Tweeterism

This Cat Has More Twitter Followers Than You

tweeterism — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:36:00 +0000

It was a pleasant surprise to find that the Associated Press did a profile on Sockington, a Twitter account for a cat. And not just any cat. A cat with over 500,000 followers. A cat that has funny tweets. Sockington is the cat of Jason Scott, who does all the tweeting for him as well.

Scott has created a character with a particular voice by tweeting messages from Sockington’s point of view like: “I must say no comment to the whole dining room incident. No questions please.”

“He’s kind of functioning like a ‘Garfield’ comic,” Scott says. “He’s like the 21st-century Garfield…Everybody wants this social media bubble. They want something where we’re all chattering so much that we all get rich,” Scott says. “And this cat makes everybody look like fools because he’s got hundreds of thousands of followers. And he doesn’t tend to follow anyone but other animals.”

How did he get so many followers? Well for one, Twitter put Sockington on the suggested users list for new user signups so it was easy for him to get a ton of new followers initially without doing anything. But gradually people warmed up to Socks and started spreading the word.

Sockington 500,000 Followers from Jason Scott on Vimeo.

Twitter Hit With Evil Phishing Attacks (Again)

tweeterism — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:57:21 +0000

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. (Wikipedia)

Yesterday a series of phishing attacks were launched on Twitter, the goal of which was to steal the passwords of users and then use them to get other user passwords in order to send out links to another phishing site. Phishing attacks are usually launched on financial institutions like online banks and information-sensitive areas like gmail for maximum profit.

The end goal of this particular Twitter phishing attack was to make money by redirecting users to adult dating sites, so the scammers can earn money through an affiliate program.

In this case here’s a lowdown on what happened, pay attention because this is usually how most phishing attacks work:

In the first Twitter phishing round, hackers created fake Twitter accounts and then started following legitimate Twitter users. Twitter notifies users when they have new followers, sending the user a link to the follower’s Twitter profile page. In this case, the profile page contained a link to a phishing site. So the victim, while investigating his new follower, would end up on the fake site Tvviter(.)com (this page is not safe to visit) where he would be asked to enter his Twitter username and password.

Once the phishers obtained their victim’s login credentials, they used them to launch the second round of attacks. In this round, they posted Twitter messages such as “hey check thiss out” or “Hey. there is this funny blog going around.” These messages include a link to another phishing site.

Here are some recommended security precautions should take note of:

Always check the URL in the address bar before entering your credentials for any online service.
Never click links from friends if you don’t know where they lead
It seems obfuscated URLs are becoming ever more a tool of cybercriminals, you should consider using longurl as a browser plug-in to let you see the true destination of shortened URLs before you click on them.

Which is also a reason why you should consider using Tweetdeck as your Twitter client because Tweetdeck has a feature which allows you to see the full URL of each shortened link before you click on it, very useful indeed.

Twitter Helps Comcast to Get More Satisfied Customers

tweeterism — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:03:06 +0000

A Bloomberg news report yesterday talks about how Comcast has risen in customer-satisfaction ratings because it is using twitter to deal with dissatisfied customers. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Comcast’s rating rose 9 percent in the first quarter, the largest gain among cable and satellite providers.

Comcast has always had an incredibly bad reputation for horrible service, for 3 of the past 6 years, Comcast tied for the worst place in the index. Now it’s been trying to climb its way out of the hole by proactively dealing with customers using communication channels like Twitter. Here’s how Comcast uses Twitter:

Comcast employs 10 people to monitor Twitter, a site where users can post 140-character messages, or “tweets.” The representatives search for keywords “Comcast” or, occasionally, “Comcrap” to find customers who mention service complaints they can address, said Frank Eliason, Comcast’s director of digital care.

“Twitter allows us to communicate with our customers where they already are — they don’t have to pick up the phone or write an e-mail,” Eliason said. “I encourage my team to use their real names and pictures, not the Comcast logo, so we develop personal relationships with them.”

