More parents believe that the risks of social media outweigh its benefits for their children than believe the opposite, according to new survey of UK and U.S. parents with children ages 6 - 17 who use the Internet, conducted for the U.K.'s Family Online Safety Institute.

Over the last two weeks everyone has been trying to parse the meaning, if any exists, of the viral "Alex from Target" phenomenon. The short but substantially complete version of the story is this: Alex, a check-out boy at a Target somewhere in Texas, is cute. A teenage girl took a picture of him mid-check and posted it online. Alex became a meme and appeared on the "Ellen DeGeneres Show" a few days later. Over the course of these events Alex became, at least briefly, the most famous person on social media by a fair margin.

In the weird world we have created with social media, many people seem to take it as their mission to accumulate as many online friends as possible - then complain because they're, like, totes boring and annoying. So then they need a way to block content from these "friends," but in a way that the "friends" don't know about because that would be rude - because they still want to be "friends," just in a way where they never see or hear from the "friend" ever again.

Social commerce isn't going away anytime soon, but building businesses based on it has been much more difficult than expected, judging by the travails of some leading companies. In the most recent development, daily deals platform LivingSocial revealed Thursday that it is laying off 400 employees, or about 20% of its total workforce of 2,000, as well as closing an office in Torrance, CA.

In line with the "sort of, kind of" recovery in the rest of the economy, the real estate market is rebounding-ish, at least in some places, moderately, raising hopes that it will continue to gain some momentum and bring more new listings on the market. In any event real estate brokers are laying the groundwork with a new social platforms that allow realtors, buyers, and sellers to connect and share information about properties on dedicated forums.

Lots of moms love social media, but it may not be the best thing for them psychologically, judging by a growing collection of research and surveys which suggest that it undermines self-esteem and fosters insecurity by encouraging unrealistic comparisons with peers. The latest evidence comes from a survey of 1,100 moms by BabyCenter, which asked about the costs (financial and otherwise) of raising children -- and found that the stress is aggravated by social media.

The midterm elections are upon us, at last. Like most Americans, I am profoundly grateful that this political season -- in effect, a combination pageant and reality show starring the worst people our society can find outside of penitentiaries, including some who will doubtless end up there eventually -- is almost over. Until then, however, as with any good reality show we are all obsessing over these shameless drama queens on social media.

With an eye to the future, cruise lines are making a big effort to get more millennial travelers on board the big ships, offering everything from artisanal beers to zip lines.