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Tag: tweets

  • Obama Somehow Finds Some Mean Tweets to Read

    When we heard that President Obama was stopping by Jimmy Kimmel Live, we wondered if Kimmel would have him participate in his best segment – celebrities reading mean tweets.

    But then we thought – hey, where will they find any mean tweets about Obama for him to read? Is there anyone saying anything mean about our Commander-in-Chief on the internet? Will they have to make stuff up?

    Not to fear, guys, they found some. And boy, no punches were pulled.

    That gray hair joke. Brutal. Drop him on a golf course? LOL. People are so cruel these days.

    Image via Jimmy Kimmel Live, YouTube

  • Taco Bell Tweets New Delicious-Looking Abomination, A Cap’n Crunch Berries Donut Hole Filled with Icing

    When Taco Bell first announced plans to create a taco with a Doritos shell, everyone was like yeah that’s gonna kick ass. And when Taco Bell announced plans to do breakfast and make a waffle taco, everyone was like yeah that’s kind of weird but I’ll eat it.

    Now, Taco Bell is tweeting out a teaser of its newest test product. The company is calling it “Cap’n Crunch Delights” and I can’t tell whether it looks absolutely disgusting or absolutely delicious. It can’t be both. It’s absolutely one way or the other.

    Honestly, help me figure out if I want this:

    Foodbeast says that the new “delights” are made with Cap’m Crunch Berries cereal, and the gooey white stuff in the middle is a “milk icing”.

    More Crunch Berries are ground up and sprinkled on top, of course.

    Taco Bell is just testing this for now – in Bakersfield, California. They’ll cost $4.49 a dozen, or you can buy two for a buck.

    God help us, everyone.

    Image via Taco Bell, Twitter

  • Leonard Nimoy’s Last Tweet Is Beautiful

    Leonard Nimoy’s Last Tweet Is Beautiful

    You’ve probably already heard the sad news coming out of Los Angeles today, that Star Trek‘s Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy, has died.

    Nimoy, logical on screen and off, died at his home on Friday at the age of 83.

    Nimoy’s wife Susan confirmed that the actor died of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an illness Nimoy had been battling for years.

    Even through illness, Nimoy was a prolific tweeter. And his very last tweet is painfully beautiful.

    “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP.”

    “Hi all, as you all know, my Grandpa passed away this morning at 8:40 from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was an extraordinary man, husband, grandfather, brother, actor, author-the list goes on- and friend. Thank you for the warm condolences. May you all LLAP,” said Nimoy’s grandchild in a tweet.

    This famous scene, both touching and saddening, is being passed around the internet today:

    His Star Trek co-star, William Shatner, has issued a statement saying “I loved him like a brother. We will all miss his humor, his talent, and his capacity to love.”

    RIP, Leonard Nimoy. You lived long and prospered.

    Image via Leonard Nimoy, Twitter

  • Twitter’s New ‘While You Were Away’ Feature Is a Smart Move to Keep People Interested

    It’s easy to get lost in the Twitterverse.

    I’m not just talking about the the nearly 300 million-member community as a whole, but also your own Twitterverse – comprised of the people you follow. It could be 100 people, it could be 1,000. Unlike Facebook, which doesn’t show you all the posts coming in from all of your contacts, Twitter has always been a unmitigated content delivery system. For better or for worse, your Twitter stream contains it all – every post from everyone you follow.

    And unless you’re checking Twitter constantly, it’s very easy to miss something important.

    That’s what makes Twitter’s newest timeline tweak smart. The social network has begun to roll out a new ‘While You Were Away’ feature that automatically surfaces tweets that you might have missed to the top of your timeline.

    Here’s how it works, from Twitter:

    “A lot can happen while you’re on the go. To fill in some of those gaps, we will surface a few of the best Tweets you probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise, determined by engagement and other factors. If you check in on Twitter now and then for a quick snapshot of what’s happening, you’ll see this recap more often; if you spend a lot of time on Twitter already, you’ll see it less.”

    The ‘While You Were Away’ feature is now live on iOS, and is coming soon to Android and desktop.

