is experience wine and good living, and then tell people about it. (Do you play Poker, or Liar’s Dice? Don’t worry; we’ll teach you.)

Here’s where you’d sign up: Link – via SFoodie

Marc Price of Nowhere Fast Productions sparked a media frenzy with his first feature film: a low-budget a zombie flick titled Colin. And when Marc said low-budget, he meant low-budget. The whole thing was shot for $70, and the zombies came free with the help of Facebook!

Tom Foster wrote the story for CNN:

"When we say it’s a low budget film, people presume a couple of hundred thousand [dollars]. People can’t figure out how it’s possible. What Marc’s achieved has left people astonished."

It was by advertising for volunteer zombies on social networking site Facebook, borrowing make-up from Hollywood blockbusters and teaching himself how to produce special effects that thrifty director Price was able to make the film for less than the price of a zombie DVD box set.

"The approach was to say to people, ‘OK guys, we don’t have any money, so bring your own equipment,’" the the 30 year-old director told CNN.

With help from a makeshift band of friends and volunteers, Price shot and edited the feature — which ingeniously spins the zombie genre on it’s head by telling the story entirely from the zombie’s perspective — over a period of 18 months while working nights part-time as a booker for a taxi company.

Online social networking was an invaluable tool in both generating buzz and cheaply sourcing the undead: "We went on Facebook and MySpace and said ‘Who wants to be a zombie?’" Price told CNN. "We managed to get 50 brilliantly made up zombies and stuff them into a living room."

Link

Asylum has a nifty post about the 6 crimes solved by the popular social networking website. For example:

Lesson #1: If you spray paint a special tag all around town, you might not want to brand it to your Facebook page.

We totally get the need to broadcast talents to friends on Facebook — that’s what it’s for, right? But unless you’re Banksy, your masterful tags probably won’t go over too well with the feds. That’s why, when specific tags were appearing all over Winnipeg, officers received a tip directing them to Facebook, where they found the same designs on an 18-year-old’s page.

Lesson #2: If you get caught on surveillance camera, just because you don’t have a mug shot on file doesn’t mean your face isn’t already out there for the finding.

Smile! … Or not. The Queenstown police of southern New Zealand nabbed their first Facebook crook after they caught a good shot of a burglar looking directly at the security camera after removing his mask. Quickly after posting the shot to their two-month-old page, tipsters sent suggestions and they identified the 21-year-old thief.

Link

Be sure to go there and do whatever you Facebookers do on such a page (what do you do on such a page anyways?) Now, maybe we can take care of that Twitter thingy (who owns that anyhow?) – Thanks Becky!

She and a pal printed and stuck up hundreds of posters at train stations and office blocks around the city where her fiance and their friends work.

A picture – taken from Antonio’s Facebook profile – shows him nestling his head between a girl’s naked boobs.

"Thank goodness there’s Facebook! At least I’ve disovered you’re a traitor pig before the wedding! Signed, your former betrothed bride and the 548 guests of our wedding," wrote Valeria, 28.

Link (Photo: EuroPics)

Whoever said using the Internet will make life any easier obviously didn’t think about the social consequences of people’s actions when they type the wrong thing to the wrong person. A good example of when things can go bad is when someone uses a social networking site such as Facebook to break up with their boyfriend.

So, let’s open those ears and start learning a few do’s and don’ts of Facebook usage.

Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred.

The claims from neuroscientist Susan Greenfield will make disturbing reading for the millions whose social lives depend on logging on to their favourite websites each day. [...]

‘We know how small babies need constant reassurance that they exist,’ she told the Mail yesterday.

‘My fear is that these technologies are infantilising the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment.’

Her comments echoed those she made during a House of Lords debate earlier this month. Then she argued that exposure to computer games, instant messaging, chat rooms and social networking sites could leave a generation with poor attention spans.

Link

This should go without saying, but for those who are thinking of cheating on their spouses, check this story out.

After traveling for 9 hours on a journey from his home in South Yorkshire to North Scotland, Stuart, 39, was ready for an exciting sexual weekend with Emma, the attractive twenty-something he had been exchanging provocative messages with on a nightly basis via Facebook.

When he arrived at a farm in a remote area of Aberdeen where Emma had told Stuart she lived, he found the place run down, locked up, and deserted. Moments later, Emma texted him explaining that she had been delayed at work and that he would have to wait for her.

So he waited and waited inside of his car for three hours.

As the day shifted into night, Staurt was becoming increasingly anxious and he decided to give Emma a call to see when she would be home.

He dialed the number he had been texting, but when he heard the ringer stop he was horrified to hear a man with a Liverpool accent answer and say, “Hello Stuart, do you remember us? It’s them Scouse lads who threw you in the pool. You’ve been framed.”

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by dcapps.

Millions of people use it every day to pass on harmless snippets of gossip to friends and family. But the message Emma Brady’s husband posted on Facebook could not have been more devastating.

It read: ‘Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady.’

Mrs Brady, a 35-year-old conference organiser, claims she had no idea he even wanted a divorce, and only found out when a friend, who read the post on the social networking website, rang to console her.

To make matters worse, she discovered someone else had commented on the site that her husband was ‘better off out of it’.

Link (Photo: Manchester Evening News Syndication)

Previously on Neatorama:

• Divorced Couple Sawed House in Two
• Divorce by SMS (This Time in Egypt)

Those are the questions that Lisa Selin Davis of TIME magazine is asking:

Jenny has not returned my calls in roughly a year. She has, however, sent me a poinsettia, poked me, and placed a gift beneath my Christmas tree. She’s done all this virtually, courtesy of Facebook.com, the online social networking site where users create profiles, gather "friends," and join common interest groups, not to mention send digital gifts.

Though Jenny has three children, ages 4 to 14, and rarely finds time for visits, phone calls or even e-mail, the full-time mom in upstate New York regularly updates her status on Facebook ("Jenny is fixing a birthday dinner," "Jenny took the kids sledding") and uploads photos (her son in the school play).

After 24 years, our friendship is now filtered through Facebook, relegated to the online world. Call it Facebook Recluse Syndrome, and Jenny is far from the site’s only social hermit.

I don’t use facebook so I have to maintain my social hermitude the old fashioned way! Link

Link via Slashfood

Previously on Neatorama: Whopper Perfume. I have to say, their marketing gets my attention. It doesn’t send me to Burger King, but it does get my attention.

The growing popularity of Facebook has an unintended consequences for young people who used to have the social networking website all to themselves: their parents are joining and befriending them!

The Facebook group entitled "For the love of god — don’t let parents join Facebook" has 5,819 high school and college-aged members who want to stop the growing number of parents who are joining Facebook, the massively popular social networking site, from "spying" on them. [...]

"It’s really weird that nonstudents and parents use Facebook," said Emma Gaines, a Tufts University sophomore. "It makes me feel really uncomfortable that my older aunt has Facebook, because she says that she likes to check up on her teenage nieces and nephews and takes our pictures for her own use. That’s creepy."

Link