Twitter removing 140-character limit… for DMs
Twitter’s 140-character limit is likely what has taken the popular social network to the top. These short posts are great for expressing your thoughts promptly and sharing web content effectively. There’s no crazy 1000-word rants on Twitter, and that is what makes it such a good place to spend your precious time on.
Would’t you agree that their messaging service is a bit broken, though? It’s hard to have a conversation via Direct Messages, knowing you will hit a limit and need to start a new DM. This is why most of us switch to other messaging services when we want to discuss anything, even if it may be something we saw on Twitter.
This will no longer be an issue, as the popular social network aims to keep its users around more by removing that 140-character limit on DMs. I am not sure if this means DMs can now contain unlimited characters (which could probably also be bad). Twitter is not crystal clear about this part yet, but nothing is pointing toward a higher character limit either. What we do know is these changes will come into effect starting July, which is coming very soon.
Twitter has provided a new API to make sure developers are on board with these changes. Hopefully all (or most) apps will support longer DMs by the time Twitter upgrades their system. If you are a developer, you can get all the API files and details straight from Twitter’s official page.
As for consumers, all you will notice is that now your DMs can be much longer; regular Twitter posts will stay the same. Not so long ago Twitter added the ability to create group DMs, and now they are handing us the key to longer messages. Sure is refreshing, but what do you think? Would you agree that Twitter DMs have been broken until now? I am personally really looking forward to these changes coming in July.
Twitter aims to remove the 140 character limit in direct messages in July
Today, Twitter staff members announced to their developers that they will be removing the 140 character limit in direct messages sometime in July.
While the limit will remain for regular tweets, it will no longer be imposed on direct messages. This announcement was made along with the new API additions for developers to prep their apps for this change.
The great news about this is companies like T-Mobile that provide customer support over Twitter DMs will no longer have to attach the rather annoying “2/3″ notation at the end of their messages to let you know that the next message will be a continuation of the previous.
The removal of the character limit has no specific implementation date, but one will be posted in the forum post once one has been determined.
The post Twitter aims to remove the 140 character limit in direct messages in July appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Twitter swaps CEOs again, Jack Dorsey takes over temporarily
Twitter’s stock slid significantly in April when its earnings report leaked out early, and in a likely-related move, now it’s changing CEOs. Dick Costolo is out (at left in the picture above, taken during the company’s IPO), although he will remain on the company’s board, while founder, first user and former CEO Jack Dorsey (at right) is taking over again on an interim basis. He will stay on as CEO at Square while a search committee — including yet another former Twitter CEO, Evan Williams — searches for a permanent replacement. Of course, that the report leaked isn’t the problem, it’s the slow user growth it showed. Investor Chris Sacca recently published a lengthy blog post about “what Twitter could be” and despite a number of changes over the last year, it appears many of the folks owning shares had different ideas than its (as of July 1st) former leader.
[Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/3yAJ43UWpe8?rel=0
Costolo stepped up from the role of COO to replace Williams in 2010, initiating a period of many changes in the company’s strategy, plus acquiring companies like Atebits and Periscope. Atebits was a third party Twitter app developer, but after its acquisition, Twitter started putting tight limits on other similar apps while steering users to the official one. So far, the introduction of Periscope has shown a similar path as the company has battled another live video streaming service, Meerkat.
Our CEO, @dickc, will step down as CEO, and we’ll welcome @jack as Interim CEO on July 1 #TWTRannouncement: http://t.co/q8Ygg91jzc
– Twitter (@twitter) June 11, 2015
Dick Costolo to step down as CEO, will remain on Board, and Jack Dorsey appointed Interim CEO, effective July 1
– TwitterIR (@TwitterIR) June 11, 2015
Twitter initiates CEO transition #TWTRannouncement http://t.co/t0FyqRdKRt
– TwitterIR (@TwitterIR) June 11, 2015
Welcome back, @jack !! https://t.co/3papmyUKg0
– dick costolo (@dickc) June 11, 2015
Filed under: Internet
Source: TwitterIR (Twitter), Twitter (PDF)
Twitter’s Dick Costolo leaving company, Jack Dorsey to return as Interim CEO
Twitter’s CEO position will be undergoing a change next month. Earlier, we learned that CEO Dick Costolo plans to depart from the company on July 1 and Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s founder, has been selected by the Twitter Board of Directors to fill the position on an interim basis.
