FINANCIAL TIMES — It was the tale of two Tweets. In June last year, Habitat, a UK furnishing retailer, found controversy when it used messages posted on the Twitter social networking website to promote its furniture sales. That same month, computer maker Dell reported selling $3m worth of refurbished hardware, also via Twitter. Dell’s experience was widely heralded as a success; Habitat’s led to apologies as it linked its promotion to unrelated subjects such as Iran’s election and Apple’s iPhone. These experiences show how difficult it is for large brands to read the mood of a social network – but many are now trying to achieve just that...

FINANCIAL TIMES — The Economist newspaper plans to acquire 500,000 fans on Facebook and 750,000 followers on Twitter within six months, in another sign that traditional publishers are looking to social media as a substantial source of web traffic and new readers. Readers of The Economist’s website will soon be able to log in and make comments using their Facebook identity, through Facebook Connect. Economist.com will also take on features similar to social networks itself, allowing readers to create profile pages and earn a reputation through other users’ recommendations of their comments on the site...

FINANCIAL TIMES — Burberry, the fashion brand that has gone from classic to cutting edge, is to launch its own social networking site next month. The clothing group hopes the move will deepen its relationship with customers and attract new devotees. Called artofthetrench.com, the site will initially feature users sending in pictures of themselves wearing Burberry trenchcoats. The company already has more than 660,000 fans on Facebook – more than any other luxury brand, it claims...

FINANCIAL TIMES — A new wave of sophisticated e-commerce applications is appearing on Facebook, a sign that the world’s largest social network could rapidly emerge as a big destination for online shopping. 1-800-Flowers, the US floral gift retailer and distributor, last week opened its “Facebook storefront”, an application running on Facebook’s fast-growing platform where users can purchase and send flowers. At least 20 more such storefronts will appear on Facebook in the next two months, according to Wade Gerten, chief executive of Alvenda, the software developer that built the 1-800-Flowers storefront...

European privacy regulators could be about to throw a spanner into the works of attempts by social networking sites such as Facebook to find new ways to increase profits as they try to restrict the way internet groups release personal data. The European move marks the first attempt by regulators to address the “open” internet platforms that the social networks, led by Facebook, have rushed to create. By letting other applications ride on top of their systems, tapping into personal data about their members, the networks have sought both to tie in users for longer and create money-making opportunities...