Download Squad http://downloadsquad.switched.com Download Squad http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/%SiteURL%/media/feedlogo.gif Download Squad http://downloadsquad.switched.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Twitter previews official analytics service, prepares to release it for free]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/17/twitter-previews-official-analytics-service-prepares-to-release/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/17/twitter-previews-official-analytics-service-prepares-to-release/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/17/twitter-previews-official-analytics-service-prepares-to-release/#commentsFiled under: , ,

twitter analytics preview screenshot
Twitter has been teasing users with an analytics service for some time, a way to track the vital statistics about your tweets and the responses they get. Well, Twitter Analytics has entered a small invitation-only test phase, and the first screenshots are starting to dribble out.

Mashable has two screenshots, one showing a "timeline activity" page, with your follows and unfollows over time, and then a list of your recent tweets, along with the number of favorites, retweets and replies each one received.

The second shot is a stats display for Promoted Tweets, one of the ways to buy ads on Twitter. Promoted Tweets has its own tab, where users can see how many clicks, replies and retweets their promotions are bringing in. This is probably the real reason behind Twitter analytics. Sure, the average user might want stats, but Twitter is making these stats free to all. The way this product makes money is by making Twitter's ad platform easier to use and more attractive to companies.

As for when Twitter Analytics might roll out to your account, it probably won't be this month -- the screenshots came from a Promoted Tweets user, so that group will probably get to test the service first. Twitter has said in the past that they're aiming to release Analytics by the end of the year, though, so it's likely you could be using it as early as December.

Download SquadTwitter previews official analytics service, prepares to release it for free originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>analyticsstatstwittertwitter analyticsTwitterAnalyticsWed, 17 Nov 2010 19:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter introduces push notifications for mentions and direct messages]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/17/twitter-introduces-push-notifications-for-mentions-and-direct-me/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/17/twitter-introduces-push-notifications-for-mentions-and-direct-me/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/17/twitter-introduces-push-notifications-for-mentions-and-direct-me/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Twitter has finally introduced instant notifications for @mentions, starting with SMS users and the Twitter iPhone app. By default, push notifications from the iPhone app will only work when you get a mention from someone you're following. You can change your settings in the iPhone app to receive notifications for all mentions. To do the same for SMS, text "set mentions all" to Twitter.

Instant notifications for direct messages are also now available on iPhone, which joins SMS and BlackBerry as the only platforms to have them so far. The updated iPhone app is available in the App Store now.Twitter for Android and Twitter for Windows Phone will have this feature "soon," according to Twitter's blog.

Download SquadTwitter introduces push notifications for mentions and direct messages originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 00:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>direct messagesDirectMessagesmentionsnotificationsPush NotificationPushNotificationtwitterWed, 17 Nov 2010 00:05:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter for Android becomes faster and more polished]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/03/twitter-for-android-becomes-faster-and-more-polished/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/03/twitter-for-android-becomes-faster-and-more-polished/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/03/twitter-for-android-becomes-faster-and-more-polished/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Twitter for Android updateTwitter has just announced an update to its official app for Android. The main focus of this update is making the app faster, more polished, and easier to use. Several new features have been added to reach these goals.

Let's take them one by one. A new 'tweet details page' is available by simply tapping on a tweet. This page makes it easier to click on links or reply, retweet, favorite or share a tweet. 'Swipe to reveal' also gives you a quick way of performing actions on a tweet -- by swiping across a tweet you get quick access to replying, sharing the tweet or viewing the user's profile (as seen in the image to the right).

'Pull to refresh' does exactly what its name implies -- when you're at the top of any timeline, pulling down initiates a refresh. 'Quote a tweet' is another self-explanatory new feature, which allows you to do 'old-style retweets', albeit with a little work since you'll have to manually add "RT" and get rid of a pair of quotation marks. When you hit 'retweet' a new options menu pops up, and there you can choose either the new-style retweet or to 'quote a tweet'.