    Is this the Facebook-ization of Twitter? Not really. Yes, it’s an algorithmic tweak (and Twitter’s not too forthcoming on how it’s going to work – other factors?), but Twitter’s not deciding what content you see or more importantly – what content you don’t see.. It’s all still there in your timeline if you want to scroll through it. Twitter’s just surfacing tweets that it thinks you’d be sad to have missed. How sweet of you, Twitter.

    Of course, this could all change when Twitter is 100 percent sure than while I was away, I wanted to see an ad for Chobani yogurt.

    Twitter’s been making small changes to the timeline for months now, and we knew this one was coming. This is not a big algorithmic shift to Twitter that has been discussed and is mostly feared. What it is is a pretty smart way to keep people who aren’t constantly checking Twitter engaged.

    Image via Twitter

  • Celebrities Reading Mean Tweets Is Back and Better Than Ever

    About two and a half years ago, Jimmy Kimmel premiered the first ever “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment. We’re now up to #8 in the series, and this one might be the most brutal yet.

    Most of the time, the tweets that Kimmel and crew have the celebs read are pretty mean. They don’t really take it easy on anyone – A list, B list or beyond. But with the latest episode, things have gotten downright nasty.

    I mean …

    Yo.

    Jesus.

    Well then.

    Check out the whole thing below.

  • You Can Now Share Tweets via Direct Message

    As we told you it would last week, Twitter has now rolled out a feature that lets you share tweets via direct message.

    “Twitter is already a great place for public conversation; now it’s also easier to privately discuss things you care about,” says Twitter’s Sachin Agarwal.

    Why would you want to share a specific tweet in a direct message? Well, instead of having to explain something to whomever you’re talking to, you can just send them the referenced tweet along with your commentary. I mean, dude, did you see what she tweeted about you? Just brutal.

    All you have to do to share a tweet in a DM is tap and hold the tweet you want to share, and you’ll see an option to “share via Direct Message”.

    This feature is going live today on iOS, Android, and the web.

    Image via Twitter

  • Twitter Launches 2014 Elections Hub with Curated Tweets and Data

    As Twitter has done in the past with big events (both national and global), it has just launched a new activity hub for the 2014 elections.

    And while some of its past attempts to organize conversation around certain events (for instance the World Cup) merely provided a place to browse relevant tweets and accounts, the new #Election2014 site is more like a dashboard that lets users explore not only relevant tweets – but insights as well.

    Over at election.twitter.com you’ll find data “pulled from a curated list of relevant hashtags, @usernames and other related keywords.” You can look at the gender and age breakdown of politically-themed tweets, a list of the top issues, the latest news from Twitter and a handful of news partners (like USA Today, MSNBC, and Bloomberg), and a constantly-updating stream of relevant tweets.

    But the most useful aspect of Twitter’s new elections hub is the ability to break everything down by state and look at the specific gubernatorial and senatorial races happening in specific localities.

    All of the data insights update every 24 hours.

    “We’ve already observed several themes by exploring this data: the conversation about the Ebola virus ebbs and flows from state to state as local angles emerge; the topic of law enforcement over-indexes in Missouri related to #Ferguson; and President Obama is the principal driver around election talk, even without appearing on any ballots,” says Twitter’s Head of News, Government, and Elections Adam Sharp.

    The time is approaching. The 2014 elections are next Tuesday, November 4th.

  • Your Twitter Timeline Clutter Isn’t Going Away

    Your Twitter timeline has evolved, and those tweets from random users (that you don’t follow) are probably there to stay.

    In a post titled “The spirit of experimentation and the evolution of your home timeline”, Twitter’s Trevor O’Brien says that most users enjoyed seeing tweets from accounts they didn’t follow, and that it’s one of those experiments that’s going to be sticking around as a permanent feature.

    “We constantly try new experiments around here, which serve to inform the evolution of the product…” says O’Brien. “For example, we recently ran experiments that showed different types of content in your timeline: recommended Tweets, accounts and topics. Testing indicated that most people enjoy seeing Tweets from accounts they may not follow, based on signals such as activity from accounts you do follow, the popularity of the Tweets, and how people in your network interact with them. These experiments now inform the timeline you see today.”

    For a long time, Twitter has displayed tweets from people you don’t follow in your timeline – in the form of retweets and promoted tweets (ads). More recently, the company began showing curated content in users’ timelines – basically popular stuff that Twitter thinks you’d like from users you don’t follow.

