Mashable Google Hangout Takes Look at Super Bowl Ad Madness

As the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers prepare to battle at the Super Bowl, there is another competition taking place off the football field.

[More from Mashable: Pizza Hut Super Bowl Ad Gives Quarterbacks a Shout-Out]

Every year, millions of dollars are spent by brands to attract the attention of consumers 30-second ad spots at a time. One ad can change the fortunes of an organization for the better or for the worse. Some brands decide to unveil their ads early on YouTube while others wait for the big reveal on Super Bowl Sunday.

Join Mashable today at 2:30 p.m. EST for a Google+ Hangout where Mashable Business and Marketing Editor Todd Wasserman, Associate Business Editor Lauren Indvik, Mojiva Inc. VP for Global Research and Strategic Communications Amy Vale and Publicis Kaplan Thaler CTO and Managing Director Brian Skahan will discuss everything Super Bowl ads. They'll cover some of the most talked-about ads so far, the costs that go into producing a 30-second spot and whether brands should release their videos early.

[More from Mashable: The 10 Best Super Bowl Ads of All Time]

Do you have any questions regarding this year's Super Bowl ads? Share your questions in the comments below and we may answer them during the live chat.

Click here to view the gallery: Most-Shared 2013 Super Bowl Ads

Image via iStockphoto, Marcelo Poleze

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Apple edges out Samsung for mobile phone sales lead in fourth quarter

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc became the top mobile phone seller for the first time in the lucrative U.S. market during the fourth quarter of 2012, outshining arch rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, a report by Strategy Analytics showed.

Apple's share of the U.S. mobile phone market, including feature phones and smartphones, jumped to 34 percent from 26 percent, while Samsung's share grew to 32.3 percent from 31.8 percent, the research firm said.

Samsung had been the top mobile phone vendor in the US since 2008, the firm said. Indeed, for the full year, Samsung still held the crown for mobile phone sales; it had a 31.8 percent share of the U.S. market in 2012, against Apple's 26.2 percent.

Apple investors have recently been anxious about the future growth prospects for the company amid intense competition from Samsung's cheaper phones, powered by Google's Android software, and signs the premium smartphone market may be close to saturation in developed markets.

Overall, mobile phone shipments rose 4 percent to 52 million units in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2012, driven by strong demand for 4G smartphones and 3G feature phones.

But in all of 2012, U.S. mobile phone shipments fell 11 percent to 166.9 million, Strategy Analytics said.

Apple sold 17.7 million iPhones in the U.S. in the fourth quarter, up 38 percent from the previous year, driven by aggressive marketing of its new iPhone 5 and steep carrier subsidies, the firm said. Samsung shipped 16.8 million phones during the same period.

In the international arena, Samsung Electronics, with a range of handsets, has overtaken Apple as the world's top smartphone seller.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Coming soon to Facebook- more action, battle games

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - When nWay began a trial of its dark, sci-fi combat game "ChronoBlade" on Facebook last year, the San Francisco-based startup felt sure it had a hit on its hands.

"First of all, what comes is, 'Wow, I had no idea you could actually do a game of this quality on Facebook,'" said Dave Jones, Chief Creative Officer of nWay, who has worked on "Grand Theft Auto."

Then came some resistance: Jones admits some potential investors and partners questioned how an action-focused game with slick graphics can play to a Facebook audience more accustomed to "Farmville" and other less time-consuming casual games. Others wondered how the game -- which launches this spring -- would gain significant users and revenue on the social network.

But Facebook Inc is betting nWay and a clutch of other developers this year can extend console-style action games beyond Microsoft Corp's Xbox or Sony Corp's PlayStation onto the world's largest social network.

Facebook is spearheading the launch of 10 high-quality games created by third-party developers in 2013 that squarely target so-called hardcore gamers, an atypical audience overlooked thus far against the wealth of family-friendly offerings like Zynga Inc's "Farmville" that now dominate the social network's gaming landscape.

