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Mothers with children younger than five are more active on social media compared to the general public, revealed a new study by integrated consumer insights provider Experian Marketing Services.

The study found that these mothers were twice as likely to visit social networking sites as members of the general public, accessing them three or more times per day.

A spokesperson for Experian Marketing Services, Suzanne Blackburn, said: “We found in the analysis that Facebook is overwhelmingly the preferred social media network for moms with young kids.”

The Experian data was gathered from a Simmons National Consumer Study survey, which looked into the offline and online habits of 25,000 American adults. The firm also combined data from Hitwise as well as other research reports.

“Over half of moms with young kids from this study were between 25 to 34 years old; the [median] age is 32.5 years of age,” said Blackburn.

The report noted that the age of the children significantly affected the mothers’ online behaviour. Mothers of children aged between six and ten were less active on social media than mothers with younger children. As the children get older, their mothers’ social media activity level decreases.

In addition, the study found that women in this group were also more likely to engage in online shopping using their mobile devices, with the iPad as their preferred device.

These findings seem to corroborate another study, which showed that 38 per cent of children younger than two use mobile media.

Both reports imply that mothers provide an example for their children via their mobile device usage habits.

Twitter has updated its S-1 document to reveal that IBM has accused the company of infringing at least three of its US patents.

The complaint specifically mentions patents regarding the way they present advertising, discover shared contacts, and retrieve URLs.

The accusation was made in the form of a letter instead of a lawsuit, with IBM inviting Twitter “to negotiate a business resolution of the allegations.” It also comes at a time when Twitter increased its IPO estimate from US$17 to US$20 per share to US$23 to US$25, an indication that Twitter expects a strong turnout despite the note from IBM.

While the S-1 filing shows that IBM is eyeing a settlement, Twitter also appears to be ready to defend itself, stating that “we have meritorious defenses to IBM’s allegations, although there can be no assurance that we will be successful in defending against these allegations or reaching a business resolution that is satisfactory to us.”

IBM is known for turning its patents into a huge licensing machine. The company is not afraid to utilise patents gained during pre-internet research to browbeat various internet firms. In 2006, for example, IBM filed a lawsuit against Amazon, which was settled the following year.

Twitter has said that it will only use its patents for defensive purposes. In fact, the company only owns nine patents, which is a stark contrast to the thousands held by IBM.

The number of areas around the world serving Google’s search network has grown from under 200 to over 1,400 between October 2012 and July 2013, according to research from the University of Southern California (USC).

At the same time, the number of internet service providers (ISPs) serving its search infrastructure soared from more than 100 to over 850.

“Over the past 10 months, Google search has dramatically increased the number of sites around the world from which it serves client queries, repurposing existing infrastructure to change the physical way that Google processes web searches,” said the study.

In addition, Google’s client infrastructure, which already delivers videos from YouTube, is now being re-used to hasten search requests and decrease the loading time of advertisements. In other words, the company’s huge content-hosting network is now also a search infrastructure.

In the past, search requests in Google were directly processed by an in-house data centre. Now, however, they are first relayed to the nearest regional network, which significantly reduces the loading time of search results.

Apart from lightning-fast searches, the surge in the number of locations serving Google’s network also enhances the browsing experience and reduces the operational expenses of internet service providers.

USC Professor Ethan Katz-Bassett commented that Google’s massive expansion is logical as slow response time leads to fewer searches, user attrition, and lost profits. It also addresses the main causes of slow internet speed.

The study was funded by the Cyber Security Division of the US Department of Homeland Security and the National Science Foundation.

More people are turning to their Facebook identity to log in to third-party websites and apps, according to data from social login provider Gigya, whose clients include Pepsi, Verizon and ABC.

In Q3, data gathered from the company’s 700 clients showed that those with social logins use Facebook most of the time (51 per cent). This is followed by Google+ and Yahoo at 26 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, while Twitter lags behind at just four per cent.

According to Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya, the biggest benefit of being the preferred social login is staying power.

“It’s a way for [social networks] to create very long-term relevancy with users,” he said. “Whatever you’re using as your authentication login, that is going to be a service you continue to maintain and use possibly years and years from now.”

Salyer noted that a growing number of users are logging in using their existing social accounts as it is more convenient compared to creating another username and password.

Gigya also found that the social network appears to be the preferred login in most areas outside of Europe and the United States. Facebook’s login share in Africa, South America and the Asia-Pacific stood at more than 70 per cent compared to the US at only 47 per cent.

In August, Facebook implemented two-step login permissions, with the goal of persuading more users to sign in using their Facebook identity by clearly explaining the information and data that third-party websites and apps are able to access.

The social network recorded a monthly login figure of over 850 million as of August.

A flip-flopping policy on violent videos, specifically those depicting beheadings, has placed Facebook under scrutiny.

Last week, a video of a masked man reportedly beheading a woman in Mexico was posted on the social network. On Tuesday, Facebook fuelled controversy when it told BBC News that the video will not be removed from the site.

“People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it. If the video were being celebrated or the actions in it encouraged, our approach would be different,” explained a company spokesperson.

Various media outlets covered the story, reporting that the social network permits users to upload violent videos such as those showing beheadings at will.

Facebook removed the video on Tuesday night. It also released a blog post that clearly explained their policy, saying that when it comes to graphic or violent content reported by users, the social network will take each report on a case-by-case basis.

Facebook will remove content that celebrates violence and “consider whether the person posting the content is sharing it responsibly”. For example, they will consider whether the image or video is accompanied by a warning or is being shared only to an age-appropriate audience.

Previously, Facebook had banned videos depicting decapitation, while Tuesday’s scenario was the first indication that it is now reconsidering its stand on violent content.

Many were frustrated with Facebook’s original decision to allow the video on the site, including UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who vented his disappointment via Twitter.

Facebook’s “safety” section of its “rights and responsibilities” page notes that users are not allowed to “post content that: is hate speech, threatening or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.”

Fish will soon be posting #swimming on Twitter, while sharks will be posting “selfies” on Instagram thanks to an underwater Wi-Fi network being developed by researchers at New York’s University of Buffalo.

While it is easy to make light of the situation, the network’s objectives are quite serious: enhancing tsunami detection, tracking pollution levels in the ocean, and oil and natural gas exploration.

“A submerged wireless network will give us an unprecedented ability to collect and analyse data from our oceans in real time,” explained Tommaso Melodia, the “deep-sea” internet’s proponent and a professor of electrical engineering.

“Making this information available to anyone with a smartphone or computer, especially when a tsunami or other type of disaster occurs, could help save lives,” he added.

Unlike land-based networks, the underwater Wi-Fi will utilise sound waves to transmit signals because radio waves do not work well in the depths of the ocean.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) depends on acoustic waves to send information from underwater tsunami sensors to floating buoys. These buoys transform the acoustic waves into radio waves so that they can be transmitted to a satellite, which then diverts the information to land-based computers.

However, this process is tedious as each system has varying infrastructure. Melodia’s underwater network aims to solve this issue. The network was successfully tested in Lake Erie recently.

An underwater Wi-Fi network also offers a multitude of possibilities such as the protection of endangered sea creatures, he added.