    Here’s how Twitter describes its process:

    When we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that’s popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline. This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don’t follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.

    When it comes to what you want to see when you open your Twitter app, Twitter clearly believes it knows what’s best.

    Another one of these experiments that ruffled some feathers recently was the showing of favorited tweets in timelines – as in showing people who follow you the tweets you’ve favorited in their timelines, basically like retweets.

    Twitter CEO Dick Costolo clarified things a bit when he suggested that Twitter would only show stuff like that when it doesn’t have anything better to show – meaning you’ve already consumed all the content available to you and there’s nothing left in your stream.

    But for now, you’re going to keep seeing tweets in your timeline that you didn’t ask for. It’s like ads, but Twitter’s not trying to sell you any product except Twitter itself. Things may get a little cluttered, but it probably won’t be as bad as you think it’ll be.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Chris Brown: Is He an Ebola Truther?

    Anytime there is some deadly event, disease, or other catastrophe run amok in the world, there will be some fool out there telling anyone who is stuck in line near him that there is a cover-up going on about the thing.

    Whether it is 9/11 (“Bush blew up the towers!”), poisons in airplane condensation trails (“chemtrails”), water fluoridation, or giant weather-control machines (HAARP), these folks know more than you and are eager to tell you about it.

    So it just figures that, with nearly 4500 people dead from Ebola, mostly in West Africa, someone would start pushing an “explanation” that suits their particular paranoias.

    Enter Chris Brown. Yes, this is the same Chris Brown who beat the snot out of Rihanna. Chris Brown took to his Twitter account a few days back and posted this bit of intelligentsia-baiting brilliance:

    “I don’t know … But I think this Ebola epidemic is a form of population control. Shit is getting crazy bruh.”

    As of this writing, over 40,000 people have retweeted this. Some might think that this indicates widespread agreement with Brown’s belief. And there is certainly some of that.

    But the blowback from his tweet was swift.

    But Brown was undeterred.

    Chris Brown has 13.7 million followers. What he tweeted out to all those people is something that is coming to be known as “Ebola truther” material. There is no standardized formula or belief, because these people have no standard or unit structure. It’s a hodge-podge of ideas, some that mention the “Illuminati” or some other shadowy group that wants to control and own the world and would prefer that poor, black, and other such undesirable folk not be around to breathe their air.

    Here is one of Brown’s more recent tweets.

    Yep. Some of ‘em sure can take a punch.

  • Twitter Shows Favorites, Like Retweets, in Timeline

    Here’s the thing about favoriting tweets – it’s kind of a personal thing.

    I know ‘personal’ and ‘Twitter’ don’t really meld, but bear with me. There are many reasons why someone would favorite a tweet. Maybe they like it, maybe it made them laugh. Maybe they want to remember the tweet. Maybe they want to revisit the link mentioned in the tweet – to read a news story or find a recipe. In that latter example, we see favoriting as bookmarking. I’d say this is a very common use of the fav.

    But there are exactly zero reasons why I’d want to see tweets that people I follow are favoriting in my main timeline.

    That’s exactly what’s happening for some users, however, as Twitter appears to be running a test.

    Twitter is also showing tweets from people that people you follow follow – but that’s been going on for a while with a small subset of users. These new tweaks to the Twitter timeline are now being pushed to a larger swath.

    It’s hard to make generalizations, and they are usually incorrect or at least unresearched. But I feel pretty confident in stating the following: nobody wants this.

    Twitter already has an activity feed, which unearths news of tweets people favorite and new users people follow, and most people’s main timelines are already crowded enough – with tweets from hundreds and even thousands of people plus the retweets they make.

    Also, I don’t want my followers inundated with my favorites in their main timelines. In a world where people still don’t understand that retweets do not equal endorsements, this favoriting thing is going to lead to a lot of confusion. That’s a certainty.

    Twitter wants more engagement from the flock. These are clearly methods to show users all the cool content they’re missing and to get them to follow and interact with more users. But this is something that nobody asked for and nobody wants. Leave this one in the garage, please.

