Last month we shared the interesting story of Nicola Brookes, a 45 year old from Brighton who wrote some lovely stuff about X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza in a Facebook group back in 2011. She then faced A LOT of online abuse from trolls who weren't so keen on the fluffy-haired teenager. She had users swearing at her and sending her death threats, which is awful but hardly a unique incident online. However, the thing that made Brookes REALLY upset was when some of these trolls set up a fake account in her name and began sending explicit messages to young girls. Too far trolls, TOO FAR.

Well back in May Brookes began taking steps to force Facebook to hand over the IP addresses of those who set up the fake account and despite the fact there's never been a case quite like this here in the UK before, it seems her efforts have proved to be successful. According to Digital Trends, after seeking advice from law firm Bains Cohen, Brookes has been granted a High Court order for Facebook to provide her with the IP addresses she's been fighting for.

A Facebook spokesperson told the BBC:

"There is no place for harassment on Facebook, but unfortunately a small minority of malicious individuals exist online, just as they do offline.

"We respect our legal obligations and work with law enforcement to ensure that such people are brought to justice."

Despite the fact Facebook will be handing over the IP addresses and basic subscriber details of those responsible for the abuse, it could take Brookes much longer to actually identify them and go on to take further legal action. Chances are she'll have to obtain another court order to get the Internet Service Providers to reveal who the IP addresses are connected to and even then her search might be in vain.

Unfortunately it seems that Brookes is STILL facing a lot of abuse on a daily basis. According toDigital Trends this morning, Brookes' Facebook page Trolls & Me has received a lot of spam from a user pretending to be a law firm. Oh come on, give the woman a break.

Anyone who's spent a considerable amount of time online will probably have been at the receiving end of nasty abuse, but this case seems exceptional, especially with the fake account and suggestive messages that are being sent to kids.

Of course our privacy needs to be respected online, but at the same time trolls can't expect to hide behind their screens and get away with the kind of illegal behaviour that wouldn't be tolerated for a second in the real world.

[Via Digital Trends]

This week Twitter has made a huge deal about the fact it's got a new logo, which looks suspiciously, scrap that PRETTY MUCH IDENTICAL, to the original but with a neat new haircut.

In a post on Twitter's blog yesterday, the brand's Creative Director, Doug Bowman, explained that the bird has been simplified and weirdly followed with "Twitter is the bird, the bird is Twitter", which sounds rather profound, right?

Bowman (who should really have been a poet or leader of a cult) goes on to explain the thinking behind the new bird. Prepare to be blown away my friends:

"Our new bird grows out of love for ornithology, design within creative constraints, and simple geometry. This bird is crafted purely from three sets of overlapping circles -- similar to how your networks, interests and ideas connect and intersect with peers and friends. Whether soaring high above the earth to take in a broad view, or flocking with other birds to achieve a common purpose, a bird in flight is the ultimate representation of freedom, hope and limitless possibility."

However, it's not all about sweetness and light, flying through the internet and ornithology, because the Twitter Brand and Trademarks page has been beefed up a lot now the new bird has come soaring into our lives.

It all gets a little agressive to be honest and we feel like we're being told off just for imagining the Twitter bird a different colour or, god forbid, with legs that we've drawn on terribly in Photoshop. To sum up, here's our interpretation of the guidelines:

"The first rule of the new Twitter logo, is you can't really do anything to the new Twitter logo.

"The second rule of the new Twitter logo is you DEFINITELY can't add a smiley face to the new Twitter logo."

[Via The Inquirer]

Ahh Linkedin, it may have helped that one guy you know get a job that one time, but mostly we can all agree it's a breeding ground for slimy recruiters and pointless networking groups. Well now it's become even more irritating as an estimated 6.5 million of our passwords have been leaked online, according to The Independent.

Reports are suggesting that a Russian hacker published a list of the passwords online and asked others to help crack them. Linkedin has responded to the allegations with a number of tweets stating that the breach hasn't been confirmed, but the team's looking into the problems right away.

It might be wise to go and change your password if you use Linkedin regularly, but many of us might welcome someone hacking our employment history to make it look like there was some rhyme or reason to all of those stupid decisions.

[Via The Independent Via The Next Web]

Jux seems to add a cool new feature to its blogging platform a few times a month and last week it got an interesting new release, you can now have a different Jux for different purposes.

