Plenty of famous people post Tweets, Facebook updates, and Instagram photos where they mention a product or company name that they truly enjoy. But if those celebs are getting paid to slap their name on these messages, they need to be transparent about it. A pair of sportscasters at ESPN apparently missed that memo when they recently name-dropped Domino’s Pizza on Twitter. [More]
Twitter May Finally Be Getting Rid Of 140-Character Limit On Tweets
By 1.5.16
Even if you’re not a Twitter user, you’re likely familiar with the restriction that limits the expression of every thought, comment, and desire to a mere 140 characters. But once again Twitter is mulling over the idea of making Tweets a lot longer — though your actual feed wouldn’t look much different.
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Comcast Insists Its Twitter Account Isn’t A Robot; Just Assumes Everyone’s An Angry Customer
By 10.23.15
Like a number of corporate customer service Twitter account, the public replies from the @ComcastCares account are of the “Sorry to hear that” variety, often with a request for a private direct message containing more specific account information. But are these similar-sounding responses produced by a computer script or by a human being who just assumes that everyone hates the company they work for? [More]
United Passenger Says Airline Suggested She Pump Breast Milk In Pet Relief Area
By 10.6.15
Over the years, airlines have been found to be less than welcoming when it comes to nursing mothers: a flight attendant shaming a women for breastfeeding during a flight or the carrier that made a mother check a bag containing her breast pump. That rocky relationship continued this week as a United Airlines passenger says she was instructed to use a “pet relief’ area for pumping purposes. [More]
Twitter Expands Availability Of “Buy Now” Buttons
By 9.30.15
A year after Twitter began dipping its toes in the waters of e-commerce by testing “Buy Now” buttons,buttons, the company is expanding its foray into retail sales with new partnerships intended to give more businesses the ability to sell their wares directly through Twitter. [More]
Report: Twitter Considering Allowing Tweets Longer Than 140 Characters
By 9.29.15
Since it launched in 2006, Twitter has been known for allowing users to express their every desire and thought using just 140 characters. That’s could be about to change, as the social media company is reportedly working on a new product that exceeds the current word limit. [More]
Lawsuit Claims Twitter Eavesdrops On Direct Messages
By 9.15.15
When you send a direct message on Twitter, you might imagine it zipping straight from your account to its intended recipient, arriving exactly how you wrote it, untouched and unchanged. But a new lawsuit in California claims Twitter is effectively snooping on users’ direct messages, and changing them to benefit its own advertising goals. [More]
Buy Buttons Coming To A Twitter Feed Near You
By 9.15.15
“Buy buttons” are all the rage right now: from Google search ads to Apple’s product pages, companies are streamlining the buying process by cutting out the need to toggle between several pages to purchase a product. Now, that simplicity can be found in your Twitter feed. [More]
Fake Comcast Rep Convinces Customer To Delete Anti-Comcast Tweets
By 9.4.15
Complaining to a company on Twitter can often be a pointless endeavor, like trying to have a phone conversation in the front row of a Motörhead concert, but something inside us hopes that our gripe will be heard, which is why pranksters have repeatedly been able to trick Comcast customers into believing the company is proactively calling them in response to their Tweets. The latest story involves a customer who was actually convinced to delete his anti-Comcast comments by someone pretending to be from the company. [More]
McDonald’s Apologizes After Couple Says Ad Campaign Ripped Off Their Viral Engagement Photos
By 8.21.15
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But what if that flattery comes in the form of the largest fast food restaurant copying your creative take on engagement photos for a national ad campaign? That’s what two artists have accused McDonald’s of doing, and now the Golden Arches is publicly apologizing. [More]
Yes, Your Plagiarized Twitter Joke Can Be Deleted On Copyright Grounds
By 7.27.15
Sometimes reading through Twitter feeds can be like hanging out with that guy in the office who is constantly cracking other folks’ jokes and acting as if he’d dreamt them up on the spot. The big difference is that the office hack won’t have his wisecracks muted for violating the writer’s copyright. [More]
Microsoft Now Accepting Requests To Remove Revenge Porn From Bing, Xbox Live & OneDrive
By 7.23.15
Microsoft joined the growing list of tech companies taking steps to crack down on so-called revenge porn – the posting of nude photos or videos online without the consent of the subject – by honoring requests to remove links to the images or the content from appearing in results on its search engine Bing and other platforms. [More]
Twitter Takes Down Background Images, Doesn’t Explain Why
By 7.21.15
Have you checked Twitter today? If so, then you may have noticed a few things. First, that beautiful background image you carefully selected to show a bit of your personality is no longer decorating your page; instead, it’s been replaced with a plain white void. The result: this new version of Twitter looks an awful lot like Facebook: a small profile picture on the left and a long photo of your choosing plastered at the top of the page. [More]
Twitter Removes Its Ads With Autoplay Videos After Epilepsy Group Calls The Promos “Irresponsible”
By 7.10.15
Twitter has pulled two ads promoting its new music service after an epilepsy organization complained that the auto-playing videos with brightly flashing colors could trigger seizures. [More]
Senate Advances Bill That Would Require Social Media Sites To Report “Terrorist Activities”
By 7.9.15
If it seems like everyone uses social media, well, that’s because basically everyone does. But it’s not just cake recipes and birthday party meet-ups people plan online; plenty of illegal activity gets talked about in digital space, too. And now members of the Senate want to make sure that when certain kinds of no-no topics pop up, the platform owners let the feds know. [More]
Google Giving Revenge Porn Victims A Way To Remove Pics From Search Results
By 6.19.15
This past spring a number of tech companies took steps to crack down on so-called revenge porn – the posting of nude photos or videos online without the consent of the subject. Today, Google announced it was joining those sites by honoring requests to remove nude or sexually explicit images shared without the featured person’s permission from search results. [More]
Are Spirit Airlines Pilots Striking? Customers Say Yes, Airline Remains Mum
By 6.18.15
UPDATE: Spirit Airlines says that issues affecting its service across the country are not the result of a strike. [More]
Twitter Lifting The 140-Character Limit For Direct Messages
By 6.12.15
Although many companies have branched into social media as a customer service tool, it can be frustrating for all parties involved when customers have to explain their issues in 140-character chunks of text. To make things a bit easier for everyone, Twitter has decided to lift the character limit in direct messages. So it’s like, email…? [More]
