Social-networking giant Facebook and software major Microsoft on Friday disclosed the total number of legal orders they received for user data from various U. S. government entities.

Facebook disclosed that it 9,000 to 10,000 legal orders during the second half of 2012, asking for user data relating to 18,000 to 19,000 accounts.

Facebook recently scored a victory in its lawsuit against a number of so-called domain squatters, who had registered more than one hundred variations of the social-networking site's name.

Facebook's soon-to-be-launched new mobile application `Home' is expected to generate a major opportunity for brands and retailers.

The social-networking giant has so far made no clear statement on whether or not will incorporate ads into the Home application, but it is widely expected to do that sometime in the future.  

Facebook has invited the press to a special event at its Menlo Park, Calif.-headquarters to show off a new Android-based product, in a development that trigger speculation the social-networking firm will unveil a Facebook-centric smartphone.

Facebook yesterday sent out invites to the press asking members to "Come See Our New Home on Android" during the event scheduled for April 4.

Popular social-networking site Facebook on Thursday gave a major facelift to its home page, referring to the new design as the groundwork for building the best personalized newspaper.

Reporting Facebook's 2102 fourth-quarter earnings during a recent conference call with financial analysts, the social network's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the mentioned quarter witnessed a 40 percent year-on-year increase in the company's revenue; with the number of daily mobile users surpassing daily Web-user numbers for the first time ever.

Facebook, the world's most popular social network, can cause jealousy and trigger feelings of dissatisfaction, misery as well as loneliness, according to a newly published study by German researchers.