Bear with us on this one...

The Jux team have explained to us:

1. "Jux" is presented as another posting option. Add an article, photo, slideshow ... or a Jux.

2. Your new Jux has all the flexibility of your first. Start by adding content. Give it a title and description. Customize the look (beginning from the style of your last Jux as a smart default). You can even repost into specific Juxes.

3. Once you have more than one Jux, your home page morphs into an overview of all your Juxes. Think of this as your world, your oeuvre, your memories. Or hide the linkages and treat each Jux as an independent work.

So basically you can just create a separate blog (or should we say Jux) and have it linked to your current account. Of course you can create multiple Wordpress blogs or Tumblr blogs with ease as well, but Jux's latest release means they don't all have to be separate. You can technically have as many Juxes (we assume that's the plural of Jux?) as you like, they can exist as one entity and you can see all the posts together at once or have them separate, whichever you choose.

The idea behind the new feature is that most people want different spaces online for different purposes, which is a pretty fair assumption. It's certainly a significant move for Jux, as it can now compete with other blogging platforms even more than it already does because you don't need to sign in as someone different to have a different blog, meaning you're less likely to venture elsewhere.

Whether the new feature becomes super popular or just a "so what?" addition, it's good to see the Jux team continue to do things a little differently to the rest and have the user's experience at the core of every new decision and addition that's made.

Related: The battle of the blogs: Jux vs. Tumblr

Last month we collected together some of our favourite branded Facebook timelines and there were some great examples from the likes of Spotify, The New York Times and Arsenal FC.

Now we're back with even more that make the most of the new layout and have a cool cover photo, a detailed history of brand and some interesting apps added in along the way.

Related: 15 Cool Facebook brand timelines: Burberry, Spotify and Arsenal

Ever since visual curation network Pinterest was launched back in 2010 (yeah it really WAS that long ago), we've seen a number of similar sites crop up, whether they're blatant rip-offs, all about porn or offer something a little more niche.

A similar site that seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment is The Fancy, a network we've written about a few times in the past, which allows users to 'like' or 'fancy' things that they can then go on to easily buy. The content is much more, well, fancy and the site became instantly more cool and fashionable when it collaborated with Oscar de la Renta's OscarPRGirl last week.

Well this week The Fancy has revealed that it's reached a whopping one million users already and reportedly makes an average of $50,000 each week from users snapping up the products they fancy.

Now in order to continue this huge growth, the platform has introduced a few new features into its mobile app offering, most notably the ability to buy products. Up until now users could only collect images they fancied, but from this week you can get your hands on them with one-click purchasing directly from your iPhone or iPad.

The company is clearly taking advantage of the growing mobile retail market, seems to have its money-making model spot on and has a number of impressive backers under its belt to make sure everything continues to run smoothly, so we can't wait to see how to develops its offering throughout 2012.

The app is available from the iTunes app store for free.

Related: Top 10 Tumblr themes that look like Pinterest for awesome photo blogs / Oscar de la Renta gets Fancy with Pinterest rival

Facebook has lost its most recent legal battle to shut down Faceporn, so will the social network accept the fact other sites will capitalise on its success until the end of time or continue its offensive to get rid of them all?

Another day and another Facebook legal battle is in full swing as the social network continues its mission to eradicate the words face and book from the internet.

The most recent case involves Faceporn, which is unsurprisingly a Norwegian porn site. Facebook filed a case back in 2010 against the adult network and requested full ownership of the domain name.

However, Facebook has so far been unsuccessful because according to Venture Beat, the Judge said that Facebook "has failed to show that defendants, both residents of Norway, purposefully directed their conduct at California."

We've seen cases like this many times before, Facebook doesn't take too kindly to sites that sound a bit like it AT ALL, such as Teachbook and Lamebook.

There's no doubt a lot of the companies in question have been created to capitalise on Facebook's success, but at the same time the social network can't expect to own the words face and book forever, can it?

[Via Venture Beat]

After "live-pinning" a bridal fashion show last month, fashion house Oscar de la Renta is now turning its attention to Pinterest rival The Fancy to showcase bits and pieces of its latest collection.

It's no secret that we admire Oscar de la Renta's online presence, from its Facebook timeline to a tonne of other online assets run by Erika Berman (or Oscar PR Girl), the brand's director of communications, just take a quick peak at her Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest accounts and swoon.

