Social Media’s Latest Updates: Facebook Inc (FB)’s User Information, LinkedIn Corp (LNKD)’s Business Leads & Yelp Inc (YELP)

Editor’s Note:  Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD), Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP)

Facebook Releases Report on Government Requests (Bits)
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) on Tuesday for the first time released a report showing the number of requests about its users that it has received from government agencies around the globe. The report covers the first six months of 2013, ending on June 30, and notes that government groups in 74 countries demanded information about more than 37,954 accounts on Facebook.

Facebook spammers make $200m just posting links, researchers say (The Guardian)
Spammers posting links on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) fan pages to send people to third-party scam sites are earning $200m every year, according to calculations by a team of Italian security researchers who have investigated hundreds of thousands of posts on the social network. Andrea Stroppa and Carlo De Micheli, the leaders of the group, analysed pages across the network, and identified spam through the use of phrases such as “Hey click here for a free iPhone” followed by links to sites outside the network.

Ad Agencies Love LinkedIn But Not SlideShare (Adweek)
When hunting for new business, agency leaders have embraced the use of social media platforms, but only the most established hubs. In a new poll from RSW/US—shared exclusively with Adweek—46 percent of 300 agency honchos described LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) as the “most important” social media vehicle for generating new business leads, well above blogging (24 percent), Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter (both at 14 percent) and Google (just 2 percent). The same poll, though, found that only 21 percent use SlideShare to market their agencies to prospective clients.

LinkedIn should be used professionally (The Miami Huricane)
LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) is a useful tool for college students looking for internships or even jobs postgraduation. It’s the Facebook of the professional world. But there are important differences. Unlike with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) – a site where you can easily choose to decline or ignore friend requests from random strangers (or even those individuals with whom you have mutual friends, but don’t recognize whatsoever) – LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) etiquette still isn’t very clear.

Yelp Spotlights Hudson House Bar (Rebondo Beach Patch)
Gastropubs are all the rage in the foodie world right now, and one Redondo Beach bar stands above the rest, according to a Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) Weekly posted Wednesday.

Vodafone in talks to sell Verizon Wireless (CNBC)