The effort, which began late last year but will accelerate in 2013, is part of Facebook's ongoing objective of making sure its 1 billion-plus users log in and spend more time on the network, which in turn boosts ad revenue. Facebook also takes a cut of its applications' revenue.

Facebook's push into action and battle games follows a meeting in January between companies that make games like "first-person shooters" and Vice President Joe Biden to look for ways to curb gun violence in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings.

Based on the console gaming industry experience, hardcore gamers -- typically men 18 to 30 years old -- spend more time and effort to master fast-paced games such as first-person shooters (Microsoft's "Halo") or real-time strategy games (Activision Blizzard's "StarCraft").

"You'll see a whole set of games hitting in the next two quarters in particular and throughout the year that really start to redefine what people think of Facebook games," Sean Ryan, head of game partnerships at Facebook said in an interview.

Facebook will embrace games from "casual all the way up through first-person shooters, massively multiplayer online games, real-time strategy games - all those types of more core player-versus-player games."

Just as hardcore gamers interact online and form clans in multiplayer games on console game networks like Xbox LIVE, Facebook can be that social layer needed to foster such gaming communities that help popularize titles, Jones said.

GAMING POPULATION

Over a quarter of Facebook's 1.06 billion monthly active users play games, one of the largest gaming communities in the industry, and the social network hopes that can grow.

Facebook also aims to make more revenue from games. Revenue from the area was flat in the fourth quarter from a year ago, the company said on Wednesday without providing details.

The 8-year-old social network takes a 30 percent revenue share from game developers who offer their product free but then charge for virtual goods -- like ammunition and power boosts.

On Wednesday, Facebook's Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman told analysts on a post-earnings conference call that its "games ecosystem continues to show healthy signs of diversification" and suggested that games revenue would grow with increasing user engagement.

To grow its gaming business, Facebook has invested time and resources to work with developers since the summer to bring titles like u4iA's first-person shooter "Offensive Combat" and Plaruim's real-time strategy game "Stormfall: Age of War" alive, Ryan said.

"It doesn't mean we're walking away from other games, but there's no question our focus for 2013 much of it will be about becoming a better platform for core gamers and developers who make those games."

To help users discover them, Facebook added new action and strategy games categories on its App Center that also shows you friends from your list playing those games. It brought back notification messages from game apps -- a feature that had been removed because users found the annoying -- with certain restrictions that stop developers from spamming a gamer.

Developers also rely on word-of-mouth publicity and ads on Facebook's advertising platform to draw in prospective gamers.

"Stormfall" has a player base of 4.5 million and hardcore games were proving to be far more lucrative, said Gabi Shalel, chief marketing officer Of Tel Aviv, Israel-based Plarium.

"Hardcore gamers pay more, play more and generate higher average revenue per user than traditional casual games."

Kixeye, which makes the warfare-strategy game "War Commander," said its gamers spend 20 times more than players of social games, helping it stay profitable over the past three years.

Going forward, nWay's Jones says Facebook must have a defining title that comes along that establishes it as a hardcore gaming spot for gamers.

"Like 'Super Mario' did for Nintendo or 'Halo' on Microsoft, I think it just takes one title to come along, sort of as a benchmark to legitimize the whole thing," he said.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak; editing by Andrew Hay)

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Hackers target Twitter, could affect 250,000 user accounts

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Anonymous hackers attacked Twitter this week and may have gained access to passwords and other information for as many as 250,000 user accounts, the microblog revealed late on Friday.

Twitter said in a blog post that the passwords were encrypted and that it had already reset them as a "precautionary measure," and that it was in the process of notifying affected users.

The blog post noted recent revelations of large-scale cyber attacks against the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but unlike the two news organizations, Twitter did not provide any detail on the origin or methodology of the attacks.

"This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," Twitter said. "The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked."

Privately held Twitter, which has 200 million active monthly users, said it was working with government and federal law enforcement officials to track down the attackers.

The company did not specifically link the attacks to China in the blog post, in contrast to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, which both said the hackers originated in China.

