Today’s Top Headlines in Tech & Social Media

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Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,†a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today.

UK Government Discusses Limiting Social Media

British officials met with representatives from Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry to discuss ways of restricting social media use during periods of civil disruption Thursday. Among the items discussed: requiring users to use their real names on Twitter.

WikiLeaks Cables Show China’s Failure to Measure Air Pollution

China has refrained from measuring the most dangerous types of air pollution in an effort to avoid political consequences, according to U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday.

Google Kills Slide in Favor of Google+

Google has allegedly decided to dissolve Slide, a social apps company it acquired last year for $182 million, as it shifts its social networking efforts to Google+.

Apple’s Stock Price Stabilizes

Investors seem to have shrugged off Apple‘s bombshell announcement on Wednesday that Steve Jobs was resigning as CEO. The company’s stock price, which had fallen as much as 7% in after-hours trading, was down less than 1% by mid-afternoon Thursday.

Further News

• Tim Cook sent his first memo to Apple employees Thursday.
• Mozilla’s CEO has defended Firefox’s accelerated, six-week release cycle in a blog post.
• Fox Searchlight is shunning traditional promotional opportunities for its upcoming film Martha Marcy May Marlene in favor of an elaborate QR code campaign.
• Flipboard, a social newsreading app for the iPad, is setting its sights on TV and film.
• The Sims Social, a reboot of Electronic Arts’ bestselling $4 billion games franchise, has only been out of beta since last Thursday — but it already has 4.6 million people playing it daily.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59

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