The app is now also faster than ever, featuring speed improvements for loading and scrolling timelines. Higher resolution avatar photos are also supported. The new Twitter app for Android works on Android 2.1 and newer and is available now in the Android Market.

Download SquadTwitter for Android becomes faster and more polished originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>androidandroid appAndroidAppmobiletwittertwitter appTwitterAppWed, 03 Nov 2010 18:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday -- Twitter starts slipping ads into your stream]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/02/twitter-tuesday-twitter-starts-slipping-ads-into-your-stream/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/02/twitter-tuesday-twitter-starts-slipping-ads-into-your-stream/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/11/02/twitter-tuesday-twitter-starts-slipping-ads-into-your-stream/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Hey, Twitter fans! It's another Twitter Tuesday, and there's one piece of Twitter news that's on everybody's mind: ads are here! Some folks see in-stream advertising as the end of Twitter as we know it, and we're about to find out whether that's true. Twitter's much-discussed Promoted Tweets -- paid Twitter ads that will be injected directly into your Twitter stream -- have started to roll out. Twitter is beginning cautiously by introducing the Promoted Tweets just for users of third-party Twitter client HootSuite.

This is the first time Promoted Tweets have jumped from trend pages and search results into users' personal Twitter streams, and Twitter is anxious to see how they react. HootSuite users are the guinea pigs for this advertising initiative, presumably because it would be crazy to unleash ads into Twitter's most popular clients (the official website and official mobile apps) without a bit of testing first. "We will expand the rollout only when we feel we're delivering a high-quality user experience," writes Twitter's Matt Graves on the official Twitter blog.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday -- Twitter starts slipping ads into your stream

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday -- Twitter starts slipping ads into your stream originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>adiumclitwifeathertwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 02 Nov 2010 17:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Twitter hits 300 employees, gives them a "Hack Week" to build new projects]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/26/twitter-tuesday-twitter-hits-300-employees-gives-them-a-hack/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/26/twitter-tuesday-twitter-hits-300-employees-gives-them-a-hack/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/26/twitter-tuesday-twitter-hits-300-employees-gives-them-a-hack/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Twitter has just reached 300 full-time employees! It seems like not so very long ago that we were celebrating Ev, Biz and co. for employing more people than the number of characters in a tweet, but now they've more than doubled that. In fact, word is that the growing Twitter flock is looking for a new nest ... I mean, office. Twitter wouldn't comment to TechCrunch about the new digs, but chances are that they'll stay in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco.

This week, those employees are participating in something called Hack Week, an entire week focused on building new projects. It's like Google's "20% time," except that it's 100% percent time for this week only. Hack Week projects will be shared at the end of the week, and there's a possibility that some of them will implemented for Twitter right away. Third-party developers are likely quaking in their boots about which one of their features Twitter will replace with an in-house version this time.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Twitter hits 300 employees, gives them a "Hack Week" to build new projects

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Twitter hits 300 employees, gives them a "Hack Week" to build new projects originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>longreadssmarttwitterSocialNetworkingtwittertwitterrificTue, 26 Oct 2010 18:45:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Biz Stone's big week!]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/19/twitter-tuesday-biz-stones-big-week/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/19/twitter-tuesday-biz-stones-big-week/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/19/twitter-tuesday-biz-stones-big-week/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

It was a huge week for Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. He starred in a new ad for Stolichnaya vodka, and he had a piece published in The Atlantic. The vodka commercial is below, but let's dig into Biz's Atlantic editorial a little bit. It's a response to Malcolm Gladwell's recent New Yorker attack on Twitter as a tool for activism.

In response to Gladwell's assertion that the American civil rights movement would never have gotten off the ground if people had just tweeted instead of taking action, Biz points to Chinese campaigns for citizens' rights that coordinate over Twitter, and he says that Twitter is the only place the Chinese activists are free to discuss certain topics. He also offers the pithy observation that Paul Revere's famous phrase, "The British are coming!" was a lot shorter than 140 characters, and it contributed to the success of the American revolution.

