Twitter monetizes emoji with targeted ads
I don't consider myself a millennial, but according to some sources, my year of birth makes me one. Other sources list me as a "Gen Xer". No matter the box in which you put me, I love emojis -- something often associated with millennials. Why do I love them? As someone who recognizes the value of body language in communication, the written word can often lack sentiment, leading to misunderstandings. Emojis can enhance your emails, texts, and tweets, helping the reader to better understand your intention. In other words, they aren't inconsequential.
As emojis become more popular, companies will undoubtedly try to somehow monetize their use. Today, Twitter announces just that. The social network will offer targeted advertising based on a user's emoji use. This is significant, as according to Twitter, more than 110 million emojis have been used in tweets in the last couple years. Whoa.
Twitter denies stolen account passwords came from its servers and issues security advice
In recent days the internet has been abuzz with news that credentials for millions of Twitter accounts have been put up for sale on the Dark Web. Despite the online chatter about what many people assumed to be a security breach, Twitter chose to remain silent. Now the company has spoken out after an investigation and denies that the password leak was the result of Twitter being hacked.
Dismissively referring to the "purported Twitter @names and passwords", the company says that the leak is probably a combination of data gathered from previous breaches as well as credentials gathered by malware. Twitter has identified a number of accounts directly affected by the leak and has reset the passwords to protect the owners.
People spend less time on social networks
The amount of time people spent in apps of social media networks in the first three months of 2016, in nine major countries in the world, has dropped "dramatically", a new report by digital market intelligence company SimilarWeb says.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have all seen significant drops in the amount of time people in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil and Spain have spent in Q1 2016, compared to the same period a year before.
Instagram announces plans to control newsfeeds with an algorithm
People are possessive and precise about their social media. Any change that may be introduced will be scrutinized, criticized, bemoaned, and suffered -- something we've seen time and time again with changes made to Twitter and Facebook timelines. Now Instagram is going down a similar route and introducing algorithmic timelines.
While the move will disappoint -- even infuriate -- many Instagrammers, the announcement has not come completely out of the blue. Just a few weeks ago the social network started testing algorithm-powered timelines and it seems the tests went well. Starting next month, Instagram will ditch the reverse-chronological timeline in favor of one that shows the "moments you care about first".
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft will fight online hate speech in Europe
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft are working in conjunction with the European Commission to try to tackle the problem of illegal online hate speech. This is something that the companies have taken steps to fight individually, but now there is a concerted effort to combat hate speech and terrorist propaganda in Europe.
New EU regulations require the companies to review notifications they receive about hate speech within 24 hours. The four tech giants have agreed to the new code of conduct, saying the 'majority' of reported content will be examined within a day.
Messaging apps need to play by Iran's rules to operate in the country
Privacy concerns have been voiced after Iran announced plans to force messaging apps and social media services to store all data about Iranian users on Iranian soil. It is common practice for user data to be stored in other counties, but the government in Iran continues to exert its authority over the internet.
Any company who wants to operate a message service in Iran has a year to comply with the data relocation requirement. With Iran already blocking access to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, privacy and security advocates have expressed worries about the implications of the new rules.
Putting the 'twit' in Twitter? Will changes flood your feed with unwanted messages?
Over the decade since it launched, Twitter has evolved from simple 140 character text messages to incorporate photos, videos and more. It can also justifiably lay claim to introducing and popularizing the hashtag.
In an effort to keep the service up to date the company is rolling out some changes in the coming months. While some of these are useful, others are set to prove unpopular, especially for those who follow business accounts.
Celebrity threesome injunction sees Twitter send warning emails to those who name PJS and YMA online
People who have named the celebrities known by the initials PJS and YMA have received warning emails from Twitter.
A superinjuntion is in place that prevents the naming of the couple, one of whom is said to have been involved in a threesome with two other people known as AB and CD.
GCHQ arrives on Twitter to give a more public face to the spy agency
The UK's GCHQ -- like its US counterpart the NSA -- is an agency traditionally shrouded in secrecy. Tasked with the job of spying on all and sundry in the name of intelligence gathering, the agency has just joined Twitter, greeting other users with an unoriginal "Hello, world".
With the concerns about privacy and security that blew up in the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA surveillance revelation, spy agencies around the world have been on a mission to boost their public image. GCHQ -- complete with the blue tick reserved for verified accounts -- will use Twitter to "provide news, updates, and opinions".
After the death of @MagicRecs, Twitter Connect makes it easier to find people to follow
It was a sad day on Twitter when one of most useful accounts, the @MagicRecs bot, was closed down. The experimental service had been firing account recommendations at users based on who they follow, but the experiment came to an end.
As something of a replacement, Twitter is introducing a Connect tab to its iOS and Android clients. The company says it will make it easier to find people to follow, and will come up with recommendations based on who you already follow, how you use Twitter, and what's proving popular with other people.
Apple: You're saying it wrong -- iPhones is not a word!
Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller has taken to Twitter to set the record straight about the nomenclature of the company's product names. Specifically, he takes umbrage with just sticking an 's' onto the end of product names to pluralize them.
Yep -- iPhones is, apparently, not a word. Someone might need to speak with Tim Cook to get him on the same page though, as he doesn't seem to have seen the memo.
Twitter's unfair token system gives it far too much control over rival apps
In recent days you probably heard about the demise, and subsequent resurrection, of the Twitter client Fenix. Earlier this week, the app became a victim of its own success, succumbing to what it described as "the infamous Twitter tokens limitation". It's now back in the Google Play Store having carved out some sort of deal with Twitter, but the debacle highlights an important issue.
If you want to create a Twitter client -- and why wouldn’t you? -- you'll need access to the Twitter API. This is not something Twitter wants, or permits, to just be a free-for-all, and it limits developers' use of the API through a token system. Simply put, one token equals one user, and Twitter decides how many tokens each developer has, in turn dictating the maximum number of users any rival Twitter client may have. Anyone spot a problem?
Twitter makes it easier to report abusive tweets en masse
There has been a lot of interest in online abuse in recent months, and social networks are taking steps to weed out the trolls and abusers. Twitter has already introduced a number of measures to help tackle trolls, and today announces the availability of a new reporting tool for users.
Now rather than having to report a number of abusive tweets individually, it is possible to report up to five tweets simultaneously. As well as reducing the workload for someone who feels the need to report content, the new tool also makes things easier for Twitter as it allows for additional information to be gathered.
Twitter now offers an easier way to share public tweets privately
While Twitter is designed to provide an open forum for your thoughts, occasionally you might want to have one-to-one discussions in private, and that’s where the Direct Message option comes in.
Today, as part of its quest to make DM conversations "richer", Twitter introduces a feature to make it much easier to share public tweets privately with friends and followers.
New Start Menu features on the way in Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows Insiders will soon be able to try out a new Start Menu when preview builds of Windows 10 Anniversary Update begin to roll out. We already know some of what to expect from this big update to Windows 10 -- such as badge notifications in the taskbar for UWP apps -- and now we can see what the updated Start menu looks like too.
The same Microsoft software engineer who shared details of badge notifications -- Jen Gentleman -- has posted an animated GIF to Twitter that shows the Start Menu in action. There are a few notable changes in the updated version, including a nested hamburger menu.
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