Tag Archives: microblogging

Twitter notches more than 200 million active monthly users

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Twitter notches more than 200 million active monthly users

Sure, Facebook may have scored one billion active monthly users earlier this fall, but Twitter has some celebrating to do as well -- albeit for a significantly smaller figure. Rather than commemorating the announcement with an awkward commercial comparing itself to furniture, Twitter sent out a solitary tweet stating that it now has more than 200 million monthly active users. We last checked in on the microblogging service's traction when it had 175 million registered users in 2010, and as of last summer it's said to be sitting pretty with more than 500 million in total. Costolo and Co. may not have numbers as enormous as Facebook, but these stats aren't exactly something to scoff at.

[Image credit: Coletivo Mambembe, Flickr]

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Via: Fast Company

Source: Twitter

Sina Weibo exceeds 400 million users, sees increasing mobile traffic

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Sina Weibo exceeds 400 million users, sees increasing mobile traffic

Microblogging site Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, reported a pretty dazzling statistic in its third quarter results: it now boasts over 400 million registered users. We can't be sure how many are active, of course, but it's still a vast number considering appeal is localized to the People's Republic. It also means Sina is winning the popularity contest with social media competitor Tencent, although it humbly acknowledges their services are somewhat different. The company's platform is still evolving, and it's only recently seen mobile usage exceed computers, so is shifting product focus accordingly. Sina's obviously doing something right, and that suits us just fine -- keep those news bites and juicy leaks coming.

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Sina Weibo exceeds 400 million users, sees increasing mobile traffic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceSina  | Email this | Comments

Twitter brings content preview cards to Android and iPhone, lets us email tweets from the web

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Twitter brings content preview cards to Android and iPhone, lets us email tweets from the web

Twitter has been on a mission to bring more of its expanded tweet content to the mobile world, and most recently lavished attention on the iPad. It's carrying that campaign to a much wider mix of screens: an update to the Android and iPhone apps gives them article summary and photo preview cards whenever they either search for tweets or browse through the Discover tab, all without having to tap the post first. Photos in the reworked search have likewise moved to the top by default to help track down that elusive concert photo. Web users aren't being left out of Twitter's latest update frenzy, either. The social network is tucking an option into the "more" section of each tweet that lets us email a pristine-looking copy to anyone who isn't part of Twitter's flock. All of the features are available to try immediately in the relevant official clients, which should make life grand for those of us who want more than just a wall of text in our search results.

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Twitter brings content preview cards to Android and iPhone, lets us email tweets from the web originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Twitter (1), (2), (3)  |  sourceApp Store, Google Play  | Email this | Comments

TweetBot for Mac reaches the Mac App Store, keeps the 3rd-party Twitter client flame alive

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Tweetbot for Mac snap-together in alpha

When Twitter put out its strict new API guidelines, there was some doubt as to whether or not third-party clients like Tapbots' Tweetbot for Mac would even make the cut -- the user caps and other curbs on unofficial apps potentially made it tough to develop competition around a different (and possibly better) experience. That makes today's official appearance of Tweetbot in the Mac App Store as much symbolic as it is practical. While there won't be many significant shocks for those who've been participating in Tweetbot's alpha and beta stages, the finished version gives everyone running OS X Mountain Lion a major and sometimes more advanced alternative to official choices, such as TweetDeck, as well as existing third-party options like Twitterrific. A $20 price doesn't make Tweetbot the cheapest way to buck convention by any means, but it might be worth the investment if you're already committed to Tapbots' iOS apps or want to make a statement on the value of third parties in an ecosystem.

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TweetBot for Mac reaches the Mac App Store, keeps the 3rd-party Twitter client flame alive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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App.net edges closer to 20,000 users, drops subscription prices to $36 to fuel the social fire

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HooHa App.net client for Android

When App.net kicked off its Twitter rivalry, the $50 yearly subscription fee was based on the assumption that the ad-free social service would maintain 10,000 customers. Founder Dalton Caldwell may have underestimated year-one adoption by just a tad: he now has nearly 20,000 customers on his hands in less than two months, which throws the previous economies of scale out the window. The pain for Caldwell's business model is a pleasure for fans, however. App.net's price of entry has dropped to $36 per year, with existing memberships' durations extended to match the new yearly rate. Anyone on the fence also has a chance to try the service for a short stint through a $5 monthly plan. While it's hard to know if the price drop will sustain the early runaway pace, it reflects a determination to play for keeps in the social media game -- an important trait when the chief opponent isn't sitting still.

