There’s a new href="http://mashable.com/tag/chatroulette/">Chatroulette clone on the block. It’s called iChatr, but it’s different from href="http://mashable.com/2010/04/12/12-chatroulette-clones-you-should-try/">all the others; it’s an app for the href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/07/iphone-4g-announced/">iPhone 4’s front-facing href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/07/facetime/">FaceTime camera. /> id="more-327298"> /> The free app is already out in the href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ichatr-random-video-chat/id379478510?mt=8" >Apple App Store [iTunes link], and we’ve got to admit that the execution is fairly elegant, and just as minimalistic as the site that inspired it. There’s not even a sign-in process — I was surprised to find that I was face-to-face with a stranger an instant after I tapped the icon in my home screen.

The top half of the screen displays whatever your FaceTime camera is capturing while the bottom half displays that of your current chatting partner. In lieu of a “Next” button, you just swipe the bottom image if you want to skip to someone else.

You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to use the app, despite the fact that another app called href="http://mashable.com/2010/07/08/fring-3g-video-calling/">Fring already offers video chat over 3G. You’ll also need to plug in the earbud/microphone combo that came with your phone to converse with the person on the other end, in part because the app doesn’t have a text chat room like Chatroulette does.

I didn’t see any href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/14/chatroulette-decline/">naked exhibitionists when I used the app, but it was similar to Chatroulette in one respect. You need a thick skin because almost everyone you talk to will swipe you away within seconds — unless you’re a href="http://mashable.com/2010/02/24/chatroulette-explained-video/">pretty girl, I assume!

[via href="http://gizmodo.com/5583806/the-ichatr-app-brings-chatroulette+style-mischief-to-your-iphone-4" >Gizmodo]

/>

Screenshot

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/ichatr-640.jpg" alt="" title="ichatr-640" width="640" height="960" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-327324" />

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/337614-Fring" >Fring

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/app/">App, href="http://mashable.com/tag/apple/">apple, href="http://mashable.com/tag/apple-app-store/">apple app store, href="http://mashable.com/tag/camera/">camera, href="http://mashable.com/tag/chatroulette/">chatroulette, href="http://mashable.com/tag/facetime/">facetime, href="http://mashable.com/tag/ichatr/">iChatr, href="http://mashable.com/tag/iphone/">iphone, href="http://mashable.com/tag/iphone-4/">iphone 4, href="http://mashable.com/tag/mobile/">Mobile 2.0, href="http://mashable.com/tag/video/">video, href="http://mashable.com/tag/video-chat/">video chat

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/apple/">Apple coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashableapple" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Apple on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.apple" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/apple" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Apple channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

We’ve all grown accustomed to the online jargon, shorthands and acronyms that have developed over decades of Internet use. Silly as they might be, most of us are guilty of truncating, abbreviating or misspelling words to save a few seconds here and there.

The jury is still out on whether the seconds have added up to much or not, but linguists have had a field day studying online lingual behaviors and their href="http://books.google.com/books?id=X8-gaJM6NUIC" >effects on offline writing and speech.

Nevertheless, it’s interesting to look at how pre-Internet acronyms and abbreviations like “LOL” have taken on new meanings (“laughing out loud”) with the introduction of widely popular Internet idioms.

Below, you’ll find a list of 13 Internet acronyms and slang terms with unexpected alternative meanings, ranging from downright unpredictable to hilariously ironic. Add your favorites in the comments below.

1. LOL

Before netizens had us “laughing out loud,” there were little old ladies participating in less bone-tickling happenings. LOL in the medical world identifies a patient as a Little Old Lady. Sometimes, in lieu of actual medical terminology, physicians use shorthands like LOLFDGB (Little Old Lady, Fall Down, Go Boom) and LOLINAD (Little Old Lady In No Apparent Distress) on patient records to describe the health statuses of hospitalized elderly females.

A href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1276333/" >study published by Peter E. Dans, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHMS) in 2002, looked at the use of and perceived usefulness of pejorative medical terms among JHMS graduating seniors. While the use of such terms are well documented, only 2 to 13 percent of surveyed medical classes considered usage of terms like LOLINAD and LOLFDGB to be helpful, whereas 30 to 50 percent of classes considered it harmful. Interestingly enough, such terms were used frequently for self-destructive or abusive patients.

2. BRB

BRB (Be Right Back) is one of the more polite online abbreviations; respectfully letting fellow chatters know that you’ll be taking a brief vacation from your keyboard.

