Twellow Gets Twitter OAuth Support
February 26, 2010
Our Twellow team has been working hard on getting Twellow set up to use Twitter's OAuth system, and that support is now available on Twellow.com.
"The Twellow OAuth upgrade is a major improvement for Twellow users," Twellow's Lead Developer Matthew Daines says. "Not only is it much more secure, but it also increases the amount of interaction users can have with the Twitter universe from Twellow."
"With this version of Twellow we've added the ability to tweet directly from Twellow, so users don't need to switch between Twellow and Twitter for simple posting of updates," Daines adds. "In addition there are a few behind-the-scenes improvements in performance that should help as we continue to grow our database of Twitter profiles."
Benefits include:
- OAuth is more secure
- OAuth provides the same access you are used to
- You can use a different password for Twellow
- Twitter access limits are increased with OAuth
- Tweet directly from Twellow
Current Twellow users can upgrade their accounts to take advantage by logging in with their Twitter screen name and password, entering a new password to be used with Twellow, clicking the "continue to Twitter" button, making sure they are logged into Twitter under the correct account, and clicking "allow".
Gmail-Free Version of Buzz Being Considered
February 13, 2010
Update: In case there is any confusion, Google will not be taking Buzz out of Gmail. The company issued this statement after some confusion in the blogosphere:
No, we're not planning to remove Buzz from Gmail. Among some of the features we're considering is building a standalone Buzz experience in addition to the one in Gmail at some point in the future.
Original Article: There's no question that Google Buzz has been the topic of the week. Google took the tech and social media industries by storm as it launched its new social media product.
Already, Buzz has shown a great deal of potential, but it has also created more than a few problems and concerns. Privacy has been the key concern. The most heavily publicized and perhaps most illustrative example of this can be found in this story from a woman who was automatically connected with her abusive ex-husband. Her post begins...
I use my private Gmail account to email my boyfriend and my mother.
There's a BIG drop-off between them and my other "most frequent" contacts.
You know who my third most frequent contact is?
My abusive ex-husband...
Google is rolling out additional privacy adjustments to Buzz, reportedly in response to this woman's post. People you block in Buzz still show up as following you in Google Reader and there has been no ability to block people from Google Reader, but Google is working on changing both of these. Google has issued a statement to this effect.
On another Buzz-related note, Danny Sullivan reports that Google is also considering a version of Buzz that would be independent from Gmail:
“It’s clear that interest in Buzz may extend beyond the current Gmail base, and we’re open to serving that community,” said Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of Product Marketing, when I spoke to him about some Buzz issues at the TED Conference.
Horowitz stressed that Google would still offer a version of Buzz within Gmail, in addition to any independent version.
“We think that Buzz within Gmail is a great experience, and we’ll keep offering that as well,” Horowitz said.
Google Buzz may have gotten off to kind of a rocky start in some aspects, but many others have paid the service plenty of praise. Google said as it was announced that it was only the first version, and they were counting on user feedback to help them improve it. At least they appear to be making good on that.
Twitter’s Suggested Users Now More Personalized
January 22, 2010
We knew it was coming. It was only a matter of when. Back in November, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told a crowd at a conference in Malaysia that the current suggested users list would be going away, and that it would be replaced by something "more programmatically chosen, something that actually delivers more relevant suggestions." Twitter has now announced the reality of that new kind of suggested users list.
Originally the suggested users list was meant as a way to help new users, and it still is. The problem was that the list was static for everyone, and not all tastes are the same. Now the lists will be more tailored to users' specific preferences.
"Two of the biggest challenges for new users have been finding accounts to follow that appeal to their interests, and finding their friends and colleagues who tweet," says Josh Elman of Twitter's product team. "Over time, we've learned that by making suggestions of who to follow, we can help users get going more easily on Twitter. In our new design, we're taking some steps to continue to improve this process."
"We've created a number of algorithms to identify users across a variety of clusters who tweet actively and are engaged with their audiences," explains Elman. "These new algorithms help us group these active users into lists of users by interests. Rather than suggesting a random set of 20 users for a new user to follow, now we let users browse into the areas they are interested in and choose who they want to follow from these lists."
I should note that our own Twellow service has had a feature in place that provides suggested users on a personalized level for some time, so if you don't like who Twitter suggests (or if you just want to find others), you may want to consider checking that out.
Twitter says its lists will be refreshed frequently as the algorithm identifies new users who should be suggested. Others found to be less engaging may be removed. Twitter offers its own staff-picked list, and a special staff picks for Haiti list as well.
Have You Read This?
> Easily Find Twitterers You're Interested In
> A Suggested Users List for Twitter That You Can Actually Use
> Twitter To Make Suggested Users Feature More Like Twellow's?
Yahoo May Shut Down MyBlogLog Soon
December 24, 2009
Update: Yahoo has issued the following statment regarding MyBlogLog's future:
Frankly, it’s no secret within Yahoo! that we’re actively discussing the future of MyBlogLog. However, it’s also true that we have not made any final decisions at this point. Is a shutdown on the table? Sure, that’s an option. But there are other options as well. We know this creates some uncertainty for current MyBlogLog users. While we aren't quite ready to share more details, we promise to keep you posted.
Original Article: Yahoo will reportedly shut down MyBlogLog in January. Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb claims to have heard from "sources close to the project" that this is the case.
"Yahoo! has let the service atrophy for years and will now put it to rest," writes Kirkpatrick. "To think that this service offered publishers and developers access to personal, demographic, taste and activity data of a website's readers - and yet that offering has in the end gone no where - that's downright crazy."
MyBlogLog was originally developed by Cloudspace out of Florida, but was acquired by Yahoo in January 2007. The company paid over 10 million dollars for it. According to Wikipedia, there were over 45,000 blogs subscribed to it at the time, and it currently has 275,000 registered users.
It's no secret that Yahoo is cutting costs wherever it can. For example, earlier this year, they shut down the once popular Geocities. Just this week, they announced that they would be closing their offices for a whole week to save a little dough.
No mention of the demise of the service is mentioned on the MyBlogLog blog.
Have You Read This?
> MyBlogLog Looks for Higher Level of "Truthiness"
> Yahoo! MyBlogLog Gets Updated
