I lead VentureBeat’s coverage on social media news, but also cover news and industry trends in e-commerce and mobile.

Previously, I was a senior reporter at Mashable. I also have experience in broadcast television and introduced social media reporting to the NBC San Diego newsroom.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in English from UCLA.

You can find me pretty much anywhere on the web under the handle “jbruin.” I often tweet, instagram, facebook, and path on tech and the world at large. Sometimes I get a little NSFW on these channels, so consider yourself warned.

I also abide by VentureBeat’s Ethics Statement. I don’t hold stock in any company that I cover and I don’t accept gifts of any kind for coverage (though I do possess some startup swag collected from parties and such over the years). On occasion, companies send me samples and test products, but I disclose these details in stories whenever applicable. I do have a Bruin-bred bias against USC, a fact that causes more conflict in my personal life than it does in my reporting.

stories by Jennifer Van Grove

Same-day booking app HotelTonight invades Europe and goes after last-minute gifts

Last-minute booking app HotelTonight is ready to alleviate your holiday headaches, be they travel or gift-related.

Instagram’s next move: a novel new camera for iOS and a fresh filter for all

Embroiled in a photo turf war with Twitter, Instagram's deadly weapon of choice is a revamped iOS application that allows users to snap better, more stylized shots.

Bing spotlights celebrities and landmarks at center of search

Microsoft's Bing search engine hopes to help you find more about the personalities and places in your queries with an update that spits out relevant information at the center of your search.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg sells 946K shares for $26.2M gain

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg sold 946,588 Facebook shares across two separate transactions on Wednesday, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

LinkedIn hatches its own [in]cubator to develop great ideas

LinkedIn is catering to the entrepreneurially minded people on its team with a new program designed to advance great ideas dreamt up in the workplace.

Prepare to be extra pithy! Twitter to subtract 2 characters for tweets with links

Time to brush up on your shorthand, because come February, you're going to have two less characters to tweet with when you share links on Twitter.

Foursquare now lets merchants promote their in-store events

Foursquare is now helping the neighborhood bars, restaurants, bookstores, and coffee shops of the world get the word out about their in-store events.

3 Gmail Labs graduates land in your inbox to save you precious seconds

Google has graduated three time-saving experimental Gmail features, kicking them out of the protected confines of Labs and into your inbox.

Facebook rumored to be going after Microsoft’s Atlas ad platform

Facebook may be turning to its longtime pal Microsoft to complete its plan to create an external advertising network.

Google courts photographers with Snapseed for Android release

Google today released an Android version of the sophisticated photo-editing application Snapseed, a product it picked up in its acquisition of photography software developer Nik Software. The company also updated the Snapsneed app for iOS to make it free.

Snapseed’s …

Google Now gets boarding passes, starts acting more like Apple’s Passbook

Google has taken inspiration from Apple's Passbook to give its Android customers a more instantaneous way to pull up their boarding passes with Google Now.

Twitter extends Trends to reveal breaking news in 100 more cities

Twitter has added localized trends for 100 new cities, improving its capability to show people the buzziest news and hashtags being discussed on the information network in locations around the world.

Facebook borrows Twitter’s “follow” terminology to replace “subscribe”

Facebook defined the word "poke" for a new generation, but the social network can't say the same about the word "subscribe."

ShopKeep POS banks $10M for iPad register system

iPad point-of-sale provider ShopKeep POS has closed an important sale of its own. The New York-based startup has banked $10 million in funding from Canaan Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners, and TTV Capital.

AddThis tallies a year of sharing to determine 2012 winners and losers [infographic]

'Tis the season for reflection -- through data crunching, of course! The folks at AddThis have tallied a year's worth of social shares to uncover 2012's biggest takeaways.

Microsoft unlocks Socl, a puzzling social network that looks a lot like Pinterest

Pronounced "social," Socl debuted to the public today with a fresh coat of paint, new features, and no clear purpose.

Last.fm co-founders return to “scrobble” the web with Lumi

Felix Miller and Martin Stiksel are two of the co-founders of Last.fm, the social music service that sold to CBS in 2007. Now, the boys are back, and this time they think they have what to takes to tackle the only startup market that may be more unforgiving than music: personalized content discovery.

Yahoo continues quest to buy top mobile talent with OnTheAir deal

Marissa Mayer is making good on a promise to buy Yahoo's way to mobile dominance with the talent acquisition of the team behind OnTheAir.

Don’t bother uploading mobile photos to Facebook, Photo Sync does that for you

Facebook Photo Sync automatically syncs your phone's camera roll to a private album for bulk sharing whenever the mood strikes -- no manual uploads required.