As my astute colleague Laura had cause to mention today — if you’re using a free service without paying anything, you’re probably the product. Twitter, long the bastion of those averse to the marketing tactics already displayed on social media sites like Facebook, has announced it’s going to start taking users’ tweets and aiming ads at them based on the content. [More]
Journalist’s Twitter Account Suspended For Sharing NBC Executive’s E-Mail Address
By 7.30.12
As we mentioned on Saturday, NBC is taking a lot of heat in the social media sphere for its refusal to air marquee events like swimming or gymnastics until its prime time broadcasts. Now one UK journalist’s attempts to get some sort of response from NBC’s many, many, many Twitter pages has led to his Twitter account being suspended. [More]
Advice To Marketers: You Should Really Research Why Something Is Trending On Twitter
By 7.20.12
You know that thing about there being no such thing as bad publicity? Well, it’s not true. Just ask the online retailer that is on the receiving end of Internet hatred after it posted a Tweet that made it look like the site was crassly trying to cash in on the deadly shooting rampage at last night’s Dark Knight Rises screening in Colorado. [More]
Look, Don’t Post Instagram Photos Of Your Credit Card
By 7.3.12
If you’ve found your way to this site, you’re probably savvy enough to know that it’s a very, very poor idea to snap cell phone pics of your debit card and post them to the public photo-sharing service Instagram. We would have thought that would be common sense for anyone intelligent enough to own both money and a functioning smartphone. We were wrong. You see, the NeedADebitCard Twitter bot retweets photos that people post publicly online of their credit and debit cards, often with the numbers in full view. It always seems to have fresh material, but those featured do often take their photos down. The rest remain, with names and numbers in full view. [More]
Korean Air Learns That Kenya’s “Indigenous People Full Of Primitive Energy” Are Active On Twitter
By 6.18.12
What started as an attempt by Korean Air to promote its flights between Inchon, Korea, and Nairobia, Kenya, has ended with the airline having to apologize to a lot of people who aren’t thrilled with the airline’s suggestion that people visit Kenya to see its “indigenous people full of primitive energy.” [More]
Ballet Gym Goes All Black Swan On Blogger, Threatens To Call Police After Innocuous Comment
By 6.18.12
While most businesses have learned to handle criticism posted on blogs, there are still those who overreact when someone goes online to write unkind things. And then there is the rare situation where a business threatens legal action over seemingly innocuous comments. [More]
Xbox Twitter Support Has No Problem Implying You Have A Small Penis
By 6.12.12
Usually when you make a crude joke to a mega-corporation’s Twitter account, it goes ignored or responded to with a robotic, “Thanks for your support!” kind of message. But at least one person at Microsoft has a sense of humor when it comes to sassy Twitterers. [More]
Not Everyone Is Amused By ASUS' Ogling Of Booth Model's Butt
By 6.4.12
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 5.17.12
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]
The U.S. Government Wants To Make Sure You've Written Your Social Media Will
By 5.2.12
The United States government is hip to social networking, and because it knows all about the Facebook and the Twittering, it wants you to be prepared with a social will in the event of your demise. After all, there have been reports of the families of deceased people having trouble gaining access to those kinds of accounts. [More]
American Express Syncs Credit Cards With Twitter, Hopes You'll Help Them Shill
By 3.7.12
Those evil geniuses over at American Express have dreamed up a way to not only hook in the social media crowd via Twitter, but to also get them to do some of their dirty work. The company announced a new program last night, where cardholders can sync up their accounts with Twitter and use hashtags to earn rewards. [More]
People Tweet Stupid Things To Companies
By 3.1.12
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 1.27.12
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]
Designated Theater Tweet Seats Allow Audience To Chronicle Shows In Real Time
By 12.6.11
Sitting behind a person at the opera who is busily tweeting away during a performance is totally unacceptable, which is why certain theaters are now designating “tweet seats” for those who want to live-tweet a show. Put’em all in one area so they can’t bug anyone else, right? [More]
Spirit Airlines Fined $50K For Misleading Tweets
By 11.21.11
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]
Virgin America Is Pleased With Their New Reservation System
By 11.2.11
Despite experiencing some of the inevitable hiccups from transferring a legacy system to a new one, Virgin America tells me that they’re overall “pleased” with how the reservation system transition they started on Saturday is going. [More]
Virgin America's Brand New Sabre Reservation System Hits Turbulence
By 11.2.11
Virgin America has hit some extreme turbulence ever since they switched to a new Sabre Airline Solutions reservation system on Saturday. Travelers are lighting up the inter-boards with complaints that they can’t make or change their reservations, and call centers are swamped, with customers having to wait over four hours on hold. [More]
How To Build More Social Media "Klout"
By 10.31.11
Some see the social media scene as an ever-fluctuating competition, with everyone scrapping to claw market share away from one another. Encouraging this mentality is Klout, which claims to filter peoples’ social media influence and assigns them a score out of 100. Some dismiss the service, but most involved in the scene keep an eye on their scores. [More]
