• Twitter Recap: Sprite Slam Dunk Contest

    Wednesday, February 29, 2012

    A motorcycle, a mailman, the 7-2 starting center for the Indiana Pacers and @IAmDiddy: these are a few of the things over which Jeremy Evans (@JeremyEvans40), Derrick Williams (@RealDWill7), Paul George (@King24George) and Chase Budinger (@CBudinger) leaped last Saturday in the 2012 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.

    While all four awed fans with creative dunks – as captured by @NBABackboardCam – Jeremy Evans won your votes with a double-dunk alley-oop after hurdling Utah Jazz teammate Gordon Haywood.


    During the 20 minute voting window, fans sent more than 370,000 #SpriteSlam Tweets to vote for their favorite dunkers. At the peak moment of voting on Twitter, more than 15 percent of all Tweets included the hashtag #SpriteSlam. The volume of Tweets sent in the first two minutes of voting more than doubled the volume of #WhatWillGagaWear Tweets sent during last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, showing that audiences are more likely to Tweet with a hashtag displayed on-air when their Tweets directly influence the outcome of live events.


    The Sprite Slam Dunk Contest led the conversation about NBA All Star Weekend, but players, celebrities, broadcasters and fans captured all of the NBA action on Twitter. Relive the weekend with this collection of Tweets by @TwitterMedia.

    Posted by @ at 2:54 PM

  • Promoted Products: now more mobile

    Tuesday, February 28, 2012

    It has been nearly two years since we introduced Promoted Tweets, the first in our suite of Promoted Products. In that time, people around the world have increasingly accessed Twitter from a mobile device. Today, we are taking an important next step in making our Promoted Products available to those users.

    To date, mobile users may have seen Promoted Products in the following ways:

    —

    Posted by @ at 12:00 PM

  • Hooray for Hollywood: The Oscars on Twitter

    Monday, February 27, 2012

    Last night’s Academy Awards ceremony was packed with unexpected moments both onstage and off. While Tinseltown enjoyed the evening from the Hollywood and Highland Center, Twitter gave the rest of us an all-access pass to join the fun from anywhere in the world.

    From emotional wins to a notorious red carpet moment, the stars gave us something to talk about. Here are the most-tweeted moments of the evening:

    1. “Undefeated” wins Best Documentary
    2. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis present an award (complete with cymbals!)
    3. Sacha Baron Cohen spills ashes on Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet
    4. While presenting an award, Angelina Jolie strikes a pose and shows off her leg onstage
    5. “Man or Muppet” wins Best Original Song

    Posted by @ at 3:56 PM

  • Discover: Literature

    Friday, February 24, 2012

    Like a good book, Twitter can take you anywhere. And now it’s even easier to discover literature and Amazon Kindle Fire.

    Twitter also strengthens the bond between writers and fans by helping you interact in real time. Connect your Twitter account to your Kindle account to tweet your favorite highlights, or pose questions to authors like @SusanOrlean and @StevenBJohnson directly from your device via the new @author beta from Amazon. Follow your favorite authors on Twitter and read their latest Tweets on their Amazon Author Pages.

    Whether you want to ask @MargaretAtwood a question or find out what’s on William Gibson’s (@GreatDismal) reading list, Twitter brings you instantly closer to the writers you care about, and also to your fellow readers. Join a Twitter book club to discover new stories with other readers around the world. This month, The Atlantic magazine's @1book140 Twitter book club with The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (@EleanorWrites).

    Posted by @ at 11:44 AM

  • Oscar Night on Twitter

    Thursday, February 23, 2012

    The February 23, 2012
    On the red carpet: This year, you’ll have a chance to be part of the red carpet commentary on the air as well as on Twitter. Use the hashtag #BestDressed and include the names of the celebs you think are owning the red carpet. Both @NinaGarcia and Tim Gunn will be talking about your Tweets during the Oscars Red Carpet Live show on ABC. They’ll give updates about who viewers think are best dressed throughout the pre-show broadcast.

    Live-tweeting cast: Watch the Oscars unfold on Twitter through the eyes of #Oscars hashtag to see what the world is saying about the show. Make sure to check out what host @BillyCrystal tweets before, during and after the ceremony. The Academy will be live-tweeting from several accounts including @TheAcademy for a behind-the-scenes look at all the action, @OscarInterviews that will provide insights from the press room and @OscarGoer that will take you into the theater as if you’re attending the ceremony yourself.

