Twitter Announces Ad Platform… Or Not

Today at SXSW, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams was rumored to finally be announcing an ad platform and/or future business model for Twitter.  Instead, he threw the audience for a loop and announced a new platform called @Anywhere.  @Anywhere will allow website administrators to add better Twitter integration into their sites.  Essentially, anywhere there is a Twitter username, if a user hovers his mouse over it, he’ll see a mini “hovercard” containing the user’s Twitter information, including the most recent tweet.  Publishers will be able to integrate their own Twitter profiles in a more effective manner, making it easier for their readers to follow them.  Implementation will only take a few lines of javascript, and on launch Twitter already has partners such as the Huffington Post, New York Times, Meebo, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, and Bing.

You can read more about it on the Twitter blog.

So when will Twitter be announcing a future business model and/or advertising platform?  For now, according to Mashable, “Williams says Twitter is still mainly focused on creating the best experience for users and businesses.”

Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines

This will be short, but I need to address it.  If you haven’t already heard about this, I’d be surprised.  But just in case, here’s the gist: Kevin Smith, yes, THAT Kevin Smith, who is the director of the new Bruce Willis movie “Cop Out,” and previously directed the films “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy,” got kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight Saturday for being too fat.  Southwest instituted its “Customer of Size” policy over 25 years ago, and the pilot enforced it by deeming Kevin a safety risk to the entire flight and demanded he be removed from the flight.  Knowing that he’s a celebrity, he took advantage of the groundswell and used his Twitter account, @ThatKevinSmith, to turn his massive following against the company.

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How and Why I Use Twitter

Over the past year or so, Twitter has become an integral part of my life.  Of course, when I first started using it, I was just like any other new person to Twitter.  I had less than ten followers, and I simply used it to tell my friends what I was doing.  At that point, it really was no different than a Facebook Status Update.  To be honest, I didn’t even see the point to using Twitter.  I kept asking myself, “Why do I need to tell these people what I’m doing?” and “Why do these people care what I’m doing?”  Well, since then, my thoughts on Twitter have greatly changed, and as I said, it’s now become an integral part of my life.

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Tweetie: A Review

So on Monday, 4/20, the internet was abuzz (I don’t do it, but notice the pun there) about a new Twitter client for the Mac called Tweetie.  Tweetie was developed by developer Loren Brichter under his company name, atebits.  What was all the buzz about?  Isn’t a Twitter client a Twitter client?  What sets one apart from the other?  Why on earth would anyone pay 20 dollars (15 as an introductory price) for a Twitter client?  Well, when using Tweetie, all of these questions are very easy to answer.

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