Microblogging News & Articles

Just when you thought that a microblogging service was simple enough, things like CheckThis come along. Offering fuss-free publishing of micro-sites, CheckThis promises quick posting of micro websites without even the need to go through complicated account signups.

Chinese authorities have recently decided to expand its "online accountability" regulations, with users of microblogging services now required to verify and use their real names. With today's increasing concerns on online censorship and freedom of information around the globe, how will this new regulation affect the growth of social networks and services that thrive on user-generated content?

With over 100 million active users on Twitter, it can be a pain to verify which account is the real deal, and which are just impostors trying to pose as celebrities and notable people. Twitter has attempted to make sure identities of celebrities are not spoofed with their Verified Account feature, but is the process of verifying an identity really foolproof?

Twitter has just received a fresh infusion of funds from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's top private investors. With the microblogging service gearing up for a new advertising-based business model, and forecast to earn upwards of US$ 130 million per year, does the company really need this "strategic stake" from the Saudi Prince?

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealed some big numbers at this year’s Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco: The company has jumped to nearly 250 million tweets per day, or 1 billion tweets every four or five days. But what do these numbers mean and what's in store for the platform?

The Neudesic Pulse team announced the release of Pulse 2.0 this week, adding enhanced SharePoint integration, Groups, and other features we've come to know and love from several microblogging-based platforms. 

Just a few weeks after announcing their intent to revamp Delicious, AVOS investors Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have resurrected the social bookmarking site. Will Delicious rise up from the ashes and revitalize the social bookmarking scene?

If you were gutted when Twitter axed Deck.ly, you'll be glad to know that Tribalfish has announced a new browser extension for long-form tweets. 

While there isn't much doubt that Twitter is playing ball in the big leagues, the microblogging service's management has confirmed they are currently counting just over 100 million active users. The company has likewise raised two rounds of financing worth US$ 400 million each.

Yammer (news, site) kicked out a new version of its integration with Microsoft SharePoint this week, adding notification alerts, profile syncing and light(er) weight embeddable feeds to the social layer.  

MangoSpring (news, site)  released version 4.0 of its business communication suite this week, introducing four major additions: a WYSIWYG Wiki, online document reader, new project management features, and new mobile applications for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Twitter (news, site) is aggressively expanding into the Japanese market, in particular partnering with mobile networks and portals in the country. Twitter's latest partnership involves adding live feeds in Yahoo! Japan search results. Is Twitter doing this as a means to expand into Asian territories just as certain Asian microblogging services are planning a coup in the English-language market?

Access to Twitter is banned from within Chinese ISPs. So where do the half-billion Internet users in the country turn to for microblogging? Weibo (news, site) is among the most popular microblogging sites. It's so popular that its creator, Sina, wants to do an English-language launch within the year to compete with Twitter. But that's not without bringing out the big guns, as the service will be rolling out even more features, which are currently in beta.

Chinese microblogging service Weibo (news, site) is planning to do an English-language launch within two months. How will Weibo compete against the more internationally-established brands, particularly Twitter?

Twitter (news, site) headlines were hot this week with an acquisition and several new tools, such as a Follow button and a photo/video sharing feature. And while users of the platform can probably still be heard cheering, third party developers are left reaching for the Kleenex.