Twitter unveils the top trending tweets in 2013

Twitter is the latest company to remind us that we are nearing the end of 2013 by unveiling the top tweets of the year. Like its trend reports in the past two years, this year too Twitter has divided the top tweets across various categories like #news, #entertainment, #sports, #showcase and #2013.

The most interesting among the aforementioned categories is #2013, which shows the top trending tweets and major events on a month-by-month basis. So for example it shows the tweets for the Australian Open in January, Academy Awards in Feb, Champions Leagues finals in May, Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement in November and so on. The Golden Tweets section under this category has some of the most famous human interest tweets including the one about Paul Walker’s death— “It’s with a heavy heart that we must confirm Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident.”

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Twitter introduces controversial blocking policies, but reverts them after user backlash

Earlier today, Twitter introduced a new blocking policy, wherein even after blocking a person he/she will continue to be able to follow your profile and track your tweets. Twitter’s idea behind this new policy was to avoid any kind of retaliation from the blocked person. Though it seems like a noble idea, the company had to face severe backlash from Twitter users and finally it retracted the policy.

According to the new policies, after blocking a person, a user would not be able to see him/her on the follower’s list or get updates about any interactions with the user’s tweets. But the blocked person could still access the user’s timeline and read and interact with the user’s tweets as if nothing had changed.

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Twitter, Facebook and Google workers are among tech’s happiest

A couple of months ago, a group of current and former Apple employees revealed what it’s like to work in the stressful yet rewarding environment that is the Apple Campus. Now that the year is coming to a close, Glassdoor has released its annual list of “Best Places to Work,” and although Apple did make the list, the Cupertino company fell behind some of the other giants in the industry.

According to Glassdoor, Apple received an average rating of 3.8, good enough for 35th place.

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Truecaller partners with Twitter in India

Truecaller today announced it has partnered with Twitter in India that will integrate a user’s Twitter id to their Truecaller profile. Now users will be able to see if someone’s Twitter id is linked to their phone number and will be able to interact via Twitter directly from the app itself.

“Our partnership with Twitter is an unparalleled opportunity to enhance the Truecaller service and insert a more robust social element to the experience. With this new integration, a Truecaller user can instantly tweet back to a missed call that has a Twitter account connected to the phone number.

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Twitter India creates a subscribers list of people tweeting about Cyclone Phailin

Google is doing its bit by launching the People Finder app to help people look for missing friends and relatives as Odisha and Andhra Pradesh gears up to face Cyclone Phailin. Now Twitter too has joined in and has created a list of people tweeting about the impending natural disaster.

Twitter India has created a subscribers list called ‘Cyclone Phailin’. The list consists of citizens, journalists and agencies that are continuously tweeting about the advancing cyclone. It is a Public List so anyone can join and one can also help out by tweeting any update using the hashtag #CyclonePhailin.

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Twitter for Android and iOS updated with two-step verification and improved search

Twitter continues to bring its desktop features to the mobile platforms and with the latest update to its Android and iOS app, it brings a new two-step verification along with an improved people and photos search. The latest version of the app is available for download from the Play Store and the App Store.

The two-step verification is similar to the desktop version, but doesn’t require SMS-based authentication anymore and uses push notifications instead. So when you login for the first time after enabling the verification system, the app will send a notification asking you to approve the login attempt. The app will also provide you with a backup code, so in case you lose your phone, you can use that code to login from the web browser. To enable this security system, go to the ‘Me’ tab, open settings and then tap Security, where you will find the option.

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Twitter adds multiple account support on Windows 8 app

Micro blogging site Twitter has updated its app for Windows 8 and Windows RT, which brings along the access to sign in to multiple accounts, and a couple of other new features.

Twitter users on Window 8 platform can now access multiple accounts or simply delete an account on the app with a simple process. To do so, one will need to swipe from the top or bottom (or right-click) to bring up the app commands, and choose the people icon at the top right. Further, clicking on the plus option or on the delete sign will allow users to add or delete accounts. This apart, the app now comes with a list options which will allow users to view lists on a person’s profile. Additionally lists and user profiles can now be pinned to the Start screen which will make these rather handy for a user.

Along with these, the app now also comes with some bug fixes and performance improvements.

Twitter has started rolling out the update, and those interested can download it from here.

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Twitter improves search results by adding photos, accounts and social context

Twitter is steadily rolling out a more improved search engine on its web version, which is more in line with what Google calls ‘Universal Search’. In addition to displaying people and top tweets, the improved search will also include photos, videos and social context.

This feature is slowly being rolled out, so not all will be able to see it at the moment. In the meantime though, SearchEngineLand has posted a series of screenshots of Twitter’s new search system. From now on, when you search something, the results will be broadly classified into three categories—People, Photos and Social Context

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Twitter reportedly testing a ‘embedded on these websites’ feature

Twitter is believed to be testing a new feature, which it believes will increase the number of clicks to particular articles or websites. this feature under test shows a list of links to websites, under a tweet, which have embedded that particular tweet.

As seen in the above picture, under Mikko Hypponnen’s tweet, there’s a new bar with the heading ‘Embedded on these websites’ and in that bar you see a couple of websites that have embedded Hypponnen’s tweet.

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Twitter app update for BlackBerry offers photo-cards based improved interface

Twitter is working hard on improving the user experience and in the process is updating its apps on various platforms. After adding language translation support on Windows Phone platform, the social network has now updated its app for BlackBerry smartphones running BB OS 4.5 and above to version 4.2. This new version now brings photo-card interface for Tweets along with some performance improvements and bug fixes.

The photo-oriented update will make the whole interface photo friendlier than before. This apart, it is now easier for users to see the tweets which have been tagged as favorite or have been retweeted in the users’ timeline. Twitter for BB has also added colors mark in the top right-hand corner of the Tweet, which represents respective action taken.

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"Tweet" Is Now A Word In Oxford Dictionary

The message with 140 character limit- “tweet”- which revolutionized social networking and microblogging world, is now officially a part of Oxford Dictionary in its latest update, reports Los Angeles Times.

Despite not being even a 10 year old, a rule that Oxford Dictionary follows for the inclusion of any new word, “tweet” made its way into the dictionary.  John Simpson, the dictionary's chief editor, said the word "seems to be catching on.”

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