Twitter Launches Emergency Alerts

TwitterOn Wednesday the social media giant Twitter, launched “Twitter Alerts”. When news breaks about a safety concern or a weather related emergency, a Twitter Alert will pop up in your feed from the appropriate organization handling the information during the emergency.

The Twitter Alerts program is available to any organization that will be providing the critical information to the public; these organizations can be local, national or international. Currently, Twitter has more than 100 government agencies that are enrolled in this program. If you believe your agency should be enrolled in the program, fill out their enrollment form.

Believe it or not, Twitter has already proven to come in handy during times of disaster. FEMA used Twitter as a way to communicate critical information for those in the path of Hurricane Sandy. And the Boston Police Department used Twitter to correct any misinformation that the media report and also used it to keep the people of Boston up-to-date during the citywide manhunt for the bombers.

For most people, checking their social media sites first thing in the morning is almost as important as that first cup of coffee. Be sure to check out the list of organizations already signed up for Twitter Alerts and follow those that are close to you so you can always be in the know.
Current list of Twitter Alerts users

Information from Twitter Blog

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake Do It Again

jfjtWhen hashtags are used the right way, they are a great tool for quickly finding information on Twitter and Facebook. Jimmy and Justin show you exactly how stupid people look when they use hashtags other than a means to get information out to your followers. Even though it is a personal favorite in this video, I would never look up “#thatshowwedo”.

YouTube Comments Section Upgrade

YouTube Comment Section UpgradeYouTube recently teamed up with Google + to come up with a way for YouTube users to control the comments that are posted on their videos.  It was rolled out to a select few users today, and will be available for all users by the end of the year.  “We are moving from comments to conversations.” said YouTube product manager Nundu Janakiram,

What is going to change? Currently, you see the last person to comment on the video; with the change you will see the most relevant conversations or comments first. Those comments that are relevant are determined so by the owner of the video.  Owners of the video will have the option to “blacklist” certain words that they do not want to see and also will be able to flag people as spam or abusive.

The new system is powered by Google+ and will be linked to the social networking site.  Comments from people in your Google+ circles will automatically be considered more relevant and moved up higher in the comments list, as well as them being able to see what you are commenting on videos.  Of course, there will be several privacy settings available, you can make conversations public or keep it between just you and certain friends.

Basically here are the new rules:  Are you the creator/owner of the video? If so, you have control over what your viewers see in the comments list, which I would assume is a huge relief.  For those of you that want to comment on a video; ask yourself, is what I am about to say relevant to the video? If yes, then most likely your comment will be considered positively by the creator. If no, to put it nicely, find something better to do, your comment will never be seen.

Mashable