Attending the annual Allen & Co media and technology conference in Sun Valley Idaho, News Corp titan Rupert Murdoch was emphatic in addressing two of the biggest rumours swirling at the event.

While rumours of its acquisition follow Twitter pretty much constantly, the much hyped micro-blogging platform has grown so big and so fast that News Corp would be one of the few media companies big enough to actually acquire it.

The News Corporation-owned MySpace has announced it is culling 500 staff, or around one third of its US workforce.

The US-based social networking site is spinning the move a refocusing after a period of bloat, and a “return to start-up culture”.

The slowing online ad market - which in the US recently suffered its first fall in seven years - is also to blame.

So is Bebo, where younger MySpace users have defected in droves; Facebook, which has picked of older MySpacers, and Twitter, which has diverted social networker across the board.

It’s official, MySpace cofounder and and CEO Chris DeWolfe has been given his marching orders from News Corp’s new CEO of digital media Jonathan Miller, announced today via an internal email to Fox employees.

DeWolfe’s partner and cofounder Tom Anderson, (who automatically becomes your first friend when you join the service) is said to be staying on, although in a revised capacity and not as President.

Former Facebook chief operating officer Owen Van Natta is tipped to take over the reins in a deal that is still unfolding now.

For four months, 19,637 people followed Ewan McGregor’s every move via the microblogging service. Or at least they thought they did. But come on people –Moulin Rouge 2?

While there are many fake celebrity accounts on Twitter, including those purporting to be Tina Fey and Hank Paulson, most are obviously bogus.

Companies have started using social networking sites to attract recruits, as the competition for skilled workers continues to evolve.

As well as the traditional newspaper advertising and the more recent development of job sites such as seek.co.nz, businesses are now hiring via Facebook, Myspace and Bebo.

While this platform isn’t used as often as the more tried-and-true methods, it is becoming more and more common, says Adam Gregory, manager of recruitment technology provider Adlogic.

Kiwis have well and truly turned away from the former king of social networking, Myspace, embracing Facebook in huge numbers.

Figures from internet measurement company Hitwise released today show Facebook maintained its title as New Zealand's most-visited social networking website, accounting for 43.88 per cent of market share of visits by New Zealand Internet users during July 2008.

Hitwise said the social networking measurement category had increased by 60.48 per cent as of July 2008.