Obama Takes Debt Debate to Twitter, Loses 40,000+ Followers

If only he encouraged jobs the way he loses Twitter followers.

http://www.nydailynews.com/tech_guide/2011/07/29/2011-07-29_bams_spam_president_barack_obama_takes_debt_battle_to_twitter_loses_more_than_20.html

"President Obama brought his debt battle to Twitter and he lost – more than 40,000 Twitter followers.

Obama asked Americans Friday to call, email, and tweet Congressional leaders to “keep the pressure on” lawmakers in hopes of reaching a bipartisan deal to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit ahead of an Aug. 2 deadline."

@ReallyVirtual Unknowingly Live Tweets Osama Strike Mission

If you happened to be following @ReallyVirtual you would have gotten live updates of the SEALs taking out Osama...

http://www.mediaite.com/online/pakistani-twitterer-sohaib-athar-unknowingly-live-tweets-assault-on-osama-bin-laden-compound

"Here are the first of Athar’s tweets, in chronological order: (you can see them all by following him on Twitter)

Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).

Go away helicopter – before I take out my giant swatter :-/

A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S

@m0hcin all silent after the blast, but a friend heard it 6 km away too… the helicopter is gone too.

@m0hcin http://bit.ly/ljB6p6 seems like my giant swatter worked !

@m0hcin the few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani…

han3yy Hania Ahmed by ReallyVirtual OMG :S Bomb Blasts in Abbottabad.. I hope everyone is fine :(

@raihak I try, man, I try (in reply to entreaty to “be safe!”)

@raihak Funny, moving to Abbottabad was part of the ‘being safe’ strategy

Since taliban (probably) don’t have helicpoters, and since they’re saying it was not “ours”, so must be a complicated situation#abbottabad

@raihak yep, the mad power cuts have reached abbottabad – 14 hours daily – luckily I have a generator AND a UPS at the coffee shop

@tahirakram yea. *hides his giant swatter*

@kashaziz technically, it is unidentified until identified, and it is a flying object, so year, why the hell not, we have seen weirder stuff

@tahirakram they’re not saying anything

The abbottabad helicopter/UFO was shot down near the Bilal Town area, and there’s report of a flash. People saying it could be a drone.

@wqs figures, if they have the right to shoot planes flying over the president house, the must have the same instructions for PMA

@smedica people are saying it was not a technical fault and it was shot down. I heard it CIRCLE 3-4 times above, sounded purposeful.

@tahirakram very likely – but it was too noisy to be a spy craft, or, a very poor spy craft it was.

@smedica It must have been more, I started noticing the helicpoter when the noise got irritating – which part of Abbottabd are you in?

@smedica I live near Jalal Baba Auditorium

@smedica ’safer’ is a relative term that has lost its meaning in Pakistan

Here’s the location of the Abbottabad crash according to some people >>> http://on.fb.me/khjf34

Two helicpoters, one down, could actually be the training accident scenario they’re saying it was >> http://bit.ly/ioGE6O

and now I feel I must apologize to the pilot about the swatter tweets :-/

And now, a plane flying over Abbottabad…

@raihak The day there is uninterrupted electricity in Lahore for a whole month, I will start packing my bags, until then, Abbottabad is home

1 dead and 1 injured in Abbottabad for heli crashed

Interesting rumors in the otherwise uneventful Abbottabad air today

naqvi rt by ReallyVirtual I think the helicopter crash in Abbottabad, Pakistan and the President Obama breaking news address are connected.

Report from a taxi driver: The army has cordoned off the crash area and is conducting door-to-door search in the surrounding

@kursed What really happened doesn’t matter if there is an official story behind it that 99.999% of the world would believe
@kursed Another rumor: two copters that followed the crashed one were foreign Cobras – and got away

@ahmedbilal @kursed Sadly. We should start learning how to spread believable stories and recreate a reality that suits us.

@kursed True, but stranger things have happened. I just hope they don’t find my giant helicopter swatter. Must hide it :-/

Report from a sweeper: A family also died in the crash, and one of the helicopter riders got away and is now being searched for.

@kursed Well, there were at least two copters last night, I heard one but a friend heard two, for 15-20 minutes.

