It looks like you can teach an 84-year-old a new trick. Pope Benedict XVI launched the Vatican’s news information portal via Twitter on Tuesday using, what else? An iPad.
This is the latest in a series of moves from the Vatican to improve communication both internally and with the public. But don’t be fooled by all the “Benedictus” handles on Twitter, the Pope does not have a personal account. The papal tweet was sent from @news_va_en.
Check out the pontiff working the touch screen in this video released on the Vatican’sYouTube Channel. Yes, the Vatican’s been on YT since 2005.
Two days after giving his State of the Union address, President Obama took to the Internet to directly answer questions from Americans and people around the world on a wide range of subjects. Over 1.3 million people voted on almost 200,000 video and text questions submitted through Google Moderator and Twitter, picking the ones they most wanted the President to answer.
President Obama sat down for “Your Interview with the President,” hosted by YouTube’s Steve Grove, and responded to questions on subjects ranging from education reforms, healthcare, the recent unrest in Egypt, to his “pick” for the Superbowl.
The clock started clicking the minute Rick Sanchez said “I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot.”
During the remainder of his September 30th interview on Stand Up! with Pete Dominick went downhill. From there the accusations became how Jon Stewart’s targets (“Everybody else who’s not like him”) represent bigotry to the control of Jews running major media organizations like CNN.
Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.
No apology or word of the interview remained on Sanchez’ Twitter, which now is likely abandoned as the 145+ thousand followers will forget they ever followed the anchor who made new media his entire shtick. In fact, CNN’s only discussion of the event came during Howard Kurtz’ Reliable Sources yesterday according to TVNewser.
Of course far be it from Kurtz to not dig the knife in deeper by leading into his segment first with The Daily Show’s Sanchez reel and then asking whether Sanchez should’ve been “suspended…or tazed?”
Smooth, Howie. Smooth.
But now it’s Monday, no word about what will happen to Rick’s Twitter, which commands 140+ thousand followers who don’t seem to be dropping off–even after Friday’s announcement. So what happens when an influential Twitter personality just stops? Does it make a sound?
Wondering why certain Twitters are being suggested to follow over the people you know? Thank Twitter’s ingenious advertising plan.
All Things Digital’s Media Memo revealed yesterday that paid suggestions is just one of three advertising plans being put to use by Twitter:
The idea is a simple one, people familiar with the company’s plans tell me: Twitter will try to help corporations and brands increase their Twitter following by inserting them alongside other Twitter users it suggests in its “Who to Follow” feature.
Don’t fret, though. If you’re not a fan of say Greta Van Susteren or Jimmy Carter, you won’t be inundated with their profile pics forever locked in your Who To Follow. Twitter’s algorithm will ensure just because someone pays to promote their Twitter, they won’t spam people who aren’t relevant to your friends and followers.
The official announcement will come shortly. The adoption of this in campaign promotion and outreach will be the thundering noise to follow.
In a tale as old as time, beauty can’t beat the beast with 100 backs–especially when it comes to legislation.
That’s exactly what the Internet learned upon today’s 56-43 vote to not pass $726 billion in defense spending, according to the AP, which also included language to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, or DADT as the official Twitter hashtag.
Lady Gaga gained a bit more steam last week after tweeting a Senate vote should be scheduled against “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” which picked up further press when Harry Reid re-tweeted her to explain there was an upcoming vote according to Politico; Gaga was referencing her recent appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards where her dates were all gay servicemen and women.
Since Gaga has adopted DADT as her rallying point–quite literally yesterday in Maine, as MTV reports. Her rallying speech (video above) called for an end to the practice. But today’s block doesn’t bode well for the repeal anytime soon, as the Times claims:
Congress has approved the annual Pentagon authorization bill for 48 consecutive years, and it seems likely that the measure will be brought up again after the election in the relatively calmer — if somewhat unpredictable — atmosphere of a lame-duck session. The House has already approved legislation allowing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and the provision will likely be easier to pass in the Senate after Dec. 1 when a Pentagon study on the effects of ending the policy is due.
Still, the House has already passed legislation to repeal the act and December 1st is another day. Perhaps the Senate hasn’t heard the last from the Haus or Gaga.
As Twitter continues to unroll its “New Twitter” functionality, a rather pornographic exploit came to light this morning.
Mashable explains that “The flaw uses a JavaScript function called onMouseOver which creates an event when the mouse is passed over a chunk of text. We’ve seen the flaw being abused to launch simple pop-up windows, redirect users elsewhere (including porn sites), and we’ve also seen it used in combination with blocks of color, covering the true “intention” of the tweet.”
The bug was fully patched as of 9:50 am according to Twitter’s Status Blog, luckily saving the day of all bloggers and media types desperate to tweet their relief.
So long Daisy and Demon Sheep; hello mobile phones and faux-reports!
The Washington Post reports on Robert Ehrlich Jr.’s recent advertising campaign to take back the governor’s seat this year. Instead of a generic spot airing on the cable networks, the former Maryland governor provides on-location briefings via YouTube “covered” by Andy Barth, a former TV reporter and now acting as his press secretary.
Obama’s premiere Oval Office speech last week was the worst of social media and the best of social media.
Mashable ran “Obama Speech on BP Oil Not A Hit with Facebook and Twitter Users” after taking data provided by Crimson Hexagon from “83,000 Tweets and public Facebook comments” over a nine hour shift. But taking such things into account can provide little feedback, especially when 15 percent of the poll were annoyed they missed So You Think You Can Dance and the other five questioned why so many people would anonymously make fun of the president.
One of the most compelling users of Twitter has been Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; she’s been tweeting to raise awareness of the global campaign for maternal health as the Global Ambassador for The White Ribbon Alliance. The WRA for Safe Motherhood is uniting people in 142 countries to demand government action to end the unnecessary deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth through the Million Mums Campaign.
On Friday night Sarah Brown, who passed the million followers mark over the weekend, hosted a Tweetup (a gathering of Twitter friends) at Number 10 Downing Street. The invited guests originally had been surprised by a tweet from Brown, asking for a mailing address; some thought her account had been hacked or speculated a Christmas card was coming. But an invitation to a Number 10 Tweetup for the Million Mums Campaign caught everyone by surprise. Read more…
President Obama has had his face and words on almost every magazine cover and newspaper in the world but can he sway health care votes IN 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS?
Wednesday, he will be the first President to have his presidential news conference tweeted to the world. Will he change his style of speaking? Will reporters tweet questions in earlier in the day? Don’t miss Robert Gibbs briefing LIVE on WHCInsider.com and get an advance TWEET!
With a president who addresses the nation weekly via YouTube, can you really be surprised that the White House is now on Twitter? The account name is — surprise again — WhiteHouse, and it’s yet another way the Obama administration is trying to get its message out beyond the usual avenue of the White House press corps.
As of this moment, there are nearly 33,000 followers, including at least one White House correspondent — Jake Tapper of ABC News. The media at large have noticed with articles (Washington Post and USA Today, for instance). Doubtlessly more news organizations will as well.
The question: Is a Twittering White House a good thing? Let us know what you think in a comment.
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Obama’s premiere Oval Office speech 
With a president who addresses the nation weekly via YouTube, can you really be surprised that the White House is now 
