Tag: twitter

Twitter is rolling out a new design on the web today that eliminates the pop-up compose window and brings its look more in line with its mobile apps.

We’ve been seeing Twitter test versions of this design for some time now, but this particular one appears to be the test bucket that got the best reaction from users.

It looks, in some ways, a lot like the old version of Twitter — with a profile box and other information presented to the left of the main timeline. One of the biggest changes, of course, is that there is now an inline compose box on the left side, allowing you to pound out tweets without having to deal with the pop-up compose box. The pop up is still accessible via the ‘new tweet’ button in the upper right corner and the keyboard shortcut.

Placing a compose box right in the left column should make the interface feel a bit lighter weight, inviting people to tweet out a bit more than placing it ‘under’ the compose button. I’d guess that this was aimed at converting lurkers to tweeters.

If some of you are looking at this design and thinking ‘hmm, this is how mine has looked for weeks’, then congratulations, you’re in one of Twitter’s test buckets. The company experiments heavily, giving 1% of its users a tweaked or refreshed design and testing how they interact with it before rolling out changes on a wider scale. We’ve been getting reports of this particular design — or one with some of its elements — for a few weeks now.

The alignment of Twitter’s web edition with its mobile versions for iOS and Android certainly makes sense. A large recent release saw major changes in both design and functionality. The web version has lagged a bit behind those releases in the interim, but now feels much more at home.

Image Credit: John Verive. This post was first seen on Techcrunch.

TechCrunch – Yesterday Naoki Hiroshima, an Echofon developer, posted an article about how he lost his extremely short Twitter handle @N in an extortion scheme. Hackers compromised his GoDaddy account with social engineering (calling and lying to an account rep), gaining access to his email on a personal domain.

They said that they gained access via a similar call to PayPal, who the hacker claimed gave them the last 4 digits of Hiroshima’s credit card. They then used that CC info to convince GoDaddy that they were the owner of the domain, and reset his login information.

They used that data to leverage Hiroshima into giving them — under duress — his low-character-count Twitter user name @N. This, it turns out, was the point of the entire affair from the beginning.

PayPal has since investigated and claims that it never gave out Hiroshima’s credit card number or any other personal information — though it does acknowledge there was an attempt to get the info. So, that leaves a question about whether the hacker was lying about where it got Hiroshima’s card numbers — but it doesn’t change the fact that the hack happened.

And it leaves an even bigger question. The hack is pretty well documented and it appears evident that the end result was fairly straightforward extortion. So why hasn’t Twitter simply given Hiroshima his @N username back?

Twitter, for its part, will only tell us that it is still investigating the matter.

We spoke to Hiroshima about the ordeal, and exactly how it went down. He notes that it’s highly improbable for the hacker to have gained access to his account without credit card numbers somehow, and that they claim it was via PayPal. He also says that he feels he did everything normally expected to prevent this kind of thing, but that the methods used by the hackers side-stepped any additional efforts he might have taken like two-factor authentication.

“[Two factor authentication] can’t prevent this from happening again,” says Hiroshima. “GoDaddy allowed the guy to reset everything over the phone. As long as a company only uses the last 4 digits of a [credit card] to verify [identity], this will keep happening. They should ask multiple questions.”

GoDaddy has said that it is investigating but has not responded to a request for further comment.

The vector for the attack, in the end, was the weakest link in many security procedures: people. A well documented attack on Wired writer Mat Honan last year was predicated with relatively similar tactics. The target of Honan’s attack was also a low-character Twitter account.

The question about what can be done to improve security in these matters is a long-running one. There have been some changes like two-factor authentication being offered by more vendors — but sloppy procedures like allowing account resets with credit-card numbers (especially partial ones!) remain commonplace.

And the fact is that many of these ‘hacks’ don’t take any special technical knowledge. They just require a methodical and bold operator that is willing to pick up the phone and follow a script.

Hiroshima also notes that many of these systems are designed to make it easy to change things by phone, but nearly impossible to revert them afterwards.

