Tag Archive

Burst of Mobile Giving Adds Millions in Relief Funds

Old-fashioned television telethons can stretch on for hours. But the latest charity appeal is short enough for Twitter: “Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to @RedCross relief.”
In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, many Americans are reaching for their cellphones to make a donation via text message. And plenty of them are then [...]

Crooks Hijack Facebook Accounts, Injuring Dignity

Image via Wikipedia

It used to be that computer viruses attacked only your hard drive. Now they attack your dignity.
Malicious programs are rampaging through Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, spreading themselves by taking over people’s accounts and sending out messages to all of their friends and followers. The result is that people are inadvertently telling [...]

Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers

Image via Wikipedia

Companies big and small monitor Twitter to find out what their customers like and what they want changed. Twitter does the same.
It started two years ago as a bare-bones service, offering little more than the ability to post 140-character messages. Then, it outsourced its idea generation to its users. The company watches how [...]

How High Will Real-Time Search Fly?

Image by michperu via Flickr

WHEN a US Airways plane landed in the Hudson River in January, the first picture appeared on Twitter. In June, Twitter users were mourning Michael Jackson before major news outlets reported his death. And, this month, as much of the nation was riveted by images of a balloon believed to [...]

Face-to-Face Socializing Starts With a Mobile Post

Image via CrunchBase

Twitter and Facebook ask users to answer the question: What are you doing right now?
But for many urbanites in their 20s and 30s, two other questions are just as important: Where are you, and can I come join you?
For them, a fast-growing social networking service called Foursquare is becoming the tool of choice. [...]