Turki al-Hamad paid a heavy price for a tweet. Last year the novelist told his followers that Islam as practiced in Saudi Arabia was not the "message of love" preached by the Prophet Muhammad. The outcome was six months in prison without trial. Conditions were immeasurably better than when he was detained in the 1970s, but the hazards of speaking out in the digital age were still painfully clear.

A Twitter conversation on Asian American feminism using the hashtag #NotYourAsianSidekick quickly became a global discussion aimed at breaking silence around issues faced by Asian communities. Writer Suey Park launched the hashtag, which was used nearly 50,000 times in less than a day.

While reporting on the phenomenon of T-shirts originating in the U.S. and winding up in Africa, NPR Planet Money recently turned up a Bat Mitzvah T-Shirt in Nairobi and asked for help tracking down the owner. After some Facebook sleuthing - and pinging the wrong Rachel Williams a couple of times - JTA's Adam Soclof finally got in touch with Rachel Aaronson, who led him to Jennifer.

Ever since little Kosovo proclaimed itself an independent state five years ago, it has failed to win all the recognition it so craves. Neither the United Nations, which confers legitimacy, nor all the European Union, whose members are divided on the question, much less Serbia, from which Kosovo broke away, recognize the birth of a new European nation. But after a campaign waged by an army of devoted Kosovars and strategically placed allies, Kosovo is hailing a grant of legitimacy by a new arbiter of national identity: Facebook.

The year-in-review posts are coming fast and furious from the world's leading technology companies. Instagram is the latest to post their statistics. And it has the best social network factlet of the year: the most-Instagrammed place in the world is a mall in Bangkok. New York makes three appearances, including the one for the High Line. Southern California also appears three times for Disneyland and two sporting venues.

Indians online are posting photos of same-sex affection to show their outrage over a Indian supreme court ruling that criminalises gay sex. Thousands of Facebook users have joined the "Gay for a Day" campaign, which is soliciting photos of people kissing someone of the same gender. Though many in India still disapprove of homosexuality, online users joined the pro-LGBT rights campaign after the decision was announced on Tuesday.

We've all seen selfies taken in questionable places. During a school lockdown. In front of a man attempting suicide. At Auschwitz. Now, some people are adding President Obama to the list of people with poor selfie judgment after the leader of the free world posed with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service Tuesday in South Africa.

The 2014 World Cup draw that grouped Iran with heavyweights Argentina has provoked thousands of Iranians to trash the Facebook page of Argentine superstar Lionel Messi. Iran was drawn in Group F alongside Argentina, reigning African champions Nigeria and newcomers Bosnia-Herzegovina, and will open their fourth campaign in the final stages of the World Cup on June 16.