Newly released documents under the Freedom of Information Act reveal not just the Justice Department’s guidelines for how to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for investigative purposes, but which ones are the most friendly to their requests for access to user info. [More]
United Airlines Uses Twitter Account To Push Male Enhancement Pills
By 2.26.10
Perhaps following the lead of Denny’s, who has been pointing customers to the wrong Twitter account for several months, the folks at United Airlines decided to use their Twitter to link out to a site selling male enhancement pills. [More]
Conan O'Brien Is Losing His Mind, Twittering About It
By 2.25.10
While Jay Leno is busy driving around his army of classic cars and shilling for shows on other networks, the Tonight Show’s host-in-exile Conan O’Brien appears to have lost his mind. But thankfully, TV’s redheaded stepchild is Twittering about it. [More]
Denny's Really Wants You To Follow This Taiwanese Twitter Account
By 2.24.10
Most chain restaurants have gotten into the social networking game in recent years, pushing customers to their Facebook and Twitter pages for news, deals, contests and the like. But Denny’s is looking to create a paradigm shift, using valuable menu space to direct customers to a Twitter account written in Chinese and having nothing to do with any of their delicious breakfasts. [More]
Yahoo And Twitter Announce Unholy Alliance Of Social Networking
By 2.24.10
Perhaps as a response to Google’s monumentally successful launch (at least in terms of irritating Gmail users) of Google Buzz, Yahoo announced on Tuesday that they have entered into a partnership of sorts with social networking biggie Twitter, apparently in an attempt to bring Yahoo up to speed with the rest of the Internet. [More]
PleaseRobMe.com Lets The World Know No One's Home
By 2.17.10
The history of online social networking is rife with faux pas. From celebrities trolling hookup sites to people being fired for thinking they could blab about their boss on Facebook with impunity, there are countless tales of Internet lessons learned the hard way. And an ingenious — and some say dangerous — new site is out to demonstrate just how easy it is to find out when you’re away from your home so people can steal your stuff. [More]
Now Your Dog Can Post Mindless Drivel To Twitter, Too
By 2.15.10
Have you always wanted to use an Internet-enabled collar and a Twitter feed to keep up with what your dog is up to when you’re out of view? Me either, but Mattel thinks that there might be a market for this sort of thing, and will bring Puppy Tweets to market this summer. [More]
Filmmaker Kevin Smith Kicked Off Southwest Flight For Being Too Fat
By 2.14.10
Every so often Southwest Airlines arbitrarily and incorrectly decides that someone is too fat to fly in a single seat. These are people who have regularly flown Southwest in the past and can fit themselves in one seat without a problem. Prior to now, none were cult celebrities with more than a million and a half Twitter followers and a smartphone. Then an air captain declared filmmaker Kevin Smith a “safety risk,” and all hell broke loose. Update: Southwest has responded. [More]
Blog And Twitter Campaign Convinces Sony To Replace Defective TV
By 1.31.10
Scott has been a longtime and loyal Sony customer, but the company finally disappointed him. He writes that his lovely 46″ LCD began to produce strange images on one side of the screen for ten minutes after powering up–not catastrophic, but not acceptable for a $3,000 TV, either. The regular channels of customer service were no help, so Scott took his case to his blog and to Twitter. The result? He heard from executive customer service within hours, and received a new TV for his trouble. [More]
Franz Ferdinand Tweets McDonald's Loathing Over Tune Use
By 1.23.10
After a McDonald’s microsite licensed one of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand’s without their direct approval, as record labels are wont to do, singer for the group Alex Kapranos tweeted some infelicitous words about the fast food joint. Specifically, “Dirty bastards. Stupid arrogant motherf***ing pig-brained arseholes. I’d rather eat a cowpat on a bun than a bloody McDonalds.” I dunno, Alex, have you tried their new Angus burgers? They’re pretty tasty and they come with a big slice of fresh onion. [@alkapranos via NME via Eater] [More]
3 Essential Twitter-Enhancing Sites
By 1.22.10
This week I’ve stumbled upon three sites that made Twitter a heck of a lot more usable. These add-ons, which require you to log in with your Twitter username and password, have boosted my virtual self-esteem with compliments on my Twitter style. They’ve allowed me to vengefully un-follow dozens of Twits who had either given up on the ADHD social networking service. And they’ve liberated me from tricky oppressors I’d been following only out of mistaken loyalty, assuming they were following me. [More]
H&M Insists That All Unsold Clothing Is Donated, Manhattan Store Went Rogue
By 1.9.10
After last week’s uproar and public shaming, over unsold clothing that was intentionally destroyed, then thrown in the trash behind the chain’s Herald Square location, clothing retailer H&M insists that the incident was against company policy and a fluke. Then TV station WPIX caught an employee throwing away a giant bag of shoes a few days later. [More]
Kill Off Your Online Identities With The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine
By 12.30.09
Supposedly the most depressing day of the year is just a few weeks away, and that sucks. But if you off yourself, you can’t drink, so it’s a conundrum. What you can do is use the website suicidemachine.org to remove yourself from unnecessary social media sites that either you’ve stopped using or don’t really enjoy anymore. [More]
Program Yourself To Be A Better Consumer With SaveEveryWay's Free Money-Saving Reminders
By 12.30.09
Research has shown that signing up for text message reminders to save money can increase your savings balance by 16%. SaveEveryWay makes the experimental a reality. You can sign up there for free to get reminders sent to you via text message, email, RSS, or Twitter that encourage better consumer behaviors. Some samples: [More]
Fight At Delta JFK Among Passengers, Not Directed At Airline?
By 12.30.09
Remember that passenger fight at Delta JFK last week? According to an airport employee who witnessed the fight, it wasn’t passengers venting on airport employees. Rather, the travelers (described as “the entire nation of Haiti”), who, yes, had been waiting for their flight to Haiti for four days, started to “brawl” amongst themselves. When a few TSA employees tried to break it up, “they got thrown around.” [More]
Twitter Friendship With E-Commerce Exec Helps Fix Shipping Snafu
By 12.24.09
Peter of Bible Money Matters blog didn’t want to turn the other cheek when Tiger Direct told him his order would take two weeks longer to ship because he paid via eBillme. So Peter enlisted an eBillme exec he met via Twitter to pressure Tiger Direct into getting his order out on time and finding the glitch that caused the hold-up. [More]
Delta Responds To JFK Clusterfracas
By 12.22.09
Reached for comment about the big mess I and others observed at their JFK terminal today, Delta said they are working hard to add capacity and find flights home for the stranded passengers whose outpouring of anger at yet further delays required police intervention: [More]
