social

Twitter won't make 'sacrifices' required to be in China: CEO

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said that the social-networking giant won't "make the kind of sacrifices" necessary to be allowed to work in China and Iran.

In an interview with the The Wall Street Journal published today, Costolo addressed the question of whether Twitter would like to be available in China and Iran by replying that the company is not willing to filter out the kind of politically sensitive material that government officials in those two countries would require in order to be allowed to function there.

Costolo also said a Twitter IPO is "not necessarily inevitable&… Read more

Twitter confirms buying social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs

Twitter said today that it has bought Bluefin Labs, a company specializing in social TV analytics.

The deal, first reported by Business Insider, would give Twitter the inside scoop on information such as which Super Bowl commercials drove the social conversation. It would likely also help Twitter become more of a media company as it tries to bolster its advertising revenue by working hand-in-hand with brands and with TV networks.

In its blog post today, Twitter said, "We believe that Bluefin's data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer … Read more

Watch as Vine becomes the next great news-gathering tool

What if the Arab Spring, or Hurricane Sandy had been Vined?

Much has been made over the years about how Twitter is one of the world's most important new tools for reporting breaking news. But with the launch of Vine, has Twitter now expanded its control over citizen journalism to video?

Until now, most of the conversation about Vine has been around the service's ability to capture life's quirky moments, or as a way to create interesting (and sometimes artistic) stop-motion video. And of course, everyone knows that there's plenty of porn to be found.

Today, … Read more

What Zynga needs to show Wall Street today

Zynga experienced quite the free fall in 2012. Wall Street watched as CEO Mark Pincus made business decisions that ate up Zynga's money, sent more than a dozen executives fleeing and left Zynga's stock down more than 80 percent by the year's end.

Wall Street is watching again today, as the social-gaming company releases its latest quarterly earnings. Last quarter, the company reported a loss of $52.7 million. Zynga has tried to pick up the pieces in recent months, cutting costs through layoffs and shuttering failing games.

The stock tumbled almost 4 percent yesterday -- $2.… Read more

Report: Twitter buys social TV analytics company BlueFin Labs

Twitter has reportedly acquired BlueFin Labs, which generates social TV analytics, in a deal which is said to be the social-networking giant's biggest-ever.

According to Business Insider, Twitter has closed a deal to buy BlueFin, a company that specializes in helping media companies understand how people use social media in conjunction with their TV watching.

As Business Insider wrote, "Twitter's move into social TV makes a lot of sense. It hired a Head of TV last fall and there's a strong correlation between people watching shows and tweeting about them. Just look at last night's … Read more

How Oreo's brilliant blackout tweet won the Super Bowl

Anyone watching the Super Bowl this evening saw a great game -- and one of the greatest embarrassments in pro sports history: a power outage that halted play for a full half-hour.

As the eventual champion Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers -- and tens of thousands inside New Orleans' Superdome and millions watching on TV -- waited, Oreo came up with an idea so brilliant and bold that it out and out won the night.

"Power out? No problem," the tweet read, along with a hastily put-together image of an ad showing an Oreo and the … Read more

Twitter: Hacking attacks may have accessed data of 250K users

Twitter said today that it recently detected a series of attempts to hack into user data and that the attackers may have successfully absconded with some users' information.

In a blog post this afternoon, Twitter explained the situation and the steps it has taken to fight off the hackers.

This week, we detected unusual access patterns that led to us identifying unauthorized access attempts to Twitter user data. We discovered one live attack and were able to shut it down in process moments later. However, our investigation has thus far indicated that the attackers may have had access to limited … Read more

Twitter's valuation said to hit $9.9 billion

Everyone wants to know what Twitter is worth, and while a number of recent reports have pegged the company's valuation as high as $11 billion, or as low as $9 billion, it now seems that the real number is in the middle, at just under $10 billion.

According to Fortune, a new block of early employee shares, currently for sale, price Twitter at a valuation of $9.9 billion. "The shares were secured by a fund affiliated with Gentry Venture Partners, which has been pitching the deal to clients," Fortune wrote. "It would seem the premium … Read more

Smiley when you say that! Facebook tries out emoticons

Some Facebook users can now go beyond simply updating their status -- they can put an emoticon on the moment.

Facebook last night rolled out what it's calling "a really small test" across its Web site and mobile app that lets users pick from an array of emoticons -- smiley faces and other little bits of graphic art that have now been around for some 30 years -- to express how they're feeling at any given moment.

TechCrunch was first to report on the feature.

Facebook provided CNET with screenshots of the emoticon feature in action. … Read more