Twitter Allows DMs to Verified Accounts Without Followbacks

Twitter is working on a way that fans and critics alike can send direct messages to verified accounts without the need of the follow back. This way, communication between representatives who handle those verified Twitter accounts and people who try to communicate with them becomes a little easier. It means that users with a verified account don't have to follow someone just for receiving and sending direct messages and then unfollowing them after the interaction is over. No need for follows to DM on a verified account This, of course, makes more sense for brands than it does for celebrities. While free DMing them will have its perks for fans, the usefulness of this feature will really be for services like airlines, banks and magazines. Right now, in India, services that perform a lot of customer service over Twitter are Jet Airways, Vodafone and ICICI Bank (to name a few). When a customer has a flight scheduling or reservation issue, it will be a lot easier to send DMs to Jet Airways than say tweet a generic problem tweet mentioning Jet Airways, waiting for them to follow you and tell you to DM them, and then finally DM them. Same goes for customer service problems with Vodafone and ICICI. The problem though right now is none of these three accounts are verified accounts. Once they get verified status, user interaction should get easier. Tata Docomo, however, has a verified account and has tweeted this new feature of Twitter. Now you can DM them directly without the need of reciprocated follows.

Facebook Blocks Extension to Export Contacts Onto Google+

We’re truly living amidst competitive times. Google, the popular search giant launched its fresh attempt at social networking with Google+. Even as the covers were being lifted, it was already being touted as an able contender to Facebook, the social networking giant. It didn’t take really long for users to join the Google+ bandwagon, just like they did when Facebook began in 2004.

Annoyed..

Users since then have been trying to bridge the gap between Google+ and Facebook, on their own personal levels i.e. getting their Facebook contacts onto Google+. Thanks to a software engineer, Mohamed Mansour who readied a Chrome extension, using which it was possible to export one’s Facebook contacts onto Google+. Was, did I say? Well, sadly yes! Facebook has now cut off all access to this extension, and Google+ users now stand at the either sides of the hedge.

The new extension allowed Google+ users to store the names, email addresses, birthdays, phone numbers, and other information into a text file, and/or have them imported directly onto Gmail. After Facebook allegedly blocked the extension, as per a CNET report, Google+ users were only able to get the names and Facebook page addresses and not the email address.

An annoyed Mansour stated that the move from Facebook has strengthened his resolve. And that he would come up with a backdoor to this, as well.

Google+: THE NEXT SOCIAL NETWORK

Waiting for a Google+ invite is currently what all the cool kids are doing. Google's latest answer to the social networks, Google+ opened up for a small group of testers, a few days ago. Invites spread like wildfire and Google had to shut down the invite button. Google+ is supposed to be Google's Facebook takedown device, but here's the problem with that; Facebook's already established itself and its format. Using Facebook's basic layout and adding a few more features upon it really doesn't give Google+ an edge. Users saw the futility of Google Wave, and Buzz didn't seemingly catch on. Will Google+ be an answer to Google's social scramble? Probably not. But there still is some fun to be had.

Layout
When you look at Google+, of course the first thing that jumps to your head is, "Oh hello, Flash free version of Facebook".The home news feed is laid out like Facebook's, as is the individual profile page. On the LHS of the homepage, you can choose whose updates you want to stream, and below that is your GTalk window. Up top you have your navigation bar which will take you from your homepage to a photos page, your profile page or your circles page.

Features
Google+ wants to pride itself on its features, some of which, I'll admit, are worth the 15 seconds of interest that Google+ will hold. For one, managing your contacts in groups of circles and dividing them by friends, family, acqaintances, colleagues, etc. is an interesting concept. It helps when you want to share information, because you can choose which circle you want to share what with. The other feature that Google's priding itself on with Google+ is Hangout. Hangout allows you to set up a group video chat session with entire circles of contacts or individual contacts whose email addresses you add. The obvious problem with this, just like any other chat program, is not everyone in your circle of choice will be online at the same time. However, Hangout is a more intuitive way of video calling just because it works off your Google contacts. However, now that Skype and Facebook are getting along better, we'll see what they retaliate with.