    Image via Thinkstock

  • Brazil/Germany Was the Biggest Game in Twitter History

    Brazil/Germany Was the Biggest Game in Twitter History

    Normally, it’s hard to watch a massacre. But for World Cup soccer fans, watching Germany beat the dead horse that was the Brazilian national team on Tuesday afternoon was an exercise in morbid curiosity. They can’t score again, right? There’s no way…oh, the humanity! Stop, stop, it’s already dead!

    It’s fitting that one of the the most shocking soccer matches in recent history now has another distinction – the most talked-about match in the history of Twitter.

    Yeah, you’re reading that correctly. Germany’s abuse of Brazil isn’t just the most-discussed soccer match of all time, but it’s the most-discussed single sports game in history.

    There’s also a new tweets-per-minute record thanks to Brazil’s depressingly poor play:

    If you happened to miss the game, don’t fret. I hear you can catch a replay over on Pornhub…

    Image via YouTube screenshot

  • Twitter Lets You Embed Tweets in Your Own Tweets

    Currently, if you want to rebroadcast a tweet and provide your own commentary, there are two ways to do it.

    First, you can copy the tweet, add ‘RT’ in front of it, and provide your commentary either before or after the tweet. Or, you can tweet out a link to said tweet, which forces users to jump around between your tweet and the context tweet.

    Both of these are inherently clunky, so a new test that allows users to embed tweets in their own tweets is more than welcome.

    Apparently being tested in Twitter’s iOS and Android apps, the new feature transforms any tweet URL into a clean, concise embed inside the tweet. Here’s what it looks like:

    Neat, huh?

    Twitter tests new features all the time, and there’s always a chance that this could be abandoned – but not likely. This is a very nice solution to a long-running problem on Twitter.

    Do you have the ability to embed tweets in your own tweets?

  • NBA Stars Read More Mean Tweets About Themselves

    For the second time, Jimmy Kimmel has given us a special NBA-themed version of one of the best bits in his repertoire – celebrities reading mean tweets about themselves.

    This time, you’ll find NBA stars like Amar’e Stoudemire, Paul George, Dwight Howard, and many more reading pointed, hurtful tweets about themselves. There just something about watching a celebrity face the venomous barbs of the couch-surfing internet user that makes me smile.

    You may not think Dwight Howard would ever actually see that hateful tweet you sent about panties and leg warmers – oh but he will.

    In other NBA and hateful things news, the San Antonio Spurs completed an absolutely vile takedown of the Miami Heat last night to take the NBA titles four games to one.

    Image via YouTube

  • Twitter Wants You to Casually Share Promoted Videos in Your Tweets

    Twitter has always wanted tweets to include more media–whether that be photos, videos, or links to articles through Twitter Cards. Not only does it make for a more robust Twitter experience, but it paves the way for sponsored content. You know, ads.

    Twitter’s been feeling the post-IPO pressure lately, as some remain skeptical of the company’s ability to grow its user base, despite success in the paid content realm. It now appears that Twitter is testing a new way to not only promote engagement, but build a framework where the users themselves are placing advertisements within their own tweets.

    As first reported by Recode, Twitter is experimenting with a new video-sharing feature.

    The first instance of said feature seems to be tied to the upcoming Seth MacFarlane film, A Million Ways To Die In The West. Here’s what happens when you start entering a hashtag like #AMillionWays… into Twitter for iOS:

    When you select a video (‘provided’ by, not ‘promoted’ by…yet) Twitter will autocomplete the hashtag and queue up a video. You’ll have the chance to preview the video before clicking “attach”.

    “A short advertisement might play before this video,” reads a message that scrolls across the video when you preview it.

    Effort to replicate the feature test were unsuccessful on the Android app. Twitter kept mum in a statement about the feature.

    It’s pretty obvious what Twitter has in the works here. Right?

  • Celebrities Reading Mean Tweets Continues to Amuse

    Jimmy Kimmel’s Celebrities Read Mean Tweets is one of the best bits on late night–hands down.

    We’re all the way up to part seven, which features Julia Roberts, Don Cheadle, Ashton Kutcher, Courteney Cox, Andy Garcia, Mindy Kaling, David Blaine, Don Rickles, Ethan Hawke, Matthew McConaughey, June Squibb, Jeremy Piven, Kit Harrington, Emma Stone, Gary Oldman and Sofia Vergara–all reading horrible verbal diarrhea from the Twitter masses.

