In response to Mark Zuckerberg's privacy memo to Facebook users, BoomTown writer Kara Swisher borrows an infamous line from former Sun Chief Scott McNealy: "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." Yep, and "that goes double on social networks," she adds. The uproar over Facebook's latest changes to its Terms of Service drew a lengthy and thoughtful response from Zuckerberg, but it "pretty much states the obvious again," Swisher says. For example, Facebook archives all the information you post, so even if you quit the service, you won't be able to delete anything you've shared. "Once you send something …

In a memo to users, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks out against the hubbub surrounding the recent update to the site's Terms of Service. While the blogosphere went up in arms about Facebook owning users' data forever and being able to dictate its use, Zuckerberg tries to calm users by explaining the company's philosophy. Meanwhile, Perez Hilton and other prominent bloggers have called on their readers to stop using Facebook. Basically, Zuckerberg says that any information you share with another user belongs to that user. So, any messages you send to a friend on Facebook will last, even if you …

In aggregate, small businesses like attorneys, lawyers, doctors, dentists, shoe shops, restaurants and others account for a large chunk of the advertising pie. And while the newspaper industry collapses, the theory--among many Web watchers, anyway--was that that local advertisers would plug the spending hole by shifting their budgets to the Web. As BusinessWeek's Sarah Lacy explains, that isn't really happening. In fact, according to Borrell Associates, local advertising is headed for a big slowdown this year. In a November report, the researcher said the market would grow just 4.7% to $13.3 billion, following 50% growth in 2008. And it shows …

After pulling out of the newspaper and radio businesses in the past two months, BusinessWeek asks the pertinent question: Is Google TV Ads next? Probably not, is the answer, but the addressable TV advertising system still "faces a tough slog," because "a range of companies are also developing technologies that do a better job of allowing advertisers to target TV viewers." Then there is traditional media's growing suspicion of working with Google. "They're the pretty new girl in high school," says one senior ad sales exec. "We hate them for that." With Google TV Ads, the search giant is essentially …

It looks like Twitter will now have years to come up with that business model: On Friday, the social media startup nabbed another $35 million in venture capital funding, in a round led by Institutional Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital, as reported in Online Media Daily. In an interview with Wired, Todd Chaffee, General Partner at IVP, said that Twitter now has well north of $50 million on its balance sheet. We've got a ton of cash," Chaffee said, when asked about the company's business model. "We have far more cash then we need, so I'm not in any …

TechCrunch writer Robin Wauters notes that the term "Web 2.0" is fading, fast. She says the number of startups that contact TechCrunch touting their Web 2.0 features is visibly dropping, and "I hardly ever see it mentioned anymore on other technology blogs and news sites either." According to Google Trends, which shows how often certain search terms are entered on a given day relative to total search volume, the term started being used in 2004, picking up in 2005 and then increasingly rapidly into 2007. "After that, the trend is clearly downwards, falling back to the level it reached in …