Following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, LinkedIn has agreed to pay roughly $6 million in back overtime and damages to 359 current and former employees, Reuters reports. The investigation did find that the career-focused social networking company violated the country's wage law. “In a settlement announced by the Labor Department on Monday, LinkedIn will pay more than $3.3 million in retroactive overtime wages and more than $2.5 million in damages to workers in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York,” Reuters reports. 

From Facebook to OKCupid, social networks are taking liberties with their terms of service contracts, and there will come a time when consumers draw the line. That’s according to tech writer Tim Carmody, who explains: “Whenever the terms of service seem to be saying that these companies have the right to do things we would never want them to do, we're told that these are just the legal terms that the companies need. ... This is why it really stings whenever somebody turns around and says, "well actually, the terms you've signed give us permission to do whatever we want.’”

With the help of Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, The Atlantic tries to get its head around what could be the most misunderstood social network on the market. Sharp, for his part, broadly defines Pinterest as “a place where people can go to get ideas for any project or interest in their life.” Of key importance to the essence of the site, “as you’re creating a board on Pinterest, other people can get inspiration from your ideas, so there’s this cycle where what you’re creating for yourself also helps other people make their lives.” 

The New York Times follows the evolution of a Facebook campaign for MegaRed -- which it calls “a premium alternative to fish oil pills” -- to explore the social giant’s broad marketing abilities. “The advantage of advertising on the world’s largest social network was that it could do something television ads could not: Using sophisticated analytics, it could help him find people who were already buying fish oil or other products that suggested they were concerned about the health of their hearts, and perhaps persuade them to switch to his brand,” The Times writes. 

The Telegraph is crediting its decision to push content through Facebook -- rather than Twitter -- with a steep rise in Web traffic. In June, the British paper saw a 20% spike in traffic, which it attributed to a greater focus Facebook, and the publication of few news stories. “An emphasis on carefully promoting stories with Facebook’s more youth-oriented audience in mind has started to pay off, with the social network easily outstripping Twitter as a traffic driver,” The Guardian reports.