Twitter updated their mobile apps for Android and iOS with a few new stuff. The layout got a complete makeover, but the most notable update has to be letting users share photos via direct messages.

Other features include adding users to favourites so you can get push notifications anytime they tweet. This could be done by turning notifications on from certain users, but they just made it a more prominent feature.

I’m not a fan of the abrupt design overhaul, it looks nice but it’s gonna take a lot of getting used to because they literally moved everything around. Everything includes composing a tweet: That’s at the bottom of the screen now.

How do you feel about the change? Also, please be good in your DMs

Facebook says it aims to make video creation and sharing as easy as possible. With this new feature, the general User Experience of the app remains mostly the same in the update with the main difference being the addition of a video camera button which allows users capture up to 15 seconds of video which the user could them apply some editing to and post to their Instagram feed.

This new feature is very similar to the Twitter Vine app. This fact, in conjunction with the recent introduction of hashtags to the Facebook site will inevitably lead to questions about whether Facebook is starting to copy  features from Twitter. Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s founder would have us believe otherwise, claiming that the video feature was in the original plans for Instagram and has been in the works since the app’s inception.

Some of the highlights of this new video-sharing feature include:

• Record and share videos 3 – 15 seconds in length
• Ability to add filters to recorded video (in true Instagram fashion)
• Ability to delete segments of the recorded video
• Ability to select video thumbnail

What do you think of this new feature? Are you going to use it? Does instagram really need video? Is Facebook becoming too much like twitter? Please drop a comment anf let us know.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

The brains behind Twitter and Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey was interviewed by 60-Minutes recently and gave us an insight into his background and what brought about the idea to what is now one of the biggest social networks to date.

Dorsey, the founder of two of the world’s hottest tech companies (Twitter and Square), goes back to his roots in St. Louis to talk about how he got interested in micro-communications. He was speech impeded as a child and this kept him at home a lot, where he would play on a computer and listen to the police scanner. He found himself fascinated by the short bursts of talking used by law enforcement and emergency personnel, which was the inspiration for the 140 character limit on Twitter. Speaking in the interview, he said he was fascinated by how they’re always talking in short and brief phrases about where they’re going, what they’re doing and where they currently are, and anyone who has the scanner could listen in.

Watch the full documentary below:

A source known to be quite accurate gave us a glimpse of what Samsung has in-store for us on March 14th. Pictures posted from @evleaks Twitter account show what might be specs for the new Samsung Galaxy S IV, along with a rendering of the image of the phone which could potentially be the phone’s form factor. The specs detail a Super AMOLED Full HD screen of unknown size, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage options with 2GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and Android 4.2 OS. Another image showed the same mockup lined with the previous Galaxy phones, also showing that it is bigger than the S III, which might confirm the rumours of a 5-inch screen.

Following the Twitter leak, another site, expansys.com detailed the specs of this new phone including a rumoured “eye scrolling feature” which would make allow users to scroll through pages with their eyes.

All this sounds good, but we still have to wait till March 14th to see if this is really what Samsung has in the pipes. Follow us on Twitter @Technesstivity for live updates from the Galaxy S IV unveil

Source: engadget

My grouse with Twitter is largely borne out of what I interpret as the desire to show off and impress a bunch of people whom you have no personal relationship with, and probably don’t even care about as the ‘impressor’. People who know you in real life can always tell if a social media persona is contrived or the real deal; you surely can’t be trying to impress or change their opinion. My friend, Rita, who’s not on Twitter but would occasionally check out her boyfriend’s Twitter stream, told me of the shock she felt one day when she saw him tweet something along the lines of “Almost missed my flight” when he was in fact on a bus on his way to see her. I used to think such behaviour had been left behind in high school, but alas, I was wrong. Another incident that made me shake my head was a comment I received on my blog less than two years ago on a post titled ‘Social Media: The Bad’. It was as follows, “I hate Twitter because my boyfriend won’t talk to me. All he does is tweet. If we are out together and I want to know what he’s thinking, I just check his latest tweets”. May the good Lord deliver us from partners who spend all their time on Twitter.

Then we have the modern phenomenon derisively known as Twitter artistes. You know, those ‘music makers’ who spam you with links and amass a following because they have bad friends who won’t tell them to get day jobs. The internet following then gives them the confidence to make some of the most cringe worthy remarks you can imagine whilst seeking conflict with their more established colleagues in the belief that any form of attention is better than none. The sad thing is their real life persona does nothing to match the braggadocio they display in the virtual world. Then again, I guess that’s the point of an avenue like Twitter:

It’s an alternative world where people seek to reinvent themselves by creating a facade that they want to impress upon the world.

