Twitter Blog

More ways to experience the #LynnDebate

2012-10-22T14:52:00.002-07:00

Tonight, the presidential candidates will meet at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida for their third and final debate, which focuses on foreign policy. With election day just 15 days away, we’re throwing the spotlight on several ways you can get closer to the campaign’s biggest issues and participate on Twitter.

At election.twitter.com, you’ll see several new sections that offer greater insight into the political conversation that’s happening on Twitter. While our daily Twitter Political Index scores measure the sentiment of Tweets, our enhanced dashboard, designed for web and mobile viewing, shows the topics that are driving the discussion. The dashboard is segmented to highlight the issues at the forefront of this election cycle (the economy, immigration, healthcare, and so on), as well as hot topics that are currently generating discussion (Benghazi, pay equality).

Another place to follow the Twitter discussion in real time tonight will be on Fox News. Using data from Mass Relevance, they’ll show a real-time Tweet counter in the lower portion of the screen. Throughout the debate, you’ll be able to see the moments and issues that generate the strongest online response.

As you’ll see by the conversational ebb and flow around these issues, Twitter is the pulse of the campaign: where the storylines are often developed, where voters react, where communities connect and discuss.

What’s more, the conversation that starts on Twitter doesn’t stop there. CNN, Votizen and Yahoo! News have built great Twitter integrations that make it easy to keep up with and participate in their election conversations. Read about those here.

Whether you’re following the conversation online, researching hot topics on your phone, or sharing your favorite moments from on-air, you’re participating in this 140 character election.

We’ll be back after tonight’s debate to share insights into the moments and issues that your Tweets have driven to the forefront of political discussion.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
Head of Government, News & Social Innovation

This Week on Twitter: 22 October

2012-10-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

On most Monday mornings, we’ll post “This week on Twitter” to alert you to key things happening in the coming week. Whether it’s a live chat with the cast of your favorite TV show, a Q&A with a political candidate or a pro sports team Tweepstakes, this is the way to keep current on the Can’t-Miss-Moments on Twitter for the week ahead. - Ed.

22 Oct. - James Bond in 140 characters 
Fifty years ago this month, the first James Bond debuted, a memorable new character was born, and today fans around the world share their passion for all things Bond. Author Charlie Higson (@monstroso) will take to Twitter on Tuesday for a special live-tweeting event to celebrate Ian Fleming’s Bond novels in 140 characters or less.   

Tweeting in chronological order, Higson will distill Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, O.H.M.S.S, You Only Live Once, and The Man with the Golden Gun.

  He will also host a live Q&A session on Twitter on Tuesday between 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. ET. Bond fans can tweet him questions using the hashtag #BondTweets.   

24 Oct. - Live tweeting with @ScandalABC
 For all of you @ScandalABC fans out there, we have launched the #AskScandal events page where fans can ask their favorite cast members questions each Thursday for the next three weeks.

New Xtreme Sport - acting while tweeting! #AskScandal
— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) October 19, 2012

  Live-tweeters include:
Kerry Washington @kerrywashington 
Columbus Short @ColumbusShort1 
Guillermo Diaz @guillermodiazyo 
Katie Lowes @KatieQLowes
Joshua Malina @JoshMalina 
Darby Stanchfield @darbystnchfld 
Tony Goldwyn @TonyGoldwyn 
Bellamy Young @BellamyYoung
Jeff Perry @JScandalP   

Oct. 24 - #LegendsOnTwitter - @NeilYoung
 This coming Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, our #LegendsOnTwitter series features Twitter-newbie and rock legend @NeilYoung, who will be doing a live Twitter Q&A with his fans from his Northern California ranch.

Look forward to talking to all of you music lovers. Will be doing a #TwitterLegends Q&A with fans about #PsychPill before the release!
— Neil Young (@neilyoung) September 25, 2012

#Halloween: Tweeting with the stars
 This week @abcnetwork hosts live Twitter chats for the Halloween episodes of their prime time shows. Starting on Wednesday, Oct. 24, and ending on Halloween night, fans of @abcnetwork primetime can join in the conversation with cast members and fans alike.

The lineup:  
Wed. 10/24 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT 
“The Neighbors,” @TheNeighborsABC, #TheNeighbors
 Follow: Tim Jo @hellotimjo  

Wed. 10/24 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 CT
 “Modern Family,” @ModernFam, #ModernFamily 
Follow: @TwitterTV for details  

Wed. 10/24 9:30 p.m. ET/ 8:30 CT
 “Suburgatory,” @SuburgatoryABC, #Suburgatory 
Follow: Ana Gasteyer @anagasteyer  

Thurs. 10/25 9:00 p.m. ET/ 8:00 CT
 “Grey’s Anatomy,” @GreysABC, #GreysAnatomy 
Follow: Kevin McKidd @TheRealKMcKidd  

Just had our table read for our Halloween episode. Haven't laughed that hard in so long #Suburgatory
— Carly Chaikin (@carlychaikin) August 13, 2012

  See you next week!   

Posted by Rachael Horwitz - (@rachaelrad)
 Twitter Communications

Announcing the Twitter Fiction Festival

2012-10-18T13:26:00.003-07:00

Twitter is a place to tell stories. Often those stories are about news, or politics, or perhaps sports or music, but it turns out Twitter is a great place for telling fictional stories, too. As one professor from Michigan State University says, “Tweeting can be thought of as a new literary practice.” We want to celebrate that.

At the end of November, we’ll host a five-day Twitter Fiction Festival — a virtual storytelling celebration held entirely on Twitter. The Twitter Fiction Festival (#twitterfiction) will feature creative experiments in storytelling from authors around the world.

Twitter has hosted great experiments in fiction already, from Jennifer Egan’s “Black Box” to Teju Cole’s “Small Fates” to Dan Sinker’s @mayoremanuel. And Twitter has even inspired some literary criticism.

If your Designated Mate is widely feared, the beauties at the house party where you’ve gone undercover to meet him will be especially kind.
— New Yorker Fiction (@NYerFiction) May 25, 2012

Modernity and tradition are fighting again: an electrical fault burned down half of the Emir's palace in Ilorin.
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) October 17, 2012

Elected mayor tonight. Sucked into a time vortex tomorrow. Might as well KICK THIS PARTY OFF RIGHT FUCKING NOW.
— Rahm Emanuel (@MayorEmanuel) February 23, 2011

Now we want to go further! Twitter is a frontier for creative experimentation, and we want to invite authors and creative storytellers around the world to push the bounds of what’s possible with Twitter content.

If you’d like to take part in the Twitter Fiction Festival, submit your idea here. Tell us how you are going to explore content formats that already exist on Twitter — short story in Tweets, a Twitter chat, live-tweeting — or, even better, how you’ll create a new one. How will you work with our real-time global platform, where anyone can contribute to your story at any moment? The proposal must fit into the time window of our five day festival— but that means that a project could run for the length of the festival, or just for an hour.