Traditionally, however, BRB refers to a Big Red Button, an important, non-descript button associated with a power, reset, detonation, self-destruction, emergency shut-down, or ejection switch. The only real rule for the BRB is “do not press,” unless it’s an extremely dire situation, of course.

One of the most interesting uses occurred during the Cold War, when the BRB was used in fictional writing to describe a device that could launch doomsday, an all-out nuclear catastrophe.

Other Big Red Buttons have been used in href="http://www.eunos.com/keith/brb/index.html" >car ignition, href="http://blogs.sun.com/blackbox/entry/tested_big_red_button" >computing and href="http://vimeo.com/1489859" >cartooning. The BRB has even been featured in an href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dont-push-the-red-button/id330560517" >iPhone app.

3. IDK

Does anyone remember going to Wal-Mart or the local fair as kid to get your fingerprints recorded for an href="http://www.ident-a-kid.com/" >Ident-A-Kid card? I certainly do. My little brother and I felt like super stars getting our fingerprints taken for our very first ID card, complete with photo.

It’s ironic that IDK once stood for “Ident-A-Kid,” the largest child-identification program in the United States, but is now a popular acronym for “I don’t know.” Of all programs, I’d vouch to say Ident-A-Kid is definitely in the know!

4. BFF

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/binary-code-mahable-rocks.jpg" alt="" title="binary code mahable rocks" width="640" height="220" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-321324" />

For all the teenyboppers out there, BFF will always mean “Best Friends Forever.” But had you asked a computer programmer in the late 1980s or early 1990s, they may have said that BFF referred to href="http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~cristina/students/david/honoursThesis96/bff.htm" >Binary File Format, a procedure for storing computer files encoded in binary.

Had you mentioned BFF to any piano pop fanboy in the 1990s, you’d likely get a comment about the musical wonders of href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfamTmY5REw" >Ben Folds Five and his trademark glasses.

5. OMG

OMG is an Internet acronym used to express shock or amazement and can be translated as, “Oh my God/gosh/goodness,” depending on your comfortableness with using the Lord’s name in vain. But that’s not the only thing to be shocked about. Law enforcement officers use OMG to refer to “Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.” One of the most href="http://listverse.com/2009/08/18/top-10-notorious-american-biker-gangs/" >notorious OMGs in America is the href="http://www.outlawsmc.com/" >Outlaws Motorcycle Club, founded in 1935.

OMGs are seen as such a threat that organizations such as the href="https://www.iomgia.net/" >International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association (IOMGIA) exist purely to train law enforcement officers on dealing with these biker gangs.

6. PLZ

Used online to quickly say “please,” PLZ is also well-known in aviation as the airport code for the href="http://www.worldtravelguide.net/airport/399/airport_guide/Africa/Port-Elizabeth-Airport.html" >Port Elizabeth Airport in South Africa. The airport was recently upgraded to accommodate the increased traffic due to the href="http://mashable.com/tag/world-cup/">2010 FIFA World Cup.

7. CYA

Usually, the Internet version of an acronym is way more vulgar than the “real life” application. Not this time. CYA in online speak is a pleasant misspelling of “see ya,” but for politicians, physicians, journalists and law enforcement officers, CYA is a sneaky acronym for “Cover Your Ass.”

Some href="http://gudlaif.blogspot.com/2008/11/mediocrity-is-poweful.html" >CYA tactics include copying a boatload of people on all e-mails, getting signatures for everything, avoiding commitment dates, and refusing to answer complicated questions.

Check out the document above, with the conspicuous subject of “CYA.” This document was used by CBS News on a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/15/60II/main643768.shtml" >60 Minutes broadcast presented by Dan Rather about President George W. Bush’s service in the Air National Guard and so-called failure to live up to requirements. The authenticity of the document, along with a few others, has been highly criticized, and the debacle has been called the “Killian documents controversy,” after Bush’s commander, the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian.

8. BTW

FYI, BTW isn’t just short for “by the way.” It’s also an acronym for href="http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/wiccantraditions/p/BritishTradWicca.htm" >British Traditional Wicca. BTW refers to branches of the Neo-Pagan religion Wicca that have origins in the New Forest area of England.

The traditions of Gardnerian and Alexandria Wicca follow the initiatory lineage of Gerald Brosseau Gardner and are collectively known as British Traditional Wicca, or BTW for short.

9. FML

Before href="http://www.fmylife.com/" >FML (F*ck My Life) became a popular site for telling screwed up life stories, FML stood for something much more family-friendly: href="http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/400/481.pdf" >Family and Medical Leave. FML made a splash in 1993 when the Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton to “provide guidance on unpaid family and medical leave to employees.”