Costolo commented on the decision to leave Twitter:
“I am tremendously proud of the Twitter team and all that the team has accomplished together during my six years with the Company. We have great leaders who work well together and a clear strategy that informs our objectives and priorities. There is no one better than Jack Dorsey to lead the world as well as a great relationship with Twitter’s leadership team. I am deeply appreciative of the confidence the Board, the management team and the employees have placed in me over the years, and I look forward to supporting Twitter however I can going forward.”
Dorsey, who will remain Square’s CEO during this time, thanked Costolo for his work:
“The future belongs to Twitter thanks in large part to Dick Costolo’s dedication and vision. Dick has put a world-class team in place and created a great foundation from which Twitter can continue to change the world and grow. We have an exciting lineup of products and initiatives coming to market, and I look forward to continuing to execute our strategy while helping facilitate a smooth transition as the Board conducts its search.”
Internally, Twitter employees are reportedly shocked by the move.
Welcome back, @jack !! https://t.co/3papmyUKg0
— dick costolo (@dickc) June 11, 2015
Source: Twitter (PDF)
Come comment on this article: Twitter’s Dick Costolo leaving company, Jack Dorsey to return as Interim CEO
Twitter adds landscape video recording to its mobile apps
Some of us don’t want to share portrait and square cropped videos all the time. Crazy, huh? The mobile-centric video formats have been championed by Vine, Instagram and a whole host of live-streaming apps, so it was hardly a surprise to see Twitter follow suit when it launched in-app video recording earlier this year. Landscape videos still have their place though, so the company is now relenting and offering the aspect ratio inside its apps. So when you’re scrolling through your feed and inspiration strikes, you can hit the camera button, flip your phone sideways and record a regular video for your followers. We’re not sure why the option wasn’t available from the start, but hey, at least it’s here now.
Filed under: Cellphones
Source: Twitter
Twitter will now let you share your blocked lists
We’ve all been there. Trying to figure out who to follow, who to block, and the ins and outs of Twitter. Contrary to popular belief, not EVERYONE uses Twitter, so this latest feature that Twitter has announced today, could come in handy with those n00bs.
Today, Twitter announced that users will now be able to share their lists of blocked users with others. This feature will allow you to export your list of blocked users, and share them with another Twitter user so that they can see who shouldn’t be able to see your Twitter posts. Users who receive the list of blocked users, will be able to block multiple accounts at once, instead of having to search for accounts one by one.
Mute and block are tools to help you control your Twitter experience. While many users find them useful, we also recognize that some users — those who experience high volumes of unwanted interactions on Twitter — need more sophisticated tools. That’s where this new feature comes in.
In order to either export or import a list of blocked accounts, you must navigate to your blocked accounts settings within Twitter’s Web interface. Once you are in the correct settings panel, you will need to click the advanced options drop down, and either export or import your list(s).
This feature is yet another step towards making Twitter safer for everyone and will be available to some of our users starting today and all users in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can read more about how to share block lists on our Help Center.
Twitter is hoping that this new feature, along with the updated muting and blocking rules that have been put in place over time, will make Twitter easier to use. The new blocking tool will even further help users get rid of those pesky and absurd Twitter accounts from messaging you.
The post Twitter will now let you share your blocked lists appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple WWDC 2015 vs Google I/O 2015 – Who came out on top?
N
ow the dust has settled from the two biggest developer conferences of the year and time has passed enough to digest the products and features that were released, just who came out on top in the battle between Apple and Google?
To evaluate this very question, data has been pulled from around the web and social networks and analytics performed on the hype created by the announcements at WWDC 2015 and Google I/O 2015.
Google I/O 2015 vs Apple WWDC 2015
- Overall WWDC was the event generating far more online visibility on the web, mobile, and social media. There was 154% more digital consumption around WWDC on June 8 than there was around Google I/O on May 28.
- Looking at Twitter, there was 674,120 Tweets around Google and concepts and hashtags relating to Google i/O on May 28. On June 28, there was 1,146,672 Tweets around Apple and concepts and hashtags relating to WWDC. There was 70% more real-time interest around the WWDC keynote than there was around the Google I/O keynote.
