Archive for: twitter
Tweeting is now done mostly by third-party apps on mobile devices and on PCs It’s now becoming a rarity to tweet via the actual webpage. It’s becoming even more of a rarity to tweet via SMS as apps become more available even for the most basic of Java enabled mobile phones.
However, these apps for basic mobile phones don’t always offer the chance to tweet photos which is something we tweeters do quite a bit. So for the first time on Twitter ever, the ability to tweet via MMS is coming to the UK.
The service will allow those on the Orange network to send a snap to 86444 and have it appear on their Twitter timeline. It’s only available to Orange customers as the popular mobile network owns a photo sharing website called Snapshot which will host the pictures and tweet out a link.
The only alternative to this (and it’s what I do when I’m out and about) is to e-mail a picture from your mobile phone which can be done easily once you set up your e-mail right and have an account on a service such as twitpic.com.
Some of the most popular Twitter accounts (with followers well into the millions) come from well-known faces such as Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Fry. And of course, the president of the United States Barak Obama. He has over 2.6 million followers who will be disappointed to learn it’s not him behind the Twitter account.
I think everyone knew that he didn’t tweet all of the time but he actually said that he has ‘never’ used Twitter before!
It happened during a meeting with Chinese youth when somebody put a question to him about the freedom of the internet and information in China through networks such as Twitter. He then replied:
“I have never used Twitter but I’m an advocate of technology and not restricting internet access.”
To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got into a bit of trouble with his publicists who would have preferred to have people think he tweets. Oh well, half the celebrity Twitter accounts are fake anyway – at least this one is actually coming from somebody in the White House.
Today, reports have surfaced saying that Twitters visitor numbers are decreasing for the first time ever. Apparently, visitor numbers fell by 8% in October. However, in this writer’s opinion Twitter isn’t floundering. These numbers merely represent the differences between Twitter and the rest of the web.
It’s interesting that these numbers are recorded for October. October is a month where people are settling back into school and college, winter’s coming in and the summer social bubble on the Internet has truly popped as people head back tot their normal routine after holidays, time off school and plenty of sunshine and tweet-worthy activities.
I think people are simple more busy and are tweeting from their portable devices instead which easily make up half of Twitter tweets. Instead of taking out the laptop while relaxing in the sun they’re cramming themselves into the Subway and letting everyone know about it from their phones.
Twitter are also rolling out new features such as Lists and now their GeoLocation feature which we discussed here the other day. Suggestions that Twitter is floundering are just hype. Until Twitter’s influence and micro-culture starts to evaporate – don’t believe any of these kind of statements.
I’ve seen a lot of strange Twitter accounts. Even one supposedly controlled by a blade of grass on a golf course. But this one really takes the biscuit. Someone has started a Twitter account for Big Ben. And I don’t mean Big Ben from down the street. I mean the gigantic tower in London with a big clock on it next to the House of Crooks (I mean parliament!).
Not surprisingly, Ben hasn’t really got a lot to say for himself. After all his sole existence for the past few hundred years has been to alert Londoners to the time of day. And of course his lack of opposable thumbs may be an issue. So his Tweets look a little something like this:
It appears as though Big Ben tweets his “Bong Bong Bong” on the hour every hour so all his fellow Twitter users know what time it is. What a gentlemen our Big Ben is. Be sure to give him a follow to keep his spirits up during the cold London winter!
Tweetie is the most successful app for the iPhone when it comes to Twitter. Almost a quarter of the tweets I read say ‘from Tweetie’ underneath indicating that the tweeter is using the popular app.
A few months back, a new kid on the block called Birdfeed was released and it definitely made some waves. However I think user loyalty took precedence and people stayed with Tweetie. However, the other day an updated version of Birdfeed was submitted to the app store for approval.
This version aims to fight tooth and nail with Tweetie using Twitter’s upcoming geolocation feature as its main weapon. The geolocation feature will allow you to post your current location along with your regular Tweet. Although Tweetie will also have this integrated, Birdfeed is making it its headline feature but putting the Geolocation entry box along the top of the screen as opposed to Tweetie whereby one must go through a menu to bring it up.
There will also be mapping of the Tweet’s location so users can click on your Tweet and view your location.
Online communities have since been known as tribes. Thanks to Seth Godin’s famous book of the same title, it’s forced us to think of our online networks and communities in a unique light. Much like primitive tribes of earlier times, we’ve now formed digital tribes where we’ve found comfort in connections with people of similar interests, habits, hobbies, and histories. The tribes we belong to have a simple connectivity of communication that we long to maintain, enter Gigatribes.
The concept of communicating with your tribe is easy to see in networks such as Twitter, Facebook, or even LinkedIn. What if you wanted to share files in a local depository where all of your tribe can have access to? Or what if you only wanted to share with certain members of the tribe? Gigatribes allows you to build your community, much like any other social network, but now you’re able to share large files seamlessly and with out problems.
But there is a problem. How is this different from DropBox? Or maybe ZumoBox? Or any other of the hundreds of file sharing sites. In looking at the application itself I didn’t see anything that really stood out to make this the go to community file sharing network out there.
What it’ll come down to is comfort level and ease of use for your needs. DropBox and Zumobox both have mobile apps that give you access to your files on the go. No such app was found for Gigatribes which already puts this network at a disadvantage.
SPAM is one of my pet hates. In fact I think that everyone reading this hates those annoying e-mails, comments left on our pages, tweets and clearly misleading advertisements that promise you a months salary in a few hours. I really, really hate SPAM. It’s useless and in this day and age it achieves nothing with its instantly recognisable language format, strange links and oh yeah, the promise of a few million bucks for transferring money.
Twitter and Facebook hate SPAM too. At the same time, both of them published posts to their blog that clearly announce plans to go 
on the offensive against spammers on their networks.