    Why in the world would you talk shit about a celebrity on Twitter? Don’t you know they have feelings too? Everybody hurts, sometimes.

    Ok, @youdonknowme is pretty spot on with that David Blaine tweet. Three internet points to you, ma’am or sir.

    Image via Jimmy Kimmel Live, YouTube

  • Samsung’s Obama/Ortiz Selfie Ad Miffs White House

    Samsung’s Obama/Ortiz Selfie Ad Miffs White House

    Earlier this week, President Obama welcomed the Boston Red Sox to the White House to honor their 2013 World Series run. It wasn’t huge news, as the President of the United States has been welcoming championship sports teams to the White House for decades.

    There was an interesting moment, however, when Red Sox slugger David Ortiz snapped a selfie with the President. The selfie soon went viral, and at this point has garnered over 41,000 retweets. Check it out:

    Soon after, the innocent selfie came under fire as it was revealed that it was all probably just a marketing ploy to promote Samsung devices (what Ortiz used to take the selfie). Here is Samsung retweeting the selfie from its Mobile US corporate account:

    Sports Business Journal reported that the selfie came on the heels of a recent endorsement deal between Ortiz and Samsung.

    Couple that with the fact that Samsung had just done the exact same thing at the Oscars with Ellen Degeneres’ (much more popular) tweet, and you have a pretty open and shut case of corporate interference. Oh, and there was also the fact that Samsung released a statement on the selfie calling it an “historic moment” and basically admitted to teaching Ortiz how to best “share images with fans.”

    Ok, Samsung, you win again. End of story, right?

    Well, no. Now the White House is pissed.

    The Wall Street Journal quotes White House press secretary Jay Carney as saying:

    “As a rule the White House objects to attempts to use the president’s likeness for commercial purposes. And we certainly object in this case.”

    Carney said that the President’s legal team objects to this stunt, but wouldn’t comment on whether or not lawyers will be involved in the future. President Obama himself hasn’t made a statement on the issue.

    The White House did retweet Ortiz’s selfie at the time, and it still remains in their Twitter feed:

    And the White House blog talks about the selfie in their post about the day, saying Big Papi “made the most of the moment” with his selfie.

    So it looks like the White House press was unaware of Samsung’s influence on the now-infamous selfie until recently.

    Image via White House blog

  • ‘Cancel Colbert’ Is Your Daily Dose of Dumb Twitter Outrage

    In people clearly not understanding the basic idea of satire nor differentiating between network and personal Twitter accounts news, Twitter’s all fired up over a joke made by Comedy Central’s Colbert Report Twitter account.

    And by “joke,” we mean a reference to a previously aired bit.

    The tweet has since been deleted, but here’s a screenshot (with some added commentary):

    “I am willing to show #Asian community I care by introducing the Ching-Chong Ding-Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever,” read the tweet.

    The hashtag #CancelColbert has been trending all day, with some tweets expressing anger over the “offensive” joke tweet, and others expressing the sheer lunacy of the former.

    The outrage seems to have stemmed from (or at least has been centered on) Twitter user Suey Park. Taking a trip through her recent Twitter activity not only shows her disdain for the Colbert tweet, but also highlights the incredibly rude and racist vitriol being spit in her direction.

    Before we get into any discussion on the merits or lack thereof over outrage at the tweet, it’s important to distinguish between the Colbert Report Twitter account and Stephen Colbert’s personal Twitter account. The former made the tweet, not the latter–a point which both Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report accounts were quick to point out:

    Also, the tweet in question is actually just a rehash of a bit Colbert did earlier in the week. Check out the full segment below:

    Ok guys, the point here really isn’t whether or not you thought to “joke” was funny, offensive, or whatever. The point is not even that it wasn’t Colbert making the tweet. The point is that this sort of comedy–ratcheting up ridiculous discourse to the nth degree, thus rendering it completely innocuous–is what Stephen Colbert has been doing for years. Though some might argue that it’s not innocuous, you have to remember than Colbert plays a character on his show–a xenophobic, pompous caricature of the ugly American.

