Predicting Twitter popularity is all about probability
How can you predict which tweets will get more views, and more viral retweets? A new study developed a statistical model to estimate the popularity of tweets. Read more »
Twitter for Mac finally updated, but fails to excite
It’s good to finally see Twitter put more resources back in to their much overlooked Mac app, this latest update won’t blow you away by any means. Version 2.2 is but a minor improvement on what came before. Read more »
LinkedIn reminds users a network is only as good as its contacts list with new app
LinkedIn is launching a standalone Contacts app that will roll out slowly to users in the U.S. But do you really need a second LinkedIn app with only limited professional contacts in it? Read more »
12 hours of Kevin Bacon: finding anyone in a social network
photo: Shutterstock / turtleteeth
A correctly mobilized social network can find a random individual in just half a day, researchers say. Read more »
Twitter partners with Fuse and Trident to produce cross-platform music TV show
photo: GigaOM
The conversations you’re having about music on Twitter could do more than build up artist fan bases — you could be helping power an entertainment television show called Trending 10. Read more »
AP returns to Twitter after hack — but where are its 2 million followers?
The Twitter account of the Associated Press has been restored nearly 20 hours after it was suspended following a hacking incident. But, as of Wednesday morning, 95 percent of its followers are missing. Read more »
Why it’s time for Twitter to add two-factor authentication
photo: alexmillos/Shutterstock.com
As the stakes rise for Twitter when it comes to the security and monetary risks surrounding tweets, it’s time for the company to consider stepping up its security practices to keep accounts safer from hacks. Read more »
AP’s Twitter account suspended after hacking incident roils markets
Financial markets briefly plunged after hackers took over the AP’s account and reported a disaster in Washington. Read more »
New Salesforce.com features meld social media, marketing and CRM
photo: Salesforce.com
To help businesses focus their ad spending on specific social-media users, Salesforce.com is adding the ability to combine existing customer-relationship management lists with social monitoring and publishing tools. Read more »
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Sector RoadMap: Social customer service in 2013
“Social customer service” refers to those services that provide customer support via social media channels. Providing such services is no longer merely a niche or specialty sideline. Challengers, or disruptors who were early with the new technology, are working to expand and integrate their offerings into enterprise systems and processes. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Two deals that make it obvious where Twitter’s heart lies: inside your television
photo: Shutterstock / Dmitris K
Twitter’s love affair with television seems to know no bounds — two recent deals with BBC America and Comedy Central will bring video clips inside users’ streams, and more such deals appear to be in the works. Read more at paidContent »
Reports say Twitter has reached multimillion dollar deal with ad-buying company
photo: GigaOM
A new deal with a large ad-buying firm will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars over a multi-year period, the Financial Times reports. Read more »
Stealth startup Jelly announces ex-Twitter growth engineer as co-founder
Jelly, the still stealthy new company from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, has nabbed a top Twitter engineer as its new CTO. Read more »
In Boston bombing lock-down, the best and worst of social media emerges
If your town is inundated with paramilitary forces and you’re told to stay put because a madman’s on the loose, Twitter is suddenly your connection to the world beyond. Read more »
Podcast: More media, more problems and more music on Twitter
photo: Corbis / Jim Frazier
This week’s news wrap up examines new media both in the immediate wake of the Boston attack as well as it’s slow evolution as an industry. Read more »
Reddit + Boston: Journalism gets better when more people are doing it
photo: Flickr / Christian Scholz
While both Twitter and Reddit have come under fire for distributing incorrect information about the Boston bombings, mainstream outlets have done so as well. In a real-time news environment, having more sources is ultimately better. Read more at paidContent »
When the search for the Boston bombing suspects comes to your neighborhood
photo: Getty Images
When you’re in official lock-down, piecing together what’s going on a mile from your house requires triangulation — police scanners, Twitter, Facebook, radio and TV — all come into play. Read more »
For Twitter, it’s about creating an effective Discover tab — for #Music
Twitter’s new music app could be a great discovery tool, if the company can figure out how to make the recommendations effective — a challenge they’ve struggled with since the beginning. Read more »
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Sector RoadMap: Content personalization in 2013
Content owners, whether they are publishers, retailers, or marketers, are always looking for new ways to deliver a unique experience to their customers. We call this content personalization. Key trends in this area are led by a collection of technologies that we call post-programming curation. These technologies use the best of behavioral tracking, collaborative filtering, audience targeting, and dynamic content presentation. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
What should Twitter do when people exploit an emergency?
photo: Aaron Amot
News of the Boston bombings spread instantly on Twitter — and do too did scammers and opportunists. Should the company do more to stop these people? Read more »
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Frenemy mine: The pros and cons of social partnerships for online media companies
For online media companies, social platforms like Facebook and Twitter bring many opportunities as well as risks. An intelligent and proactive social media strategy can expand a brand’s reach. But the more heavily a media company relies upon a social media platform the more it relinquishes control over the customer experience. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Can Twitter elevate the “second screen” with live video?