Well now the brand is branching out to The Fancy (or just Fancy, we're not sure), the visual inspiration network that's a lot like a high-end Pinterest, but much more focused on e-commerce.

Oscar PR Girl, who often acts as the face of the brand online, has begun collecting a range of products using The Fancy and just like her Instagram photos there's a mix of content, it's not just a blatant Oscar de la Renta promotional tool.

In the past we wondered whether ODLR's efforts on Pinterest were a bit of a gimmick, especially when the team live-pinned a bridal show last month. However, it's clear the brand is keen to experiment and the new experiences, platforms and ways for fans to consume content keep us guessing every time and most importantly, talking about the innovative brand more and more.

[Via Mashable]

New video platform Mixin has launched today, with more than 20,000 users already under its belt and a unique offering that allows you to merge videos, comments and memes all in one place.

Popular video sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have become more and more advanced over the years, but it's safe to say that comments often feel a little detached from the video content, as they sit at the bottom of the page in a long list. This is the problem Mixin aims to solve. The Cailfornia-based company has been set up to allow users to add personal comments and images to online videos, which they can then share to their social networks.

Have a quick browse of the videos on Mixin's home page and you'll see how the comments work. They appear in a list at the side of each video, but they're assigned to a specific time so pop up when you reach that point, a little like Soundcloud, but more distracting.

The social element is key to Mixin, it's not just about scrawling comments on videos, but sharing them directly to Facebook. This way you can see the videos that have just been created by your friends or look at those from the wider community if you want to. This makes much more sense, as comments popping up from people you don't really know can be a little irritating, but if you have shared connections and mutual interests it'll presumably be a much more valuable experience. Probably.

According to Venture Beat, Mixin has been gathering users quietly and will be opening to the wider public and unveiling its white label offering to other sites today. The first external sites to start using Mixin's technology include AnyClip and Viumbe, who will be integrating the system into their own video players.

Jon Goldman, the Chief Executive at Mixin, said:

"Most online video is all about searching and algorithms with some minor social features tacked on.

"Mixin's technology starts with social interaction as the foundation so that videos serve as a way to connect friends and increase sharing. The customization, commenting and posting to Facebook allows users to add their personal stamp and humor to the videos they love.

"Now we are able to add this functionality to partners which means any content owner looking to add to video engagement and sharing can use our 'next generation' commenting as a solution."

We can see how merging comments with video content makes watching all kinds of clips into a much more social and arguably enjoyable experience. However, we'd rather just see the things our friends have written, as watching a video with the angry, offensive comments we're so used to seeing on YouTube wouldn't be a pleasant experience AT ALL.

[Via Venture Beat]

There are a few great services out there if you're looking to create a simple splash page with links to all of your social media profiles and other important bits and pieces, but now Pictually is a simple solution for artists, designers and photographers who want to show off their work at the same time too.

Services like About.me and Flavors.me allow users to create a simple splash page containing a big image, links to social media profiles, projects and other websites, as well as a few lines about who they are. Pictually is a similar concept, but users are able to showcase their work in a gallery too, making it ideal for creatives, designers, photographers and anyone else who wants to present their creations without the need for a separate, more complicated website.

To get started you enter in your profile information, like a bio and profile photo, then you add links to all of your social networks and other online assets. You can then go on to add a huge image to be displayed in the background, as well as a series of other images for your gallery tab. Pictually stresses that it isn't meant to be the ultimate portfolio tool, but just a place to bring everything together:

"Extremely user-friendly, beautiful, and most of all free, Pictually's goal isn't to provide you with a high-profile online portfolio or replace your other presences on the web, but merely to join them together and still be able to show what you do with concrete examples."

We imagine many of those in the creative industries will already have some kind of online profile and may prefer the freedom of creating their own website instead of being constrained by Pictually's layout and fonts. However, if you're looking for a simple solution before you build something for yourself, or just don't want the hassle of creating something right now, then Pictually is a perfect solution.

[Via The Next Web]

Many of us may still be discussing Facebook's recent IPO, but Zuckerberg and the team have been busy applying for a number of rather interesting patents over the past few weeks, according to the US patent office.

