Bain Joins Twitter as First Head of Revenue

Twitter continues to build an impressive sales team as it looks to monetize the popularity of its micro-blogging service. Tech Crunch reports that Twitter has hired News Corp. executive Adam Bain as its new head of revenue. Reporting directly to Twitter COO Dick Costolo, Bain will be responsible for helping to implement Twitter’s new revenue-generating models by becoming its first President, Revenue.

Twitter has moved aggressively in recent weeks to add muscle to its sales and advertising arm. The company recently brought Dan Coughlin from Facebook and Amanda Levy from Yelp to head up its East Coast and West Coast sales forces respectively. Tech Crunch also reports that Twitter has lured Google sales executive Brent Hill from Google to be in charge of sales in the Midwest region.

Bain was most recently the President of the Fox Audience Network, the arm of News Corp. in charge of monetizing online properties such as IGN and MySpace.

North Korea Joins Twitter

The Los Angeles Times reports that the North Korea government has officially joined Twitter, posting messages under the user name “Uriminzok,” which means “our people.”

Although North Korea denies its citizens Internet access, Twitter continues to see plenty of accounts claiming to be from where U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley calls the “Hermit Kingdom.”

According to the L.A. Times, Crowley on Tuesday welcomed North Korea to the social media network and tweeted:

“The Hermit Kingdom will not change overnight, but technology once introduced can’t be shut down. Just ask #Iran. #Korea”

He then added, “…North Korean government has joined Twitter, but is it prepared to allow its citizens to be connected as well?”

Axl Rose’s Twitter Account Hacked

Guns N’ Roses fans in the U.K. were crestfallen this past weekend to read a Twitter post by lead singer Axl Rose that the popular 80’s music group were cancelling their upcoming tour, which was scheduled to include headlining performances at the popular Reading and Leeds Festivals in late August. It was depressing news for British Guns N’ Roses fans but not terribly surprising given the band’s sporadic touring schedule and the well-publicized fickleness of Rose.

However, it appears that the mourning over the loss of the tour dates was premature. MSNBC.com reports that the tour is still moving ahead and that Rose’s Twitter message that the tour was cancelled was apparently the result of his account being hacked.

There was no word about how Rose’s Twitter account was hacked; however, the fact that the message was posted two days after Guns N’ Roses gave an extremely late and poorly-received show at the Sturgis motorcycle rally is a potential clue that a disgruntled fan might have found a way to get their revenge on Rose for the band’s below-average performance.

Twitter Announces Official Tweet Button

Twitter unveiled the Tweet Button Monday making it easier for users to share links on Twitter directly from any Web page. The Tweet Button also allows website owners and publishers of all sizes to increase traffic and their Twitter following.

In accordance with the launch of the Twitter Button, the company has partnered with third-party “retweet button” creator TweetMeme, who will assist Twitter with the technical challenges involved with the official Twitter Button.

“We’re pleased to be working closely with the good folks at TweetMeme and, from here on out, they will be pointing to the Twitter Tweet Button,” Twitter said in a blog post.

Twitter Unveils New SMS Messaging Features

Twitter has added new features to its micro-blogging service making it more SMS-friendly.

One of the new features includes Fast Follow, a way for people in the U.S. — including those without Twitter accounts — to receive Tweets on their phones. According to Twitter, users can experience Fast Follow anytime they see a Twitter @username at a restaurant or store, on a billboard or on TV.

In a post on the Twitter blog, the company gives this illustration: “For example, let’s say you want to get Tweets from New York City’s office of emergency management (@NotifyNYC). Just text ‘follow NotifyNYC’ to 40404 in the US.”

Another new SMS-friendly feature available on Twitter is the ability to receive an SMS message on your phone anytime selected people Tweet. Users can select people by hovering over their name or avatar and clicking on the phone icon that appears in the hovercard. Users can easily turn the SMS alerts on or off by sending ‘on [username]’ or ‘off [username]’ to 40404 in the US.

Finally, to keep up with the latest Tweet, users can text ‘Get [username]’, which will send that user’s most recent Tweet to your phone, even if you don’t follow them.

Twitter Adds Sales Force Muscle from Facebook, Yelp

Twitter continued to make hires to bolster its sales force this week as it tries to leverage its growing popularity into advertising revenue. The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the social media site is bringing in top talent from some of its top social media rivals in order to stimulate its sales team.

