News
Twitter plays key role in White House communication
Robert Gibbs, the White House’s press secretary and his deputy, Bill Burton, have both signed up for separate Twitter accounts and together they aim to use the world’s first micro-blogging site as a way to give President Barack Obama’s policies and message a more informal feel, as well as offer a glimpse into life inside the Oval Office. But Gibbs admitted that the learning curve has been steep, since writing 140 character tweets in a compelling manner can be a challenge for someone schooled in the art of formal press releases and lengthy journalistic analysis. Gibbs admitted that at first the “whole language of numbers and symbols” evaded him, and he added that he might be well advised to turn to his son, in order to get a better grasp of this increasingly powerful form of communication.
Facebook games appeal to unlikely audience
When Facebook first launched its various game applications—such as the popular FarmVille—the assumption was that it would appeal mainly to men. The image of men enthusiastically playing video games in their home’s basement is one that is deeply ingrained in society. But somewhat unexpectedly, Facebook’s games appeal just as much to an unlikely crowd, namely [...]
Twitter passes milestone with 10 billion tweets
The number of tweets posted on Twitter hit the 10 billion mark this week, highlighting the very rapid growth of the micro-blogging service which was launched less than four years ago. The only disappointment perhaps for Twitter enthusiasts is that the San Francisco-based company was not able to reveal precisely which of its users sent the 10 billionth tweet, due to privacy regulations and the fact that the tweet was posted on a so-called “protected” profile. This simply means that the individual user’s tweets were only visible to a small handful of followers, rather than the broader public. The number of tweets generated is likely to increase even further with Gigatweet—a website dedicated to tracking Twitter-related statistics—estimating that the micro-blogging service may pass the 20 billion mark as early as July.
Top secret Israeli information added to Facebook
A soldier caused havoc within the Israeli military earlier this week, when he decided to post classified army information to his Facebook profile on planned operations in a Palestinian settlement. Apparently not realizing the consequences of his actions, the solider in question posted a status update in which he mentioned that on Wednesday his unit would “clean up” the town of Qatanah, before returning home on Thursday. The soldier’s Facebook friends quickly realized that this seemingly innocuous status update constituted a breach of confidentiality. Rather than adding a comment to his profile, or sending him a Facebook message, they reported him directly to the military.
New York bloggers to be treated like journalists
Major changes are coming to the way New York City officials treat traditional journalists and bloggers, and this move is certain to lend more credibility than ever before to the Blogosphere. Until now, only journalists working for accredited news organizations enjoyed most media privileges in New York, such as the right to cross police barriers when reporting on stories and being issued press passes. But starting later this year, New York officials will begin offering press passes to any journalist based exclusively on his/her personal achievements, rather than affiliations with major print, television or online news organizations. What this means in practice, is that bloggers will be eligible for press passes and will be permitted to cross police barriers after they have reported on at least six events sponsored by New York City and published these online or in print.
Facebook and Twitter make people turn to internet for news content
As a sign of the dramatically changing times, more people are now turning directly to the internet for news, rather than to printed newspapers or magazines, and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are playing a major role in driving traffic to websites with news content. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project survey, fully 61 percent of Americans indicated that they get some of their news online. The majority of Americans who do turn to the internet for news now also use social networking sites to help sift through the wealth of content available online. The survey found that 75 percent of Americans access news content through Facebook posts, Twitter links, or by e-mail. Additionally, more than a third of all internet users (37 percent) share newsworthy content using these same social networking sites, or by e-mailing links.
Soldiers to tweet from the front
American soldiers are now able to literally tweet messages to loved ones and supporters from the battlefields, thanks to new rules introduced by the Pentagon. US officials have lifted a longstanding ban, which prohibited active soldiers from sending messages home about their life on the frontlines and opened the door for Web 2.0 technology to make its way into the world’s most dangerous war zones. The Pentagon had been very concerned up until now that allowing soldiers to use Twitter, Facebook or Youtube and to permit them to blog about their experiences in battle would result in dangerous leaks and may expose military secrets. There were also worries that thousands of soldiers using Web 2.0 technology on the military’s overseas computers would eat away at the army’s bandwidth. But after a seven-month long review of the Pentagon’s policy, soldiers will be able to share more personal information on their experiences in war zones than ever before, adding thousands of new voices to the world’s most popular social networking sites.
Facebook status updates to appear in Google search results
Major changes are coming to the way Facebook users find information about their favourite organizations, companies and celebrities on the world’s most popular social networking site. Google has decided to add status updates posted by millions of celebrities and organizations active on Facebook to its main search engine. While the updates posted by individual Facebook users will continue to remain private, Google has indicated that its crawlers would make all other material on the social networking site fully searchable. This means that companies that have developed Facebook profile pages will be even easier to locate and will gain much greater visibility, as any links, blogs, status updates or other information posted on these pages will appear in Google’s new real-time search feature.
Twitter use soars in US Congress
The proportion of congressional politicians who have signed up for Twitter accounts and keep in touch with their supporters through tweets now stands at one third of all representatives in Congress. Some of the most enthusiastic micro-bloggers are also the most unlikely candidates to take such an interest in a Web 2.0 tool often associated with the most technology-savvy young generation. Former Republican presidential candidate and Arizona’s senior senator, John McCain turns 74 years old this year, but he has more followers than any other congressional politician on Twitter. This is an especially odd turn of events, considering the fact that McCain rather proudly indicated during the 2008 presidential campaign that he never used computers before. Either the prominent Republican senator has had a dramatic change of heart, or he has some very resourceful social networking assistance, considering that he has managed to amass 1.7 million followers.
Chinese communist leader turns to blogging
China’s technocratic and colourless communist president Hu Jintao has apparently taken a page from western politicians and celebrities by entering the world of micro-blogging. While Twitter is still banned in China, the country’s main communist newspaper, The People’s Daily, runs a social networking service that many have dubbed the “Chinese Twitter,” since it is based on the same premise of tweets, followers and the ability to comment on posts. Hu Jintao has registered his very own account and more than 600 people decided to sign up to his thread each hour since he opened his profile yesterday. While Hu is clearly popular among China’s micro-bloggers—or at the very least has sparked their curiosity—the only problem is that the Chinese president has yet to utter a single tweet since joining more than 24 hours ago.
