Tag: twitter
Why Posterous isn't the new Twitter – but it might be the future of blogging
Can Posterous tempt Twitter obsessives back to blogging?
Facebook testing native Twitter integration?
A Facebook engineer has been spotted tweeting from an application called Penguin FB, as you can see in the picture, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the FB probably is probably short for Facebook.
So, putting two and two together combined with denials from Facebook and the removal of the tweet by engineer Ross Blake, there’s a very good chance that this was a test of a Twitter application on Facebook which allows users to tweet directly from the world’s biggest social network.
The move would be in line with Facebook’s drive to get in on the act in some way, whether that be by aping Twitter or, in this case, by trying to hold on to a lot of the traffic through the API. Doubtless, we’ll hear more about it soon.
(via Facebook Insider)
TweetDeck versus Seesmic: battle of the Twitter apps
TweetDeck and Seesmic are desktop clients designed to make communicating on Twitter and managing your accounts easier.
Here they go, head to head: TweetDeck version 0.26 versus Seesmic version 0.4.
Look & Feel
Both TweetDeck and Seesmic are built using the Adobe AIR platform, and have a similar look and feel.
Seemsic appears to have more subtleties designed to make it easier to decipher tweets from multiple accounts at once, yet neither application is hugely customisable when it comes to the overall look.
If you only run a single Twitter account then seeing how applications handle multiple accounts won’t matter to you, but if you’re a “power user” handling two or more active accounts, you’ll find Seesmic offers more options for handling them.
Both applications let you view columns for each account’s tweets, replies, direct messages and so on, but Seesmic also allows you to view a single stream of messages from all your accounts at once, ordered by the time tweets arrive.
Whether this works for you depends on how you like to view accounts, but at least you have the option. TweetDeck (currently) doesn’t offer this.
The longest tweet of all time – 247 characters
Taylor Buley, a writer for Forbes, has broken the Twitter world record. His tweet about Benjamin Franklin’s maxim about the inevitability of taxes was a humongous 247 characters long.
I wrote humongous to add a bit of oomph to the opening paragraph – I think it worked.
He used Twitter’s API for the feat. It allows for 247 characters. It cuts the message at 136 characters and uses the remaining four for a space and ellipses. An ellipsis is three dots in case you didn’t know. I knew, of course. I didn’t have to ask anyone. The 140 character tweet is what is displayed in the Twitter stream.
The ellipsis is hyperlinked, however. When clicked it displays the full message in all of its Twitter rule-breaking glory.
It’s not clear if it’s a bug or a feature as of yet. What is known is that Taylor Buley is a record breaker. He wanted to be the best, he wanted to beat the rest. He had the dedication. Norris McWhirter and Roy Castle will be looking down and smiling.
(via Forbes)
Bing gets more visitors than Twitter
Figures released show that Microsoft’s ‘knowledge engine’, Bing, got more unique visitors than Twitter, Digg and CNN in June. It also scored more visitors than Embroidery Online, Taxidermy.net and Non-League Daily but I suppose that’s not as significant.
The site was visited by nearly 50 million users – 49,571,922 to be precise. Twitter got 22,997,148 visitors in the same period, CNN got 28,645,202 and Digg got 38,961,981.
Microsoft reportedly spent £61million on the launch of Bing. So it’s money well spent then? Well, maybe, but Bing isn’t really designed to rival Twitter, Digg or CNN is it? It’s meant to rival Google. Google got 145,948,025 unique users in June, so it’s still got a way to go then.
It’s even still trailing Microsoft’s other search engine, Live, which got 79,405,701 visitors. This was a 21% drop from May though, indicating that users are ditching Live in favour of Bing.
Are you guys using Bing? If so, what do you think? I’ve only really had a quick look – I quite liked the video searching with playback available via the thumbnails. Although I’m told you could do this with Live anyway.
I’m just not getting the whole Bing name either. The Bing will always be Silv’s club in The Sopranos to me. Fuget about it.
(via Revolut!on & Compete)
Mobile marketing company want job applications via text
A Welsh mobile marketing company has advertised a job via Twitter for which it wants interested parties to apply via a single text message. That’s just 160 characters.
