Google's Palestine page angers Israel

Google has raised the ire of Israeli authorities in the wake of the search giant's decision last week to list Google Palestine as an option for a localized Google page, according to the Jerusalem Post. Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin wrote a letter to Google chief executive Larry Page, noting: "By doing so Google is in essence recognizing the existence of a Palestinian state." "[...] a decision is in my opinion not only mistaken but could also negatively impinge on the efforts of my government to bring about direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," he wrote. Instagram's Kevin Systrom knows the feeling, as he reveals in an extensive behind-the-scenes story in this week's Vanity Fair magazine by tech journalist Kara Swisher. In "The Money Shot," All Things Digital's co-executive editor makes her debut as a Vanity Fair contributing editor by exploring the details of how Systrom rejected an offer to sell his popular photo-sharing app company to Jack Dorsey's Twitter, only to be wooed even harder by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook was also an obvious choice for the Fortune 500 Social Media Stars list not only because it provides the platform all others in this category are utilizing, but because Facebook also uses social media effectively to engage consumers ... and the company hasn't ignored other social media channels as a way to connect with potential users: The company started in co-founder Reid Hoffman's living room in Palo Alto on May 5, 2003, at a time when Friendster (remember them?) was still the big thing in social networking.