10. DOS

The original use of DOS (Disk Operating System) is already a bit antiquated, but there’s something about that black DOS screen that just brings back great memories — namely contracting dysentery, buying family members and losing an ox on href="http://web.archive.org/web/20070628002639/siliconuser.com/?q=node/12" >The Oregon Trail.

If you thought that was old-school, here’s something even more ancient: DOS once stood for href="http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapglossary/g/dos.htm" >Dreaded Orange Spots. These spots have been plaguing soap-makers for ages, and apparently no one really knows why they show up. Possible theories include using soft oils, incomplete curing, high humidity, over superfatting or oxidation, according to href="http://www.soapnaturally.org/DOS.html" >Ersilia Vitale, an experienced soapmaker.

11. ROFL

ROFL is currently known as “Rolling on Floor Laughing,” one step above LOL. However, back in the day ROFL was also the acronym used by Clan 52 of href="http://www.medievia.com/" >Medievia, better known as href="http://www.medievia.com/ms/clan52.html" >“Rogues Of the Forbidden Legion.

Medievia is an online, fantasy-themed, text-based game founded in 1992. ROFL made its appearance in 1998 and officially href="http://www.medievia.com/ms/2clan52.html" >disbanded in 2001, to the disappointment of the Medievia community and their clan leader, Tharghan.

Seriously, I couldn’t make this stuff up.

12. THX

Are you a Star Wars fan? Or maybe just a fan of George Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm? If so, you’ll be happy to know that THX isn’t just shorthand for lazy people typing “thanks,” it’s also the acronym for href="http://www.thx.com/" >Tomlinson Holman’s eXperiment, an audio spin-off of Lucasfilm. THX was created by href="http://cinema.usc.edu/faculty/holman-tom.htm" >Tomlinson Holman for the third Star Wars film, to ensure optimal sound quality.

If you’ve been to a movie lately, you’ve undoubtedly heard the “deep note” crescendo. Check out the video above for a memory jog.

13. BC

Before there was a shorthand for “because,” there was href="http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/referenceencyclopedia/g/glbc.htm" >Christ. Even before that, there was BC, or “Before Christ,” an English language acronym demarcating the epoch before he was born. Enough said.

And U?

I could go on and on with this list, but I’d rather see what “U” have to say. What are some of your favorite Internet acronyms and slang terms with interesting alternative meanings?

[img credits: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/seeminglee/" >See-ming Lee href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rileyroxx/" >rileyroxx, href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wlodi/" >wlodi, href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aragon5/" >aragon5, href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3AWitchcraft_Today.JPG" >Kim Dent-Brown, href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabi_menashe/" >gabi_menashe, href="http://www.soapnaturally.org/DOS.html" >Soap Naturally, href="http://www.medievia.com" >Medievia, href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian-w-scott/" >Ian W. Scott]

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/600345-FML" >FML, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336650-Facebook" >Facebook, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/603086-Internet" >Internet, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336651-Twitter" >Twitter

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/bc/">bc, href="http://mashable.com/tag/before-christ/">Before Christ, href="http://mashable.com/tag/ben-folds-five/">ben folds five, href="http://mashable.com/tag/bff/">bff, href="http://mashable.com/tag/big-red-button/">big red button, href="http://mashable.com/tag/binary-code/">binary code, href="http://mashable.com/tag/binary-file-format/">binary file format, href="http://mashable.com/tag/brb/">brb, href="http://mashable.com/tag/british-traditional-wicca/">british traditional wicca, href="http://mashable.com/tag/btw/">btw, href="http://mashable.com/tag/by-the-way/">by the way, href="http://mashable.com/tag/clan-52/">Clan 52, href="http://mashable.com/tag/cold-war/">cold war, href="http://mashable.com/tag/cover-your-ass/">cover your ass, href="http://mashable.com/tag/cya/">cya, href="http://mashable.com/tag/disk-operating-system/">disk operating system, href="http://mashable.com/tag/dos/">DoS, href="http://mashable.com/tag/dreaded-orange-spots/">dreaded orange spots, href="http://mashable.com/tag/family-and-medical-leave/">family and medical leave, href="http://mashable.com/tag/fml/">fml, href="http://mashable.com/tag/fmylife/">fmylife, href="http://mashable.com/tag/george-lucas/">George Lucas, href="http://mashable.com/tag/idk/">idk, href="http://mashable.com/tag/indent-a-kid/">indent-a-kid, href="http://mashable.com/tag/internet-acronyms/">internet acronyms, href="http://mashable.com/tag/internet-slang/">internet slang, href="http://mashable.com/tag/jerry-b-killian/">jerry b. killian, href="http://mashable.com/tag/little-old-lady/">little old lady, href="http://mashable.com/tag/little-old-lady-fall-down-go-boom/">little old lady fall down go boom, href="http://mashable.com/tag/little-old-lady-in-no-apparent-distress/">little old lady in no apparent distress, href="http://mashable.com/tag/lol/">lol, href="http://mashable.com/tag/lucasfilm/">Lucasfilm, href="http://mashable.com/tag/meanings/">meanings, href="http://mashable.com/tag/medical/">medical, href="http://mashable.com/tag/medievia/">Medievia, href="http://mashable.com/tag/omg/">omg, href="http://mashable.com/tag/outlaw-motorcycle-gang-investigators-association/">Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, href="http://mashable.com/tag/plz/">plz, href="http://mashable.com/tag/port-authority-airport/">port authority airport, href="http://mashable.com/tag/rofl/">rofl, href="http://mashable.com/tag/rogue-of-the-forbidden-legion/">Rogue of the Forbidden Legion, href="http://mashable.com/tag/rolling-on-floor-laughing/">rolling on floor laughing, href="http://mashable.com/tag/soap/">soap, href="http://mashable.com/tag/south-africa/">South Africa, href="http://mashable.com/tag/thx/">thx, href="http://mashable.com/tag/tomlinson-holman-experiment/">Tomlinson Holman eXperiment, href="http://mashable.com/tag/wicca/">wicca

