Listen To Biz Stone Explain How Twitter Was Named

Having an entrepreneurial side, I always love hearing how others founded their projects or the thinking behind their brands. While checking out a new service that I've discovered called Audioboo I came across this recording of Biz Stone talking about the naming of Twitter. Enjoy! 

More on audioboo later...

Google, Facebook, and Others Rumored To Be Shopping For Twitter

According to the Globe and Mail, Google Inc., Facebook Inc., and other interested parties are conducting low level talks with Twitter regarding an acquisition. These talks are said to give Twitter a street value of about $10-billion, nearly 3 times the valuation placed on the company when it raised $200-million in investor capital in December.

Citing a Wall Street Journal report the Globe and Mail say: 

Despite the valuation, the report said Twitter’s executives and board were working on building a large, independent company.

“People familiar with the situation said the company believes it can grow into a $100-billion company,” the WSJ said.

Regardless of the valuation I'd rather see Twitter go solo, or at least not sell out to Facebook! Unfortunately I don't have any say in the matter, and the guys with the money will usually come out on top in these things.

Google And Twitter Team Up For Egypt

According to The Official Google Blog Google, Twitter, and SayNow (a Google acquired company) have worked together to get a new voice to Twitter service up and running for the folks in Egypt. With the Mubarak regime taking down internet access and cellular service in an attempt to quell protester organization through social sites, the companies felt compelled to do something to help the people of Egypt.

We worked with a small team of engineers from Twitter, Google and SayNow, a company we acquired last week, to make this idea a reality. It’s already live and anyone can tweet by simply leaving a voicemail on one of these international phone numbers (+16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855) and the service will instantly tweet the message using the hashtag #egypt. No Internet connection is required. People can listen to the messages by dialing the same phone numbers or going to twitter.com/speak2tweet.

We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.

Kudos to these tech giants for putting their collective heads together for such an important global cause, in such a timely fashion!

Kudos to these tech giants for putting their heads together and doing something quickly to aid in tis cause!

New Jersey Mayor Turns To Twitter During Snow Storm

Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker used his twitter account (@corybooker) during this years “Snowpocalypse,” to let his constituents know of the city's progress in road clearing and to thank those who were pitching in to help others through the storm. Booker helped deliver supplies and shovel walkways in order to keep his city moving and it's not the first time... last year he came to the aid of an elderly man when the 65 year old's daughter tweeted his plight during a New Year's Eve blizzard. Talk about having your finger on the pulse of your community! Thanks Mayor Booker, you are an inspiration.

Source: mashable.com

Tweets Hit The Big Screen At Piccadilly Circus

Coca-Cola is spreading Christmas cheer via twitter users and a huge screen located at the busy London thorough fare at Piccadilly Circus. Twitter users who follow @cokezone can direct  their tweet to @cokezone and have it displayed on the screen for commuters to enjoy. We'll assume that because of the open nature of the tweets that there will be some form of moderation.

If you don't happen to drive through Piccadilly Circus the tweets can be viewed live on the brand’s engagement site, www.cokezone.co.uk/Piccadilly, via a webcam set up to film the sign.  

Zoe Howorth, market activation director, Coca-Cola GB, said: "The Piccadilly sign provides Coca-Cola with a unique interactive platform and we're delighted that consumers can use it to spread their Christmas messages this year.

This activation puts our fans at the heart of the activity, allowing them to engage and communicate with people everywhere." 

Source: Campaignlive.co.uk

p.s. If you'd like to run your own twitter to screen campaign check out http://screenscape.net (my employer). http://screenscape.net/blog/adding-your-favorite-tweets-to-your-ScreenScape-display

Lunch On Wheels Fueled By Tweets

There was a time when mobile caterers rolled up to a spot and wailed on the horn to bring out the customers, now they tweet their whereabouts and let the cash box fill up. Wired has compiled a few of the more notable "Tweetcarts" like the original @kogibbq. I love to see businesses use technology in new ways to rack up sales... now if only these mobile businesses would start using community-based digital signage  :)

Twitter Unveils A New Look

By mid day yesterday it was clear that something was up at Twitter, tweets and blog posts pointed to the excitement amongst employees but nobody on the inside was spilling the beans. Turns out the buzz was all about a new look and user experience that Twitter will roll out gradually over the coming weeks. (I still have the old version of the site as of this posting)

“We’ve made it pretty clear that we are going to create the best experiences we can with all our clients,” says co-founder and CEO Ev Williams “We made it clear to developers that it’s great for everyone if we make it as good as possible, because that will create more successful Twitter users.”

