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Tag: tweets

  • Beyonce Lip Sync: Twitter, As Expected, Sounds Off

    Now that it’s been confirmed that Beyonce lip-synched her flawless performance of the national anthem at yesterday’s presidential inauguration, we can all just crawl up into a hole and cry ourselves to a sweaty, nightmare-laden sleep.

    Ok, it’s probably not the worst thing to happen. But I’m getting the feeling that people are feeling pretty betrayed by the superstar. Why am I getting this feeling? Twitter, of course.

    Here’s why it’s pretty much confirmed: The NY Post grabbed this quote from a representative of the U.S. Marine Band:

    “All music is pre-recorded for the ceremony because there are so many eventualities and conditions that day. We performed, live, the band. But we received last-minute word that Beyonce was going to use the pre-recorded vocal track. Those were the instructions we were given. We don’t know what the (sic) reason why.”

    To crush us. That’s why.

    Here are some of the best Twitter reactions about the lip-synching fiasco:

    And if you want to relive the lie, here it is:

  • Twitter Improves Embedded Tweets with Better Media Content, Faster Loading

    A little over a year ago, Twitter launched embeddable tweets. Today, they’re launching an update to that function that improves both the look and performance across the web.

    “Embedded Tweets display photos, videos, article summaries and other content shared in a Tweet, just like you see on twitter.com. You can also view retweet and favorite counts to better understand engagement, and we’ve made some tweaks to the design so that embedded Tweets are easier to read,” says Twitter.

    Now, when you embed a tweet on your site, any associated media like twitpics or YouTube videos will be better displayed below the text. It’s basically an improvement to how Twitter Cards are shown on third-party websites.

    Twitter also claims that the formatted tweets will load faster on your website, reducing the chances that a reader sees that awkward text formatting for a few seconds.

    If you want to embed a tweet, you used to have to open up the tweet in a new tab and then click the “embed tweet” option. Starting today, you’ll have to option to embed any tweet directly from your stream. Just click on the “more…” button on the bottom right of the tweet:

    This new option also applies to TweetDeck. Twitter added embeddable tweets to TweetDeck last month.

  • Twitter Now Highlights Links While You’re Composing Your Tweets

    Twitter has made a minor tweak to its dekstop site that should help users better understand what they’re about to tweet out to their followers.

    Now, when you’re composing a tweet, links (anything that’s clickable on the site) will appear blue – even before you hit send. That means hashtags, @ mentions, and even links to outside sites.

    Before, you had to actually send your tweet in order to make your hyperlinks look like hyperlinks.

    Although the highlighted links aren’t clickable, you can right-click and open them up in a new tab or window. This allows you to quickly glance at the other conversation surrounding a hashtag, or glance at the profile of someone you’re tweeting at before you hit the send button and make it final.

    As of now, the new link highlighting is only live on desktop.

    [via L.A. Times]

  • You Better Get Permission to Use Twitter Photos, Rules Judge

    The idea that content made public on social media is fair game for anyone and everyone to use has received a major strike, as a U.S. District Judge has ruled that two news outlets were in the wrong when they republished a Twitter user’s photos without his permission.

    The case involves a photographer named Daniel Morel, who accused both the Agence France-Presse and The Washington Post of improperly selling his photos of the aftermath of the 2010 Haitian earthquake, which he published on Twitter.

    Morel tweeted out the photos, which were disseminated by the AFP (they distributed “several” images to Getty Images). The Washington Post later published four of the images on its website, as they are a Getty Images client.

    Although the AFP argued that the photos became fair game once they were publicly posted to Twitter, the Judge in the case disagreed. He claimed that Twitter’s Terms of Service did not give them the right to license or publish Morel’s photos without his permission.

    Twitter’s Terms of Service, like most social networks’, explicitly express that users own their content – bottom line. “What’s yours is yours – you own your Content (and your photos are part of that Content),” says Twitter.

    But Twitter, like most other social networks, also contains this clause giving themselves rights to distribute and publish said content:

    You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).

