During its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced today that it will integrate Twitter into all iOS devices. iOS users will be able to tweet links directly from Safari, videos from Youtube, and pictures from their Camera. In addition, users will be able to add twitter usernames into their Contacts. Apps will have access to users’ Twitter credentials via a single sign on feature. iOS 5 is scheduled to arrive this fall for iPhone 4/3GS, iPad 1 and 2, and the 3rd/4th generation iPod touches.
Archive - News
RSS Feed
Apple Announces Twitter Integration into iOS
D9 Conference Interview with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo
Here is the video of Walt Mossberg’s interview with Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo. The interview took place at last week’s D9 Conference.
A brief summary:
- It took 3 years for Twitter to reach 1 billion tweets, now 1 billion tweets are sent every 6 days.
- Over 350 million uniques/month to Twitter.com, however, the majority of usage is no longer via the website.
- Tweetdeck will become the “professional, prosumer UI for Twitter.”
- The photo sharing service will be rolled out to 100% of users over the next few weeks.
- Users will own the rights to all of their shared photos.
- Twitter retains over 80% of their advertisers
MTV and Twitter Team Up for the Movie Awards
MTV will be using Twitter’s “Promoted Trends” during tomorrow nights broadcast of the MTV Movie Awards. From Lost Remote:
“‘Twitter’s allowing us to switch the promoted trend in real time,’ Kristin Frank, GM of MTV Digital, tells Lost Remote. ‘So if there is a huge Kanye/Taylor moment, we have the ability to switch the trend up to amplify it directly linking right out to whatever content we have clipped from the show for MTV.com in real-time.’
The switchable Twitter trend is just the beginning. Like the Video Music Awards, MTV is bringing back the Twitter Tracker (above), working with Stamen Design to show the top Twitter topics and celebrities surrounding the show in real-time. (The Tracker is live now, click the link on this page.) MTV will also surface ‘fun contextual hashtags’ during the show.”
Lost Remote also reports that MTV has launched a Tumblr account, and will be live blogging during the event. To learn more about Twitter’s Promoted Trends, check out their “Twitter for Business” site.
Weekly Roundup
Here is the roundup of some of the biggest headlines from this week:
- VMware acquired enterprise microblogging company Socialcast. To the best of my knowledge, this marks the first major acquisition of an enterprise microblogging company. If I’m wrong about this assumption, please let me know in the comments.
- UberMedia raised $5.6 million in funding from Burda Digital/DLD Ventures. In spite of the rumors, UberMedia continues to deny that they have plans to create a competitor to Twitter.
- Wall Street’s love affair with Facebook continues, as Fidelity purchased a stake in Facebook through its Fidelity Contrafund and Fidelity Advisor New Insights Fund.
- Groupon filed for an IPO; plans to raise $750 million. While this isn’t necessarily related to microblogging, its significant news regardless. Depending on which side of the fence you’re on, this is either a great move for Groupon, or a sign of a bubble in the making.
France Bans the Words “Twitter” and “Facebook” from its Airwaves
“In France you cannot put up awnings in your own home without first obtaining permission from some government department, which will officiously stipulate what colours are allowed. One could easily draw up a list of French micro-regulations that, to the Anglo-Saxon disposition, seem utterly absurd, if not totally objectionable.
The latest one doubtless would rank high on that list. This week we learned that France’s broadcasting regulator had just issued another decree: henceforth, hosts of television and radio programmes must refrain from uttering the words “Facebook” and “Twitter” on the air.
Thus, a French news anchor such as David Pujadas (in photo at right) is not allowed to say to viewers: “For more information on this breaking story, follow us on Twitter”. Nor is any television or radio presenter allowed to mention a programme or network Facebook page. If Facebook or Twitter make the news, they can be mentioned on a strictly “information” basis. But no urging the audience to connect via Facebook or Twitter to learn more, ask questions, give their opinions, and so on.”
Du sublime au ridicule il n’y a qu’un pas.
Is Sina Weibo Coming to the US?
Techweb China is reporting* that Sina Weibo is planning to enter the U.S. market within the next two to three months. Since its launch in August 2009, Weibo has amassed over 140 million users. Forbes recently reported that Weibo is actually more popular in China than Twitter is in the U.S. Entering the US market would put Weibo in direct competition with Twitter. Whether Sina can successfully duplicate their success in America remains to be seen.
What do you think? Would you be willing to use Sina Weibo if it came to the US?
*In Chinese
Could Apple Build its own Twitter?
Anil Dash asks if Apple could build a Twitter like service:
Could a small team of developers and designers within Apple make a credible realtime messaging service with first-rate native clients on every important platform? Could they graft on a simple, REST-based web-style APIs to the complicated, old-fashioned API that enables push notifications right now? It’d be a lot like building a usable, delightful user interface on top of well-established, but complicated, technological underpinnings, wouldn’t it? I wonder if Apple has those skills.
The more important question is: Why would Apple want to? How many people are actively using Ping?
An Ode to Shaquille O’Neal
Happy retirement Shaq, you will be missed.
Malaysian Man Settles Defamation Case, Agrees to Tweet 100 Apologies
From Digital Spy:
In January, Fahmi Fadzil claimed on the microblogging website that his pregnant friend had been unfairly treated by her employer, a magazine run by Blu Inc Media.
Fadzil issued an apology to Blu Inc on Twitter almost immediately after making the allegation, but the company’s lawyers sent him a letter demanding unspecified financial damages for defamation and another apology in the major newspapers.
His lawyer Syahredzan Johan revealed today that Fadzil had agreed to settle the case by apologizing 100 times over three days on his @Fahmi_Fadzil Twitter account, which has 4,200 followers.
Site Construction
I’m in the process of updating the design of the Microblogging.com. Instead of keeping the site in “Maintenance Mode” while I make the changes, the site will be live while I make the updates. Please excuse the mess. A few notes:
- The directory is still active, but I will be focusing less on it as time passes. If you’d still like to submit your microblogging site or app, click the link at the top of the page.
- The Logo – Yes I know. The logo/header (or lack thereof) sucks. I’m working on it. I could use some help. If you’re interested, please send an email to info@microblogging.com.
Again, thanks for your patience, and please bear with me as I make the necessary changes.
*Image courtesy of ericmerrill