    Posted by @ at 2:01 PM

  • Let your Tweets determine the 2012 Sprite Slam Dunk champion

    This Saturday, four of the most dynamic players in the NBA will take it to the rim in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest—and you can decide who wins by voting with a Tweet.

    Tune in to TNT at 8 pm (ET) to vote for the new Sprite Slam Dunk champion by tweeting the hashtag #SpriteSlam with the last name of your favorite dunker. This year, there are no judges for the contest––just fans like you who will determine the outcome by tweeting. Fans will also be able to vote via text message and on NBA.com.

    Get a firsthand take on the action by following the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George (@King24George), Minnesota Timberwolves’ Derrick Williams (@RealDWill7), the Houston Rockets’ Chase Budinger (@CBudinger) and Jeremy Evans (@JeremyEvans40) from the Utah Jazz. George and Williams have already started the war of words on Twitter!
    From @BlakeGriffin’s acrobatic dunks to the #LinSanity that inspired more than five million Tweets about Knicks guard Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) during the team’s winning streak from February 4-16, Twitter gives you courtside seats to everything happening in the NBA. Follow your favorite teams, players and reporters to find out what’s happening.

    Posted by @ at 10:10 AM

  • Twitter mobile app updates for iPhone and Android

    Tuesday, February 21, 2012

    New versions of both Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android are available today. Both apps bring back high-demand features, including the swipe shortcut, and they also introduce new design and functionality improvements. Here’s a rundown.

    Both apps
    • Swipe shortcut: Swipe a Tweet in your home timeline to reply to, retweet, favorite or share it, or view the Twitter user’s profile, without leaving your timeline.
    • “Find friends”: We’ve added a confirmation alert when you select “Find friends”. This notification more clearly and explicitly messages the fact that when you upload your contacts’ email addresses and phone numbers, you can quickly find which of your friends are on Twitter (that is, if they’ve chosen to be discoverable by email or phone number).

    Twitter for iPhone
    • Copy and paste: We’ve returned the ability to copy and paste the text of Tweets and user profiles. Just press and hold to copy.
    • Link love: The “share” feature used to just give you the option to copy or email a link to a Tweet. Now, if there’s a link within a Tweet, you’ll see the option to tweet, copy or mail that link, or you can choose to read it later. (Select a “Read Later Service” under Settings > Advanced.)
      • Pressing and holding links provides similar options, along with the ability to open the link in Safari.
    • Direct messages: We updated the design for Direct Messages and returned the ability to mark all DMs as read. Simply tap the check mark in the lower right corner.
    • Font size settings: Change the font size under Settings > Advanced.

    Twitter for Android
    • New devices: Twitter for Android is now optimized to run on Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as on the Kindle Fire (available today through the Android Market.

    Posted by @ at 3:34 PM

  • Coming Soon: Twitter Advertising for Small Businesses

    Friday, February 17, 2012

    Successful small business owners intuitively know how to build meaningful relationships with their customers. They were the first to use Twitter to talk with consumers in real time, and their creativity demonstrated Twitter’s potential as a marketing platform. Today, some of the most effective marketing campaigns we see come from small, local, or Internet-only businesses—like the mouth-watering photos of @VanillaMoonBake’s cupcakes, or the Tweet contests hosted by @glennztees to promote their latest T-shirt designs.

    Sign up here to try this new ad solution.

    Posted by @ at 5:27 AM

  • New version of Twitter, now on for everyone

    Thursday, February 16, 2012

    In December, we Connect is your way to keep conversations going. It’s the place to see who has followed or mentioned you, or retweeted or favorited one of your Tweets.

    Twitter.com shortcut: Type “GC” (as in “Go Connect”), to jump to the Connect tab.
  • Twitter brand pages from accounts like @NPRNews, @Audi and others.
By the way, you can see more shortcuts by typing “?” when you’re on Twitter.com.

Posted by @ at 1:33 PM

  • Twitter Recap: GRAMMYs 2012

    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

    Whether or not you were able to watch the #Grammys live on Sunday night, you probably heard about the biggest Twitter moments. Here’s a quick look at how the night played out in Tweets.