    Twitter also gives its “ecosystem partners” rights to the content as well:

    You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to provide, promote, and improve the Services and to make Content submitted to or through the Services available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.

    But that pertains to developers who use Twitter’s API, not news outlets looking to run photos in a for-profit setting or companies looking to license said photos. The Judge was clear on that. He acknowledged that Twitter allows for retweeting (obviously), but not for commercial use of user content without their permission.

    Twitter was never named a party in the case, as their terms clearly protect them from liability in cases like this.

    The Judge didn’t completely agree with Morel, however. Although Morel requested damages based on each Getty subscriber who used his photos, the Judge ruled that only AFP and Getty can be tapped for damages for each improperly distributed image.

    [via Reuters]

  • Coke, Osteoporosis, and the Golden Globes

    Coke, Osteoporosis, and the Golden Globes

    Twitter is a wonderful place for one-liners. To be funny on the site, you’ve got to be sharp and practice economy of language. You’ve only got 140 characters to make an impression.

    And what better way to wind-down the work day than with a selection of some of the day’s most entertaining tweets.

    Enjoy!

  • Ravens Trash Talk: LB Brendon Ayanbadejo Rips Patriots on Twitter

    Twitter has proven to be a landmine for plenty of public figures in the past (especially professional athletes). Before social media, organizations were better able to monitor (and to an extent limit) what their employees let slip to the public. But now that nearly everyone has immediate access to a public forum, it’s much more likely that players will broadcast something that sparks controversy.

    The latest example of this trend comes to you courtesy of Brendon Ayanbadejo, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. Today, he finds himself at the center of a controversy as he took some time last night to live-tweet the Patriots-Texans game.

    And by live-tweet, I mean trash talk.

    He began by discussing the Patriots’ offense:

    He then went on to hit the Patriots on a deeper level:

    I can’t imagine that the Ravens organization (especially coach John Harbaugh) is particularly thrilled with Ayanbadejo. And I also can’t imagine that we’ll hear any Twitter response from anyone in the Patriots organization, as they run a notoriously tight ship.

    What do you think about athletes trash talking on Twitter? Fair or foul?

  • Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway Responsible for Top Twitter Moments from the Golden Globes

    With the declaration “I beat Meryl,” Louisville, KY native Jennifer Lawrence accepted the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Comedy). That speech also put her over the top in another way, as she is also responsible for the most-tweeted about moment of last night’s ceremony.

    According to Twitter, the highest spike in tweets-per-minute during the awards occurred when Lawrence won her Globe. That spike hit 19,886 TPM.

    “Harvey [Weinstein], thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here today,” said Lawrence during her acceptance speech.

    Coming in a close second (19,695 TPM) for most-buzzed about moment was Anne Hathaway, as she was accepting her award for Best Supporting Actress (Comedy/Musical) for her role in Les Miserables.

    And in third was former President Bill Clinton, who received a standing ovation as he appeared on stage to introduce Steven Spielberg’s epic Lincoln for consideration. That generated 18,290 TPM.

    In all, Twitter reports 4.2 million total Golden Globes-related tweets in the past 24 hours, and 3.6 when you just count the red carpet and the actual show.

    You can check out the top three Twitter moments from last night below:

    We’re pretty sure Tommy Lee Jones was unimpressed with all of it.

  • Peter Frampton, Little Debbie, and Chipotle

    Peter Frampton, Little Debbie, and Chipotle

    Twitter is a wonderful place for one-liners. To be funny on the site, you’ve got to be sharp and practice economy of language. You’ve only got 140 characters to make an impression.

    And what better way to wind-down the work day than with a selection of some of the day’s most entertaining tweets.

    Enjoy!

  • Nick Offerman Reads More Asinine Tweets After Four-Month Hiatus

    It’s been over four months since Conan asked Parks and Recreation star, woodworker, and noted moustache champion Nick Offerman to take some time and read some celebrity drivel. That’s too long.

    Please enjoy what continues to be one of the best minutes of viral content on YouTube as Offerman offers his take on tweets from Miranda Cosgrove, Miley Cyrus, Lea Michele, and more.

