Posts tagged Twitter
Google Glass Gets New Twitter, Facebook, CNN Apps
May 16th
The universe of apps for Google Glass, initially limited to the New York Times and the social network Path, is expanding rapidly. Google on Thursday announced several more entries to its Glassware stable: Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Tumblr, CNN news updates, Elle fashion features and a Glass-only game called Ice Breaker.
Look for more Glass apps to surface as the augmented reality goggles move closer to a public rollout later this year.
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Twitter Lawyer Tapped As First White House Chief Privacy Officer
May 7th
The White House tapped Twitter legal director Nicole Wong as its first chief privacy officer, CNET reported. Wong, a Silicon Valley legal veteran, had only been at Twitter about six months; she was previously at Google for eight years.
It’s not entirely clear what the White House chief privacy officer will do. Cabinet-level CPOs are generally tasked with ensuring that their departments follow federal rules for the handling of personal information (see, for instance, these authority and responsibilities of the Homeland Security CPO). It’s fairly likely that the White House CPO would do likewise for the Obama administration, and might also serve as a presidential advisor on privacy-related federal regulations and legislation.
At Google, Wong managed a team of lawyers that reviewed products before launch and combed over everything from removal requests to copyright issues, earning her the nickname “The Decider.” Her appointment is striking because, as CNET’s Declan McCullagh put it, Wong is “a Silicon Valley lawyer who has been immersed in technology issues” and not a member of the Washington establishment.
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Google, Twitter, LinkedIn Earn Top Ratings on Data Privacy
May 4th
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s annual Who Has Your Back? report lauds a number of major companies for their efforts to help preserve user privacy and report to the public the extent of their cooperation with government groups.
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EFF: Twitter Scores, Verizon Fails At Protecting User Privacy
May 2nd
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted its annual report on which Internet vendors do the most to help protect their users’s private information. And this year’s two best protectors by the EFF’s definition? Twitter and Internet Service Provider Sonic.net.
Each of these two vendors scored well within the EFF’s six criteria used to judge online services in the organization’s Who Has Your Back? 2013 report posted today.
For the EFF, the most privacy-oriented companies should comply with these policies:
- Requiring a Warrant for Content
- Telling Users About Government Data Requests
- Publishing Transparency Reports
- Publishing Law Enforcement Guidelines
- Fighting for Users’ Privacy in Court
- Fighting for Users’ Privacy in Congress
Each rated company gets a star when it does well with one of these criteria. Twitter and Sonic.net nailed it with six stars. LinkedIn, Dropbox and storage service SpiderOak received five stars, having each missed the fighting for users’ privacy in court category.
The worst performers in the EFF’s round-up of privacy advocacy? Social media platform MySpace and cellular carrier Verizon, which were awarded no stars at all. Apple, AT&T and Yahoo, only received one start apiece, with the latter getting the award for pushing back in the courts and the other two companies achieving the fighting for users’ privacy in Congress star.
Overall, the EFF thinks that things are getting better among these vendors that deal with so much user data.
“We’re happy to report that several of the companies included in last year’s report have significantly improved their practices and policies concerning government access to user data,” the organization reported, “Comcast, Google, SpiderOak, and Twitter earned two new stars this year while Microsoft earned three new stars. Foursquare went from zero stars in 2012 to four in 2013.”
The report might seem a bit disjointed in its approach, lumping a lot of companies in together with the only common thread being the handling of user data. Users’ expectations on a social network like Facebook is much different than privacy concerns on Verizon or Amazon.
But this is a report about government overreach, not expectations of privacy. The government may be able to see your data on your Facebook page, but to use it in a trial or investigation, they should still use a warrant, the EFF is arguing. Users may be surprised to see so many large data handlers that don’t even have that basic requirement.
Things are getting better, but there is still a long way to go.
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Twitter Ads Self-Serve Platform Opens to All U.S. Users
May 1st
Twitter’s self-serve ad platform is now available to all U.S. users, rather than just on an invitation-only basis. The social media platform has also added enhancements designed to help advertisers better analyze and manage their ad campaigns.
