Several sources are reporting that News International plan to extend their paywall to include both The Sun and News of the World. This marks a significant shift from current trends where paywalls have been placed around sites providing either niche, such as the Financial Times, or ‘quality’ content, such as The Times. The plan is to offer exclusive video content to draw customers. Roy Greenslade argues that the News ofthe World and The Sun sites currently attract few readers, when free, rendering “paywalls counter productive”.

The paywall means the ‘closure’ of several major UK newspapers to social media and sharing of news. It also leaves open the question of when and if other titles will follow in an attempt to stem heavy losses. Is News International bucking the global trend or starting a new one?

Taiwanese company Next Media Animation have created a video to explain Google’s current problems with privacy and Streetview. A Spanish court this week summonsed Google for breaching the privacy of wi-fi users after the company admitted collecting browsing data while filming images for Google Maps.

Facebook accounts for almost half of the average Briton’s mobile web usage

After recent reports that Americans are spending even more time social networking, in the UK Ofcom has found that Britons are spending more time consuming media than ever before. The “explosion” in use of mobile data has granted access throughout the day as people are no longer fixed to devices athome or in the office. Facebook accounts for 45% of all mobile web use in the UK. Social networkinga ccounts for a quarter of the total time spent online in the UK.

In the USA Facebook has launched Places, which mimics Foursquare and allows users to check in to venues. Itis currently available through the US iPhone Facebook app. This poses questions about privacy, that have previously been aired about both Facebook and Foursquare. If it becomes popular, Places will increase the time spent on the site while mobile. If the reported collaboration with Foursquare is true, could Facebook become the only site we access from our smartphones? Location based searching is already taking off and location is becoming increasingly important to social networking sites. This opens up huge opportunities for marketers to better understand their audience, where they live and where they spend theirtime. Measuring social media output by location also looks like a more realistic possibility.

Is Facebook moving away from open third party applications?