While I've not yet had a glimpse of the new site, I'm hopeful by it's description that Twitter is offering a more flipboard like experience where you get a sense of what's behind those tiny urls before you click through. The NY Times describes it as follows: "The redesigned site, which will be available to all users in the next few weeks, makes it simpler to see information about the authors of Twitter posts, conversations among Twitter users, and the photos and videos that posts link to." so it sounds promising. 

Heart Attack Does Not Stop Twitter User From Tweeting - Addicted Maybe?

Tommy Christopher, a writer for mediate.com wasn't going to let a little thing like a heart attack stop his tweeting habit. "I gotta be me. Livetweeting my heart attack. Beat that!" he typed.  Followed by:

"Paramedics think I will live. Gonna get a cardiac cat. Jeez, I'm old. This is depressing,"

"This is not like the movies. Most deadpan heart attack evar," he wrote. 

"Still hurts even after the morphine."

I thought that I was a bit obsessed with twitter, my posts aren't that frequent but I check the site frequently. I will however curb my obsession in the event of pending doom.

No word on Christopher's current condition...

Source: couriermail.com.au 

Thanks to @ColinMaria for putting me onto this story.


Tweet

Facebook Places - Good For Location Based Services?

A recent report from Forrester Research suggests that only 4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and that 1 percent use them weekly. The numbers also indicate that users of the service generally live in urban areas and are very tech savvy. “Ever since mobile phones and location technology got started, there have been conversations about the potential for doing something really incredible with this for marketers,” said Melissa Parrish, an interactive marketing analyst at Forrester. “But clearly the question is whether it has reached the mainstream, and it looks like the answer is no.” I think that I would also add, a big... not yet!

“Clearly location is not yet mainstream — it’s still a younger-demographic phenomenon — but if anyone can change it, Facebook will,” said Sam Altman, chief executive of Loopt. I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Altman. Consider how many many of your elder family members and friends who might have ever tried video games, now think of how many Facebook messages you receive regarding Farmville, Mafia Wars, and the like... who are the people associated with these requests? If your Facebook timeline looks like mine, it's the older less than technical folk. Additionally, while this is a very small sampling, my 16 year old asked me about foursquare recently. He, as you can imagine is truly tuned into technology and while he and his friends have largely shunned Twitter, foursquare has caught there attention and they are after all the Facebook generation.

In my mind it is business, large and small, that have to take the lead and make location based services more than a game that is played between tech savvy friends, and they will, over time. I can't imagine that phone manufacturers will start abandoning location, nor do I imagine that location based services will give up and go away. It's but a matter of time before we see the real value that location holds and when we do, look out.   

Source: nytimes.com

Twitter's New Tweet Button For Websites

Twitter added a new feature for website owners yesterday. The Tweet button allows you to embed a small pieces of code in your site that  will allow twitter owners to tweet your page to their followers, big deal you say... I can already do this, true but the difference in this button is that it embeds your twitter username in the tweet and launches a new overlay page that then keeps the reader on your site. A small but powerful step forward for site owners, IMHO. See twitter's video explanation:

...and here it is, give it a click!

Tweet

Twitter's Deceased-user Policy

I guess when you are a social network you have to consider these things. Twitter, as reported by cnet's  Josh Lowensohn, has apparently created a policy on how it should deal with the passing of users. I had not even considered that there should be such policies but it makes a heap of sense. What should happen to the musings of a loved one? Will it be a painful reminder or a testament to the life and times of the individual? When my grandfather passed away over a decade ago he left behind years of journals, I'm not sure which relative ended up with them or what there fate was. It's obvious that we are living in a very different world than my grandfather grew up in, in our world we have the opportunity to leave a little bit of ourselves behind for future generations to ponder and perhaps gain a bit of insight into who we are (where). Our legacy may very well be our 140 character thoughts, our blog posts, our YouTube videos, and the things we've "Liked" on Facebook. I hope that all of these services have or will develop deceased-user policies to preserve and protect our identities.

If we are notified that a Twitter user has passed away, we can remove their account or assist family members in saving a backup of their public Tweets.

Please contact us with the following information:

1. Your full name, contact information (including email address), and your relationship to the deceased user.
2. The username of the Twitter account, or a link to the profile page of the Twitter account.
3. A link to a public obituary or news article.

