It's now clear that Google is going to keep throwing social services against the wall until one finally sticks. Its latest fling is Spaces -- an app that encourages group discussions about particular topics.

Now that accusations of a liberal media bias don't seem to be settling, Facebook is launching a "full investigation" into the matter.

If you could put a dollar amount on how much you think the various free ad-supported businesses and services are worth to you annually, what would you say?

There comes a time in every app's life when it must pause and, yes, launch a desktop version of itself. Such is the case with WhatsApp, which is rolling out its desktop app, this week.

Coming off the grisliest Republican primary in history, plenty of people are tuning out "conservative" news and opinion. Yet, Facebook insists that it is not helping them do so.

Spotify continues to dominate other music-streaming services, according to recent findings from App Annie. Indeed, the Swedish tech startup leads the way worldwide in terms of active users, downloads and revenue, the analytics firm finds. Yet, as we see with Facebook and other industry leaders, Spotify isn't about to rest on its laurels. Rather, the company is breaking into original content creation with some of the biggest names in entertainment. Already, it has deals in place to produce 12 original series with actor Tim Robbins and music mogul Russell Simmons.

It should come as no surprise that LinkedIn is eying a service akin to Facebook's Instant Articles, and Google's AMP. Across demographics, 63% of consumers value fast load times above all else, according to a nationally representative survey conducted earlier this year by the Media Insight Project, and funded by the American Press Institute. Likewise, 60% of respondents said it was most important that their news viewing experience synced perfectly with their mobile devices.

Having a private conversation in the digital world can be tough, but over-the-top (OTT) messaging companies like Whatsapp and Viber are making it happen, much to the chagrin of the world's governing bodies.

Of course Instagram just added video to its carousel ad format. Native video ads are now the secret to any social network's success. Why? Well, as with other native formats, platforms and their brand partners are finally learning to work within the boundaries of what consumers actually want.

Buying into the deep-linking hype, Pinterest just bought mobile ad platform URX. Per the acquihire (that is, buying a company primarily for its staffers) URX co-founder and CEO John Milinovich is joining Pinterest as product manager. Milinovich -- who worked on Google Analytics before starting URX -- boils deep-linking down to one word: discovery.