The internet has been full of chatter about Facebook, its IPO last week, whether the valuation was worthy and most importantly that Zuckerberg and his girl Priscilla Chan have finally tied the knot. However, none of this has stopped the team over at Facebook HQ from applying for a number of new patents that aim to simplify the way we communicate with one another.

The top four patents, that have recently been published by the US patent office, include Multi Mode Message Reply Interface, Adding Contextual Information to Messages, Organizing Messages Into Conversation Threads and Messaging System with Multiple Messaging Channels. If all are approved these patents combined would allow Facebook to collect together messages from different devices and platforms and put them all together in one place:

"A first message is received via a first electronic message channel (e.g., email). A second message is received via a second electronic message channel (e.g., web-chat) that is different than the first electronic message channel. Both messages are associated with the same set of users of the messaging system."

From what we can tell this would be a handy feature, but the further down the patent application you read, the more interesting it gets. It seems Facebook intends to use what it knows about your social ties to determine which conversations are the most relevant:

"Social network information is indicative of social relationships between the users of a conversation thread and allows the conversation threads to be organized by their social relevancy."

Granted Facebook already uses this kind of data to sort out what you see in your News Feed, but it seems it'll become much more important to understand these social ties when it comes to messaging.

[Via New Scientist]

After what seems like a lifetime of speculation, Facebook will FINALLY begin trading tomorrow morning at $38 (that's £24) per share, in what is set to be the biggest IPO from a web company in history.

Friday's listing will see $16 billion (£10bn) raised for Facebook's NASDAQ index. It'll also put a pretty penny in founder Mark Zuckerberg's pocket, who will be selling 30 million shares for an expected $1.1bn (£700m). At that price, the 503.6 million shares and options Zuckerberg owns are valued at $19.1 billion, making him wealthier than Google Inc co- founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He'll also be the 29th richest man on the planet.

The $38 shares will be available to the public, which will see the entire company valued at a staggering $104 billion (£66bn) overall, with $81 (£51bn) market capitalisation.

Previously, Google held the largest web IPO, landing on the stock market in 2004 and raising $1.67bn (£1.05bn).

Comparisons are being made to Amazon's initial début price, also thought to have been way overpriced at the time but paying dividends for shrewd, risk-taking investors who bought in at the time.

[Via Tech Digest]

Yesterday it was revealed that Twitter will be honouring requests from users who no longer want their data tracked and recorded, unlike the big boys Facebook and Google.

This week Twitter announced (shockingly in a tweet) that it's signed up to the Do Not Track initiative, which basically means users have the chance to opt out of having their data tracked, recorded or shared with third parties.

Twitter's decision to implement DNT features comes at the same time that it'll be rolling out a new personalised suggestions service. On the Twitter Blog Othman Laraki, Director of Growth and International, explains that the users Twitter recommends at the moment aren't always ideal and often focus on the most popular (and often boring) celebrities, rather than users that have the same interests as you. He wrote about the experiments for the coming months:

"The first experiment will show new users a list of accounts that we recommend you follow, alongside a timeline filled with Tweets from those accounts. If you're part of the experiment, you'll see a Twitter experience that's relevant to you right when you sign up."

That all sounds useful, but the reason Twitter has jumped on board with the DNT initiative at the same time, is that for these tailored suggestions to work, Twitter and third party websites need to be keeping a close eye on what users get up to:

"These tailored suggestions are based on accounts followed by other Twitter users and visits to websites in the Twitter ecosystem. We receive visit information when sites have integrated Twitter buttons or widgets, similar to what many other web companies -- including LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube -- do when they're integrated into websites. By recognizing which accounts are frequently followed by people who visit popular sites, we can recommend those accounts to others who have visited those sites within the last ten days."

Laraki then goes on to explain that Twitter wants users to have control over the data that's collected about them, so if you'd rather not have information about you tracked you can go ahead and change your DNT settings. But don't expect to have personalised recommendations and new "who to follow" features if you do. You can't have the best of both worlds.

What is Do Not Track?

Do Not Track (or DNT) is a privacy setting that anyone can change in their browsers.

It comes from an initiative that was born over in the US and has been endorsed by the FTC, here's a basic rundown from the Twitter Help Center about what it does:

"[It's] a simple way for users to inform integrated web services which offer content across the Internet (such as buttons, widgets, and other embedded features) that they do not want certain information about their webpage visits collected across websites when they have not interacted with that service's content on the page."

