Colin Campbell of the Clayton News-Star and News & Observer reports that the Johnston school board has approved new policies regulating student and teacher use of social media. The board wants principals to be able to crack down on bullying and other harassment.

Campbell reports that principals could discipline students for posted comments as if the student had made the comment at school. Also, teachers can't use social media to communicate with students, parents or co-workers. So a teacher cannot "friend" a student on Facebook. It will be interesting to see if other school systems follow Johnston's lead. --John Drescher

You will see an improved News & Observer with a new appearance starting Monday. Our print paper has had the same look for about 10 years. It needs to be updated to reflect some of the changes in how information is reported, distributed and received.

On the second page of the A and Sports sections, you will see daily features that reflect what people are saying online and in social media. The new Sports feature, “Sports Now,” will include an excerpt from one of our sports bloggers, as well as Twitter highlights from the North Carolina sports community. On 2A, “Talking Points” will report on the digital conversation, locally and nationally, and will show which stories are hot in the Triangle.

In the Weekend section on Fridays, you will find a new roundup of movie reviews. In Home & Garden on Saturdays, we will add new columns on decorating and gardening. To make room for some of these features, some of our comics will be eliminated.

The paper also will have a new look. The page will be slightly narrower (by less than a half-inch) but will be easier to read. On section fronts and many inside pages, we will run five wider columns instead of six narrow ones. The wider columns – about 2 inches wide – enable most readers to move through a story quicker. The size of the type in stories will not change.

Our 10 community papers will make similar appearance changes, effective with Wednesday's editions.  Read more Saturday in my column at newsobserver.com. Let us know what you think about the changes.

--John Drescher

Ray LaHood, the U.S. transportation secretary, recommended today that automakers equip new cars with controls to disable some kinds of in-vehicle technology while the car is in motion -- to limit the safety hazard of distracting drivers with communication, entertainment and other functions that are not required to operate the car safely. [See 2/16/12 story.]

The driver would have to stop the car and put the transmission in "park" to perform functions on built-in gadgets including texting, Web browsing, 10-digit phone dialing, and viewing more than 30 characters of a text message unrelated to driving. 

These functions would be enabled in moving cars only for devices that are used by passengers and cannot be viewed by drivers. ... [MORE]

Google's plan to integrate its Google+ social network into its search results has Twitter on the defensive.

Called "Search Plus Your World," Google's new search culls through Google+ data to deliver more personal search results.

In a statement Twitter said, "We're concerned that as a result of Google's changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that's bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users."

A post from Google volleys that Twitter can't be too surprised. This is appears to be the fallout of Twitter choosing not to renew their agreement with Google. Remember Google's Realtime Search that churned up tweets?
 

Google+ has generated a lot of buzz. Some have anointed it the Facebook killer which is a far stretch, but Google+ does have some intriguing features and a refreshing interface.

Here is a handy infographic that shows you how the two stack up.

As Facebook emerged from the primordial ooze of social media, skeptics assumed its users were a bunch of misanthropic hermits and rid the technology as a threat to real-world relationships.

Guess what.

Researchers have found that those on Facebook are more social than those who are not. Those not online tend to be more socially isolated.

This shouldn't shock anyone who actually uses social media, but it does affirm common sense. Even a user with the of slightest social tendencies can perceive the value of social media tools. Thus social hounds naturally gravitate toward Facebook for its social managment.

There are a few interesting factoids in the story at this link.
 

Free speech via Twitter is not guaranteed for pro soccer player Ryan Babel at least.

The BBC says the Liverpool striker was fined about $16,000 for his tweet protesting an official's call which roughly tallies to $275 per character.

The post linked to an altered image showing the referee in their opponent's uniform. "And they call him one of the best referees. That's a joke," Babel added.

Facebook users can sign up to receive Amber Alerts in their region.

You know you want to know if even you don't tweet. Who's using Twitter and how they are using it.

Facebook is redesigning the profile pages of its 500 million-plus users to make it more of a reflection of their real lives and emphasize one of the site's most popular features, photos.