Facebook finishes 2012 as No. 1 mobile app in U.S. – Facebook edged Google Maps as the top mobile app in the U.S. at the end of 2012, according to ComScore. Google’s app had been No. 1 until October when Apple implemented its own maps product as the default in iOS 6. However, Google put out a new version of its maps app, which has been very popular. Google Maps has been within the top 5 free apps in the Apple App Store since it launched in December, according to AppData.

Facebook lobbying surges in Q4 - Facebook spent $1.4 million on lobbying efforts in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to disclosure forms filed with the clerk of House of Representatives this week. This is the first time Facebook has spent more than $1 million on lobbying in a single period. During Q4 2011, Facebook only spent $444,000. Facebook’s yearly spending for lobbying increased 196 percent from $1.335 million to $3.99 million. Comparatively, Google spent $16.48 million on lobbying in 2012, up from $9.68 million the previous year.
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Facebook stock drops 11 percent – Facebook shares closed at $23.70 today, down significantly since the company’s second quarter earnings call on Thursday. The company met analysts’ expectations with $1.184 billion in revenue, but many investors are underwhelmed by the the social network’s ability to monetize its 955 million users, who are increasingly accessing the site from mobile devices.

Facebook triples spending on lobbying - Facebook spent $960,000 in lobbying from April to June of this year, up from $320,000 during the second quarter of 2011, according to The Hill. The company, which lobbies on issues related to privacy, online piracy and cybersecurity, among others, spent $650,000 in the first quarter of 2012. By comparison Google spent $3.9 million in the second quarter of this year, and more than $2 million during the same period in 2011.

Facebook expands bug bounty program – The company announced that it recently expanded its bug bounty program to better reward people who discover vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity of Facebook user data, circumvent the privacy protections of Facebook user data or enable access to a system within Facebook’s infrastructure. The program had paid out $300,000 in bounty as of June. Ryan McGeehan, who manages Facebook’s security-incident response unit, told Bloomberg, “If there’s a million-dollar bug, we will pay it out,” said. Information about the program is available here.

Facebook adds engineering team to London office – Facebook announced that it is hiring engineers for its London office. The company has a number of offices around the world, but only Menlo Park, New York and Seattle have engineering teams. According to a note from the Facebook Engineering page, “Our team in London will start small, focusing on building a core of great engineers, and then grow over time and eventually focus on building products in key areas like mobile and platform.”

Facebook stock again below $30 - Amid concerns that Facebook will report lackluster Q2 earnings, the company’s stock closed at $28.76 today. Not even news that Facebook will begin testing search-based ads could bring the share price above $30 where it closed last week. The stock is down more than 6 percent this week and more than 24 percent since Facebook’s initial public offering in May. The company’s earnings call is scheduled for Thursday.

Nasdaq to revise IPO compensation proposal – Nasdaq is expected next week to release a compensation plan for investors who were affected by technical issues during Facebook’s stock market debut. Fox sources say the deal will be all in cash, and likely above the $40 million originally proposed. Nasdaq is continuing to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a second draft of the proposal, after its initial plan was met with criticism from investors, who may have lost a combined $200 million or more from the IPO.

Washington state to allow voter registration via Facebook – Washington’s secretary of state’s office said Tuesday it will offer an application on its Facebook page that allows residents to register to vote and then share the story with friends. The app, which is the first of its kind, is expected to launch as early as next week.

Facebook falls in consumer satisfaction – Facebook, already the lowest-scoring e-business company, experienced an even further decline in customer satisfaction, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. An E-Business Report released in partnership with customer experience analytics firm ForeSee showed Facebook dropped 8 percent to 61 on a 100-point scale, setting a new record-low score for e-business and placing it among the five lowest-scoring companies of the 230 measured by the ACSI. Google+ scored 78 in its first appearance in the ACSI.

