Twitter for Android Gets Big Update

Twitter for Android has gotten a huge update bringing two big features, namely push notifications and multiple account usability. So now, if you have more than one Twitter account that you tweet from, you can use the Android app to switch between accounts without logging in and out. These features have been available for Twitter on iOS since Twitter bought the iOS app, Tweetie. However, to the disappointment of many Twitter users as well as social media marketers, yet to the smiling faces of third party clients that base their product on multiple account usage, this feature is still not available on Twitter for web.

Twitter for Android with new features

For iPhone users, push notifications came in Twitter for iPhone and now for Android users it seems slightly redundant. Android already has a bar for notifications so users will see the same notifications twice. The Twitter for Android app is available for free from the Android Market. If you want your Twitter on your Android smartphone to be able to push notify and tweet from multiple accounts, head on over and download the app.

India Comes Together for Mumbai Via Twitter and Google Docs

After three bombs ripped through Mumbai last evening, the people of the city (and some parts of the rest of the country) came together to help each other out almost impeccably. Twitter and Facebook updates were filled with users posting not only information for helplines but also offering help. Hashtags for #needhelp and #Here2Help were created. Users that were at home offered shelter to other users that were still commuting.

The man behind the spreadsheet

Beyond Twitter, a Google spreadsheet was created by a Twitter user in Delhi, Nitin Sagar. Thespreadsheet contains information of Mumbai and non-Mumbai residents offering help as well as asking for help with their contact information and the nature of help that can be offered or is needed. There are currently 250 entries, most of which are users offering help. A map of live tweets can also be found on Google Maps. This doesn't seem to be updated in real time, however, it can be used to find users in the areas of the blasts.

It really is impressive to see citizens coming together to help each other out. Even though, sometimes, this method of coming together can really only help those who even have access to technology at the time (and the government blocked off cell phones for an hour after the blasts), there are concrete examples of citizens who have been helped just by responding to offers on Twitter and the Google doc.

App Shortens Text for Mobile Twitter or SMS

Twitter only allows you 140 characters, and even though no one really pays attention to it anymore, SMS limits you to 160 characters. There are of course ways to get around at least the Twitter limit on the web, however, you're a little stuck on the phone. Trimit is an iOS app, which works on shortening text so you're easily able to tweet longer thoughts. The app costs $0.99 (approx Rs. 44), and it allows you to shake your phone or iPod touch and your text will be shortened. The app is developed by Frimby Limited, who have also developed another app, FaceMood, which reads your Facebook friends' status updates and analyzes their moods from certain word algorithms.

Trim your text

Based on a similar word algorithms principle, Trimit 'reads' your text and decides how important sentences are based on their structure. The most important thoughts are then pieced together in a way that is cohesive. The app also looks at facts like dates, proper nouns, facts and figures and gives them special importance. Users also have the option to omit vowels in text (like vwls) and/or abbreviate ("forget" becomes 4get). Once you paste your text in the editor or it imports it from a URL, you choose whether you want to shorten for Facebook, Twitter, email, or SMS and then give it a shake and voila! Your text is shortened. It's obviously not the best version of English, but the job gets done.

PayPal UK Twitter Account Hacked

Twitter accounts seem to be the latest victim of hackers with the PayPal UK Twitter account being seized. A day after it was reported that the Twitter account of Fox News Politics was hacked, cyber criminals have now defaced the Twitter account of eBay’s PayPal UK account. According to a report, hackers had seized the account and began tweeting messages to its 17,000 followers.

PayPalUK Twitter account now seized!

Hackers posted tweets that go on the lines of 'PayPal can freeze your funds for no reason, do not use PayPal!' Other tweets include "exposing the nightmare of doing business 'the PayPal way," and the profile information was changed to 'The official twitter account for the fail team at PayPal UK.' The report suggests that the account was hacked to promote a website called paypalsucks.com. The site questions PayPal’s payment processing business practices, as well as provides alternatives to the site.

