How clients are adapting to Twitter expansion: new HootSuite app

May 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Since Twitter acquired Tweetie to become the official Twitter iPhone application, worked with RIM to release an app for BlackBerry, and now released an official app for Android, the developers of existing applications are being forced to raise their game even more quickly than before.

One example is HootSuite, who just released their new iPhone application.

Probably the biggest addition is Facebook (Like Tweetdeck and Seesmic) – you can update your status, shedule updates and track your friends and pages. Going multiplatform seems to be one obvious step to go beyond an official single platform application.

You also get translation from, and into, over 50 languages. And there’s geo-location, HootSuite Labs (including ‘Bump to Follow’), a new landscape view, a new drag and refresh option, and a handy ‘reply to all’ feature to save time and typing.

Here’s a handy video guide:

Filed Under: Mobile Phone Apps, Tools, twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Taiwan police ask Plurk for IP addresses of users

April 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Microblogging service Plurk has been pretty successful outside the U.S, but having already been the victim of a ban in China (followed by MSN China cloning the site with their own product), the service has now been asked by Taiwan police to provide the IP addresses of some Plurk users, without being supplied with a court order by police.

As reported on Global Voices, Alvin Woon, one of the founders of Plurk, posted a message saying he’d been asked by police for the information.

Unless a court deems it necessary, what the police are asking is technically illegal. But it turns out that it appears to be usual practice for the police, who have confirmed that they would make around 10 such requests to Plurk every month. Since Woon is not located in Taiwan, and the Plurk servers are in America, he hasn’t complied with the request.

But obviously Plurk isn’t the only website being asked for user details and IP addresses, and other companies are being more cooperative with police enquiries. Given current laws being proposed and implemented in the UK, U.S and Australia, along with the approach of China to internet freedom, it’s more important than ever to have an understanding of your rights, your privacy, and the attititude of any social network/blog/hosting company/ISP that you use. One book I’d recommend for a greater understanding of the nature of law on the internet and how it can be changed by Governments would be Code: Version 2.0 by Lawrence Lessig

Filed Under: Microblogging, Plurk Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Google uses Twitter in Chinese search results

March 26, 2010 By 1 Comment

Twitter search results are now being indexed and displayed by Google to Chinese users, as reported in the Los Angeles Times.

It effectively gets around the nine-month block of Twitter in China, and the timing is no accident as Google has stopped censoring Chinese search results and redirects users from mainland China to Google.com.hk.

It means that tweets can now appear in Google search results for terms which are popular on Twitter. The LA Times reports that on Thursday morning, it included ‘how to circumvent China’s Internet firewall, why Google decided to exit China and a vaccine scandal unfolding in central China’

Although Twitter results are now part of Google search in the rest of the world, the introduction at this time seems to be a further attempt to strengthen Google’s case against the Chinese government. But given that China has the most effective attempt at a repressive, censored internet, it will be interesting to see whether any technology is introduced to strip the content back out before users can see it – it’s already managing to block uncensored searches for terms such as ‘Amnesty’ or ‘Dalai’ in just a day after the redirect to google.com.hk took place.

Google has claimed that the Twitter results had already been available for a week as part of a global rollout, and the release is unrelated to other events.

Despite the original cyber attacks on Google and fallout which has followed, the search company has said it will continue research and development work and its advertising sales team in China.

This use of Twitter feels like a small move in a game of chess between the search giant and an ideology which isn’t going to back down easily.

Filed Under: twitter Tagged With: , , , , ,

Twitter turns 4 years old today!

March 21, 2010 By 2 Comments

At 8.50pm on March 21st, 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent his first Tweet to start the microblogging service which currently defines all others.

Twitter started by first tweet by Jack Dorsey

The first Twitter message by Jack Dorsey

Along with Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and tens of million people worldwide, Twitter has grown into one the most notable social networks on the planet. Recent stats have pegged online visits at 75 million, content at 1.2 billion tweets per month, and mobile usage up 347% since 2009 with 4.7 million mobile users in January 2010.

We’ve seen Tweets from space and from the American President. Brands have used it to communicate in different ways, and to make money. And as a news and information source, first-hand accounts  have included plane crashes, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and natural disasters including Haiti and numerous earthquakes around the world.

American forst fires gave rise to the use of hashtags, whilst users also began the now widespread practice of @ messages. Customs have become established such as #followfriday, a huge ecosystem of third-party clients and developers have grown, and third party advertising systems have been allowing users to monetise their content.

Individual users now have millions of followers and have posted tens of thousands of messages.

For a more indepth look at the start of Twitter, check out this post from co-creator Dom Sagolla – How Twitter Was Born. Or check out this post from Jack Dorsey on Flickr.

Got any plans to celebrate #twitterday ?

Filed Under: twitter Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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