Circles on Google Plus

There's also an easy to miss feature in there, called Sparks. Sparks allows you to view content online divided into categories of interest like Cycling, Fashion, Soccer, Comics etc. These categories are content aggregators, and you can make more of your own categories, as well. Here, it really feels like Google's trying to take Zite and put it into a social network.

Spark wants to bring you Zite on the web

No social network would be complete without the ability to share photos and videos, of course. You can add pictures by dragging and dropping or choosing from your computer, or more intuitively, directly from your Android phone without the need of wires. The catch is, when you add any photo, or an album, in order to get published, it must be shared with either your circles or individual contacts (hint: you can share with circles that don't have any contacts just so the picture/s get published). This is where Google seems to have taken Facebook's 'share' philosophy and put it on steroids.

The one feature that currently seems a little pointless is how +1s work. +1 is Google's sharing service where if you like an article or a video you found, you hit +1. If you hit +1 on a link that a contact posts in Google+ itself, it goes into your +1 section of your profile. If, however, you hit +1 for an article on an external site, it doesn't automatically show up in your Google+ profile. There's also a Buzz section which seems to be Google's little, "let's revive this feature" technique. Or in a way, it's taking their version of Twitter and mashing it into their version of Facebook. However, the last time I buzzed was exactly a year ago and to me the addition of Buzz seems pointless.

Conclusion
If you're already on Facebook and all of your stuff is on Facebook, it's very unlikely that you're going to come over to Google+ to start Facebook over, from scratch. Hangout and Circles really aren't big enough features to pull Google+, in fact, they're better suited for GTalk itself. Google really didn't bring a new format of social networking to the table, instead it seems as if the folk who worked on this product sat in meeting room after meeting room asking questions like, "What does Facebook do? How can we Googlify it," and "What's Facebook not offering that Google can". In other words, Google+ seems derivative, and unless Google gives it a major overhaul, interest in it is going to die out.

So You Wanna Hack Someone's Facebook?

This theory's a little bit of a longshot but it can work with a little bit of luck and a little bit of the smart touch. A report indicates that with Facebook's "Three Trusted Friends" password recovery system, user accounts are actually pretty easy to hack into without knowing any sort of special code. The first step is to create three fake Facebook accounts and friend your targeted victim. This is where the luck and brains come in. You need to make sure that your victim accepts these friend requests and therefore you need to make them look like actual people that they might know. After they've accepted all three friend requests, the easy part begins. On the account login page, click the "Forgot your password" tab. That will take you to a page asking for either your email, Facebook username, or your name and a friend's name. Getting these details of your victims account is no biggie at all.

Note the "No longer have access to these"

After this, you'll be taken to a page where you're asked to verify the account in question with a profile picture associated with the account (in this case, your victim's profile picture). A variety of ways to send a reset password will also be provided including the victim's phone number and email address. At the bottom of it all, there's an option that says, "Can't access these right now" which if you click on, takes you to the three trusted friends page. Here, you're given a list of the account holder's friends, and you choose the three friends you created. A reset password will be sent to those friends and you use that to hack into to your victim's account.

There are two flaws in this system, both of which are not too major. One, which is already mentioned, is the fact that your victim actually has to accept these friend requests. Two, when you choose the option of not having access to any of those email address, an email is sent to the victim saying that they have chosen to reset their password. They'll know that suspicious activity is going on with their account but they won't really be able to do anything since changing their password will not be effective. The most they can do is report back to Facebook that they haven't actually been trying to reset their account information.

Note: More than a how to hack someone's account, this is meant to be more of a warning. Be careful who you're accepting friend requests from and of course, respond to an email saying that you've requested to reset your password (when you haven't) immediately.

