Facebook, USPS, Tokyo Electric Power: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet Monday include Facebook on news that the social media Web site is opening a software engineering center in New York in early 2012.

Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg revealed at a press conference the company will be adding thousands of employees in the next year, though she did not specify how many of those positions will be added in New York. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended the press conference.

This will mark the first time the company will have a software location outside of the West Coast. Facebook already has an advertising team in New York, whose location will also be home to the engineers for now. The company has begun accepting job applications.

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USPS is trending as the U.S. Postal Service announced changes that will slow the delivery of mail starting in spring 2012.

The USPS is changing the national standard for first-class mail delivery, which is currently one to three days, to two to three days. The Postal Service is making about $3 billion in reductions, resulting in the closing of nearly half of the country's 500 mail-processing centers. The closing of those centers will eliminate the delivery of first-class mail in one day when sent to nearby local communities.

The cost of first-class mail will also be increased by 1 cent to 45 cents beginning in January 2012.

The cuts are all part of the Postal Service's attempt to cut costs and avoid bankruptcy. The closing of the mail processing centers comes on top of the planned closing of 3,700 post offices.

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Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, is another popular search Monday. The company said more highly radioactive water leaked from Japan's Fukushima power plant over the weekend, some of which may have hit the sea.

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