Tag: twitter
Twitter at work with SpreadTweet
If you work in a big corporate office and you crave Twitter salvation, but it’s been banned by the small-minded IT department, then I’ve got the solution for you. Spreadtweet. It’s an interface for Twitter that looks just like Microsoft Excel.
It comes in several flavours – OSX Office, Office 2003 and Office 2007, and it uses Adobe Air for the backend, but it’s relatively speedy and fully operational as a Twitter client. The developer admits that it’s “probably not” legal, so grab it while you can.
SpreadTweet (via @bryonyb)
Twitter gets the 'all-clear' after a weekend of virus antics
In a metaphorical ‘get your own back’ situation, everyone’s favourite bird-themed microblogging website, Twitter, was assaulted by worms over Easter weekend. Four waves of assaults hit the site, with those infected spamming out a link to a Twitter clone called StalkDaily.
The creator of StalkDaily, 17-year-old American student Michael Mooney, has admitted he was responsible, saying:
“I really didn’t think it was going to get that much attention, but then I started to see all these stories about it and thought, ‘Oh, my God’.”
While the attack could have been considerably worse if it had been more malicious in intent, security experts said they were surprised it had even been possible on the site, as Facebook and MySpace saw similar assaults quite some time ago. Twitter has promised to conduct a ‘full review’ of what happened.
OPINION: Don't forget about Facebook
With the tech world all a-twitter about, er… Twitter, and having little sexy accidents when talking about Spotify, it’s sometimes easy to forget about Facebook. In reality, Facebook is only a couple of years older than both Twitter and Spotify, and there’s still people out there who say things like “I don’t get all this Facebook malarky”.
Let’s start with the numbers. Facebook recently hit 175 million active users – if it were a country it’d be the 6th most populous in the world, between Brazil and Pakistan. More than 3 billion minutes are spent on the site every day – enough time to watch the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy 4.3 million times. Or read “War and Peace” 35,000 times.
Don’t forget that Facebook popularized the app store concept way before Apple, too. Sure, most Facebook apps are a load of old rubbish and their integration was an unmitigated disaster for the user experience (hence why they’ve mostly disappeared) but most iPhone apps are crap too. Seriously, how long does iFart sit on your phone before you delete it?
Despite being blamed for wanton destruction, Facebook even saves lives! News reached us this morning of a kid who was saved from a suicide attempt by a friend over Facebook chat. The power of having all you friends at your fingertips can stop people from doing silly things, and can rescue them when they do silly things.
So don’t forget about Facebook. Businesses – If you’re developing an Android app, stop and think – why not port this to Facebook, too? If you’re thinking of starting an ad campaign on Twitter or Spotify, remember Facebook’s userbase and think about using Facebook’s powerful ad tools to reach its bazillions of users. It’s not old hat.
The rest of you – go check in on your Facebook friends. Maybe you haven’t seen them since primary school, but that doesn’t mean you have nothing in common – on the contrary, you might have more than ever in common. Go poke that girl you ‘fancied’ when you were 13. She might even poke you back. The rest of the world is a little slower than you, mister early-adopter. Don’t forget about them.
Here’s a handy link. Click it, and spend half an hour remembering the web two years ago. You might even like it more: Facebook.
Tech Digest Podcast #2
Here’s the second podcast from the team at Tech Digest. This week, we got stuck in to Twitter being bought by Google, Conficker’s no-show, and whether or not it’s reasonable for networks to get upset about Skype on the iPhone.
In the middle section, Dan extolled the joys of the Kaleidescape home cinema system, while I tried to convince him to use a couple of services that boost your Twitter experience – Mr Tweet and Topify.
Lastly, we talked about about the death of some poor guy while using Wii fit, and the end of Microsoft’s Encarta encyclopedia. I miss mindmaze so terribly 🙁
A small round of applause to the venerable Andy Merret, a.k.a. the Tech Trumpet, for coming up with some jingles for the start and end of the podcast. They’re rather good, aren’t they? Thanks Andy!
Download the podcast directly here, or subscribe via this URL.
As ever, if you have any comments, topics that you’d like us to talk about, or general abuse, throw it our way by sending us a tweet at @techdigest or emailing [email protected].
