Articles about Twitter

Queen Elizabeth II -- a life packed with technological change

QEII

As you've probably learned elsewhere already, Queen Elizabeth II died yesterday at the age of 96 after an extraordinarily long reign.

For anyone under the age of 70 she has been the constant center of life in the UK, a relic of an earlier era, perhaps, but she's also lived through an age of huge and rapid technological advances.

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Twitter is gaining a WhatsApp Share icon

Twitter logo on wooden background

Twitter is looking to make sharing content easier and wider-reaching by cross-pollinating with other social platforms. The micro-blogging site -- which may or may not end up being bought by Elon Musk -- is adding an option for sharing tweets via WhatsApp.

For now, the new sharing option is limited to certain markets, but it is hard to imagine that it will not spread globally in the near future. The question is, will it be welcomed by users or not?

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Twitter finally adds an edit button -- but only for some

Twitter header

One of the most frustrating features of Twitter has always been that once you've sent a tweet it becomes carved in digital stone. You can't go back and change it to fix typos or add missing hashtags.

Your only option is to delete it and try again, but that makes you look like a bit of an idiot. An edit button is the most requested feature among Twitter's 230 million plus users and it seems that the company has finally decided to give them what they want.

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Twitter's new Reply Filter will help users reduce their exposure to 'potentially unwelcome replies'

Twitter on mobile with silhouetted person

Twitter, possibly more than other social platforms, seems to bring out the very worst in many people. Apparently magnifying the emboldening effect the relative anonymity of posting online brings, users often find that responses to their tweets stray a long way from what most would consider reasonable. Now Twitter is working on a solution.

Spotted in the code of the Twitter app, an upcoming "Reply filter" feature will give users the ability to control the type of response they see. Importantly, the feature does not introduce any new restrictions on what others are able to post as a reply; it just gives users the opportunity to avoid exposing themselves to upsetting responses by filtering them. Think of it like a spam folder for tweet replies. It is something that will be welcome by many different types of user -- those with verified accounts, those with a degree of celebrity, those from certain societal groups, those unwilling to deal with online abuse, and others.

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Twitter comes clean about serious security incident affecting millions of accounts

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Twitter has confirmed that a hacker was able to exploit a security vulnerability on the social platform earlier this year, gaining access to the private data of millions of users.

In total, 5.4 million accounts were affected, with the attacker able to link account names to email addresses and phone numbers. While the incident took place back in January this year, Twitter has also revealed that the exposed user data was made available to buy just last month. In what will be regarded by many as something of an understatement, the company says that "it is unfortunate that this happened".

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If you're daft enough to pay for Twitter Blue, prepare to dig deeper into your pockets

Twitter logo on wooden background

It was hardly a surprise when Twitter launched a subscription service in the form of Twitter Blue. In exchange for $2.99 a month, anyone keen to gain access to extra feature could help top up the social media company's coffers.

But it seems that the coffers have not been topped up enough as Twitter has announced a price hike. The cost of a Twitter Blue subscription jumps by two thirds for new subscribers with immediate effect, and existing subscribers can expect to pay the new, higher price in the near future.

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Elon Musk pulls out of Twitter purchase, but Twitter plans to sue to force the deal

Elon Musk with Twitter logo

When the richest person on Earth offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the eyes of the world pivoted to Elon Musk to watch the drama unfold. And the drama did not disappoint, played out over several month.

There has been speculation for some time that Musk's plans to buy Twitter would fall through, and those who predicted this may just have been proved right. Musk's lawyers have written to the social media company to say that the deal is now off, citing Twitter'ss failure to provide information that had been requested. Twitter has responded saying that it intends to sue Musk and force him to complete the merger.

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Hackers invade British Army's social media accounts

The British Army confirmed yesterday that its Twitter and YouTube accounts had been breached by hackers.

The Army's YouTube channel was changed to feature videos on cyptocurrency and images of billionaire businessman Elon Musk under the account name ArkInvest, while its official Twitter account was used to re-tweet several posts relating to NFTs and had its name changed a number of times.

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Twitter is testing Notes, a new publishing option with no character limit

Three Twitter logos

It took quite a while, but Twitter eventually decided to increase the maximum length of tweets to 280 characters. For some people, this is still not enough, and threading is not for everyone. It is with this in mind that Twitter has started testing a new long-form writing format called Notes.

Twitter has long been referred to as a micro-blogging service, and Notes takes things to the next level, essentially giving users the ability to write blog posts of any length. As well as eliminating the character limit, Notes can also include photos, videos and even embedded tweets. Best of all, Notes are editable. This may not be the "edit tweet" option people have been looking for, but it is a step in that direction.

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Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Spy

How do you know if you're being targeted by an agent of a foreign power? It used to be easy, as soon as he ordered red wine with his fish* you knew he wasn't the right sort of chap.

Nowadays when nation states are more likely to befriend you on social media in order to try to steal sensitive data you can no longer rely on the wine list to help you spot a bad guy.

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Musk takeover of Twitter sparks heated debate

Twitter bird megaphone

News that Elon Musk has succeeded in his bid to buy Twitter has, as you might expect, triggered a range of reaction. From rejoicing in some quarters to wailing and gnashing of teeth in others.

The debate rages on the platform itself as well as in the wider media. We've put together a range of views.

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Confirmed: Elon Musk to acquire Twitter for $44 billion

We reported earlier today that Tesla and SpaceX tycoon Elon Musk looked poised to snap up Twitter, and now we have official confirmation that Twitter’s board has indeed agreed to the takeover.

The social network has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Musk for $54.20 per share in cash, with a transaction value of approximately $44 billion.

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Musk about to snap up Twitter for $43 billion [Updated]

We reported two weeks ago that Tesla and SpaceX tycoon Elon Musk had put in a bid to buy Twitter, though it seemed at the time that the company’s board wasn’t too keen on the idea.

Fast forward to today and it seems that Musk's $43 billion offer is likely to be accepted. Financial site Bloomberg reports that a deal is close with negotiations in their final stages.

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Elon Musk goes shopping for Twitter

Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter at a price of $54.20 per share, valuing the company at around $43 billion.

This comes a week after the SpaceX and Tesla billionaire became the company's largest shareholder and declined the chance to join its board -- which would have prevented a takeover by putting a cap on his shareholding.

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While it works on an 'edit tweet' option, Twitter adds the ability to step away from mentions

Isometric Twitter logo

Elon Musk's recent colossal investment in Twitter made him the largest shareholder in the company. His tweets after this became public made it seem as though he was going to be something of a trouble-making disruptor, stirring things up with talk of an edit button, but it soon transpired that Twitter really is working on the option to edit tweets.

It's hard to say quite when the feature will be made available, and it is likely to be limited to Twitter Blue subscribers -- at least to start with. In the meantime, users who are not willing to pay for extra features can enjoy another new option: Unmention

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