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/entertainment/">Entertainment coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashentertain" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.entertainment" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/entertainment" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Entertainment channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

href="http://mashable.com/category/google">Google has granted all href="http://mashable.com/tag/google-maps">Google Maps users the ability to view aerial photos taken at a 45° angle. Just zoom in at one of the supported locations and you’ll get a better view than you could before.

The feature was previously only available to developers and as part of href="http://mashable.com/2010/02/12/google-maps-labs/">Labs for Google Maps, a set of work-in-progress features that you had to opt in to. Now href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/07/changing-your-perspective-once-again.html" >anyone who uses Google Maps can see the aerial images, but the locations are limited to just a few cities in Europe and South Africa, and on the west coast of the United States.

These pictures are taken from the air, not from orbit, so they’re sharper and their angle allows you to appreciate landmarks and buildings as they appear from the side, not just directly above. Microsoft’s href="http://mashable.com/tag/bing-maps">Bing Maps has offered similar, higher-quality images by default for some time, so Google’s playing catch-up here.

/>

Where It’s Available

/>

Google Maps 45° aerial imagery is only available for a few locations in North America, Europe and Africa at present, but hopefully it will expand to more locations later. For now, the supported locations include places in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, and Rustenburg in South Africa; Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara in the United States; Dortmund in Germany and Venice in Italy.

Here’s a map of the support locations. You can browse the map yourself at href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&%23038;msa=0&%23038;msid=112099477591857711257.00048ad05c320f746f5c2&%23038;t=h&%23038;ll=8.787199,-45.827047&%23038;spn=85.447389,153.703486&%23038;dap=&%23038;source=embed" >Google’s website.

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/google-aerial-places.jpg" alt="" title="google-aerial-places" width="640" height="407" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-327258" />

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336661-Google" >Google, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/337264-Google-Maps" >Google Maps

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/aerial-imagery/">aerial imagery, href="http://mashable.com/tag/google/">Google, href="http://mashable.com/tag/google-labs/">google labs, href="http://mashable.com/tag/google-maps/">Google Maps, href="http://mashable.com/tag/navigation/">navigation, href="http://mashable.com/tag/satellite-imagery/">satellite imagery

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/social-media/">Social Media coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashsocialmedia" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.socialmedia" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/social-media" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Social Media channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

The href="http://mashable.com/tag/world-cup">World Cup takes the trophy home for another week as expected, with three other related trends in tow – including a jinxing Mick Jagger, a psychic octopus, and a Portuguese footy superstar.

Similar to href="http://mashable.com/2010/07/03/weekly-top-10-twitter-trends/">last week’s trends, American movies continue to rank high, and NBA free agent LeBron James hit the chart at number eight, even before he made his big announcement. We expect to see his name a bit higher up on the list next week.

As always, our partners in data at href="http://www.whatthetrend.com/week_in_review" >What The Trend have provided the complete chart below. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart.

You can check past Twitter trends in our href="http://mashable.com/tag/top-twitter-topics">Top Twitter Topics section as well as read more about this past week’s trends on href="http://www.whatthetrend.com/week_in_review" >What The Trend.