Twitter Adds Follow Button to Websites- ITS COOL

Twitter's adding a follow button to websites, giving users direct access to the accounts of their favourite celebrities, politicians, athletes, media personalities etc. The idea is that there are certain websites users visit everyday and adding a "follow" button next to Facebook's "Like" button on those pages will prompt users to discover and instantly follow certain Twitter accounts. If you want to follow Jennifer Lopez... More than 50 sites have partnered up with Twitter to add the Follow Button already. These include:

Twitter disables new version of website

(Reuters) - Twitter experienced service disruptions on Tuesday, displaying an older version of the social networking website to some users and becoming completely inaccessible to others.

A message on Twitter's Web page that provides updates on the service's status said: "We've temporarily disabled #NewTwitter. Our engineers are working on re-enabling it and we'll update you shortly."

Twitter, which allows users to send short, 140-character messages to groups of "followers," has more than 200 million registered accounts and has become a popular communications service with businesses, celebrities and protesters in the Middle East.

Last month Twitter announced that it had moved its infrastructure to a new home at an undisclosed location, which the company said would allow it to constantly "stay abreast" of its capacity needs and provide greater reliability.

But a custom-built datacenter in Utah that was meant to house Twitter's gear has been plagued with problems, according to people familiar with the matter, forcing Twitter to move most of the site's operations to a facility in Sacramento, California instead.

Tuesday's disruptions meant that some people were using the version of the Twitter site that preceded a redesign unveiled in September. Other Twitter users were unable to log on at all, and were greeted with a page informing them that "something is technically wrong" and promising to have things "back to normal soon."

A Twitter spokeswoman said the company had no details to provide beyond the statements on its special technical status Web page.

Yahoo! takes on Google, social networking sites

Mr Prabhakar Raghavan, Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Vice-President and Head of Yahoo! Labs, at the 20th International World Wide Web conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday. — Photo: P.V.Sivakumar

HYDERABAD, MARCH 30: 

Once a favourite with Indian Internet users, who later shifted loyalties, Yahoo! seems to be in a reload phase to win back the lost ground and take competition from Google and social networking sites head on.

The mail, search and news portal has lined up Search Direct for release in the second half of this year. The service, which targets Google's prompt-based search, will provide answers based on the user needs.

“Users do not come to a search engine with just search strings. They expect some useful information. For one, if you type Spiderman, you may specifically be looking for reviews on the film, film tickets, pictures or news,” Mr Prabhakar Raghavan, Chief Scientist and Senior Vice-President and Head of Yahoo! Labs, said.

Like in Google search, one will get prompts. But the similarity ends there. “You will get answers as categories as you begin to key in the search string. You can directly go to the category,” he said.

Mr Prabhakar, who was here to take part in the 20th World Wide Web Conference, said Yahoo! registered 30 million users a month in India and 74 per cent of all the net users in the country. With the user base growing, the company is planning to replicate a survey it conducted in the US to measure effectiveness (of Web content, including advertisements).

The company, which claims it registers 100 crore clicks every day in its homepage in India, said its Content Optimisation tool would allow users to see content based on their preferences.

The hybrid model picks trends based on the patterns in ‘clicks' and gives editors tools to pick relevant content.

The tool, which at present is offered to English users, would be expanded soon to its regional content, which was not so dynamic.

On Yahoo! facing competition not just from Google or MSN but also from social networking sites, he said the company is working on a Status message option to allow users to collaborate in smaller groups.

By picking threads from the message sharing pattern, users can talk on a one-to-a-few basis as against one-to-many in social networking sites.

Mr Prabhakar said the Internet should be open and any efforts to stack on the basis of Operating Systems and exclusive applications could defeat the spirit of the Web that was built on openness.

Of its total workforce of 14,000 globally, Yahoo! has 2,000 employees at its R&D facility in Bangalore.

