Twitter restores connection for hot new social startup Pheed
The new celebrity-infused social media network says the ability to log in through Twitter is back on after the micro-blogging site abruptly shut off access 48 hours ago.
Users of Pheed, a new social media network that has caught the attention of celebrities and their fans, can once again access their profile pages through Twitter's account connection after losing access for about 48 hours.
Pheed 's chief executive, O.D. Kobo, said there's still no word about why the access was shut off in the first place, but the companies are in touch.
"[We] are very happy they gave us a chance again and think it was very cool of them," Kobo said.
Pheed is a self-described real-time, multimedia platform that lets its users charge for content posted to their profiles. About 180 celebrities -- including rapper The Game, singer Miley Cyrus, and reality TV star Paris Hilton -- are signed up on Pheed and they can offer audio, video, photos or text posts for free or at a fee to their subscribers. It's gained about a million users in the last 10 days, Kobo said.
Pheed's main account, named the Pheed House, posted to the site on Friday that Twitter had blocked users' ability to log into Pheed from their Twitter accounts. Kobo said this was an inconvenience to users who had initially logged in through Twitter, but most folks just switched to using Facebook to log in instead.
"We hope (Twitter) remembers what it was like for them -- all the bumps and bruises they got to get to where they are today," Kobo said shortly before Twitter turned the account connection back on. "I hope they remember that because we've got lots of bumps and bruises in the last week."
Twitter's been silent about the action against Pheed, a glitzy new player in the social media space. When asked for comment, a company spokesperson said Twitter generally does not comment on individual applications.
Kobo said he's not sure what Pheed may have done to cause the temporary disruption. There were some tweets last week from users who complained about Pheed's default settings, which posted Pheed updates directly to Twitter. Kobo said users may not have noticed the option to change the default on the sign in page, and the Pheed crew is taking that into consideration as it moves forward.
Update, 1:14 p.m. PT: Updated with response from Twitter.