Twitter Reveals New Service to Stop Spam

In an effort to detect and prevent spam and abuse on Twitter, the company’s Trust and Safety team announced today it has launched a new service to protect its users. The new service will allow the company to detect, intercept and prevent the spread of bad links across all of Twitter.

The popular micro-blogging service has focused their efforts on Direct Messages and email notifications about Direct Messages because, according to the company, that is where most of the attacks occur. According to the announcement, the service also works even if a bad link is already sent out in an email notification and a user clicks on it.

Facebook SNL Campaign for Betty White Pays Off

Facebook is continuing to influence entertainment, as proven by the latest news from the New York Daily News. A campaign launched on Facebook to convince “Saturday Night Live” producers to have Betty White on the show has apparently been successful, as the 88-year-old actress confirmed that she will be appearing as a guest this season.

The Facebook group “Betty White to Host SNL (Please?)” has gained half a million supporters in a short period of time – it appeared after White starred in a popular Snickers commercial during the Super Bowl. The comedy show’s producers apparently paid heed to the attention, although it’s not clear in what capacity White will be on the show. Still, White said at Elton John’s post-Oscar party that she was thrilled to be on the show and with her newfound popularity.

“I don’t know why or how,” she says, “but it’s been wonderful.”

Social Media Access via Mobile Browser Sees Triple-Digits

Access to social media sites via smartphones has increased 8.3 points in the past year, from 22.5 percent in January 2009 to 30.8 percent in January 2010, according to recent data from comScore. Access to Facebook via mobile browser increased 112 percent in the same time frame, while Twitter experienced a 347-percent increase.

The study also found that 11.1 percent of all mobile phone users accessed a social networking site via mobile browser, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from last year. According to comScore, much of this growth has been attributed to smartphone owners, 30.8 percent of whom accessed social networking sites on their mobile browsers.

ComScore also revealed that a whopping 25.1 million mobile users accessed Facebook via their mobile browser in January 2010, a 112 percent increase from the previous year. MySpace attracted 11.4 million users in January, while Twitter attracted 4.7 million users.

“American Idol” pulls plug on Twitter, Facebook pages

“American Idol” producers have pulled the plug on individual contestant Twitter and Facebook pages. According to the Los Angeles Times, they have all been consolidated into one shared social media page used by all of the contestants.

Followers of individual contestants on Twitter received the following message on Wednesday night as the switch happened: “Thanks so much for following me! All my updates from now on will be on our Official Ai9 Twitter Page, please follow me there @AI9Contestants” A similar message directed Facebook fans of contestants to the AI9 Contestants fan page on that site.

The report speculated that producers made the switch because the discrepancy between the number of friends and fans on social media sites was giving an obvious clue as to the popularity of certain contestants and might have been an influence in voting.

For more info on American Idol visit American Idol Fan Forum.

LinkedIn Partners with Calendar Application

If you have ever been invited to a company meeting and wondered the title, role and background of the other attendees, now you can find out. LinkedIn announced yesterday that it has integrated its services with Tungle.me, a calendaring application company, making it easy for meeting attendees to view the LinkedIn profiles of other professionals from across the globe who are invited to the same meeting.

“Now, when you access a meeting invitation that you’ve organized or been invited to through Tungle.me, you’ll see LinkedIn icons next to each attendee with a LinkedIn profile,” said Marc Gingras, CEO and Founder of Tungle Corporation.

LinkedIn currently offers a network of over 60 million business professionals in over 200 countries around the world.

Email Marketing Company Exact Target Acquires CoTweet

GigaOm.com reports that CoTweet, a Twitter management tool used by major companies like McDonald’s, Microsoft, Ford, Dell and Pepsi, has been purchased by email marketer Exact Target for an undisclosed sum. This move could create an interesting intersection of social media and traditional email-based marketing and might give some clues as to the future of monetizing social media.

Exact Target creates “permission based” Web campaigns for companies like Expedia, Home Depot, Gannett Co. and Wellpoint Inc. The majority of the company’s outreach for clients is done through email; its acquisition of a Twitter tool signals that it is interested in having a stronger social media presence.

The deal was important enough to warrant comment from Twitter COO Dick Costolo, who said “this acquisition is strong validation that valuable, sustainable businesses are emerging from the Twitter ecosystem. An ExactTarget and CoTweet combination should lead to even further digital marketing innovation through use of the Twitter platform.”

CoTweet offers a Twitter management tool that allows marketing executives from large companies to control Twitter feeds from a single page, making collaboration easier — particularly with larger projects.

U.S. Military Can Now Use Social Media

CNN reports that U.S. military personnel are now allowed tweet. According to the article, the Pentagon announced Friday that military personnel can use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube “from non-classified government computers as long as the activity does not compromise operational security or involve prohibited activities or Web sites.”

“The world of Web 2.0 and the Internet provides these amazing opportunities to collaborate,” David M. Wennergren, deputy assistant secretary of defense for information management and technology told CNN. “It not only promotes information sharing across organizational boundaries and with mission partners, but also enables deployed troops to maintain contact with their loved ones at home.”

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