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Comedy Central Brings #ComedyFest to Twitter
Apr 28th
The comedy cable network and social media platform have teamed up to launch #ComedyFest, the “first-ever celebration of comedy and comedians to be programmed on Twitter.” The laughs start tomorrow and will be provided by more than 50 comedians.
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Getting the Most Out of Twitter for SEO – Business 2 Community
Apr 18th
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Getting the Most Out of Twitter for SEO
Business 2 Community One of the quickest and easiest viral campaigns you can start right away that can increase your SEO rankings is to start a Twitter petition. Setting Up A Page On Your Website. Most small businesses already have a cause that they support but are you … |
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Twitter #Music Is Great For Artists; Less So For Fans [Hands On Review]
Apr 18th
Twitter put months of speculation to rest this morning when it launched its own music-focused service for iOS and the Web. Twitter #Music is a standalone app for discovering, following and listening to artists that draws its intelligence from Twitter’s own user activity data. At first glance, it’s a win for artists, but the value it adds for fans remains to be seen.
First and foremost, Twitter #Music is undoubtedly good for Twitter. The app takes something that is hugely popular among consumers — music — and intimately ties it to its own service. It also integrates with Spotify and Rdio so tracks can be streamed in their entirety from within Twitter #Music. That feature, the company is betting, will keep listeners glued to the app, where much of what they do is tied to Twitter’s core functionality: tweeting songs and following artists.
Putting Artists Front and Center
For artists, the potential advantages here are huge. At every turn, Twitter #Music encourages you to follow bands and musicians, which of course can lead to longterm engagement and even sales. Whether they’re already trending or Twitter thinks you might like them (based on your existing follows), this app puts artists and their Twitter handles front-and-center, never missing an opportunity to stick a “follow” button in front of the user.
Twitter #Music also lets users buy tracks directly from iTunes, which is a major plus for artists who still aren’t making all that much money from those Spotify and Rdio streams.
If widely adopted, Twitter #Music could become a potent source of exposure for up-and-coming musicians. And while there a million services that promise to enable music discovery, seldom do they directly make money for artists.
We Are Hunted, R.I.P.
Twitter #Music is built on top of the guts of We Are Hunted, a service that ranked the popularity of online music so effectively that some people wondered whether it could replace Billboard. Twitter gobbled it up to build this, and you can tell. Twitter #Music’s design is strongly reminiscent of We Are Hunted’s, even if Twitter appear to have gutted much of the service’s original functionality.
We Are Hunted’s flagship feature was its Emerging Music chart, which analyzed a wide range of data signals to determine what music was most popular online. Twitter #Music appears to replace that more complex algorithm with something that more heavily favors Twitter’s own data. That’s not surprising, but it makes for a less thorough analysis and for music fans, a less useful experience.
In the process of launching this new product, Twitter also appears to have gutted some of We Are Hunted’s core recommendation technology in favor of a more Twitter-centric approach. Whereas We Are Hunted used a complex array of data to associate artist to one another, Twitter #Music appears to be relying heavily (if not exclusively) on data about the relationship between artists on the service, such as who follows who. When I look at The Flaming Lips on Twitter’s new service, it recommends Taylor Swift. Really?
Do We Need This?
With We Are Hunted effectively neutered and Twitter entering the digital music space with a big splash, the big question remains: How useful is this new app for users?
It depends. Let’s consider Twitter #Music’s key selling points: You can discover music that’s popular on Twitter, get new music recommendations and listen to it all within the app. Those are all useful things, although to varying degrees.
The music-listening part is only really worthwhile to those of us who pay for premium Spotify or Rdio accounts. Otherwise, we’re left with a mere iTunes snippet and the option to buy the whole track. And if you do have Rdio or Spotify, you’re going to continue to use those services’ apps for the majority of your listening. Listening to music isn’t the main draw of Twitter #Music, just a very nice touch.
The most compelling aspect of the app is Twitter’s data about artists, songs and the social relationships between them. If you can get over the fact that We Are Hunted pulled in much more data and was thus much more interesting, this is useful, especially if you happen to be active on Twitter.
