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If you're a Facebook addict just like me, you've probably seen this already:

Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about th e new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog. If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check ou t our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Okay, I'm not that addicted to Facebook to join the virtual mob against moves t o change the privacy terms of this popular social network. But some of the 175 million subscribers are up in arms, including tech expert Leo Laporte. (One of his more recent twe ets declare: Facebook bac ks down. Put down the pitchforks and call off the rabble. http://bit.ly/zM1gy). So what's this fuss all about and why are people against this new privacy polic y. In a blog, Facebook fou nder Mark Zuckerberg explains:

Our next version will be a substantial revision from where we are n ow. It will reflect the principles I described yesterday around how people share and control thei r information, and it will be written clearly in language everyone can understa nd. Since this will be the governing document that we'll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms. You have my commitment that we'll do all of these things, but in order to do th em right it will take a little bit of time. We expect to complete this in the n ext few weeks. In the meantime, we've changed the terms back to what existed be fore the February 4th change, which was what most people asked us for and was t he recommendation of the outside experts we consulted.

Actually, you can be part of the writing of this new privacy policy, which Face book calls the Bills of Rights and Responsibilities. Go check it out.

By Anna Valmero INQUIRER.net PARAÃAQUE City, Philippines -- Blogs are also business tools, according to some Filipino bloggers. Apart from being personal diaries, blogs are increasingly becoming sources of i ncome for some bloggers. Janette Toral, blogg er and author of DigitalFilipino.com E-Commerce Workshop E-Book, says some Filipino bloggers have turned their blogs to effective tools for advertis ing. Combining e-commerce and blogging, for instance, allows people to earn some inc ome while doing what they are passionate about: blogging. But before turning a blog into something income-generating, she says it is impo rtant to maintain a consistent following. Content remains king in blogs. âThere was a time I did not update my blog for a month but still tra ffic is consistent, I think it really boils down to good content and good keywo rds for each entry,â blogger Jehzeel Laurente of Jehzlau Concepts adds. The 22-year old blogger from Davao says he earns enough income from blogging to support his stay in Manila. Laurente said he is able to maintain traffic growth in his blog through good co ntent and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, a means to increase a bl ogs or a websites so-called page ranking in search engines like Google or Yahoo ! SEO involves combining good blog design and content using keywords to increase the chances of blogs of landing on top of, say, a Google search. âBased on the top 100 list, bloggers need to create good content, use of SEO to ols like keywords to help define the blog,â Toral concurs. During a blogger awarding cum eyeball at the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Co rp. in Parañaque City, Filipino bloggers who were attracting a large traffic o f viewers were a colorful mix of personalities, age, niche topics, location and gender. One of them is Filipino overseas worker and blogger Rheynz who is behind ReynaElena.com. This blogger thi nks her blog appeals to a niche market of OFWs. Based in Philadelphia, she says 80 percent of the blogâs readers are Filipinos based abroad and in the country . Also based on the traffic Filipino travel, food, parenting, photography and gen der blogs, such as baklaako.com, are getting, Filipino readers have varying tas tes. Which only means that during this period of economic crunch, bloggers need not look far to find ways to earn some income and feed people's thirst for informat ion and good content.

MIKEE Cojuangco-Jaworski has revealed in this video interview with INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Octia that all the Friendster accounts about her are fake. Cojuangco-Jaworski, however, has a Multiply site, which features photos of her, her children , family, among others. Watch her video interview.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- Since he first started blogging in 2003, Filipino singer and composer Jim Paredes can still recall the thrill of putting his thoughts i n cyberspace and getting quick responses from people. "Itâs as if the Internet was my nervous system and cyberspace was my barangay," Paredes said as he described his feeling when he first started blogging. Paredes, who migrated with his family to Australia in 2006, has been known for his music and compositions, his career on Philippine television, and his being a member of the APO Hiking Society, a singing group composed of Danny Javier, B oboy Garrovillo and himself. "I've been blogging since 2003. I felt the need to express myself outside of my usual venues like music, recordings, TV, etc. I also discovered I like talking to a world audience and receiving quick reactions and feedback," Paredes said. Paredes writes, or as he puts it, "talks" about art, humor, feelings, music, tr avel, family, migration and issues that delve somewhat on the inner life and sp irituality in his blog. What does Paredes think about blogging? "Blogging has given me an added audience that I could not previously access. In a way, they have gotten to know me more intimately than what they could read a nd watch in traditional media. Even APO's traditional audience has reconnected with us through the net. The Internet is an intimate medium and people like tha t," he said. Paredes admitted that many of their recent gigs came about because "producers c an now access us directly." "Our audience can send us email regarding their song requests, and we get insta nt reactions right after the gigs. Then there's Youtube as well and their own b logs where they write reviews. It's a small cyberworld," he said. Paredes said his children also keep their own blogs. "It is a way for me to know where they are when I am physically away from them. In a strange way, our life in Sydney has become some sort of reality show in c yberspace since people follow up on how we are doing," he said. Paredes is all over cyberspace. "I have Multiply, Wordpress, Facebook and Blogger accounts. I will be blogging for a long time. It's a habit I have developed and I love to do it," he said. Asked about blogging's role for Filipino celebrities now living abroad, Paredes replied, "It is a lifeline to your audience. In a way, the distance between a celebrity and his audience is diminished somewhat since now, they can access a celebrity's family photos, read his or her thoughts and opinions, even about th ings that are personal and very recent which traditional media cannot always pr ovide. Cyberspace has made the world borderless. Chat, podcasts can keep everyo ne in touch."