We’ll announce the selected authors and festival agenda on Monday, November 19th and the festival itself will kick off on November 28th. We look forward to reading all of your stories.

Posted by Andrew Fitzgerald - @magicandrew
Editorial Programming, Media Team

The human face of big data

2012-10-18T11:11:00.003-07:00

Every day, Twitter users send 400 million Tweets expressing a vast array of ideas and opinions. Collectively, and studied in aggregate, public Tweets are not only measurable. They can reveal any number of clues and trends about who we are: our cultures, our mindsets, who we favor or disfavor, and much more.

For instance, analyzing billions of Tweets helped two researchers unlock new insights about public health issues and the way disease is spread.

Each week the millions of Tweets about the U.S. presidential candidates provide a real-time barometer of voter sentiment. Sometimes Twitter data can even help people when they need it most: during moments of crisis like natural disasters.

Capturing these trends and ideas involves processing and deriving insights from enormous amounts of data. Since we live increasingly connected lives about which we share information on Twitter and other services, there is a growing desire to understand what this kind of data can tell us about ourselves.

This is one reason we’re pleased to take part in a significant project called The Human Face of Big Data. It's a project that represents a captivating attempt to explain humanity's new ability to collect, analyze, triangulate and visualize vast amounts of data in real time, creating what amounts to a central nervous system for our world. A free mobile app in A free mobile app for Android and iOS versions lets anyone in the world be a part of the conversation. You’ll be able to share everything you learn about yourself on Twitter via the app.

The Human Face team is also publishing a large-format book on November 20th featuring the remarkable stories and images that illustrate the immense range of big data efforts that already shape our world. With the project’s permission, we’re able to share this wonderful spread about Twitter from the book with you, designed by famed infographics guru Nigel Holmes (@nigelblue).

Finally, at 11am PT/2pm ET tomorrow (Oct. 19) I will be doing a Twitter chat with the @FaceOfBigData team about the role of Twitter in capturing and revealing our patterns and interest trends. Join us on the chat by including #bigdatachat and #HFOBD in your Tweets. Look forward to speaking with you all then.

Posted by Isaac Hepworth - @isaach
Media Team

Twitter at the Town Hall Debate

2012-10-16T21:00:00.002-07:00

As the presidential candidates met at Hofstra University tonight to answer questions from a group of self-declared undecided voters, viewers around the country came to Twitter to participate in the debate exchanges and offer their own commentary. Throughout tonight’s 90-minute #debate, 7.2 million Tweets were sent.

The specific moments that generated the highest amounts of conversation were:
-Audience question to Romney on immigration (109,560 TPM)
-Obama to Romney: "You're the last person to get tough on China" (108,619 TPM)
-Romney's response to tax rates question (107,386 TPM)

We also analyzed the volume of conversation around some of the campaign’s biggest issues. With 28% of Tweets sent, the economy was the most-discussed topic this evening. The subject of taxes racked up 17% of Tweets; 16% focused on foreign policy, 13% on energy and the environment, and 8% on immigration.

We saw several surprising trends and buzzwords emerge too. The terms “binder” and “pension” rose to Twitter infamy tonight, and we suspect “Jeremy” (a young questioner, soon to graduate from college) will be popular in class tomorrow. As we’ve come to expect, such trending topics inspire parody accounts almost instantly:

Boy, I'm full of women! #debates
— Romney's Binder (@RomneysBinder) October 17, 2012

As we’ve seen in the previous two debates, the performance of the moderator was another popular topic. CNN’s Candy Crowley (@CrowleyCNN) generated her share of commentary:

Make no mistake. What Candy Crowley is doing right now is HARD work. She almost needs a gavel
— Michele Norris (@michele_norris) October 17, 2012

Crowley decided POTUS deserved 10% more time - Final speaking time per @cnn: 44:04 for Obama; Romney 40:50. #debates
— Karl Rove (@KarlRove) October 17, 2012

Since both candidates are trying to convince voters that they respect women, they might start by respecting Candy Crowley
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 17, 2012

The debate ended with emotional (albeit slightly biased!) responses from the people closest to the candidates: their families.

Another great debate dad. More likeable, right on the issues. Drove home that Obama's rhetoric doesn't match his record.
— Tagg Romney (@tromney) October 17, 2012

I'm so proud of my husband tonight. Let's have his back as he has had ours. –mo #TeamBarack
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 17, 2012

In just six days, we’ll be in Boca Raton for the final debate of this campaign. See you then.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
Head of Government, News, & Social Innovation

NFL on Twitter: Week 6

2012-10-16T15:52:00.002-07:00

It turned out to be a week of unfortunate season ending injuries, and one unprecedented comeback during #MNF.

Perhaps it’s because they are America’s team, or maybe it was due to their almost-heroic comeback, but the @dallascowboys v. @ravens game took the cake for the most buzzed-about game in Week 6.

1. @dallascowboys vs. @ravens

Romo's pass dropped by Dez Bryant for the 2pt conversion.Cowboys 29 Ravens 31 with :32 left in the game
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) October 14, 2012

51 yd FG by Dan Bailey is no good.Cowboys 29 Ravens 31
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) October 14, 2012

Last year’s NFC championship matchup was a blowout, but that didn’t stop the @giants and @49ers chatter from ranking 2nd this week.

2. @giants vs. @49ers

What an honor to be apart of such a tough, well coached team!!! We really are #ROADWARRIORS I love every guy on this team!#NYG #nygiants
— Steve Weatherford (@Weatherford5) October 15, 2012

Overcoming a 10-point deficit in four minutes, topped off with an OT field goal, catapulted the @detroitlionsNFL win over the @eagles into third place in Twitter chatter.

3.@detroitlionsNFL vs. @eagles

This is football. This is the game. This is what it's all about. Lets go @detroitlionsnfl #Roar
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) October 14, 2012

Players made headlines off the field too. Ray Sherman (@RSherman_25) notoriously approached Tom Brady after the @seahawks defeated the @patriots 24-23, and then expressed himself on Twitter.

Patriots fans mad lol... Talking bout Super Bowl rings.... What have u done lately? Oh ur 3-3 lol
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) October 15, 2012

The @ravens suffered two season-ending losses, as both @raylewis52com and @lwebb21 are done for the year.

Very bad news for Ravens' defense: The team fears torn triceps for LB Ray Lewis and torn ACL for CB Lardarius Webb, according to sources.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) October 14, 2012

Another season-ending injury occurred while the @nyjets were rolling to a win over @nflcolts. They unfortunately lost @revis24 to a ligament tear. Revis tweeted thanks and gave an update to his fans.

Thanks for all the support! It's just part of the game, I'm already on my way to recover! #Jets
— Darrelle Revis (@Revis24) September 24, 2012

Last but definitely not least, last night’s #MNF performance by Peyton Manning sparked a @Denver_broncos comeback with 3 TD passes in the second half. Eric Decker was surely stoked:

Wow....That's all I have to say! Haha! Broncos across the country deserve that one!
— Eric Decker (@EricDecker87) October 16, 2012

Check back next week for more NFL action on Twitter.

Posted by Omid Ashtar (@omid)
Head of Sports & Entertainment

Tonight's town hall debate - and you

2012-10-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, the first presidential town hall-style debate was held to so that voters could directly ask candidates the questions that mattered most to them. Tonight the tradition continues: President Obama and Governor Romney face the cameras, millions of viewers — and a group of citizens at Hofstra University (@HofstraU) in New York.

The town hall meeting has historically been one of the most direct forums for candidates to engage with their fellow citizens. In this race, the candidates and campaigns rely on Twitter to engage in this very personal form of retail politics.

As President, Obama has used Twitter to answer questions following an address about energy policy:

.@asturtz all of the above energy strategy; increase dom. oil & gas. increase energy efficiency. 2x clean energy. 2x car fuel eff. -bo
— The White House (@whitehouse) May 24, 2012

Governor Romney’s team shares behind-the-scenes photos that bring voters closer to life on the campaign trail and at local town halls:

PHOTO: Great crowd for @paulryanvp Victory townhall in Waukesha, WI #RomneyRyan2012 #tcot twitter.com/ZacMoffatt/sta…
— Zac Moffatt (@ZacMoffatt) October 15, 2012

Engaging in tonight’s #debates conversation on Twitter (www.twitter.com/#debates) means you can participate in a truly collective town hall meeting, sharing opinions with the person sitting (or tweeting) next to you, asking follow-up questions to the campaigns, and hearing firsthand from the candidates.

Playing a unique role in this town hall debate will be the moderator, CNN’s Candy Crowley (@CrowleyCNN). As the first woman serving as presidential debate moderator since 1992, Twitter conversation about Crowley is already crescendoing. Her role is also sparking discussion given the high level of conversation and opinion about the two moderators to date, Jim Lehrer and Martha Raddatz. With the growing interest around the moderators this year, we applied the Twitter Political Index to analyze sentiment about their performances:

Jim Lehrer
2-Week Average: 59
Day Before: 39
Day After: 30
Net Day-to-Day Change: -9
Net Change vs. 2-Week Baseline: -29

Martha Raddatz
2-Week Average: 47
Day Before: 44
Day After: 56
Net Day-to-Day Change: +12
Net Change vs. 2-Week Baseline: +9

Following the debate tonight, we’ll release new Twitter Political Index (election.twitter.com) scores for the candidates, their running mates, and moderator Crowley. We’ll also share an overview of the night’s biggest moments and trends. If you’re interested in seeing the real-time volume of Twitter conversation (Tweets per minute, or TPM) during the debate, tune into Fox News, which will feature a Tweet tracker in the lower corner of the screen at key moments, and a full summary following the debate. And now, off to Hofstra to prepare for tonight!

Animal shrubbery. #fallathofstra #debate twitter.com/HofPrideGuide/…
— Hofstra Pride Guides (@HofPrideGuide) October 15, 2012

Posted by Adam Sharp (@adams)
Head of Government, News, and Social Innovation

Recapping the VP debate

2012-10-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight Vice President Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) and Rep. Paul Ryan (@PaulRyanVP) squared off for the quadrennial Vice Presidential debate. Citizens tuned in to watch or listen and tweet, sharing their opinions on the evening’s exchanges. In total, 4 million Tweets were sent concerning tonight’s debate, 3.5 million of which occurred during the 92 minutes of live action.

Of those 4 million Tweets, 26% were about foreign policy; 21% discussed the economy; and 16% were regarding taxes. However, several of the moments that inspired the most Tweets per minute were quips the candidates made. Tonight’s top Tweets per minute (TPM) peaks were:
- Biden: "Now you're Jack Kennedy?" (58,275 TPM)
- Ryan: “They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar turning Medicare into a piggy bank for Obamacare.” (55,540 TPM)
- Biden discussing the timeline for leaving Afghanistan (54,944)

The full timeline of conversation and notable moments can be seen below (click to enlarge):

While the unexpected star of the Presidential debate turned out to be Big Bird, tonight’s buzzword was malarkey, which generated more than 30,000 Tweets. Another notable figure of the evening: moderator Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz), Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent for ABC. Viewers expressed their delight in her moderating skills:

I vote for Martha Raddatz to moderate all the debates. #vpdebate
— Roger Ebert (@ebertchicago) October 12, 2012

Now she's arrived. @martharaddatz gets a Louisville Slugger. Secret Service note, she won't bring it on stage. #debates twitter.com/rickklein/stat…
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) October 11, 2012

Political insiders and pundits closely followed the discussion and shared their views:

Tough sell for Biden to defend Afghanistan policy when he argued so long and hard against it.#vpdebate
— Ron Elving (@relving) October 12, 2012

Great tactic by #Biden, talking directly to seniors down the camera lens. #PMTdebate
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 12, 2012

Ryan hits Obama for doing the View instead of meeting with Bibi
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 12, 2012

Ryan's answer is focusing more on the Libya question than Biden, who pivoted to foreign policy successes.
— Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) October 12, 2012

Joe Biden won - not because he was aggressive which he was - but because he didn't let Ryan get away with making stuff up. #VPDebate
— Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) October 12, 2012

Yes, we saw your frustration, @joebiden, but it was with Ryan taking him to cleaners.
— Karl Rove (@KarlRove) October 12, 2012

Where were the Presidential candidates while their running mates debated in Danville? Twitter was full of pictures showing how the campaigns and tonight’s VIPs experienced the debate:

PHOTO: @mittromney debate contest winner Christine watches the debate w/ the Gov over pizza #RomneyRyan2012 #tcot twitter.com/ZacMoffatt/sta…
— Zac Moffatt (@ZacMoffatt) October 12, 2012

President Obama watched the VP Debate on CNN on board Air Force One. See this WH Photo. #CNNDebate twitter.com/SamFeistCNN/st…
— Sam Feist (@SamFeistCNN) October 12, 2012

With my son and his friend on stage after the debate! twitter.com/MarthaRaddatz/…
— Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz) October 12, 2012

Great Reuters photo of Paul Ryan giving his son a high five after the debate. twitpic.com/b3a7rb
— Andrew Kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) October 12, 2012

We’ll be back again in just five days for next Tuesday’s town hall debate between the @BarackObama and @MittRomney.

Posted by Adam Sharp, Head of Government, News and Social Innovation (@adams)

Debate night: Joe Biden and Paul Ryan take the stage

2012-10-11T10:53:00.001-07:00

Tonight Vice President Joe Biden and Governor Mitt Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, will take the stage in Danville, Kentucky for their first and only debate. It starts at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, and is expected to cover a wide range of issues.

The election conversation has been going strong on Twitter since last week in Denver. Since that debate, in fact, there have been about 4 million campaign- and debate-related Tweets sent. As they prep for tonight, Vice President Biden and Rep. Ryan are sharing behind-the-scenes photos and tweeting out messages to rally their followers. And tonight’s debate moderator, ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz has been sharing her sojourn to the stage too:

Great pep talk from one of my most trusted advisors. twitter.com/PaulRyanVP/sta…
— Paul Ryan (@PaulRyanVP) October 11, 2012

RT if you’re on #TeamObamaBiden tonight: twitter.com/JoeBiden/statu…
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 11, 2012

Moderator walk-through for the #VPdebate, about ready for @paulryanvp & @joebiden to join me! twitter.com/MarthaRaddatz/…
— Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz) October 10, 2012

With the VP candidate stand-ins from #centrecollege. Can you tell who's who? twitter.com/MarthaRaddatz/…
— Martha Raddatz (@MarthaRaddatz) October 10, 2012

Follow the debate on Twitter tonight using the hashtag #debates, and be sure to follow our @gov team, who will be tweeting the most interesting stats of the night.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@adams)
Head of Government, News and Social Innovation

New Twitter for BlackBerry app

2012-10-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

Starting today, you can download a new version of Twitter for BlackBerry from the App World. This new release makes Twitter on BlackBerry even better: Now when you expand a Tweet to see the details view, you can enjoy article summaries from websites like CNN or beautiful photos from sites like National Geographic. And you’ll see contacts from your Device Address Book who are on Twitter, making it easier to find your friends.

Soon, we’ll change the way expanded Tweets display photos in our BlackBerry app, bringing you a faster and overall better experience. You’ll need to upgrade older versions to Twitter for BlackBerry 3.2 to continue seeing a full photo preview inside a Tweet.

Posted by Brian Frank @bfrank
Product Manager, Mobile

Tweeting with the (Modern) Family

2012-10-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

It’s a long-standing tradition for a family to gather on the couch to watch TV together. Tonight, Twitter is hosting a viewing party with one America’s funniest families: the Pritchett-Delgado-Tucker-Dunphys, of ABC’s hit show Modern Family.

Starting at 9pm ET / 8pm CT / 9pm PT, members of the @ModernFam cast and crew will live-tweet tonight’s special double-feature of episodes. You can tune-in, tweet-in, and spend the evening as part of the @ModernFam family of stars, producers, editors, and more.

Tonight’s live-tweeting cast includes:
Steve Levitan (@SteveLevitan) - Co-creator
Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) - Executive Producer
Sofia Vergara (@SofiaVergara) - Gloria
Julie Bowen (@itsJulieBowen) - Claire
Ariel Winter (@arielwinter1) - Alex
Nolan Gould (@Nolan_Gould) - Luke
Rico Rodriguez (@StarringRico) - Manny
Ryan Case (@film114) - Editor
Clint McCray (@ClintMcCray) - Script Coordinator

To help you easily follow the whole 'Family' gathering, we've created an event page for the evening: Twitter.com/#modernfamily.

We’ve worked with ABC and the Modern Family producers to assemble this group of live-tweeters that will give viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of TV’s hottest comedy. Being a through-and-through “modern” family, the @ModernFam gang is active on Twitter. If you’ve only seen them from your couch, you’ll love getting closer to them on Twitter:

I will be live tweeting during east & west coast feeds. I edited the 2nd ep so for the 2 of you out there with editing questions, FIRE AWAY!
— Ryan Case (@film114) October 10, 2012

My son's soccer coach just said, "You can't spell "triumph" without 'try,'" and the look my son and I shared will bond us forever.
— Danny Zuker (@DannyZuker) October 2, 2012

Oh that Claire...she looooves her some Halloween. #ModernFamilyS4 twitter.com/itsJulieBowen/…
— Julie Bowen (@itsJulieBowen) September 12, 2012

Look at the belly!! #modernfamily
— Sofia Vergara (@SofiaVergara) September 27, 2012

Love this pic from last night! twitter.com/ClintMcCray/st…
— Clint McCray (@ClintMcCray) September 24, 2012

Continue checking back this fall TV season for more ways to get closer to your favorite shows and stars!

Posted by Fred Graver, Head of TV (@fredgraver)

A new look for TweetDeck

2012-10-10T08:46:00.001-07:00

Today we updated the TweetDeck app on all our supported platforms - web, Chrome, Mac and Windows. The update is live now on web.tweetdeck.com. If you use the Windows app, just restart to trigger an auto-update. Chrome app users should restart Chrome to update the app and the updated Mac app is available now in the Mac App Store.

This update makes TweetDeck easier to use with design enhancements, personalization options and the addition of several frequently-requested features.

Choose your theme

The traditional dark background of TweetDeck is clearer and cleaner, while maintaining the classic TweetDeck look. We have also added a lighter theme — a brand new colour scheme that offers dark text on a light background.

You can easily switch themes by clicking on the theme indicator on the top toolbar.

Change your font

Now you can change the size of the font used to display Tweets. On the General tab in the Settings pane, you can select Small (13pt), Medium (14pt) or Large (15pt) font sizes.

A year of improvements

Last December, we launched a new version of TweetDeck on a framework that helps us develop new features and integrate your feedback. Since the start of the year we have been making continued improvements to the TweetDeck apps. Here are just some of the highlights of our constant updates since we first launched these new apps back in December 2011:

Swifter navigation - Including the new column navigator and trackpad scrolling, enabling faster navigation and easier column reordering.
List management - Manage all aspects of your Twitter lists directly in the app.
Profile improvements - New Profile design, including support for header photos and an indicator when a user follows you.
Improved web support - Enhanced the performance of web.tweetdeck.com and added support for Firefox and Opera.
Deeper discovery and engagement - Gain more insight via the Interactions and Activity columns. Take action on Tweets wherever they appear in the app.

Posted by Richard Barley @richardbarley
Project Manager, TweetDeck

Originally posted on the TweetDeck blog

Twitter’s hip-hop firmament: #BarsandStars

2012-10-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

In just a few hours, hip-hop’s legendary emcees and femcees will be in the building at the BET Hip-Hop Awards (8pm ET/ 7pm CT), showcasing their lyrical finesse. As always, Twitter will be your all-access pass to celebrate hip-hop’s biggest moments at tonight’s show.

To get you ready for the big night, check out this special Twitter hip-hop page. Even after the show, you can use this page to follow your hip-hop favorites.

Cyphers
BET (@BET) has lined up some fun ways for fans (well, those of you on Twitter!) to get involved with tonight’s festivities. Here’s one: since a key element of hip-hop is the cypher, Twitter’s most-followed hip-hop moguls will showcase their lyrical wordplay during tonight’s cypher sessions. And BET is calling all fans to submit their hottest bars using the #BETTwitterCypher hashtag. They will choose your best two lines to make a full cypher.

In addition to letting fans join the cyphers, some big-time names will be spitting their best bars on stage. West Coast’s coolest emcees and legendary supergroup The Ruff Ryders will take the stage for the #RespectTheWest and #RuffRyders cyphers. @KendrickLamar, @SnoopDogg and @E40 will kick off the first roundtable session for the #RespectTheWest cypher. Bar for bar, @DMX, @Cassidy_Larsiny, and @TheRealEve will lead the pack for the #RuffRyders team.

ALERT! We got @snoopdogg + @tip + DMX in #HipHopAwards #BETcyphers, Watch Oct 9 at 8P/7c on @bet. twitter.com/HipHopAwards/s…
— BET Hip-Hop Awards (@HipHopAwards) September 27, 2012

Not feeling the cypher? There are plenty of other ways to be part of the ATL conversation:

Live-tweeters
@TheRealMikeEpps will not only be hosting on-screen; he’ll also be live-tweeting throughout the whole show. Follow him for nothing but laughs and his behind-the-scenes looks. Compton’s very own @KendrickLamar will be representing Black Hippy and live-tweeting too. In addition to Kendrick, two of Young Money’s freshest additions, @YMCMB_BW (Bow Wow) and @ItsMystikal (Mystikal) will be live-tweeting.

Join the convo
Your favorite celebs will be tweeting about tonight’s show using the official #HipHopAwards hashtag. Use that to stay up on the latest action during the show. Throughout each cypher round, #BETCyphers is the #1 hashtag to use to give your critique of who spit the hottest 16s.

From cyphers to performances, all of your favorite artists will blaze the stage. Stay tuned in on Twitter. Don’t miss a beat.

Posted by Tatiana Simonian, Head of Music (@tatiana)

NFL Week 5: QBs lead in Twitter chatter

2012-10-09T12:45:00.002-07:00

Two teams remain undefeated through Week 5, but its not just their fans who are cheering. We’ve tallied up the Twitter chatter since Week 1, and results show that the QBs are leading the way. The top three most-tweeted-about players are:

1. Peyton Manning

His highlight:

We saw the biggest spike in conversation surrounding Peyton Manning during Week 1 when the @Denver_Broncos took on the @Steelers

2. Tony Romo

His highlight:

Tweets about Tony Romo culminated in Week 4 as he threw a jaw-dropping five interceptions in one game.

3. Drew Brees

His highlight:

Twitter chatter surrounding Drew Brees (@DrewBrees) saw its peak this week as he passed for a TD in 48 consecutive games, breaking a long-standing record held by Johnny Unitas since 1960.

On Sunday, the @49ers dominated the field, collecting 621 yards of offense which resulted in a franchise record. Players expressed their excitement on Twitter.

Great Team Win. I promised Coach i wouldnt talk shit about the ass kickin.. lolim moving on with a humble heart. Time to get ready for NYG
— Bam Davis(@BamDavis76) October 8, 2012

@KCChiefs QB Matt Cassell was escorted off the field in a stretcher after a hard hit from the @Ravens’ Haloti Ngata left him with a concussion, unable to finish the game. However what really stirred up controversy wasn’t the hit. Instead, it was fans’ reactions as they cheered in support of Cassell’s injury. Cassell’s loyal teammates spoke up after the game and reinforced their thoughts on Twitter.

I've said what I wanted to say and i won't be talking about it any further. I stand by what I have said. I believe what I said.
— Eric Winston (@ericwinston) October 7, 2012

@Colts WR @Reggie_Wayne87 fought hard for an upset over the @packers as he caught 13 passes and the game winning touchdown. His motivation for the win? His coach, Chuck Pagano who is unfortunately battling leukemia in an Indianapolis hospital.

Greatest feeling winning for coach chuck and then giving him the game ball after a WIN!
— Reggie Wayne (@Reggie_Wayne87) October 8, 2012

Which game will garner the most chatter next week? Stay tuned to find out.

Posted by Omid Ashtari - (@omid)

Head of Sports & Entertainment

Fall TV: New shows, more Tweets

2012-10-08T17:50:00.002-07:00

Over the past two weeks, many of television’s biggest stars live-tweeted the premiere episodes of their shows. And the fun’s not over yet! This week, several additional shows will feature live-tweeting casts... and we’ve even got a surprise up our sleeve.

To help you easily follow all this week’s small screen stars, we’ve created a one-stop-shop Get Started page for Fall TV: http://discover.twitter.com/falltv.html.

On Wednesday, the hotly anticipated country music drama Nashville (@Nashville_ABC) will be debuting on ABC. To celebrate the premiere, @TwitterTV has assembled a cast of country music performers and influencers to live-tweet and give fans the real insider scoop on all things country.

On Thursday, the new @CW_Network show Beauty and the Beast will also kick things off on Twitter, as well as hit Vampire Diaries. On Sunday @Revenge fans can ask a cast member about the show’s twists and turns.

Here’s your full TV guide for this week:

Wednesday, 10/10:
ABC's Nashville: @Nashville_ABC | #NashvilleABC (series premiere)
Cast members Hayden Panettierre (@haydenpanettier) and Clare Bowen (@clarembee) are both live-tweeting, 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST alongside a live-tweeting cast of country influencers we pulled together, who are sure to have insights on many aspects of the show and the characters:

@leebrice: Musician; he has also co-written singles for Garth Brooks, Adam Gregory, Eli Young Band and Tim McGraw. His latest song "Hard to Love" is #6 on the Billboard Top 100 (Country).

@cowboytroy: Musician Troy Lee Coleman III, who performed on this past season's Dancing With The Stars finale (May 2012).

@gwensebastian: Musician discovered on NBC's The Voice; currently on tour with Blake Shelton.

@jamieoneal: A powerhouse in Nashville, she recently started a new label working with young female musicians, producing/managing them and helping them navigate the industry.

@rachelelynae: Jamie's flagship artist. Has a current hit on the radio called "Party 'til the Cows Come Home."

@marysarahmusic: Teen singing sensation who was discovered through Twitter & YouTube. Currently cutting her album (releasing Spring 2013) with classic country artists Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and many others.

@JessicaNorthey: Creator/founder of Country Music Chat (#CMChat) on Twitter and blogger for the web's largest music and radio community AllAccess.com.

@joebonsall: Musician; a member of the Oak Ridge Boys.

Thursday, 10/11:
Vampire Diaries: #TVD (8PM ET)
Actor Ian Somerhalder (@iansomerhalder) will be live-tweeting

Beauty and the Beast: #batb (9PM ET)
@BatBwriters, the writing staff of the show, will be live-tweeting

Sunday, 10/14:
Revenge (@Revenge | #Revenge)
Cast member Christa Allen @christabrittany

Finally, be sure to check back on Wednesday for a mid-week surprise about one of TV’s biggest (and funniest) shows!

Posted by Kate Bowen, TV Partnerships team (@kateb)

The #Postseason begins

2012-10-05T11:25:00.002-07:00

For baseball fans, October is synonymous with the playoffs. The postseason berths and brackets went down to the wire, finally being cemented after the last day of the regular season yesterday. The #postseason starts tonight, with Division Series slots on the line in a single winner-take-all game. The @Rangers and @Orioles face off in the AL Wild Card playoff, and the @Braves take on the reigning champions the @Cardinals in the NL matchup.

Throughout the regular season, the @Rangers fans had a larger cheering section on Twitter than the @Orioles (based on number of mentions), while the @Braves fans were louder than the @Cardinals fans. Who will be cheering the loudest tonight?

And for the divisional series games that begin tomorrow, here’s the roar from the tweet-seats:
-@SFGiants fans out-tweeted @Reds
-@Tigers were more tweeted-about than @Athletics
-@Yankees over either of their potential challengers (@Rangers or @Orioles)
-@Nationals would have home-tweet advantage over @Cardinals, but @Braves top them both.

To help you find and follow all the best postseason Tweets, we’ve made a curated page that features players from all the playoff-bound players: find the players from the American League’s top teams at https://discover.twitter.com/alplayoffs.html, and from the National League at https://discover.twitter.com/nlplayoffs.html.

As we head into the playoffs, following the action on Twitter is like having access to the dugout. You can get a first look at lineups, hear commentary from managers and front office, get insights and strategy from sports reporters, sift through countless statistics, talk to your favorite players, and of course, cheer loudly for your team.

The @Braves, facing off tonight in the Wild Card matchup, let fans near and far get a glimpse of soon-retiring Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) in batting practice:

#Postseason workout for @realcj10. #OctoberIsWhyWeChop twitter.com/Braves/status/…
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 4, 2012

The beat reporter for the @SFGiants lets fans in on what the team’s pitching lineup may look like through the postseason:

Bochy plans to announce entire NLDS rotation tmrw. Vogelsong's pitches limited in case he's needed in relief. But could start in Cincy, too.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) October 4, 2012

The staff of the @Rangers express their frustration after losing the division title, and rally up fan support for tonight’s Wild Card game:

Today is a huge disappointment for the Rangers community. But Friday we need the fans support as we look to win the Wild Card game. #Believe
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) October 3, 2012

The wife of @Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) shares a photo of the team’s on-field celebration after winning their division:

The boys came back out... And the fans were still there twitter.com/Mrs_McCarthy32…
— Amanda McCarthy (@Mrs_McCarthy32) October 4, 2012

The first winner of the Triple Crown since 1967, @Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera tweets his gratitude to his Spanish-speaking fans:

Ha sido una gran temporada, gracias a Dios los fans, mi familia y mis companeros de los @tigers, estoy ansioso para jugar en los playoff
— Miguel Cabrera (@MiguelCabrera) October 4, 2012

Drew Storen & Tyler Clippard, close friends battling for the closer role on the @Nationals, are also battling over who pays for dinner - and fans get to vote for who picks up the tab:

True debate of the night: who pays the dinner bill between me and Clip. You guys decide. Tweet #VoteDrew or #VoteClip. Most votes wins.
— Drew Storen (@DrewStoren) October 4, 2012

After winning their division in the last game of the season, the @Yankees show what it really looks like in the clubhouse celebration:

Ichiro is headed to the #postseason for the first time since 2001. So @joba_62 congratulated him: twitter.com/Yankees/status…
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 4, 2012

Posted by Omid Ashtari, Head of Sports & Entertainment (@omid)

Dispatch from the Denver debate

2012-10-04T00:14:00.001-07:00

The topic of tonight’s presidential debate was domestic policy, and citizens all over came to Twitter to share their comments and follow millions of real-time responses from pundits, campaigns, and fellow voters.

As conversation on the Denver stage and on Twitter ranged from Medicare to Big Bird, there were more than 10 million Tweets this evening, making this first of the 2012 presidential debates the most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics.

The specific moments that generated the most discussion on Twitter were:
-Moderator Jim Lehrer quips “Let’s not” when Governor Romney requests a topic
-President Obama quips “I had 5 seconds” when Lehrer gives time limit
-The discussion about Medicare and vouchers

The chart below plots the pulse of conversation throughout the debate (click to see full-size):

As the evening proceeded, several other trends emerged on Twitter. While @BarackObama and @MittRomney sparred over details of their respective economic plans, viewers at home attempted to keep up with the statistics and promises from each of them. Several Twitter accounts were dedicated to fact-checking throughout the evening, and fact-checking Tweets saw a great number of of retweets.

Obama says you will get a rebate from insurance cos. But most rebates will go to employers, not individuals. ow.ly/ecO3a #debate
— Fact Check (@factcheckdotorg) October 4, 2012

Fact check: Romney's claim that Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare has been repeatedly debunked bit.ly/Re3BVg #AskNYT
— The Caucus (@thecaucus) October 4, 2012

The candidates weren’t the only lighting rods for conversation: hundreds of thousands of Tweets — and even a new parody account — assessed the evening’s moderator, Jim Lehrer of PBS.

Worst part of Jim Lehrer's moderating was he failed to ask the candidates where they stand on the NBA's new flopping policy.
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) October 4, 2012

...two minutes...(indecipherable)...
— Silent Jim Lehrer (@SilentJimLehrer) October 4, 2012

Of course, the evening’s real breakout star was a certain tall yellow Muppet. There were more than a quarter million Tweets mentioning Big Bird, following Governor Romney’s statement that he wants to cut Federal funding for PBS, the Muppet characters’ TV channel, even despite his stated fondness for the Sesame Street character. Ardent supporters of Big Bird (and public broadcasting) took to Twitter to create parody accounts such as @SadBigBird, @BigBirdRomney and @FiredBigBird.

Even after the candidates stepped away from stage, the Twitter debate continued:

Medicare under @barackobama: Obamacare cuts $716 billion from medicare #CantAfford4More twitter.com/MittRomney/sta…
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 4, 2012

"Mitt Romney spent the night on the defensive, doubled down on the same bad ideas that crashed the economy." -@messina2012
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 4, 2012

Next stop on this portion of the campaign trail is Danville, Kentucky, where @JoeBiden and @PaulRyanVP meet next Thursday night for the Vice Presidential debate. We’ll meet you on Twitter to take it all in.

Posted by Adam Sharp, Head of Government, News, & Social Innovation (@AdamS)

Debate night in America

2012-10-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight in Denver, President Obama and Governor Romney will take the stage to face each other for 90 minutes in the first of three presidential debates for the 2012 election. The debate starts at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with Jim Lehrer moderating; tonight’s topic is domestic policy.

As each candidate prepares for this campaign milestone, Twitter brings you closer:

Gov and Senator Portman stop by Chipotle for lunch. twitter.com/dgjackson/stat…
— Mitt's Body Man (@dgjackson) October 2, 2012

The Gov backstage with John Elway. twitter.com/dgjackson/stat…
— Mitt's Body Man (@dgjackson) October 2, 2012

Twenty years ago today, I married the love of my life and my best friend. Happy anniversary, Michelle. -bo
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 3, 2012

Special pizza delivery in Nevada: twitter.com/BarackObama/st…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 2, 2012

Whether you’re watching at home or on the go, you can see how the rest of the country is reacting on Twitter. We’ve launched twitter.com/#debates to give you an easy way to keep up with journalists, political pundits, campaign staffers, elected officials and other voters’ reactions to the candidates’ answers in real time.

