Articles about Twitter

Twitter has said that it is working on a bookmarking feature, overcoming one of the complaints users have about the micro-blogging service. Twitter users currently have the option of liking tweets, but this means running the risk of influencing the algorithms that control what appears in your timeline -- and perhaps making it appear as though you like something you actually disagree with, or result in you publicly liking something you'd rather keep private.

The company's head of product, Keith Coleman, made the new bookmarking revelation on Twitter, saying it is a frequently requested feature. The new 'read it later' option came out of Twitter's HackWeek, and while no launch date has been announced, it is coming "soon" and an early design has been previewed.

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Twitter has blocked an ad campaign by Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn after it was "deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction."

In the ad, Blackburn says she "stopped the sale of baby body parts" from abortions by defunding Planned Parenthood -- a false claim. The pro-lifer claims Twitter is censoring her, but the company has said the ad campaign can run without the "body parts" claim.

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Facebook is currently under investigation for displaying advertisements placed by Russia to try to influence the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton, but Donald Trump is convinced that the social network is against him.

In a tweet, the president set out a simple accusation: "Facebook was always anti-Trump." Dredging up his bugbear of "fake news" he also made the same claim of television networks and newspapers. More than this, he suggests that there may have been collusion between those he regards as being "anti-Trump."

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Twitter's distinctive feature -- the 140-character limit -- has been both a blessing and a curse, but out of the blue, however, the company has decided to double the limit to 280 characters. Unfortunately, the 280-charcter limit is now -- like the blue tick of verification -- some of the Holy Grail of Twitter thanks to a slow rollout.

There's no need to wait however! You can send tweets of up to 280 characters right now -- it just takes a little setting up. Here's what you need to do.

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Many people are passionate about Twitter -- including President Donald Trump. It is not hard to see why, either -- it allows you to quickly share a communication with the world in 140 or fewer characters. While some people see the character limitation as stupid and unnecessary, others would argue that it forces the user to get to the point. Heck, limitations can breed creativity too -- getting a message across in 140 characters can be a fun brain exercise.

Unfortunately, Twitter seems intent on potentially ruining its service by literally doubling the number of characters from 140 to 280. Before you run to the service to test this out, please know that it is only available to a small group of testers for now.

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Donald Trump has been a divisive character for many years, and this trend that has continued with his presidency. On Twitter, his unique approach to dealing with world issues and global leaders has caused, to varying degrees, amusement, disgust and horror. In particular, his recent handling of North Korea has raised concern.

His continual references to Kim Jong-un as Little Rocket Man, and his suggestion that the leader and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho "won't be around much longer" and that the US may have "no choice but to totally destroy" North Korea has been seen by the Asian country as "a clear declaration of war". People are asking why Twitter has not taken action against such naked threats on its platform. Now the company has spoken out, explaining that the "newsworthiness" of Trump's tweets is why they have been left untouched.

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All of the major players have been busy creating "lite" versions of their apps and online experiences. Microsoft has LinkedIn Lite, Facebook has both Facebook Lite and Facebook Messenger Lite, and Google has its Search Lite app.

Back in April, Twitter decided to get in on the lite action by launching Twitter Lite, a cut-down, data-friendly version of its mobile website. Now the micro-blogging service has gone further and released a Twitter Lite app.

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UK prime minister Theresa May has called on the likes of Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Facebook to act faster to remove terrorism-related and extremist content. At the moment, it takes an average of 36 hours to remove content shared by the likes of Isis, and May wants this slashed to just two hours.

But even this is not enough for the government. It wants technologies to be developed -- or refined -- that will identify this sort of content and prevent it from getting online in the first place. Facebook agrees -- its love of AI is well-known -- but the solution to online extremism is not as simple as saying "technology firms need to do more."

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The latest report from risk management and cyber security company Nopsec looks at the use of social media in risk analysis.

Twitter in particular seems to be becoming the go-to resource for security researchers and attackers looking to disseminate proof-of-concept exploits.

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There are two features that Twitter users constantly ask for -- the ability to edit tweets, and the ability to send tweets that are longer than 140 characters. Tweet editing is not likely to come any time soon, and longer tweets are also an uncertainty, but Twitter could be about to make tweetstorming much easier.

Tweetstorms are the alternative to longer tweets: messages that won't fit into 140 characters are simply manually split up over multiple tweets. Manually doing this is a chore, but there is hope on the horizon. A hidden tweetstorm composer has been unearthed in the Twitter Android app, indicating that the feature is undergoing internal testing.

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Android and iOS users who like to browse Twitter in bed were pleased when a night mode was added to the mobile apps, saving middle-of-the-night blindings. Now night mode has made its way to the web.

Whether you see night mode as an eye-saving feature, or just a way to get in touch with your inner goth, the arrival of the feature has been long-awaited by users.

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Online hate crimes are to be treated as seriously as abuse offenses committed offline as the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) aims to crack down on abuse and harassment on the likes of Facebook and Twitter. New policies covering hate crime relating to race, religion disability, sexuality -- including, for the first time, specific bisexual hate crimes -- will lead to harsher sentences for offenders.

Alison Saunders, director of public prosecutions, wants to do more to fight online abuse because of the risk of it escalating into the sort of extremist hate seen in relation to events in Charlottesville. She says that abuse of all kind, and on all platforms, should be treated with equal severity.

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On Monday August 21, people across the US will have the chance to witness a total solar eclipse. While there is a great deal of excitement about the phenomenon, viewers need to be careful to use special eclipse glasses (not just sunglasses) or some form of projection technique to avoid serious eye damage.

But perhaps the safest option is to watch the eclipse on your computer screen or mobile. Twitter has teamed up with the Weather Channel to provide a live stream, so even if you're not in the path of totality, there's no need to miss out.

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The nightmare continues for HBO. After suffering a hack and then leaks of various shows including Game of Thrones, hackers have now struck at the network's social media accounts. The hacking group OurMine took control of the main HBO Twitter accounts, as well as those for various shows, including Game of Thrones.

OurMine is no newcomer to the scene -- the group has previously hacked Mark Zuckerberg and Netflix's Twitter accounts. Separately to this, what has been dubbed the "4th Wave HBO Leak" has been made available online. This time the data dumps include content relating to Game of Thrones season 7, and Westworld season 2.

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Julian Assange has reached out to James Damore, the software engineer fired by Google for publishing an "anti-diversity manifesto." The WikiLeaks founder used his Twitter account (currently sporting a fake "verified" badge) to offer him a job.

Linking to an article entitled "Google Is Not What It Seems" about his book When Google Met Wikileaks, Assange said: "Censorship is for losers. @WikiLeaks is offering a job to fired Google engineer James Damore."

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