Apple Reportedly Eying Twitter

Twitter, Path blamed in privacy controversy

(NEWSER) - Leading smartphone apps are taking a lot more of our information than we realize. If you use Twitter's "Find Friends" feature, the company receives every phone number and email address in your address book—a fact that Twitter hadn't clarified, the Los Angeles Times reports. The company now says it will fix the problem. But it's just one of many companies storing user information with a view toward ultimately using it for advertising. More»

Social network valuations head to the sky

(NEWSER) - Facebook and Google are among the companies circling Twitter and considering a colossal buyout deal, insiders tell the Wall Street Journal . The talks haven't gone anywhere yet, but the price under discussion is somewhere between $8 billion and $10 billion—roughly 100 times the amount of revenue Twitter, which lost money last year as it invested in expansion, expects to earn this year. More»

Company aims to fill service gaps

(NEWSER) - In another move toward world domination, Twitter has acquired Tweetie, a Twitter client for iPhone and Mac platforms. The purchase is part of Twitter's plan to work on "filling the holes" and eliminate the need for third-party services—and that's causing some tension between the the company and the developers who have built the 70,000 applications that support the microblogging site. More»

(NEWSER) - The founders of Twitter keep insisting it's not for sale, but perhaps they should think again, writes Ben Parr of tech blog Mashable. Only two weeks ago Twitter looked smart for refusing its suitors—but then Facebook made a series of big moves, from buying FriendFeed to launching a speedy Twitter-ish search engine. If the microblogging platform wants to triumph, selling for $1 billion or more to Google or Apple might be wise. More»

Purchase sets up battle with Twitter for real-time search market

(NEWSER) - Facebook is buying fellow social networking site FriendFeed for nearly $50 million, the Wall Street Journal reports. Friendfeed, a 12-employee outfit founded by former Google engineers, allowed users to share information across multiple social media services but never took off beyond a core techie user base. The purchase may help Facebook in its battle with Twitter, which it failed to buy last year and which is outpacing Facebook in the lucrative area of real-time search. More»