Taiwanese electronics company ASUS made a bit of an oopsie when it took to its Twitter account to post a photo and wink-wink-y joke about the derriere of a model showing off one of its computers. [More]
FTC Applauds Twitter For Signing On With "Do Not Track" Firefox Feature
By May 17, 2012
Twitter is joining the ranks of other websites that allow users to control who is checking out their online doings, announcing today that it is all set to support Do Not Track. For those not in the know, Do Not Track is a feature in Firefox that allows Internet surfers to tell participating websites that they don’t want their activity tracked. [More]
People Tweet Stupid Things To Companies
By March 1, 2012
Sometimes Twitter can be an effective customer service tool; more often it’s not. But most of the time, tweets to brands are inane drivel like most of the rest of Twitter. Or they come full circle and are so stupid that they’re almost interesting. [More]
Twitter's Decision To Block Content In Specific Countries Sparks Protests From Users
By January 27, 2012
Twitter announced yesterday that they’ll be enforcing a new policy that will allow for reactive blocking of content on a country-by-country basis, and already today some users are vowing to stop using the social media site on Saturday in protest. [More]
If You Think Suze Orman's Prepaid Debit Card Is A Bad Idea, You're An 'Idiot'
By January 11, 2012
Poor Suze Orman. All she was trying to do was launch a prepaid debit card that charges slightly fewer exorbitant fees than the competition, and sort of reports your spending habits to credit bureaus but not really. Then a whole bunch of “idiot” personal finance bloggers began ganging up on her on Twitter, and she had no choice but to lash out and remind them that they’re not real journalists. [More]
Best Buy Manager Dismisses Best Buy Twitter Customer Service, Says "It Could Be Anybody"
By January 3, 2012
Consumerist reader Jonathan recently received a box set of CDs from his brother for Christmas. Unfortunately, one of the CDs that was supposed to be in the box was nowhere to be found. Compounding the problem, his brother had lost the receipt. Oh, and did we mention he made the mistake of buying the box set at Best Buy? [More]
Steps To Stop Social Media From Sucking Away All Your Time
By December 2, 2011
Not that this has happened to us, but our friends say that they’ve found themselves wasting away entire days at work not having accomplished much of anything other than getting sucked into an endless vortex of status updates, instant messages and YouTube videos. Social media is a powerful tool that can actually increase your efficiency, but it can also dominate those who lack the discipline to compartmentalize it. [More]
Spirit Airlines Fined $50K For Misleading Tweets
By November 21, 2011
The Dept. of Transportation rules about airfare transparency don’t just apply to carriers’ websites and ads, but also to their Twitter feed. Just ask Spirit Airlines, which was slapped with a $50,000 fine for Tweets touting its $9 airfares. [More]
After Struggle, Salman Rushdie Gets Facebook To Let Him Use His Own Name
By November 15, 2011
Facebook can be quite the stickler when it comes to enforcing its real name policy. Celebrity writer Salman Rushdie took to Twitter complaining that Facebook deactivated his account because it thought it was a fake. After he proved his identity, the powers that be reactivated his page in his given name, Ahmed. Only after taking his problem public via Twitter did he get Facebook to back down and let him use Salman. [More]
Introduce Yourself To The Internet Without Embarrassment
By October 17, 2011
Even more than in real life, snap judgments people make about one another online forever shape the way they see one another. A one or two-sentence bio you post about yourself on Twitter or elsewhere can make you seem intriguing, irritating or boring. And the latter two groups probably always assume they fall into the former. [More]
'Hunger Games' Viral Site Requires You To Give Marketers Control Of Your Facebook Or Twitter Account
By October 14, 2011
The Hunger Games is a wildly popular series of books about a dystopian future where the government spies on your every move and teenagers square off in a to-the-death tournament for the amusement of the upper-class residents of the capitol city. The books are soon to become a big-time Hollywood franchise and as part of the much-hyped countdown to that release, millions of people are getting in on the viral marketing by logging onto a website that creates a unique badge for each user. But are these people looking at the permissions they’re signing away when they log in? [More]
Twitter Will Give You Advertweets From Accounts You Don't Follow
By September 9, 2011
Corporations get to tweet all day at customers who follow them on Twitter, but have had trouble reaching those who don’t sign up to be spammed by their 140-character offers. Twitter has solved the problem by pledging to push ad-generated tweets to accounts that don’t follow the advertiser, targeting users based on an “interest graph” generated from the list of accounts they do follow. [More]
If You Followed @Irene On Twitter, You Reached An Ad Agency
By August 30, 2011
If you’re one of the 11,000 people who decided to follow @Irene on Twitter to keep up with hurricane news, you may want to unfollow, now that the account has reverted to its pre-hurricane status as an “agency soapbox” for a product strategist (named Irene, of course) at marketing agency Huge Inc. [More]
Insulting Restaurant Staff On Twitter While You're Still In The Restaurant Might Get You Kicked Out Of Restaurant
By August 17, 2011
Think of this as the counter-point to the earlier Twitter-related post. A diner at a Houston restaurant was given the boot after she decided to Tweet her opinion of the staff while she was still at the eatery. [More]
Pizza Place Learns To Not Call Customer "Dumbass" On Twitter
By August 15, 2011
There are some very good reasons why many traditional publicists hate Twitter and other social media outlets that give businesses unfettered access to immediately address their customers. Because it’s amazing how quickly you can anger your entire customer base in 140 or fewer characters. [More]
Rapper May Face Arrest After Tweeting Sheriff's Station Phone Number
By August 15, 2011
Rap artist The Game pulled a Twitter prank Friday by posting the Compton sheriff’s station phone number, encouraging his 580,000 followers to call the department if they wanted to apply for an internship. The station was bombarded with hundreds of phone calls for hours, and is now working on an official complaint it will file with prosecutors. Potential charges are “annoying or harassing phone calls via electronic device or the Internet whether or not a conversation ensues, delaying or obstructing a peace officer in the performance of their duties, and disrupting or impeding communication over a public safety radio frequency.” [More]
Twitter Pushes Ad-Generated Tweets To Tops Of Feeds
By July 29, 2011
In an effort to give sponsors more bang for their buck while somewhat disregarding the needs of its users, Twitter has started to push sponsored tweets up to the tops of feeds. The 140-characters-or-less ads only show up in feeds that you follow, scroll down in the normal way as newer Tweets appear and can be deleted with a click. [More]
Eating Mini-Donuts Is Like Child Murder, Tweets Entenmann's
By July 6, 2011
Attention, brands trying to be hip to the “Twitters”: while it can sometimes be good exposure to mention one of the trending words or topics publicized on the right sidebar of the site, make sure that you know what that trending topic is referring to. At minimum, make sure that it doesn’t refer to anything negative or potentially offensive. Such as a highly publicized murder trial. [More]
