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Instagram, Twitter lob grenades in war over value of photos

You've heard it said countless times: A picture's worth a thousand words.

If you think that's not at least as true online as it is offline, you haven't been paying attention to the explosive machinations in the war for digital real estate going on in Silicon Valley over the last year or so.

Today, the tech world is all worked up over the latest in the slow-moving war of attrition between Instagram and Twitter. By cutting off Twitter Card integration, Instagram is hoping to wean its users off Twitter.

This is a seismic event, especially with … Read more

Twitter now lets you see what's trending in over 200 locations

We're fast running out of excuses to be ignorant about what's happening beyond our borders. The latest Internet tool to learn about that big, wide world comes courtesy of Twitter, which said today that its Twitter Trends feature now extends to 100 more cities around the world, allowing users to "surface the 'most breaking' news in more than 200 locations. Here's more about the tweak from Twitter.

How accurate a tool is it for keeping on top of the latest and greatest in a certain locale? Fairly good in that when something big happens, folks now … Read more

Facebook decides 'follow' sounds better than 'subscribe'

Facebook has decided to do away with the word "subscribe" and replace it with "follow." The reason? Apparently people were confused by what the "subscribe" button meant.

Stealing a page -- or rather, a word -- from Twitter? Perhaps. But Facebook isn't talking about that, naturally. Instead, in a statement, the company said that it's making the change across the site because "we found as a term it resonates better with people on the service." Which means, of course, that Facebook thinks "follow" will lead to more...subscribers. … Read more

Twitter vs. Instagram: It's all about monetization

Ever since Instagram got a new friend in Facebook, the popular photo-sharing service has, slowly but surely, been distancing itself from its old pal Twitter.

Today's news is that Instagram photos no longer display correctly in Twitter. This is because Instagram has disabled its integration with Twitter Cards in favor of links that direct Twitter users directly to Instagram.com.

"This is an evolution of where we want links to our content to go," Instagram's Kevin Systrom said of the change on stage at the LeWeb conference in Paris.

Instagram has been busy beefing up its Web presence, … Read more

Twitter-Instagram feud escalates as photos show up wonky

The Twitter-Instagram feud continues, with Instagram today disabling a feature that allows photos to be properly displayed on Twitter's Web site and apps.

Twitter noted in a status update today that Instagram disabled its Twitter cards integration. What that means is photos from Instagram are difficult to view and appear cropped or off center.

Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom, meanwhile, said today at the LeWeb conference in Paris that while the relationship with Twitter is changing, Instagram will remain integrated with Twitter in some form.

He noted that the move today, while confusing to some, is the right step … Read more

#askpontifex meme takes off before pope's first tweet

Pope Benedict XVI has signed up for Twitter, and though the pontiff has yet to bestow his first tweet upon us, he's racked up nearly half a million followers.

He is also already facing a backlog of questions -- ranging from sincere to raunchy -- from the faithful and the not-so-faithful alike.

Twitter made the announcement Monday that the pope's personal Twitter handle was live and that Vatican City's most famous resident would be taking questions via the #askpontifex hashtag, some of which will be answered by the pontiff himself during a live tweeting session on December 12.… Read more

Watch as birds tweet on Twitter

We've seen a variety of creatures use Twitter, including flies and politicians, but check out this footage of real birds tweeting.

Lativan artist Voldemars Dudums created a viral marketing campaign for IR magazine based around the concept phrase "Everyone has a right to be heard."

With that philosophy in mind, Dudums decided to give birds a voice -- on the Internet. The artist took a keyboard and replaced the keys with pieces of unsalted fat, then connected the calorie-filled input device to a computer set up on an outdoor post in Sarnate, Lativa. … Read more

Twitter SMS bug lets hackers tweet via other users' accounts

Twitter users who post tweets to their feeds via SMS could be vulnerable to a security flaw, according to a security consultant.

Jonathan Rudenberg yesterday posted to his blog an SMS vulnerability he discovered in Twitter that allows anyone who has knowledge of someone's mobile number to post tweets to that person's feed.

In order for the vulnerability to be exploited, victims must have SMS tweeting authorized on their accounts. From there, the would-be poster needs only to spoof their actual mobile number through an SMS gateway -- something Rudenberg says can be done very easily -- and … Read more

Curious case of lawsuit over value of Twitter followers is settled

For those who would have liked to know the value of a Twitter follower, you'll have to wait for another lawsuit.

Last December, the mobile phone site PhoneDog sued former employee Noah Kravitz when he left the company, alleging that he took as many as 17,000 of its Twitter followers with him. PhoneDog estimated each follower was worth $2.50, money it wanted back.

The case drew national attention because it was the first with the potential to put a monetary value on an individual Twitter follower. As an employee, Kravitz had produced video blogs and reviews for … Read more