India is a favourite of mine, says Enrique Iglesias

New Delhi, Mar 29 (PTI) His much hyped collaboration with Sunidhi Chauhan is playing on radio stations across the country and pop heartthrob Enrique Iglesias says that India has long been a favourite of his and he hopes to perform here in the near future.

The song ''Heart Beat'' featuring the vocals of Chauhan and the ''Escape'' hitmaker, is a part of the special India edition of Iglesias'' latest album ''Euphoria'' and he is excited about fan''s reaction to it.

"India is one of my favorite countries and I''m glad a collaboration with an Indian singer is finally happening. It''s something I always wanted to do and was waiting for the right opportunity to come along. Working with such a talented Indian singer as Sunidhi Chauhan is an opportunity I am so happy to be involved in.I hope all my fans out there will love what they hear and I hope to see you all soon," said the 36-year-old singer who will reportedly perform in India in July.

''Heartbeat-India Mix'', produced by Bollywood music composer Shameer Tandon, mixes traditional folk beats with Iglesias''s signature style along with a repertoire of Indian instruments including the sitar, tabla and flute.

The original song featured ''Pussycat Dolls'' star Nicole Scherzinger.

FIR against Facebook for abusing religion

LUCKNOW: A social activist has registered an FIR against Facebook, the US based social networking website and its members for abusing Hindu religion and gods. The FIR accused a Facebook profile of "instigating communal passions" and feared that it could lead to riots in India.

The complaint was lodged by a social activist Nutan Thakur in the civil lines police station of Meerut, under section 66 A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

"Though in my complaint I have named several persons whose comments and names figure in Facebook, lot of them appear to be fake IDs," Nutan told TOI. But, she added, there is a `virtual riot' on the profile of Facebook members of two communities where people post the choicest of abuses against the two religions -- Hinduism and Islam.

The title of this Facebook profile itself is highly inflammatory. In place of the photograph of the person who has created the account, a picture of Hindu gods have been placed with the title three idiots. The remarks from Hindus and Muslims are unprintable. The person who has created the profile has warned of creating such profiles if profiles insulting and abusing Islam were not removed from Facebook. In response to this, people have posted anti-Islam remarks on the profile along with links of websites with equally bad abuses against Islam.

The act, says Thakur, amounts to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of communities and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, assertions prejudicial to national-integration , public nuisance (290 IPC), intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace, criminal intimidation and using information technology for these purposes.

Facebook Inc., she added, has been charged with providing the platform for dissemination of all the information and overlooking requests of several saner people to block the profile.

Last month, Thakur along with her IPS husband, Amitabh Thakur, had lodged complaint in Gomtinagar police station of Lucknow against a Faceboook group calling itself "we hate Gandhi". Subsequently, Facebook blocked the profile.

RCom ties up with Facebook

Reliance customers, using their Facebook account, can now stay connected on their mobile phones without having to upgrade to a smartphone

MUMBAI, INDIA: Reliance Communications and Facebook on Wednesday announced the launch of a new Facebook mobile app, exclusively available for Reliance subscribers in India, for a period of three months.

Reliance customers using their Facebook account can now stay connected on their mobile phones without having to upgrade to a smartphone, said a press release. The mobile operator is providing an offer where all users can enjoy this app free for three months without incurring any data charges.

“This agreement between Reliance Communications and Facebook will unleash the real power of social networking in India. This tie-up will enable anytime anywhere access to Facebook from almost every popular handset model currently available in India,” said Prashant Gokarn, 3G business head, Reliance Communications.

RCom said the Facebook app provides a ‘smartphone like’ experience on feature phones. It brings most of the popular features and user experience already deployed on Facebook mobile app for smartphones too and is optimized for speed and performance on the RCom network.

It enables users to view photos from their mobile handset and synchronize the local address book contacts with the Facebook friends. It also allows Facebook login to third-party services within the app such as news, sports and games.

The new Facebook app for Java-powered feature phones would be made available for most of the popular handset models in India, the release added.