Twitter, the social network known for its 140-character messages, could not speculate on the origin of the attacks as its investigation was ongoing, said spokesman Jim Prosser.

"There is no evidence right now that would indicate that passwords were compromised," said Prosser.

The attack is not the first time that hackers have breached Twitter's systems and gained access to Twitter user information. Twitter signed a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission in 2010, subjecting the company to 10 years of independent privacy reviews, for failing to safeguard users' personal information.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill and Lisa Shumaker)

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Why a Microsoft Office 2013 Subscription Makes Sense for Families

When you think of things you regularly pay a yearly subscription for, office software probably isn't high on that list. Microsoft wants to change that.

With the launch of Office 2013, Microsoft is introducing a new way for you to buy its software. No need to go to the store for a shrink-wrapped boxed version, it's moved to a subscription-based model. For $99 you get what's called Microsoft Office 365 Home Premium. You can install the software on up to five devices in your household. This is nice since many families today have a main computer and then kids tend to have laptops of their own for schoolwork. The software can also be used on Mac computers, though Microsoft is still using Office 2011 for Macs.

[More from Mashable: Office 2013 Is a Big Improvement, but Needs Polish]

For your yearly subscription fee, you get pretty much everything in the Office suite and then some. In addition to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the oft-overlooked OneNote, among others, you get what is called Office on Demand. This means you can access these programs on any Windows 7- or Windows 8-connected PC. You also get an extra 20GB of SkyDrive space over and above the 7GB Microsoft already offers for free, to save all your documents in the cloud.

[More from Mashable: What's Better for Today's Businesses: Google Apps or Microsoft Office?]

The subscription fee includes 60 minutes of Skype calls each month. You might think that's nothing since PC to PC calls are free, but remember, Skype calls can also be made to a landline phone, say, to a relative who isn't very computer savvy. So that means an hour per month of free calls to Aunt Gertrude.

At the Microsoft launch event in New York City this week, Rachel Bondi, general manager for office product marketing, told Mashable "people want more regular updates on their terms, allowing them to be able to get more frequent features that make their lives a little easier."

That's exactly what Microsoft is trying to do with the subscription model. While it's been three years since the last version of Office was released, Microsoft plans on pushing out updates to programs as soon as they're ready. If PowerPoint or Word has an update, a user can download it -- there's no need to wait for a whole new version of the suite to come out. Bondi says some service packs will be automatically streamed to your computer when they're ready so you're always up to date.

Customers are getting used to the idea of paying a yearly fee for online services. Xbox Live users pay a yearly fee for their gaming and entertainment. We pay monthly or yearly for services such as Netflix and Spotify. It makes sense that Microsoft is looking to capitalize off this paid model.

You may think $99 a year is a lot to pay for software, and you might be right, depending on your circumstances. If you have just one computer, perhaps two, and use it for mainly word processing and a spreadsheet, you'd be better off buying a boxed copy of Office Home and Student.

However, for families with two or three laptops in the house and perhaps a kid off at school with another one, a $99 yearly fee makes good sense. Especially with the SkyDrive storage and cloud-based access to all your email, calendars and documents.

What do you think, is a yearly subscription fee right for you? Let us know in the comments.

Click here to view the gallery: Office 2013 Review

Image courtesy of Microsoft

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Apple loses a U.S. appeals bid in Samsung patent fight

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected Apple Inc's request to revive its bid for a sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone, dashing the iPhone maker's attempt to recover crucial leverage in the global patent wars.

Apple had asked the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to revisit a decision in October by a three-judge panel of the same court. The panel rejected Apple's request to impose a sales ban on Samsung's Nexus smartphone ahead of a trial set for March 2014.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. A Samsung representative could not immediately be reached.

The fight in appeals court comes after Apple won a $1.05 billion verdict last year against Samsung in a U.S. District Court in California. The same trial judge will preside over the legal battle surrounding the Nexus phone, which involves a patent not included in the earlier trial.

