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The internet is abuzz after pictures of Mark Zuckerberg emerged as we have never seen him before – topless and hanging out with a load of other topless guys.

TMZ posted the picture today which shows Mark Zuckerberg caressing his hairy – and quite buff – chest while obviously having a very good time cavorting with the other men.

The jury is out on what exactly is going on in the picture or where it was taken and Facebook have yet to respond to a request for comment.

The photo surfaced on the image-sharing site imgur, posted anonymously by someone who says they screen grabbed it from Facebook.

They claim the picture was “accidentally posted” by Facebook Director of Engineering Andrew Bosworth – who is seen also topless at the far right of the picture sporting a very masculine hat and bow tie combo.

Andrew Bosworth allegedly deleted the picture “seconds later”, but obviously not fast enough, as someone was able to capture it and make it available to the world wide web.

If this was an accident, many Facebook users will find something bitter sweet about the leak after Mark Zuckerberg and his team have repeatedly changed the site’s privacy settings over the years, which included claiming the rights to all pictures posted on the social networking site.

On the other hand, the picture isn’t going to do Mark Zuckerberg’s image any harm. After all appearing quite buff – for a computer nerd – hanging out shirtless with a few similarly shirtless friends shows the billionaire is just like everyone else, right?

Mark Zuckerberg caressing his hairy chest while obviously having a very good time cavorting with the other topless men

Mark Zuckerberg caressing his hairy chest while obviously having a very good time cavorting with the other topless men

Coincidentally, the picture has emerged on the same day the Federal Trade Commission voted to finalize its settlement with Facebook, resolving charges that the social network exposed details about users’ lives without getting the required legal consent.

Facebook Inc. didn’t admit wrongdoing, but agreed to submit to government audits of its privacy practices every other year for the next two decades.

The company also committed to getting explicit approval from users before changing the types of content it makes public.

The settlement, announced in November, is similar to agreements the FTC reached separately with Google Inc. and Myspace.

The FTC approved the settlement Friday after a public comment period. It came a day after the FTC fined Google $22.5 million to resolve allegations that Google didn’t comply with the earlier settlement.

Both Facebook and Google have vast amounts of data on their users – Facebook through the things people share on the site, and Google through the searches and other things people do.

Such information is valuable because it can be used to improve the lucrative targeted advertising pitches that both companies aim at users.

Over the years, Facebook has been pushing users to voluntary share more about themselves. That ultimately encourages users and their friends to spend more time on the site, which in turn allows Facebook to sell more ads.

Although Facebook boasts that it gives users a variety of software settings so they can decide which photos, links and updates to share with whom, the company changes those options on a regular basis.

Much of the FTC’s complaint against Facebook centers on a series of changes that the company made to its privacy controls in late 2009.

The revisions automatically shared information and pictures about Facebook users, even if they previously programmed their privacy settings to shield the content.

Among other things, people’s profile pictures, lists of online friends and political views were suddenly available for the world to see, the FTC alleged.

The complaint also charges that Facebook shared its users’ personal information with third-party advertisers from September 2008 through May 2010 despite several public assurances from company officials that it wasn’t passing the data along for marketing purposes.

Facebook believes that happened only in limited instances, generally when users clicked on ads that appeared on their personal profile pages.

Most of Facebook’s users click on ads when they are on their “Wall” – a section that highlights their friends’ posts – or while visiting someone else’s profile page.

Under the settlement, Facebook must get explicit consent – a process known as “opting in” – before making changes that override existing privacy preferences.

The company also may not make misrepresentations about the privacy or security of users’ personal information – a broad clause that led to Google’s fine on Thursday.

Violations will be subject to civil penalties of up to $16,000 per day for each infringement.

Facebook had no comment beyond a statement that it is pleased the settlement received final approval.

The company’s stock gained 52 cents, or 2.5%, to $21.53 in midday trading Friday. Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, began trading publicly in mid-May, after the settlement with the FTC was reached.

 

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Lady Gaga became the first person to pass 25 million followers on Twitter as she immediately tweeted her gratitude to fans yesterday.

“#25milliontweetymonsters wow! I’m officially feeling like the luckiest girl in the world today,” the singer wrote.

Lady Gaga, 26, has more than two and a half million followers more than her nearest competitor, Justin Bieber, who has 22.5 million.

The singer is one of eight pop stars in the top ten most followed people on Twitter, with Barack Obama and Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey making up the final two.

Lady Gaga was also the first person to reach the milestones of 10, 15 and 20 million followers respectively on the social networking site.

She has won legions of fans with her outlandish costumes, including the infamous meat dress which she famously wore to the 2010 MTV awards.

Lady Gaga became the first person to pass 25 million followers on Twitter as she immediately tweeted her gratitude to fans yesterday.

Lady Gaga became the first person to pass 25 million followers on Twitter as she immediately tweeted her gratitude to fans yesterday.

Lady Gaga, real name Stefani Germanotta, has a special relationship with her fans, dubbing them “little monsters” and herself “mother monster”.

However, she suffered a setback this week when she was forced to cancel a concert in Indonesia after Islamist hard-liners threatened violence, claiming her sexy clothes and provocative dance moves would corrupt the nation’s youth.

The singer has since moved on and was spotted strolling around Bangkok in a typically outlandish dress made of black PVC last week.

  

THE MOST FOLLOWED CELEBRITIES ON TWITTER

1. Lady Gaga – 25 million

2. Justin Bieber – 22.5 million

3. Katy Perry – 20.4 million

4. Rihanna – 19.7 million

5. Britney Spears – 17.2 million

6. Shakira – 16.3 million

7. Barack Obama – 16 million

8. Kim Kardashian – 14.8 million

9. Taylor Swift – 14.5 million

10. Nicki Minaj – 12.2 million

Source: twittercounter.com

 

Facebook is preparing the process of becoming a publicly-listed company this week, valuing the social networking site at between $75 billion and $100 billion, reports suggest.

Facebook plans to file papers with the US financial watchdog on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The flotation later this year would raise about $10 billion, they reported.

This would be one of the biggest share sales seen on Wall Street.

It would dwarf the $1.9 billion raised by Google when it went public in 2004.

It would still, however, be some way short of the $20 billion raised by carmaker General Motors in November 2010.

The reports suggest that Morgan Stanley will be the lead underwriter for the sale, with Goldman Sachs also expected to be heavily involved.

Rumours of Facebook’s so-called initial public offering (IPO) have circulated for many months, and the company has maintained it will not comment on the subject.

The reported valuation would make Facebook one of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization.

“Facebook a brilliant achievement, but $75-$100 billion? Would make Apple look really cheap,” said Rupert Murdoch on Twitter.

Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students at Harvard University in 2004 and has quickly grown to become one of the world’s most popular websites.

It makes most of its money through advertising.