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Twitter to Go Down Tuesday November 17th for Up to 2 Hours

Twitter down? Hey, it happens, and sometimes it’s even planned! Twitter may be down for planned maintenance tonight – Tuesday, November 17th – sometime between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Pacific time (2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. Eastern). That said, Twitter isn’t actually planning to be down that entire time – it’s more that they are planning maintenance, and so Twitter could be down at some point during those hours.

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Twitter Betas New Retweet Function

For those Twitter users who are still using Twitter through a web browser (do people really still do that?), Twitter is beta testing a new through-the-browser retweet function. Not everyone yet has access to this new retweet function, so we thought that we’d show it to you.

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Twitter’s New User-Generated Twitter Lists Option Explained

Last month Twitter announced that it was rolling out a new feature, called Twitter Lists. This week Twitter started rolling out Twitter Lists across their entire user base. Here’s an explanation of what Twitter Lists are, and how to use them.

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Twitter Translates Itself with Twitter Translate Translators

If you’re a Twitter user whose native tongue is not English, Twitter has some great news for you! Twitter Translate is Twitter’s initiative to translate Twitter into other languages. Under the Twitter Translator program, Twitter is “calling on the help of real Twitterers to translate our site into their own language.”

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Twitter Regrets and May Do Away with List of Suggested Users to Follow

People who first sign on to Twitter have in the past been directed to a suggested list of users to follow on Twitter. Similarly, at some points in time, brand new users found that their new Twitter account was created with a pre-populated list of suggested users that they were already following, right out of the box. And of course you can always find the “suggested users” list under the “Find People” option on Twitter. But that all may change.

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Your Twitter Tweets Now Searchable in Real Time by Google

Google has announced that they have partnered with Twitter to allow your Twitter messages – known as “tweets” – to be searchable in real-time on Google. This means that as soon as you say something publicly on Twitter, it will instantly be available to millions and millions of people who don’t know you – or who do – in their Google search results.

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Twitter Gets a “This is Spam” Button

Twitter is fed up, and their not going to take it any more. The thing with which they are apparently fed up is spammers polluting people’s Twitter streams with everything from “make money fast” scheme sites to porn. And so Twitter has added a “this is spam” button (well, actually a “report for spam” link) to everybody’s profile, so that now you can report them to Twitter HQ with a single click.

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Court Uses Twitter to Order Imposter Twitterer to Stop Twittering

The High Court in the UK took the unusual step last week of allowing service of a court order on Twitter and, perhaps even more unusually, it worked! The order required that an anonymous defendant cease posing on Twitter as Donal Blaney, the blogger behind Blaney’s Blarney, and abandon the imposter account. The imposter account, using the monicker “Blaneysblarney”, looked identical to the Twitter account under which Donal Blaney actually posts, at “Donal_Blaney”.

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Facebook Steals Major Feature from Twitter – Reach Out and @Someone

Microsoft isn’t the only company to be stealing things from rivals this week. And it appears that the data from your Facebook inbox isn’t the only thing that Facebook is mining. This week we discovered that Facebook has apparently cribbed Twitter’s famous @username protocol for getting someone’s attention.

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New Twitter ToS Spells Out Right for Twitter to Run Ads Against Your Content and in API

Recently we wrote about the fact that Twitter has just updated their Terms of Service, effective immediately (you can read our article about Twitter’s new Terms of Service here). One interesting new development is the aspect of the new Twitter ToS in which Twitter explicity spells out that they have…

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New Twitter Terms of Service Bars Anyone Under the Age of 18

As we recently wrote, Twitter has just posted a new Terms of Service. And, intentionally or otherwise, Twitter has banned anyone under 18 years old from using Twitter.

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Twitter Updates Terms of Service – New ToS Effective Immediately

Twitter has updated and posted new Terms of Service (ToS), which are effective immediately. The new Terms of Service more directly address the issues of spam, and make clear that what happens on Twitter can be used by Twitter, but still belongs to the user.

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Twitter to Start Charging Businesses for Premium Tweeting

It’s official: Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, has announced that Twitter is gearing up to start charging businesses for business use of Twitter through a premium Twitter service.

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State of Illinois Defines “Social Networking Site”

The next time someone asks you about social networking, and what it is, or to describe a social networking website, you need look no further than the laws of the state of Illinois. Because Illinois has taken the unusal step of defining just what makes a social networking site, in the context of their new law banning sex offenders from using any social networking site.

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The Newest Twitter Porn Scam: Fake Follow Friday Thank Yous

The newest Twitter porn scam – where the Twitter users’ messages are primarily links to their x-rated website – entails the porn-pushing (or pron, if you prefer) Twitter user sending out a message thanking you for sending a “Follow Friday” their way. Only, of course, you did no such thing.