Back in August 2018, Twitter revealed that it was testing a new interface on the web that included Explore and Bookmarks. Now, several months later, the company is giving a larger number of people access to this simplified new design, though they won't see it automatically. Some Twitter users on desktop can now an opt-in for access to the redesign.
Tech companies love redefining words. Network carriers, for example, have made “unlimited” mean “limited” and Twitter has apparently turned “private” into “public”. Granted, the social networking giant pins the blame on a bug that affected only their Android-using population, but more than the worrying nature of the bug itself, it’s the fact that the bug has been active for years that should be cause for concern. And the fact that Twitter isn’t even aware of the scope of the bug isn’t reassuring either.
The word “timeline” itself suggests something chronological in nature. Back when social networks were simpler and less assuming, that was definitely the case. These days, however, they have redefined timelines to be anything but chronological, forcing you to see something that may have happened days ago just because it’s trending. Twitter is, fortunately, giving users back the ability to decide what they want to see first, but its wording makes it clear what its preference really is.
A recent survey with Tapatalk suggested that the end of social networking may be near - or at least it may be the end of trust in said networks. Before you drop too deep into the findings, remember here that Tapatalk is a Forum-centric business - because of this, they've got a pretty good reason to suggest forums are on the uptake. Assuming they're completely on-the-level, the survey's results are pretty gosh-darned interesting, and unexpected.
Twitter has penned a new deal with the NBA and Turner Sports to livestream the latter half of 20 NBA games, the companies have announced. The streamed content will be part of games aired on TNT during the upcoming basketball season, but Twitter's broadcast won't be a copy-cat feed: the company will focus cameras on a single player for each game.
Seeing phone companies publish tweets using competing devices is at least a somewhat common thing, but today, we're learning of the fallout from one such incident. Over the holidays, Huawei's social media team sent out a tweet wishing followers a Happy New Year using an iPhone. As is usually the case when something like this happens, users noticed the "Twitter for iPhone" footnote on the tweet and turned what should have been an innocuous post into quite the hot topic.
We've got the official explanation for why the sky went an unnatural blue last night in New York City. The Con Edison (NYC) electrical company's explanation is the most feasible - that an electrical fire caused the whole mess. In our feature today we'd like to explain what really happened, first and foremost - then we'd like to explore some awesome alternate possibilities. Science fiction sort of stuff - the stuff that would've been much more awesome than a mere transformer explosion in Astoria.
Facebook has probably become one of the most suspected, even hated, tech companies of late. It may have even managed to surpass Google to some extent. But the infamy and exodus that Facebook is now being subjected to is really just the height of a trend that has been happening lately. YouTube stars are burning out or exploding in spectacularly distasteful ways. Twitter’s 280-character expansion got the cold shoulder reception. Tumblr dug its own grave in trying to impress Apple. And Instagram and Snapchat seem to be locked into copying each other. The fire that drove social media’s growth has seemingly been reduced to smoldering embers and users are either jumping ship to other networks or quitting outright. But it’s not for the reasons that you might think.
Facepalm-worthy moments such as these aren’t exactly new or rare though, admittedly, they seem to happen more on the Android side of the digital divide than those from iOS. Still, every high-profile “clerical error” makes for a good chuckle, though probably at someone’s unfortunate expense. The latest entry into the book of social media bloopers is Samsung Nigeria’s tweet that exalted the “stunning cinematic experience” of the Galaxy Note 9 using an iPhone to say it.
Substance abuse, particularly of opioid, has been around for centuries and has never truly disappeared. It’s a never-ending battle to protect lives, families, and friends, using whatever means available at the time. For our generation, those means include the Internet, one of the most powerful tools in the world today. Fortunately, those who wield and shape that tool, like Facebook and Google, are teaming up to help fight this ongoing epidemic in the best way they can.
This week the White House released a video showing CNN reporter Jim Acosta at a press event. In the video documenting the original event, as broadcast on C-SPAN, a White House intern approached Acosta and attempted to remove a microphone from Acosta's hand. The point in question happened during this exchange. In an edited set of video clips shared by the White House, it would appear that Acosta swiftly chopped downward at the arm of the intern to stop her from removing his microphone. The video shared by the White House was doctored to make this action appear violent.
For the past year or so, Twitter has focused on updating its rules and policy to beef up safety, but with that comes a need for increased transparency. Today, Twitter announced a couple of new features focused on just that. They're relatively small changes in the grand scheme of things, but they should prove useful to larger Twitter userbase nonetheless.