John O Connell’s Blog

Regulators in Europe want better privacy protection by Facebook Inc., Twitter and similar social networks, fearing information about people could be misused.

Palo Alto’s Facebook gives marketers access to some data about users so that they can create applications aimed at them and try to sell them stuff. Europe’s “Article 29 working party,” which oversees privacy, warned that such uses might violate European privacy rules.

via European regulators eye privacy at Facebook, Twitter – San Francisco Business Times:.

Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. Seems every where you turn these days that little blue bird is staring you right in the face. But how did it all start? Where is it all going? Who’s to say really, except you I suppose, in 140 character bursts. In the meantime let’s take a look back on some milestones of microblogging.

via The Story so far of Twitter | Manolith.

I’ll admit that what I first heard about Twitter, I wasn’t really interested. I asked the usual question people ask when they hear about something new on the internet: “What’s the point?”

For a while now, I’ve wanted to write a blog post about Twitter, but there has been so much written about it already, that I didn’t want to bore my readers with the usual. So I began the pursuit of developing my thoughts from a different angle, and I ended up with the most unusual comparison: The Sims.

At first glance, the two seem to be as related as a finger painting is to a coconut, but hear me out.

via Twitter: The Sims of the Internet – Geeks!.

Is e-commerce the answer to Twitter’s future?

The question comes over and over again: how is Twitter going to make money?

Its coffers are full and healthy: the micro-blogging service has racked several million dollars in venture capital in its two years of existence. But it hasn’t been profitable. The San Francisco company has been in no apparent hurry to find a business model, with its executives saying they have focused their energies on patching up glitches, building up their user base and now turning their attention to adding features.

via The Technology Chronicles : Is e-commerce the answer to Twitter’s future?.

How much is it worth to be one of Twitter’s suggested users?

The site’s choice of recommended users remains controversial – but arguments may reflect its critics’ motivations, rather than being a failing of the service

via How much is it worth to be one of Twitter’s suggested users? | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

Warning: It appears that a worm has hit Twitter-the tweet will say “Best Video” with a link to “http://juste.ru.” If you see this in a tweet, do not click on the link. It’s unclear exactly how the worm is spreading. But from the look of Tweets about the virus, if you click on the link, you account could be compromised and spammed.

According to reports on Twitter, users who clicked the juste.ru video link had their account compromised and passwords stolen. Further details about the virus are limited but Twitter’s official spam account was updated this morning stating that Twitter is aware of the issue and making steps to resolve the virus. The Tweet also warned users to not click the Best Video link.

This isn’t the first worm to hit Twitter. In early April, Twitter’s service was infected with a worm that appeared to have originated from the owners of the website StalkDaily. This week, Twitter was hit with a “Twittercut” worm, which also compromised users’ accounts if they clicked on a link.

via Don’t Watch This: Newest Twitter Worm “Best Video” Is Spreading.