UPDATED: Google in talks to purchase Twitter
Google is in talks to acquire Twitter according to sources in a Tech Crunch article this morning. Negotiations have been believed to be at both late and early stages, so we can probably take from that that the stages are in fact somewhere towards the middle.
Google’s valuation of the microblogging platform is thought to be well in excess of the $250 million that Facebook offered a few month’s back. The important difference to this deal is in the payment plan.
Zuckerburg Inc. was looking to use overpriced Facebook stock for the majority of the bargain whereas Google is ready to pay in both cold, hard cash and more stable, publicly-valued shares.
The big questions surrounding the deal are about what Google plans on doing with Twitter and what founders of the service Evan Williams and Biz Stone want out of it too. Twitter represents a real-time search of news and events happening now whereas Google results give weight to pages according to when they were indexed and how many people link to them. If Google does go through with the deal, they would effectively own search but whether they would improve Twitter or leave it to rot is another matter.
For a bigger discussion of the ins and outs of this one, download the Tech Digest podcast.
(via Tech Crunch)
Twitter hiring staffer to look after celebrities
Everyone knows that fame gets you everything you could ever want (except love, but who the hell needs that?) but until recently the brightest and most beautiful among us had to deal with Twitter just like anyone else does.
Not for much longer. The microblogging company is hiring a “VIP Concierge” to look after the celebs using the service. Here’s what they’ve put under ‘job description’:
“We don’t have a description written for this yet, but the job is to be a “high touch” point of contact at Twitter for the burgeoning number of celebrities on the service. We want to make sure they’re happy, using the product effectively, etc.”
“This person is probably pretty junior (it won’t pay a lot) but hopefully familiar with working with “Hollywood types.” They should be tech savvy enough to answer questions and solve basic problems (though they can fall back on our tech support). And they should definitely present themselves (and the company) well on the phone and in person. They should be proactive but not pushy. “
“It might make sense for them to be in L.A. but to come up to SF often. Obviously this is a very sweet gig for someone. The challenge will be finding someone who is good at the schmoozing but also humble and a fit with our culture.”
It’s probably a wise move for a company who’ve seen much of their growth thanks to high-profile tweeters like Steven Fry and Philip Schofield. Does it sound like you, or someone you know? Go for it! And tell them we sent you.
Job Ad (via TechCrunch)
Tech Digest Podcast #1
So, this morning, Dan and I got on Skype and had a go at recording a podcast. We chatted about the big stories of the week – Twitter and Last.fm trying to monetise their services, and the big media companies approaching Google to try to get their content higher in search rankings.
I’m a bit of a software person, whereas Dan’s into his hardware, so as a central feature, we thought it’d be fun to try to convince each other of the joys of a bit of software and a bit of hardware respectively. I plumped for Last.fm, whereas Dan tried to convince me I need Canon’s EOS 500D DSLR in my life.
Lastly, we took a brief look at some of the stranger news stories of the week – the 60ft penis on the roof and the CC all your emails to Jacqui Smith campaign. I wanted to talk about a few other stories here too, but we ran out of time.
Download the podcast as an MP3 here, or subscribe via RSS here.
It’s a little clunky, still – my voice buzzes a bit thanks to the cheap headset I’m using. We’re very much feeling our way around how the whole process works, so any recommendations and advice are more than welcome. Drop us a tweet at @techdigest or email me or Dan.
Twitter back on SMS to Vodafone customers
Twitter and Vodafone have struck a deal to see SMS updates and notifications back free of charge on UK handsets once more. The two catches, and they are whompingly large ones, are that you have to be a Vodafone customer and that the offer is only free for an unspecified limited period of time quoted as being “the first few weeks”.
You can use @replies and navigate straight to the site by the URL included in the message and the deal will be bundled for free into a number of Vodafone text packages. If not in your bundle, you’ll still be able to use it, but you’ll have to start paying when the limited period finishes.
It’s all reasonably good news if you’re on Vodafone but there’s still something of a bad taste in my mouth when the whole thing used to be free for all anyway. Despite being a Vodafone customer, I might go with my esteemed colleague, Duncan Geere, on this one and just not bother going back.
Five other ways Twitter could make money
Twitter has announced that it’s going to start charging cold, hard cash to use the service. If you haven’t already read the news this morning, then you might well be mid heart attack right now, so please read the next sentence before you clutch you upper arm and fall to the floor. They’re only talking about a paid-for pro service alternative and there will always be a free option.
