Twitter experiments with new auto account

Twitter has quite a number of experiments within their social network. Most of these experiments involve something like 'internal applications' that permit different functions within the network. An illustration of these experiments is, Event Parrot, which notifies users about the most recent happening in the world through direct message or Magc Res, which is an engine that suggests followers relying on the user's contact list for propose minded people.

Twitter has initiated a new experiment, similar to the preceding experiment namely Internal Achievement Bird. This new experiment intends to send Twitter users a DM each day with statistics for each user account, i.e. any retweets, direct messages, report any mentions and other account activities.

Achievement Bird is developed and maintained by Google. It basically gives users notifications of any achievements that surround any of their content. This account seeks to replace the many external applications that supposedly achieve the same purpose. Potentially, this account is more useful for the users because unlike the external applications, it doesn't collect any data other than what it ought to.

At present, it is indefinite whether the Achievement Bird will turn out to be available to all users on Twitter as an alternative to external applications. Presently it is only accessible to confirmed businesses accounts. The other Twitter users will have to wait and see if the social network will decide to make the Achievement Bird available to everyone.

This account will send users e-mail messages when a user makes an "achievement" on a tweet. This means that the Twitter account will send email messages about how any certain tweet has been received by the other Twitter users. Despite the fact that the @AchievementBird account is confined, it has started getting a number of followers in the past few days.

Twitter's @AchievementBird is the newest in a string of experimentations in the form of an authentic Twitter account. Other experiments consist of @MagicRecs, which sends users recommendations of people they may be interested in following and tweets to examine. Another one is the @eventparrot, which sends out email messages about tweets on the latest news. Twitter begins these innovative features to a partial percentage of users as a test before they are released to the entire Twitter population. The social networking site has been trying out a number of experimental features on its website to encourage users and, in due course, bring in more funds. Twitter is sprawling behind Facebook with more than 231.7 million average monthly users and $168.6 million in income in the third quarter of 2013.

 

Twitter already suggests these same statistics by means of its ads.twitter.com platform, and also other services offer basic stats on tweets and account performance. It may be gambling that direct messages are the most suitable way to get this data to attracted users and recompense their daily undertakings.

Another experiment that the social network had tried includes the modification of the 'block' feature that allows individuals to cut all communication from specific troublesome users. The network decided that this alteration to its block feature was not in the finest interest of the users, repealing the new element just a day after it was launched.

The social media giant had brought in a revision to the block feature that allowed users to delete comments made by 'blocked' users on their Twitter timeline, but the blocked user would still be capable of following them and replying to their messages. According to the US Today, this fundamentally changed the status of the blocked user from 'blocked' to 'muted'.

This change was straight away met with fury (as well as a trending hash tag #restoretheblock), as users protested that the modification would allow the blocked users to cause trouble and bother to others on the site. This reaction is one of the reasons why Twitter decided to return the block feature to the social networking site.

In a blog post, Michael Sippey, the social networking giant's Vice President of products said that they have come to a decision to revert the alteration after receiving criticism from many users. They never want to set up features at the cost of Twitter users feeling less safe.

Sippey included that the social networking site will "explore features" to stop abuse on the site. Twitter also restructured its app for iOS and Android, presenting an easier messaging feature that now permits users to send photos.

The Twitter modification for iOS and Android furthermore gives its users the ability to move around to diverse timelines with an easy swipe, meaning Discover, Home and Activity can all currently be retrieve in one move.

The messaging feature was also adjusted for accessibility. It is now showed notably in the navigation bar at the base of the screen, instead of in the "Me" part.

Twitter's DM tool now lets users to view and send photos. Users can also observe these photos on twitter.com. The update to direct messages is the first noteworthy change to the feature since it was first revealed seven years ago. It was announced in October 2013 that any person following a user could send the followed user a direct message, but it reversed course abruptly after launching the DM change. Despite the fact that Direct Messages are still confined to a 140-character limit (same applies for tweets), it still comes out as an authentic messaging service. At around the time when the change to messaging was being done, there is still the rigid, well-established opposition within the social media society. Instagram on the other hand is also supposedly considering incorporating a private messaging feature.

Amidst current reports that Facebook will buy Bangalore-based Little Eye Labs, Twitter also seems to be prepared to make a splash in India, according to Tech Crunch. Facebook's competitor is "eyeing" Bangalore-based Frrole that sorts throughout the half a billion tweets a month to present insight about its users, with Tech Crunch's resources asserting that the companies are bargaining a way to make the purchase work.

Another experimental account of Twitter, called @magicheadlines, is expectedly associated to this effort, as it asserts to allow the user see where tweets are set in around the web.

Top of the Blogs - Who is the top social networking user in Western Europe 2013?

