A new study has revealed that 1 in 4 people like to spend more time socialising online than in person.

With the rise in popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, more and more people are doing their socialising online as opposed to person to person.

In the survey it was reported that 26% of surveyed people say that their social lives are more active in cyberspace than in the ‘real’ world and 11% of them said they’d rather stay in over weekends – hmm – should we really be using the word ‘active’ in this sentence then?

With 11 different popular and dominant social networking sites presently in use it does seem easier than, say, getting dressed and walking to your local pub to talk to people over a pint. You can choose between Facebook, Skype, Twitter and Instant Messaging, none of which you need to brush your hair or teeth for – bonus! 

The survey stated that the average UK citizen will spend around 4.6 hours per week talking with friends online and 6 hours talking with friends in person, showing that the gap is closing in – those social networking sites are coming to get you... and then your dog. There was also the bad-ass bunch of 3% who spent 25 hours online!

This rapid change in communication styles could result in some equally rapid changes in language and how it is used – we could soon see the now seemingly normal abbreviated text and online dialect becoming part of our dictionaries! OMG!

Facebook has repeatedly assured its users that they will put an end to the leakage of private data of their users. So far, it seems this has not happened. In a recent Wall Street Journal investigation, a new problem seems to have arisen: Every one of the 10 most popular applications on Facebook, and this includes Texas Hold’Em, have been releasing private information about people using these apps and this is even happening to people who have the highest possible privacy settings.

Facebook claims that the information sold about its users has been completely anonymous- Facebook gives the companies information about users’ interests but they never reveal who the users are. But it seems this is not the case, some of the apps have been transmitting users’ unique Facebook User ID numbers and once these have been divulged the users’ names and friends’ names can be found. This means that the personal information of millions of users is being leaked.

Facebook has now responded to the repost by saying that they are trying to “dramatically limit” the leaks but a spokesperson did say: "A Facebook User ID may be inadvertently shared by a user's internet browser or by an application." He also added that knowledge of an ID number "does not permit access to anyone's private information on Facebook." 

After the Wall Street Journal released this information about the apps sending Facebook ID numbers to at least 25 advertising and data-mining firms, the mentioned apps suddenly became unavailable.

So, just a reminder to those of you who are not in the know.  We’ve got a great Facebook Fan page and we’ve been drawing  in fans left right and centre. We’ve seen quite a fantastic tight knit community been built, and both ourselves and our fans have benefited from these endeavours. We’ve hosted numerous community exclusive  freerolls for our fans. and well as using the Facebook page to provide a platform for you guys to further engage with PokerTime brand on a personal level

The PokerTime Facebook fan page, which has been a platform for positive two way dialogue between both the brand and its players has grown at an accelerated rate, and has seen growth since day one of its conception.

“Our building of personal relationships with all of our players has been extremely beneficial to both ourselves and our players.” explains James Grant, PokerTime’s customer relationship manager. “We’ve learned a lot from our players and expect that we’ll learn a lot more in the future from them.”

For more information:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/MyPokerTime

So we’ve always tried and been proud of our constant communication in keeping you guys updated, informed, as well as entertained and with the sudden growth and popularity of the social networking realms as well as the popularity of poker, We’ve taken it upon ourselves to get onto those social media streams, starting with both Facebook and Twitter, and taking it as we go.  We want to be able to speak to you guys on a real time basis and know exactly what you are saying and want!

James Grant (sits opposite me) explains, “Facebook and Twitter will let people really see as a fully fledged community and let us interact with our players who have developed a kinship with our brand! Our sites are aimed at direct interaction and conversation between our players and our company, and in the case of our Facebook pages we are providing further opportunities for our players to win!”

We’ve created a Facebook fan page that is actually a platform for dialogue between players  well; our brand. We’ve enabled fans to hold discussions, post photos related to both online and offline Poker play, and even offer we are offering freerolls for fans of the brand. James carries on to say  ‘We are using different strategies between each social communication platform, however, it all goes back to our primary objective, speaking to our and players, and our players speaking to us. There’s nothing better than building a personal relationship with our entire network’.

“We were honestly not expecting such a large amount of growth in such a short period of time” we went from basically launching our new Facebook page, to having a huge fan base in a matter of days, and we really could not be happier.” I overhead James G saying.

On a side note: We are hosting Facebook only freerolls for members of the fan page located here