Where Twitter-Based Music Discovery Fails
But just being a voracious tweeter isn’t enough. As many users have pointed out, the “Me” and “Suggested” tabs of the app are of limited value if you don’t follow a lot of musicians on Twitter. Indeed, using Twitter follows as a barometer for one’s music taste is a curious choice. Sometimes musicians have worthwhile Twitter accounts, sometimes not.
Either way, most people probably don’t follow all the artists they like. Unlike the Facebook “like”, the Twitter “follow” is not an explicit statement saying “I enjoy listening to this band.” Instead, it’s saying, “I think this band, whose music I happen to enjoy, might have interesting things to say, so I’m listening.”
Of course, if you’re not following a lot of artists, that’s something Twitter #Music is explicitly designed to change. But out of the box, this is a real handicap for some users.
It’s also worth mentioning that at launch, Twitter #Music only appears to acknowledge verified artist accounts, at least as far as the “Me” tab is concerned. When I click on my own profile, it shows eight bands that I follow. There are certainly more artists that I follow, but they’re less well-known and thus have no official designation from Twitter. As a result, they are presumably not factored into my recommendations.
Personally, I’m not all that interested in what music is generally popular on Twitter. You mean to tell me that lots of people are listening to Psy, P!nk and Maroon 5? No kidding! The “Emerging” tab is a bit more interesting, as this is where a hidden gem or two is bound to surface.
The other tabs are more personalized, and thus likely to be more relevant to users. It’s not clear exactly what kind of data is fueling he “Suggested” tab, but it does a reasonably decent job of recommending artists. Many of its suggestions are spot-on. Some are questionable. It’s not terrible, but it could be better. I’ve tested a lot of services that utilize music recommendation engines.
For my money, algorithms like the ones behind Pandora, Last.fm and the Echo Nest do a much better job of making music suggestions than this app does. Twitter #Music is also competing against beloved and impressive music recommendation apps like Shuffler.fm and Hype Machine.
On the whole, Twitter #Music is a decent app. If you like music enough to subscribe to a streaming service and are interested in finding new music, this is a pretty good, social-fueled way to do it. If your tastes are more particular and nuanced, tools with more complex algorithms and granular data points are likely to be more useful to you. Either way, it’s worth taking it for a spin.
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Twitter Launches Keyword Targeting in Timelines
Apr 18th
Twitter’s keyword targeting in timelines means advertisers will be able to specify the keywords they wish to initiate a promoted tweet, as well as specifying the geographic location, gender, and client being used, to reach their audience.
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Twitter Is Teasing Its Musical Future
Apr 12th
Is Twitter moving on to bigger and better things? Maybe louder, more musical ventures? That’s what it sounds like as the seven-year-old San Francisco micro blogging site confirmed Thursday that sometime last year it had acquired We Are Hunted, a music discovery service.
Welcome to Twitter! “@wearehunted: We want to share some news with you. We Are Hunted has joined Twitter. wearehunted.com”
— Twitter Comms (@twittercomms) April 11, 2013
Social music is a huge space, with social music apps bringing like-minded listeners together and exposing them to new music. This process is known as music discovery. Spotify is one such discovery service, with a freemium streaming music library valued in the $3 billion range. Rhapsody and Pandora are other major players in streaming music and discovery.
In the pure discovery realm, Shazam has become the go-to app to find out just what song is playing whenever you hear a track for which you just have to know the title. There’s countless others, with the mobile market becoming a fast-evolving sector for engagement between musicians, brands and listeners. It’s a new way to gain loyalty from fans and online exposure for artists.
Twitter’s purchase, We Are Hunted, tracks popular songs on social media, which means Twitter is likely prepping its own music app. This morning All Things D wrote that Twitter Music could launch as early as today, or by this weekend – timed to match the opening of the Coachella music festival. The new service would recommend users music based on who they follow on Twitter.
Ramping up that likely possibility, a landing page aptly titled Music.Twitter.com has gone live to help facilitate the process and get users to sign in to authorize the new music-trending app.
It’s still early morning, but expect Twitter to reveal its sing-songy plan later today, or this weekend at the latest. Now it looks like Twitter is stepping into the same arena. Are your ears burning yet?
Image courtesy of Twitter.
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