The truth is Comcast has been using Twitter to deal with customer complaints for a long time, perhaps more than a year now:

When C.C. Chapman noticed a blemish in his high-definition television’s reception during the NBA playoffs recently, he blasted a quick gripe about Comcast into the online ether, using the social network Twitter. Minutes later, a Twitter user named ComcastCares responded, and within 24 hours, a technician was at Chapman’s house in Milford to fix the problem.

“I was so floored,” said Chapman, who runs a digital marketing agency and advises companies to do what he experienced with Comcast – listen to what customers are saying about them online and respond. “When it actually happened to me, it blew me away,” he said.

@comcastcares is the Twitter account used by Frank Eliason, the ‘director of digital care’ for Comcast. While Comcast’s improvement in customer-satisfaction ratings can’t be all attributed to their use of Twitter, it does show how important Twitter is becoming as a platform to contact customers and improve their perception of your brand. Businesses should do well to take note.

Threadless Sells Twitter T-Shirts, Offers Cash Prizes

tweeterism — Thu, 21 May 2009 06:22:54 +0000

Threadless, a T-shirt company is offering to let Twitter users have top tweets printed on T-shirts. Users can nominate and vote for the tweets that will be printed on each shirt, much like how threadless currently produces its other t-shirts. Two new tshirts will be sold each week at $18 each.

You can sign in to your twitter account via Threadless and you’ll be able to vote on submitted tweets and earn $500 for submitting your own tweet (if it gets printed) or $140 for nominating a tweet that gets printed.

Pretty fun contest and threadless is an example of a business that has done well to appeal to the ever growing Twitter crowd. Great way to boost sales and get more new customers.

Man Uses Twitter to Save Unconscious Woman on Street

tweeterism — Wed, 20 May 2009 09:10:39 +0000

An Atlanta city councilman has used Twitter to save the life of a woman who had a seizure on the street. Instead of calling 911 for medical assistance, Kwanza Hall sent out a twitter message because his phone battery was low and he didn’t want to be stuck on hold.

“Need a paramedic on corner of John Wesley Dobbs and Jackson st. Woman on the ground unconscious. Pls ReTweet,” was the message he sent out on the social networking Web site.

Within seconds, dozens of Hall’s Twitter followers sent out the message to their followers and several people called 911 to report the emergency. Paramedics arrived in time to rush the unconscious woman to Grady Memorial Hospital. Doctors said she had suffered a seizure.

Was this the right course of action? What if no one actually saw the tweet and called 9/11? That’s a risk but I guess it all worked out. Some people on the internet however had different opinions:

“What a a moron! By sending out a general plea for medical attention via Twitter he ultimately caused more people to dial 911 than needed. Which ties up the 911 system and costs someone else who’s in an emergency valuable time. Dialing 911 brings the Paramedics. Dispatch doesn’t have time to follow other forms of medium like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, email, etc. How about invest in a better system and more people.”

“Using twitter did not help this woman one bit. It was the person who called who was the first to get through to 911 and dispatch the ambulance. The only thing this councilman did was send out a panic to numerous people online who then flooded 911.

Because of him, other people with real emergencies had to sit on hold.Why is the media proud of him? Hundreds of thousands of people are out of work and this idiot is on his blackberry using twitter all day long. If he thinks there is a problem with 911, he needs to find a solution instead of adding to the problem.”

Guess you can’t please everyone.

Twitter to Make Money from Tools and Not Ads

tweeterism — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:31:36 +0000

Twitter’s business model has been officially confirmed by co-founder Biz Stone, which has said that Twitter is developing add-on tools and services for businesses and professional users of Twitter. These premium tools will be introduced by the end of 2009.

But Stone dismissed the notion of selling advertisements on the popular service at this time, even though ad revenue is the main way most Web start-ups manage to stay in business while keeping their service free for consumers.

“There are a few reasons why we’re not pursuing advertising — one is it’s just not quite as interesting to us,” Stone told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York via videolink from San Francisco.

Stone said serving up ads alongside Twitter messages could also annoy users. And he said Twitter doesn’t have, and isn’t seeking to hire, the staff to create an advertising-based business.

