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Posts Tagged ‘ Twitter ’

Twitter hits 10 billion tweet mark

By Fei on March 8, 2010

By Carrie-Ann Skinner
March 8, 2010

LONDON - More than 10 billion tweets have been posted on micro-blogging service Twitter.
This clearly indicates Twitter’s growing popularity, as it was only in November 2008 that the one billionth tweet was posted.

The web user behind the 10 billionth tweet and the content hasn’t been revealed.

The news comes as Virgin Media Business revealed that one in five tweets contains a reference to a product or a brand.
Furthermore, while 57 of the FTSE 100 companies have signed up to the micro-blogging service, 72 percent have not used their account to respond to consumers that enquire or make comments about their service.

“With so many people sharing their thoughts online, it’s no surprise that many are talking about companies. Clearly this presents an excellent opportunity for companies to engage with customers, but many are missing out,” said Phil Stewart from Virgin Media Business.

Virgin Media Business said it believed many signed-up to Twitter to stop cyber squatters getting their first.

“Creating a Twitter account and leaving it dormant or not responding to tweets by your customers is no better than opening a contact centre and not picking up the phone. In fact it is a lot worse as this lack of interaction can be viewed by millions.”

Twitter to place ads in search function

By Fei on March 4, 2010

By Carrie-Ann Skinner
March 4, 2010

LONDON - Micro-blogging service Twitter is thought to be preparing to serve adverts to its users.

According to story on the Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD website, the ads will be linked to Twitter searches. For example a search for ‘laptop’ may generate an ad from Dell.

AllThingsD also said the 140 characters or less adverts will only be shown in search results, or add-on services such as TweetDeck that have agreed with Twitter to display the ads.

“Everyone I’ve talked to cautions that the plans are evolving and that there are plenty of details to work out,” said Peter Kafka on the AllThingsDsite.

However, Twitter has yet to reveal pricing and a launch date.

Twitter engineer Alex Payne added to the speculation when he revealed that the Micro-blogging service is set to get some new features.
“If you had some of the nifty site features that we Twitter employees have, you might not want to use a desktop client. (You will soon),” he said in a tweet, which has since been removed.

Payne then added that the “web client team is building cool stuff. It’s going to inspire desktop app developers. Same data, new perspectives”.

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Leave Your PlayStation 3 Off or Else, Warns Sony

By Fei on March 3, 2010

By Matt Peckham
March 3, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - It’s probably just a 24 hour bug, but you’ll want to leave your glitchy PS3s off in the meantime, just in case, says Sony.

In an update posted to the company’s international Twitter feeds and official PlayStation blogs at roughly 9:15am PT, Sony wrote that it hopes to resolve an issue preventing gamers from playing games or connecting to its PlayStation Network, but advises that “you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality.”
Those “functionality errors” could include properly recording trophies obtained by completing specific goals in games, as well as “not being able to restore certain data,” though it’s unclear what Sony means by the latter.

The issue, which manifested as clocks turned from February 28 to March 1, affects older “fat” PS3s only (”slims” are unaffected) and manifests as a time reset to 12/31/99 when you power the system on. Attempting to play certain games offline brings up an error message, as does signing into Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Some users have also reported that they can’t access streaming videos, such as those downloaded from online video rental service Netflix.

Twitter Phishing Scam: Blame Browsers and Users

By Fei on March 1, 2010

By Jared Newman
March 1, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - With banks, newspapers, and politicians in Britain overrun by a blatant Twitter phishing scam, it’s time to point some fingers. Most disappointing are browsers and users, both of which failed to recognize an obvious ruse.

Specifically, I’m calling out Firefox and old browsers. After receiving a malicious “This you????” link from a follower, I tried it with all the browsers at my disposal, including Firefox 3, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 8 and mobile Safari for the iPhone. Firefox was the only one that didn’t throw up a warning page when I tried to visit the link.

In fairness, Firefox is usually better than this. A report by NSS Labs last year found that Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 8 blocked 80 percent and 83 percent of phishing sites, respectively — far superior to the competition. But what good are those numbers if you don’t block the big one? It’s like batting with the highest average during the regular season and choking in the playoffs.

