What Twitter’s Blue Tick says about the value of symbols and authentication

Last Thursday (20th April 2023), Twitter began removing the blue ticks from formerly verified users who had failed to subscribe to the new Twitter Blue service. The blue tick was once a symbol of “authenticity”, confirming that the holder of that account was indeed the person or institution referred to in the name or description of the account. Moreover, … Continue reading What Twitter’s Blue Tick says about the value of symbols and authentication

The exasperating lack of progress on women’s and girls’ digital rights

Last week, we marked yet another International Women’s Day (Yes, there’s an International Men’s day, too. Don’t worry. It’s November 19th). This is supposed to be a day when we celebrate progress in women’s rights such as gender equality or reproductive rights, and ending abuse against women. The UN chose as its theme for this … Continue reading The exasperating lack of progress on women’s and girls’ digital rights

The problem with charging for Twitter’s blue tick is not the $8 amount, but mental accounting

I found myself in the rather unexpected position of agreeing with Elon Musk and even, possibly, defending one of his initiatives. Namely, I think that one good way of generating revenues for a social media platform could be by charging for value added features that people can sign up to, if they want to, but … Continue reading The problem with charging for Twitter’s blue tick is not the $8 amount, but mental accounting

What Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter means for marketers

Elon Musk made a take-over offer to buy Twitter, and is said to want to implement four key changes at the social media company: Reduce content moderationEliminate automated accountsIntroduce new product featuresOpen-up Twitter’s algorithm The significance of Twitter for marketers According to Hootsuite, Twitter is the 15th largest social media platform in the world (slide 99). … Continue reading What Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter means for marketers

Customer service via Twitter – what a missed opportunity for airlines

Twitter can be a great channel for customer service. As my own research shows, customers see Twitter as a quick way of solving problems, obtaining information, and connecting with (and learning from) other users. Yet, not all firms seem to be embracing it. Research by Priyanga Gunarathne, Huaxia Rui and Abraham Seidmann, looking at how … Continue reading Customer service via Twitter – what a missed opportunity for airlines

A peak into tech giants’ terms and conditions

I don’t think that I have ever read a full set of terms and conditions from one of the tech giants. And I think that I am in the majority, here. Most terms of service are extremely long, as illustrated by Dima Yarovinsky’s installation at the Visualizing Knowledge 2018 exhibition. The artist printed the … Continue reading A peak into tech giants’ terms and conditions

Starbucks is dealing with its social media crisis one tweet at a time

In the aftermath of the incident where two black men were accused of trespassing and arrested, Starbucks announced that it would close 8,000 of its US-based stores for race-sensitivity training. Unsurprisingly, some members of the public took to Twitter to comment on this decision. For instance: Less predictably, perhaps, Starbucks engaged with the … Continue reading Starbucks is dealing with its social media crisis one tweet at a time

The real reason behind the spread of fake news

The journal Science recently published a paper exploring how and why fake news spread. You can access it here, or you can listen to this episode of Chips with Everything (a Guardian podcast that I recommended, previously). The paper is authored by MIT researchers Soroush Vosoughi, Deb Roy and Sinan Aral. The researchers collected around 126,000 rumour stories on … Continue reading The real reason behind the spread of fake news