• Tweets in your media, media in your Tweets

    Wednesday, September 29, 2010

    On a sunny September Sunday inside a non-descript trailer in downtown Los Angeles, media evolved.

    There—in the shadow of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, next to an outdoor stage where Justin Bieber would soon perform—web developers and TV producers were working together, leaning into laptop screens and NTSC monitors, bringing the real-time conversation around the VMAs to life on live television for 11.4 million viewers.

    While Twitter is about all types of information, the ways that the service fits into media have long been important to us, and increasingly, media makers are weaving Tweets into the very fabric of their content. Look at segments like Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Hashtags, where Tweets from viewers aren't a gimmick; they're great content. Look at sites like the Huffington Post, where Tweets underscore and amplify the headlines whenever there's a big story brewing. Look at live shows like the VMAs, where Twitter came alive on a 95-foot-wide screen.

    Now, with the launch of the new Twitter, the ways that media fits into Twitter.com are just as important. Whenever there's a new movie release, a TV show premiere, a big football game, or a breaking news story, people are talking about it on Twitter. With the new Twitter, they're seeing glimpses of it, too, because photos and videos are now presented as part of the core Twitter experience.

    We’re working hard to display photos and video from more sources in the details pane. We also look forward to future brainstorms both inside and outside of Twitter about what will be possible. Imagine a Tweet about a breaking news story that pulls a live video stream and eye-witness photos from the scene into the details pane. Imagine a Tweet from a football game that includes a highlight clip, edited down and posted in near real-time. Imagine Tweets from a music festival curated to present the best images—from the crowd, from behind the scenes, and from up on stage.

    In that trailer out behind the VMAs, it was web developers and TV producers working together to find the best Tweets and tell a story across platforms. It was code working with content, and that’s going to be a crucial combination in the months and years ahead. In the next evolution, you’ll see Tweets enrich and enliven great content—and you’ll see that content spread out and make the new Twitter better for everyone.

    The trailer is optional.
  • The Fledgling Initiative

    Friday, September 24, 2010



    There can be a new definition of success for startups of all shapes and sizes. Ev and I spend an hour with every new Twitter employee as part of the orientation process and during this hour we cover quite a bit of material—including our mistakes and our aspirations. New team members learn that with their help we will make a positive global impact, we will build a successful business, and we will have fun along the way. Ev often punctuates this point emphatically stating that success is only defined by all three of these goals.

    Young companies like ours are particularly well positioned to build altruism into the corporate culture from an early stage and that is something we have made central to our work at Twitter. Our Hope 140 site highlights some of the work we have done in this area but I'd like to call attention to a specific project that has been maturing for about a year. A world in which all children can pursue a quality education is something worth celebrating. This weekend, our Fledgling Initiative has finally ripened and we want you to join the cause.

    The Fledgling Initiative was hatched to craft awesome wine for the benefit of Room to Read, a non-profit organization extending literacy and educational opportunities to children worldwide. Every bottle and every case of Fledgling wine sold will help promote literacy in Uttarakhand, India. These wines are being made using some of the best vineyards in California by the acclaimed winemaking team at Crushpad. Incidentally, 2009 appears to be an excellent vintage in California, potentially one of the best of the decade.

    Twitter employees have been involved in every aspect of the wine making process from harvesting to crushing to bottling. We put effort into this because we believe in the cause and because it has been a fun and rewarding experience. We hope you will order and enjoy some our Fledgling wine. Twitter and Room to Read believe that all children, regardless of gender or background, have a right to education. By empowering children through this lifelong gift, we envision a world in which people are able to realize their full potential.
  • All about the "onMouseOver" incident

    Tuesday, September 21, 2010

    The short story: This morning at 2:54 am PDT Twitter was notified of a security exploit that surfaced about a half hour before that, and we immediately went to work on fixing it. By 7:00 am PDT, the primary issue was solved. And, by 9:15 am PDT, a more minor but related issue tied to hovercards was also fixed.

    The longer story: The security exploit that caused problems this morning Pacific time was caused by cross-site scripting (XSS). Cross-site scripting is the practice of placing code from an untrusted website into another one. In this case, users submitted javascript code as plain text into a Tweet that could be executed in the browser of another user.

