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CNET
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Feb 27, 09 3:35 PM CST
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Google’s Twitter feed has attracted a staggering number of readers in the two days since it launched, proving that the micro-blogging service is already a fixture of internet culture, cNet reports. Google’s feed already has 27,176 followers—not as popular as Barack Obama, whose Twitter has 333,381 readers, but head and shoulders above Microsoft’s Live Search and Yahoo, which have 1,536 and 4,876 followers, respectively.
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Gawker
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Feb 26, 09 9:35 AM CST
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It takes very little work to put together a book nowadays, Gawker's Ryan Tate observes. He slams former colleague Nick Douglas for collecting a five-figure fee to "write" Twitter Wit , a book of his favorite tweets. Douglas retorts: "Reading a thousand jokes is like watching five hours of porn."
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Washington Post
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Feb 25, 09 1:22 PM CST
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Washington has a problem, writes Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. No, not just pork, or the influence of lobbyists—Twitter. President Obama gave a speech last night that was solemn but hopeful, bold yet pragmatic. And how did our lawmakers respond? “They whipped out their BlackBerrys and began sending text messages like high school kids bored in math class,” writes Milbank.
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Daily Telegraph (UK)
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Feb 25, 09 12:52 PM CST
(Newser) -
For those looking for love in all the wrong places, the right place might just be Facebook, reports the Telegraph , citing a new poll that shows one in four Britons are dating or have dated a person met through a social-networking site such as MySpace or Bebo. And in further evidence that websites are replacing the local bar as the meat market, one in 10 said they’d initiated a one-night stand through social networking.
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Guardian (UK)
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Feb 24, 09 3:28 PM CST
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A British neuroscientist thinks the children of today, exposed to “instant new screen images flashing up with the press of a key,” will develop differently from past generations, and that’s not a good thing. Facebook, for instance provides an experience “devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance,” Lady Greenfield tells the Guardian . “The mid-21st-century mind might almost be infantilized.”
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Politico
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Feb 23, 09 11:48 AM CST
(Newser) -
To the unconverted, Twitter seems about as useful as a Snuggie, writes Patrick Gavin in Politico, but some DC movers and shakers are making the microblogging site work for them. Here’s his top 10: Karl Rove: More than 11,000 have signed up for quick glimpses into Bush’s Brain. Claire McCaskill: Personal, off the cuff, and open, she’s Congress’s best tweeter. David Gregory: Questions pols and interacts with fans.
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Daily Telegraph (UK)
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Feb 19, 09 11:10 AM CST
(Newser) -
Turns out celebs can use Twitter for more than just ranting against loud neighbors: Lance Armstrong used social networking sites to get his bike back, the Telegraph reports. He issued an “APB” to his 140,000 Twitter followers, and on Facebook, a group popped up named “1 Million Citizens Looking for Lance Armstrong’s Stolen Bike.” Four days after the theft, the bike was returned.
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CNET
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Feb 18, 09 6:04 AM CST
(Newser) -
Facebook has done an about-face and withdrawn its new terms of service following a public outcry, CNET reports. The fine-print update appeared to give the site perpetual rights to users' content, prompting threats of a federal complaint from a major privacy watchdog and mass desertion from tens of thousands of users.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Feb 17, 09 2:53 PM CST
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An Atlanta gym teacher is the subject of a criminal probe following allegations that he sent “inappropriate messages” via Facebook to a 14-year-old female student, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The girl’s sister reportedly found the offending messages and told her mother, who contacted police.
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New York Times
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Feb 17, 09 4:46 AM CST
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An outcry over a terms of service change has forced Facebook's founder to reassure users that they still own and control their own information, the New York Times reports. The update—which remains unchanged—removed a provision that said users could delete their content at any time, and added a clause saying users’ content would be retained even after accounts are terminated.
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Sun (UK)
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Feb 16, 09 11:23 AM CST
(Newser) -
A murder convict jailed for life is enjoying his “holiday” behind bars—and shares the news on his Facebook page. His British prison is “a place where men can come for a nice relaxin break from their moanin women and crying kids. No stress just rest,” wrote Ashley Graham. Officials say inmates aren’t allowed to use the Web, but the 27-year-old managed to post updates and pictures of himself in the slammer, the Sun reports.
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Bloomberg
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Feb 14, 09 8:27 AM CST
(Newser) -
Venture capital partners have poured another $35 million into Twitter, reports Bloomberg. The microblogging site said it still has money in the bank from its last round of financing, but the offer was too good to turn down. Twitter—which has grown ninefold in the last year but still lacks a revenue model—plans to use the cash to hire more employees and keep expanding, notes the San Francisco Chronicle .
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New York Times
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Feb 13, 09 5:13 PM CST
(Newser) -
A style guide for Twitter will hit iTunes by the end of the month, the New York Times reports. The e-book, 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form , will lay out key style points from the Twitter canon, supported with examples of notable Twitterers. Also covered are things one should not Twitter: posts on bodily functions or written in the bathroom.
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BusinessWeek
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Feb 12, 09 3:15 AM CST
(Newser) -
Facebook isn't laughing about a site trying to cash in on people's funny photos, reports BusinessWeek . YoBusted features embarrassing photos sent in by users, often lifted from Facebook. Anybody who wants his or her photo removed has to sign up for a $20-a-month membership. Any "friend" who sends in a posted photo gets a $10 cut.
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Time
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Feb 11, 09 5:59 PM CST
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Since a ban on social networking was lifted, lawmakers have been using Twitter to give the public unprecedented access to congressional meetings—and perhaps fight boredom during them. At least four Republican reps, among the 65 who Twitter regularly, sent one-liners during a meeting with President Obama on the stimulus plan, Time reports. "Legislating is always an imperfect process," reads a particularly reflective one.
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AFP
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Feb 10, 09 6:00 AM CST
(Newser) -
Twitter has suspended an account that falsely claimed to belong to the Dalai Lama, AFP reports. Billing itself as the spiritual leader’s “official” Twitter feed, the account emerged Saturday and quickly drew a whopping 20,000 followers. The account’s web page included a photo from the Dalai Lama’s real website as well as a quote from the Tibetan leader.
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