In the past week, Facebook has developed a new way for you express your interests all across the web from sites like Pandora to ESPN to The NY Times. The social media giant did this through the introduction of a universal "Like" button that will revolutionize how Facebook gets to know more about your preferences. Gone are the fan pages that users could join.

Enter the new "Like" button that once Facebook users click on, will not only give those sites the ability to send users new material, but that action of liking gives the publisher a link on the users page as well as a means to later publish on their newsfeed. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg uses the term "Open Graph" to describe this process of sharing web content with all your friends.

According to Zuckerberg, "We're building toward a web where the default is social. Every application and product will be redesigned from the ground up to use a person's real identity and friends." With this new Like feature, Zuckerberg states that Facebook will be able to tailor messages based on a user's Like history.

Over the next few weeks, users will being to notice Facebook Like buttons showing up all over the internet. Zuckerberg predicted that within 24 hours more than a billion "Like" buttons scattered all over the web. For instance, now on Pandora whenever a song from a certain band appears, the profile picture of one of your friends who also likes that band will be published directly next to it.

This is definitely significant in terms of targeting individuals. Facebook has taken the concept of behavioral targeting a step further and has now introduced a form of relationship targeting that will be going after users based on not only their likes and interests but their friends as well.

This has raised the concern of people like Senator Schumer who believe that new guidelines for privacy settings in social networks need to be put in place as a result. Zuckerberg argues that this new feature "shows no new information to anyone than was previously visible."

Losing a phone at a bar isn’t necessarily a rare thing to happen to YAYAs, but then again, the phone in question isn’t the next iPhone. That’s what happened to 27-year-old Gray Powell, an Apple Software Engineer that left the prototype behind while he was out celebrating his birthday at a bar. The phone was found and sold to Gizmodo.com for $5,000. The gadget site posted info and photos of the phone, much to the chagrin of Apple. The phone has since been returned, but the photos still remain on the site.

The issue brings up an interesting PR situation for Apple, Gizmodo, and poor Mr. Powell. Apple is a company that prides itself on keeping their latest technology hush hush. While this leaked info will certainly have Mac fans drooling over the new phone, the company’s now lost a competitive edge over competitors. Apple also has to approach dealing with Powell carefully. An instant Internet star, Facebook users have already created fan groups pleading Apple not to terminate the engineer. Will Apple lose face if they do can the guy for making an honest mistake?

On that same note, Gizmodo is receiving some backlash for leaking the iPhone info. While the site is getting plenty of hits from die-hard techies, it’s also getting complaints from pro-Powell people scolding them for making his name public.
It just goes to show how a simple little mistake can lead to big problems for all parties involved. Will Mac-friendly YAYAs revolt if an engineer gets sacked that could easily happen to them on a given weekend out? Personal privacy is also important to YAYAs; would they be angry with Gizmodo for making Powell’s name public? What do you think?

You can check out the new iPhone info and the story of how it was lost and found at http://gizmodo.com/5520438/how-apple-lost-the-next-iphone