Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg puts work life balance in perspective. The former executive at Google and current Facebook COO has a much different philosophy concerning her career and family. Sheryl Sandberg has publicly thrown a wrench in our thinking by declaring that she leaves work everyday at 5:30 pm to be home in time for dinner with her children. You read correctly - 5:30! How many of us have worked under the belief that we have to sacrifice our children and families to have a great career? We have accepted that there is a trade off, one that we don't particularly like. But Sheryl Sandberg recently admitted in a video for Makers.com that she is a firm believer of creating good work life balance:

Would you put your Facebook password on your job application? According to a recent article by USA TODAY, a job seeker's Facebook password has become a recent request from employers. "Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publicly available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks." Companies are now attempting to weed out candidates by looking through their social media outlets. Should your job be allowed to ask for your Facebook password? Do you find it appropriate or too invasive? Tweet me @lorenridinger. 

I spend countless hours each day connecting with my fans on Facebook so this article via Mashable caught my eye. A new report has just surfaced that states Facebook will be giving a select few the opportunity to verify their accounts; for the time being, to verify your Facebook account it will be invite-only for public figures with a high amount of subscribers. Twitter verifies accounts with a blue and white check mark and while there is no image to be displayed on a verified Facebook account, there are two other important features to know about. Not only will Facebook give verified users the option to have a nickname instead of their real name displayed on their Facebook profile, but verified Facebook users will show up in the "people to subscribe to" list more often. What do you think of the new Facebook verify account feature? 

According to Yahoo News! There's a new queen on Facebook and no, it's not lady gaga. This week, Rihanna accumulated enough likes on Facebook to surpass Lady Gaga and claim the throne as the platform's top ranking female celebrity. According to Facebook stats, as of Saturday, Rihanna had 40,699,853 likes, and Lady Gaga had 40,611.908 giving the "Umbrella" singer a lead 88,000.

Rihanna's Performance on NBC's Today Show

Shakira is the diva with the third most Facebook followers, according to Facecount.com, which credits the Latin singer with 37 million likes. Aside from being the top three female musicians on Facebook, they also have earned spots in Facebook's top 10 pages overall. Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Shakira hold the No.5,6, and 8 positions, respectively. 

Lady Gaga CFDA Fashion Icon Award 

There are three men on the Top Facebook Pages Worldwide list as well. Eminem ranks No.3 with 43,367,713 likes. The late Michael Jackson sits at No.7 with 38,069,882 likes, and singer Justin Bieber holds the No.10 position with 33,035,903 likes.

By John Warrillow inc.com

Last month, Steve Jobs handed the Apple reins back to his second-in-command, Tim Cook. Likewise, Mark Zuckerberg has Sheryl Sandberg on staff to provide some adult supervision at Facebook. Even for a five person business, a second-in-command can balance the demands of running your company; a 2iC who has been clearly anointed can go a long way toward making you redundant, which should be the objective of anyone wanting to build a company that can one day be sold.

What if our life was a social network?  Have you stepped back and ponder how time has changed in the past few years with the creation of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and list goes on...  

What if people spoke in Twitter status updates?  What if we printed  all the images we share with each other Facebook to thousands of strangers? I found this interesting blog post written by Courtney Boyd it will make you take a step back....

Social networks have fundamentally changed the way we socialize, so Connected users are increasingly looking for ways to marry their virtual experiences with their real ones. Platforms like foursquare bring the online space into our everyday lives. As they gain in popularity, we’re witnessing an increasingly fine line between our online social networking worlds and our real worlds. Will this line blur even further in 2011

Ad.ly’s endorsements on Facebook delivered dramatic results for brands in categories ranging from retail clothing and jewelry to consumer electronics and games. In addition to tens of thousands of visits in a single day, the flood of comments and “likes” they drove gave Marketers valuable feedback on their products and marketing messages alike.

Ad.ly’s is the only company that enables Marketers to run scalable celebrity endorsements on both Facebook and Twitter. Its celebrities range from artists like Mandy Moore, Channing Tatum and Snoop Dogg to pro athletes like Derek Fisher, Paul Pierce and Nick Swisher. Its 150+ advertisers include Sony, NBC, Microsoft, Toyota, LionsGate, AT&T, BestBuy, Old Navy, THQ and more.

Mark Zuckerberg Social Media hero, guru, genius among other things just added SNL comedian to his long list of credits or should I say accomplishments. Zuckerberg appeared on stage after Jessie Eisenberg Social Network actor mocked the real Mark during his first SNL hosting gig.  The two made fun of each and were joined by SNL resident Andy Sandberg.  Needless to say the skit very funny! 

What did you think of Mark Zuckerberg's appearance in this week's Saturday Night Live?

After being nominated for a number of awards at this year’s Golden Globe awards ceremony, ‘The Social Network’ nabbed Best Picture (in the drama category), Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), Score (Trent Reznor), and Director (David Fincher).

Think if you build it they will come? With over thousands of fan pages how will you know they will come to yours?  Your fans will not magically appear from the Facebook mist.   How do we attract fans to our page and keep them coming back?

there are many ways to promote your fan page and proactively increase your fan base without bugging all your current Facebook friends, and also by thinking wider than just Facebook.   Here are 10 ways that might help you increase your facebook fan page. 

#1: Invite Your Email and Ezine Subscribers

Assuming you have an opt-in email list, definitely send out an invitation to your subscribers via email (several times, over time) letting them know about your fan page and encouraging them to join. Ideally, provide them with a description of the page and an incentive to join.

Be sure to have the Facebook logo/badge appear in your HTML newsletters. Instead of the usual “Join our Fan Page,” say something creative like “Write on our Facebook wall,” or “Join our Facebook community,” or “Come add your photo to our Facebook group” (where “group” is actually your fan page). Users have to be a fan in order to interact with your fan page in this way.