The relationship between users and advertisers on social media can sometimes seem a little confusing, especially when the social media companies have all manner of information about potential customers to translate into targeted demographics. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by one particular watchdog, who wants the Federal Trade Commission to …
Beyoncé’s Pregnancy Is the Biggest News on Twitter–Ever
Nope, forget about Will and Kate. Their wedding didn’t even come close. Japan, the Super Bowl, the death of Bin Laden – these stories didn’t quite cut it either. Beyoncé’s baby bump has set a new Twitter record, with 8,868 tweets per second being logged.
While I’m not exactly sure why Beyoncé has surged past the previous …
Fake Photos of Hurricane Irene Were Plentiful on Twitter
Was that a photo of Irene approaching North Carolina? New York? No, that was actually from a storm from somewhere in Pensacola, Fla. from a couple of weeks ago.
But that didn’t stop it from being viewed some 270,000 odd times. Then there was another supposed image of the East River flooding. Pundits suspect it may have actually been …
How Many People Actually Use Twitter? Good Question
Here’s a shocker for you: Newt Gingrich probably didn’t pad his Twitter follower list with fictitious accounts. And, to make matters weirder, the reason that people thought that he had is the same reason why even Twitter isn’t sure how many users it actually has: inactive users.
U.K. Government Won’t Ban Social Media in Emergencies
Following the riots that engulfed England earlier this month, social media such as Twitter, Facebook and even BlackBerry messaging found itself being blamed for helping the unrest. Even U.K. Prime Minister, David Cameron, asked “whether it would be right” to ban criminals from having access.
Thankfully, cooler heads seem to have …
Twitter Predicts, Laughs At East Coast Earthquake
For those on the East Coast, yesterday’s earthquake might not have come as a complete surprise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, news of the quake reached Twitter before the quake itself hit certain areas, with the microblogging site seeing messages like “Haha! I was able to read about the earthquake on Twitter right before I felt …
Facebook and Twitter Will Say No to Social Media Blocking in Wake of Riots
Good news for rioters and social networking ne’er-do-wells (and, those groups notwithstanding, anti-censorship folk in general): Facebook and Twitter won’t knuckle under to calls they be shut down when citizens get unruly—as England’s citizenry did just a few weeks ago in London and several other British cities.
Yes, we’re talking …
Meet ‘Lift’, the New Social Network from Twitter’s Founders
Don’t look now, there’s another social network lurking, and with Twitter’s best and brightest pulling the strings, it already has all the proper buzz-wordy tags. “Interesting,” check. “Unlocking human potential,” check. “Positive reinforcement,” check and—wait a second, positive reinforcement? What are we, a Pavlovian …
Man Uses Twitter to Get Free Morton’s Steak Dinner Delivered to Airport
If you’ve ever suspected that maybe, just perhaps, you’re not really doing social media right, here’s something that might reinforce that feeling for you: A man got a free steak dinner delivered to him as he disembarked a plane following a long flight, and all because of one cheeky tweet.
Social media consultant Peter Shankman—who …
Twitter Turns Out to Be the Best Financial Advisor Around
Maybe it’s because the financial markets are currently having mild schizophrenic episodes, but the hedge fund that uses Twitter as a guide as to where to invest finished its first month of trading at the end of July, and it not only returned 1.85% in that time, but it also beat the S&P 500 during the same period. In other words: Social …
Rapper ‘The Game’ Scores Legal Trouble with Twitter Prank
Things You Probably Shouldn’t Do on Twitter #23: Tell your followers that if they want to be your intern, they should call a phone number that belongs to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Sounds obvious, right?
And yet, it’s something that rapper “The Game” didn’t seem to think about when he sent that very tweet out to his 580,000 …
U.K. Police Crowdsource Rioter Identification via Flickr, Twitter
Social media may be being blamed for the role it played in the U.K. riots, but the authorities are finding that it has its uses during the aftermath, as well.
The Greater Manchester Police have been using Twitter and Flickr to identify people who took part in the riots, as well as announcing names and locations of those arrested, …