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140Char

Microblogging news, tools and resources: Twitter, Google Buzz, Tumblr, Identi.ca, Yammer, Posterous


Official Twitter app arrives for the iPadYesterday

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You can now get the official Twitter for iPad application if you own one of the Apple tablets, and it’s got some unique features to enjoy.

It’s been designed for consumption of content via the larger screen, including a series of expandable and retractable panes for the pane interface. Tap on a tweet, and a pane will open and depending on the content in the tweet, you’ll see a video, photo, news story, or another tweet, and you can keep tapping, opening new panes and getting new content according to Bechis on the official Twitter blog.

Videos play inline, and you can have them load while you’re browsing the timeline, as well as viewing them full screen.


Twitter informally partners with ad network 140 ProofAugust 30

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Despite the changes to the Terms of Service for Twitter which removed in-stream advertising on 3rd party clients and appeared to clamp down on ad networks, Twitter now has an informal partnership with Twitter-based ad network 140 Proof (h/t Techcrunch).

140 Proof will sell ad inventory for Promoted Tweets alongside it’s own inventory. As a network, it receives a user ID list and public information (with no names), which is then used to allow advertisers to bid on targeted advertising. Targeting includes keywords in tweets, followers, device location, platform, who they follow etc.

Advertising clients include Infiniti and Bing. The official statement is:

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A Hello Kitty Twitter iPhone app?August 27

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Writing about a Hello Kitty themed Twitter iPhone app is probably just about justifiable as an example of exactly how mainstream Twitter and the 3rd party developer community have gone as the microblogging platform has expanded.

I haven’t downloaded it or tested it myself, but the feature list and reviews show a competent basic iPhone Twitter client, with the all important option to select one of 3 Hello Kitty skins, and embedding one of a selection fo 40 images in your tweets, which appear alongside the message for other Hello Kitty app users, or linked for non-Hello Kitty aficionados.

So if you fancy spending £2.39 on a Japanese Hello Kitty iPhone app, then you can choose the original, or


Tumblr founder honoured by MIT’s Technology ReviewAugust 26

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Every year, the editors of Technology Review (published by MIT) pick their ‘Young Innovators Under 35’ and this year, Tumblr founder David Karp is one of the 35 featured.

The reasoning is that the huge scale of blogging has seen many people struggle to keep their sites updated, but the microblogging format of Tumblr means that of the 6.5 million registered users, 85% post more than 20 times a month on average.

Tumblr launched in 2007, adding 75,000 users in the first two weeks. Now it adds 750,000 new users per month, and revenue mechanics have begun, including charging for promotion spots for blogs, and for premium page layouts.

Back in 2008 Technology Review honoured another microblogging figure in their list


Twitter adds two more to senior team…August 24

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The influx of new names at Twitter continues with the confirmation that two new employees have joined from News Corp and Google respectively.

Adam Bain was the President of Fox Audience Network, and will be joining Twitter as the new ‘President of Global Revenue’. His former role was monetizing digital properties including Myspace and IGN.

Brent Hill was Google’s former head of financial services in the Midwest, and will be the new Director of Sales for the Central (United States) region. He’ll join previous hires Dan Coughlin (East Coast) and Amanda Levy (West Coast).

So that’s Bain from News Corp, Hill from Google, Coughlin from Facebook, Levy from Yelp, and Google’s lead