By Abigail Kwok INQUIRER.net ARE you tired of reading lengthy blog entries that speak of philosophical topic s that almost give you a headache? Never fear, Twitterâs here! Twitter is the newest blog site that is uniquely different from its other blog counterparts. The concept of Twitter is micro blogging. That is, you write abou t minute things and details about you or just about anything and everything. Mi cro blogging, in short, allows you to revert to those old school diary entries that go something like,

âDear diary, today I went to school. The teacher gave us a pop quiz. I had lunch at the cafeteria. I went home at 4PM.â

Founded in 2006, Twitter has since gained a huge following, with site visits re aching up to 500,000 in July of this year. You may think this is a step backwards from the modern blogging world as blogs today are a proven worldwide revolution, able to spark change in societies (or even start an argument). In fact, blogs were even viewed as threats by some cou ntries like China, which even banned some of them altogether. But Twitter is actually very helpful for some, as it has been used in emergency situations like the latest California wildfire that occurred just last October . In that incident, Twitter was used by the fire department as their main means of communicating with one another. The concept of Twitter is to answer the basic question, âWhat are you doing?â F rom here you can post anything from your activities to your feelings at that mo ment. The process of posting updates at Twitter is dubbed âTwittering.â A member can twitter away almost every minute if he pleases. Some twitter so fr equently that friends subscribed to his profile were getting annoyed at updates sent through their cellular phones. In fact, The Wall Street Journal reported that topics people twitter about range from their lunch (fried chicken and past a, anyone?) to pet peeves (buses along EDSA). Anyone can twitter using their ce ll phones, so just imagine how many updates you can receive in a day! If youâre familiar with Fri endster and Facebookâ s status update, thatâs exactly how Twitter works. Twitter is also a form of so cial networking, where you can hook up with your friends or build your own netw ork based on common interests. Other features of Twitter include SMS and IM upd ates, so you can update everyone wherever you are. Twitter is a breakthrough, in my opinion. Apart from being very user-friendly a nd easy to navigate, Twitter recognizes the fact that online readers have short attention spans. No matter how great a writer is, people will eventually get b ored reading lengthy articles or anecdotes from him because, a.) Reading from t he computer can give you a nasty headache and blurry vision; and b.) People jus t want to browse and get on with everything else in their lives. And although some may think it shallow to read other peopleâs activities and th oughts, you have to admit that everyoneâs a gossip freak. We all want to know w hatâs happening in other peopleâs lives. After all, we are curious folk. Even t he most mundane things can actually draw our attention. Not only that, you can also meet long lost friends through Twitter. Itâs funny how some people develop closer relationships with the people they interact with in their online network as compared to their social friends and families. Despite of some people getting annoyed at Twitter updates (hey, you can turn of f the notifications!) the blog site continues to gain a massive following. Add to that, most of the members of Twitter admit to the siteâs âaddictingâ factor. Like Friendster and Multiply , Twitter is fast attracting the Filipino online community, so this will de finitely be an addition to those friendsâ updates you receive everyday via e-ma il. Brace yourselves, folks!

AILEEN APOLO, Google country representative to the Philippines, is organizing a blogger event on July 3. Over 100 bloggers are being encouraged to sign up for a sampling of Taste of Asia located at the SM H ypermart at the SM Mall of Asia. Specifically, the details are as follows: WHO: Bloggers of all ages and sizes WHAT: SM Hypermarket invites bloggers to get a "Taste of Asia" WHEN: July 3, 2007 7 p.m. WHERE: Taste of Asia, SM Mall of Asia To join, you just need to have a blog and register by leaving a comment here or here, here or here. There are limited slots available (100!) so try your best to grab slots within the coordinators' blogs.