Top Twitter Trends This Week: 6/26 – 7/2 />

---

/>

Image courtesy of rel="nofollow" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/mashableoffer.php">iStockphoto, rel="nofollow" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=1995086">ricardoinfante

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336661-Google" >Google, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336651-Twitter" >Twitter, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/634883-World-Cup" >World Cup, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/462239-harry-potter" >harry potter, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/393797-iStockphoto" >iStockphoto, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/494051-movie" >movie

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/entertainment/">entertainment, href="http://mashable.com/tag/list/">List, href="http://mashable.com/tag/lists/">Lists, href="http://mashable.com/tag/movies/">Movies, href="http://mashable.com/tag/social-media/">social media, href="http://mashable.com/tag/top-twitter-topics/">Top Twitter Topics, href="http://mashable.com/tag/trends/">trends, href="http://mashable.com/tag/twitter/">twitter, href="http://mashable.com/tag/twitter-trends/">twitter trends, href="http://mashable.com/tag/world-cup/">world cup

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/social-media/">Social Media coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashsocialmedia" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.socialmedia" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/social-media" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Social Media channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

With href="http://mashable.com/category/facebook/">Facebook’s ever-changing layout, and the fact that other social sites are encroaching on its real-time update strangle-hold, it’s easy to forget that there are some pretty nifty tricks you can pull using your humble Facebook status.

We’ve pulled together 10 great how-to tips that will help you get the most out of your status update, from official features to apps, Easter eggs, jokes and more.

Perfect for newer Facebook users, or anyone who is looking for a refresher, read on and let us know the ones you like in the comments below.

/>

1. HOW TO: Add a Dislike Option to Your Status Update

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolfbdislike.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status tips tricks likes dislikes apps " width="560" height="81" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-324490" />

“Like” buttons are everywhere on Facebook, and they’re everywhere on the web. But what if you want to update your status or share something that your friends can “dislike?” We know, your friends can choose to “comment” on your post, but where’s the fun in that?

The clever href="http://apps.facebook.com/statusmagic/" >Status Magic Facebook app can add a dislike button to any status updates posted via the app. And if you wanted to really mix it up you can actually customize the second emotion to anything, such as “love,” “hate,” “disagree” or even “LOLs.”

/>

2. HOW TO: Hide Status Updates From Certain People

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolfbstatusprivate2.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status tips tricks how to keep status private" width="477" height="277" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-325434" />

Using Facebook’s general privacy settings (find these by hitting “account” on the top right of a Facebook page) you can select whether everyone, just friends or friends of friends can see your status updates. However, there is a way to narrow those options down even further.

You can select specific friend lists to see your status (relevant for work, special interest groups, etc.) or even individual people by name, which is useful for anyone organizing a surprise party.

To take advantage of these options, click the padlock icon just below your “what’s on your mind” box on your wall and a drop down menu should appear. Selecting “customize” will bring up more options such as “make this visible to” and “hide from” with the option to make your selection a default.

/>

3. HOW TO: Pre-Schedule Status Updates

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coollaterbro.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status tips tricks tools apps secrets how to schedule" width="480" height="350" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-324508" />

While SocialOomph, Sendible and HootSuite offer the same kind of service, the simplest way to schedule Facebook status updates is by using the easy, free href="http://laterbro.com/" >Later Bro service.

Just sign in with Facebook Connect, select your time zone, type in what it is you’d like to say, set the calendar and clock to when you’d like to say it, and presto!

/>

4. HOW TO: Tag People in Your Status Updates

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/josh.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status tips tricks tools apps secrets " width="615" height="175" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-324550" />

This was quite a big deal when href="http://mashable.com/2009/09/14/how-to-facebook-status-tagging/">it was announced this past September, but from the amount of searches on the topic “how can I make someone’s name go blue in a Facebook status?” it seems it’s not universally known.

To mention someone in a status update just type “@” (a la Twitter) in the status bar and start typing their name as it appears on Facebook. An auto-generated list will then come up with people in your social circle whose name starts with the letters you’ve typed. The feature also works with pages, brands, events and companies.

Hit the name you want, complete the update, click share and the name will become a hyperlink (you won’t see the @ symbol) and will appear in blue text.

/>

5. HOW TO: Add Symbols to Your Facebook Status

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolfbsym.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status tips tricks tools apps secrets " width="555" height="176" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-324576" />

Although there are href="http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2348727531&topic=3244" >plenty of emoticons that work with Facebook Chat, typing “:)” into Facebook’s status bar will not magically transform into a smiley yellow face. In fact, the only symbol you can create in a Facebook status update through the shortcut keys is a ♥, by typing “<3."