He also confirmed that Twitter will continue to remain free for all users and businesses and talked about Twitter’s plan to work with mobile networks:

The company’s main focus at the moment is developing new features for commercial users, such as “lightweight analytics” and a directory of commercial accounts that would verify that businesses on Twitter are legitimate.

He also said the company has had talks with cell phone carriers to make sure that Twitter works on their text messaging networks, and said it was possible Twitter could strike revenue-sharing agreements with some of the carriers. Twitter closed a round of financing earlier this year pegged at $35 million by media reports, and Stone said the company was not under any pressure by its investors to earn a profit in the near future.

There’s a Twitter Haiku Contest Going On…

tweeterism — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:52:52 +0000

A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three metrical phrases of 5, 7 and 5 respectively. It’s an elegant and minimalistic form of expression, one that is perfect for something like Twitter. Which is why Twitter is hosting the first real-time haiku poetry competition, with judges Yoko Ono and poet Jackie Kay, picking the best verses from entries posted live on London’s Kings Cross’s biggest digital billboard.

The competition begins on Monday, May 18 and runs until Friday, May 22. Commuters arriving into Kings Cross are invited to submit three line haiku-style poems on the subject of the British summer from their mobile phones using Twitter. To submit haikus, commuters have to place the prefix @kingsplace so their entries will be picked up by the Kings Place Twitter account. The best contributions are then moderated and appear within minutes on the largest digital billboard at the station.

Winners will stand to win free entry to a weekly poetry event for the rest of the year.. it’s not a hugely enticing prize but still, its worth it if you’re in London and love poetry. This is a pretty cool way of using Twitter and I think businesses should take note of how Twitter can be leveraged to grab mindshare in public places.

How Mobile Food Vendors Use Twitter for Publicity

tweeterism — Mon, 18 May 2009 09:00:34 +0000

Twitter is a mobile tool.. you can send out updates from your phone in just about anywhere you are. Typing out a single message can reach a few thousand of people who might be equally mobile, which is why Twitter is ideal for businesses on the move, particularly food trucks.

Twitter recently became the communique of choice for the popular Kogi BBQ trucks, roving Korean-style taco vendors in Los Angeles that use the 140-character microblogs to alert customers to their whereabouts and menu items.

And the trend is spreading to other wheel meals as more food trucks — a fast-growing food phenomenon in major cities, especially in the West — are using the social networking site to draw customers.

“Kogi special at the trucks and the Alibi! Grilled asparagus with Yellow Nectarines and Sesame Seeds!” read one recent Kogi Tweet.

The decision to Twitter was a practical one, said Kogi brand manager Mike Prasad. He said Kogi needed a way to inspire repeat business while solving “the problems of being a moveable venue.”

“Then they find Twitter, something that’s separate from the venue itself that creates a virtual home,” Prasad said. “It was perfect.”

ABC News Using Twitter as a Discussion Platform

tweeterism — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:40:02 +0000

This is a rather significant development on mainstream journalism. ABC News has created a new half-hour digital program called “NightTline” which allows viewers to discuss and debate the news of the day through Twitter. While other news sources have embraced Twitter as a news dissemination network, its good to see how networks are encouraging the use of Twitter as a discussion platform.

New, unique visualization of Twitter using Pixel touch screen technology will be employed for the first time on the site. The first episode of “NightTline” will be broadcast on Wednesday, May 13th at 12:30 p.m. ET. Episodes will take on the program’s popular “Face-Off” model, a live debate on issues being discussed on the national stage, which “Nightline” has made successful in its recent on air programming. (link)

An example of how Twitter was used can be seen by checking out Nightline’s Twitter page.

No related posts.

The Funniest Ever Video About Twitter

tweeterism — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:04:46 +0000

A young man struggles against the pressure to Twitter his life away. From: “SuperNews!” An animated sketch comedy series airing on Current TV. I know some of you have already seen this but there’s a good chance that some of you haven’t so check it out! There have been a few Twitter parodies but I think this one is the funniest so far. It really does embody how some people think about Twitter, about its frivolous and silly from the outside. But we know better, don’t we?