In today’s Quick Hits we talk about Google’s secret social network, why Facebook has helped divorce attorneys, and how many social networking websites are giving up info about users’ locations.

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Google Me: Google’s Facebook Competitor Confirmed

A former Facebook CTO recently confirmed that rival company Google is developing a major social networking website based off of the Facebook user experience. Called Google Me, the project would be Google’s third attempt at a social networking site, behind Buzz, Wave, and Orkut. For what it’s worth, here’s Michael Arrington’s opinion on Google Me and why he believes Google should create a straight-up clone of Facebook.

Facebook is a Powerful Tool for Divorce Lawyers

Divorce lawyers love social media. According to an AP report, “The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says 81 percent of its members have used or faced evidence plucked from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites, including YouTube and LinkedIn, over the last five years.” A whopping 66% of the lawyers singled out Facebook as the main source for uncovering important information, from a spouse’s infidelities to visual proof of a parent’s alcohol or drug abuse.

Denver divorce attorney Leslie Matthews says it best when she explains, “You’re finding information that you just never get in the normal discovery process — ever. People are just blabbing things all over Facebook. People don’t yet quite connect what they’re saying in their divorce cases is completely different from what they’re saying on Facebook. It doesn’t even occur to them that they’d be found out.”

The Business Podcast Talks About the Internet

In this week’s edition of The Business podcast, co-produced by UK newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, journalist Aditya Chakrabortty, author Clay Shirky, Guardian columnist Julian Glover, blogger Evgeny Morozov, Guardian business editor Dan Roberts, and author David Kirkpatrick discuss how the Internet has changed consumer behavior and transformed business.

Why I Left Facebook and Why I Came Back

In a column for the Kansas City Star, Aisha Sultan explains why she had to deactivate Facebook (and why she had to come back five days later). The column touches on the many reasons why Facebook has become such a popular destination, namely the way that it reinforces loose relationships and serves as a central hub for sharing information online. The column also features insight from attorney Craig Moore on some of the legal issues that Facebook users have faced as a result of their social networking addiction.

Social Networking Websites Leak User Location Info

Whether you know it or not, your social networking websites might be giving up your location. According to a ComputerWorld article, “A study out this week from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts shows that mobile social networks are giving data about users’ physical locations to tracking sites and other social networking services. Researchers reported that all 20 sites that were studied leaked some kind of private information to third-party tracking sites.” Some of the sites in the study included Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter.