Receive Direct Messages from anyone on Twitter

Twitter has made changes to its direct message (DM) feature, now you can receive private messages from other users, even if you don’t follow them. The feature is available in the form of a new setting, which is turned off by default.

Get used to tweets from people you don’t follow in your Twitter timeline. It’s an official feature.

Twitter recently began adding tweets to your timeline that have been favorited by people you follow. The decision has been a controversial one, but it looks like it’s here to stay. Twitter has now formally changed its definition of your home timeline to note that it will add in content that it thinks you’ll want to see.

Previously, Twitter had this definition on it’s “What’s a Twitter timeline?” page:

Twitter mute feature starts rolling out

Ever wished you had a virtual duct tape for some of those less savory tweets and people? Now you do! Thanks to the new mute function that Twitter has just implemented, coming to your official Twitter app and web site soon.

Muting can be seen as a gentler and more clandestine way to rest your eyes from certain people without having to unfollow or block them. This is especially useful when you just don’t want to receive notifications, via SMS or other channels, from a specific person but don’t really want to break off your ties with them.

When you mute a tweet or a Twitter user, almost all of that person’s actions will no longer be visible to you and will no longer trigger notifications, even if, for example, they favorite a tweet of yours. However, replies to you and mentions of you will still show up on your timeline and, thus, in your notifications. They can still send you a direct message, They won’t, however, know if you’ve muted or unmuted them. Yes, muting is, of course, reversible, but you should probably take note of which accounts you’ve muted, as Twitter won’t provide you a list of everyone you’ve tried to silence on your end.

The mute feature will be available on Twitter’s web interface as well as its Android and iOS apps. On the web, users can click on the “More” link in a single tweet or the Settings (gear) icon for Twitter profiles to mute the person. On Android, it can be done via the overflow menu (the three vertical dots at the top) of a specific tweet’s page or from the same gear icon on the user’s profile page. The feature hasn’t yet fully rolled out to all users across the globe, so some might not yet be seeing these options on their Android devices.

Mute button: Twitter tests new feature that will let users silence annoying accounts

The much talked about Mute button feature on Twitter continues to create a stir among users worldwide, and people are waiting for answers if the company even plans to roll out the long-awaited feature to the popular micro-blogging site.

It was earlier reported that the Mute button is a feature that-when rolled out-will allow Twitter users to unfollow the tweets or retweets of a particular user that possibly irritate them, without entirely blocking the user for whatever reason they can’t entirely just do so. When the particular user is muted, all updates will no longer appear on the blocker’s newsfeed. Notifications and direct messages are still allowed, and users will have to struggle with it still. However, like Facebook’s Unfollow button, the blocked user will not know that another user unfollowed their updates, which makes it subtler than completely blocking the person.

Research says the test run is only among the selected fortunate few, possibly to the more popular users of Twitter. To check out if the test run works on users’ end, they should visit any profile using the mobile app and click the gear icon. If it does work, the mute button should show up at the top of the menu.

Yet it appears that users aren’t seeing any answers soon, as until now the Mute button is still on a test run. Twitter previously ran tests on several features to some users but in the end was never officially rolled out to everyone. In fact, a Twitter executive once posted their explanation to this.

“We’ve tested various features with small groups of our 200 million users before determining what we’ll release,” Twitter engineering vice president Alex Roetter writes in a blog post in September last year.

Other observers are also saying they wouldn’t be all too surprised if topics and hashtags were also added to the mute button list before the worldwide release. Why not, those hashtags can really be annoying sometimes.

The mute button is nothing new really, as third-party apps like TweetDeck and Tweetbot already have such feature in their platform. However, these apps aren’t viewable on all platforms, thus muting isn’t seen on all devices as well.

For now, users will have to deal with those unnecessary tweets, change their account or else block the annoying user entirely.

Ericsson fires employee over racist tweet

Telecommunications company Ericsson South Africa has dismissed an employee over a racists tweet.

Ericsson employee Vivienne Catherine Basson vented her anger on Twitter yesterday, after being allegedly involved in a car accident with a taxi driver. In the rage-filled tweet she said, “Effing k**fir taxi. And once again I vote for the death penalty. These savages don’t deserve to live. But more importantly Daniel is alive and I am alive. They can rot in hell”

In South Africa, the word “Kaffir” is regarded as a deeply offensive racial slur, similar to “Nigger” in the United States.

After reviewing the message posted on Twitter, Ericsson South Africa dismissed Basson, stating that she contravened the company’s Code of Business Ethics.

“As per our Ericsson Code of Business Ethics, we have a zero tolerance policy against all kinds of discrimination based on partiality or prejudice. In this case the Code has been breached, and as such the individual involved has been summarily dismissed,” they said in a statement.

In a number of follow-up tweets, Basson tried to justify her actions by explaining that she had previously been involved in two hit and run incidents with taxis and had been robbed and shot at in her home.

“Do you now understand my anger. Walk in my shoes before you pontificate. I am not racist but I do know the difference between a good person and a savage,” she later tweeted.

She did apologize for her initial tweet, stating that she didn’t want to be “insensitive or derogatory.”

Law firm Legal Aid warns of the dangers of posting entries to social networks, as it could have long-lasting effects on the poster’s career.
“Social media can be used to socialize and communicate and help do things, but you may not have thought about some of the problems it can cause for you. Think before you post – there may be negative consequences for you now as well as in the future as once it is out there it can be in many places you didn’t even think about. Remember friends can copy what you post and send it to people you don’t know who could then send it to even more people,” they explained.

 

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Twitter Fights For Mainstream Adoption With Facebook-ish Updates

During Twitter’s first earnings call as a public company in early February CEO Dick Costolo emphasized that his goal is “to reach every person on the planet.”

“In 2014,” he added, “we’re focused on building a Twitter that is truly accessible and valuable to everyone.” What better way to do that than by borrowing some of the look and feel from the social network that’s come closest to that goal: Facebook.

Twitter unveiled a new design for profile pages on Tuesday with more prominent lead images and the option to choose a top tweet to display. As many, many users quickly pointed out, the design makes Twitter look that much more similar to Facebook. That might not be such a bad thing.

“If today’s announcement makes the service more accessible for more people, then that’s great news for Twitter,” says Nate Elliott, an analyst with Forrester Research.

Twitter had 241 million monthly users at the end of the December quarter, less than a fifth of Facebook’s user base, and its pace of user growth has slowed. That set off an alarm among investors. (Perhaps more troubling, third-party data suggest that millions of users have signed up for Twitter accounts only to stop using the service later).

“Twitter has to reignite growth,” says Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner. “They’ve got to take these bold steps now.”

Just in the six months since Twitter’s high-profile IPO, the company has redesigned the desktop home page and profile pages, overhauled discovery features in the app to emphasize elements like conversations around television and it has introduced the option to upload more photos per tweet and tag users in them (a popular Facebook feature).

By making Twitter a little more like other popular social networks, the company may reduce the learning curve for users as well as for marketers and be able to piggyback on some of the success that its competitors have had. Case in point: Twitter has broadened its ad retargeting program, similar to Facebook. It is also reportedly planning to roll out 15 new ad products over the next six months, including app-install ads, a format that has reaped dividends for Facebook.

“They are trying to make it more social, appealing and comfortable for users, but keep what’s unique about Twitter,” Blau says. “The risk is that it just becomes a little more homogenous, verses going in the other direction, potentially into the domain of being unusable.”

If Twitter is actively trying to imitate some of Facebook’s features, that puts it in good company. Facebook has adopted several popular Twitter features over the years and is currently trying to take a page from Twitter’s social TV playbook.

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Twitter Acquires Cover, A Popular Android Lock Screen

Cover came out in October last year. It is a good alternative for the default lock screen on our Android devices. The company that built it wanted to do two things, tap into the potential of modern smartphones and harness the “amazing power” of Android. Cover was built from the ground up to provide fast access to the right apps whenever the user needed them most. The feature worked well, which is what made it popular. Twitter certainly sees value in it, which is why it has now acquired Cover.

The Cover team writes on their official blog that Twitter too, like them, believes in the “incredible potential of Android.” Together, both companies will try to make smartphones more smarter, useful and contextual. While the team doesn’t reveal exactly what they’ll be building at Twitter, they do say that they will be building upon a lot of “what makes Cover great.”

Fans of the app need not worry, for now. It will remain in the Play Store as the team focuses its attention on word over at Twitter. Though its possible that somewhere down the road the app might have to be discontinued, but its here to stay for now. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

 

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Ice Prince Visits Etisalat Experience Centres, Signs Autographs

Nigerian Rapper and Hip-Hop Artiste, Ice Prince on Thursday, November 21st had an autograph signing session at Etisalat Experience Centres at Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island;  E-Centre, Yaba; and Ikeja City Mall.

The session was put together by Etisalat as part of the activities to the build-up of his Fire of Zamani (FOZ) album launch which held on Saturday, November 23rd.

See pictures from the session below:

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BBM for Android won’t be exclusive to Samsung devices as claimed by Samsung Mobile Nigeria twitter account

(Image Source: AndroidCentral)

“No operator or manufacturer will have exclusive access to the messaging platform when it comes to Android”

It seems as though some communication lines may have gotten crossed today when Samsung Mobile Nigeria seemed to imply that it would have a three-month exclusivity on BlackBerry’s upcoming launch of BBM on Android. After hearing from an official Samsung Twitter account indicating that this was the case and reaching out to the companies, we’ve heard back directly from BlackBerry with the following statement:

“The tweet, though very exciting, is incorrect … I want to clarify that no one will have an exclusive on offering BBM. We’ll be bringing the app to Android and iPhone users across the globe soon.”

Now this doesn’t give us any official confirmation for when exactly we can get our hands on BBM, but it does let us know that no particular operator or manufacturer will have it exclusively locked up.

See Captured comments below:

(Image Source: AndroidCentral)

 

 

Related articles

• Samsung confirms 3-month exclusive to BBM, available on Friday (crackberry.com)
• BBM for Android tipped to launch Friday, exclusive to Samsung (androidcommunity.com)
• BBM For Android, iPhone Release Date Set? BlackBerry Event Invitation Hints At … – International Business Times (ibtimes.com)
• Excited About Plans to Bring BBM to iOS and Android? Help Spread the Word with New Avatars (blogs.blackberry.com)
• Samsung Mobile Nigeria Says BBM Coming This Friday, Has Three Month Exclusivity (thedroidguy.com)
• BBM Android and iOS apps promotion differentiation (phonesreview.co.uk)

CNN Profiles seasoned Nigerian Architect and philanthropist on African Voices

…as she talks about her life, love of fashion, and plans to empower the African youths

 

Airs Saturday: 0230pm; Sunday: 0800am, 0530pm; Monday: 0930am, 0430pm; Tuesday: 0430am

This week, Nigerian-born, Offiong Ekanem Ejindu, popularly known as Princess Fifi, a Nigerian descendent of royalty, who studied in America and became a pioneer in the field of architecture, will feature on African Voices, CNN International’s weekly half-hour programme highlighting Africa’s most engaging personalities.

In this interview with CNN’s Zain Verjee, Princess Fifi, philanthropist and great grand-daughter of the popular King James Ekpo Bassey, unveils her plans to use her Philanthropic Endeavors, Party Planning and Architectural Projects to make a tremendous Impact on improving the African Continent.

She also talks about her experience as the second African woman to ever graduate from Pratt Institute’s School Of Architecture in New York, her career, love for fashion and aspiration towards empowering the African youth.

Ejindu is currently the Chairperson of Starcrest Group of Companies, a company she started in 1995. Today, the Conglomerate comprises of companies involved in real estate, oil and gas, and building construction. Her husband of over 25 years is a Partner in her business and her son is said to have also followed in her architectural footsteps.

Princess Fifi Ejindu explains how she combines her passion for Architectural design in whatever she does; “I love designing. I don’t do it for the rewards. I do it because it’s my passion and one of my professions. I especially love Neo traditional projects, which is building with traditional and old style features, like round windows and arches, it brings back the renaissance period.”

Her passion tngowards empowering the African youth is demonstrated through the NGO she founded known as the ‘African Arts and Fashion Initiative’. She says that her plan is to ignite the modern African generation in arts and fashion by driving youths into various fields of their desire through fundraisers, scholarships and other enticements.

She further explains; “Africa has arrived and the future of Africa depends majorly on the extent to which we can empower our young people because they constitute a large percent of the population. Creating viable jobs opportunities for the African youth is critical to sustainable development in African countries and also for peace in the Continent.”

For more information, viewers can visit www.cnn.com/africanvoices; the show’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cnnafricanvoices and on Twitter: @africavoicesCNN

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