State of the Union Live Chat: Before President Obama gives his fourth State of the Union tonight, we’ll be chatting live with White House reporter Paul Brandus, founder of West Wing Reports. 

Brandus is an award-winning journalist and independent member of the White House press corps. In 2011, he won the Short Award for “Best Journalist on Twitter.” He’ll be responding to your questions and comments about the President’s 2013 State of the Union address. Come chat!

• When: Tonight at 7:30
• Where: The Week’s Facebook page
• What: A discussion about tonight’s State of the Union. What do you want to hear Obama say? What will he skip completely, and why? How will Marco Rubio’s response position him within the GOP? 
• How to participate: Tune in on Facebook around 7:15 to start submitting your questions and comments. Brandus will jump in at 7:30. 

In the mean time, here are the 5 things Obama is likely to talk about in his speech tonight. 

Tonight, President Obama will address Congress and the nation in his fourth State of the Union address, which is set to begin at 9 p.m. EST. If you won’t be in front of a television — and even if you will be — be sure to follow along via social media. Here’s how:  

• Before the speech: At 7:30 p.m., chat live with White House reporter Paul Brandus on The Week’s Facebook page. He’ll give you the lowdown on what to expect from tonight’s address.
  
  
• During the speech: On Twitter, subscribe to @TheWeek’s list of key political players, which includes both reporters and politicians who will be tweeting about the address. Separately, you’ll want to follow the hashtag #SOTU.  

More: A social media guide to the SOTU

$100, you say? 

Why is Facebook charging $100 for messages? 

Amanda Bynes: The former child star with a DUI record (her April 6 booking photo, pictured) was caught allegedly getting high in her car. Photo: Getty Images

GOOD DAY FOR: 

Facebook activism
A new study suggests that social networks like Facebook are more effective at getting people to vote than television ads or phone calls. [Discovery News]

The not-particularly-thirsty
The New York City Board of Health approves a ban on sugary drinks larger than 16-ounces at restaurants, concession stands, and other eateries. [Slate]

Color corrections
SNL announces that actually African-American cast-member Jay Pharaoh will take over as the show’s go-to Obama impersonator, releasing Fred Armisen (who’s of Venezuelan-German-Japanese extraction) of his duties. [The Daily What]

BAD DAY FOR: 

Smut
In its first week of sales, No Easy Day, Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette’s firsthand account of the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden, sells more copies than Fifty Shades of Grey. [Death & Taxes]

Being untidy
A photographer obsessively documents actress Amanda Bynes allegedly smoking marijuana in her car, surrounded by junk food wrappers (!) and other debris. [Buzzfeed] 

Rebranding
Online marketplace eBay unveils its brand new logo — less “spunky,” more “corporate” — and faces lukewarm reviews. [Geekosystem]

(Source: theweek.com)

Wall Street seems inclined to unfriend Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

Shares in his newly minted public company dipped below $20 this week, barely half of May’s initial public offering price of $38. At the time of the IPO, Facebook was anointed “the darling of Wall Street” following an opening day frenzy that valued Zuck’s social network at well over $100 billion — good enough for the second largest IPO in U.S. history. But now, restless investors are calling for Zuckerberg to turn the company’s reins over to someone with more leadership experience.

(Source: theweek.com)

Losse claimsthat there was a “skeleton key” that any Facebook employee could use to log into any user’s account to access all their messages and data. “You can’t write it down,” another employee told Losse on her first day. The password had to be memorized. “I briefly experienced stunned disbelief,” says Losse. ”They just hand over the password with no background check to make sure that I am not a crazed stalker?” The master password allegedly no longer exists, and the company eventually implemented more secure measures to access accounts.

Revelations from the new Facebook-insider memoir

Walt Handelsman, “Tripping over the hype”
© Tribune Media Services 2012

More cartoons

After pricing its initial public offering at $38 per share, Facebook stock hit the market at $42 a pop Friday morning, vaulting the social network to a valuation of well over $100 billion, and positioning Facebook to raise some $16 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs in U.S. history.  “It’s official,” says Mike Isaac at All Things D, “$FB has arrived.” 

$104.12 billion
Facebook’s value (based on the $38 IPO price), making it worth more than McDonald’s, Kraft, Citigroup, Amazon, and Disney 

$16 billion
Funds that Facebook’s public offering is expected to raise

421.2 million
Shares of Facebook Class A common stock made available to the public Friday

80 million
Shares of Facebook stock that changed hands in the first 30 seconds of trading

901 million
Facebook users worldwide. “If Facebook were a country, it would be the the third largest in the world,” says digital analyst Brian Solis, lagging behind only China and India, respectively. 

812 million
Total internet users in 2004, the year “TheFacebook.com” made its debut in Harvard dorm rooms 

1,000
New millionaires Facebook’s IPO is expected to create

2.3
Percent of Facebook owned by U2 singer Bono, who now eclipses Paul McCartney as the richest musician in the world, says GigaOm

$19.1 billion
Estimated net worth of Mark Zuckerberg, 28, making him the 29th richest person in the world

More numbers

(Source: theweek.com)

7 suspected criminals who got themselves caught via Facebook