"facebook" news and stories

Jezebel reports that a Facebook group called Supermarket Scrabble, which advocates re-arranging products on grocery shelves to spell out dirty words, is calling for an all-out Spell-In on April Fool's Day. What products, you ask, lend themselves to this brand of merry pranksterism? Well, let's just say that a certain spice label -- one whose individual offerings display a big initial letter on each jar -- makes it especially easy to participate in this X-rated spelling bee.

But before you decide to have some fun down at the A&Pee (oops, A&P), you might want to think about the poor staff who will have to re-arrange all of the lewd lettering. Is it fair that the joke is on them?

Planning a meal online usually goes something like this: Scan for something appealing on Google 'till you realize that's a losing game, then head to your favorite online food magazines and blogs. Then you bookmark, copy URLs -- and maybe even email friends for a consensus. It's a quicker process than searching through cookbooks, but a group of former Yahoo execs saw an easier path: a recipe search engine synced up with Facebook.

Can money buy friendship? Jack in the Box is hoping so. The fast-food burger joint is channeling the powers of Facebook to build a money bank for one lucky fan.

For every new fan the restaurant gets, a nickel will be added to the pot. The month-long campaign, conceived by Secret Weapon Marketing and revealed this week, will end with one big winner.

Jack in the Box's Facebook page has installed a tab called "Be a Rich Fan," which will keep the pot running live as new fans are added and the pot gets bigger.

Even burgers are getting on Twitter these days.

With the debut next month of Manhattan's "healthy fast food" joint 4Food, diners will be able to combine their love of burgers with their love of social networking, the New York Times reported.

Customers order the doughnut-shaped burgers -- and get to name them -- that are then broadcast on the Internet on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.

Burger orders are shown on a leaderboard that advertises which is most popular. Every time someone orders the burger you created, you get a 25-cent credit to the restaurant, the Times reported. If your burger is popular enough, eventually you'll eat for free.

And turning it into a game could make customers promote 4Food online as they try to nudge their won creations higher on the list.

The mayor of Pizza Hut in Kearney, Nebraska, gets a free order of bread sticks with the purchase of a large pizza, while at the Robust Wine Bar in Webster Groves, Missouri, anyone can get a free bottle of beer in August just for checking in.

Have no idea what we're talking about? Then you're not on Foursquare, but chances are increasingly likely that some of your favorite restaurants are.

Not long ago (really, not long -- like, say, last year), you were on the cutting edge if you followed your best-loved eateries on Facebook or sent a gushing Tweet as you scarfed down a particularly delicious serving of pad Thai.

Not anymore.

Now there's a new GPS-based generation of social networking sites like Foursquare, which allows users to "check in" at their favorite local haunts using the Foursquare smart phone app. Then they can earn "badges" for things like logging in three times a week, and even get the chance to become "mayor" of, say, their neighborhood Pinkberry for checking in there more than anyone else within 60 days.