Twitter “verified accounts” coming soon
by Sky on Jun.14, 2009, under Frothy Concepts, Identity & The End of Privacy, Twitter
Good to see this … Twitter will be offering “verified” accounts soon.
We’re starting with well-known accounts that have had problems with impersonation or identity confusion. (For example, well-known artists, athletes, actors, public officials, and public agencies). We may verify more accounts in the future, but because of the cost and time required, we’re only testing this feature with a small set of folks for the time being. As the test progresses we may be able to expand this test to more accounts over the next several months.
We ran into a problem with an account purporting to be the office of the Dalai Lama [OHHDL] in 2008. The account looked like it might be real, but turned out to be someone impersonating the office. But it wasn’t exposed until more than 10,000 people had started following the Twitter account.
This move on Twitter’s part will be welcome.
Teens don’t use Twitter; so who does?
by Sky on Jun.11, 2009, under Organizations and Sociology, Twitter
Marcia Connor (@marciamarcia) pointed me at this blog article -> “5 Reasons Teens Don’t Like Twitter.” It’s the blogger’s first article ever, and I don’t agree with all of the points, but it’s an interesting premise, so let’s dive into it. Why would teens (or anybody for that reason) not like Twitter? (continue reading…)
China firewall lockdown again
by Sky on Jun.03, 2009, under Human Rights, Media, Our networked world, Twitter
With the upcoming 20th anniversary (4th of June) of the Tienanmen Square demonstrations (which I followed on television in the US, to the extent that photos were available), is coming up and access to “social media” sites that would permit people to share their thoughts is being blocked. The New York Times has also picked up on this.
Where are your Twitter followers?
by Sky on May.20, 2009, under Communicating, Cyber-nomads, Identity & The End of Privacy, Software and online tools, The Quantified Self, Twitter
Robert Scoble just posed this question, “Someone just asked me if there’s a good way to get a holistic look at Twitter or friendfeed followers. I don’t know of any. Do you?”
He was talking about their geographical locations. Among the answers, one person pointed at a Yahoo Pipes application that puts pins (each corresponding to one follower) onto a world map. I‘ve written about Yahoo Pipes before — it’s a web service that lets you “visually” create an algorithm that reads RSS feeds and manipulates them. Pipes can filter, put together, count, limit and obviously do a lot more. I have created a Pipes application that filters several RSS feeds and then makes them available for insertion on a blog.
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Welcome!
I hope you'll enjoy this mix of topics stemming from my ongoing experiences in the world of online communication. Oh, and sometimes the inspiration comes from face-to-face communications too. Many are sparked by my work as Chief Technology Officer of The Dalai Lama Foundation. Current Features —
CyberSpark.net — Cyber-defense for free speech and human rights onlineMany Paths to Peace — Explore the many ways compassionate peacemakers are working to make this a better world. (Video interviews)
Traveling Geeks — The fun continues! The geeks traveled to London and Cambridge in July, and to Paris in December — and the conversation continues long after the trip has finished. Join us.