@kursed I think I should take out my big blower to blow the fog of war away and see the clearer picture.

I guess Abbottabad is going to get as crowded as the Lahore that I left behind for some peace and quiet. *sigh*
RT @ISuckBigTime: Osama Bin Laden killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan.: ISI has confirmed it << Uh oh, there goes the

Wondering what would be the right music to play in the coffee shop today…"

Twitter Turns Five

It has come a long way in five years...

http://blog.twitter.com/2011/03/happy-birthday-twitter.html

"It's easy to remember working with @jack, @ev, and our tiny team on a project we called Twitter like it was last week. Amazingly, it's five years ago today that the first tweet was sent. Over these years, Twitter has matured and made an impact in the areas of social responsibility, politics, sports, media, and more. The people who use Twitter have made it what it is today, and on our fifth birthday, it's the people that make Twitter special who we are celebrating."

Tweet-Rings.com

Tweet-Rings.com is a simple way for you to get your favorite tweet engraved on a ring. You head over to the site, pull up the user who wrote the tweet you want, and scroll to it. On one side of the ring will be the tweet, the other will have the tweeter's info with time stamp. You can also just type the text you want on either side; maximum of 140 characters on each. Once you are satisfied with the text you select your ring size, chose the material of the ring, and order it.

World Sends 107 Trillion Emails in 2010, %89.9 Spam

Goes to show you the importance of a good spam filter. A few other interesting stats quoted at the source.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/15/world-sends-107-trillion-emails-in-2010-most-of-them-about-enla

"Hold on to your seats, stat lovers, 2010 is about to hit you with the full force of its quantifiable web exploits. Web monitoring site Pingdom reports that last year we all sent 107 trillion emails to our loved and unloved ones, which breaks down to 294 billion per day, though only 10.9 percent of those weren't spam. There are now 1.88 billion email users around the globe and when they're not too busy communicating, they're surfing one of the net's 255 million total sites (21.4 million of which are said to have arrived in 2010). The compendium of numerical knowledge wraps up with a look at social media, where Twitter still has a way to go before catching up with email -- there were only 25 billion tweets last year -- but continues to grow like mad, having added 100 million users during the year. Facebook added even more, 250 million users"

Your Tweets Reveal Your Location

More accurately, the study could be described by saying your dialect reveals your location. Researches found that the dialect is visible in your tweets. The words and slang you use are an indication of where you live.

Picture embedded below.

"They then analyzed the raw text in those messages with a model trained to pick out regional differences such as favored Twitter slang terms ("hella" in Northern California, "wasssup" in New York) as well as sport-team preferences (for example, the Celtics in Boston, the Knicks in New York, the Cavs in Cleveland).

The researchers found that Twitter postings also reflect well-known regionalisms from spoken speech, such as Southerners' "y'all" vs. Pittsburghers' "yinz," and the regional-based references to soda vs. pop vs. Coke.

The model, verified with the geotag information, could predict the location of a microblogger in the U.S. to within 300 miles."

Walden (R) Announces Chairmanship Using Morse Code Tweet

Not the most strait forward way to make an announcement, but one of the more novel/interesting.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/gop-rep-walden-announces-chairmanship-using-morse-code

"Rep. Greg Walden (R-WA) issued the following tweet yesterday:

That sent the newspaper The Hill scrambling for answers. Using an online Morse code translator, the newspaper came up with the following announcement: “”WILL CHAIR COMM AND TECH SUB 73S W7EQI.”

The first part is self explanatory, but the last part (the number and letter combination) forced some more digging. The Hill explains what it found:

The Hill needed help on the last part, and a Walden aide came to the rescue:

“73s means ‘best regards’ or a similar sign-off. W7eqi is his [amateur radio call sign],” he said. Walden has a long history in the radio business where he picked up the lingo.

Walden issued a follow-up tweet to clarify his announcement:

"

TwitterGate - Democrats Hire Twitter-Thug

Head over the the source for screen shots if you do not want to sit through the video with scrolling text.

Video embedded below.

Gmail Starts Separate Twitter Account

Not surprisingly, the name is @gmail (or http://twitter.com/gmail).