Biz's last sentence perfectly sums up his argument, so read this if you don't feel like reading the whole article: " Lowering the barrier to activism doesn't weaken humanity, it brings us together and it makes us stronger."

Maybe revolutions will be tweeted after all. What do you think of Twitter-based activism?

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Biz Stone's big week!

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Biz Stone's big week! originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>biz stoneBizStoneGreater Manchester PoliceGreaterManchesterPolicelittlecosmqwerlysocialnetworkingtwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 19 Oct 2010 17:50:00 EST<![CDATA[12seconds.tv, the Twitter of Web video, closes up shop]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/06/12seconds-tv-the-twitter-of-web-video-closes-up-shop/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/06/12seconds-tv-the-twitter-of-web-video-closes-up-shop/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/06/12seconds-tv-the-twitter-of-web-video-closes-up-shop/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

A Twitter for Web video is an interesting concept, but short vids don't seem to catch on the way short text does. 12seconds.tv, probably the best-known quick video service, apparently didn't have much luck making the concept profitable, because they're shutting down on October 22nd. 12seconds says traffic to the service hasn't grown much since it launched 18 months ago. Seesmic tried a similar "video Twitter" concept a few years back, before becoming a regular old Twitter client, but they gave up when users just weren't interested.

So, what's causing these services to flop? Sol Lipman, 12seconds CEO, told Mashable that building an app on top of Twitter just isn't as viable as it was two years ago. Twitter has started to cherry-pick its favorite partner apps, and everyone else is either out of luck or outright replaced by similar functionality from Twitter itself. Twitter hasn't launched its own video service yet, and Lipman stops short of blaming Twitter for the failure of 12seconds, but the truth is that apps built on Twitter have a very limited audience. Around 80% of Twitter's traffic still comes from the Web interface.

Download Squad12seconds.tv, the Twitter of Web video, closes up shop originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>12seconds12seconds.tvtwittervideoWed, 06 Oct 2010 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Dick Costolo, Twitter's money man, becomes CEO]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/05/twitter-tuesday-dick-costolo-CEO/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/05/twitter-tuesday-dick-costolo-CEO/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/05/twitter-tuesday-dick-costolo-CEO/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


In a big personnel move at Twitter, co-founder Evan Williams is stepping down as CEO. @ev has been one of the faces of Twitter, along with Biz Stone, but he's ready to focus more on product development and hand the reins of Twitter over to COO Dick Costolo. The change makes a lot of sense: Ev didn't get into Twitter to monetize, he got into Twitter to build something cool.

Costolo has done a great job figuring out how Twitter can make money, so he's the right CEO to lead the company forward into its new, more profitable form. Meanwhile, Ev will be free to do nothing but brainstorm and build new ideas for Twitter itself, or maybe invest in something new, like Twitter cohort Jack Dorsey did with mobile payment app Square.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Dick Costolo, Twitter's money man, becomes CEO

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Dick Costolo, Twitter's money man, becomes CEO originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>CEOdick costoloDickCostoloevan williamsEvanWilliamstwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 05 Oct 2010 16:14:00 EST<![CDATA[Costolo serious about Twitter business model as Evan Williams steps down]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/05/costolo-serious-about-twitter-business-model-as-evan-williams-st/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/05/costolo-serious-about-twitter-business-model-as-evan-williams-st/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/10/05/costolo-serious-about-twitter-business-model-as-evan-williams-st/#commentsFiled under: ,

Twitter is one of those build-a-great-service then figure-out-how-to-make-money-later startups. We've seen many companies try this strategy lately, with some succeeding and some failing. Evan Williams, one of Twitter's three co-founders (with Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone), has been its CEO for the last two years since Jack Dorsey stepped aside to take up a role at e-commerce startup Square. Dick Costolo, previously Twitter's COO, has now taken over from Williams to focus the company on its Promoted Tweets business model. According to CNet, Costolo has been the driving force behind the Promoted Tweets idea -- and it's his greater business experience that makes him ideal for the role according to Williams. Ev himself will refocus on product strategy and vision, and that can be seen in the new Web-based Twitter interface in which he was instrumental.