The job was advertised by Teimlo’s chief executive Phil Terrett like so:
Text JOB + y it should b u to 82088. 160 characters 2 make an impression! Cost 1 std rate txt, UK only. C teimlo.com
If you are comfortable with working for a company that advertises using text speak then you can reply with a standard text that should explain how you are “qualified, sassy, good with words, dynamite at events, Adobe compatible, have working knowledge of mobile and social media and are a determined multi-tasker and networker”
I’d personally go with: I’m qualified, sassy, brilliant at events, Adobe compatible, have working knowledge of mobile and social media and I am a determined multi-tasker and networker.
What I did was basically copy their requirements word for word. I changed “dynamite” for brilliant because I thought dynamite sounded a bit Alan Partridge-esque and I eliminated “good with words” because there wasn’t space. Plus, by changing “dynamite” I had already demonstrated that I was good with words.
Should applicants be successful, they will be invited to an interview where, hopefully, normal language will be used. If it isn’t, well, ROFLMAO.
(via ITPro)
Twitter enters Collins English Dictionary
The word Twitter is to appear in the forthcoming Collins English Dictionary as both a verb and a noun:
Twitter – verb: to write short messages on the Twitter website.
Twitter – noun: a website where people can post short messages about their current activities.
The word Twitterati, which refers to the elite users of Twitter, such as Stephen Fry and Ashton Kutcher who attract a large following, will also be entered as will Twitterverse which defines the whole Twitter phenomenon.
Elaine Higgleton, Collins editorial director, said: “Hardly a day goes by when you don’t see some Twitter-related article. Hence I find it entirely unsurprising that this year we have not one Twitter-related entry in the dictionary, but three.”
Every year we see these sorts of stories where the latest fad phrases are entered into the dictionary and every year I get a bit annoyed. Yogalates was added last year. Yogalates. sigh.
I suppose Twitter is a valid entry – but Twitterati and Twitterverse? What’s the point?
(via The Telegraph)
Twitter directly from Flickr
Flickr has joined the Twitter revolution and now allows users to directly post pictures or videos into their Twitter streams.
They can either be uploaded directly using a dedicated email address or can they can be tweeted from Flickr using the ‘blog this’ function.
The tweets will show a special short Flic.kr URL and the user will have 116 characters left to tweet any additional info.
It’s about time Flickr got official with Twitter. Services such as Twittergram have demonstrated that linking from Flickr is an easy thing to do.
(via Flickr)
Facebook's latest attempt to emulate Twitter
Is Facebook scared of Twitter? Definitely. It’s why they tried to buy them back in November last year and it’s why they’re now looking at implementing an Everyone button in order to try and compete with the microblogging service.
Currently when Facebook users update their status or post messages they are published to only those people who have been selected to receive updates in the user’s privacy settings. Facebook are planning to change this so as everytime a message is posted or a user’s status is updated the user will have the option of selecting who their content will be available to.
Facebook are hoping that if enough people click the everyone option, then they could build a real-time news stream a la Twitter.
Knowing how sensitive Facebook users can be, expect numerous protest groups to be set up in the near future.
(via Tech Crunch)
Twitter rearranges downtime to benefit Iranian users
Twitter has announced that their scheduled maintenance upgrade will now take place tonight at 10pm UK time. This is the middle of the afternoon in the US.
The move comes as a response to the crucial role that Twitter is playing in the ongoing unrest in Iran. The maintenance work was originally scheduled to run overnight in the US but this would have meant an afternoon blackout in Iran. The new time is 1.30am in Iran.
It’s a brave move by Twitter and it has to be applauded. The move also highlights what a major global communication force the microblogging service has become.
The Iran situation is just the latest of an ever increasing line-up of historically significant incidents that Twitter has been closely involved with. During the 2008 Mumbai attacks, eyewitnesses were reported to be sending around 80 tweets every five seconds as the tragedy unfolded. Some of these tweets contained vital information such as listing the dead and injured as well as giving emergency phone numbers and the location of hospitals that needed blood donations.
Earlier this year the Australian Country Fire Authority used Twitter to tweet updates regarding the Victorian bushfires. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also used Twitter to communicate with the Australian public during this period.
Prominent tweeters of the situation in Iran include mousavi1388 and hamednz. The hashtag #IranElection has been created if you want to follow tweets.
(via Twitter)