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/follow-gmail-on-twitter.html

"We launch new features in Gmail almost every week, and people learn about these features from different sources -- friends and family, the news, this blog, or our what’s new page. But heavy Twitter users like me often have to rely on @google and other users for updates related to Gmail. Starting today, you can now get all your Gmail news, tips and tricks directly from @gmail."

Twaggies.com

Ever read a tweet and just pause for a moment trying to visualize what the person is describing? Twaggies.com is a site devoted to sketching it out. If you really like one, you can get it on a t-shirt.

Twitter Facts And Figures (History And Statistics)

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Biden Gets The Line of Succession Wrong

Having not seen a clip I suspect (hope) that he meant he was second behind Obama; in other words that Obama is first being the president and he is second meaning next or right behind Obama.

Picture embedded below.

Twitter User Manipulates "Following" List to Look Like a Bird

A harmless hack that will undoubtedly be copied; likely (in at least some cases) with less wholesome images.

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Video embedded below.

Justin Bieber Tweets Enemy's Phone Number to 4.5 Million Followers

Justin Bieber tweeted to all his followers to call him at the number he gave. The number was actually that of someone suspected of hacking his buddy's account to get his number; big mistake.

http://gawker.com/5613398/justin-bieber-tweets-enemys-phone-number-to-45-million-followers

"The number actually belongs to a Detroit teenager named Kevin Kristopik. At around 1am Sunday morning Kristopik tweeted "Thanks for giving out my # @justinbieber." (Kristopik has since deleted his twitter account.) Two hours, and over 10,000 text messages later, he posted this video to YouTube of his phone blowing up with calls and texts
...
It's unclear exactly what Kristopik did that caused Justin Bieber to sic the equivalent of Greater Boston's population on him. But it appears to be payback on some level for Kristopik hacking the Twitter account of a childhood friend of Justin's named Ryan Butler, and using it to get Justin's phone number. On July 27th, Kristopik tweeted "im the one who hacked ryan and got justins #." When asked today on Twitter, "You hacked ryan, and now jb wants payback so he tweeted your number?" Kristopik replied, "Kinda.""

'Reshare' Goes Live For Google Buzz

'Reshare' ... kind of like 'retweet', no? Just the latest move to try to over take Twitter.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/reshare-in-google-buzz.html

"For the last couple weeks we've been testing reshare — and today we’re excited to roll it out to everyone. If you don't see the "Reshare" link quite yet, hang tight. It should be on for everyone by the end of the day.

How reshare works

When you find an interesting buzz post you want to reshare, instead of copying and pasting it (and maybe attributing the original poster with an @reply along the way), you can now reshare posts with two clicks.

First, click “Reshare”:


Then type up anything you want to add and click “Post”:


Your post will include a link to the original post:


Note that this only works for public posts; private posts won't have the reshare link since the original poster intended to limit the audience of their post."

White House Puts The Kibosh on Chef Tweets

The White House kitchen is for cooking, not for tweeting; at least for Chicago 'superstar chef' Rick Bayless who was shut down.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/2291788,CST-NWS-sweet19side.article

"Rick Bayless, the Chicago superstar chef, was Twittering from the White House kitchen about today's Obama White House state dinner honoring Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala. Until the Tweets stopped. The White House kitchen is for cooking, not Tweeting.
...
On Tuesday morning Bayless, an inveterate Tweeter wrote, "Thanks 2 the 100s of well wishers! Ready 4 day 2 n rather small White House kitchen. Chef was challenged by some ingred, but last arrive 2day."

He flew to Washington on Monday from Chicago and when he arrived, he Twittered, "Just arrived in DC. Headed to the White House kitchens. I have to say: I'm a little nervous."

After he checked out the White House kitchen -- which is fairly small -- Bayless Twittered, "The White House staff could not be nicer&more professional! Most worried about ingredients, but all will b here 4 big day!"

But after his Tuesday Tweet early in the morning, Bayless was shut down on Twitter."