“They should design the system so that reverting should be easier than changing,” Hiroshima says. “That the attacker changed something was something that can happen, the problem is, i couldn’t revert the change. If someone updated something and someone else said “no” immediately after, what’s the chance of the latter guy is the attacker?”

As far as why Hiroshima’s Twitter account hasn’t simply been ‘given back’ to him — the answer likely lies in the fact that he felt so threatened by the hacker’s access to his accounts that he ‘gave’ the account over willingly. Had he held out and waited for them to cause more damage or take over the account by main force or another feat of customer service manipulation — it would have been a much simpler matter. It would have been stolen and could be returned.

Now, because the account was ‘transferred’, it’s a much murkier affair and Twitter will likely have to do a more due diligence before it takes any action. So Hiroshima will probably get @N back, but it will take a bit.

It’s worth noting that Twitter appears to have banned the @N account at the time of this writing, so the gears are turning.

Image Credit: Manuelxk | Article source: Techcrunch

As a social networking tool, Twitter is even more open than Facebook–which is all the more reason to employ what safeguards you can on its network.   Avoiding Facebook and Twitter Disasters

Take some practical steps to control what others see about you on Facebook and Twitter. The use, and uses, of Twitter seems to grow daily. Its role as a source of news on Iranduring that country’s current unrest has been widely reported, for example. For most people, however, Twitter is simply a convenient social networking tool, but as such, it is even more open than Facebook–which is all the more reason to employ what safeguards you can on its network. (Note: This article doesn’t cover such issues as the growing problem of spam on Twitter or reports of its use in phishing-like attacks.)
At the end of this article, we’ll also offer a brief guide to Twitter commands.

Twitter Never Forgets

The disaster:Nelson knows everyone who follows his Twitter feed and didn’t think much about trashing a coworker on the service. Months later, long after he’d forgotten about it, the coworker began to follow his tweets–and, with a little digging, found Nelson’s insult, creating an awkward office environment.
On Twitter, check the ‘Protect my updates’ box (highlighted above) to prevent your future tweets from being seen by anyone not approved as a follower. (Old tweets will still be accessible.) The solution:Unlike Facebook, Twitter has no mechanism for ap­­proving who follows you on the service, and anyone can read your full tweeting history. That is, unless you protect your updates: Click Settings and check the Protect my updatesbox. Your tweets now won’t be visible to anyone not approved as a follower. However, anything you’ve al­­ready sent out will stick around, especially on third-party Twitter interfaces.

Locking Out the Twitter Twits

The disaster:Vicky regularly tweets (nastily) about a former friend, and naturally doesn’t want that person to follow her on Twitter. How does she keep that person out before it becomes an issue?
Illustration by Mick Wiggins The solution:First, your account must be marked as ‘Protected’, as described in the preceding item. Then, assuming you know the person’s user name, simply block that user on Twitter. This op­­tion is on the profile page, in the ‘Ac­­tions’ section. It removes you from their Following list and prevents your updates from showing up on their page and from adding you to their Following list again. But your current friends can still copy and paste your tweets, or save them through screen captures.
The real lesson: It’s probably best not to bash anybody on Twitter if you’re afraid they’ll find out about it.

Linking Twitter With Facebook Can Be Trouble

The disaster:Dan thought he was being a good Web citizen and killing two birds with one stone by linking his Twitter account to his Facebook profile (visit apps.facebook.com/twitterto set it up for yourself–but finish reading this item first). The idea is sound enough: Update your Twitter status, and your Facebook status updates along with it, automatically. However, a Facebook connection isn’t always a good idea. If you’re live–tweeting, say, a sports event or a conference, you might post 20 tweets or more in an hour. That may fly on the rapid-fire Twitter, but on Facebook it’s over the line since it clogs up your friends’ news feeds.
The solution: In Dan’s case, a Twitter/Facebook link may not be appropriate, and he may be better off simply unlinking the two networks.
The best way to unlink is to browse to Facebook, click the Applications button on the bottom-left corner, and then select Applications. Find Twitter on this page and click the X to delete the app from your Facebook profile. (If you use a third-party application like TweetDeck to access Twitter, you’ll have to unlink your profile through that app.)