Joining Twitter as their new director of East Coast ad sales is Dan Coughlin, who is the former director of media sales at Facebook. Also coming on board at Twitter is Amanda Levy, who was the first ad-sales person at review site Yelp and will serve as the sales director in the Western region.

Both Coughlin and Levy will be heavily involved in implementing the new Promoted Suite program which includes Promoted Tweets and will soon evolve to include Promoted Trends. This program allows advertisers to pay for selected tweets to show up at the top of selected search results or when subjects show up as “trending.”

“We’re putting together a top-flight sales team as we begin to open our Promoted Suite of products to more companies,” said Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief operating officer, in an emailed statement.

Zendesk Upgrades Twitter Integration

There is no denying that more and more consumers are using Twitter to vent about brands and customer service. Naturally, businesses are searching for ways to tap into the twittersphere and manage their reputations by responding to complaints. Zendesk has announced that users can now treat tweets like any other support channel, allowing businesses to leverage Twitter communications through Zendesk’s Web-based helpdesk software.

In a company blog post announcing the integration, CEO and founder of Zendesk Mikkel Svane wrote, “Being able to connect the twittersphere with your current customer service workflow is something we believe will change a lot of companies’ perception of Twitter.”

Companies can now use the software to pipe in tweets, feed DMs directly into their queues, and deal with them as regular tickets benefiting from the powerful workflow capabilities of Zendesk. This includes Twitter, which began using Zendesk as its support platform in early 2009. The new feature also allows users to record any Twitter conversation and move it from Twitter to email.

“A chaotic cloud of shouts and conversations can become the foundation of a new business process; one ensuring participation and clear and timely communications,” writes Svane.

Leena Rao of TechCrunch agrees that the integration makes sense. According to Rao, “Twitter has now become a centralized place for consumer conversations about brands and companies.”

Twitter Gets Light Punishment from FTC for Hacks

Twitter is out of hot water with the Federal Trade Commission after fixing holes in its security which let users impersonate President Barack Obama and the official Twitter feed of Fox News.

“A company that allows consumers to designate their information as private must use reasonable security to uphold such designations,” David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement today. “Consumers who use social networking sites may choose to share some information with others, but they still have a right to expect that their personal information will be kept private and secure.”

The FTC became involved after a hacker was able to break into a Twitter employee’s personal email account and use passwords stored inside to guess their Twitter administrative log-in information. The FTC said this gave the hacker the potential to “access private user information and tweets for any Twitter users.”

The terms of the settlement amounts to probation, prohibiting Twitter from misleading users about privacy protections for 20 years and establish an information security program which will be subject to yearly third-party oversight for the next 10 years.

Utah Attorney General Under Fire for Tweeting about Execution

Utah’s governor is facing controversy for using Twitter to make comments about the pending execution of a prisoner. Ronnie Lee Gardner was killed by a firing squad — his preferred choice versus the now-common practice of death by lethal injection. However, the center of controversy after Gardner’s death is not the ethics of the death penalty but comments made on Twitter by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

During the day, Shurtleff posted several updates about the plans for Gardner’s execution, including that he “gave the go ahead to (sic) Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.”

Online reaction to Shurtleff’s Twitter postings has been swift, with opinions ranging that the postings were macabre to downright offensive. One Twitter user posted that Shurtleff’s posts “will probably go down in history as the dumbest most disgusting use of Twitter ever.”

Perez Hilton in Trouble for Miley Cyrus Twitter Picture

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is in hot water over a Twitter post he made involving pictures of teen singer and actress Miley Cyrus. Fox News reports that Hilton posted a Twitter photo of the 17-year-old star exiting from a car at a recent event - apparently while not wearing underwear. While Hilton has been known to court controversy in the past, this post has caused many people to say that he’s gone too far.

There have been calls for Hilton to be brought up on child pornography charges, although law enforcement experts have said that the chances of that happening are slim. However, the post might cost Hilton financially — ABC has apparently pulled online advertising for its morning chat show “The View” which had been running on Perez Hilton’s site. One media expert said that Hilton deserves any repercussions he gets.

“There has to be a point where these companies that support Perez Hilton, acknowledge that they’re endorsing a scumbag,” said MRC’s Culture and Media Institute Director, Dan Gainor. “(The controversy with Miley) is just appalling. Perez Hilton is a cyber bully. Here we are in the Internet age trying to protect children, and he does disgusting things like this for a living — and businesses support it.”

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