Facebook eyes drone deal, Twitter resets passwords by mistake and Yahoo severs sign-in ties

The deal is said to be worth a whopping $60m, and Facebook appears to be interested in these satellite alternative drones as part of its Internet.org initiative.

The Internet.org project is aiming to connect the next five billion people to the internet in developing nations, and the drones could be used to blanket large areas of continents like Africa, and other countries that don’t have internet access.

Ellen DeGeneres breaks Twitter

I know you’re sick to the back teeth of everyone hamming on about Ellen’s Oscars selfie, but I have to mention it because this is a social media column, and if I didn’t everyone would be like ‘Hang on, she hasn’t mentioned Ellen’s selfie, what the flip does she know about social media?!’ and then I’d be ousted as some sort of social media imposter, and I don’t want that to happen.

So, to cut a long, over-talked about story short, Ellen DeGeneres took a selfie at the Oscars with a whole bunch of celebs, including Spacey, Pitt, Roberts, Jolie, Cooper and Streep, and subsequently broke Twitter.

Apparently the selfie is a well-thought-out, scripted publicity stunt from Samsung (it was Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 which took the actual picture), and not the spontaneous happy-go-lucky picture it claims to be.

Twitter resets user passwords by accident

A week in social media wouldn’t be the same without at least one social network having some sort of password meltdown. This week, it was Twitter, which instructed thousands of users to change their passwords dues to accounts being compromised, but then admitted that those emails were sent by mistake.

Obviously, this influx of emails to people’s inboxes made everyone wonder whether the site had been hacked. Twitter has since apologised for the inconvenience, but would not say how many users had been affected.

Pinterest announces unlimited secret boards

Last week, Pinterest announced that users on the site will now be able to have an unlimited number of boards.

This was previously limited to six, but people loved the feature so much that Pinterest gave into requests for an unlimited option. Secret boards can also be used as part of a combined effort, as you can invite friends and family who are in on your plans to join your group.

Obviously, secret boards are great for those looking to plan a surprise party, or for wedding fans who are looking to plan for their big day without letting anyone in on their ideas.

Yahoo to cut ties with Facebook and Google sign-ins

In a bid to personalise the user experience on their site and collect more date from users of its stable services, Yahoo is set to axe Facebook and Google sign-ins.

This will help the company to personalise the user experience, and also to reduce the reliance on its main rivals for social media and search options.

Yahoo has only had a ‘sign in with Facebook’ option since 2009, when the two sites struck a deal which Yahoo saw as a way of acquiring new users who would be happier using an existing log in from another site.

It will certainly be interesting to keep an eye out for any news about Yahoo’s users in the wake of this sign-in news.

Teen’s Facebook boast costs father £50k

Yet another example of why it’s important to think about what you’re posting on social media, as an American teenager has cost her dad almost £50,000 after breaking the confidentiality clause of his payout from work.

Dana Snay, from Florida, eloquently told her 1,200 (I know, who has that many Facebook friends?!) that ‘Mama and Papa Snay won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT.’

Patrick Snay had won $10,000 (£6k) in back pay from a settlement understood to be worth $80,000 (almost £50k) from a prep school in Miami for age discrimination, but the school refused to pay out on the grounds that Snay was not meant to have told anyone about the details of the settlement.

If that’s not a reason for getting grounded, I don’t know what is.