Twitter launches Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu version - Will cover a massive audience in Middle East

Twitter has rolled out versions of its site in right-to-left languages for the first time.

The micro-blog service is now available in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu.

It said 13,000 volunteers helped translate its menu options and support pages into the languages.

Experts said the move should help more "ordinary people" make use of the service, both to hold politicians to account and to tweet about their everyday life.

Twitter's blog said the translation volunteers included a Saudi blogger, an IT professional in Iran, the co-founders of the grassroots #LetsTweetInArabic campaign and a BBC journalist.

"Some of these volunteers live in regions where Twitter is officially blocked," it said.

"Their efforts speak volumes about the lengths people will go to make Twitter accessible and understandable for their communities."

The service was blocked by authorities in Iran ahead of 2009's presidential elections and in Egypt during the 2011 protests that led to the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak.

Pakistan also temporarily prevented access to the site in 2010 citing "sacrilegious content" as the cause. The action followed one user's suggestion that members should upload pictures of the Prophet Muhammad which is not allowed under Islam.

However, some users were able to circumvent the bans by connecting to the net via proxy servers or using third-party smartphone apps that were not affected.

Annabelle Sreberny, professor of global media and communications at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, acknowledged that social networks and blogs had proved useful to protesters in the Middle East and Asia, but cautioned against overstating Twitter's significance.

"Twitter has been overhyped in its role in the [Iranian] 2009 stolen election and in the Tunisian uprising that then overthrew Ben Ali," she told the BBC.

"It is just one among a range of tools and platforms that people use."

However, the professor added that tailoring the service to local audiences would help it become more influential.

"I think the parallel would be the making available of tools to help people blog in Persian in 2002-3 by Hossein Derakshan. His manual on how to blog in the language helped trigger a huge boom in Persian voices on the internet."

Twitter said that integrating the use of right-to-left content had posed it a "unique" challenge.

It noted that some tweets still needed to include left-to-right material to allow users to mention subject hashtags or other members' account names written in other languages.

To address this it said its engineers had built new tools for the site to ensure the text and numbers would still look normal.

The firm said it was now available in 28 languages and would announce an appeal for people to help further increase that number at an unspecified date.

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Twitter plans to sell old tweets & archives to marketers

For years now, companies have been combing through Twitter postings, trying to glean any information that may help them improve their products and services.

But with more than 250 million tweets sent every day, it would take an enormous staff to analyze the data.

That task gave rise to hundreds of social media-monitoring companies, but they were still limited to the tweets that could be accessed by individual users.

Twitter, however, has decided to make it easier for these companies to mine billions of messages for valuable marketing data. The company will open its archives and sell its old tweets.

One of Twitter's new customers, DataSift, has formed an alliance with the social network to get access to tweets going back to January 2010.

"Twitter has really become an incredibly valuable information source," said Rob Bailey, DataSift's CEO. "There are a flood of companies wanting to get more use from it."

Starting next month, DataSift will launch a cloud-based service that will allow other companies to analyze these two-plus years of tweets to learn more about their customers.

According to its website, DataSift promises customers will be able to "unlock trends from public tweets" and "access the full Twitter firehose."

Users will pay DataSift for only the data it retrieves. DataSift will then share part of the revenue with Twitter.

The company emphasizes it won't have access to deleted tweets or users' direct messages.

Twitter also has partnered with Gnip, a Colorado-based online data-mining company, to license its historical tweets.

Because Twitter is a public forum, privacy watchdogs may face difficulties raising objections.

"We welcome the privacy debate," said Bailey, who is based in San Francisco.

Twitter so far is not commenting publicly about its new partnership.

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Twitter Teams With American Express to Launch Self-service Advertising Platform

Twitter is rolling out the self-serve ad platform it's been testing to 10,000 small and midsize businesses next month through a partnership with American Express, in a bid to broaden its revenue streams.

Starting tonight, American Express cardmembers and merchants can register to use the platform on a first-come, first-serve basis and also receive $100 in advertising credits to put toward bidding on promoted tweets and promoted accounts -- hopefully whetting their appetites for more. Twitter had begun the roll-out of self-serve, which lets advertisers make electronic payments instead of being invoiced by the sales team, in mid-November with a group of fewer than 20 advertisers and ultimately expanded the group to about 100.

CEO Dick Costolo noted that opening up the self-serve platform is a key development for Twitter in a potential banner year when the company is also focused on reaching the market for its political ad products and scaling its international ad offerings.

"So many hundreds of thousands and even millions of small businesses have been using Twitter effectively for years already, so by opening up our ad platform to all these folks as a mechanism for them to amplify the value they're already creating," he said.

As is the case for any of Twitter's current 3,000 advertisers, small businesses can set bids for promoted accounts on a cost-per-follower basis and for promoted tweets on a cost-per-engagement basis, so they only pay in the latter case when users actively engage with the tweet in some way (by retweeting it, for instance.) While national brands might be bidding on keywords or hashtags associated with major events like the Oscars, which makes bidding competitive and expensive, small businesses would be more likely to bid on highly specific terms and to localize their bids, according to Mr. Costolo. (Twitter currently allows for city-level targeting at its most specific.)

