Mark Zuckerberg has been called many things — a punk, a genius, a traitor, a billionaire — but he’s also been called some unkinder things, and not just by people trying to promote some movie, but by random people searching Google. Publisher Exclusive Books makes a point of this fact in this ad for self-help books: All of the above are actual popular Google searches that follow “Mark Zuckerberg is.”

To those who think that he’s a thieving colorblind loser Antichrist, Zuckerberg is still “doing things that no one in this room, including and especially [you], are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.”

(via Copyranter)

Facebook overlord Mark Zuckerberg has obtained a restraining order against Pradeep Manukonda, 31, claiming Manukonda is stalking him, putting the safety of Zuckerberg, his sister, and his girlfriend at risk.

TMZ reports that law enforcement “sources” say Manukonda has visited several Facebook offices attempting to get into contact with Zuckerberg in order to ask him for money for his family, and has supposedly even sent flowers and a hand-written letter to Zuckerberg’s home.

Head on past the break to check out one of Manukonda’s somewhat creepy Facebook messages to Zuckerberg.

New dating site Lovely-Faces.com launched with over 250,000 member profiles, but rather than being a promising launch for a heavily-populated future, it turned out the site was basically a prank; one that happened to scrape all of their “launch member” profiles from Facebook (including names, locations and photos), then reuse them on the fake dating site. Head on past the break for details.

Beat that, Mark Zuckerberg: A Norwegian member of Parliament has nominated WikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, citing the organization’s important contributions to “freedom of speech and transparency.”

One day after the deadline for new nominations had expired, parliamentarian Snorre Valen announced that he had nominated WikiLeaks; MPs are not technically supposed to reveal their proposals, but there are no formal rules against their doing so.

The member of parliament for the Socialist Left Party, part of Norway’s ruling red-green coalition, also noted WikiLeaks publication of documents relating to corruption by authorities, governments and corporations as well as “illegal surveillance, war crimes and torture committed by a number of states”.

Last year, the editors of Wired‘s Italian edition proposed that the Internet receive a Nobel Peace Prize; however, whereas that nomination was suggestive and unofficial, as a member of a national assembly or state government, Snorre’s WikiLeaks nomination is a valid one, per the Nobel Foundation’s statutes, and will be considered by the Nobel Committee. According to the Nobel website, “The Committee seeks to achieve unanimity in its selection of the Peace Prize Laureate, [and] on the rare occasions when this proves impossible, the selection is decided by a simple majority vote,” so this likely controversial (and non-corporeal) pick may not have legs, though it remains quite a statement.

(Times Live via Reddit)

Oftentimes, when a public figure has been maligned in the press, they try to redeem themselves by showing that they have a sense of humor about themselves, that they’re not the self-absorbed wanker we think they are. Saturday Night Live is usually a choice venue for redemption because most likely, the cast and writers have already had their shot, but they’re a bunch of comedy nerds who don’t really want to cause a stir with people they come into direct contact with (who are also billionaires). Sometimes, these public figures come on the show and fail. But Mark Zuckerberg? Success.

An anonymous hacker hacked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page and left the following message:

“Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus described it? [LINK] What do you think? #hackercup2011“

Hilariously enough, more than 1,800 people “liked” the message before Facebook took down Zuckerberg’s page. At this time, Facebook hasn’t yet divulged details about the hack, and really, they probably shouldn’t tell everyone how to hack their site.

Though seemingly unrelated, this breach of security happened only one day before Facebook announced new security measures being added to the site, such as an option for constant HTTPS connections and social captchas, which are versions of captchas that ask users to identify pictures of their friends rather than type in words obscured by visual effects.

(Help Net Security via Slashdot)

…And he’s the good guy. The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal says that the protest banner thanks Zuckerberg due to social media’s role in organizing the Tunisian people to overthrow a corrupt government. That guy on the “evil” side of the spectrum is Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted from power earlier this month and fled to Saudi Arabia. This photo was taken outside of Tunisia’s Saudi Arabian embassy.

(Atlantic via Jeff Jarvis)

Last night, the Social Network won four of its six Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Having already done very well critically, currently sitting at a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, these Golden Globe wins put The Social Network in very strong position for taking home some Oscars as well.

The success of the movie, which chronicles the birth of the Facebook social networking site, comes as a bit of a surprise since it is, after all, a movie about a website. Let’s just say that again: it’s a movie about a website. Despite that inauspicious concept, it has garnered much praise for the careful dissection of a modern cultural phenomena and the players behind it. The fact that this film took home so many top awards is just another sign that the world is getting more and more comfortable with living in an online world. With Oscar nominations coming out in late January, we’ll see just how far that comfort goes.

(Via Mashable, image via Wikipedia)

It’s been confirmed: MySpace has laid off almost 500 of its employees in an attempt to “provide the company with a clear path for sustained growth and profitability.” This comes after a major redesign, rebranding, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg being named Time‘s Person of the Year. In November, MySpace actually started integrating posting with Facebook, signaling an acknowledgement that some of its users were making a transition in their social networking preferences.

So, is MySpace going the way of Friendster? Maybe, if Friendster had ceased to exist, which it hasn’t. It’s just a “social gaming site” now.

(TechCrunch)

Who knew that the Weekly World News, formerly the black-and-white tabloid of Bat Boy fame, still had the power to spark a bona fide hoax? But that’s just what it did with an article titled “FACEBOOK WILL END ON MARCH 15th!” Gawker informs us that “is facebook shutting down” subsequently became one of the most-searched-for phrases online yesterday.

Per Weekly World News, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is just too doggone stressed out to continue helming his multibillion dollar empire:

“Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.”

…

“After March 15th the whole website shuts down,” said Avrat Humarthi, Vice President of Technical Affairs at Facebook. “So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won’t be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business.”

Zuckerberg said that the decision to shut down Facebook was difficult, but that he does not think people will be upset.

“I personally don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said in a private phone interview. “And to be honest, I think it’s for the better. Without Facebook, people will have to go outside and make real friends. That’s always a good thing.”

See the satire there in that last paragraph? It was apparently lost on many. Facebook had to squash the rumor via Twitter:

We didn’t get the memo about shutting down, so we’ll keep working away. We aren’t going anywhere; we’re just getting started.

(WWN via Gawker via Flavorwire)