While this won’t bother many Facebook users, others more used to punctuating their missives can copy and paste href="http://facebook-symbols.com/characters/" >web-happy, universal symbols into the box, as you can see in the screengrab above.

PC users can also access some symbols by hitting “alt” + various href="http://www.spike-jamie.com/alt-codes.html" >number combinations (on a numerical keypad). So, while smileys are yet to hit Facebook statuses, you can annoy or amuse your buddies with symbols right now.

/>

6. HOW TO: Turn Your Status Updates Into a Word Cloud

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolstatuscloud.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status tips tricks tools apps secrets tag cloud key words " width="399" height="300" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-324608" />

There’s a really fun way to visualize anyone’s status updates (even an entire country’s) as a word cloud. The href="http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=233422326462" >Status Analyzer 3D app will look at what it is you’ve been chatting about lately and generate a list, and then a pretty, colorful, animated cloud as pictured above.

You can share the results with others on the social networking site by posting it to your friends’ walls or by adding it to your profile.

/>

7. HOW TO: Have Fun With Facebook’s Humorous Language Options

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolupside.jpg" alt="" title="facebook tricks tips secrets " width="567" height="147" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-325456" />

While you can always change your setting into more sensible alternative languages, the site offers a couple of fun linguistic Easter eggs.

You can chose to have Facebook display upside down English, or, for anyone feeling a little salty, in “pirate.” Pirate essentially turns your status into your “plank,” your attachments into “loot” and instead of “share” it offers the option to “blabber t’ yer mates.”

Sadly, anything you type in the status bar won’t be upside down, or pirate-y. But with the use of some external sites you can achieve the same effect.

href="http://www.typeupsidedown.com/" >TypeUpsideDown.com and href="http://www.upsidedowntext.com/" >UpsideDownText.com are just two examples of sites that can flip your text, while the href="http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/translate/index.php" >Talk Like a Pirate Day site can help you with your pirate translations.

/>

8. HOW TO: See Status Updates From Around the World

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolfbopenbook.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status update tricks tips how to view " width="615" height="261" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-325422" />

If you want to get a glimpse of the thoughts of Facebook users from around the world’s, head over to href="http://youropenbook.org/" >OpenBook.

Created by three San Fran web developers with a serious privacy message in mind, the site aggregates the status updates of everyone whose privacy levels are set to “everyone.”

You can narrow your searchable results down by gender and keywords to find out what people are saying about a certain topic. Or you can just browse the recent searches.

/>

9. HOW TO: See Your Status Update Stats

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/coolstats.jpg" alt="" title="facebook status stats apps tools tips" width="159" height="160" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-325440" />

Have you ever wondered how many times you have updated your status on Facebook? The Facebook app href="http://apps.facebook.com/status-statistics/" >Status Statistics, can tell you this and more.

The app analyzes your updates and gives you a tidy list of how many you’ve written, the average word count and how many times a day you post. In addition, it generates a graph that shows you what time of day or what days of the week you normally update.

Old statuses are also searchable via the app, so you can find that witty retort you made back in November 2009 without having to scroll back through your history.

/>

10. HOW TO: Play a Trick On Your Friends in Your Status Update

/>

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cooljoke.jpg" alt="" title="facebook tricks jokes " width="559" height="142" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-325448" />

We have a funny one to end on — a way to play an href="http://reface.me/status-updates/funny-facebook-status-update-profile-link/" >amusing trick on your Facebook buddies.

This clever link “http://facebook.com/profile.php?=73322363″ looks like it could be a URL for anyone’s Facebook profile, actually takes anyone logged into Facebook to their href="http://facebook.com/profile.php?=73322363" >own profile page.

If you try it out, be sure to remove the link preview that Facebook auto-ads. Have fun, and don’t be too mean…

/>

More Facebook resources from Mashable

/>

– href="http://mashable.com/2009/07/21/facebook-fashion-pages/">9 Fantastic Facebook Pages for Fashion /> – href="http://mashable.com/2009/04/02/facebook-personal-brand/">HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Facebook /> – href="http://mashable.com/2009/05/27/facebook-page-vs-group/">Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the Difference? /> – href="http://mashable.com/2009/06/16/killer-facebook-fan-pages/">Killer Facebook Pages: 5 Inspiring Case Studies /> – href="http://mashable.com/2009/06/25/facebook-cause-pages/">How Charities are #FindingTheGood With Facebook Pages