    Nobody watching the clip from where the tweet comes could honestly say that they feel Stephen Colbert (the actual person) or Comedy Central actually supports this. The tweet was taken out of context, and if anything was just a dumb move that Comedy Central should have seen coming.

    Oh, there’s also the fact that it’s comedy. As Louis C.K. said when defending Tracy Morgan against backlash for a so-called offensive joke, “He was on a comedy stage, not at a pulpit.”

    If this tweet and The Colbert Report segment from which it’s derived is terribly offensive to you, I really hope you don’t go back and watch old episodes of The Colbert Report. You’re not going to like what you find.

    And on a final note, people need to stop spewing bullshit at people on Twitter for expressing their views. This is why we can’t have nice things, people.

    You’re not a comedian, and that’s not satire. You’re just an asshole.

    Image via The Colbert Report, Video Screenshot

  • Steve Elkington Tweets Another Faux Pas

    Steve Elkington Tweets Another Faux Pas

    Some people need to realize the internet is not like Las Vegas. What happens on the internet stays on the internet whether you delete it or not.

    Apparently professional golfer Steve Elkington didn’t get that memo.

    On Tuesday the Australian golfer made remarks about Michael Sam, the Missouri defensive end who recently came out as gay before entering the NFL combine.

    Though Elkington may have deleted his tweets, others were able to capture them before he wised up and deleted them.

    His first tweet was, “ESPN covering Michael Sam as a gay athlete is embarrassing …..” Elkington continued with, “ESPN reporting Michael Sam is leading the handbag throw at NFL combine…. No one else expected to throw today.”

    When Elkington started to get some flack from others on Twitter, he responded by saying, “I’m for Sam I’m against ESPN telling me he’s gay….”

    Even though Elkington deleted his original tweets, he did try to tweet out an explanation.

    He also explained to Shane Bacon, editor of Yahoo’s Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet blogs, why he actually deleted his controversial tweets.

    Bacon also tweeted out the response from the PGA Tour, “Under our regulations, conduct unbecoming a professional includes public commentary that is clearly inappropriate or offensive. With respect to this matter, and consistent with our longstanding policy, we do not comment on player disciplinary matters.”

    This isn’t the first time Elkington has turned to Twitter to make disparaging comments. During the Senior British Open last summer, the European Tour reprimanded Elkington after he tweeted that “couple caddies got rolled by some Pakkis, bad night for them.” Apparently Elkington didn’t realize that “Pakki” was a derogatory term in Britain. He also explained that he made the comment “out of frustration stemming from what had happened to a colleague.”

    You can watch the video below to see Keith Olbermann explain why Elkington is the world’s worst person in sports (at least for right now).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b3BdtV0Q_8

    Image via Steve Elkington, Twitter.

  • Celebrities Reading Mean Tweets Continues to Delight

    Jimmy Kimmel continues to have one of the best bits on late night, and he just graced us with part 6.

    It’s hard to imagine being so famous that people just talk shit about you on Twitter, willy-nilly. Sure, most mean tweets you send out about George Clooney or Matt Damon fall on deaf ears – I mean, it’s not like they are combing through Twitter to read what the peanut gallery thinks about them (especially not George Clooney). But that’s why we love this Kimmel bit – it forces celebs to confront the adoring public.

    Seriously, at this rate we’re never going to get George Clooney to sign up for Twitter. Why would you call him a “lumpy faced basterd” on Twitter? Also, why can’t you spell, @seauxphie?

    Image via Jimmy Kimmel Live, YouTube

  • Tatyana Ali and ‘Fresh Prince’ Co-Stars React To Death of James Avery

    To fans around the world, he was simply ‘Uncle Phil’ from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

    But for Tatyana Ali, and the rest of the Fresh Prince cast, he was so much more. His shocking death on New Year’s Eve took the world by surprise, and now the cast mourns the loss.

    Actress-singer Tatyana Ali recently took to Twitter to share her feelings of Avery, offering her condolences.

    Ali, who was a child actress on the show played the role of Ashley Banks, the youngest daughter of Philip Banks portrayed by Avery.

    As the ‘baby of the cast’, Ali was only 11 years old when the Fresh Prince aired in 1990.