Man Arrested For Twitter 'Joke' Convicted

Making bomb threats against an airport is not funny, even if you tweet it. Paul Chambers found that out the hard way after he was arrested and then convicted of sending a threatening message in England.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FK4C9O0&show_article=1

"A British man who said on Twitter that he would blow up an airport if his flight was delayed by snow was convicted Monday of sending a threatening message and fined more than 1,000 pounds ($1,500).

Paul Chambers, 26, insisted his post on the micro-blogging site was a joke. But a judge at Doncaster Magistrates' Court in northern England found him guilty of sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message over a public telecommunications network.

District Judge Jonathan Bennett said the message "was of a menacing nature in the context of the times in which we live." He ordered Chambers to the fine and court costs."

Twitter Donates Access to The Entire Archive of Public Tweets to The Library of Congress

Google is not the only entity getting thier hands on Twitter's Tweet archive. The Library of Congress is also getting access for preservation purposes.

http://blog.twitter.com/2010/04/tweet-preservation.html

"The Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States and it is the largest library in the world. The Library's primary mission is research and it receives copies of every book, pamphlet, map, print, and piece of music registered in the United States. Recently, the Library of Congress signaled to us that the public tweets we have all been creating over the years are important and worthy of preservation.

Since Twitter began, billions of tweets have been created. Today, fifty-five million tweets a day are sent to Twitter and that number is climbing sharply. A tiny percentage of accounts are protected but most of these tweets are created with the intent that they will be publicly available. Over the years, tweets have become part of significant global events around the world—from historic elections to devastating disasters.

It is our pleasure to donate access to the entire archive of public Tweets to the Library of Congress for preservation and research. It's very exciting that tweets are becoming part of history. It should be noted that there are some specifics regarding this arrangement. Only after a six-month delay can the Tweets will be used for internal library use, for non-commercial research, public display by the library itself, and preservation."

Google Search Across The Twitter Archive

It is not fully here yet, but should be in the next few days. The ability to perform a Google search across Twitter's entire archive. If you have any embarrassing tweets, now would be a good time to go delete them or make it private.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/replay-it-google-search-across-twitter.html

"Since we first introduced real-time search last December, we’ve added content from MySpace, Facebook and Buzz, expanded to 40 languages and added a top links feature to help you find the most relevant content shared on updates services like Twitter. Today, we’re introducing a new feature to help you search and explore the public archive of tweets.
...
Starting today, you can zoom to any point in time and “replay” what people were saying publicly about a topic on Twitter. To try it out, click “Show options” on the search results page, then select “Updates.” The first page will show you the familiar latest and greatest short-form updates from a comprehensive set of sources, but now there’s a new chart at the top. In that chart, you can select the year, month or day, or click any point to view the tweets from that specific time period. Here we’ve searched for [golden gate park] and browsed to see March, 2010:


The chart shows the relative volume of activity on Twitter about the topic. As you can see, there are daily spikes in the afternoon (when parks are the most fun) and an unusually high spike on March 27. Clicking on the 27th, you’ll discover it was a sunny Saturday, which may explain the increased traffic on Twitter. People were tweeting about disc golf and tennis, biking, riding a party bus, craving chips and salsa...the kind of local, time-specific information that up until now would be almost impossible to find online.

By replaying tweets, you can explore any topic that people have discussed on Twitter
...
The replay feature is rolling out now and will be available globally in English within the next couple days (if you want to try it now, try out this special link). For our initial release, you can explore tweets going back to February 11, 2010, and soon you’ll be able to go back as far as the very first tweet on March 21, 2006."

Twitter Has Over 105 Million Registered Users

Such is the claim made by Twitter's co-founder. The site received roughly 180 million unique visitors a month. If there was any doubt to Twitters popularity, of if it was more puff then real, this should put that to rest.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.411a1689628ad4d1a2cd15288835ff30.551&show_article=1

"Twitter has more than 105 million registered users and the hot micro-blogging service is adding 300,000 new accounts a day, co-founder Biz Stone said Wednesday.

Stone, speaking at a conference for Twitter software developers here, also said that the Twitter.com website receives about 180 million unique visitors a month.

Stone, revealing the number of registered users and traffic figures for the first time, said Twitter has grown to 105,779,710 registered users since it was launched in March 2006."