Zuckerberg and team looking to foster relationship with Walmart – Facebook’s senior management team, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are scheduled to spend two days at Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, meeting with executives and discussing ways to “deepen” the company’s relationship, according to Reuters. Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg have already shared photos from their visit, which began today.

Most fan growth has slowed among Republican presidential primary candidates since the final debate on December 15th, according to our Inside Facebook 2012 Election Tracker. In recent days, though, Newt Gingrich has seen a small increase in daily new fans and Michele Bachmann has gone into the negative.

There was an uptick in Gingrich’s fan growth today, which could be related to his recent denouncement of attack ads from Mitt Romney and other Republican candidates. A post on Gingrich’s Facebook page Thursday evening — which included a quote from his appearance on The Laura Ingraham Show — has far gotten more likes, comments and shares than any post since December 11th.

Ron Paul saw more than 6,000 new fans the day after the debate and then again after an appearance on Jay Leno. Paul has not been able to maintain that sort of momentum, but he continues to see more daily growth than any other candidate.

Bachmann has lost fans over the last two days, though she is still ahead of where she was a week ago. Her page is graphed below:

After a long stretch at the top of the new fans per day rankings on our our Inside Facebook 2012 Election Tracker, Herman Cain’s fan count is heading in the opposite direction after the announcement that he’s officially “suspending” his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination race following allegations of sexual harassment and a 13-year extramarital affair.

That leaves Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul nearly tied for the top spot of fans gained in our Elections Tracker. As of today, it looks like Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are neck-and-neck for number of fans gained. Politicos believe the GOP presidential candidate field is narrowing to a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Gingrich. Romney is currently third in the fans gained rankings.

While Cain supporters will naturally migrate to other GOP candidates as the race draws toward a close, the Georgia businessman’s Facebook fans could still hold steady if his post-election activities draw enough attention. All Facebook reports that Cain is currently launching a website called TheCainSolutions, which is meant to be a grassroots government initiative that also continues to push his 9-9-9 economic plan. The site is currently live, although it has no linkage between it and Cain’s Facebook Page.

Europe Stifling Facebook’s Targeted Ads – The European Union is set to enact legislation to ban some avenues Facebook uses to create targeted ads, specifically by making Facebook be more transparent about what user data it’s collecting.

Spotify Opens Platform to Developers – Spotify announced the company would open its platform to app developers to include things like reviews and song lyrics, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Facebook May Allow Gambling in UK - Facebook is exploring opening up the platform to gambling in the United Kingdom, according to TechCrunch, maybe as soon as 2012.

Mobile Channels Pushing Traffic for SNAP Interactive - SNAP Interactive told TechCrunch that Facebook’s recently launched mobile channels have given the company’s apps a “significant” traffic boost.

WashPo Reader Boasts 3.5M Users – The Washington Post Social Reader now boasts more than 3.5 million subscribers, according to a company statement. The growth came in just two months and is especially popular with users under 35, 83% to be exact.

Other Announcements:

Liquidus Releases Socialink 2.0 - Liquidus released the new version of its marketing application for car retailers, Socialink 2.0. New features include video integrations.

Secure.me App Protects Users on Facebook – Secure.me is an app that protects users from over-sharing or phishing from viruses on Facebook.

Facebook is hosting two hackthons in early December to raise awareness of legislative public data and drive interest in social game development. The White House one-day hackathon, detailed by the New York Times, is set for December 7 with a Social Games Hack event in Palo Alto the following day.

The White House hackathon features a series of breakout sessions “designed to explore the innovative role that the social media should play in the public’s relationship with their legislature.” It will be co-hosted by Democratic Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland and Republican Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia. Hoyer has 4,932 Likes on Facebook according to our Election Tracker, while Cantor comes in at 126,064. Admission is free. We’re interested to see what comes out of this hackathon, which is the first of its type that Facebook has organized with members of Congress.

