Thursday, December 19, 2013

Twitter Letting You Edit Tweets Would Be Crazy, Right?

Facebook finally let you do it a few months ago – why not Twitter? Rumor has it that Twitter may be working on a feature that would allow you to edit your tweets after the fact – you know, after they’ve already been retweeted in the world’s largest pool of disinformation.
Ok – that would, unequivocally, be one of the craziest things ever. Is it likely to happen? Well, we have some conflicting reports.
The whole rumor started with Matthew Keys, writing for The Desk. Here’s what he had to say, quoting three sources familiar with the matter:
 
                               Twitter Letting You Edit Tweets Would Be Crazy, Right?

Once a user publishes a tweet, an “edit” feature will be present for a limited amount of time (Twitter is still currently working out the length of time the feature would be available). The feature would allow a user to make “slight changes” to the contents of a tweet, such a removing a word, correcting a typo or adding one or two additional words.
An edit could only be performed once per tweet. Once the edit is made, it would be immediately visible on that user’s Twitter feed. The edit would also show up on the feed of anyone who re-published the tweet using Twitter’s built-in “re-tweet” feature.
Apart from the limitations on editing windows and number of edits, Keys also says that Twitter is working on an algorithm that would be able to determine whether or not the general intent of the tweet had been altered by the edit and act appropriately – I guess to catch a scenario where some user completely alters the meaning of a tweet with a very small edit.
Adding an “e” to an “I LOVE RAP” tweet or something.
Apparently, this has been a “top priority” at Twitter for months.
Or has it?
Jennifer Van Grove over at CNET is saying the exact opposite. Quoting sources familiar with the matter, she says that Twitter is not actively exploring a post-edit feature.
And here’s what Wired writer Mat Honan had to say:
Ok. Let’s talk this out. Even with limits on have many characters a user could edit after the fact and a small window for making the edit, users would have the ability to completely alter tweets. Oh, President Jack Smith is not dead? Wait, President Jack Smith is dead. That’s a pretty small edit and a pretty big shift in meaning.
And it’s all of the retweets that make this idea sound kooky. If an edited tweet did in fact also change on everyone’s timeline who retweeted it – wow. Just think about the implications of this. You think misinformation travels fast on Twitter now? Holy shit.
An algorithm to catch tweets that have been maliciously altered? Ok, sounds good. It also sounds hard.
The only way I can see this not causing a boatload of trouble is if Twitter somehow marked any edited tweet or retweet with the equivalent of crime scene tape. “EDITED EDITED EDITED” pasted across the tweet in giant, yellow letters. You think a little icon in the corner that says “edited” is going to catch the eye of a Twitter population ready to crucify someone for some crazy tweet?
For now, I think it’s best to just stick to deleting erroneous tweets or tweeting a follow-up correction. But who knows? Twitter may actually be thinking about this. It’s not like they haven’t done some crazy stuff before – I mean, just last week they tried to make it so you couldn’t really block another user.

About Josh Wolford
Josh Wolford is a Writer for WebProNews. He likes beer, Sriracha and movies that make him feel weird afterward. 
Resource: http://www.webpronews.com/twitter-letting-you-edit-tweets-would-be-crazy-right-2013-12

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Does Facebook Need a ‘Sympathize’ Button?

                                 Does Facebook Need a ‘Sympathize’ Button?  
Sometimes, a “like” doesn’t really mean “like” – or it least it’s not supposed to come across like that. When you posted that your dog Roscoe died and that you were going to miss him forever, because he was such a little snugglebums – I wanted to like it. I wanted to like it because I like you, and I liked your dog, and I like the fact that we live in a world where someone can show such an unadulterated love for another creature.
But I didn’t like it, because I was afraid that you’d think I was liking the fact that your dog died. So I kept scrolling. Too bad – these awkward moments exist and there’s nothing we can do about them.
Or is there? What if there was a way to express support on Facebook without making it sound like you enjoy someone’s misery?
According to one Facebook software engineer, this could happen. Maybe, Possibly. In the future. At some point.
Speaking at a recent event, Dan Muriello said that a “sympathize” button was recently developed at a Facebook hackathon. Here’s how it worked – basically, any status that was written alongside a negative emotion (you know, the little “feeling sad” or “feeling depressed” emoticons that Facebook unveiled earlier this year) would see the “like” button replaced with a “sympathize” button,
That way, I wouldn’t have to “like” the fact that your boyfriend cheated on you but you’re dedicated to moving on. I could show support and “sympathize.”
Come to think of it, maybe a “support” button would be even better.
Although the hack was well received, you shouldn’t expect to see it pop up any time soon.
“It would be, ‘five people sympathize with this,’ instead of ‘five people ‘like’ this,’” said Muriello. “Which of course a lot of people were – and still are – very excited about. But we made a decision that it was not exactly the right time to launch that product. Yet.”
Likelihood of seeing a “sympathize” button any time soon? Not very high – but I’ll guarantee you it has a better chance than a “dislike” button. That’s never going to happen. Seriously.

