Twitter was slapped on the wrist this week by the FTC for their lax security that allowed private user data, direct messages and other non-public information be access by hackers last year.  From theinquirer.net

The micro-blogging service, known primarily for its useless messages and patchy service, was hacked numerous times last year. The FTC is blaming Twitter for allowing hackers to be “able to view nonpublic user information, gain access to direct messages and protected tweets, and reset any user’s password” between January and March, 2009.
Twitter acknowledged that 45 accounts had been accessed, but bleated that it was only for “short periods of time”.

According to the FTC, the compromised accounts were due to Twitter’s failure to take “reasonable steps”, meaning that its users weren’t to blame.

David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection went further, saying that “when a company promises consumers that their personal information is secure, it must live up to that promise.” Well, yes.

So it is perhaps more than a little disappointing that all Twitter had to do was agree that for the next 20 years it will refrain from “misleading consumers about the extent to which it maintains and protects the security, privacy, and confidentiality of nonpublic consumer information.”

Or, in other words, it merely had to say sorry and promise not to do it again, at least not for a very long time.

Twitter also said that it had already implemented many of the changes suggested by the FTC.

A final decision on the agreement will be made by the FTC on 26 July.

While I don’t have any information on my twitter account that I wouldn’t want anyone else to see, at the same time it’s concerning that things like this could happen.

Twitter growing pains?

Over the past couple of days you may have been shocked to find that you had lost tens, if not hundreds of your followers. At first glance that can be a bit disconcerting. Did i say something that people didn’t like? Was I being too controversial? Do I smell?

Not to worry, it seems that Twitter is in the minddle of doing some housecleaning, and has removed hundreds of spam accounts. Sure it stinks to lose all those followers, but you don’t really want them following you anyway, do you?

From timscullin.com

Seems Twitter has run a spam purge.

What’s that?

You know how sometimes while searching through twitter accounts you’ll see “This Twitter account has been suspended due to strange activity”. It’s actually just a nice way of saying “This is a suspected spammer”, not “They were saying some weird stuff and we got worried”.

The typical process is for the account to be suspended without question for 7 days. After that the account holder can email twitter support and have their account unsuspended if they agree to follow the twitter rules. However if the account holder doesn’t email the account remains suspended. After a while these need to be deleted. This follower drop seems to be Twitter purging these inactive ”strange” accounts.

So yes you may have lost a few followers, but don’t fret. Asides from making your follower ratio look better they weren’t doing much. At least now you wont be spammed by them should the holder decide to revive their suspended accounts.

Last week we all heard of the tragic passing of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon. Many of us heard the tragic news through Twitter. A lot of the time Twitter is faster than the mainstream news media outlets. The problem is that sometimes Tweeters on Twitter get it wrong.

Last week it was also widely reported on Twitter that Jeff Goldblum (and other celebrities) had died as well. Here’s a funny clip from Comedy Central talking about how twitter got it wrong.

The Dead Can Twitter

Since it’s launch Twitter.com has been a free service, something that users can enjoy free of charge, without a ton of advertising or other commercial clutter in it’s interface.  With Twitter’s growing popularity all knew that they would have to make money at some point.  Nothing’s free forever!

This past week Twitter has made it’s first foray into becoming a commercial venture, making its first real money – courtesy of Microsoft.  Microsoft is sponsoring a new stand alone twitter site where they’ll be featuring only executives who twitter.  It’s called Exectweet.com

Exec Tweets about page has this to say:

ExecTweets is a resource to help you find and follow the top business executives on Twitter. Created by Federated Media, in partnership with Microsoft, ExecTweets is a platform that aggregates the tweets of top business execs and empowers the community to surface the most insightful, business-related tweets.

Exec Tweet looks nice on the surface, and incorporates the Microsoft branding efforts without being too in your face. While it looks nice, I’m not sure how successful it will be because people who might be interested in reading the tweets of executives who use twitter, probably are already following them anyway, using a nice filtering tool like Tweet Deck.  What this page adds the the equation I’m not quite sure.

What’s Next?

While this may be the first foray into Twitter’s money making ventures, it certainly won’t be the last.  What’s up next?   My guess?  Ads underneath your profile information on your homepage. Like where the blurb for “tweetie” appears below:

Other Monetization Ideas:

• Fill empty characters in tweets with text ads.
• Sponsored search results.
• Regular CPM and CPA advertising.
• Premium accounts for business partners.

What other ways do you think Twitter will use to try and monetize their service?  Let us know in the comments!

Over the past few years Twitter has morphed from a crash prone butt of internet jokes,  to one of the highest trafficked and loved sites on the web.   But there’s just one problem.  They aren’t making any money.. yet.

People have often wondered since Twitter went live how they would make money. After all they can’t just offer their service free of charge forever, right?  SFGate.com talks about what is next for Twitter:

Already one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups, Twitter has won legions of converts and has emerged as a cultural phenomenon. But as the company grows, it faces a new challenge: turning its popularity into a business.

After nearly two years as a company, Twitter has yet to bring in revenue. In typical startup fashion, its founders have focused on adding users and fixing what until recently was a notoriously crash-prone service.

Twitter’s initial stab at making money likely will come by April, although it won’t be anything revolutionary, according to Evan Williams, the company’s chief executive. More will be introduced over the course of the year.

So how are they proposing to make money? Ads? Premium memberships?

Advertising is among the most obvious sources of revenue for Twitter, although it risks alienating users by bombarding them with sales pitches. Aware of the danger, executives talk about a more consumer-friendly strategy of users voluntarily signing up for alerts about new products that they’re interested in, or discounts.

“It would have to be well done because it’s such a personal medium,” said Liz Ross, president of North American operations for Tribal DDB advertising agency.

Another idea is to charge companies for corporate accounts that offer extra tools to connect with customers and to monitor what people are saying about products, the good and the bad. Indeed, Ross said, Twitter might be more valuable to companies as a place to listen, rather than talk.

So advertising via deals alerts, special fee-based corporate accounts are two ideas  that they’re floating right now.  I hope they’re careful about how they try to monetize the site, because as was stated, they don’t want to alienate their loyal user base.  Then again, I’m not sure there is much that Twitter could do that really could get most people to drop the service. They’re just too addicted!

I for one have no problem with Twitter monetizing their site, and coming up with ways to make their venture self-supporting.  No one expects to get it for free forever.  I just hope that they continue along this path very carefully, and take into account the user experience, and making sure it doesn’t suffer as a result.

Interested in some other ways Twitter could monetize, or have an idea of your own?  Check out this site where they’re accepting ideas for business models for Twitter.  The winner will have their plan and resume posted, as well as having both submitted to Twitter!

What are some ways that you think Twitter could monetize the site? Are there any things that they might do that could get you to stop using the service?