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App.net edges closer to 20,000 users, drops subscription prices to $36 to fuel the social fire originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GigaOM  |  sourceApp.net Blog  | Email this | Comments

TweetDeck for the web slips in expanded tweets and header photos

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TweetDeck for the web slips in expanded tweets, header photos

TweetDeck is Twitter's professional desktop client, though you might not always know it given that the app is sometimes out of step with its more pedestrian siblings. Today, Twitter is presenting a unified front in a more timely fashion. The web versions of TweetDeck now show the expanded tweets and header photos that reached the iPad and mobile apps a week ago. No major surprises are waiting in the wings save for the absence of a matching update to the native Mac and Windows apps -- hopefully, that's a gap that closes soon.

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TweetDeck for the web slips in expanded tweets and header photos originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink VentureBeat  |  sourceTweetDeck  | Email this | Comments

Twitter revamps its iPad app for expanded content, adds header photos and image streams

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Twitter revamps its iPad app for expanded content, adds header shots and photo streams

Twitter's iPad app is sometimes the neglected stepchild of its mobile app family: newer features usually come to the Android and iPhone versions first and are handed down to the iPad later, if they come at all. The company is making amends for that in style with a major update to the iPad version as of today. Whether you like them or not, expanded tweets are now baked in and will optionally show some photos, videos and web links within the timeline rather than disrupting the entire experience. The Connect, Discover and Me sections we've seen elsewhere also come to the tablet-tuned app, albeit at the expense of more quickly finding direct messages and lists.

You'll soon notice a much more visual spin on people's profiles, regardless of whether or not Apple's slate factors into the daily routine. Both the Twitter site as well as the official Android and iOS apps now show a header photo behind the bio to provide a little more color than avatars and background pictures can manage. If you're on one of the mobile platforms, you'll also see a photo stream in the profile that will help relive memories without hunting down individual tweets. The phone and tablet makeovers require an update to shine, so hit the relevant source link if you're ready for a prettier (if not always more functional) social experience.

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Twitter revamps its iPad app for expanded content, adds header photos and image streams originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch, Twitter (1), (2)  |  sourceApp Store, Google Play  | Email this | Comments

App.net causes a HooHa with its first Android app

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It's a good time for confusingly-named App.net, hot on the heels of smashing its funding goal and cooking up its first terms of service, the paid-Twitter startup now has an Android mobile client. HooHa chief Deniz Veli told The Next Web that he cooked up the software after seeing a "thriving developer community" surrounding the new service -- with many presumably encouraged by Twitter's recent API changes. Like the service itself, the app is only an Alpha release, but you can download it for free at the Play Store, no need to causes a hoo-hah (geddit?).

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App.net causes a HooHa with its first Android app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 08:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceThe Modern Ink  | Email this | Comments

Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video)

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Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay video

Laser tripwire security systems can be expensive propositions that don't always work as planned -- just ask Raytheon, which saw its $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System for JFK International Airport undermined by one wayward jet skier. Taking that as a form of dare, Justin Huynh and teammates at Liquidware have devised a much cheaper (if also much smaller) tripwire of their own. Any interruption of a laser pointer's beam is caught by an Arduino light sensor that promptly sends the alert to an Android-running BeagleBoard xM; if a toy like Bruce the shark dares cross the line, the BeagleBoard sends a Twitter message to let the authorities, or at least Huynh, clamp down on the trespasser. The invention won't replace Raytheon's handiwork anytime soon, although Huynh notes that additional or more powerful sensors could theoretically catch real, muscle-bound sharks and not just their plastic counterparts. The supply checklist and source code are waiting on the company's project page below, so those who'd like to ward off miniature invasions can get started today.

Continue reading Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video)

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Liquidware team crafts laser tripwire that tweets intruder alerts, keeps fake sharks at bay (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceAntipasto Hardware Blog  | Email this | Comments

Twitter founders create Branch and Medium to keep the conversations, collections flowing

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Twitter founders create Branch and Medium to keep the conversations, collections flowing

If you've ever been so embroiled in a chat or sharing splurge that you've been told to "take it off of Twitter," you now can -- sort of. Twitter co-creators Biz Stone and Ev Williams have launched Branch and Medium, two companion services that (naturally) use a Twitter sign-in but narrow the focus to just a few subjects. As the name suggests, Branch lets especially vocal Twitter users invite others into conversations that don't clutter everyone's feeds or cut replies off at the 140-character limit. Medium? Think of it as Pinterest turned publishing platform: members can publish either a static collection of favorite articles and media, for reading and rating, or leave it open for more collaborative efforts. There's no rush to open the floodgates to the invitation-only portals, though. Stone and Williams see the quietness of their new services as an antidote to the madness of regular social streams, and we can't help but sympathize.

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Twitter founders create Branch and Medium to keep the conversations, collections flowing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Guardian  |  sourceBranch, Medium  | Email this | Comments