Twitter is due to start crating tweets and organising the trending topics section. This could mean one of two things:
- Either they’ll simply remove an entire trending topic if it becomes too spammed.
- Or they’ll painstakingly monitor tweets in trending topics with the first filter being a computer and the last a human.
They told us that the changes may not be apparent immediately – but I can assure you, it’s happening as you read this post.
Meanwhile, Facebook are targeting SPAM and scam ads on their network. This is a really big problem for two reasons. Firstly it lets users make their own ads and publish them – with so many it’s hard to catch all the scams. And secondly, they’ve gotten into bed with some shady advertising networks recently and are having a spot of bother breaking the relationships. Although they have assured us they’re in the process of ending two of them.
Let’s all pray for a SPAM free Internet in the mean time.
Heard of Twitter? Sure the whole world has by now. Lone tribes on far islands have heard about Twitter. This massively immersive and widely used micro-blogging network has become a staple for both our personal and professional lives. The world seems to still be feeling the “Twitter effect” as industries adapt their existing messages to fit the fast paced world of this social network.
But do you ever feel like you’re being left behind? Perhaps not enough time to get the right message in a timely fashion? Now there’s a solution to that.
Twuffer presents itself as the buffer between you and your timed messages. By using the web application, you are able to preset messages on a timed schedule to be released on your network at the times you think most important. The possibilities of this type of functionality are as endless as your creativity.
The web app is easy to use and can serve you to better time your announcements, set reminders for yourself or others, engage in timed online activities, or, as the site suggests, make it appear as if you never sleep. The practicality of this app seems pretty straightforward.
The application is currently in beta, but your able to explore what it has to offer pretty seamlessly. I suggest you give it a try to announce regular days when your podcast or blog post will go live, or perhaps some other similar campaign to see if Twuffer is right for you!
Twitter lists is really starting to take off. Just yesterday we talked about how releasing a widget was going to bring the blogosphere and Twitter ever closer. Now Twitter lists is helping to bring populations closer – thanks to SimplyZesty.
The company have created lists for entire populations of countries to join. The first one was build by hand for Ireland with the UK version following a few hours later. Users must manually join the Irish list. For the UK they simply have to tweet #TwitterLondon (replacing London with wherever they live).
Following the rapid success of these lists they decided to launch a US version that is fully automated. It has been programmed to add users when they tweet about the homeland such as ‘#newyork’.
I think that we’re kind of straying away from what lists were originally intended for but hey, Twitter is what you make of it.
Make sure you join the Crenk list here.
It has been reported that MSN.com is rolling uot a new version over time. You can preview the new version at http://preview.msn.com.
I never knew that more than 1/3 of all Internet users worldwide visit MSN every month. 400 million people per month. Thats nearly as good as Yahoo’s 600 million and killing AOL’s 80 million. But still, it’s the most popular Internet portal that no one actually ever goes to.
In the new version everything is a lot cleaner and easier to read. They have integrated Facebook and Twitter nicely and more videos. Additionally, you will notice the simplicity of the Bing search bar which provide no clutter.
Microsoft have also reported that more than half of their monthly visitors use Facebook on a monthly basis, as well as 15% using Twitter. These are the key reasons why these services are added but not much else.
Social networks as they exist depend on the number of friends you start off with and thus you expand your network based on your existing network and grow from there. For many, not having an online presence makes it heard to start a social network when there is no online network to utilize to start. For many this can be frustrating and for many becomes the reason why they do not adopt the social scene. What if there was simply a network that didn’t rely on existing friendships and paired you with new people based on your profile to participate in unique shared experiences?
6Rounds is the answer and the unique network is sure to make a splash in the world of social engagement.
The network itself is designed to be a fully interactive experience incorporating the best of micro-messaging and video networks. There’s now a space for those not interested in hosting entire video shows, or who lack friends to build on a social profile on
Facebook or
Twitter.
6Rounds functions as a completely unique and diverse network that no user will get the same experience from their engagement. The network allows users to come together in a “live” setting where they will be challenged with “using a combination of webcams, real-time games, social activities and media engagements, we present a wide range of opportunities: from watching videos, playing real-time games, listening to music, Facebooking and Youtubing, to shopping together and beyond,” says the site.This sound a little like speed dating with the entertainment provided, and none of the relationship awkwardness attached. I can see how this would be appealing to both veteran and new entry supporters of social engagement.
The network is free and looks to combine the best of social networking, instant messaging, and video content to create an ever changing user experience.
So Twitter lists launched last week and over the weekend we all the the chance to take a look see, make a few lists and figure out just what it was all for. As it happens it’s a pretty cool feature which connects you with more people of the same interests giving Twitter even more of a social feel without taking away from the whole ‘Get it off your chest aspect’.
Now, the weekend has come and gone and the Twitter developers have plopped a Lists Widget into our laps for us to play with on our sites and blogs. Here’s what it looks like.
Basically, it works in the same way as other Twitter widgets except instead of showing the tweets of just one person is shows the tweets of everyone who is in that list. I can see this being a massive hit in the blogosphere because building community and adding new features to blogs are two of the most important things for a blogger to consider – well the list widget hits the nail on the head.
I tested it out and while it looks good and gets the job done the widget can be a little slow or sluggish but that’s to be expected seeing as it’s only out a single day. I’m sure the developers are on to it – they’ve had enough practice to know what to do when something is down, broken, sluggish or ‘over capacity’.
Get the Twitter lists widget for your blog right here.
Tweeting is now done mostly by third-party apps on mobile devices and on PCs It’s now becoming a rarity to tweet via the actual webpage. It’s becoming even more of a rarity to tweet via SMS as apps become more available even for the most basic of Java enabled mobile phones.