The fight has been widely viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc. Samsung's hot-selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google's Android operating system, which Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs, once denounced as a "stolen product."

In its October ruling against Apple, the appeals court raised the bar for potentially market-crippling injunctions on product sales based on narrow patents for phone features. The legal precedent puts Samsung in a much stronger position by allowing its products to remain on store shelves while it fights a global patent battle against Apple over smartphone technology.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, in San Jose, California, who has presided over much of the Apple/Samsung litigation in the United States, cited the appeals' court decision in a December order rejecting Apple's request for permanent sales bans on several Samsung phones. Apple has appealed Koh's ruling.

Apple wanted the full Federal Circuit of Appeals, made up of nine active judges, to reverse the earlier ruling. But in a brief order on Thursday, the court rejected Apple's request without detailed explanation or any published dissents.

Several experts had believed that Apple faced long odds, as the legal issues in play were not considered controversial enough to spur full court review.

Apple could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the high court has made it more difficult for patent plaintiffs to secure sales injunctions in recent years.

The case in the Federal Circuit is Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-1507.

(Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by John Wallace, Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)

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Facebook stock avoids steep drop as Street rethinks results

(Reuters) - Shares of Facebook Inc recovered from an 8 percent slide on Thursday, finishing the regular session down less than 1 percent, as Wall Street's initial alarm over mobile revenue results and spending plans subsided.

Facebook said on Wednesday that fourth-quarter mobile advertising revenue doubled from the third quarter, but the results failed to live up to some investors' high expectations. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's comments about boosting spending in the coming year signaled that profit margins will be under pressure, adding to concerns.

"The initial fast money said earnings are going down, numbers are coming down, the stock is going to get hit," said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.

"But the more people thought about it throughout the day, the momentum changed and longer-term investors won out, saying these are investments we think they should be making," he said.

Facebook has long established itself as one of the most popular websites with more than a billion users, but investors have worried that until the company's mobile advertising strategy takes off, revenue growth will remain shaky.

Three brokerages downgraded the stock, but most analysts said investor expectations were too high and Facebook's mobile advertising business was a good long-term bet.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser upgraded Facebook to a "buy" rating on Thursday, calling Wall Street's reaction to the results "downright dazed."

The stock market incorrectly interpreted Facebook's "mobile revenue figures as a negative when in fact they are part of a story that we can see as qualitatively more favorable," Wieser said.

Shares of the company finished regular trading on Thursday down 0.8 percent at $30.98 on the Nasdaq. Earlier in the session, the stock fell as low as $28.74. Facebook stock has lost more than a quarter of its value since its botched debut in May.

The company reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday and said mobile advertising revenue doubled to $306 million, suggesting it was making inroads into handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Investors were looking for at least $350 million in mobile advertising revenue, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note to clients.

"While the trajectory of mobile growth may not be as steep as some investors were hoping, the theme of mobile as the future of Facebook remains intact," Munster said.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Daniel Salmon, however, said Facebook's 2013 stock performance would not be dictated by its ability to generate mobile ad dollars. He downgraded the stock on Thursday to "market perform" from "outperform."

Salmon said new catalysts were necessary to drive Facebook's stock price up.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Matthew Lewis)

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Audio company Audience sees fast growth, even with less Apple

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Audience Inc seems to be doing pretty well, even with less of Apple: the audio technology company forecast quarterly revenue well above Wall Street's expectations, helped by more business from Samsung and other smartphone makers.

Shares of Audience jumped 24 percent in after hours trading, after the company said Thursday that it expected revenue between $43 million and $46 million in the March quarter, versus analysts' average estimate of $31.8 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Audience, which went public in May 2012, saw its stock slump 58 percent in a single session last September on news that Apple Inc, to which it had been a supplier since 2008, would likely drop its noise-filtering technology in future iPhones, including the iPhone 5.

Its quarterly report underscored the increasing opportunity for Apple's suppliers to look to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other mobile device makers to fuel their growth as the iPhone and iPad face stiffer competition.