Our team on the ground here in Denver will be tweeting out interesting data points that occur throughout the night. So keep an eye on @gov and we’ll see you tonight — on Twitter.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@adams)
Head of Government, News and Social Innovation

NFL Week 4: on the field and on Twitter

2012-10-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

The refs are back. Most teams are now a quarter way through their season, and players and fans have kept the momentum going with @NFL chatter on Twitter. For Week 4, the @chicagobears and @dallascowboys game lead the way as the most Tweeted-about game, charged up by Tony Romo’s #MNF performance.

The @dallascowboys Tony Romo became the only player with two five interception games on MNF on.si.com/PU1UNh
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 2, 2012

Fans love their evening football, and the #SNF match-up between NFC East rivals, @eagles vs. @giants was a contender for the most tweeted-about game for Week 4. The birds came away with a 19-17 victory, but @TeamVic’s 2 TDs made him the most tweeted-about player during the game.

Tough game tonight man. We will bounce back. Big Blue!
— Victor Cruz (@TeamVic) October 1, 2012

After Green Bay’s unforgettable loss last week that stirred up controversy on the field and on Twitter, the @packers managed to bounce back, just edging out the @saints. However, their win was not without dispute. While the officials may have changed, their blown calls did not. Fortunately for the Packers, it did not cost them the game.

Almost had a case of déjà vu.. But the green and hold pulled out a solid win! Go pack go!
— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) October 1, 2012

While many games were close in Week 4, others were not. The @49ers 34-0 shutout against the @nyjets sparked @TimTebow chatter as some had predicted in preseason.

The fans have spoken: 63% say Tim Tebow should replace Mark Sanchez as the Jets' starting QB. Agree? Sound off: on.fb.me/PSQvfn
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 1, 2012

Meanwhile, Tebow’s former team, the @denver_broncos, took down the @raiders in another blowout.

Nice win, we will enjoy it (24 hour rule), but come 2morro, make corrections and prepare for the #Patriots. Another great challenge for us.
— Tracy Porter (@T_Porter22) October 1, 2012

Check out discover.twitter.com/nfl.html for an easy who-to-follow list and the latest Tweets from players.

Posted by Omid Ashtari - (@omid)
Head of Sports & Entertainment

Speaking up for online trust

2012-10-02T10:28:00.001-07:00

Building and maintaining trust online requires active collaboration between teams across a company ranging from policy to engineering to operations. And services like Twitter, whose platform is built on user trust, must work with security companies and many other organizations that help bring trust to the Internet’s distributed architecture to agree upon policies and build mechanisms that enable a safe online experience for everyone.

Forums such as the Online Trust Alliance (OTA) serve as a conduit to facilitate relationships between all these players. Earlier this year, we were pleased to have been chosen for OTA’s honor roll. Now some of us are speaking at this week’s OTA Forum in San Jose to help advance efforts around online trust:

October 2, 4pm:

Director of Information Security Bob Lord (@boblord) will be speaking about the Future of SSL Security & Site Optimization, with Rick Andrews of Symantec and Ben Wilson of DigiCert.

October 2, 5pm:

Manager of Ad Traffic Quality Neil Daswani (@neildaswani) is on a panel about the Integrity of the Ad Supply Chain, together with Rizwan Husain of Symantec, Elias Manousos of RiskIQ, and Summer Koide of Zedo.

October 3, 9am:

Director of Trust and Safety Del Harvey (@delbius) will be speaking about the Evolution of Trust, Relationships, and Identity, along with Kevin Easterwood of Alcatel-Lucent.

October 3, 11:30am:

@boblord again, on Account Takeover Ideas and Solutions with John Scarrow of Microsoft and Steve Slater of Responsys.

Look us up if you’ll be at the OTA Forum, and join the discussion to help further build, maintain, and promote trust online, using @OTAlliance and the hashtag #OTAForum2012.

Posted by Neil Daswani, @neildaswani
Engineering Manager, Ad Traffic Quality

More fall TV: A second week of first episodes

2012-10-01T14:16:00.003-07:00

As we welcome the first few weeks of fall, we also continue to welcome TV’s hottest premieres on Twitter. Last week we introduced a live-tweeting cast of shows, actors and even characters, and this week we’re adding to the cast as networks roll-out a new set of premieres. To keep track of your favorite TV stars from this week’s premieres, check out our TV Discover page.

For fans that missed FOX’s Raising Hope (@RaisingHopeFOX) first-ever Twitter premiere, they can still check out the TV airing on Tuesday (Oct. 2) at 8 p.m. ET. To get even closer to the action, viewers can follow Lucas Neff (@RealLucasNeff) and Shannon Woodward (@ShannonWoodward) for a behind-the-scenes point-of-view on Twitter.

.@raisinghopefox rejoins the FOX Tuesday line-up on 10/2 at 8/7c! Watch the premiere episode: bit.ly/HopePremiere #ShareHope #raisinghope
— FOX Broadcasting (@FOXBroadcasting) September 27, 2012

Also premiering this week is NBC’s 30 Rock (@nbc30rock), which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 4. Fans call follow live-tweeters Tracy Morgan (@RealTracyMorgan) and Judah Friedlander (@JudahWorldChamp) for enhance their viewing experience.

ONE WEEK until the #30Rock premiere. We’re celebrating with a Twitter giveaway! What’s the prize? Stay tuned for tweets with more deets.
— 30 Rock (@nbc30rock) September 27, 2012

If you loved watching along with your favorite TV stars last week, you’ll be excited to know that several returning shows are continuing the live-tweeting action:

The Voice (@NBCTheVoice): Christina Milian (@CMilianOfficial)
Ben and Kate (@BenandKateFOX): Dakota Johnson (@ohdakotajohnson)
The Mindy Project (@MindyProjectFOX): Ed Weeks (@EdwardWeeks)
Private Practice (@PrivatePractice): Amy Brenneman (@TheAmyBrenneman)
Greys Anatomy (@GreysABC): Jessica Capshaw (@JessicaCapshaw)

For an idea of what type of action to expect this week on Twitter, here’s a recap from some of last week’s live-tweeting premieres:

#DWTS fans, make sure to keep an eye out for your tweets on TV!
— Official DWTS (@DancingABC) September 26, 2012

TONITE is the nite! #HIMYM premieres in a matter of hrs! C what @actuallynph says ab this season & tune in 2nite @ 8/7c bit.ly/Vy2ZMT
— HIMYM (@HIMYM_CBS) September 24, 2012

Watch the #2BrokeGirls premiere with @bethbehrs LIVE in the #CBSTweetWeek Connect Lounge tonight 9e/8c! Only @cbs cbs.com/tweetweek
— 2 Broke Girls on CBS (@2BrokeGirls_CBS) September 24, 2012

Tune in and tweet in for all the action!

