Facebook roundup: stock price, Sponsored Stories, Timeline, carbon footprint and more

Facebook stock picks up slightly after all-time low - Facebook shares closed at $21.09 today, up slightly from their all-time low earlier this week of $19.82. The stock has taken a beating since its second quarter earnings report and it was hit further with reports about false user accounts and executives leaving the company. Fidelity and other investment companies have reportedly sold off significant numbers of their Facebook shares, surprising some analysts who say it is uncommon for mutual funds to flip shares so quickly. The social network is now valued at nearly $58 billion, down from $104 billion valuation at the time of its IPO in May. Judge not ready to approve Sponsored Stories settlement - A San Francisco federal judge declined to approve Facebook's $10-million settlement regarding its Sponsored Stories ads, suggesting the payout was not fully explained and might need to be higher. The settlement allots $10 million to the lawyers who sued the company and another $10 million to charity, as well as promises to give users more control over how their names and images are used along with ads. The judge has asked for more explanation about why the parties came up with the figure. All users to be converted to Timeline soon - Facebook says it will automatically convert all user profiles to Timeline format over the next few months, bringing consistency to the user experience but perhaps frustrating some of the remaining users who haven't wanted to switch. The social network has had a surprisingly slow rollout for Timeline, which was announced in September 2011, and publicly released that December. In the past, Facebook has converted all profiles to a new layout within weeks. Facebook shares carbon footprint of data centers and global offices- Facebook says its total annual carbon footprint per monthly active user in 2011 was 269 grams. The company says this per user footprint is the equivalent of one medium latte or three large bananas. Facebook’s total energy use from office space, data centers and other facilities was approximately 532 million kWh. Its energy mix was 23 percent clean and renewable, 27% percent coal, 17 percent natural gas, 13 percent nuclear and 20 percent uncategorized. “Facebook has committed to being fully renewably powered, and today’s detailed disclosure and announcement of a clean energy target shows that the company means business and wants the world to follow its progress," Greenpeace International Senior IT Analyst Gary Cook said. Facebook Login use continues to grow - Facebook accounts for 48 percent of all social logins, according to Janrain’s latest quarterly report. That figure is up from 45 percent in Q1, and represents eight straight quarters that Facebook’s share has risen. Google remains second at 30 percent, which has been relatively static for the past six quarters. On mobile applications, Janrain credits Facebook with 52 percent share, compared to 27 percent for Google, 13 percent for Twitter and 7 percent for Yahoo. Bing introduces friend-tagging from search - Bing expanded its social sidebar functionality this week to allow users to enter a question or comment and tag up to five friends on Facebook. The shared search will appear in News Feed and on the user's and tagged friends' Timelines. Facebook relaunches Stories - Facebook this week launched FacebookStories.com, an updated version of the Stories app it released in June 2010 when the social network reached 500 million monthly active users. The site features videos and other stories about people who use Facebook in unique and extraordinary ways.

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Facebook roundup: stock price, Sponsored Stories, Timeline, carbon footprint and more

Brittany Darwell

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Brittany Darwell