As the violent controversy over "Innocence of Muslims" has demonstrated, content disseminated on social media sites with global reach (like YouTube) isn't always compatible with the religious or cultural sensitivities of specific populations. In order to provide a social media environment sensitive to Muslim sensibilities, a group of Turkish, Russian, and Central Asian businessmen are funding a new social network for Muslims called Salamworld.

What was that about the triumph of new media over old? After a dismal IPO and post-IPO decline, Facebook's stock finally seemed to be getting its mojo back -- when business magazine Barron's slapped it back down into the gutter in rather brutal fashion with an article titled "Still Too Pricey."

Social networks dedicated to particular causes and interests are experiencing a revival, and one natural unifying element is religion. With that in mind, a private group of lay Catholics (i.e., not directly affiliated with the Vatican) have launched a new global social network for Catholics called Aleteia.org; the name, pronounced "ah-la-tay-ah," comes from the Greek word for truth.

Either they didn't realize that the police could see what they were saying online, or they simply didn't care if they got caught -- but either way, I'm going to call them morons. I'm referring to the 49 members of two gangs from East New York -- the Rockstarz, whom I will also judge for their lack of creativity in naming themselves, and their rivals the Very Crispy Gangsters, who may be guilty of many things, but not lack of creativity -- who earlier this week were indicted by the NYPD for a series of ten shootings, including three fatalities, …

Social media is supposed to be revolutionizing journalism, but British journalists don't seem to be feeling the revolutionary spirit. In fact, our colleagues across the pond sound a bit skeptical about social media's impact on their profession, according to a new survey of 769 U.K. hacks conducted by Canterbury Christ Church University and Cision, a global PR and media services company.

One in five job-seekers (19.7%) say they would refuse to work for an employer who didn't allow them to access social media in the workplace, according to survey results in a new white paper titled "Tomorrow's Workforce" published by Hays, a recruitment firm based in the U.K.

It can't have been long after the first cavemen offered up grunts of approval or disapproval that someone had the bright idea of paying for good reviews. It's cheap, it's efficient, and best of all: it's dishonest! Sure you're basically lying to consumers, but tricking the gullible is half the fun, isn't it? Movie marketers have elevated the fake review to an art form.

The New York City Police Department has issued guidelines for officers using social media as part of criminal investigations, according to the New York Daily News, which reported the news earlier this week. The guidelines come in the form of a five-page memo from Police Commissioner Ray Kelly which was circulated last week.

In social media, as in so many things, the conventional wisdom is "bigger is better"; Facebook is the best social network because it is the biggest, and smaller networks risk being dismissed as "also-rans." This consensus is based in part on the perception that scale is a prerequisite to effectively monetizing social networks, since revenue per user tends to be low (especially with business models relying on display advertising).

Four medical schools including the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, are offering training to aspiring doctors for the appropriate use of social media as part of the medical profession, thanks to a two-year grant from the Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.