Social networks

Credit card rewards are the new social currency. Citibank customers can now use Facebook to pool their rewards points online. The bank on Tuesday launched a Facebook application that lets users team up to use their points, whether it's for charity, a group gift or a personal goal. Citi says it's the first bank to offer such a feature.

Here's yet another reason to watch what you say and do online: Insurance companies are already surfing social media sites to get the scoop about their customers, and what their data-miners find may soon be compiled into a new way to rate you as a risk: a social networking score.

In an attempt to crack down on spam, Facebook has shut down a number of third-party software applications in the past week. The move could signal that the world's most popular social network plans maintain righter control over the apps that run on its site.

Facebook has won the most customer loyalty, by far, out of all social media sites, according to the latest Brand Keys's Customer Loyalty Index. The network easily outperformed News Corp.'s MySpace, Twitter and others.

Have social networks like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube become the weapons of revolution? Egypt's president shut down the Internet on Friday to try to calm the protests rocking the country. But while the Internet may be an enabler of the demonstrations, it's not the cause of the discontent.

Will a LinkedIn IPO test the waters for public offerings by other social networks? Or is the company just too small to be a real player in the sector?

In a blog post, Facebook says it is redesigning its members' profile pages to better highlight its users' photos. CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to detail the changes Sunday on 60 Minutes.

MySpace will launch an original Web series focused on the so-called Jerk urban dance movement. The series, "Jerk All-Stars" will consist of 14 episodes of several minutes each, with the series debuting next month Reuters reported. Sprite will be the exclusive sponsor. Sponsored Links Jerk, or...

Web services like Foursquare allow users to use their smart phone to "check-in" to stores and other venues as a means of sharing their life and location 24/7. Recently, in addition to sharing where you are, users have been able to earn discounts at stores based on the frequency of their visits. The...