    You can watch Offerman read more tweets from young female celebrities here, here, here, and here.

  • Golden Globes Will Get Second Screen Help from Celebs on Twitter

    This Sunday, at the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards, Twitter wants you to have a second screen experience by following the show via celebrity tweets.

    If fans choose to “tune in” to Twitter, they can get behind-the-scenes updates from nearly two dozen stars who will be live-tweeting everything – from the red carpet to backstage.

    “Actors, directors, style icons and other VIPs will be live-tweeting to share inside experiences from on the red carpet, in the audience, backstage, and sometimes watching along on their couch. With the dinner party setting of the Golden Globes, the awards show is known for providing fans a unique glimpse of TV and film’s most talented stars. Following along on Twitter is like having a seat at the table, being a part of the conversation with your favorite celebrities,” says Twitter.

    Some of the celebrities that are “Twitter-sanctioned” to live-tweet the ceremony include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sofia Vergara, Hayden Panettiere, Omar Epps, and Maria Menounos. Of course, if you look around Twitter you should be able to find plenty of other stars on insiders to fill up your second screen experience.

    You can head on over to the Twitter blog to see their complete list of Golden Globe tweeting stars.

    Twitter asks that you engage with the Golden Globes by using the hashtags #goldenglobes and #globesparty.

    [Lead image via Golden Globes site]

  • Will Ferrell Helps Funny or Die Celebrate 5M Twitter Followers [VIDEO]

    Humor site Funny or Die just hit a significant social media milestone: 5 million Twitter followers. And with gems like “If you live in a free world, and you’re not eating ice cream at least once a week, you’re f*cking up,” it’s no wonder people want to follow the account.

    Funny or Die co-founder Will Ferrell is celebrating the news by analyzing some of the tweets that made the account so popular. How popular? Well, the account has as many followers as Singapore has people. How does he knows that? Deep Wikipediaing, my friend. Deep.

  • More Celebrities Are Back to Read Your Hateful Tweets

    One of my favorite late night segments is back for round three, as Jimmy Kimmel has pulled more celebrities and subjected them to some pretty hateful tweets from the peanut gallery. In “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets,” celebrities read mean tweets directed at them. It’s that simple. And it will never stop being funny.

    I’m just curious about the guy who had the balls to tweet Walter White about his past weight problems. Dude, he is the one who knocks – don’t you know anything?

    Also, bonus Tenacious D appearance.

    Don’t forget to check out episodes one and two.

  • Freddy E, Rapper and YouTube Star, Live-Tweets His Suicide

    There’s not a whole lot you can say about this, except that it’s incredibly sad.

    Seattle-based rapper and YouTube star (JERKTV) Frederick Eugene Buhl, better known as Freddy E, has taken his own life. Not only that, but he broadcast the moments leading up to the suicide on Twitter.

    What follows is the series of tweets sent out to his 122,000+ followers. It seems to all begin with an unknown event, to which Freddy E said “my day is ruined.” He ended with a series of tweets that read “I love you mom; I love you dad; I love you Katherine; God, please forgive me; I’m sorry.” As a word of warning, what follows is raw and pretty disturbing:

    His suicide has been confirmed by his father, who said that Freddy E ended his life with a rifle shot to the head. Here’s what he had to say in a Facebook post:

    Today, our son, Frederick Eugene Buhl (@freddy_E), age 22 years old, took his own life with a rifle shot to the head. Our family is saddened beyond words; our loss is great; this tragedy is enormous and unforseen. Not only our family, but the world has lost a talented, sensitive, brilliant young man who lit up our existence with his. We love him a great deal, and he will be sorely missed. We pray that God will now watch over him, and we ask all of you to include Frederick and our entire family in your thoughts and prayers. Tomorrow, Sunday, January 5th, 2013, we will be attending Fred’s Church, First AME, at 12:00 PM in Seattle, WA. You are invited to join us or send your prayers. Fred would appreciate that a great deal.

    Just heartbreaking. But we can’t say that we’re surprised that Twitter serves as the last broadcast for a suicide.

