No, Facebook didn’t create a search product to compete with Google, but a group of engineers from Facebook, as well as Twitter and Myspace, collaborated on a tool that they are calling Don’t Be Evil.

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Facebook is still the dominant social network in terms of marketing, but Twitter is narrowing the gap, according to a return-on-investment survey of more than 700 marketers conducted recently by social media management platform Wildfire Interactive.

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Email marketers: Don’t forget about Facebook 91.3 percent of your counterparts who include social sharing icons in their campaigns incorporate Facebook.

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We highly doubt this particular rumor would ever come true, but the blogosphere and Twitterverse are chattering that Facebook could pull the plug in protest over the Stop Online Piracy Act pending in the U.S. Congress.

Consider a day without Facebook — or Google, Twitter, Wikipedia or Yahoo, for that matter. 

These heavily trafficked web sites are joining Facebook in considering a coordinated blackout as a powerful demonstration of what the Internet might look like if SOPA went into effect.

While implementation at this point seems unlikely — it’s dubbed the “nuclear option” after all — the rumor mill went into high alert after Markham Erickson, an executive with the industry trade group NetCoalition, confirmed to Fox News that companies were mulling over a blackout of services, despite what a boycott would do to users.

“Companies typically don’t want to put their users in that position,” Erickson said. ”The difference is that these bills so fundamentally change the way the Internet works. People need to understand the effect this special-interest legislation will have on those who use the Internet.”

So what might a boycott look like? Would Facebook go completely dark, or would users be re-directed to a site that posted a message about SOPA.  And, would Facebook ask users to take action–write a letter to a member of Congress, sign an online petition, or share a message with friends?

Actually, Facebook is a great platform to launch that type of advocacy campaign. Anti-SOPA ads and sponsored stories could be developed,  and of course, the option to share links to anti-SOPA news stories would spread quickly on the social networking site and could build support against the legislation.

Opponents claim one provision of the controversial bill would require Internet providers to monitor customers’ traffic and block web sites suspected of copyright infringement, which sets off alarms among Facebook and its counterparts.

SOPA is scheduled for a debate in the U.S. Senate in late January before its put to a vote.

Readers, what would you do if Facebook went offline for a day?

Twitter edged out Facebook for the crown of most media coverage for a social network in 2011, according to HighBeam Research.

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People display their marital status in their Facebook profiles but the site doesn’t factor into actual weddings as much as you might think. Only 17 percent of nuptials tap the leading social network either to invite people or share event photos after the fact.

Of course, these days many couples have more people on their Facebook friend lists than they can afford to invite to weddings, and don’t want to make the uninvited feel excluded. Regardless, some think more pairs should take advantage of social media, like online jeweler Sparkle ‘N Dazzle Company, which compiled an infographic on the topic.

Brides-to-be could post their wedding dates on Facebook and also create interactive seating charts that invited guests could peruse, suggests Sparkle ‘N Dazzle. Let us know in the comments section what you think of those suggestions and the other goodies appearing in the infographic below.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s team has launched a social media firestorm with a simple question posted on the White House’s Facebook page and on Twitter yesterday: “What does $40 mean to you?”

The campaign intends to highlight Congress’ failure to extend the payroll tax cut, which Democrats claim is the fault of House Republicans.

While many in Congress have de-camped for the holidays, congressional leadership is still in Washington to negotiate a deal.

The cuts expire on December 31 and $40 is the amount families would save each week if the payroll tax cut was extended.

On Facebook, three posts that asked the $40 question has generated more than 4,800 comments, 1,725 likes, and has been shared 565 times.

A senior White House official gave a rundown on the numbers the social media blitz has generated so far to POLITICO:

• #40dollars, the White House hashtag representing the average weekly value of the tax cut, was trending worldwide on Twitter yesterday afternoon and evening.
• More than 10,000 submissions generated through a form on Whitehouse.gov, averaging over 2,000 an hour and coming in from every state in the nation.
• By 4:40 p.m. Eastern Time, the hashtag #40dollars was trending on Twitter, not just nationwide, but worldwide.
• Through the official White House Twitter account (@WhiteHouse has 2.6 million followers), the White House retweeted stories from Americans across the country.
• Data is still incomplete, but #40dollars has been used in over 1,000 Tweets that so far have , and that so far have generated 5.7 million impressions and reached an audience of nearly 3 million people, according to Hashtracking.com.

Today, a random selection of 100 people who submitted their stories will be invited to a conference call with Brian Deese, special assistant to the President and deputy director of the National Economic Council to further discuss how not extending the payroll tax cut will impact them.

Some pundits are claiming this impasse with House Republicans could boost President Obama’s re-election chances.  The debate has certainly helped the president’s Facebook fan count.

According to our Election Tracker, the president has added 3,318 fans today and 29,400 fans in the past week.

What do you think of the White House’s social media campaign over the tax cuts?

President Barack Obama is less popular on Facebook than on the micro-blogging site Twitter, according to a new poll.

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Facebook commerce provider Payvment is taking advantage of the new Twitter homepage and mobile design with its release of a mobile application that integrates the social network and the ecommerce platform.

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Facebook will extend its subscribe feature across the Internet with the launch of a plug-in for all websites.

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