Image courtesy of rel="nofollow" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/mashableoffer.php">iStockphoto, rel="nofollow" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-12931845-share-button.php">flyparade

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336650-Facebook" >Facebook, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/392550-HootSuite" >HootSuite, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336651-Twitter" >Twitter, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/393797-iStockphoto" >iStockphoto

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook/">facebook, href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook-apps/">facebook apps, href="http://mashable.com/tag/how-to/">how to, href="http://mashable.com/tag/lists/">Lists, href="http://mashable.com/tag/status/">status, href="http://mashable.com/tag/tips/">tips, href="http://mashable.com/tag/trending/">trending, href="http://mashable.com/tag/tricks/">tricks

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/social-media/">Social Media coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashsocialmedia" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.socialmedia" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/social-media" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Social Media channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

Mashable’s Spark of Genius series highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, see details href="http://mashable.com/bizspark">here. The series is made possible by href="http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/At_a_Glance.aspx?WT.mc_id=MSZ_Mashable_posts" rel="nofollow">Microsoft BizSpark.

src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/face-to-face.jpg" alt="" title="face to face" width="260" height="260" class="alignright" />Name: href="http://www.face2face.ws/" >face2face

Quick Pitch: face2face introduces proximity awareness to mobile phone apps so users can know when their friends are nearby without sacrificing privacy.

Genius Idea: face2face is a newly released mobile application that bills itself as a proximity-based social networking service. It works by showing which social network friends are nearby and providing tools to help users connect with them. The application is also extremely privacy-conscious which means users’ exact whereabouts are not disclosed.

One of face2face’s best qualities is that out of the box there’s already an application for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry owners. Users of J2ME phones (Nokias) can expect an application in the near future.

face2face also made a wise decision in leveraging the social network relationships users already have on href="http://mashable.com/category/facebook">Facebook, href="http://mashable.com/category/twitter/">Twitter, href="http://mashable.com/tag/linkedin">LinkedIn and href="http://mashable.com/tag/myspace">MySpace as the fabric of identity for the service. Users that configure each of their accounts can benefit from a variety of cross-network features, including the ability to follow the feeds for each stream, post updates, and IM or SMS contacts. Plus, the more you engage with content from friends, the smarter the application becomes.

Unfortunately, face2face doesn’t integrate with href="http://mashable.com/tag/foursquare">Foursquare or href="http://mashable.com/tag/gowalla">Gowalla for additional location data, which means the proximity measurements are pulled from each user who happens to be using the application (or running it in the background). So if a user’s social network friends are nearby, but they’re not running face2face, that user will be none the wiser.

The application should be celebrated for its slick design and attention to detail, but it does have its shortcomings. Perhaps the biggest faux pas — apart from the location partnerships — is the Twitter limitation. In addition to everything else, face2face attempts to be part Twitter client and friend-connector, but it can only pull data for up to 500 of the Twitterers a user follows. If the application is to excel, it will need early adopters to sing its praises. That’s not likely with a 500 Twitter follower cap.

Still the application is impressive and social media users looking to connect with their friends or friends of friends in the real world should give it a far shake.

Image courtesy of rel="nofollow" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/mashableoffer.php">iStockphoto, rel="nofollow" href="http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=307343">asiseeit

/>

Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

/>

href="http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BizSpark/Pages/At_a_Glance.aspx?WT.mc_id=MSZ_Mashable_posts"> src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/bizspark.jpg" border="0" alt="" align="left" style="margin: 10px;">BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can href="http://mashable.com/bizspark">sign up today.

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/bizspark/">bizspark, href="http://mashable.com/tag/face2face/">face2face, href="http://mashable.com/tag/location-based-social-networks/">location based social networks, href="http://mashable.com/tag/mobile/">Mobile 2.0

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/tech/">Tech coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashabletech" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Tech on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.tech" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/tech" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Tech channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

Sure href="http://mashable.com/category/facebook/">Facebook privacy issues can be frustrating, but what’s the alternative? With more than 400 million users, no other social media platform has been able to touch Facebook’s grip on person-to-person networking. But rumors have already started to fly that Facebook may soon face some stiff new competition.

href="http://mashable.com/category/google/">Google is supposedly getting into the market with Google Me, a not-yet-launched, oft-rumored social network that will directly compete with Facebook. Nothing is for certain yet, but href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/30/google-me-rumors/">more and more sources are saying Google Me does exist, and that could mean href="http://mashable.com/2010/07/01/google-facebook-rival/">good things for all of us. If anyone were to take on Facebook, Google has the engineering talent, deep pockets, and customer loyalty required to give it a fair shot.

