Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called “tweets”. Registered users can read and post tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. Twitter was created in 2006 and rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with more than 100 million users in 2012 and 340 million tweets per day. In 2013 Twitter was one of the ten most-visited websites, and has been described as “the SMS of the Internet.”
A protest in Ferguson, Missouri that escalated into a violent siege by anti-riot troops was another illustration of how valuable a citizen-powered form of media using Twitter and other social platforms… Read more »
Dmitry Medvedev’s Twitter account was taken over by an anti-Kremlin wag on Thursday morning, but it appears to be back in the hands of his team. Read more »
What if Twitter users could collaborate on deciding which trolls should be blocked or muted on the service — would that help cut down on abuse, or would it solve one… Read more »
Some argue that social networks like Twitter are the worst possible place after a celebrity like Robin Williams dies, because they cheapen the experience of mourning by making it public –… Read more »
Facebook and Twitter have a new rival in the media realm. For the first time, Pinterest is hiring a manager for news and entertainment partnerships. Read more »
Twitter has released updated figures on how many of its users read tweets using some kind of third-party or automated service, saying about 20 million accounts fit that description. While these… Read more »
The way my daughters watch what used to be called TV is fascinating: it happens anywhere, it’s YouTube and Vine and Twitch shows about playing Minecraft, and it’s all driven by… Read more »
A Japanese news-recommendation app called SmartNews that mines Twitter for topical content has raised $36 million and says it plans to use those funds to expand into North America and take… Read more »
Facebook plans to use the security startup’s vCage technology to protect its data centers from malware, unauthorized access and malicious hardware. Read more »
Social media analytics numbers show that in the second quarter, Instagram users engaged with brands’ posts at twice the rate that Facebook users did. Read more »