You can contact us at privacy@twitter.com, or by mail or fax:

Twitter Inc.,
c/o: Trust & Safety

795 Folsom Street, Suite 600

San Francisco, CA 94107
Fax: 415-222-9958

We will respond by email with any additional information we might need.

Please note that we cannot allow access to the account or disclose other non-public information regarding the account

http://support.twitter.com/groups/33-report-a-violation/topics/122-reporting-violations/articles/87894-how-to-contact-twitter-about-a-deceased-user

Twitter's New Revenue Generator

Business Insider is reporting that Twitter is finding new ways to monetize and the latest appears to be via an account called @earlybird. Twitter PR told ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick,  "There are interesting things in store for @earlybird. Keep waking up early and you might be the first to find out what they are." Looks like they are taking a page out of Dell's book.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/twitters-newest-revenue-plan-daily-deals-2010-7?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher#ixzz0snd8Og7h

Did Facebook Under Report Android And Twitter Stats?

TechCrunch has noticed that either there has been skyrocketing growth of android and Twitter clients hitting Facebook or some of the numbers previously reported were grossly under reported. FarmVille apparently has 63.9 million monthly active users (MAU) and Texas HoldEm Poker 28.5 million, but until recently android was reported at 67 MAU and Twitter just around 400,000. I guess that makes me an extremely early adopter... 1 of 67 isn't bad, even 1 of 400,000 is admirable. Right?

The numbers however, have suddenly taken a huge spike after what looks like a rather static baseline. Must be a mistake...

The number correction comes just ahead of  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sharing some thoughts with Inside Facebook about Twitter. In his discussion, he admitted he now views Twitter as a “very nice, simple service.”  

Border Crossing Wait Times Tweeted By Canadian Border Services Agency

The Canadian Border Services Agency is now trying to assist travelers to the US via Twitter, at least through this busy summer season. "The CBSA is committed to applying low-cost technologies like Twitter to keep service delivery standards high without increasing costs to the taxpayer," Stephen Rigby, the president of CBSA says in a news release on the agency's website. This page will take you to the agency's instructions for it's feed in this 3 month pilot project. It works like this:

You can simply follow @cbsa_bwt or use the hashtags below to select your desired crossing and search for tweets on the estimated wait times in effect.

St. Stephen, NB / Calais, ME #CBSA_STS
Belleville, NB / Houlton, ME #CBSA_WSR
Stanstead, QC / Derby Line, VT #CBSA_STD
St. Armand, QC / Highgate Springs, VT #CBSA_SAP
Lacolle, QC / Champlain, NY #CBSA_SBL
Cornwall, ON / Rooseveltown, NY #CBSA_CWL
Lansdowne, ON / Alexandria Bay, NY #CBSA_TIB
Queenston, ON / Lewiston, NY #CBSA_QLB
Niagara Falls, ON / Niagara Falls, NY #CBSA_RBB
Fort Erie, ON / Buffalo, NY #CBSA_PBR
Windsor, ON / Detroit, MI #CBSA_ABB
Windsor, ON / Detroit, MI #CBSA_DCT
Sarnia, ON / Port Huron, MI #CBSA_BWB
Sault Ste. Marie, ON / Sault Ste. Marie, MI #CBSA_SSM
Fort Frances, ON / International Falls, MN #CBSA_FFB
Emerson, MB / Pembina, ND #CBSA_EMR
North Portal, SK / Portal, ND #CBSA_NPL
Coutts, AB / Sweet Grass, MT #CBSA_CTS
Surrey, BC / Blaine, WA #CBSA_PCH
Surrey, BC / Blaine, WA #CBSA_DPA
Delta, BC / Point Roberts, WA #CBSA_BBY
Huntingdon, BC / Sumas, WA #CBSA_HTD

If you are travelling to Detroit this morning you'll be happy to know that:

#CBSA_ABB Commercial Flow: No delay, Travellers Flow: No delay

Twitter Bug Uncovered Quite By Accident

In a twist of irony, news of a bug that allowed Twitter users to cause other users to unknowingly follow them was quickly spread across the internet via social sites and popular blogs. The NYTimes Bits blog explains the discovery "The bug was first revealed by a Turkish man who wanted to tell his friends on Twitter about a band called “Accept” that he enjoyed listening too. When the man typed “Accept pwns” into the update box on Twitter he noticed that a user by the name of @pwns was now following him on the site."