Mr. Costolo pointed to Glennz Tees, an online T-shirt retailer that was part of this winter's pilot group, as a small business that has already had success using the self-serve platform. After a character on "The Big Band Theory" appeared on the show wearing a Glennz shirt, the owners took to their Twitter account and bought up terms related to the show. Mr. Costolo claims they doubled their holiday sales over the previous year and tripled their Twitter followers.

EMarketer projects that Twitter's ad revenue in 2011 was $139.5 million and will grow to $259.9 million this year and $540 million by 2014. Self-serve is expected to be a cornerstone of Twitter's revenue growth, though its contribution is likely to be small in the early going while Twitter looks to scale the number of small-business advertisers using the platform, according to eMarketer's principal analyst, Debra Aho Williamson.

Ms. Williamson noted that Twitter's partnership with American Express is typical of its methodical approach to rolling out new ad products.

"One of the big challenges that Twitter was going to face was keeping rogue advertising or spammers from overrunning the systems, and by partnering with American Express and focusing at first on this small subset, it provides an easier roll-out for Twitter," she said.

The self-serve platform will go live for the first group of 10,000 businesses in late March and then be rolled out more broadly.

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How to tweet more than 140 Characters [How-To]

140 is always a crazy number for most of the internet lovers, especially Twitter users. Twitter users sometimes go crazy if they've a big thing to express to this world. But Twitter stops users from doing this at the moment they try it, Because Twitter allows only 140 Characters per Tweet. So should all Tweeters need to squeeze their message within 140 Characters?


Hard Tweeters don't need to be panic. Here are some solutions to by-pass 140 Barrier.

TwitLonger
Topsy’s TwitLonger.com is the site I use via the Twitter desktop client, Tweetie, when I need to get beyond 140 characters. When you go over the character limit, a pop-up message asks if you want to post your “too long” tweet to TwitLonger. You can also of course write a longer tweet directly on the TwitLonger site, signing in with your existing Twitter account.

The site points out that your Twitter privacy settings are not reflected in Twitlonger, but it does recommend that you not use its services for sending direct messages. There are several Twitter-related web and mobile applications that support TwitLonger, including TweetList, Twizzle (iPhone/iPod Touch), Twitepad (iPad), and Touiteur (Android).

JumboTweet
JumboTweet is an easy to use web client for longer Twitter messages. As with TwitLonger, you simply log into the site using your current Twitter credentials. You can write as much text as you like, and a link to your extended text will be included in your tweet.

ezTweets
When 140 characters is not enough, eztweets is also a web client for longer tweets, but it has an added feature of allowing you to post your tweets to your Facebook account as well as to Twitter. ezTweets will take your longer tweets and split them into two parts.

TinyPaste
Okay, say you want to post a longer tweet that includes a list of technical instructions, or you want to highlight a long quote from a webpage. You might consider using TinyPaste for this purpose. With TinyPaste, you write your text, and format it the way you want. After you click the Submit button, you will get a URL link to your post that you can paste in your tweet. So essentially, TinyPaste is like writing longer text in your email or blog.

You can also password protect your linked post for say sending a direct private message to your Twitter contact. And on top of that, you can even have your extended post deleted after a specified amount of time.
TinyPaste also provides a bookmarklet and Firefox extension for quickly copying and pasting highlighted text on a webpage.

XLTweet
XLTweet is similar to TinyPaste but with less options. You can write longer posts in HTML format. The service will tweet the first 120 characters in your Twitter timeline and add a bit.ly short URL to link to the rest of the post. Your XLTweets will be automatically marked as “favorites” so you can readily find them.

But it's always best to keep your Tweets less than 140 Characters. Make your tweet short and make it easy for your Followers.

Short and T(S)weet

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Google's Shailesh Rao quits, joins Twitter as vice-president for its international operations

Shailesh Rao, managing director (media & platforms) at Google's Asia-Pacific operations, has left the world's biggest Internet search company to set up Twitter's international business.

When contacted by ET on Friday, a Google India spokeswoman confirmed that Friday was Rao's last day. "We thank Shailesh for his fantastic contributions to Google and Google India, in particular, and wish him the best in his future endeavours," the spokeswoman added.

Rao, 41, will join Twitter as vice-president for its international operations. For Twitter, the micro-blogging site that competes with other social media networks such as Facebook, growing operations in the markets outside the US will help it garner revenues from advertisers in Asia and elsewhere.

Last month, Twitter said it had added a new feature to censor tweets, or 140-character posts, on a country-by-country basis, drawing criticism from some of its 100 million-odd global users.

Rao, a Wharton graduate, relocated to lead Google's India operations in March 2007 from the company's California headquarters, where he served as a director for the search business.

Rao has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, a BS from the Wharton School with a concentration in finance, and an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management.