    We discovered and patched this issue last month. However, a recent site update (unrelated to new Twitter) unknowingly resurfaced it.

    Early this morning, a user noticed the security hole and took advantage of it on Twitter.com. First, someone created an account that exploited the issue by turning tweets different colors and causing a pop-up box with text to appear when someone hovered over the link in the Tweet. This is why folks are referring to this an “onMouseOver” flaw -- the exploit occurred when someone moused over a link.

    Other users took this one step further and added code that caused people to retweet the original Tweet without their knowledge.

    This exploit affected Twitter.com and did not impact our mobile web site or our mobile applications. The vast majority of exploits related to this incident fell under the prank or promotional categories. Users may still see strange retweets in their timelines caused by the exploit. However, we are not aware of any issues related to it that would cause harm to computers or their accounts. And, there is no need to change passwords because user account information was not compromised through this exploit.

    We’re not only focused on quickly resolving exploits when they surface but also on identifying possible vulnerabilities beforehand. This issue is now resolved. We apologize to those who may have encountered it.
  • A Better Twitter

    Tuesday, September 14, 2010

    Twitter is the best way to discover what’s new in your world. From football to film to philanthropy, people are using Twitter to discover what’s new about what they find interesting.

    Twitter has always been about getting a lot in a little. The constraint of 140 characters drives conciseness and lets you quickly discover and share what's happening. Yet, we've learned something since starting Twitter—life doesn't always fit into 140 characters or less.

    Today, we’re introducing a new, re-engineered Twitter.com that provides an easier, faster, and richer experience.

    On the site, you’ll see the familiar timeline, yet underneath each Tweet is a handful of information, deeper context and even embedded media. Simply click on an individual Tweet and a details pane slides out on the right and reveals this content.

    You can find out more about the enhancements on this information page. Here are some highlights:
    • New design. The site has a cleaner timeline and a rich details pane that instantly adds more impact to individual Tweets while still maintaining the simplicity of the timeline. And, experience infinite scroll -- you no longer have to click “more” to view additional Tweets.
    • Media. Now, it’s easy to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, thanks to partnerships with DailyBooth, deviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube.
    • Related content. When you click a Tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: replies, other Tweets by that user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more.
    • Mini profiles. Click a username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets.
    These changes will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks starting with a very small percentage of registered accounts tonight. During the preview, you'll be able to switch back and forth so you have time to grow accustomed to the way things work. Eventually, everyone will have the updated version of Twitter.com. We are incredibly proud of the work the Twitter web team has accomplished. We hope you are too!
  • New York Fashion Week #NYFW

    Thursday, September 09, 2010

    It’s New York’s biggest week in fashion, and Twitter is bringing you a front row seat.

    Starting today, Twitter and American Express will provide real-time access to Fashion Week featuring exclusive photos, commentary, and first looks at the top names in fashion.

    Go to twitter.com/fashionweek to join the conversation and get insider access to the best Fashion Week has to offer.
    • Runway Shows: see the hottest looks straight from the runway, courtesy of @WomensWearDaily
    • Designers & Fashion Insiders: get up close and personal with interviews from top designers and fashion insiders courtesy of @AmericanExpress
    • The Scene: check out the backstage drama, including candid shots of models, designers and celebs, courtesy of @Modelinia
    • Beauty: learn the newest beauty, make-up, and hair techniques, courtesy of @AskBobbiBrown, @Aveda, @BumbleandBumble, @Smashboxartists, and more
    • Daily Recap: look through the best of each day after the shows, curated for top trends, emerging themes, and unexpected surprises, courtesy of @Bergdorfs
    Follow @nyfw to get the latest Fashion Week information, including a “Little Black Book of Hashtags” and details on your favorite designers’ shows.

  • The Evolving Ecosystem

    Thursday, September 02, 2010

    Just over four months ago, at Chirp, our Twitter developer conference, I talked about how "Twitter is too hard" and what we're doing to address that.

    One major area of difficulty I highlighted was getting Twitter on your phone. We did iPhone user tests and confirmed that even though there was a plethora of third-party Twitter apps, people were having trouble finding and selecting one because none were called “Twitter.” This kept them from using Twitter at all. For this reason, we acquired Tweetie and turned it into Twitter for iPhone, complete with a new user sign-up experience.