- The introduction of Android Pay was definitely the biggest headline of Google I/O as the service generating 76,400 Tweets in May 28. Android M, the latest version of the Android OS generating 32,600 Tweets on May 28, while Google Photos, a new photo sharing service received 28,200 Tweets on the day. Brillo, a new Internet of Things operating system, generated 10,900 Tweets on May 28; with Google Play generating 6,530 Tweets in part around the announcement that it would be supporting HBO Now.
- Meanwhile over the entire June 8, iPad ended up being the WWDC announcement generating the most interest, with the device, largely around the introduction of multitasking, receiving 145,782 Tweets on the day. That edged out, Apple Music, the new music streaming service which generating 111,519 Tweets on June 8. The upcoming iOS 9 was mentioned in 60,822 Tweets; while the new and improved Siri accounted for 28,422 Tweets. The new X El Capitan Mac OS generated 22,626 Tweets on the day.
We can also look at the Twitter activity that Google I/O 2015 generated around the various features that were announced, with the clear winner being Android Pay as generating the most buzz.
Whilst the numbers speak for themselves in demonstrating that WWDC 2015 was the more hyped event, this is often the case of Apple events but not necessarily correlated to the significance of the features announced, which Google arguably prevailed.
But we want to hear from you, the creators of the hype – Are the numbers of social activity of Google I/O 2015 simply not as high as WWDC 2015 because everyone was busy watching and digesting it than tweeting about it?
Sound off in the comments below.
The post Apple WWDC 2015 vs Google I/O 2015 – Who came out on top? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Accounts you blocked on Twitter can be shared with others
Want to trade block accounts with other users on Twitter? Doesn’t sound like a bad idea. After all, Twitter is filled with a lot of spam and outrageous content. The service announced today that users can export lists of blocked accounts for other users to import and block on their own accounts.
Before exporting a list, Twitter will display a checklist to include or remove specific accounts. The export is then performed and results in a .csv file that can be downloaded and imported on another account.
Source: Twitter
Come comment on this article: Accounts you blocked on Twitter can be shared with others
You can now share Twitter block lists because people are horrible
Anyone can use Twitter which makes it equal parts amazing and horrible for some users. To help squelch some of the more annoying voices on the social network, Twitter lets users block accounts they find disruptive or worse, threaten said user. Today, Twitter announced that a user’s list of blocked accounts can now be exported and shared with other users. The list can then be imported by other Twitter users to mass block accounts. This is helpful for groups that have been the target of abuse and general trolling. Twitter has come under fire by groups saying the company doesn’t do enough to protect its users from abusive accounts. It’s a sentiment that’s shared inside the company. In a leaked internal email, CEO Dick Costolo said, “we suck with dealing at trolls on the platform and we’ve sucked at it for years.” With today’s news, Twitter says it’s also working on additional user controls and will share more information in the future.
Source: Twitter
Falcon Pro 3 gets a light theme, improved column reordering and more in version 1.2 update
Falcon Pro 3 is one of the better third party Twitter clients in the Google Play Store, offering users a simplistic user interface, interesting use of push notification settings and a great use of Material Design. The update to version 1.2, which is now available, brings a few new features that make the app much more refined.
For starters, developer Joaquim Vergès has added in a new light theme that many users will welcome to the app. You can also set the app to automatically toggle between light and dark themes, depending on what time of day it is. Take a look at the screenshots below for a side by side comparison.
#gallery-1
margin: auto;
#gallery-1 .gallery-item
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 50%;
#gallery-1 img
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
#gallery-1 .gallery-caption
margin-left: 0;
/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
Also added in this version is the ability to quickly remove and reorder columns from the right sliding panel. There are a few other notable changes in version 1.2, so feel free to check out the full changelog below:
- New Light Theme! You can now set the app’s theme to Dark, Light, or dependent on the time of the day (light during the day, dark at night)
- From the right sliding panel, hold a column and slide it up and down to reorder it
- From the right sliding panel, swipe a column from right to left to remove it
- New option to disable internal browser
- Fix youtube player not playing if the tweet has an image too
- Other fixes & improvements
Falcon Pro 3 still isn’t the most feature-rich Twitter client in the Play Store, but it’s still a solid contender. The new version is now live in Google Play, so head to the link below to grab it!
AIVAnet 