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Twitter was out of action with New Year messages - Site crashes after 16,000 Tweets per second

Social networking site Twitter was out of action for over an hour in Britain after it was overloaded with New Year messages.

The site crashed around 3 p.m. Saturday. It coincided with midnight celebrations in Japan when revellers were sending a record 16,197 tweets per second, the Daily Mail reported Sunday.

The overload meant no one could post new messages or read existing ones. Instead, frustrated users were greeted with the error message: "Twitter is over capacity."

The site returned to working order but then stopped on several other occasions, prompting speculation that it was being hit by the arrival of New Year in different parts of the world.

The meltdown happened as the world welcomed in 2012, a year of historic importance for Britain, with the Olympics, the Paralympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee set to be defining moments.

Up to 250,000 people poured into Central London, some in Trafalgar Square and others watching the pyrotechnics centred on the London Eye, the Mail said.

In Tokyo, people released helium balloons in front of the Tokyo Tower at midnight with notes attached listing their hopes for 2012. Many wished for a better year, following the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, the newspaper added.

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Saudi Prince Invests $300 Million in Twitter

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment company said on Monday, they are investing a combined $300 million into Twitter, increasing the microblogging site's cash cushion as its user base expands.

Alwaleed's joint investment with his Kingdom Holding Co. follows months of negotiations and will give them a "strategic stake" in Twitter, according to the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based investment firm. It wasn't clear how much of Twitter the prince will control.

Alwaleed, a nephew of the Saudi king, ranks 26th on Forbes' list of the world's richest people. He has a history of investing in media and technology companies, and said the deal represents an interest "in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact."

Twitter allows users to send short messages of up to 140 characters. The 5-year-old site has been instrumental in connecting protesters and relaying on-the-ground developments during this year's Arab Spring uprisings.

Globally, the San Francisco-based company has more than 100 million active users who post an average of 250 million messages, or "tweets," a day.

"We believe that social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years," Ahmed Halawani, KHC's executive director of private equity and international investments, said in a statement. "Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend."

Twitter spokesman Matt Graves confirmed the investment but was unable to provide further details.

Alwaleed owns 95 percent KHC, which has a major stakes in Citigroup Inc., Apple Inc. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

His Twitter investment comes as Arab activists from Tunisia to Bahrain have flocked to Twitter to coordinate protests and voice their opposition to long-ruling autocratic regimes.

Arabic is now the fastest growing language on Twitter, according to a study released last month by French social media research firm Semiocast.

Although Arabic tweets account for just over 1 percent of all Twitter messages, their volume has jumped 22 times over the past year, Semiocast said.

"Twitter is growing exponentially, especially in the context of the Middle East," said Ismail Patel, who follows digital media in the region for the research firm Informa Telecoms & Media. "The Middle East is an important region for Twitter. And Twitter is becoming increasingly important for all Middle East residents ... because of the Arab Spring protests."

Alwaleed is launching a new Arabic news channel that will challenge established players such as Qatar's Al-Jazeera and Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya.

The channel, which will be called Alarab, is expected to begin operations next year and will feature reports from business news service Bloomberg LP. Alwaleed has said he hopes the new network will focus on the shifts taking place across the Arab world, with an emphasis on increased freedom of speech and of the press.

KHC also owns a sizable stake in a Saudi media company that produces the influential Arabic language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat and other publications.

Alwaleed's decision to buy into Twitter likely goes beyond his interest in media and technology.

Said Hirsh, a Mideast economist with Capital Economics in London, said rich Arab investors like Alwaleed have long targeted trophy assets and well established businesses.

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Airtel offers free Twitter access till March 1, 2012

Web Release from Airtel:

Now airtel customers can enjoy twitter for free on their airtel mobiles till 1st March 2012

This is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India which allows customers to enjoy free access to Twitter through mobile browsers by visiting http://mobile.twitter.com and enjoy posting Tweets, keeping up with what’s happening in the world, and finding and following friends, celebrities, news and more.

Whats more even without activating GPRS, customers can sign up for Twitter or subscribe to SMS updates of specific users (via shortcode 53000) on their mobile phones for free.

how to use

Go to http://mobile.twitter.com from your mobile browser and enjoy free browsing till the promo period ends. You can also SMS NOW to 53000 to receive the link on your mobile.

For more details on how to use twitter on sms pls visit http://support.twitter.com/groups/34-apps-sms-and-mobile#topic_153

This service has been welcomed my most of the Airtel users across the country. "Airtel's this new edge in Social networking access can drive other service providers to offer such free Social networking access" , our experts guess.

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Twitter Introduces SMS Options

We have used the SMS updates from Facebook. Now its Twitter's time to give this facility for us. You can get the updates about the retweets, You can subscriobe the tweets of a particular user, you can respond to that user and you can do a lots. Check out below:

For now, In India, four network users can avail this facility,

So, what next?? Happy Tweeting All the Time ! ;) :D

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