I imagine that older versions of browsers fell prey to the attacks as well, but I couldn’t test those out. After all, Internet Explorer 8 was the first version to include a phishing filter, so older versions might not have warned users.
It’s also hard to believe that so many Twitter users fell for the phishing scam. This one had all the telltale signs: A shortened URL, an actual URL hosted on a different domain (kevanshome.org) and a login page that doesn’t quite follow Twitter’s format, but has all the same graphics. And if you’re already signed in to Twitter, there’s no reason you’d need to sign in again.

As with any phishing attack on a social network, Twitter shoulders some of the blame for merely letting it go on for too long, but I understand that Web services get attacked often, and the major ones aren’t immune. In the end it comes down to having a browser that’s got your back and some computer smarts when all else fails. Apparently some high-profile people across the pond had neither.

Um, Apple — About That ‘iPad’ Name

By Fei on January 29, 2010

By Jeff Bertoluci
January 29, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple’s chosen name for its new tablet device–iPad–is drawing sneers and jeers from the blogosphere, mostly from female pundits. Is this a Venus vs. Mars issue? Perhaps in the male mind, “iPad” conjures up images of a sleek, slate-like device. Women, however, may focus on feminine hygiene products.

“Did Apple really check whether women would like the idea of a maxi-pad?” writes blogger Ann Althouse, who suggests that Steve Jobs’ marketing gurus should’ve consulted women a bit more. “Anyway, for our light days, we have iPhones. For our heavy days, we have the iPad? The iMaxiPad? Come on, guys!

Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer Mónica Guzmán also wonders what Apple was thinking: “Whether we make this part of the conversation surrounding Apple’s highly anticipated tablet device or ignore it for the sake of decency, the word ‘pad’ has a meaning that is about as far removed from computing as a Band-Aid is from a television set.

“But how many times do you say ‘Hand me that pad’ and not, you know, blush a little?” Guzmán asks rhetorically.

Interestingly, the “iPad” jokes began before today’s product launch. “Am I the only one who thinks the iPad sounds like a new feminine hygiene tech product?” asked one reader last week on Neowin.net, a tech news site.

iTampon on Twitter

A mere two hours after Jobs wrapped up his iPad demo, the term “iTampon” was trending higher than “Apple’s iPad,” on Twitter. The jokes were, uh, flowing.

User “britpixie” tweeted: “gotta love that iTampon is trending higher than iPad on twitter right now. Something tells me, they picked the wrong name?”

“MaestroMasadeJr” added: “iPad will forever be known as the iTampon …oh dear I wonder which unfortunate ad agency advised Apple on the ‘iPad’ name…”

MadTV Skit

I’m guessing that Apple didn’t view this hilarious Mad TV skit from 2007, in which Apple develops a high-tech feminine hygiene product. Yep, the iPad:

Will the name “iPad” ruin the tablet’s chances of success? It’s unlikely. Once the jokes die down, consumers will focus on the tablet’s capabilities and price, although the iTampon quips may never go away entirely.

What’s interesting here is how Apple, usually a master of marketing, seems to have stumbled badly with the tablet’s name. Did the Apple dudes seek the advice of women before choosing “iPad”?

MoD secrets exposed on Facebook and Twitter

By Fei on January 28, 2010

By Oliver Garnham
January 28, 2009

LONDON - The Ministry of Defence has admitted that staff leaked secret information 16 times on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter over an 18-month period.

The admission comes in response to a Freedom of Information request by Lewis PR, which handles public relations for security firm F-Secure.

Lewis said the Ministry of Defence had disciplined 10 personnel, although was unable to specify individual cases.

Ministry of Defence staff aren’t banned from using social networks, but Lewis pointed out that the department’s code tells employees: “Remember you are a member of HM Forces/MOD civil servant. Observe the same high standard of conduct and behaviour online as would be expected of you in your professional or personal life.”

However, F-Secure said the Ministry of Defence should do more to ensure the guidelines are adhered to.