You'll be able to change your DNT settings in recent versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, which means these browsers tell the websites you visit that you don't want to be tracked.

If you're a Chrome user you can't change your DNT settings as easily (although Google allegedly promises an update in the coming months), but there's an extension you can try too.

Visit the Twitter Help Center for a more detailed how-to about DNT settings.

Visit http://donottrack.us for more information about the initiative.

A UK man has been sentenced to twelve months in prison after hacking into someone else's private Facebook account. Although details about the case are rather sketchy, we can't help but wonder what this means for future hacking incidents and even fairly innocent pranks that go awry.

21-year-old Gareth Crosskey from West Sussex has been sentenced to a whole year in prison after hacking into a private Facebook account last January. According to a statement released by the Met Police, the breach was reported to the big boys at the FBI by the unnamed individual from the US who was hacked. After tracing the source to here in the UK, the FBI contacted Scotland Yard's e-Crime Unit in order to track down the suspect.

Crosskey was arrested in July last year for offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. For those interested in the legal jargon, here are the specific offences:

"Section 1 Computer Misuse Act 1990 caused computer to perform function to secure unauthorised access to a program/data. Between 07/01/2011 and 14/07/2011 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court caused a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to a program or data relating to a client held in a computer belonging to Facebook.

"Section 3 Computer Misuse Act 1990 unauthorised acts with intent to impair operation of or prevent/hinder access to a computer. Between 07/01/2011 and 14/07/2011 within the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court did an unauthorised act at a time when you knew that it was unauthorised either intending by doing the act or being reckless as to whether the act would enable the operation of a computer to be impaired, access to a program or data held in a computer to be prevented or hindered, or the operation of a program or the reliability of data held in a computer to be impaired."

So in other words he's been charged with knowing he was using a computer to do something bad, which would in turn screw up everything for the person he was hacking.

The details of the case are being kept under wraps. Did the FBI react so quickly because it was the Facebook account of a celebrity or important figure? Or is Facebook account hacking Facebook account hacking whether you're Obama or a 15 year old teen from Georgia? Who knows. It'll certainly be interesting to see whether Crosskey's case will set a precedent for future hacking incidents and where the authorities draw the line between serious hacking and an innocent joke gone wrong, just imagine if your colleagues took legal action every time you updated their status with something stupid while they're in a meeting!?

[Image via SteakPinball's Flickr]

A British woman is set to take legal action against Facebook after online trolls set up a fake account in her name and began sending abusive messages to young girls.

The internet may be full of wonderful and magical things, but unfortunately we know all too well that if you're going to get all of the brilliant stuff you have to expect terrible stuff too, like photos of Justin Bieber and of course trolls. Angry, sad little trolls.

If you've spent a considerable amount of your spare time on the internet, then chances are you'll have come across someone who's being agressive and abusive just for the sake of it, it's mean, sometimes it seems personal, but it happens and we all learn to laugh at those picking fights on the interwebz. However, a British woman who's faced a lot of abuse on Facebook recently has decided that enough is enough.

Nicola Brookes, a 45 year old from Brighton, wrote "Keep your chin up, Frankie, they'll move onto someone else soon" on a Facebook page dedicated to X Factor contestant Frankie Cocozza last year. She then experienced a LOT of abuse from people that weren't so keen on the fluffy-haired teen. She had other users swearing at her and sending her death threats, which is awful but hardly a unique incident online. However, the thing that made Brookes REALLY upset was when some of these trolls set up a fake account in her name and began sending explicit messages to young girls. Too far trolls, TOO FAR.

Now Brookes has decided to do something about it and according to The Telegraph has started proceedings to take action against Facebook in an attempt to force the firm to hand over the names and details of those responsible for creating the fake account.

There's no official word from Facebook about the incident, but The Telegraph did publish this statement from a spokesperson:

"We respond aggressively to reports of potential abuse [...] Reports involving harassment are prioritised, reviewed by a trained team of reviewers and removed if they violate our terms."

We're not sure whether this means Facebook will be dealing with this issue ASAP to avoid repercussions, but either way it seems Brookes won't stop until she finds the identity of those responsible. Maybe she'll go on some Liam Neesom-style rampage across Europe to find them?!