    • People sent 10,901 Tweets per second (TPS) as Adele won Record of the Year — the peak TPS moment of the night. 
    • “Grammys” was mentioned in more than 5 million Tweets on Sunday between noon and midnight PT. 
    • The most mentioned artists (in descending order) during that same 12-hour period were: @OfficialAdele, @ChrisBrown, @NickiMinaj, @Rihanna, Whitney Houston.

    Posted by @ at 10:33 AM

  • And the first Ad Scrimmage winner is . . .

    Monday, February 13, 2012

    At the end of the Super Bowl last weekend, we launched Twitter’s first-ever Ad Scrimmage competition. For a week following the game, Twitter users headed to adscrimmage.twitter.com for a chance to view and vote via Tweet for their favorite Super Bowl ads. And today, the results are in! Congratulations to Samsung’s #votefornote campaign.


    at 4:56 PM

  • Securing your Twitter experience with HTTPS

    Last year, we support.twitter.com/articles/76036…

    — Safety (@safety)

    Posted by @ at 1:20 PM

  • Watch the GRAMMYs unfold on Twitter

    Friday, February 10, 2012

    This Sunday night the 54th annual GRAMMYs will air on CBS. As with so many other live events on TV, one of the best ways to experience the show is to follow the conversation on Twitter. When the show starts, use #GRAMMYs to see what the world is saying about the performances, the nominees and winners, who’s wearing what and lots more.

    We’ve teamed up with over 25 artists across several genres including pop, electronic and indie rock to bring you GRAMMY commentary you won’t see anywhere else. These “couch commentators” will be tweeting what they think about the show as we’re all watching. Check out the list and follow your favorites:

    @afinefrenzy, @greysonchance, @steveaoki, @st_vincent, @thewantedmusic, @michellebranch, @mrchrisrene, @piatoscano, @teganandsara, @haleyreinhart, @skylargrey, @karminmusic, @preciousweapons, @erichutchinson, @neontrees, @ChevelleInc, @theglitchmob, @jfkmstrkrft, @crystalmethod, @tranquilmammoth, @graffiti6, @tanlines, @sebby_g, @jasonderulo, @neonhitch, @EricTurner

    Finally, our own @TwitterMusic will be on the ground, live tweeting. Coldplay (@Coldplay), Katy Perry (@KatyPerry) and David Guetta (@DavidGuetta) will all be performing and tweeting from the event and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers will also be live-tweeting from the theatre as well; he’s @rhcpchad.

    Posted by @ at 11:56 AM

  • Twitter SMS: Now available for satellite providers

    Thursday, February 09, 2012

    Twitter began as an SMS service. Today, we continue to build out SMS capability because we recognize the importance and value of making our service available to every person on the planet. No matter what device people use — from the most advanced smartphone to the simplest feature phone — people around the world should be able to send and read Tweets.

    Of course, there may be times when people cannot access SMS. We’ve been working on some solutions when that occurs:

    Satellite operators
    We’ve partnered with the two largest satellite operators, Iridium and Thuraya, to give their subscribers access to Twitter SMS. Now, even if phone lines and the Internet are inaccessible — for example, in a war zone or after a natural disaster — people will be able to share news and stay informed via Twitter.

    Long codes
    We work with as many carriers as we can to support SMS around the world. If your carrier does not currently support Twitter SMS, you can still Tweet. Just full list of mobile carriers and satellite providers that support Twitter SMS, and as always, you can follow @twittermobile to find out when even more carriers offer it.

    Posted by @ at 1:02 PM

  • Post-Bowl Twitter analysis

    Monday, February 06, 2012

    adscrimmage.twitter.com to check them out and vote for your favorite via Tweet.

    Posted by @ at 1:06 PM

  • Roar of the crowd: Super Bowl on Twitter

    Thursday, February 02, 2012

    From @Giants and Patriots'll be fighting 4 Sunday: Lombardi trophy, on-set 4 Super Bowl LIVE. @GiantsTweets and program here.

    Twitter is the best place to see and share your take on everything Super Bowl—and for sports-related Tweets all year long, follow @Twittersports.

    Posted by @ at 11:34 AM