  • The AP Will Run Ads (Sponsored Tweets) for Samsung

    The AP Will Run Ads (Sponsored Tweets) for Samsung

    The Associated Press, one of America’s most venerable news organizations, is selling out its Twitter feed for the very first time.

    And we can thank Samsung and CES for it. According to the AP, Samsung will be the first company to pay for Sponsored tweets inside their Twitter account, which currently boasts a little over 1.5 million followers.

    The ads (sponsored tweets, or as the AP is referring to them, “innovative advertising”) will pop up twice a day during CES, which is currently underway in Las Vegas. Each sponsored tweet from Samsung will be clearly labeled as a “sponsored tweet” and produced by “staff outside the AP newsroom.”

    And before you ask about this decision and how it could compromise the integrity of the AP as a credible news organization, don’t bother. It doesn’t, says the AP:

    “The AP developed internal guidelines in recent months so that it may build new business models in the new media landscape without compromising its newsroom values and principles,” said the organization in a statement.

    “We are thrilled to be taking this next step in social media,” said Lou Ferrara, the AP managing editor overseeing the newsroom social media efforts. “As an industry, we must be looking for new ways to develop revenues while providing good experiences for advertisers and consumers. At the same time, advertisers and audiences expect AP to do that without compromising its core mission of breaking news.”

    The AP has to make money, and they haven’t been over the past couple of years. Hosting sponsored tweets inside your stream is nothing new around Twitter, but it is something new for the AP, who hasn’t always had the most genial relationship with the internet and social media.

    As John Herman at BuzzFeed points out, the AP and Samsung have struck their own agreement with these sponsored tweets. That means that they are bypassing Twitter’s own Sponsored Tweets product, which allows businesses to pay Twitter to features their tweets, accounts, and hashtags.

    Twitter has this to say about such third-party arrangements:

    There are so many ways that people use Twitter to discuss the products they care about. In cases where these Tweets are paid or otherwise sponsored, any payment arrangements are the responsibility of the user and the sponsoring brand or service. These “sponsored” Tweets are not prohibited, provided they clearly disclose the nature of the sponsorship on Twitter, and do not otherwise violate the Twitter Rules.

    However, sponsorship as a form of automated or mass-created affiliate advertising is not permitted on Twitter. This behavior is considered spam, and creates a misleading and potentially unsafe user experience. The guidelines in this article prohibit affiliate spam on Twitter, and provide guidance for users interested in included sponsored Tweets in their timeline.

    So as long as the AP is hand-posting these sponsored tweets and not spamming the hell out of everyone, they’re well within the law of Twitter. But that doesn’t mean Twitter has to be happy about major account skirting their own product and making backdoor deals.

  • Anthony Bourdain Live-Tweets iCarly, Because Someone Had To

    The Nickelodeon show iCarly ran for an impressive 109 episodes, and during that time nobody really asked the hard-hitting questions. I mean, does Spencer have a job? Besides hanging out with underage girls?

    That question and more were posed by Travel Channel star and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain last night during a wonderful little Nickelodeon live-tweeting session. Why would Bourdain tweet out his concerns with iCarly to his 1.2 million followers? Because Twitter is awesome, that’s why. And this is precisely the reason.

    And yeah, speaking of Nickeloden shows. What’s up with Marvin Marvin?

    Not quite as awesome as his Paula Deen Twitter rant, but more great stuff from the always entertaining Bourdain.

  • Twitter Suspends Top Anonymous Account for Terms Violation [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: They’re back. And yes, it was the leaking of Westboro members’ personal info that did it.

    ORIGINAL ARTICLE: @YourAnonNews, online hacktivist group Anonymous’ most popular Twitter account, has been suspended. It appears to have happened just before noon ET.

    Popular but significantly less popular Anonymous account @Anon_Central has published what they say is Twitter’s official reply to the @YourAnonNews account holder – “You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information.”

    Here’s the applicable portion of the Twitter Rules:

    You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission.