"Most people bought this stock at the IPO because it was an Apple business. But there's life without Apple," said Jay Srivatsa, an analyst at Chardan Capital Markets.

Audience executives said that more business from Samsung and other smartphone makers would offset dwindling revenue from Apple as fewer and fewer older iPhones that use its technology are sold.

Audience's chief executive, Peter Santos, told Reuters that as growth in smartphone sales moderates, manufacturers would fight more for market share.

"This idea that things stay the way they are - that Apple has a dominant position - I think we're seeing early signs that that's not going to be a permanent situation," Santos said. "What they've done and continue to do is great, but the world is much bigger."

The amount of Audience's revenue that comes from Apple fell from 40 percent in the September quarter to 33 percent in the December quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Kevin Palatnik said Apple would continue to contribute about a third of Audience's revenue in the first quarter, and then decline further this year as Apple launches new devices.

SAMSUNG BOOST

Samsung accounts for more than half of revenue at the Mountain View, California company, which sells chips and licenses intellectual property that improve voice quality in mobile devices by filtering out background noise.

To be sure, even with the jump in Audience's shares following its results on Thursday, its stock price is still 20 percent lower than before it disclosed its loss of Apple's business.

Audience's technology is used in Samsung's Galaxy S3 smartphone, giving it a reasonable chance that it will also be used in future Samsung devices.

"Part of the reason Q1 is so good is they're potentially in the Galaxy S4 that's going to be launched in the April-May timeframe," said Srivatsa of Chardan Capital.

Audience's technology is not used in the iPhone 5, but it is used in two prior generations of the smartphone.

Apple sold a record 48 million iPhones in the December quarter, but its share of the overall market is expected to peak this year at 22 percent and become dependent on repeat business from loyal customers unless it accepts lower margins by making low-cost iPhones, according to ABI Research.

In the fourth quarter that ended in December, Audience posted revenue of $38.7 million, up from $18.0 million in the year-earlier period and beating analysts' expectations of $31.8 million. Quarterly net income was $3.1 million, or 14 cents per share, swinging from a net loss of $5.6 million, or $5.56 per share, a year earlier.

Audience's shares were 24 percent higher in extended trade after closing up 2.86 percent at $12.22.

(This story is refiled to correct figure to $38.7 million, not $38.7 billion, in 17th paragraph)

(Reporting By Noel Randewich; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Chris Gallagher)

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RIM faces its day of reckoning with BlackBerry 10 launch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The innovative line of BlackBerry smartphones that Research In Motion Ltd will formally unveil on Wednesday has already succeeded on one crucial count - getting RIM back in the conversation.

The new BlackBerry 10 has created a buzz among technology watchers and financial analysts, thanks to nifty features that may set it apart in an overcrowded smartphone market. RIM stock has almost tripled over the past four months on hopes the devices can restore RIM to sustained prosperity.

Reviewers like the browser speed and the intuitive keyboard on RIM's new touchscreen. A feature called BlackBerry Balance, which keeps corporate and personal data separate, could help RIM rebuild its traditional base of big business customers.

It's a welcome start for RIM, the smartphone pioneer that has teetered on the brink of irrelevance. But success will come only if consumer and business customers embrace the new technology in the weeks and months after CEO Thorsten Heins takes the wraps off the phone at a glitzy New York launch.

RIM is gambling its survival on the much-delayed BlackBerry 10, hoping to claw its way back into an industry now dominated by Apple Inc's iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's Galaxy.

The timing may be just right. The new phone hits the market just as the iPhone's remarkable run is showing some signs of slowing.

"I really do believe that the consumer market as a whole is ready for something new," said Kevin Burden, head of mobility at Strategy Analytics, an industry consulting firm.

"I have to believe that there is some level of user fatigue that plays into the longevity of some of these platforms," he added, referring to Google Inc's Android and Apple's iOS, which are both more than five years old. "RIM is probably timing it right."

