61 postsSources say Twitter is building a new product that will allow users to share tweets that are longer than the company’s 140-character limit, enabling users to publish long-form content to the service. Users can already tweet out blocks of text with products like OneShot, but those are images, not actual text published on Twitter. The company is also considering changing how it measures its 140-character limit, possibly removing links and user handles from the count.
Twitter adds a buy button on its website. Users can browse products from over 10000 merchants on Shopify and purchase directly from Twitter. Twitter:
Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can’t get anywhere else and can act on them right in the Twitter apps for Android and iOS. Sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales
Twitter updates its abuse policy to make it tougher for trolls to flood it with threats and harassment.
We are making two policy changes, one related to prohibited content, and one about how we enforce certain policy violations. We are updating our violent threats policy so that the prohibition is not limited to direct, specific threats of violence against others but now extends to threats of violence against others or promot[ing] violence against others.
Twitter bans the posting of naked photographs and videos without the permission of the person in that photograph or video. Updated rule:
You may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent
The site makes it easier to submit abuse reports and triples its number of staff to handle the abuse reports. The Company is also improving its methods to deal with trolls, with one method rumored to be telephone number tracking of users that have earned a reputation for repeated harassment.
Twitter announces plans to acquire Namo Media, a technology firm specializing in native advertising for mobile devices. Twitter intends to dovetail Namo’s technology into MoPub, the ad serving platform the company acquired last year. The merged platform would deliver promotional material that blends into mobile websites and mobile apps, improving their ability to monetize for users, app publishers and marketers.
Turkey’s constitutional court rules Turkey’s telecoms authority’s two-week-old ban on Twitter breached freedom of expression and lifts ban on the site. Following the court’s decision, President Abdullah Gul, who has opposed the bans, was quoted as saying both websites should be made available in Turkey once more. The Company said in a tweet that it welcomed the ruling. Within minutes of the ban being lifted, thesite was flooded with messages.