“It’s worrying that employees in sensitive positions have been sharing confidential information via Twitter and other means,” said F-Secure’s security expert Mikko Hypponen

“They might think they are confiding in friends or family when they go on Facebook. However, the recent changes in Facebook’s privacy settings might make them disclose information to the world. This is a potential security risk.”

10 Great Google Chrome Extensions

By Fei on January 27, 2010

By Jared Newman
January 27, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - With Google releasing a stable version of Chrome that supports extensions, it’s a great time to install some of these enhancements for the Web browser. Google says there are now 1,500 extensions to choose from, which you can find can find and install here. To get you started, here are 10 of my favorites:

RSS Subscription Extension: This extension displays an icon whenever you’re on a page that can be subscribed to in an RSS feed reader.

SmoothScroll: Craving that glide you get with Apple’s multi-touch interfaces? SmoothScroll delivers, with options for scroll speed and frames per second. It works great with multi-touch track pads.

Google Translation Bar: Next time some gadget blog links to an obscure Japanese Web site, you can check it out yourself without visiting Google Translate directly.

IE Tab: Not all Web sites care that Chrome is your favorite browser, and they’ll only run in Internet Explorer. For these occasions, IE Tab emulates Internet Explorer within Chrome. Tip: The extension lacks a “Back” button, but you can navigate by right-clicking.

Instant Image Editor: Pixlr is my favorite cloud image editor — it’s a lot like Photoshop, but for free — and Instant Image Editor opens online photos up in Pixlr by holding “Alt” and right-clicking.

Bit.ly: Click the Bit.ly button, and a window appears, containing a shortened link of the page you’re on. I’m removing the Web site proper from my bookmarks.

Google Mail Checker Plus: I prefer Plus over the basic Gmail checker because it lets you preview and manage new messages directly from the current browser window. No need to switch windows just to toss some spam in the trash.

Shareaholic: See a Web page you like? Shareaholic lets you blast it out over several social networking sites and aggregators, including Facebook, Twitter and Digg.

Google Weather: And I’ll be deleting Accuweather from my bookmarks as well. This extension brings up a four-day forecast in predefined locations with one click, and it provides links to Web sites if you want to go more in depth.

Nothing: “This extension does nothing,” developer Salmonella writes. Works as advertised. Good for a chuckle, and nothing more.

Social media terms are Words Of The Year 2009

By Jon on January 3, 2010

By Lexton Snol
PC Advisor
January 3, 2009

Words from the world of technology and social media are among those identified as the “Words of the Year 2009″ in a list commissioned by Oxford University Press.

The New Oxford American Dictionary had already announced the verb ‘unfriend’ (”To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook“) as its word of the year, confirming the social-networking term’s ubiquity.

The new list was chosen by Countdown dictionary expert Susie Dent, who scanned the two billion word Oxford English Corpus database, reports The Telegraph.

“Tweetups” (meetings organised via micro-blogging service Twitter) is also on the list - although the more common derivation “tweet” is not.

Also derived from Twitter is the word “Hashtag” - meaning the # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets that contain similarly tagged items.

“Tag cloud” (a visual depiction of the word content of a Web site, or of user-generated tags attached to online content) was also picked out as one of the words of the year.

And “Slashdot effect” was another tech term included in the list. It means to slow down or crash a small Web site due to a huge increase in traffic when the Web site is linked to another, much more popular one.

“Freemiums” and “Paywalls” demonstrate that the world of free internet access may be under particular attack in 2010.

Words of the Year 2009

Tweetup - noun: a meeting or other gathering organised by means of posts on the social networking service Twitter. [from tweet + up on the pattern of MEETUP].

Hashtag - noun: a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets.

Tag cloud - noun: a visual depiction of the word content of a Web site, or of user-generated tags attached to online content, typically using colour and font size to represent the prominence or frequency of the words or tags depicted.

Slashdot effect - noun: the slowing down or crashing of a small Web site due to a huge increase in traffic when the Web site is linked to another, much more popular one.

Unfriend/defriend - verb: to remove from one’s ‘friends’ list (e.g. on a social networking Web site).