With Twitter still struggling against security and service related issues, let's hope that they can find a viable business model to support the service, which now carries 90 million tweets a day and the musings of important people such as Justin Beiber, who apparently uses 3% of Twitter's server capacity at any one time. Marvelous.

Download SquadCostolo serious about Twitter business model as Evan Williams steps down originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Dick CostoloDickCostoloevan williamsEvanWilliamsPromoted TweetsPromotedTweetstwitterTue, 05 Oct 2010 04:37:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Twitter passes MySpace, kills Early Bird, and rolls out new website to half of users]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/28/twitter-tuesday-twitter-passes-myspace-kills-early-bird-and/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/28/twitter-tuesday-twitter-passes-myspace-kills-early-bird-and/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/28/twitter-tuesday-twitter-passes-myspace-kills-early-bird-and/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


It's been a busy week for Twitter itself, so I'll (mostly) lay off the third-party Twitter client news in this edition of Twitter Tuesday. Hit the jump for all the latest updates from Twitter -- including some hope for those of you who don't have access to the shiny new Twitter web interface yet.


Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Twitter passes MySpace, kills Early Bird, and rolls out new website to half of users

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Twitter passes MySpace, kills Early Bird, and rolls out new website to half of users originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brizzlyfeaturesnewtwittertwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 28 Sep 2010 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Tweetie 2 for Mac is coming, and it'll be free and unofficial]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/21/twitter-tuesday-tweetie-2-for-mac-is-coming-and-itll-be-free/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/21/twitter-tuesday-tweetie-2-for-mac-is-coming-and-itll-be-free/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/21/twitter-tuesday-tweetie-2-for-mac-is-coming-and-itll-be-free/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

So, we've seen Twitter for iPhone, Twitter for iPad, and a new Twitter Web interface. Where's our Tweetie for Mac update? Twitter is finally releasing some details about what developer Loren Brichter -- hired by the big T to revamp Tweetie into Twitter for iPhone and create the official iPad app-- is doing with Tweetie for Mac.

Here's the deal: Tweetie for Mac won't become an official Twitter client. After all, Twitter just went through the biggest revision ever to its Web interface, making it look an awful lot like Mr. Brichter's iPad app, and they want desktop users to flock to that new website. So, Tweetie is just a side project for Loren, still developed under the banner of his still-sort-of-existent software company, Atebits. He won't be making any dough on it, though, because (according to Twitter), it's going to be made free.

That's good news for everyone except folks who bought the Mac software discount bundle MacHeist on the promise that they'd be let into an early Tweetie 2 beta and given free licenses for the new version of the app. Well, they'll still be getting free licenses ... but so will everyone else who wants to use Tweetie 2.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Tweetie 2 for Mac is coming, and it'll be free and unofficial

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Tweetie 2 for Mac is coming, and it'll be free and unofficial originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featuresitsytweetie 2tweetie for macTweetie2TweetieForMactwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 21 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Twitter is not a social network, according to Twitter]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/14/twitter-tuesday-twitter-is-not-a-social-network-according-to/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/14/twitter-tuesday-twitter-is-not-a-social-network-according-to/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/14/twitter-tuesday-twitter-is-not-a-social-network-according-to/#commentsFiled under: , ,

All this time, we've been referring to Twitter as a social network, and all this time, we've been wrong. That's if you believe Twitter VP Kevin Thau, who presented at Nokia World 2010 today. Thau focused on Twitter's potential as a news source (and all the traffic it gets from people who don't even have Twitter accounts) and threw up a slide that said "not a social network." Huh? Well, my mind is blown.