We kind of judge Brookes for writing on Frankie Cocozza's Facebook page, but it's a sad state of affairs if we're all not able to express our opinions online (regardless of who does or doesn't agree with us) without becoming a target for angry trolls who have far too much time on their hands shortly after.

[Via Telegraph Image via Cali4beach's Flickr]

This week Jux, the dark horse of the blogging world, has rolled out a new commenting system to its users.

Big, bold blogging platform Jux may still be in its infancy, but since we first wrote about its potential last year we've seen more people using it and more awesome updates being made to the way it works, like the addition of panoramic streetview posts, faster loading times, improvements to the iPad app and much, much more.

Well this week Jux has added what we think is its most impressive feature to date, comments. If you visit a Jux post you like, you can now like it, repost it, share it on Facebook or Twitter, email it and... drum roll please... leave a comment behind too.

Granted commenting systems have always been built into the likes of Blogger and Wordpress, but Jux's biggest competitor, Tumblr, still doesn't have a default commenting system of its own (although you can add one with the likes of Disqus or Facebook comments). So, this latest feature certainly sets Jux up as a valid contender in the blogging platform arena. Here at Shiny Shiny we've always thought it fared well against Tumblr, but for those that were sceptical this should now be proof that Jus is a force to be reckoned with.

Related: The battle of the blogs: Jux vs. Tumblr

Facebook could be trialling a new feature that'll give attention seeking users the chance to part with their pennies in order to make their status updates even more prominent. Oh we just can't wait.

Everyone has at least one insane person from their school days who they just can't bear to delete from their Facebook friends list. You know, the girl who writes the most melodramatic updates about her sex life, illnesses and dramatic relationship woes. Well now if they don't think they're getting enough attention about the fact they were dumped by text or keep throwing up they can pay to force your eyes to witness their car crash lives again and again and again.

According to Digital Trends and Stuff, Facebook is currently testing a new feature that'll allow users to highlight posts by paying a small fee of around $1.80 with Paypal or a credit card. Their status update will then stay stuck at the top of the news feed for a specific amount of time meaning even more people will see it.

The new feature won't be rolled out to all users just yet, it's currently only being tested over in New Zealand. However, if it proves to be a hit it won't be long before we can all start using our hard earned cash to buy more attention from our fake Facbook friends. Does this make anyone else feel a bit sad about being on the planet? Just us?

[Via Digital Trends Via Stuff]

Facebook finally announced that it will be introducing a shiny new app store soon, called the App Center.

In the next few weeks the Facebook team will be launching its own App Center on the web and within the iOS and Android versions of its mobile app, according to The Facebook Developer Blog.

It's about time the social network created a dedicated space for users to find apps they might be interested in and for developers to show off their creations properly. Just like the Apple iTunes Store, the new Facebook offering will mean every app has a detail page, so you can find out more about it instead of just being bullied into letting it access all of your details and Timeline.

In the official blog post, Aaron Brady from the Developer team assures readers that the new App Center will employ a series of metrics, like user ratings, quality and engagement, so only the best ones will feature in the new store:

"Well-designed apps that people enjoy will be prominently displayed. Apps that receive poor user ratings or don't meet the quality guidelines won't be listed."

If you're a regular Facebook user then look out for the App Center over the next few weeks and if you're a developer, get creating your app detail page right now.

[Via Facebook Developer Blog]

As we're sat writing this article a brain surgery is being live tweeted for all the world to follow over @houstonhospital. Yes it's fascinating and awesome if you're a medical geek, but aren't there just some things that we should stop sharing already?

Ahh Twitter, haven't you enabled us to do a range of lovely, selfless and life-changing things over the years? You've brought people together, spread the word about important issues, enabled us to make valuable connections and allowed us all to bond by ranting and swearing at each other. But at the same time you've effectively given a very public voice to people who insist on confusing, offending and annoying us on a daily basis and most of the time that's because very private, inappropriate or downright weird thoughts and events are being shared that we have no desire to read. EVER.

Now technically all tweeting is "live", but you'll often see the phrase live tweet being used when users have an incessant desire to share whatever crazy stuff is happening to them at that very moment in a really haphazard way that leaves everyone else disgusted and/or irritated. Well at least that's the "official" definition.

Yes some of these live tweeting stunts have been interesting, informative or just downright entertaining, but on the whole we'd like to put a stop to the kind of over-sharing that makes us want to hit things, set the internet on fire or cringe into the palms of our hands.