Posted by Kate Bowen, TV Partnerships (@kateb)

More Tweets to discover

2012-09-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

Last December, we introduced Discover to bring you essential information from the web. This May, we added stronger signals and a new design that made it more personal for you with better stories and Tweets from people you know.

Now we’re improving Discover again: when you visit the Discover tab on twitter.com, you’ll see a continuous stream of Tweets, which automatically expand to show you the most relevant stories and most engaging photos.

We hope you enjoy this new way to discover what's happening now and find new people to follow in a rich stream of Tweets. The updated Discover is rolling out gradually to everyone.

Posted by Sara Mauskopf @sm
Product Manager

TechWomen and my experience at Twitter

2012-09-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in technology from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to leading companies in Silicon Valley. Twitter participated for the first time this year by connecting International Product Manager Laura Gómez with Essraa Abbas. Here are Essraa's reflections on her experience. - Ed.

Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” This aptly describes how I feel about Twitter and the impact it is making on a global scale, and why I feel so lucky to have been a mentee here.

I applied for the TechWomen (@techwomen) program to accomplish two main things. The first was to get in touch with people with different technology and business expertise that will help me in starting my own company. Secondly, I wanted to bring the knowledge I learned here and share it with my community when I return to Egypt. My goal is to one day own a successful company, big enough to incubate uprising startups and be able to use some of the knowledge I gained here to help guide them to success.

During my stay, I studied the impact Twitter had on Egypt and the MENA region, and I worked on research related to RTL (right-to-left) support in Twitter and other social media counterparts like Facebook and Google+ from a native perspective. It is no wonder how this company has been such a force behind empowering people, particularly during the Arab Spring. I can see their passion, focus and their commitment to the mission and core values of Twitter, confirming my belief that people are the most important asset of any great company.

In Egypt, we do not lack talents, nor do we lack potential. What we really lack is mentorship and great working environments. I was impressed with the diversity of career paths in the technology field here in Silicon Valley. As such, creating a wide variety of choices is one of the things I want my own company to offer, because I know what Egyptians are capable of and currently, options are limited.

I am very thankful to all of the inspiring men and women at Twitter, especially the International team for hosting me and my mentor, Laura I. Gómez (@laura), for all the efforts she has put into making this mentorship fruitful. I look forward to returning to Egypt so I can share my learnings and continue to support the growth of female engineers around the world.

Guest-posted by Essraa Abbas (@EssraaAbbas)

People you may know

2012-09-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Following the people you know makes Twitter a more personal way to discover essential information. That’s why we’re introducing a new email that makes it easier to connect with your friends, classmates and co-workers on Twitter.

This weekly email highlights a handful of people you may know who use Twitter. You can choose to follow any of the suggested people and you can find more people you may know on twitter.com. Suggestions are based on signals like who your friends follow and the contact information imported by people you know. For example, if several people you know follow someone, you may also know them and want to follow them too. There’s no telling who you might find on Twitter, so open this weekly message for an ongoing source of great accounts to follow.

Of course, you can choose whether or not to receive new messages from Twitter in your email notification settings. Since your inbox is a doorway to information you want, we aim to make it as easy as possible for you to manage your Twitter email.

Posted by Bogdan Cristian Tataroiu @bogdan2412
Engineering Intern, Growth and International Team

NFL Week 3: #OnlyOnTwitter edition

2012-09-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

A week of controversial @NFL ref action means a week of highly charged Twitter reaction: With a number of challenged calls, upsets, impossible plays and injuries, fans and players took to Twitter to tweet their frustration, encouragement, excitement — even condolences.

Last night during #MNF, Twitter conversation went into overdrive, when the @seahawks went head-to-head with the @packers at Qwest Field. Players and fans flocked to Twitter to share their opinions on what happened in the game’s final seconds. The now-infamous final play of the game generated more than one million Tweets (and used a fair amount of colorful language — consider this your disclaimer).

One of the most vocal was @packers guard @TJLang70, whose series of blunt Tweets generated more than 150,000 retweets between them:

Got fucked by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl
— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) September 25, 2012

Fuck it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs.
— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) September 25, 2012

Reaction spread from around the NFL, as other players chimed in:

I love this league and love the game of football, but tonight’s debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT the league we’re supposed to represent
— Drew Brees (@drewbrees) September 25, 2012

These refs gotta go I'm sorry
— Reggie Bush (@reggie_bush) September 25, 2012

As the Twitter discussion surged, other pro athletes and celebrities weighed in:

I simply just LOVE the NFL to much to see these mistakes. I'm sick like I just played for the Packers
— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 25, 2012

All @nfl fans watch the Ryder Cup this week, we got no refs. #USA
— bubba watson (@bubbawatson) September 25, 2012

Of the things the Packers O-Line was responsible for tonight, which was more: sacks allowed or fantastic tweets?
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) September 25, 2012

I hope the real refs use this debacle to turn the screws on the league. Don't fold guys!! Stick it to em. #NFL
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) September 25, 2012

While last night’s game generated the most Tweets (and controversy), there was no shortage of noteworthy and emotional moments during Sunday’s games.

Unfortunately, tragedy also touched the NFL last weekend, resulting in @TorreySmithWR’s ranking as Sunday’s most tweeted-about player of the week after the unexpected loss of his brother. Only hours after the sad news, Smith represented his team on the field with a stellar performance, scoring two touchdowns for the @ravens.

"The Ravens' victory was about Torrey Smith putting his heart into a game when it was hurting the most." - es.pn/OW5V0S
— ESPN (@espn) September 24, 2012

Thoughts and prayers go out to @torreysmithwr and his family.
— Ray Rice (@RayRice27) September 23, 2012

Another shocker occurred when @theDHB85 suffered injuries after a crushing hit from the @Steelers defense left him being escorted off the field in a stretcher. Fans were relieved this morning after @raiders tweeted the status of his health (he’s ok!):

Darrius Heyward-Bey was released this morning from Eden Medical Center after spending the night under observation...
— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) September 24, 2012

...He is resting at home with a concussion and neck strain, and expected to make a full recovery.
— OAKLAND RAIDERS (@RAIDERS) September 24, 2012

In other injury news, NFL Reporter @JeffDarlington tweeted commentary about @HoustonTexans QB @Matt_SchuabQB_8’s tackle by the @Denver_broncos that left him missing a part of his ear mid-game.

"I felt fine, you know, I just lost a little piece of my ear," Schaub said after today's win, repeating a sentence spoken by no one ever.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) September 24, 2012

And this was only Week 3. Can there be any more excitement in Week 4? Maybe.

Omid Ashtari, Head of Sports & Entertainment (@omid)