There has been an ongoing issue which has affected a large proportion of twitter users. Twitter users have been victimised by phishing scams through links in direct messages. In order to protect its users and to combat the issue Twitter has announced the launch of its very own URL shortener.

“Today, we’re launching a new service to protect users that strikes a major blow against phishing and other deceitful attacks. By routing all links submitted to Twitter through this new service, we can detect, intercept, and prevent the spread of bad links across all of Twitter. Even if a bad link is already sent out in an email notification and somebody clicks on it, we’ll be able to keep that user safe.” Twitter said.

Twitter will be initially focusing on Direct messages and notifications but its believed the new service will be rolled out to all areas of Twitter.

Author: Creative SEO

Technorati Tags: shortener, Twitter, url

Twitter is preparing to launch commercial accounts designed specifically for business users, could this be the long awaited introduction of Twitters new Revenue generation model and what services will be available on premium business accounts?

Twitter, the Micro-Blogging phenomenon, has grown to massive proportions over the last 12 months. Real Time search has become a key new player in online marketing and Twitter continues to pioneer the technology. It seems that Twitter was looking to establish the micro-blogging service with high user levels and popularity before considering the introduction of an advertising model to start generating revenue. The introduction of Business Tools and Premium accounts is the first sign of Commercial Monetization of the business.

During an interview with VentureBeat, Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone is reported to have discussed the first phase of rolling out commercial accounts and the introduction of business-orientated applications, API’s, which would add a “commercial layer” to the social network. Biz Stone said:

“Twitter will still be free for everybody and we’ll still tell them to go crazy with it.”
“But we’ve identified a selection of things that businesses say are helping to make them more profit.”

Last month some important Twitter documents were leaked to the public, they included detailed information and concepts about the monetization of Twitter which included; search ads, integrated Adsense, sponsored tweets and an analytics suite of tools. Twitter also announced the launch last week of a new Twitter Geo-tagging feature which will allow users to configure their Twitter account to display their exact Tweeting location. It’s evident that the new Twitter premium accounts will be extremely feature rich, it’s still unclear when the new service will be launched as no formal launch date has been released.

Article by Creative SEO

Technorati Tags: biz stone, internet, news, seo, tech, technology, Twitter, twitter accounts, twitter business, twitter paid, twitter premium

Quentin Tarantino’s new war epic took over $64.1 million in the opening weekend making it Tarantino’s most successful movie to date. Hollywood industry experts have concluded that Twitter massively contributed to the success of the film in its opening weekend.
The first people to see the film we quick to Tweet feedback about the movie which created a Twitter buzz about the film. Positive feedback flooded Twitter as the weekend progressed. Feedback about the Second World War epic quickly grew in momentum which maintained a massive level of interest and excitement about the film.

“the movie actually held its ground and even picked up steam as the weekend went on, as even Saturday twitterers enthusiastically tweeted and re-tweeted their approval… Finally, a Twitter effect that benefits a movie instead of hurts it.” Taken from the Hollywood Reporter.

This is another example of the power of real time search and social networking, it’s clear that based on the success of this film more emphasis will be placed, by movie promoters, on marketing Twitter audiences in the future.

Article by Creative SEO

Technorati Tags: celebrity, entertainment, films, inglorious basterds, movies, tarantino, Twitter

Twitter is the king of social media, a micro-blogging wonder that has swept the world leaving even the most ardent sceptic interested in how such a simple concept has become so addictive to such a large number of online users. Twitter has now acknowledged the launch of a new Geo-Tagging feature that will allow accounts to be filtered by location. Is this the beginning of a more community based Twitter experience? Could Twitter communities be based around local areas?

Twitter is adding an easy to use Geo-Tagging option to all Twitter accounts. Users will be able to update their location via an API. Developers will be able to tag latitude and longitude coordinates to all posts allowing real time, location based blogging.
“We’re gearing up to launch a new feature which makes Twitter truly location-aware. A new API will allow developers to add latitude and longitude to any tweet. Folks will need to activate this new feature by choice because it will be off by default and the exact location data won’t be stored for an extended period of time. However, if people do opt-in to sharing location on a tweet-by-tweet basis, compelling context will be added to each burst of information. “ Wrote Biz Stone on the Twitter Blog.

I think what is particularly exciting is the possibility of generating real time opinion based content, which is not only current and user generated but also is based on a location. Imagine the possibilities, trending public opinion based on location, country and subject, simply amazing. The main issue is Privacy. Twitter have addressed this with the option to enable the service from within the user settings and all accounts will have the service turned off by default.

Potentially Twitter could bring back the voice of local communities, a modern day equivalent of a town meeting place. We have lost a key element of social living which made the UK great, maybe social networking could potentially reintroduce the concept of localised communities?

We will have to wait and see what amazing mobile applications are launched on the back of this new service. You have to wonder, will Google Latitude come into the equation and is this the first sign of a Twitter Google collaboration? We will have to see, but the prospects are very exciting.

Article by Creative SEO

Technorati Tags: geo tagging, Google, internet, news, seo, social networking, tech, technology, Twitter, twitter geo tagging

A Facebook executive has confirmed that the recent downtime issues and Denial of Service Attacks on Facebook, LiveJournal, YouTube, Google and Blogger were all part of the Russia-Georgia crisis and were targeted at silencing one man from reporting.
A blogger, based in the Republic of Georgia, with username Cyxymu, was the victim of a simultaneous attack on the bloggers personal Social Networking accounts, according to Facebook’s chief security officer Max Kelly. The claim reinforces reports that social networking sites are being dragged into the Georgia-Russia crisis for allowing users to report on the issues.

Max Kelly told CNet. “It was a simultaneous attack across a number of properties targeting him to keep his voice from being heard. We’re actively investigating the source of the attacks and we hope to be able to find out the individuals involved in the back end and to take action against them if we can.”

Google, whose infrastructure protect its sites from being taken down by the recent activity are quoted as saying:
“We are aware that a handful of non-Google sites were impacted by a DOS attack this morning, and are in contact with some affected companies to help investigate this attack. Google systems prevented substantive impact to our services.”

The internet is a portal for free speech and allows bloggers to share their opinions without restriction of content. Political propaganda and crisis information is freely available to view and publish on the internet without political censorship, but this obviously poses a threat to political activists. Are we seeing the start of a new wave of Cyber Warfare and will social networking sites need to offer more hardened security to protect against such attacks?

Article by Creative SEO – Search engine consultant

Technorati Tags: blog, blogger, crisis, denial of service attack, dos, facebook, Georgia, Google, livejournal, news, Russia, tech, technology, Twitter, YouTube