U.S. BATTLEGROUND

To be sure, RIM shares are about 90 percent below a 2008 peak near $150 a share and the company still has a tough fight ahead. It may take investors some time to determine whether RIM's big gamble on an untested technology has paid off.

RIM's market share collapsed in the three years ahead of the launch. Strategy Analytics data shows RIM's global share of the smartphone market was about 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter, down from around 20 percent just three years ago.

While RIM has done well in developing markets, it has hemorrhaged customers in the United States, a market that sets technology trends. RIM's fourth-quarter North American market share fell to 2 percent from more than 40 percent three years ago.

Acknowledging that it is crucial to win back U.S. customers, RIM will hold its main BlackBerry 10 launch in New York, although there are simultaneous events in six cities across the globe.

Underscoring the point, RIM is splurging on a costly Super Bowl ad to tout its new devices and attempt to brighten its faded image in the U.S. market.

BIG QUESTIONS

Over 150 carriers already have tested the new devices and RIM has said the launch will be the largest ever global rollout of a new platform.

The two big questions the market expects RIM to answer on Wednesday are when the phones - a full touch-screen device and one with a traditional physical keyboard - will hit store shelves, and how much they will cost.

The company is expected to unveil specifics on pricing and availability in different regions at the launch.

"The Street is expecting mid-February for a launch. Anything earlier than that is a positive, anything later will be viewed as negative," said RBC Dominion Securities analyst Paul Treiber.

That said, there are few mysteries to be cleared up on Wednesday. Leaked photos and specifications of the devices have been splashed across the tech world.

"We've had the beta devices for a few weeks and in terms of the devices, they are right up there with the competition," said Andy Ambrozic, head of IT Infrastructure at Ricoh Canada. "The Balance feature is crucial for corporations that are becoming increasingly concerned about data security."

Scotiabank analyst Gus Papageorgiou feels RIM has a good chance of a comeback. He says the new BB10 operating system outpaces Apple's iOS platform and Google's market-leading Android system in every category except app selection and content.

"There is, we believe, huge potential for the platform and devices to bring people back to BlackBerry or draw entirely new users into the platform," said Papageorgiou, who has a "sector outperform" rating on the stock.

BlackBerry 10 will not be able to compete on the number of apps, but RIM says its operating system will have the largest application library for any new platform at launch, with more than 70,000 apps available.

It has already gathered big-name music and video partners for its BlackBerry 10 storefront, including Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures, Universal Music and Warner Music Group.

Wireless carriers already report strong demand for the new devices. Rogers Communications Inc, Canada's top wireless carrier and the first globally to take pre-orders for the new devices, said orders are already in the thousands.

"Our customers are excited," said John Boynton, Rogers' head of marketing, adding that some users are holding off on upgrades in anticipation of the BB10 launch.

(Additional reporting by Alastair Sharp and Allison Martell in Toronto; Editing by Frank McGurty, Janet Guttsman and Andre Grenon)

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Everything You Wanted to Know About Facebook Groups

Click here to view the gallery: Facebook Groups 101

Once upon a time, Facebook users joined groups to self-identify; groups lived in your About section, next to your favorite books, movies and quotes. (Anyone remember "Grab Your Balls... We're Playin' Tennis?")

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But no more. Now, Pages have replaced traditional groups. And today's groups revolve more around communication, sharing and interaction.

[More from Mashable: Facebook iPhone App Adds Recording and Sharing Video]

Groups help gather with friends around common interests; within groups, you can share updates, photos, documents and more under specific settings of your choosing.

In light of Facebook Pages' popularity, some users may wonder if groups are obsolete. However, Pages are always public, meaning their information and posts are available to all Facebook users, and if they represent a brand or company, they can only be created by official representatives.

Today's groups also enjoy more intuitive privacy settings. There are cons, however -- for instance, you can't avoid being added to groups against your will (though you have the option to leave, of course), and the "Seen by" feature adds another creepy consideration.

We walk you through the process of creating, joining and customizing groups in the gallery above. Tell us why you use Facebook groups in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, courtneyk.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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