    It’s possible that the personal information that Anonymous is “guilty” of posting comes from members of the Westboro Baptist Church. The group recently targeted the “church” for their insistence on “protesting” the funerals of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. Anonymous’ operation did involve the leaking of Westboro members’ personal information.

    @YourAnonNews planned for this, setting up and backup account @YANBackUp on December 4th:

    If you want to follow the updates on the situation, they’re the account to follow (along with other Anonymous accounts, to a lesser extent):

  • Twitter Begins to Let Users Download Tweet Archives

    After making promises for a good while, Twitter is finally starting the process of giving every user the ability to download an archive of their tweets – all of them. That means all of your outgoing communications, retweets and all, will be available for you to possess (and browse!).

    “It’s no secret: You make Twitter what it is. And if you tweet, you may have found yourself wanting to go back in time and explore your past Tweets. Maybe you wanted to recall your reaction to the 2008 election, reminisce on what you said to your partner on your 10th anniversary, or just see your first few Tweets. We know lots of you would like to explore your Twitter past,” said Twitter.

    So soon you can. All you have to do is go to your settings, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the “request your archive” button. When the file is ready to be downloaded, Twitter will email you a link.

    Once you access your personal archive, you can search all of your previous tweets by date. There’s also a search feature that allows you to find specific tweets based on keywords, hashtags, and @usernames. So, if you want to see every tweet you’ve ever sent your best friend, now you can. Or if you’re looking to find everything you’ve ever said about “beer,” you can. Although you may not want to see the Twitter proof of your slight drinking issue.

    If you don’t see the option within your settings, don’t worry. Twitter says they are rolling out this feature slowly, and to English-speaking users first. They say it will take weeks (maybe months) before everyone has the ability to download their tweets.

    “We’re really excited to bring this feature to everyone, and we appreciate your patience as we work to do so,” they say.

  • Food Photographers, J Crew, and the Fiscal Cliff

    Twitter is a wonderful place for one-liners. To be funny on the site, you’ve got to be sharp and practice economy of language. You’ve only got 140 characters to make an impression.

    And what better way to wind-down the work day than with a selection of some of the day’s most entertaining tweets.

    Enjoy!

  • Dwolla Pound Lets You Pay By Tweeting

    Dwolla announced a new feature today called Dwolla Pound that lets you send payments to friends by simply tweeting.

    “This makes it easy to send money to friends, nonprofits or even merchants without having to login to the Dwolla mobile app,” the company says in a blog post.

    A couple weeks ago, they launched guest payments, enabling users to pay without having an account. You will, however, need an account to pay by tweeting.

    You can connect your Twitter account to your Dwolla account here, then simply tweet something like:

    You only need to include the recipient’s Twitter handle, $ amont, and #dwolla.

    “Yep, it’s really that simple,” the company says.

    Pretty cool. No wonder the actor portraying Steve Jobs invested in the company.

  • The Pope Started Tweeting Today, Just So You Know

    If your Twitter stream needed a little more Jesus, you’re in luck. Pope Benedict XVI, or simply “the pope” to me and you, has officially dipped his toes into the wide world of Twitter.

    The Pope actually joined the social media site back on December 3rd. @Pontifex quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of followers, and that was just the English language account. The Pope’s tweets are actually being broadcast over eight different Twitter accounts in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic, and French.

    Vatican officials told us that his holiness would began tweeting on December 12th, and here it is, right on schedule. So far @Pontifex has shared five tweets – one “hello” message and four faith-based messages. Here they are:

    When the Twitter account was first created, The Vatican said that the pope’s tweet would be his own – meaning that they would come from his mouth. We doubt that he’s sitting there glued to his iPad, however (he probably has aides to do the actual tweeting).

    Also, no responses to the beautifully hijacked #AskPontifex experiment yet. Huh, imagine that?

    You can watch him post his first tweet below:

  • Secret Santa, The Hobbit, and Angry Birds

    Twitter is a wonderful place for one-liners. To be funny on the site, you’ve got to be sharp and practice economy of language. You’ve only got 140 characters to make an impression.

    And what better way to wind-down the work day than with a selection of some of the day’s most entertaining tweets.

    Enjoy!