Now, nobody’s quite sure how they’ll be running this pro service and, to be straight with you, I’m not sure it’s going to be enough anyway. So, I’ve devised five ways in which Twitter can make money out of regular users like me, just don’t tell them about it or they might actually happen – in which case, I’d like a free account and a cut of the profits, Twitter, or else I’ll get my non-existent lawyer on you.
1.)Companies must pay!
Come on, we all know it. Companies – whether they be big faceless corporations, media publishers and, yes, blogs of a non-personal nature – should pay. It’s a world of free, instant publicity and it’s very, very effective.
It’s rather harsh on the likes of small blogs and start ups trying to get a leg up in the world but it wouldn’t have to be a lot of cash. Gumtree doesn’t let companies post job ads for free any more and I could see some sort of £25 for the year price tag without too many businesses opting out after initial grumbles.
It could be a tricky system to police but Twitter could eventually get round to vetting accounts and I’m sure the threat of banning would be enough to get people to toe the line.
2.)Twitterfeeders must pay!
If companies are going to pay, then those who plough their RSS feeds straight into their accounts must certainly fork out too. It’d be one thing if it were a selection of the best stories and posts chosen with the love, care and a human touch but if you’re going to get a robot to spam out every word that you spout then, my friend, you must pay.
I’d be quite happy for people to get around this by manually inputting each link and Tweeting it off but that takes a bit more time and inconvenience and I reckon it might just be enough to make people reach into the coffers for another fiver a year.
3.)People who go over their daily usage must pay!
Currently, there is one very good way of dealing with someone who overtweets – stop following them, and believe me, I do. It’s empowering, isn’t it? But how much more satisfying would it be to know that they were actually having to pay for their verbal pollution?
I’m not talking about a low number here. I’m not talking about those with a 20-a-day habit. I mean the folk who are on the thing 24/7 from two separate handsets telling you their every movements with such gems as:
I’m gonna do me some emails and Today really is one of *those* days… – entertaining stuff, I’m sure we’ll all agree.
Of course, there is one way around this for the Twitter addict – multiple accounts, which leads me nicely onto my next point…
4)Multiple account users must pay!
There’s not a lot of reason to have a second account unless one of them is for some kind of commercial use in which case you should be paying anyway. There could be some kind of system whereby account one is free, number two is a £2.50 and the next a fiver and so on until either we’ve staunched an individual’s flow of verbal diarrhoea or those unable to stop our at least paying for supporting the service anyway.
N.B. The only exception to this rule should be the comedy accounts such as Street Fighter characters, starship captains, Dark Lords of the Sith and people’s anatomy.
5.)Word limit busters must pay!
This is, I think, the best of the five ideas for Twitter to make some cash. It could be a little off-putting to set up but it’s a stroke of genius.
Anyone who goes over the 140 per tweet limit should pay 1p for every extra character they use. On the one hand, this goes against the whole ethos of Twitter but then at least those transgressing the rules would be paying to do so.
Let’s say, Twitter has your credit card details or sends you a bill at the end of each month which you can pay automatically through PayPal or something. When you write a long Tweet, it logs how many you go over.
You do, of course, have the choice to go back and edit your tweet to get it to fit in but 95% of people are far too precious about their words to edit their copy rather than spend a 2p or so. It doesn’t cost an individual much but if every Twitter user did it just once, then that would be £3,460. (Figures are based on the number of followers of Stephen Fry, as everyone on Twitter follows Stephen Fry)…
Twitter confirms that paid-for Pro accounts are on the way
Microblogging phenomenon Twitter has famously had difficulty monetizing its service. Recently, it added small, unobtrusive text ads, and now the company has confirmed that it’ll be offering paid pro accounts in the near future.
Founder Biz Stone confirmed the rumours to Business Insider, who suggest some of the features that might be offered for a price. A way to verify who really owns an account, a way to find out what people are saying about a company, and better analytics are all on the cards.
Freeloaders can rest assured, however, because Stone also confirms that there will always be a free version of Twitter available to businesses and individuals. The new features for sale will be solely add-ons. As for how much they’ll cost, well, we’ll have to wait and see.
(via Business Insider)