1. Surgery

Today @houstonhospital decided to live-tweet brain surgery and it's pretty fascinating if you're a medical geek or into cutting things up, but if you're a bit squeamish then steer clear.

2. Marriage proposals and weddings

Last month Mike Duerksen (@mikeduersken) proposed to his girlfriend over a TWELVE HOUR date and live-tweeted the whole thing using the hash tag #MikeProposes. She (luckily) said yes, but doesn't use Twitter, so commented that she was confused why he was spending a lot of time on his phone during the night. Now if that isn't romantic I don't know what is.

3. Random stuff when you're meant to be a top celebrity on a popular TV show

According to Digital Spy, Black Eyed Peas singer Will.I.am got in a lot of trouble this week when he insisted on tweeting throughout The Voice. It's great to see him multi-task and tweet whilst also being on a TV show, but that kind of behaviour also makes it look like he doesn't take the role very seriously.

4. Conferences

Yes it's considerate that you share your cool, insightful new findings with your followers, but 99% of us really couldn't care less and in future would love for you to unfollow us a good 30 minutes before you attend your next innovative and ground-breaking industry event.

5. Sex and touching yourself

Yes, this happens. For instance, oxygen thief Heidi Montag (@heidimontag) tweeted that she was massaging her big fake breasts a few years ago, a fashion blogger tweeted the details of a threesome (as well as what they were all wearing, how considerate) and Donald Glover thought we'd all love to know two random people were doing it near a bank.

6. Every random thought you've EVER had

We know for a fact that Kanye West isn't the only Twitter user guilty of this crime against social media, but wow does he do it the best. Back in January he spent hours (yes HOURS) sharing pretty much every thought he's ever had, from clothing to fur and music to education. This week he's also started to lay into the world of fashion, tweeting:

Just driving through the city and I see a few things I hate...
I hate button up shirts with hoods.
I hate hoods with sport coats.
I hate sport coats with button up shirts, jeans and dress shoes.
I hate khaki trench coats with jeans and off brand work out sneakers.
I hate khaki cargo shorts. I hate big ass striped scarves.
I hate long ass sideburns with line up RnB beard.

You get the idea...

7. The birth of your child

It's one of the most important, special and potentially painful moments of your life, so why not share it with your followers like this couple?

8. Silly lies about events/incidents/emergencies you're nowhere near

As soon as news breaks online that there's an incident or accident or emergency some Twitter users take it upon themselves to make up random rubbish about what might be happening, which then causes others to take what they say seriously and sooner or later MASS HYSTERIA follows and it's like a scene from 28 Days Later.

We don't need some kind of fancy research to tell us we spend far too much time on Facebook, our incessant checking of the news feed and daily stalking of everyone we've EVER met proves that. But, if you did want to find out whether you're an actual addict, then the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale is here to ensure you lose the will to live in a matter of seconds.

Researchers at the University of Bergen have been spending a lot of time analysing how we use social media and unsurprisingly realised that far too many of us have developed a worrying dependency on Facebook.

According to Cecilie Schou Andreassen, Doctor of Psychology at the university, some of the problems she's encountered are so serious that they'll resemble that of an alcohol, drug or chemical abuse addiction. Ah just what we needed. And, if you're an anxious young woman you're most at risk too, she said:

"It occurs more regularly among younger than older users. We have also found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face.

"Our research also indicates that women are more at risk of developing Facebook addiction, probably due to the social nature of Facebook."

So if you're wondering whether you're a hardcore junkie or just naturally inquisitive (yeah right) there's now a handy scale to show us all how sad we really are, OH GOODIE.

To use it, simply read through the statements and answer (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often, or (5) Very often.

You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or plan use of Facebook.
You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.
You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.
You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.
You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.
You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

Despite being fairly basic, the researchers believe that if you answer with 4s or 5s to four or more of the phrases then chances are you've got yourself a pretty hefty addiction right there.

The researchers haven't suggested what we do to battle through our scary addiction right now, or whether it's REALLY that damaging. But, we're intrigued to see whether Facebook Junkies Anonymous meet-ups are scheduled in a village hall near us or (as Jezebel points out) whether someone could actually ever overdose on Facebook. Ouch, death by social media would be the most pathetic way to go, right?!

[Via Jezebel via UIB]