Facebook’s Social Games Hack costs $25 and will feature prizes for the “best apps” chosen at the end of the day. Facebook says the event will focus on sharing best practices for social discovery and implementing Open Graph features. In general, game developers are just starting to adopt some new features, like high score achievements, that surface game activity in the site-wide Ticker.

Facebook, Google Pair Up to Fight Anti-Piracy Law – The House Stop Online Piracy Act proposal has brought together Facebook, Google and other companies in an effort to prevent the passing of the law that companies say will place the onus of protecting against piracy on them.

Facebook IPO Rumors Swirl – Business Insider reported that Facebook employees are reporting that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the IPO is coming soon, as early as next month.

Porn, Violence a Recent Problem – Facebook acknowledged to ZDnet this week a series of problems with unwanted pornographic or violent content showing up in their news feeds. The Wall Street Journal reported that it was a “coordinated spam attack” coming as the company ramps up to release Timeline.

FCC, Facebook Settle Over Privacy Issues – The Federal Trade Commission and Facebook reached a settlement over privacy issues, even as the FTC encourages people to Like them on Facebook.

Facebook’s Name Policy Hones in on Salman Rushdie - Writer Salman Rushdie became a target for Facebook’s real name policy this week. After the author took to Twitter to protest the deactivation of his account, the company restored his profile. The New York Times writes about the dilemmas caused by this policy in today’s world. [Image Via david_shankbone]

Google+ Works with Page Management Companies – Google announced last week the creation of Google+ Pages for brands to share information with users on Google+ and Page management companies like HootSuite, Context Optional, Vitrue and Buddy Media are set to work with brands on managing this new platform.

Orange Launches Facebook Phones – Orange is set to release three affordable Android smartphones for customers who heavily use Facebook.

Dems, GOP Participating in DC Hackathon – Congressional members from both parties are set to participate in the first ever DC Facebook Hackathon to find new ways to use social media in the political process. [Image Via Facebook]

Creepy Zuckerberg Fan Appears at Carnegie Mellon – A student at a recent Mark Zuckerberg appearance at Carnegie Mellon University instilled fear in the audience, and CEO, when he made some creepy and cryptic comments. The student apparently snuck into the venue the night before to place some speakers under Zuckerberg’s seat.

PayPal Releases Facebook Payment App – PayPal released a Facebook app, Send Money, that allows users to send money to friends without a fee.

Other Announcements:

Coupons.com for Pages – Coupons.com released its Brandcaster Social platfor to allow brands to create secure, printable coupons directly on their Pages in 48 hours or less.

Napkin Labs Brings Crowdsourcing to Pages – Napkin Labs’ Brainstorm app allows brands to gives brands a way to get feedback from fans anything from new products to coming changes.

NASCAR, ESPN to Livestream Driver’s Camera -  NASCAR and ESPN announced that the two will provide a livestream of driver Tony Stewart’s live in-car camera on Facebook during the season finale on Sunday, November 20.

Facebook and the United States Department of Labor today announced a partnership to help the country’s unemployed find work, the LA Times reports. Together they’ve launched the Social Jobs Partnership Facebook Page that aggregates career resources including job search education, job boards, and services that match a visitor’s skills with opportunities. The goal is to make it easier for those without jobs to discover these resources that were previously scattered across .gov and .org websites. Public service announcements will be run on Facebook and in the 10 states with the highest unemployment to promote the new Page.

With Americans spending so much time on the free social network, Facebook is in a unique position to assist the labor department. The partnership could help Facebook dispel the belief that it is purely a procrastination tool and demonstrate how it can improve peoples lives.

14 million Americans are out of work, yet there are 3 million open jobs. This disconnect is in part due to a lack of awareness of free government career resources (along with systemic factors, like people not having the necessary qualifications for some job openings). Job seekers may be looking at local listings and sending out resume after resume. However, if they haven’t received assistance in determining what opportunities are best suited for them, optimizing their resume, and learning how to navigate the interview process, they may have further difficulty securing employment.

