Communications Major

WhatsApp, the largest messaging service in the world, will now be under the command of Facebook.

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app for smartphones, according to OnDevice Research.

Buying WhatsApp will only bolster Facebook's already strong position in the crowded messaging world. Messenger, Facebook's a standalone messaging app for mobile devices, is second only to WhatsApp in its share of the smartphone market.

New shopping services will allow consumers to instantly buy items they see on television, in magazines and even in their refrigerators.

Instagram has blocked a large number of hashtags — the keywords people use with "#" as a prefix to make their images more searchable — and unsurprisingly most of them are obscenities. The Data Pack has a large list of hashtags that Instagram has rendered unsearchable. You can tag your photos with them, but doing so is meaningless because no one will be able to search for them.

Smartphones are keepiing people under 30 connected in a way that owning a car used to. And as such, smartphones compete against cars for young people’s big-ticket dollars, since the cost of a good phone and data plan can exceed $1,000 a year.

Vine, the 6-second video app, is launching many wannabe videomakers taking short shots of their walks, dinners and tourist attractions. But a new phenomenon has emerged. Making trailers of already-existing movies, presumably by pointing mobile phones at laptop, tablet or TV screens.

Can a Snapchat-like app be built to deal with email overload?

If you're over 25 (or under 13), you are forgiven. Those carefree, youthful years between 13 and 25 are the sweet spot demographic for our connected culture's latest cause célèbre. Snapchat is an app that lets you send a photo to one - or hundreds - that has a shelf-life of about 10 seconds. You set the limits, but once your friend(s) see the image it will vanish from the online ether before you can even think to share it.

To get adults' attention, the typical stories making the rounds are that Snapchat can really up your sexting game. If Anthony Weiner had Snapchat instead of Twitter, he'd be President by now (or at least still have his seat in Congress).

Teach your children well. A mom gave her 13-year-old son an iPhone for Christmas. But before he could even turn it on, she had him sign this 18-point agreement on the conditions of use, such as always answer it when the caller is "Mom" or "Dad", turn it off in public and remember, who is paying the monthly fees (Mom).

In politics, image is king, and every politician knows it. So, it's surprising to see the president caught in a three-way selfie at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in South Africa, even if the other two people in the picture are the British and Danish Prime Ministers. The now iconic picture, snapped by an AFP photographer, speaks more than its thousand-word allotment — largely because Michelle Obama appears to be the only one showing any decorum.

A short history of BlackBerry smartphones, which now may be destined to become relics.

\Customers of the social networking giant continue to shift toward mobile phones and tablets to gain access to the site instead of a PC.

Remember MySpace? Sure you do. You probably even have an old account kicking around somewhere from before you got hooked on Facebook and Twitter. Like from 2008, maybe? Well, it's been some time, but MySpace is re-entering the social media world (and a lot has changed!). The site is targeting the 13-30-year-old demographic. So, if you are 31+ no need to read further....

A couple of months ago there seemed to be a mini-backlash against us amateur mobile food photo junkies taking pics of our meals. This wasn't just at your classy carpaccio-serving joints (pictured at the left), it even happened at a McDonalds!

But it was a backlash against providing a hungry audience with a steady stream of "food porn" that never really went anywhere.

From Justin Bieber to the Obamas and Madonna, the self-taken cameraphone photo – now a staple of Instagram and Twitter – has become one of the cultural markers of our time.

They're basically America's awesome kid sisters, and the inauguration was their day to shine. Photo bombing, yawning, texting and boredom during their Dad's big day. Sasha and Malia rock!