Twitter suggests that it'll be "sliding into your DMs like [emoji] [emoji] [emoji]" etc this week with an update for the basic app. The update will allow emoji reactions to messages in Twitter - direct messages, specifically - to allow the expansion of the platform to reach ever-closer to the vision held by its maker. Is this the right way to make Twitter an all-encompassing social network?
Today the Twitter app for Android is crashing - if you've got the newest version of that app, and a few bits are out of order. The official Twitter Support Twitter account suggested that they're in the process of fixing the issues at hand - but recommend that you avoid updating your Android app for Twitter until said fixes are in the mix. Meanwhile, there's a quick-fix for those savvy enough to drop into Android Settings.
Twitter plans to release a new feature that will make it easier for users to reduce the number of abusive or toxic replies to their tweets, the company announced at CES. The revelation was made by Suzanne Xie, the company's director of product management. In addition to limiting who is allowed to reply, the company will make it possible to completely block replies on some tweets.
Twitter may not have been dragged into major privacy and political scandals the way Facebook has been but it has its fair share of headaches. Most of these stem from technical problems, a.k.a. bugs, that leak users' information when they shouldn't. The latest seems to be an almost simple flaw that could match phone numbers to users by simply uploading a massive list of randomly generated numbers through the Twitter app on Android.
In an announcement today, Twitter revealed that it has removed support for animated PNGs from its service, something that doesn't impact the ability to share animated GIFs. This now-removed support wasn't being used the way the company wanted -- Twitter says a bug made it possible for users to add multiple animated PNG images to a single tweet. This introduced a number of issues on the platform.
Some Twitter users have spied a new feature that makes it easier to continue a tweet thread directly from the compose box. The feature is only live for some users and, as with any test, may not end up rolling out as a permanent feature for all users. With it, the company presents users with a simple button within the tweet box directly linked to the user's most recently published tweet.
Twitter released a security update about their Android-based app which they suggests an exploit existed, but did not necessarily see any live use. This means that, while this exploit could have been used nefariously, it would SEEM that Twitter patched the problem before anyone got the opportunity to use it out in the wild. This does NOT mean that the exploit couldn't be used on older versions of the app, of which - as is common with almost any app - there are live examples right now.
Live Photos are one of Apple's whimsical yet popular inventions for iPhones. It basically captured a mini video clip whenever you take a photo. Of course, the feature only reveals its magic when shared with other iOS devices and nothing else. Twitter is putting an end to that isolation by letting iOS users upload their Live Photos to the network by transforming them into animated GIFs that can also be shared more widely.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced a team of "up to 5" people would develop an "open and decentralized standard for social media." The "ultimate goal" for this system would be for Twitter to be "a client of this standard." Dorsey suggested that though Twitter started as a relatively open system for social networking, they became centralized, but "a lot's changed over the years..."
Only a day after it announced plans to start purging old inactive accounts, as well as accounts that are squatting on usernames, Twitter is back with an update that clarifies where and how this process will happen. The company has temporarily paused the entire plan, as well, so that it can develop a way to memorialize the accounts of deceased users, protecting them from the purge.
Twitter is about to purge inactive accounts, potentially freeing up usernames that early-adopters of the social network grabbed but haven't actually been using. The company already had an inactive account policy, which allowed it to deactivate and reclaim usernames that weren't actively used, but it's only now that it seems eager to actually use it.
Humans seem to be terrible at creating and using strong passwords, let alone remembering them. Various technologies have popped up to alleviate those flaws, like password managers and two-factor authentication. The latter has been particularly popular especially with the rise of fingerprint and face recognition. Many, however, still use SMS as the second factor, which is just a half-step above having no 2FA. Fortunately, Twitter has finally seen the light and will allow users to opt for a more secure option.