In addition to Facebook and the Labor Department, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), DirectEmployers Association (DE), and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) are participating in the project.

The Social Jobs Partnership Page they’ve created acts as a portal to services that can help, including:

• CareerOneStop – a Department of Labor site that educates users on job seeking, resume writing, interviews, and more
• My Next Move – A tool that provides skills and salary information on hundreds of careers, and personalized career suggestions
• My Skills My Future – A skills-to-job matching tool
• Job Corps – A free job training and education program for young people from low income families
• NACElink – A board of job and internship postings for college students

Users can Like the Page to receive news feed updates about new career resources, answer surveys about their needs, and receive job listings. The Page also features a Share Your Story app that lets users describe how Facebook helped them find a job. Submissions will presumably be featured on the Page or used in promotions for the partnership.

Studies show 55.5% of recruiters are already using Facebook to source hires, meaning Facebook users may have a better chance of finding employment than those that abstain from social networking. Several applications have launched to assist these recruiters, such as BranchOut and Monster’s BeKnown for professional networking and recruiter search, Jobvite for viral job listing distribution, and Work For Us for displaying personalized job opportunities on brand Pages.

In the past, Facebook has worked with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and local government agencies to set up Pages that further their goals. These initiatives have strengthened its relationship with the US government in ways that complement its increasing lobbying effortsto prevent unfavorable privacy laws and other types of regulation from being levied against the site.

The Social Jobs Partnership could also improve the site’s image amongst users, some of who view it as a fun way to waste time rather than a place to learn and grow. Its viral nature will make success stories stemming from the partnership especially visible. It might only take one friend getting a job thanks to the Social Jobs Partnership Page to persuade their network that Facebook can help one connect with employment, not just friends.

Facebook Forms a PAC – Facebook filed paperwork this week to start its own political action committee, which will allow the company to lobby its causes more effectively in Washington, D.C. The company registered the FBPAC.org and FBPAC.us domain names.

Facebook Addresses Logout Issue – Nik Cubrilovic wrote a post this week breaking down privacy issues that emerged on the platform in wake of the recent redesign.

Politicos Demand Facebook Investigation – A few lawmakers demanded an investigations into the lawfulness of Facebook’s cookie software this week.

Facebook iPad Designer Quits, Works for Google – Jeff Verkoeyen is a former Facebook employee who designed the company’s iPad app. Writing on his blog, he said the iPad app has been feature complete since May. He left the company to work for Google since there wasn’t any progress on releasing the app.

Facebook Sued Over Timeline - CNET reported this week that a trademark infringement lawsuit was filed again Facebook by a Chicago company, Timelines. The company claims that Facebook’s new design endangers its livelihood, and that Facebook has taken over the URL of its Facebook Page.

Facebook’s Katie Mitic joins eBay Board – Facebook’s Platform and Mobile Marketing executive Katie Mitic is set to join eBay’s board. [Image via]

Buddy Media Opens Two New Offices – Page management giant Buddy Media has just opened two more offices, one in San Francisco to be managed by  Carla Bourque who was hired from Six Apart, and another in Singapore to be led by Ken Mandel who was hired from the Yahoo! Asia Pacific ads team.

Facebook Prominent at NYC Ad Week – Facebook and other tech companies are set to be prominent features of Advertising Week in New York City next week.

FanBridge Launches “Social Digest” – Brand and musician relationship management company FanBridge this week launched “Social Digest”, an email marketing tool that automatically creates summaries of the top content published to a client’s social presences, and delivers it to subscribers in a form that increases open rates.

“Social Series” Premieres on Facebook – Warner Bros will release a “social series” called “Aim High” on Facebook on October 18. The show will be personalized to each viewer who adds their profile information. [Image via Facebook]

Socialbakers raises $2M – Social media analytics company Socialbakers raised $2 million this week led by Earlybird Venture Capital. The company is set to expand its social media monitoring with the funding.