Facebook

Ben Cardin held off about as long as possible for a modern politician, but he finally caved to intense pressure. He launched a Facebook page. "Back in 1966, when I first ran for the Maryland House of Delegates, there was no Facebook, no Twitter, no YouTube -- not even the Internet," he writes in an e-mail that just popped up on my computer. "All we had to get our message out were yard signs, fliers, volunteers and a whole lot of determination. "But while the way we communicate has changed a lot, my dedication to improving the lives of the people of Maryland hasn't.

I see you have another article about employers looking at people's pages on Facebook. But the solution is obvious. Don't waste your time on Facebook, and you don't have to worry about people looking at it. Problem solved. You're welcome. William Smith, Baltimore

The Federal Trade Commission announced that Facebook agreed to settle a complaint that the social media site deceived consumers by promising to keep information private and then sharing it. As part of the settlement, Facebook promised to get consumers' consent before sharing their information outside of the privacy boundaries they set. According to the FTC , here are some of its complaints against Facebook: “In December 2009,...

You've been out of a job for awhile and finally land an interview. The interviewer asks you for your Facebook password. Do you swallow your outrage and give it up, hoping there's nothing incriminating? Or, do you refuse, knowing you'll likely not get the job? If proposed Maryland legislation gets passed, you won't have to make that choice. A bill now making its way through the General Assembly would make it illegal for an employer to ask for your user name or password to access your personal accounts.

I got engaged a few of weeks ago. My fiancé took me to the park with our dog and proposed to me by rocks overlooking the Loch Raven Reservoir. This is a very special place for us, and he even laid out roses (who knew he could be such a romantic?).  After the excitement of realizing that I had just gotten engaged, I was so anxious to tell the world but I knew I couldn't just yet!  Social media is popular these days but it is so important that any important news you may have be shared with your loved ones before the Internet.  It can be hurtful for friends and family members to find out about your engagement through Facebook, although it does happen quite often.

As part of its public offering roadshow, Facebook executives met Tuesday evening with managers of T. Rowe Price, whose stake in the social media company could be worth as much as $637 million in the public market. Price owns more than 18 million Facebook shares in its mutual funds as well as in accounts it manages for clients, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Facebook priced its initial public offering between $28 and $35 per share, which means Price's holdings could range from $509 million to $637 million.

If you have tickets to the Harbaugh Bowl and like tagging yourself on Facebook, then I've got a news item for you. The Ravens will debut a cool piece of technology called the Ravens FanCam at Thursday night's game at M&T Bank Stadium. Before the game, a 360-degree, high-definition camera will snap a photograph of the crowd at the stadium. It has a resolution of 10 billion pixels, so every person in attendance can be found in the photo. The Ravens will put the photo on Facebook so fans can find themselves and tag appropriately on Facebook.

Some of the jurors who convicted Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon of a misdemeanor embezzlement charge have reportedly continued to communicate on Facebook even though a judge asked them not to talk about the case. Five jurors who became friends on the social-networking site during the trial have been ordered to testify at a hearing Wednesday on Dixon's motion for a new trial. Judge Dennis M. Sweeney sent the jurors a letter on Dec. 22 requesting that the five bring printouts of all their Facebook communications from Nov. 9 to Dec. 1, when Dixon's trial was under way. He said he will "make every effort" to be sure that personal messages not related to the trial are not made part of the public record.

Between scenes on "The Social Network," which shot for three days last November at Johns Hopkins sites doubling for Harvard, Jesse Eisenberg sat on a folding chair at an empty folding table across from the Baltimore Museum of Art , dressed in a grey Gap hoodie, reading Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. " Although "Adventureland" and "Zombieland" had won him acclaim and a bit of fame, passers-by might have thought Eisenberg was a Hopkins undergraduate killing time on a slow Tuesday with a quality paperback.

A few hours after confirming to reporters that he wants his old job back, former Gov. Robert. L. Ehrlich Jr. relayed the news to his 14,000-plus Facebook fans. The race will pit the only Republican in a generation elected to lead Maryland against Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley, who defeated him by more than six percentage points in 2006. Ehrlich's status update at 5:41 p.m. Tuesday: "Are you ready to take back Maryland? I will formally kick off my campaign for Governor next week.