The account has been suspended and a PayPal UK Anuj Nayar, Director of Communications said that PayPal UK's Twitter feed was targeted by hackers and that PayPal would like to reassure all their customers that PayPal’s UK customer systems and data have not been breached or hacked in any way. There is no link between customer systems and their Twitter account.

Twitter Allows DMs to Verified Accounts Without Followbacks

Twitter is working on a way that fans and critics alike can send direct messages to verified accounts without the need of the follow back. This way, communication between representatives who handle those verified Twitter accounts and people who try to communicate with them becomes a little easier. It means that users with a verified account don't have to follow someone just for receiving and sending direct messages and then unfollowing them after the interaction is over. No need for follows to DM on a verified account This, of course, makes more sense for brands than it does for celebrities. While free DMing them will have its perks for fans, the usefulness of this feature will really be for services like airlines, banks and magazines. Right now, in India, services that perform a lot of customer service over Twitter are Jet Airways, Vodafone and ICICI Bank (to name a few). When a customer has a flight scheduling or reservation issue, it will be a lot easier to send DMs to Jet Airways than say tweet a generic problem tweet mentioning Jet Airways, waiting for them to follow you and tell you to DM them, and then finally DM them. Same goes for customer service problems with Vodafone and ICICI. The problem though right now is none of these three accounts are verified accounts. Once they get verified status, user interaction should get easier. Tata Docomo, however, has a verified account and has tweeted this new feature of Twitter. Now you can DM them directly without the need of reciprocated follows.

Hanging With Friends, Now on Zynga

Popular social network game developer, Zynga has announced today the launch of yet another title in its With Friends series, Hanging with Friends. The game has been modeled on the likes of the  popular Hangman. Just like in the game Hangman, players are required to guess words. The winner would obviously be the one who manages to stick around, oops hang around for the longest. Hang in there.. But, it doesn’t stop there. Zynga adds interaction to its latest game. Users can select from a range of avatars made available, which Zynga claims to be a bunch of colorful characters. As mentioned earlier, the winner is the one who manages to stay around for the longest, and helping him are a bunch of strategically placed hints that come to him in the form of lifelines. Players can watch instant replays using which they can catch a glimpse of their opponent’s moves. The game is currently available in Canada via the Apple App Store. The game is anticipated for a release soon elsewhere either as a free or premium download from the App Store on iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone, or even at the iTunes App Store.

Twitter + The Peanuts = Mad Hilarity

The Peanuts was always a comic that humorized the sad state of the world. Twitter does that too, in many ways. What happens when two good things merge? Maybe a pile of awesome?

Commenting on life itself

Presenting Peanutweeter. The man behind the site, T. Jason Agnello basically takes tweets from his timeline that he finds funny/awesome and uses them in panels of Charles Schultz's The Peanuts. What results is some mad hilarity. The comics can be accessed at his @Peanutweeter Twitter account and his Tumblr blog. To get tweets, Agnello goes through his own Twitter feed and engages in follower hopping to find tweets to illustrate.

Star Wars is a recurring theme

Incidentally, Agnello also runs the Death Star Helpdesk Twitter account and a lot of the Peanutweeter panels end up having Star Wars references

Twitter.com Automatically Shortens Your Links

Twitter, in yet another step to outdo third party competition, introduced its own URL shortner on twitter.com. When you place a link in the update box on twitter.com, it automatically shortens it to 19 characters when you hit "tweet". You no longer need an external URL shortner like bit.ly or even a third party app that does it automatically like Tweetdeck, when you want to shorten a link.

Shortens links to 19 character versions of the original

The way Twitter shrinks the link still allows you to see the site that the link points to. The smaller version is just a shortened version of the original link, even though it's assigned a t.co link ID. Twitter also looks to make link sharing more secure. If you click on a link that has been reported to be malicious, Twitter will send you to a warning page, before taking you to the linked page itself. If however, you want analytics for the links you post, you can still use third party link shorteners like HootSuite's.

UPDATE: The automated URL shortening doesn't work for some users yet (after repeated testing on both the old version of Twitter and the new version).