Be Careful What You Link To

The disaster:In one of his daily tweets, David linked to an article expressing a strong view on a controversial issue. Before he knew it, David was being bombarded with tweets rebutting the article. David found many of these statements to be factually lacking, but still felt compelled to counter them in tweets of his own. Hours passed. Soon the afternoon was lost, and David was left frustrated by the challenge of making cogent arguments in 140 characters or less (Twitter’s limit).
The solution:David didn’t want to ‘Protect’ his tweets because he believed that the openness and public nature of the service are central to the Twitter concept. David should have considered that this openness means people he knows nothing about can see his tweets and the things he links to.
Second, when it became clear that David had become involved in a protracted debate with another Twitter user who wasn’t making much sense, he should have blocked that user by going to the person’s profile and clicking Block next to the person’s user name. Problem solved. Afternoon saved.

The Story of ‘Cisco Fatty’

The disaster: Unlike the hypothetical examples in this story, this one is true (see ciscofatty.com). Connor was offered a job at Cisco, the big networking company. While weighing her op­­tions, she idly tweeted to her followers that she now had to decide whether the “fatty paycheck” she’d draw from Cisco would justify her “hating the work.” Problem is, a Cisco employee saw the tweet and called her out on it, prompting an outpouring of scorn from the Twitter community, as well as a lot of embarrassment for poor Connor.
The solution: Connor obviously should have protected her Twitter account via the ‘Protect my updates’ check box, as described in “Twitter Never Forgets,” above.
But here’s the larger lesson: Many people keep tabs on Twitter using filtered keywords, especially company names–and the use of the term “Cisco” in her tweet was what killed Connor’s job prospects. A better ap­­proach would have been to leave the company anonymous, or–better yet–not to tweet about her job offer at all.

Twitter Commands Reference Guide

Here’s a guide on how to use and understand Twitter’s special commands.
• @username The basic building block of conversations, for public replies to a tweet by the user noted after the @ sign.
• D username For a “Direct message” to only the user in question. “DM” also works.
• RT @username For “Re-Tweet,” or a tweet you want to rebroadcast. Prefaced with the original twitterer’s user name.
The following commands ask Twitter for information or tell it how to behave:
• ON username or OFF usernameTurns mobile phone notifications on or off for a single user. STOP and QUIT will cut off all Twitter SMS messages for all users. Only cell phone notifications are affected.
• FOLLOW username and LEAVE usernameTo see-or stop seeing-the tweets of a user. Twitter displays a drop-down message saying it has carried out your command. However, to truly take them off your list, go to their Twitter profile and click Remove next to ‘You follow username’.
• WHOIS username Pops up a brief amount of information about the user.
• GET username Retrieves a particular user’s most recent tweet.
• STATS Tells you how many followers you have and how many are following you.

Twitter is up-and running for most users after the micro-blogging site was shut down for more than 90 minutes earlier today.
The Twitter shutdown affected users around the world.

Apica, a web performance monitoring company, said twitter crashed at approximately 11:23 a.m. EDT, returned momentarily around 12:04 p.m, and then crashed again at about 12:15 p.m.
The site was back online for most users around 1:30 p.m., though Apica noted that some “users along both coasts continue to experience problems connecting.”

As of 2:45 p.m.. Twitter had not disclosed the cause of the outage on its Status Page.
The company, though, did acknowledge that some users are still affected by the outage. “Our engineers are currently working to resolve the issue,” it said.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment ont he outage.
Once the site was back online, twitter users were quick to express their frustration with the outage.
“Twitter, do not crash again, please,” wrote @missbanshee. @OwenJones84 tweeted: “Where were you in the Great Twitter Crash of 2012.”
And @john_mcguirk joked: “Twitter could have warned me about this outage before I made that sandwich I was so looking forward to tweeting about.”
The crash came a day before the opening ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in London, which is expected to be a prime subject on social networks in the coming days.
In fact, twitter has created a special page to aggregate tweets from Olympic athletes, coaches and their families, along with sports reporters and announcers.
The Twitter.com/#Olympics page went live today.
For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright © 2011 Computerworld Inc. All rights reserved.