Of course, that's not the only reason Twitter was at Nokia World. Nokia is launching a new Twitter widget on its N8 phones, which just goes to show that you don't need a fancy iPhone or Android device to tweet.

Plus, Twitter's got a big announcement coming up this evening, and we don't have any idea what it is yet. The suspense is killing me! Although it's too late to make this column, I promise to pass along whatever Twitter announces as soon as I find out.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Twitter is not a social network, according to Twitter

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Twitter is not a social network, according to Twitter originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>john mayerJohnMayertwitchangetwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 14 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - third-party Twitter apps take a beating and keep on tweeting]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/07/twitter-tuesday-third-party-twitter-apps-take-a-beating-and-ke/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/07/twitter-tuesday-third-party-twitter-apps-take-a-beating-and-ke/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/09/07/twitter-tuesday-third-party-twitter-apps-take-a-beating-and-ke/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


It's certainly not a good week to be a Twitter app developer (unless you work for Twitter, that is). Tweet honcho Evan Williams just revealed on the Twitter blog that third-party apps make up a teeny-tiny percentage of all Twitter traffic, with the Twitter website and official apps pulling the bulk of the weight. Ev stopped short of saying, "You think we need you, but we don't," but that seemed to be the implication.

In case you were wondering which third-party apps are the most successful, TwitPic and TweetDeck top the list, with 4% and 3% of Twitter's traffic, respectively. To put that into perspective, the official Twitter iPhone app gets 8%, and so does SMS. Twitter.com is by far the most popular way to access Twitter, at 78%.

Meanwhile, the money is being cut off for Twitter devs, too. A report cited by ReadWriteWeb says that, while Twitter development is way up, investment in Twitter developers is way down. In fact, it's down 50% over the past year. The report only deals with startups whose products are built entirely on the Twitter platform, so hybrid apps might be okay. We just don't know for sure, but we do know that Twitter continues to muscle out developers. Twitter's "evolving ecosystem," which grew up on the work of enthusiastic outside devs, is now leaving them behind.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - third-party Twitter apps take a beating and keep on tweeting

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - third-party Twitter apps take a beating and keep on tweeting originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featurespush notificationsPushNotificationstwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 07 Sep 2010 15:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday -- OAuth is here, password-based authentication is dead]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/31/twitter-tuesday-oauth-is-here-password-based-authentication/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/31/twitter-tuesday-oauth-is-here-password-based-authentication/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/31/twitter-tuesday-oauth-is-here-password-based-authentication/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Big changes for third-party apps on Twitter today: they can no longer require you to log in with your Twitter password. Twitter's mandatory switch to OAuth authentication has finally happened, which means you have more control over which apps can access your account.

In case you've never signed into a Twitter app with OAuth, here's how it works: you click to sign in, and get redirected to Twitter, where you'll see "approve" and "deny" buttons. If you approve the app, you'll be signed in, and the app will be added to a list in your Twitter settings.

The cool (and secure) thing about OAuth is that you can go to that list and revoke access from any app at any time. The apps you revoke never had your password, so it's your decision whether they can get to your account. The only downside to OAuth is that some apps you use might not have implemented it yet, and those apps will be broken until they do. There should be a lot of updates going out today, so check all of your Twitter apps to see if new versions are out.

Just be careful about how you update TweetDeck! I'll tell you why, after the jump.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday -- OAuth is here, password-based authentication is dead

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday -- OAuth is here, password-based authentication is dead originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featuresoauthplixitweetdecktweetjumptweetphototwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 31 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday -- Twitter becomes the last Web service to get a bookmarklet]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/24/twitter-tuesday-twitter-becomes-the-last-web-service-to-get-a/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/24/twitter-tuesday-twitter-becomes-the-last-web-service-to-get-a/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/24/twitter-tuesday-twitter-becomes-the-last-web-service-to-get-a/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Twitter is finally getting on board the bookmarklet bus, about a million years after every other Web service and URL shortener in the megaverse. You can now add a button to your browser's bookmarks bar that allows you to quickly shorten a URL using the little-hyped t.co shortener. Gee, I wish bit.ly would have thought of that ... oh, wait, they already did.

