Adriana

The icon -- which Twitter users call it the "fail whale" because the creature appears only when the site has failed to load -- has gained a cult following as the social media site grows at breakneck pace. The conversational Web site, which lets users post 140-character microblogs, saw a 1,374 percent jump in unique visitors between February 2008 and February this year, up to 7 million from only 475,000, according to Nielsen NetView. By comparison, Facebook grew 228 percent, to 65.7 million users, during the same period. - Adriana

President Obama has named Edward Montgomery, a former deputy labor secretary, as the new Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers, a position that will focus on creating new opportunities in area's hurt by the contraction of the auto industry. Montgomery is currently dean at the University of Maryland's College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. He will work within the President’s Task Force on Autos. "Ed will help provide support to auto workers and their families, and open up opportunity to manufacturing communities in Michigan and Ohio and Indiana and every other state that relies on the auto industry," said President Obama on Monday. - Adriana

The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. - Adriana