The expansive net of social media stretches far and wide; and here in Europe, we are pretty dedicated to the service. But which country uses it the most? Which country is the most successful when using it? And is this reflective of who is contributing to it most. Nearing the end of the year, we find out which European country is at the top of the social networking world.

Image: http://molempire.com

eMarketer produced the below chart, and it seems this year the UK are rather low on the charts. As we can see, Germany and Spain are rather close at the top; with the rest of Western Europe not that far behind. So what does this really show?

Image: http://was-gb.wascdn.net

It shows that these countries are using more social networking, and when we think about how it is expanding and benefiting the business world, it begs the question - are we being left behind? Like most nations, we often like to think of ourselves at the forefront of most technological ventures.

Now whilst we are using social networking constantly, and advancing in the ways and means as to how, it seems maybe we are not propelling ourselves enough.

Each country may have different reasons to be using this medium and so the chart above may not be a necessarily strong basis for any assumption. To look further into what is being used we could take the following chart as an example.

 

Image: http://was-it.wascdn.net

As you can see from this, the UK are actually top of the list for Facebook users; with France and Germany in joint second. So are we focusing our attention too much on the social networking sites that aren't engineered to boost economy? Are we still in awe of online contact in our social lives? It may be time to use these new technologies and be aware of what they can do for us as a nation.

Obviously this is just speculation, and next year I am sure the results will be much different again. However we are using social networking and media, it is still very clear that we are using it a lot. As new ideas and concepts arise we will keep growing and moving online; there will be a new wave in social media again from now and it would be an economic benefit to be at the forefront of this.

Maybe we should be coming up with these ideas rather than just using them; this is a dynamic way to keep the market moving and to engineer it to our needs. We will keep monitoring the results throughout next year to see if the UK can keep up to speed with the rest of Western Europe.

What do you think about these results?

Social Media and the ‘Silver Surfer’

According to recent surveys the fastest growing demographic of Facebook users are senior citizens and as a sizeable population this is surely going to keep increasing. What are the reasons behind the increase in the ‘silver surfer’ and the growing number of Old Age Pensioners who are turning to social media networks to stay connected?

Image - http://phys.org/news/2013-09-silver-surfers-forgotten-social-media.html

The primary reason for senior citizens to sign up to social media networks is to keep in contact with friends and family – this can be a real benefit to those who are unable to leave their homes very easily or very often, and can be particularly beneficial for those with family across the country or the world. It could be argued that this can even be a health benefit for seniors helping them to overcome feelings of social isolation. Facebook can help grandparents feel connected to their family members more – by logging into Facebook they will be able to receive updates on what their family has been doing , where they have been and what photos they have taken recently, all in just a few clicks. This can be a much easier method of keeping in contact with busy family members who may not have time to catch up over the phone regularly. In addition, digital tools like Skype can help senior citizens to feel increasingly connected to family and friends, as they do not just get to hear their voices but have the option of seeing their family virtually through using the webcam. This is even more useful for those with relatives across the world, where expensive long distance phone bills could easily rack up.

Image - mashable.com

Furthermore, when grandparents were asked to label the key reasons behind why they had set up their account on a social networking website, 51% explained that ‘younger family members had encouraged them to’; 24% had created an account to ‘find old friends’; 21% had made theirs to ‘keep in touch with friends and family’. Therefore the main reasons appear to be that they wish to keep in contact more easily. It also might indicate an attempt to understand latest developments and understand what so many young people spend their time doing when online.

However, there are a number of reasons those over 65 may choose not to use social networking sites – many do not have their own computer or internet, and find it too complex to learn how to use a computer due to the fact that they are constantly developing and updating. Others have concerns over the privacy of these social networking sites or are worried about receiving messages from unknown people or scams online. Some city councils in the both UK and the US have tried to help senior citizens to overcome their hesitancy and fears over using social media by providing free sessions in order to teach them the benefits of keeping in touch with friends and family over online networks or through the internet.

Image - www.soshable.com

The Pew Research Centre’s Internet & American Life Project reports that the 74-plus demographic is growing faster than any other age group on social media – this may just be due to the fact that the majority of those in younger generations who want to use social media sites have already done so. However, as the Baby boomers are starting to enter their senior years, there is an even greater projected upswing for their use of social media.

This begs the question – could brands begin to market to seniors over social networks? For instance, in America one of the leading assisted living homes in the US, Merrill Gardens, have been using social media to connect to senior residents and the children of their residents. Specifically they are using their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest accounts for lead generation with the adult children of their target market, who are researching homes for their parents online. It also allows their residents to stay involved with community events and for their adult children to follow the evens and news of their parents who are living in the homes. Will this kind of marketing soon be adopted my more organisations and also be seen in the UK?

What do you think?

Do you think there are benefits to senior citizens becoming more involved in social networking? Would you use social networks to keep in contact with your elderly relatives?