Thursday, May 28, 2009 | By Jason Goldman (@goldman) [20:28 UTC]
The World Series of Poker begins today in Las Vegas. For the poker fan, it’s a chance to see the best in the world contend with amateurs from all over the world.
If there’s a problem with the WSOP, it’s that there’s so much of it. It runs for almost two months, has over 50 events and involves thousands of players. Twitter user and poker pro Joe Sebok has created a great new tool for following all the action using Twitter.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [18:17 UTC]
Just to be clear, Twitter is not making a television show. Some Hollywood folks are developing something that leverages Twitter and they are extremely enthusiastic as evidenced by all the media hubbub yesterday and today. We have little to do with their efforts but we wish them success.
Like the thousands of apps being built around Twitter, there is a growing interest from the entertainment and news industry. We see these projects and others as yet another way the ecosystem is enriched for everyone who uses Twitter.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [00:45 UTC]
The web is abuzz today with talk of a “Twitter TV show.” I’m even getting folks asking me if they can audition. Indeed, there are a lot of interesting developments happening in the television space—MTV, G4, CNN, E! and various independent production companies are all leveraging Twitter for fun new projects. There are probably a bunch we don’t even know about yet.
Sunday, May 24, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [21:29 UTC]
Last week we launched full, two-way SMS for Vodafone customers in New Zealand. The shortcode for Twitter in NZ is 8987 or TWTR. As always, Twittering over SMS is a standard rate message or deducted from your bundle and receiving notifications is free. If you’re not a Vodafone customer, don’t worry—we’re working on it.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [18:09 UTC]
When we speak publicly about how Twitter might become a profitable business, we talk about the idea of commercial usage and then explain that we’re still exploring what that means—that’s true. We also say traditional web banner advertising isn’t interesting to us which is also true. However, to say we are philosophically opposed to any and all advertising is incorrect.
Thursday, May 14, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [23:33 UTC]
Twitter evolves and thrives on how folks use it. Some of our best features are invented by users, so listening is extremely valuable. Replies and conversations are awesome and we fully intend to support and encourage their growth. We removed a setting that 3% of all accounts had ever touched but for those folks it was beloved. The use cases that folks loved about this setting will return in a new and improved form.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [20:00 UTC]
This morning we received lots of great info about the replies setting we changed yesterday. Folks loved this feature because it allowed them to discover new people and participate serendipitously in various conversations. The problem with the setting was that it didn’t scale and even if we rebuilt it, the feature was blunt. It was confusing and caused a sense of inconsistency. We felt we could do much better.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [15:56 UTC]
We’re getting a ton of extremely useful feedback about yesterday’s update to Settings. The engineering team reminded me that there were serious technical reasons why that setting had to go or be entirely rebuilt—it wouldn’t have lasted long even if we thought it was the best thing ever. Nevertheless, it’s amazing to wake up and see all the tweets about this change.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [21:53 UTC]
We’ve updated the Notices section of Settings to better reflect how folks are using Twitter regarding replies. Based on usage patterns and feedback, we’ve learned most people want to see when someone they follow replies to another person they follow—it’s a good way to stay in the loop. However, receiving one-sided fragments via replies sent to folks you don’t follow in your timeline is undesirable. Today’s update removes this undesirable and confusing option.
Monday, May 11, 2009 | By Biz Stone (@biz) [22:48 UTC]
Today we launched full, two-way SMS support for Telus, Virgin Mobile, and Koodo Mobile. We are now live on all major operators in Canada—that means pretty much every mobile phone user in Canada has the ability to send and receive Twitter updates via SMS. Just like our deals with the rest of the major Canadian mobile operators, there are no additional fees. Twitter messages are standard rates or deducted from your bundle if you have one. More countries to follow.