I'm perplexed by the little ways in which Twitter continues to thwart its very enthusiastic and supportive development community with official versions of everything third-party devs have been doing. On the plus side, the Tweet Button bookmarklet is the functional equivalent of the Tweet Button for sites that don't have a Tweet Button of their own. It's not that it's useless, it's just ... kind of a boring, old feature that's already been done to death.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday -- Twitter becomes the last Web service to get a bookmarklet

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday -- Twitter becomes the last Web service to get a bookmarklet originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bookmarkletfeaturesstalkingtweet buttonTweetButtontwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 24 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - the official Tweet Button arrives, Twifficiency explained, and more]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/17/twitter-tuesday-the-official-tweet-button-arrives-twifficienc/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/17/twitter-tuesday-the-official-tweet-button-arrives-twifficienc/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/17/twitter-tuesday-the-official-tweet-button-arrives-twifficienc/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

There's been plenty of big news from the Twitter camp in the past week, so let's jump right in and start with Twitter's official announcements, including the new Tweet Button!

The first thing everybody thought when Twitter announced an official sharing button was "Uh, but what about TweetMeme?" The popular tweet sharing site -- it's like a Digg based on retweets! -- is just the latest third-party service to get some competition from Twitter itself, but Tweetmeme is a different case than the clients and ad networks which met with a similar fate earlier this year.

See, TweetMeme realized that they likely wouldn't survive by competing with Twitter's Tweet Button, so they made a deal to help launch it. The terms of the arrangement are unclear, but the Tweet Button will certainly benefit from TweetMeme's expertise. Twitter will also get the benefit of TweetMeme's userbase, because TweetMeme will now be pointing to the Tweet Button.

Check out Twitter's Tweet Button video, plus more Twitter news, after the jump.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - the official Tweet Button arrives, Twifficiency explained, and more

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - the official Tweet Button arrives, Twifficiency explained, and more originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featuresostrichtweet buttonTweetButtontwifficiencytwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 17 Aug 2010 15:30:00 EST<![CDATA[webOS Twitter app Spaz gets even better with 1.2 update]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/13/spaz-1.2-twitter-webos-palm-pre/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/13/spaz-1.2-twitter-webos-palm-pre/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/13/spaz-1.2-twitter-webos-palm-pre/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Spaz -- probably the best free Twitter (and Identi.ca) app for webOS -- has just been bumped to version 1.2 and the upgrade is a dandy.

One of the biggest improvements is right on the main screen: you can now switch between Twitter accounts by tapping your username, a welcome change for users who need to keep tabs on multiple feeds.

There's also beefed-up OAUTH support, both for Twitter logins and OAUTH ECHO support for image uploads to sharing sites like Twitpic, Twitgoo, and Drippic. Spaz has also upgraded to jQuery 1.4.2, which brings better overall performance.

Spaz is one of my must-have webOS apps, and it just keeps getting better.

As always, if there's a feature you want added just follow funkatron's advice: write a patch yourself and submit it, or post it to the forums! Spaz is open source, and community involvement is an extremely important part of its development process.

Download SquadwebOS Twitter app Spaz gets even better with 1.2 update originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>palmpixiprespaztwitterwebosFri, 13 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Tweetdeck gets an Android app, Promoted Tweets coming to third-party apps]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/10/twitter-tuesday-tweetdeck-gets-an-android-app-promoted-tweets/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/10/twitter-tuesday-tweetdeck-gets-an-android-app-promoted-tweets/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/10/twitter-tuesday-tweetdeck-gets-an-android-app-promoted-tweets/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

This week brings more progress in Twitter's advertising plan, as ads are about to be injected into the Twitter API. What does that mean to the average user? Well, for one thing, you'll start seeing sponsored tweets in your third-party apps over the next few months. Twitter has added Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets to the API, and they'll be tested in desktop apps before they move on to mobile.

