'Mikeyy' Worm Snarls Twitter

(NEWSER) - Twitter and other social networks are creating a swine-flu panic out of a molehill with their instantaneous updates, Robert X. Cringely writes for InfoWorld. The quick flow of less-than-dependable information means “people with head colds decide they're really dying from a porcine-borne bug and flood emergency rooms.” And such a strain of internet-enabled paranoia could be a boon for cyberterrorists. More»

Twitterverse battle does little damage

(NEWSER) - Russia is unleashing its latest weapon in a standoff with the US: Twitter. A barrage of critical tweets attacked US ambassador Michael McFaul for his "unprofessional" speech to Moscow economic students concerning the two nations. An "ambassador's job is to improve bilateral ties, not to spread blatant falsehoods through the mediasphere," said one of the tweets, which accused McFaul of several "distortions." More»

Jennifer Egan's 'Black Box' serialized on Twitter

(NEWSER) - The latest story from a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer will appear in 140-character chunks. The New Yorker is publishing Jennifer Egan's "Black Box" in installments on Twitter, the New York Observer reports. The tweets, which began yesterday , will appear from 8pm to 9pm every day for nine days. They'll also be collected each day at the magazine's Page-Turner blog . The whole story will appear in Monday's science fiction issue of the New Yorker. More»

(NEWSER) - Pakistan has decided it's had about 139 characters too many of Twitter, yanking the microblogging site over material it says is offensive to Islam, reports al-Jazeera . The material in question was promoting a Facebook contest to post images of the prophet Mohammed—which are considered blasphemous, even those framed in positive terms. "We have been negotiating with them [Twitter] until last night, but they did not agree to remove the stuff, so we had to block it,'' says the country's telecommunications chief. No word on how long Twitter will be down. More»

Here's a tip: No one cares about your food

(NEWSER) - If you want to avoid driving away all the Twitter followers you've accumulated, you may want to take a look at this list from Katie Heaney on BuzzFeed of 11 things that will really, really annoy them:

• Using your followers as Google: If you want to know what restaurant to visit in a new city, just look it up yourself.
• Tweeting about what you're eating: Absolutely no one cares, unless you're a famous chef. Assuming you're just a normal person, "just put food in your mouth about three times a day, chew it quietly, and swallow. There are no other necessary actions."