X (formerly Twitter) News & Updates

[Napster]

Twitter celebs 'likely to lose fans with constant updates

The survey of 1,500 readers has found that fans are less likely to maintain a long-term interest in celebrities who bombard them with regular updates.
The increased accessibility of celebrities on the microblogging site in fact reduces their appeal, reports the Telegrah.

The survey was carried out by Bauer Media, which publishes magazines Q and Kerrang!

It concluded: "There's a consensus within the industry that this ease of access if leading to artists losing appeal more quickly."

Younger fans were more likely to appreciate being able to follow their idol on Twitter while older fans preferred to maintain a distance between their favourite artists, the study found...!

 

[Bapun]

Twitter users yet again bring injunctions under scanner

London, May 22 : The controversy of injunction for celebrities got yet another hike when thousands of people posted messages on Twitter claiming to identify an EPL footballer who is taking legal actions against the site.





The married player, who is referred to as CTB in court documents, is said to have had a 'sexual relationship' with Imogen Thomas, a former contestant on the Big Brother reality TV show.

The legal bid comes after a Twitter user identified a number of people said to have taken out gagging orders, fuelling the privacy debate and highlighting the difficulty of enforcing injunctions. An estimated two million people are believed to have seen the list.

Scores of users were also claiming to identify a woman alleged to have had an affair with former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin.

Christie-Miller, who sat on a committee headed by Lord Neuberger to review the use of super-injunctions, said the courts and parliament had to work out how to balance privacy with freedom of expression.

"We have a media culture at the moment which is very invasive, a tabloid culture. It's right that many things are published but there has to be a balance between publishing rights and privacy rights," scotsman.com quoted Miller as saying.


--ANI

 

[Napster]

Twitter Buys Online Ad Company

Twitter, which has made generating ad revenue one of its priorities, has acquired AdGrok, a company whose software is designed to simplify the creation and management of campaigns using Google's AdWords search advertising service.As of Tuesday AdGrok has stopped accepting new customers. It will shut down its AdWords management business and wipe out its servers by June 30, focusing entirely on enhancing Twitter's online advertising technology.

"On June 30th, we will also unlink all customers from the AdGrok Google accounts and securely delete our databases. Performance data and campaign structures from AdGrok customers will not be shared with Twitter," the company wrote in a blog post.

Based in San Francisco, AdGrok was founded last year and was backed financially by early-stage investment company Y Combinator.

The AdGrok technology will likely find its way into Twitter's Promoted Tweets ad service, which is similar in concept to Google's AdWords. Promoted Tweets are Twitter posts crafted for advertising that appear in Twitter search results when they contain a search query keyword. Advertisers pay Twitter for Promoted Tweets when end users perform a specific action as a result of the post, such as clicking on it, re-tweeting it, replying to it or labeling it as a "favorite."

 

[Napster]

Twitter rolling out automatic link shortening

Twitter is continuing to build into its service features popularized by third parties -- the latest example being link shortening, which the social network is now rolling out for users automatically."We've been working on a bunch of features to make Twitter easier to use," Carolyn Penner, a Twitter spokeswoman, wrote on the micro-blogging service's blog Tuesday. "Today, we're releasing something that many of you have been asking for -- automatic link shortening on Twitter.com."

Once fully implemented, Twitter.com will shorten a link "of any length" written into the "tweet box" online down to 19 characters once the tweet is sent, Penner said.

Previously, if users wanted to shorten a link, they'd have to use services such as TinyURL or Bitly among about a dozen other outside options.

"Sharing links on Twitter.com is now simple and instant," Penner wrote. "Plus, since we show a shortened version of the original link, people will know which site the link points to. This service also increases security. If users click links that are reported as malicious, we direct them to a page that warns them."

Again, all features by outside services will remain available, but Twitter's new built-in link shortening won't provide analytics data on its shortened links -- which many outside link-trimming services offer and which can be a valuable tool for business professionals who want to see just how many times their links are getting clicks.

If a user wants such analytics, "you can continue to use your favorite third-party link-shortening services," Penner said.

The move to do link shortening itself follows Twitter offering its own built-in photo sharing service, buying the "power user" app TweetDeck and also putting a general stop to new apps that replicate the official Twitter app, rather provide some new, differentiating function.

On Monday, Apple announced that Twitter would be integrated within iOS 5 to allow people to tweet content without ever having to open an actual Twitter app. It's one more move that could help the social network grow its user base and possibly also cannibalize a few third-party Twitter-related apps that facilitate sharing photos, links, maps and other items along the way.

 

[sunveer]

Official Twitter Addon For Firefox

The Twitter Address Bar Search add-on lets you search Twitter right from your Awesome Bar. To start a search, simply enter a hashtag (like #Firefox), or @mention, and you can instantly call up a page of results of topics or people on Twitter.

Twitter Address Bar Search

 

[Bapun]

Andy Leavine Threatens Luke Robinson On Twitter, Jillian Hall Comments On Return

– A fan on Twitter informed Tough Enough winner Andy Leavine of critical comments runner-up Luke Robinson made during a recent interview. Robinson stated last week that Leavine used pity to win the contest by saying he has children to take care of.

Leavine wrote to Robinson on Twitter, “All the BS aside its over now. You want to run your mouth? Remember if you make it here-I’m already in the locker room.”

– Former WWE Divas Champion Jillian Hall participated in her first match since leaving WWE on June 18 at an independent show in Orlando, Florida. She reveals in an interview with Diva-Dirt.com that she was not completely ready to return to the squared circle and was nervous as a result.

“My nerves came from me not knowing if I was ready to be in a ring again,” Hall explains. “When I left WWE, there was a part of me that truly thought that chapter of my life was over. I had turned down many requests to do a match before taking the Orlando show because it just didn’t feel right and on top of that my body wasn’t and still isn’t 100%. You wouldn’t think it, but it was a very emotional day for me.”

She continued, “I was nervous up until the very moment I walked out that night. I wasn’t sure how the people would react to me. When I walked out and turned “Jillian” up, it felt very natural like I had done it yesterday. I was literally afraid I was going to throw up when I took my first bump, but that, also, was very natural. The crowd accepted me even though I wasn’t 100% and that’s something I really appreciated.”

 

[Bapun]

Batista Launches Twitter Account – Criticizes WWE Product, Discusses Weight Loss

Former WWE star Batista has launched an account on Twitter via twitter.com/Real_DBautista. The account has been confirmed by his official website, Demon-Wrestling.com. He posted an introductory message explaining what he’s been up to since parting ways with WWE last year.

“So I’m giving in to my rule of NO social networking because I promised my boy Josh Rafferty that i would……so here we go!” Batista wrote. “First off!!!!! NO HATERS ALLOWED!!! I hate HATERS!! I wish all haters a Nick Diaz style a** woopin! go somewhere else!

“This is what i’ve done since I left WWE a year ago….3 movies, first one “House of the Rising Sun” being released next month. riding low with my homies…. THE IMPERIALS!!!! Los Angeles chapter….sup Francisco,Junior, El Presidente Tomas..(we miss you Jesse) training my a** off at Gracie Fighter Pleasant Hill Cali, Gracie Fighter Tampa Fl., and Powerhouse Gym in Downtown Tampa. ….and chillin with Sarah : )”

Batista also says he plans on fighting no matter what.

He wrote, “So I’ll repeat myself because haters are not only losers but they also seem to be illiterate! NO f**kING HATERS! no negative chi here!!!! and God willing…YES I will be fighting. even if i have to walk my old a** to the cage with a cane!”

Batista then criticizes WWE’s “PG” product, writing, “I’m the biggest wrestling fan there is..which is why I’m boycotting the PG BS! They’re selling watered down art bro. Kills me.”

Batista also responded to queries regarding his recent weight loss. He says he gave up weights and eliminated certain foods from his diet.

“Gave up the weights, gluten, red meat, pork….down to 260…feel great,” he wrote. “Leaner than ever though. I feel great at this weight.”

 

[Jenitkumar]

Twitter co-founder Dorsey's company gets $100 million.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Square, the mobile payment service started by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, secured $100 million in a financing round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Tiger Global Management also participated in the Series C round, Square said on Tuesday.

Square plans to use the money to accelerate its growth, said Dorsey, the company's chief executive.

Mary Meeker, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, is joining the board, which also includes former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.

Square's technology lets people use their mobile phones to accept credit card payments from other people. In April, Square said Visa invested an undisclosed sum in the company.

The San Francisco-based company has plenty of competitors eager to get into mobile payments. Google in May debuted a digital wallet that lets people to use their smartphones to pay for clothing, food and other items.

 

[ssparikshya]

Obama shot dead: Hacked Fox Twitter feed

Hackers took over a politics Twitter feed belonging to US broadcaster Fox News announcing that President Barack Obama had been shot dead on America's national day.

The @foxnewspolitics feed stated: "@BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead."

Just an hour before the message, there was a post "Just regained full access to our Twitter and email. Happy 4th". July 4 is America's national day.

Even nearly three hours after the last twitter update on the account wishing luck to the "new" President John Biden, none of the messages have been removed.

Reporting that hackers have taken over a Twitter account belonging to Fox News, BBC said a group of individuals, calling themselves 'The Script Kiddies' appeared to claim responsibility.

Fox News Politics is one of the Twitter accounts associated with the industry's leading cable news network, the BBC said adding its Twitter account carries the "verified" tick icon, indicating that the feed belongs to the organisation it claims to be.

The twitter account that one gets to see on the channel's website, @FoxNews, follows the account of @foxnewspolitics.

BBC said it is unclear why Fox News has been attacked in this instance. "However, the broadcaster's conservative stance has made it unpopular with many Americans."

Fox News is said to be the most-watched cable news network in the United States, with its prime time shows attracting almost two million viewers, well ahead of rivals CNN and MSNBC.

An attack on another Fox Entertainment Group website, Fox.com was the first confirmed hit by hacker group Lulz Security in May 2011, BBC said.

toi

 

[sunveer]

Fox News Twitter account hacked, reports Obama shot dead

Fox has already suffered two embarrassing hacks this year. The first saw details of X-Factor contestants leak including their full names, date of birth, zip codes, and phone numbers. Then LulzSec broke into a Fox database and stole a bunch of employee usernames and passwords. Today, there’s been a very public third hack that has seen the Fox Twitter account compromised.

For the past few hours the hacking group Scriptkiddies has been in control of Fox’s News Politics Twitter account. While that alone is embarrassing, the messages being posted make this ten times worse. There have been six tweets so far pointing to the fact President Obama has been shot and killed, all of which are fake.

As it’s a big holiday in the U.S. today this could go on for a few hours before someone at Fox strolls into work or logs in to check everything is running smoothly. Whoever that is, they are in for a big shock and some quick scrambling to reclaim the account. It’s actually surprising Twitter hasn’t done something about this already to be honest, but again, July 4th is going to be a slow day for action.

If this was the first hack Fox had fallen foul of we’d be less sympathetic, but this is the third in just a few months and something needs to change. Yes, they are being targeted by hacking groups, but then the security should be in place to deal with such attacks if you are as high profile an outlet as Fox.

Source: geek.com