This is kind of a bummer for those of us hoping to dodge ads by avoiding the Twitter website, but it could be a lot worse. Twitter has to make money somehow, and Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends are fairly unobtrusive ways of doing it. Also, the revenue will be shared with developers, so this will help keep your favorite Twitter clients afloat. It's opt-in, so not every developer will choose to show ads.

What do you think? Are you ok with ads in third-party Twitter apps?


Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Tweetdeck gets an Android app, Promoted Tweets coming to third-party apps

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Tweetdeck gets an Android app, Promoted Tweets coming to third-party apps originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>androidfeaturestweetdeckTwitter TuesdayTwitterTuesdaytwoolrTue, 10 Aug 2010 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - Twitter is now in real-time, and it's breathtaking]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/03/twitter-tuesday-twitter-is-now-in-real-time-and-its-breathta/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/03/twitter-tuesday-twitter-is-now-in-real-time-and-its-breathta/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/08/03/twitter-tuesday-twitter-is-now-in-real-time-and-its-breathta/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Twitter's real-time streaming API is the biggest deal in Twitterland this week, as it enables Twitter apps to show you every tweet as it happens. Only a couple of apps have access so far -- including Tweetdeck and Echofon -- and the demos we're seeing are startling. You knew there were a lot of tweets flying around out there, but it's a totally different and overwhelming thing to see them like this. It makes Twitter look like The Matrix (which, I suppose, is why Tweetdeck is calling its new test version "the Matrix Edition").

Only 5,000 users were allowed to download the new Tweetdeck beta, and you need to register and pay $20 to get in on the new Echofon with live tweets. Keep in mind, the new API has only hit desktops thus far. I haven't seen a mobile app that uses it yet, but it would be amazing to have live tweets on an iPhone or iPad.

To see what this new hotness looks like, check out the Echofon demo video that Zee from TheNextWeb put together, or check out Tweetdeck: Matrix Edition after the jump.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - Twitter is now in real-time, and it's breathtaking

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - Twitter is now in real-time, and it's breathtaking originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>echofonreal-timestreamingstreaming apiStreamingApitweetdecktwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 03 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Twitter Tuesday - photos and videos may land in your Twitter stream soon]]>http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/07/27/twitter-tuesday-photos-and-videos-may-land-in-your-twitter-str/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/07/27/twitter-tuesday-photos-and-videos-may-land-in-your-twitter-str/http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2010/07/27/twitter-tuesday-photos-and-videos-may-land-in-your-twitter-str/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The big story in Twitterland this week is the rumors of photo and video support coming to the Twitter website. Up until now, you've been able to use third party services to share photos and videos, and a lot of clients -- including the official Twitter mobile apps -- have been able to display them with one click. Well, now there's something called "Tweet Media" that's showing up in some users' settings, and it looks like a test of inline media for the Twitter web.

Mashable spotted and reported on this option before it disappeared -- apparently, the test is over for the moment -- and got a quote from Twitter that confirms the possibility of inline photos and vids. "We're constantly exploring features and settings. What you saw was a small test of a potential consumption setting for inline media. We show inline media on our own iPhone and Android apps," said a Twitter rep.

What would that mean to Twitpic, YFrog, and other Twitter photo services? Well, they'd definitely still be useful for hosting your photos, unless Twitter starts offering storage space (unlikely, especially with video). The best case scenario is that Twitter will do what many third-party Twitter clients do, and autodetect links that lead to a photo or video on these services.

Continue reading Twitter Tuesday - photos and videos may land in your Twitter stream soon

Download SquadTwitter Tuesday - photos and videos may land in your Twitter stream soon originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featuresmultimediatweet mediaTweetMediatwittertwitter tuesdayTwitterTuesdayTue, 27 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST