Twitter recently announced “Conversations,” a new feature that connects conversations via a blue vertical line. This new feature believe it or not has sparked a red line between love and hate. Ironically, this impassioned back-and-forth demonstrates the value of Conversations. For years, Tweets appeared in a reverse chronological order. Now, you can see connected conversations in chronological order within your normal stream to follow real-time dialogue. To follow deeper threads, Twitter includes a clickable link to instantly “view replies.” ABC…
Is Freedom of Tweet a Right or a Wrong?
Twitter and Facebook are under fire for the role each platform plays in unknowingly tolerating flagrant hate-fueled, public-facing obscenity and outright threats. Twitter was targeted as the result of an advocate for honoring women on British currency was deluged with sickening rape threats. Facebook too has been criticized for its molasses-like pace for contending with hate posts and groups. In the case of Twitter, its UK branch reaffirmed its position against hate by publishing a post that acknowledged complaints and…
Tune in with Twitter TV
Have you ever watched TV while using a laptop, smart phone, or tablet? Wait, why am I asking. Of course you have. That’s what we all do now right? So I guess the real question to ask is how often do you use Twitter vs. Facebook while watching TV? In many ways, Twitter is becoming a bona fide second screen experience while watching television. And in many ways, TV may also serve as the second screen to those engrossed in…
How I Faked Celebrity Tweets in Support for My New Book and Why You Should Care #WTF
I just can’t believe it. On Friday afternoon, my Twitter stream was overflowing with Tweets and Retweets of what could only be best described as an outpouring or gushing of love and support for my new book by some of the world’s most recognized celebrities in the world. Seriously…WTF!? See for yourself… I’m sure by now you’ve figured out that these are fake…these Tweets are not real and I didn’t actually publish them….but that’s the point. What if I had?…
Twitter passes 200 million monthly active users; no longer a fad
I wrote my first in-depth post covering Twitter in March 2007 saying that Twitter would be the “message heard around the world.” Since then, we learned that Twitter has become a human seismograph where news no longer breaks it tweets. We learned to speak in 140 characters or less. We’ve witnessed Tweets erupt into revolutions. Hashtags are now a way of life. And, we now live in a world where if it wasn’t tweeted, it didn’t happen. Life unfolds in a digital…
USA Today’s Jon Swartz on the The Urgency of Now
Jon Swartz is a veteran technology reporter based in Silicon Valley currently covering emerging and disruptive tech at USA Today. This is the second time we’ve invited him to Revolution. His take on news trends is less about hype and more about how technology impacts everyday business and society. Sometimes technology is the solution as much as it is part of the problem. For consumers, the ability to use mobile, social and the web is not only enlivening real-time experiences,…
Twitter Shifts from Tech Startup to Media Network [Infographic]
The state of the relationship between Twitters and its developer community is nothing short of tumultuous. While there are significant merits on either side of the debate, what’s clear is that the Twitter of yore is no longer on a similar course for what will be the Twitter to come. It’s a sign of maturation and focus. It’s Twitter’s shift from tech startup and media darling to an aspiring new media empire. Ruffling feathers and clipping wings is an unfortunate…
Finally, a look at the people who use Twitter
The days of “I don’t get Twitter” may soon pass. Tweets are now a form of self-expression among connected consumers and it is this connected generation that continues to grow in size and influence year over year. Much in the same way that TXTing is a natural form of common conversation, even if it’s a norm that’s outside of the world as you know it—Twitter is reflective of how millions of people are connecting and communicating. Over the years, Twitter…
Culture Shock: Culture’s Impact on Social Marketing and Business
Guest post by Ekaterina Walter, a social media strategist at Intel. She was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). Follow her on Twitter Culture is one of the largest components of how we communicate: not just how we say something but how we choose the tools we use to get a message across. This is as true for social media as it was for the telegraph. For example, if you…
Engagement ain’t nothing but a number – why 1% isn’t good enough
The headline calls attention to everything that’s wrong with how businesses measure engagement in social media today. Businesses that invest any level of marketing resources in networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the like (get it?) are being groomed to focus on soft metrics instead of the relevant activity that signals the strength and worth of a community. By weighing conversations, interactions, and views, businesses are fed raw numbers that demonstrate KPIs but they do not offer the insights…