photo: Shutterstock / Angela Waye
Twitter is reportedly in talks to add more content from television networks to its service, which would fit with the company’s recent moves toward courting TV and the people who watch. Read more »
Twitter forces Flattr to stop letting users tip ‘favorited’ tweets
Flattr’s Twitter micropayments venture, where people could leave tips for ‘favorited’ tweets, is over. But as that tie-in got shut down, Flattr enabled tips for YouTube videos. The system also works on Instagram and SoundCloud. Read more »
Celebrity social media firm Ad.ly predicts $5M in revenue after embracing analytics
photo: ad.ly
Ad.ly is a social media ad agency that provides brands with celebrity endorsements. To come up with a more steady revenue stream, it’s turned to offering analytics. Read more at paidContent »
We Are Hunted confirms Twitter acquisition, but won’t spill the beans on any Twitter music plans
Earlier reports that Twitter had acquired a music startup and is launching a stand-alone app are now confirmed — sort of. We Are Hunted wrote Thursday that they’ve joined the Twitter flock, but provided no details on a Twitter app. Read more »
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Social first-quarter 2013: analysis and outlook
Social business technologies remain in the foreground of discussions about business transformation, but the events of the first quarter of 2013 raised as many questions as they answered, or more. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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Cleantech first-quarter 2013 analysis and outlook
The first quarter of cleantech was a mix of good and bad news. Avis’ purchase of Zipcar and Silver Spring Networks’ long-awaited IPO finally occurring were further signs of thawing capital markets and movement in the acquisition space. However, in both situations valuations were lower than hoped, a sign of how investors view cleantech. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Allen Stern, blogging pioneer and entrepreneur, passes away — we will miss you Allen
An early blogger and startup founder who had recently launched a new business focused on health and fitness, Allen Stern passed away last week and was remembered by his friends and blogging colleagues. Read more »
The UK moves to preserve its digital history, paywalled content (and some tweets) included
The U.K.’s legal deposit rules, which require publishers to submit copies of all publications to national and other major libraries, have been updated to cover everything from blogs to tweets. Read more at paidContent »
When cancer stole Roger Ebert’s voice, Twitter gave him a new one
Film critic Roger Ebert talked about how much Twitter meant to him as a form of conversation, and his enthusiastic use of it as a way to connect with readers is a lesson to journalists of all kinds. Read more at paidContent »
Bloomberg adds Twitter feeds to financial platform on heels of new SEC rules
The financial company Bloomberg says it will add Twitter to its platforms now that the SEC has given a green light to companies to use social media to announce market moving news. Read more at paidContent »
Twitter plays its platform hand, and it is the one holding all the Cards
Twitter wants to get on the good side of third-party app developers with some new features for its expanded-tweet Cards, but the main focus of these new features is still to cement Twitter’s control over its ecosystem. Read more »
Looking to find new apps? Twitter adds third-party app discovery and deep links
Looking for more information on other apps for your phone, or looking for more visual content in your Twitter feed? Twitter’s new updates to how third-party developers can create tweets has you potentially covered on both fronts. Read more »
Prince would Sue U 4 using Vine
photo: Flickr/PeterTea
Have you checked out Vine recently? Legendary pop artist Prince has, with his record label filing a copyright notice with Twitter regarding videos on Vine. It seems like the general public might be giving Vine a serious look. Read more »
Twitter co-founder gets back in the game with new mobile startup called Jelly
If you’re successful enough to start companies like Twitter and Blogger and you move on to something new, it’s fair to say people will be watching the new venture. This time, Biz Stone is hinting at his latest project called Jelly. Read more »
Watch out, internet: Dave Winer is back in the business of making blogging tools
Dave Winer is the father of RSS and a blogging pioneer, so it’s worth paying attention to him when he comes up with something new — which he has, in the form of a browser-based note-taking and blogging tool. Read more »
Why Twitter is doing the right thing by refusing to identify users who posted anti-Semitic comments
photo: Flickr user Hoggarazzi
Twitter may be run by a private corporation, but it has quickly become one of the strongest tools we have for free speech, which is why it’s so important that the company resist efforts to curb that speech. Read more »
Instagram makes us all paparazzi, but we’re not all celebrities
photo: Shutterstock / Zurijeta
Instagram might be changing the economics of the paparazzi business, but the photo-sharing service and its social media peers can also make celebrities — willing or not — out of ordinary people. Who should pay when digital activity has real-world consequences? Read more »
Report: Twitter ad revenues higher than expected on strong mobile numbers
photo: Sling Digital
A research firm has revised its 2014 revenue predictions for Twitter to nearly $1 billion. The upwards revision partly reflects Twitter’s ability to solve the mobile marketing puzzle. Read more »
Shame on us? Why the power of social media must be used wisely
photo: Flickr user jettheriot
For better or worse, we all live in glass houses. Yet social media has made it easier and faster than ever before to throw stones, and that’s not always a good thing. Read more »
