Facebook's U.S. cost-per-click rates hit a high of $1.76 in mid-November before dropping down to about $1.20 by mid-January, according to data from Inside Facebook. Canadian rates hit $1.34. The ad rate peaks near year's reflected higher advertiser demand during the holiday season. Facebook had a total of 145 million North American users as of Jan 1, 2011. "With around half of the American and Canadian populations now on Facebook, it's still too early to tell if the site is nearing its saturation points in these markets, or if there is still room to capture the half that is …

Facebook this afternoon confirmed closing a $1.5 billion investment round at a valuation of $50 billion from Goldman Sachs and Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies. In a statement, the company said Goldman had completed an "oversubscribed offering" to its non-U.S. clients, bringing in $1 billion. The Wall Street firm and Digital Sky Technologies contributed another $500 million at the same valuation. Prior reports about the "special purpose vehicle" created by Goldman for the funding sparked controversy over whether Facebook had exceeded the 500-shareholder limit requiring a company to file public financial data. The company said today that even …

Don't expect consumers' love affair with private-label products--whether it's the premium Archer Farms from Target, the new Health Starts Here products from Whole Foods Market, or the soon-to-be-reformulated Great Value line from Walmart----to go away anytime soon. New research from Mintel says that concerted efforts retailers have made to improve store brands, including offering several tiers of "generics," has paid off, with 44% of grocery store customers saying they believe store brand products are better today than they were five years ago. And just 19% say it's worth paying more for name-brand products. Some 34% in the survey say …

Clear Channel Out of Home has big plans to expand programs that were largely experimental last year. The company year piloted programs featuring interactive digital displays in bus shelters in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and bathroom mirrors and elevator banisters in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The company plans to expand these programs this year to other markets. The San Francisco program, which Clear Channel developed with Coca-Cola and Yahoo! involves twenty interactive digital transit shelters that work like giant tablet computers with 72-inch touch screens. The shelters, which are active through January with the Yahoo! program also …

Verizon said today it has asked the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to annul net neutrality rules recently passed by the Federal Communications Commission. "We are deeply concerned by the FCC's assertion of broad authority for sweeping new regulation of broadband networks and the Internet itself," Michael E. Glover, Verizon senior vice president and deputy general counsel, said in a statement. "We believe this assertion of authority goes well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers."

Google announced in its earnings release Thursday a major change to the executive staff. The company called it a way to streamline decision making and create clear lines of responsibility and accountability at the top of the company. Beginning April 4, co-founder Larry Page, becomes CEO and takes over day-to-day operations. Co-founder Sergey Brin puts the focus on strategic projects such as new products. Eric Schmidt becomes Executive Chairman and will focus on deals, partnerships, customers and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership.

A new study from iVillage suggests women trust women's online communities more than social networks and Web portals. More than half (51%) of women's community users said women's sites are places they trust for information about brands and products compared to only 14% who trust information on social networks. Nearly half (47%) said women's communities provide the right connections for advice on brands and products (versus 16% for social networks) and women's communities were also rated higher than social sites for relevance and value, according to the study conducted with Burke Research, based on a survey of 2,232 women online. …

Virgin America is teaming with VH1 to host a mile-high episode of one of the network's shows onboard its inaugural flight to Cancun. The airline began non-stop service to Cancun from Los Angeles on Jan. 19 and launches the service from San Francisco on Jan. 20. The launch marks the third international destination for the three-year-old carrier and its 14th destination in North America.  Under Virgin America's signature "mood lighting," the first Cancun-bound guests will watch VH1 hosting its show, "Top 20 Video Countdown." Filmed at 35,000 feet, the "Countdown to Cancun will first air on the network …

After a long period of curtailed expansion plans, retailers are ready to swing back to growth mode: A new survey from the National Retail Federation and KPMG finds that 41% of retail executives plan to increase store expansions this year. That compares to just 25% in last year's survey. Both Target and Dollar General have announced such expansion plans in recent weeks; Microsoft, Disney H&M and Nordstrom also have new units on the horizon. M-commerce is also high on retailers' radar, with 69% of the execs surveyed saying mobile is an important strategic initiative, up from 28% a year …

Music discovery app Shazam and cable channel  Syfy partnered last fall to pilot the 'TV Tagging' concept with season finales of "Warehouse 13" and "Eureka." Now the two are joining forces again for a series-long tagging effort with Syfy's new original program, "Being Human," which airs at 9pm ET. Through the promotion, mobile users who have downloaded the Shazam app can hold their phone up to the TV to tag specific episodes of the show to get  links to exclusive video and previews of upcoming episodes, access to exclusive playlists from the series, downloads and the chance to enter the …