Here’s this week’s round-up of social media (& tech) news. Come by each week for what I hope to be a fun & informative blog post on social stories that caught my eye throughout the week!

• Facebook has changes its rules on profiles of dead users – they’re opening the pages so it can act as a public memorial. Not sure how I feel about that..

• Facebook is also going to make Look Back videos for dead users. Sounds like more changes regarding bereavement on FB is on its way too.

• This was big social media news of the week – Facebook buys WhatsApp for $19 billion. I personally don’t like WhatsApp, but am forced to use it to communicate with two specific friends, lol.

• What I really thought was interesting about the purchase was that the creator of WhatsApp had been turned down for a job at Facebook and Twitter a few years ago! Crazy world.

The WhatsApp creator was turned down by Facebook & Twitter back in 2009!

• And something for Blackberry to think about – will it sell BBM in light of the WhatsApp sale?

• You can now block members on LinkedIn. Surprised this hadn’t been an option before!

• No brainer – social media traffic to news sites has increased 57% since 2009. Includes news & social media infographic!

• Employers take note: Your workers are more productive when they can tweet.

Apple has released an update to address a pretty big security breach. (Photo credit: ZDNet)

• Have you updated your iOS? There was a major Apple security flaw that left users open to ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks. Yikes.

• The intelligent iOS in ‘Her’ is really not that far off in reality… Read about the next generation of virtual personal assistants

• Speaking of – In 15 years time, Google will ‘know you better than your intimate partner’.

• The iMedia Conference is March 15 and I’m going to be the emcee! I’ll be posting a Social Media Spotlight on the conference later this week but thought I’d include the news in this round-up too. :) Get tickets if you haven’t yet!

• This is the best new Internet meme! Hahaha

• Oh Jimmy! Turns out the viral video showing a wolf in the hallway in Athlete’s Village was a Jimmy Kimmel prank! He’s getting really good at that. Also we’re all suckers.

• Check out this week’s Cat Saturday photos! My favourites are 7, 10, 11, 14, 17, 22, 23, and 25!

Thoughts on these stories? Tweet @ me or leave a comment below!

Linda

Follow @lindork