Still, Google hasn’t had the best track record when it comes to social media attempts. Rather than a boring old list of past efforts, we decided to put together a graphical timeline with text by our very own href="http://mashable.com/author/stephanie-marcus/">Stephanie Marcus and graphics by href="http://mashable.com/author/shane-snow/">Shane Snow. Let us know what you think of Google Me (if it exists) and if anyone can actually topple Facebook.

/> src="http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/google-history-social-media.jpg" alt="" title="google-history-social-media" width="640" height="4343" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-327026" />

/>

More Google Resources from Mashable:

/>

– href="http://mashable.com/2010/06/19/10-google-facts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&%23038;utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable)">10 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Google /> – href="http://mashable.com/2010/03/27/must-see-google-street-view/">10 Must-See Google Street View Sightings /> – href="http://mashable.com/2010/03/13/google-easter-eggs/">5 Must-See Google Easter Eggs /> – href="http://mashable.com/2010/03/20/non-profits-google-buzz/">4 Ways Non-Profits Can Use Google Buzz /> – href="http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/small-business-google-apps/">The Small Business Guide to Google Apps

[img credit: href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/" >Robert Scoble]

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336650-Facebook" >Facebook, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336661-Google" >Google

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/facebook/">facebook, href="http://mashable.com/tag/google/">Google, href="http://mashable.com/tag/google-me/">Google Me, href="http://mashable.com/tag/infographic/">infographic, href="http://mashable.com/tag/privacy/">privacy, href="http://mashable.com/tag/social-network/">social network, href="http://mashable.com/tag/trending/">trending

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/social-media/">Social Media coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashsocialmedia" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.socialmedia" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/social-media" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Social Media channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>

Google Labs has just released a new href="http://mashable.com/category/android">Android app that aims to help users find and share parking. The app, called href="http://openspot.googlelabs.com/" >Open Spot, gives users the ability to update a map when they are leaving their parking spots with others who are looking for parking.

We’ve all driven around aimlessly, trying to find a parking spot — whether it’s on a street corner or in a shopping mall — and Google is hoping to crowdsource a solution that can save, gas, pollution and ultimately time. /> id="more-327214"> /> The app is pretty simple; it pulls up a Google map near your current location and displays open parking spots within a 1.5km/0.9 mile radius of where you are. Spots are color coded based on how “fresh” they are. Spots are marked for twenty minutes and after that time, they disappear off the map.

When you leave the spot, you just mark it on your phone and alert those around you that a new spot is available.

While we think the idea has a lot of promise, there are some inherent limitations into this system. First, the time limitation means that there is the potential for a spot to be taken before you get to it. Even if a spot is marked as “fresh” (within five minutes), that might not mean the spot is available. If there was a way for users to confirm that they have “taken” a spot in the system, the process might be better.

The biggest problem though is that this is the sort of app that will only be useful if it gains widespread adoption. For instance, if you’re one of the only people in your neighborhood who uses the app, it will likely be useless to you unless you can convince others to join in.

Getting people to use the app is going to be the biggest challenge, we think, because while the idea is good, it’s also novel. It’s the sort of novel solution that we could see ourselves using once or twice and then utterly forgetting about. Ultimately, this just strikes us as something that looks great as a theory but will be too much work for too little payoff to gain lots of traction.

That isn’t to say we don’t love to see technology used to try to solve problems like finding parking spots. Android owners can download the app now and give it a try.

Would you be interested in using an app to find parking spots? Let us know in the comments!

/>Reviews: href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336868-Android" >Android, href="http://www.blippr.com/apps/336661-Google" >Google

More About: href="http://mashable.com/tag/android/">android, href="http://mashable.com/tag/android-apps/">Android apps, href="http://mashable.com/tag/google/">Google, href="http://mashable.com/tag/open-spot/">open spot, href="http://mashable.com/tag/parking/">parking

style="margin-top:10px;">For more href="http://mashable.com/mobile/">Mobile coverage: style="margin-top:0;">

href="http://twitter.com/mashablemobile" rel="nofollow">Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter

href="http://www.facebook.com/mashable.mobile" rel="nofollow">Become a Fan on Facebook

href="http://feeds.mashable.com/mashable/mobile" rel="nofollow">Subscribe to the Mobile channel

Download our free apps for href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable/id356202138?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPhone and href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mashable-for-ipad/id370097986?mt=8" rel="nofollow">iPad

]]>