About Josh Wolford
Josh Wolford is a Writer for WebProNews. He likes beer, Sriracha and movies that make him feel weird afterward.

Resource: http://www.webpronews.com/does-facebook-need-a-sympathize-button-2013-12

Bing Updates Its iOS, Android Apps

                                   Bing Updates Its iOS, Android Apps
One of the best things about Bing is how its homepage is updated with a new picture every day. One day, you have an image of a polar bear frolicking in the snow and next you have an interactive haunted house that references all the best horror films of the past four decades. Now Bing is bringing its constantly changing homepage to mobile.
Bing announced today that its mobile apps for Android, iPhone and iPad have been updated with an option to make the daily Bing homepage image your lock screen image. As it does on Bing, the lock screen image would change everyday with Bing.
So, how do you use this feature? On Android, it’s quite simple really. All you have to do is hit the arrow button at the bottom of the screen. Here’s what it looks like:
                                          
                                            Bing Updates Its Android, iOS Apps 
If you want to do the same on iOS, it’s a little more complicated. First, you’ll need to sign into your Microsoft account. From there, tap the same button that you see above. This will walk through the process of setting up your SkyDrive folder to save the images for later use. Finally, go to settings -> Wallpapers & Brightness -> Choose Wallpaper to set the saved image as your background.
While an update focused solely on images would certainly be worth of an entire blog post, Bing wants you to know that it’s also added a new sync feature. When using the Bing app, you can now sync your bookmarks and saved images to your Microsoft ID. This will allow you to access said bookmarks and images across any of the Bing apps on Android and iOS.
You can grab the new Bing app today for Android, iPad and iPhone.

About Zach Walton
Zach Walton is a Writer for WebProNews. He specializes in gaming and technology.
Resource: http://www.webpronews.com/bing-updates-its-ios-android-apps-2013-12

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Google Trends Becomes More Intelligent

Google has introduced new topic reports in Google Trends aimed at giving users smarter information about the search queries they are seeking.
Google gives the examples of “rice” and “Gwyneth Paltrow”. With the new reports, it can distinguish between rice (the food) and Rice University, and it can include common misspellings of Paltrow’s name as part of the report for that query.
When the user starts typing in the search box, it will include topic predictions (which will come in handy for examples like “rice”).
  

“In addition to helping with ambiguous search terms like ‘rice,’ the new feature also automates counting many different searches that probably mean the same thing,” explains Google software engineer Gil Ran. “So, when you measure interest in ‘Gwyneth Paltrow (Actress)’ our algorithms count many other searches that mean the same thing ‘Gweneth Paltrow,’ ‘Gwen Paltro,’ etc. As our systems improve, we may even count searches like ‘Lead actress in Iron Man.’ This can be particularly useful for topics that are commonly searched with misspellings and in different languages.”
A Google web search won’t even return a Paltrow answer for the “lead actress in Iron Man” just yet.
The topic reports are currently in beta, so they’re a work in progress. There are already over 700,000 unique topics available, however. You can look at the data globally or by country. You can only do it for seven countries so far: Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, UK, and US.
Google has not yet updated its Zeitgeist site for 2013, which shows the top trends of the year. Yahoo, Bing and Ask have each shared their lists.

About Chris Crum
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. 

Resource: http://www.webpronews.com/google-trends-becomes-more-intelligent-2013-12