Bossnapping - noun: (in France) the prevention of senior managers from leaving company premises for a period of time by their employees, in order to protest about large-scale redundancies and cutbacks.

Zombie bank - noun: a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support.

Geoengineering/ecohacking - noun: the deliberate large-scale manipulation of an environmental process that affects the earth’s climate, in an attempt to counteract the effects of global warming.

Jeggings - plural noun: close-fitting leggings made of fabric that resembles denim in appearance [from jeans + leggings].

Minute mentoring - noun: a system of advising aspiring professionals based on the format of speed-dating.

Phantonym - noun: a word that looks as it if means one thing but in fact means something quite different. [from 'phantom + antonym] (for example fulsome, used by President Obama to mean ‘full’, when in fact it is now chiefly used in reference to excessive flattery).

Staycation - noun: a holiday spent in one’s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.

Simples - exclamation: used to say that something is very easy to achieve [from the 'compare the meerkat' TV advert].

Great Recession - noun: term for the current recession, modelled on the Great Depression.

Freemium - noun: a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content.

Paywall - noun: a way of blocking access to a part of a Web site which is only available to paying subscribers.

Facebook’s top status updates of 2009

By Jon on December 22, 2009

By JR Raphael
December 22, 2009

Facebook is getting into the year-end spirit by releasing its list of the top words found in U.S. Facebook status updates during 2009. The social network calls its list “Memology: the study of how ‘memes,’ or new ideas and trends, are spreading on Facebook.” To determine the list, Facebook grabbed the most popular one-to-four word phrases found in status updates this year, and then compared each phrase to 2008 trends to determine the most popular phrases of 2009.

The result of all this data mining is the following list of 15 topics:

1. Facebook Applications (Farmville, Farm Town, Social Living)

2. FML (F*&$# My Life)

3. Swine Flu

4. Celebrity Deaths (Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Billy Mays)

5. Family

6. Movies (New Moon, Transformers, Star Trek, The Hangover, Paranormal Activity and Harry Potter)

7. Sports (Steelers, Yankees)

8. Health Care

9. FB (aka Facebook)

10. Twitter

11. Years

12. Lady Gaga

13. Yard

14. Religion

15. I

The past year was the year of farms and aquariums on Facebook, but one thing the social network neglected to mention were the series of reports by TechCrunch alleging that popular applications like Farmville and others were scamming users. References to Michael Jackson and other celebrity deaths also proved popular fodder for Facebook chatters, as did the more popular movies of the year.

The term “I” might seem to be an odd one to make the list, but, as Facebook’s blog notes: “Until March of 2009, people updated their status in a box that appeared next to their name on the home page and, consequently, many updates started with the word ‘is.’ Once that box no longer was shown next to people’s name, the usage of “is” dropped off dramatically and usage of “I” doubled almost overnight.”

While the social network made its own memology list under the moniker FB, one notable exclusion from Facebook’s list is any mention of the privacy concerns that dogged the company during 2009.

First there was the flap over Facebook’s changes to its privacy policy earlier this year, which almost resulted in a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Then, earlier this month, Facebook finally shuttered its oft-maligned Beacon program, and shelled out $9.5 million to fund a new privacy advisory board. Finally, there were the latest changes to Facebook’s new privacy settings from just a few weeks ago.

While some of these privacy issues may have gone unnoticed by Facebook status updates, the latest changes to Facebook’s privacy settings did spark updates like this, “If you don’t know, as of today, Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google, which allows everyone to view it…Facebook kept this one quiet. Copy and paste onto your status for all your friends ASAP.” That information turned out to be wrong, but so many Facebook users promoted this misinformation using their status updates, the social network felt compelled to issue this pop-up notice to its users:

But in a nod to the problems it faced this year, Facebook did say in its memology blog post that all personally identifiable information was removed from status updates during the year-end data mining exercise. The company also said no one at Facebook ready actual status updates in compiling this list.

Journey of a tweet

By Jon on December 19, 2009

By PCWorld (US) Staff
December 19, 2009

The typical Twitter post has a life span of seconds; other tweets seem destined for greater glory, as diagrammed below by our friends at GDS Digital. (Click to enlarge the image.)

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