    Mobile apps – Everywhere
    We quickly understood that we were doing users a disservice by not having a great client on each of the major mobile platforms. So, we took a similar approach with Twitter for BlackBerry (developed by RIM) and Twitter for Android, which launched a new version this week.

    This strategy has been quite successful. Total mobile users has jumped 62 percent since mid-April, and, remarkably, 16 percent of all new users to Twitter start on mobile now, as opposed to the five percent before we launched our first Twitter-branded mobile client. As we had hoped in April, these clients are bringing more people into Twitter, and, even better, they are attracting and retaining active users. Indeed, 46 percent of active users make mobile a regular part of their Twitter experience.

    How people are using Twitter
    Our Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for BlackBerry clients are now two of the most popular ways to use Twitter. This may not be surprising. What may be more surprising are the other top ways people use the service. The following chart shows the top ten applications people have used to access Twitter in the last 30 days. This is based on number of unique users. That is, out of all the people who logged into their Twitter account during the month, what percentage did so via each service. (The total is more than 100% because people often use more than one app.)




    As this data shows, while smart phone clients are important, there are even more people who use the mobile Twitter web site and/or SMS. We've been seeing strong growth in both of these areas.

    You'll also note that third-party clients continue to play an important role for many people. And, it should be underscored that users of programs like TweetDeck are some of the most active and frequent users—which is why, along with the nature of how these clients work, a disproportionate amount of the traffic from Twitter runs through such tools.

    And, while the percentage of overall users drops off pretty sharply after the few listed here, there are a tremendous number of other apps that people are using, not necessarily as their main Twitter client, but as an alternative way to create or view Tweets. The number of registered OAuth applications is now at almost 300,000—this number has nearly tripled since Chirp. (This can include multiple instances of the same software.)

    It’s great to see this kind of variety and growth in the ecosystem as it moves beyond basic Twitter clients. These new services help people get the most out of Twitter, contributing to user growth and new business opportunities—both of which are critical to the long-term viability of the ecosystem. We’re making great progress in these areas—we currently have more than 145 million registered users and the performance of our Promoted Products has exceeded our expectations. But we still have lots of room to grow and improve. We look forward to seeing what’s next.

  • Twitter for iPad: Sharing content in Tweets

    Wednesday, September 01, 2010

    People are increasingly sharing different types of information on Twitter. For example, Tweets point to web pages, photos, videos, hashtags, people, check-ins, and more. Exploring Tweets is a great way to discover new and interesting information. And with devices of all shapes and sizes connecting to the Internet, we’re constantly looking for new ways to make this easier. To date, we’ve created applications for a variety of mobile phones, giving you instant access to Tweets and great content when you’re on the go.

    Today we are bringing Tweets to a device that really lets content shine - the iPad. Twitter for iPad takes advantage of the iPad’s fluid touch interface, letting you move lots of information around smoothly and quickly – without needing to open and close windows or click buttons. There are a few things we want to point out that make this app a really fast and fun way to read real-time content.

    Panes: Tapping on a Tweet opens a pane to the right. Depending on the content in that Tweet, you’ll see a video or photo, or maybe a news story, or perhaps another Tweet. You can continue tapping on Tweets, opening new panes, and getting new content as long as you’d like to. And, it’s really easy to move between panes by swiping to the right or left.


    Media: When you tap a video link or open a web page with an embedded video, you can play that video inline. And, let’s be honest, video is great but sometimes it can take some time to load. The panes in Twitter for iPad let you look through your timeline while a video is loading, and then you can just swipe back to the video when it’s ready to play. You can also pinch on a video to watch it fullscreen.

    Gestures: You can pinch on a Tweet to quickly view details about the author and to take actions on a Tweet, such as reply or retweet. Put two fingers together and pull down on a Tweet to peek at the replies, showing the entire conversation leading to that Tweet.



    No need to login: You don’t even need to sign up to get started with Twitter for iPad. We’ve selected great Twitter accounts that you can see in various categories, such as Art & Design, Sports, and News. You can also search, view trends, and find breaking news. Sign up at any time to create your own timeline and start tweeting.

    Twitter for iPad is available worldwide from the App Store. Try it out and let me, @lorenb, and @bhaggs know what you think.