    Although most are familiar with the ‘daddy’s little girl’ camaraderie they shared on camera, the actress shed light on their relationship off camera.

    In a series of tweets, the 34-year-old actress shared a heartfelt message about Avery and his impact on her life over the years. Ali’s tweet ended with the hashtag #JamesAvery, which became a massive trending topic in light of Avery’s death.

    Ali also included pictures of candid moments that cast shared on the set of the Fresh Prince. She also tweeted an excerpt from a poem by notable writer-activist Nikki Giovanni.

    However, she wasn’t the only one to weigh in. Twitter has actually been buzzing since the news of Avery’s death, and the majority of the cast has also taken moments to weigh in on the loss, and how it has effected them. Alfonso Ribeiro, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Tyra Banks have all tweeted their sentiments.

    Ribeiro actually was the first to confirm the news via Twitter.

    Jazzy Jeff and Banks’ tweets came shortly after.

    Will Smith also shared his condolences via Facebook, including a picture of the last time the cast spent together. Smith’s message said, “Some of my greatest lessons in Acting, Living and being a respectable human being came through James Avery. Every young man needs an Uncle
    Phil. Rest in Peace. This photo was the last time we were together.”

    (image)

    Avery is survived by his wife, Barbara Avery, his mother, and stepson.

    Image via Twitter | Tatyana Ali  Wikimedia Commons | James Avery

  • Twitter Letting You Edit Tweets Would Be Crazy, Right?

    Facebook finally let you do it a few months ago – why not Twitter? Rumor has it that Twitter may be working on a feature that would allow you to edit your tweets after the fact – you know, after they’ve already been retweeted in the world’s largest pool of disinformation.

    Ok – that would, unequivocally, be one of the craziest things ever. Is it likely to happen? Well, we have some conflicting reports.

    The whole rumor started with Matthew Keys, writing for The Desk. Here’s what he had to say, quoting three sources familiar with the matter:

    Once a user publishes a tweet, an “edit” feature will be present for a limited amount of time (Twitter is still currently working out the length of time the feature would be available). The feature would allow a user to make “slight changes” to the contents of a tweet, such a removing a word, correcting a typo or adding one or two additional words.

    An edit could only be performed once per tweet. Once the edit is made, it would be immediately visible on that user’s Twitter feed. The edit would also show up on the feed of anyone who re-published the tweet using Twitter’s built-in “re-tweet” feature.

    Apart from the limitations on editing windows and number of edits, Keys also says that Twitter is working on an algorithm that would be able to determine whether or not the general intent of the tweet had been altered by the edit and act appropriately – I guess to catch a scenario where some user completely alters the meaning of a tweet with a very small edit.

    Adding an “e” to an “I LOVE RAP” tweet or something.

    Apparently, this has been a “top priority” at Twitter for months.

    Or has it?

    Jennifer Van Grove over at CNET is saying the exact opposite. Quoting sources familiar with the matter, she says that Twitter is not actively exploring a post-edit feature.

    And here’s what Wired writer Mat Honan had to say:

    Ok. Let’s talk this out. Even with limits on have many characters a user could edit after the fact and a small window for making the edit, users would have the ability to completely alter tweets. Oh, President Jack Smith is not dead? Wait, President Jack Smith is dead. That’s a pretty small edit and a pretty big shift in meaning.

    And it’s all of the retweets that make this idea sound kooky. If an edited tweet did in fact also change on everyone’s timeline who retweeted it – wow. Just think about the implications of this. You think misinformation travels fast on Twitter now? Holy shit.

    An algorithm to catch tweets that have been maliciously altered? Ok, sounds good. It also sounds hard.

    The only way I can see this not causing a boatload of trouble is if Twitter somehow marked any edited tweet or retweet with the equivalent of crime scene tape. “EDITED EDITED EDITED” pasted across the tweet in giant, yellow letters. You think a little icon in the corner that says “edited” is going to catch the eye of a Twitter population ready to crucify someone for some crazy tweet?

    For now, I think it’s best to just stick to deleting erroneous tweets or tweeting a follow-up correction. But who knows? Twitter may actually be thinking about this. It’s not like they haven’t done some crazy stuff before – I mean, just last week they tried to make it so you couldn’t really block another user.