diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 8fb6647d4..64c8c27e4 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -193,8 +193,8 @@ module ApplicationHelper
     end
 
     if options[:autolinks]
-      message.gsub!(/( |^)(www\.[^ ]+\.[^ ])/, '\1http://\2')
-      message.gsub!(/(<a target="\\?_blank" href=")?(https|http|ftp):\/\/([^ ]+)/) do |m|
+      message.gsub!(/( |^)(www\.[^\s]+\.[^\s])/, '\1http://\2')
+      message.gsub!(/(<a target="\\?_blank" href=")?(https|http|ftp):\/\/([^\s]+)/) do |m|
         if !$1.nil?
           m
         else
diff --git a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
index 44195c7cd..e41617191 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
@@ -208,6 +208,12 @@ describe ApplicationHelper do
         res = markdownify(message)
         res.should == "These<br /\>are<br /\>some<br /\>new<br /\>lines"
       end
+      
+      it 'should render newlines and basic http links correctly' do
+        message = "Some text, then a line break and a link\nhttp://joindiaspora.com\nsome more text"
+        res = markdownify(message)
+        res.should == 'Some text, then a line break and a link<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://joindiaspora.com">joindiaspora.com</a><br />some more text'
+      end
     end
 
     context 'performance' do