Twitter had this brief message on it's official blog: "We identified and resolved a bug that permitted a user to “force” other users to follow them. We’re now working to rollback all abuse of the bug that took place. Follower/following numbers are currently at 0; we’re aware and this too should shortly be resolved."

Huh, sounds more like an Easter egg or developer backdoor than a bug...

Teat Tweets

Ontario farmer Chris Vandenberg runs a hi-tech dairy farm where the cows are robotically milked and are monitored by RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags attached to their ears. The system allows Vandenberg to maximize milk productivity by denying access to the milking area until a cow is ready for optimal performance. If that weren't cool enough the University of Waterloo's critical media lab has tapped into the system to create Teat Tweet Dairy Diary, a Twitter account from the cows perspective.  

"I just squirted 20.4 kgs of milk out of my teats in 10:28 seconds. What did you do today?" offers Charge Gina (@chargegina) while Montgomery Mae (@montgomerymae)says "My RFID transponder must be dirty. I'll give it a lick and see what happens."

12 cows in all are participating. Got milk? 

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/05/03/tech-twitter-cows.html?ref=rss#ixzz0mugKqLYN

Find Twitter Tweeps To Follow With Google's Help

Google seems to be paying some attention to Twitter these days, perhaps the Jaiku acquisition hasn't quite paid the dividends they were hoping for. Google has announced a couple of tools aimed at Twitter this week. First, they announced a replay feature that helps you search the public archive of updates from Twitter, and now from Google Labs, Google Follow Finder to help you identify tweeps to grow your Twitter network. The tool uses public following and follower lists to generate it's list of tweeps that you may wish to follow. It's not really ground breaking but it is interesting that these announcements come as Twitter announces it's plan for generating revenues through promoted tweets via it's search feature.

Twitter Takes A Shot At Revenue Generation

Well, Twitter has finally dipped it's toes in the advertising pool but they have done so ever so carefully. Twitter is taking things very slowly in an attempt to not affect the user experience, the ad must first be tweeted by the advertiser and then it will show up in search results as a featured tweet. However only tweets (ads) that are popular with users, in that they are retweeted or replied to, will be kept in the queue. “The one thing we are most excited about is these are simply tweets, not ads,” Chris Buzzo a Starbucks spokesman said. “There is one big difference between a promoted tweet and a regular tweet. promoted tweets must meet a higher bar — they must resonate with users. This means that if users don’t do the things with promoted tweets that would normally do with a regular tweet such as reply to it, favorite it, or retweet it and so on, the promoted tweet will disappear.”

I find it intriguing that they are only displaying the promoted tweets in the search results, only because I have recently discussed with a colleague my use of Twitter to discover relevant recent information via search, over even Google in some situations... 

Read More at Wired.

French Arrest Hacker Who Targeted Obama Twitter Account

A 25 year old Frenchman who used the online persona HackerCroll has been arrested after hijacking US President Barack Obama's twitter account.

“This individual spread information about a dozen American personalities, notably Barack Obama, on specialist blogs,” Adeline Champagnat, head of the French office against online fraud, said.

HackerCroll appeared to be driven by the challenge and apparently acted alone in his quest to gain access to the accounts. No sensitive information was allegedly targeted.

“He thinks he is good at this, and he is,” Ms. Champagnat said.

The French were tipped off by the FBI according to this Globe and Mail article.

Twitter Upgrades But No Monetization Plans Revealed

The hype around an announcement by Twitter founder Ev Williams at South by South West (SxSW) was that the company was going to announce it's plans for monetizing it's service but well all was said and done the actual announcement was viewed as underwhelming, with some attendees bailing before the key-note address was over.

"What Mr. Williams did announce is a Twitter expansion called @Anywhere. It allows users to log into other websites using their Twitter accounts, so they can tweet a link to something interesting without having to actually go to the Twitter site. Those third-party sites will highlight names and businesses that use Twitter and, when the mouse scrolls over them, a window pops up showing the user's account and latest activity there.

“Imagine being able to follow a New York Times journalist directly from her byline, tweet about a video without leaving YouTube, and discover new Twitter accounts while visiting the Yahoo! home page,” the blog post announcing the change said."

As an avid user and Twitter fanboy, I don't really care how they make money as long as they are able to keep the doors open without selling their souls and invading my screen space.

Source: CBC