The greatest flaw with Twitter is the sense of anonymity it creates. People create accounts just to use vitriolic language upon people they’re not particularly keen on — most times celebrities. I have lost count of the number of footballers who have deactivated their accounts because of racist tweets or abuse from making errors in games. If you don’t like someone, write it in your diary and keep moving. No need to make their life a hellish experience.

People are constantly flouting laws in the bid to gain popularity and a couple of retweets. Policing social media is currently one of the biggest headaches facing the human race.There’s been the recent decision by the Attorney General in England to instigate contempt of court proceedings against Twitter users who knowingly posted pictures of child killer, Jon Venables, who had returned to civilization in 2001 under the identity protection scheme to ensure people with negative pasts are allowed to reintegrate into society. There’s also the case of Lord McAlpine, who was incorrectly linked by Twitter users to allegations of child abuse in a care home documented on a television programme. A defamation suit has been filed against Sally Bercow (One of the Twitter users) as a result of her having 57,000 followers, thus giving her a large audience whilst those with less than 500 followers have been let off provided they make a payment of £25 to the charity, Children in Need. Perhaps, that would make people more cautious. And if it doesn’t, there’s always the impractical solution of a pop up test that measures one’s IQ in combination with an internet credit check that takes note of a user’s internet history and background (checking for patterns between the person’s name and IP address with abusive comments/bad language) before they’re allowed to join social media.

Get more from Mayowa Idowu here, or at his personal blog.

Twitter in its blog post announced that it will let iOS and Android users add filters to pictures before tweeting them. The update will give users eight filters to choose from, the ability to crop images, and a feature that make your photos pop with balanced light and colors by tapping the wand button in the app.

Funny how this announcement comes just a few days after we told you that Instagram stopped their photos from showing up on Twitter. How do you think this would play with Instagram users and photo-sharing on Twitter?

The video below highlights all the features and how they are used:

For the second time in a week, photo sharing service Instagram, has cut off Twitter’s access to its photo cards. Last week, Instagram disabled the ability to view its photos on Twitter, and Twitter did a quick workaround to fix it.

Users are reporting seeing blank spaces when they click “view photo” for an Instagram photo on Twitter, or on any of its third party apps.

This is definitely a move to get more people to view Instagram’s recently launched web profiles but it seems to be shooting itself in the foot like Twitter is doing with restrictions to the Twitter API for developers.

Facebook, which purchased Instagram, has told The Verge that the change was expected and is part of its decision to end Twitter cards.

It’s very important to note that Instagram’s viral adoption is largely due to its Twitter support like founder, Kevin System has said a number of times.

What do you think about this move? Do you want your Instagram photos back on Twitter?

To view traffic reports on a certain road, you simply click on the road and a box showing the most recent updates from that road pops up. The map currently has legends for heavy traffic, medium traffic and low traffic. Other legends soon to be included are Bad Roads/Pot Holes, Construction Work, Accident and Criminal Activity.

The LGT website also contains business listings, business statistics and a page for movie listings at the cinema.

LGT was developed by HexGear – an information technology company founded in 2002. The company says Lagos traffic can be predicted to a level of accuracy depending on what parameters are inputed.

What do you think? Seems like Lagos’ traffic is finally spurring development.

If you missed the entire event that was Mobile Web West Africa and you also missed the hashtag #mwwa2012, here are the top 10 live tweets from the event.

‘Local content, simplicity and accessibility are the key to success.’ Read @samokocha‘s report from #MWWA2012: vc4afri.ca/vkn5y

— Bertil van Vugt (@brutuz) April 30, 2012

“…when you showcase them, people do more …” by@otekbits #ictAfrica #mwwa2012 — jean-patrick ehouman (@jpehouman) April 26, 2012

“If RIM was a political party, it will beat PDP” – Okoye #MWWA2012 — TechLoy.com (@techloy) April 26, 2012

Branding is not a logo…branding is creating a product that resonates & creates emotional connections w/ your audience – Ayo Alli #MWWA2012 — Bankole Oluwafemi (@MrBankole) April 26, 2012

If content is king, conversation is crown #MWWA2012 — Seye Kuyinu (@seye) April 25, 2012

Some great pre-#MWWA2012 statistics: 54% of all website hits in Nigeria are from mobile bit.ly/wPt4NU — Mobile Web in Africa (@mwebafrica) April 24, 2012

@emekaokuye gr8 presentation! Latest stats for #2go in Nigeria: 11M users, 2.5M daily active users, growing 50,000 a day! #mwwa2012

— Marc Herson (@marcherson) April 26, 2012

Nigeria’s increasingly popular online conversation around politics will bring more people to the mobile web. There’s your market! #MWWA2012

— ‘Gbenga Sesan (@gbengasesan) April 26, 2012

150% -> RT @techloy RIM doesn’t love Nigeria. If they did, they’d have opened an office last year! Sommers shldnt patronize us. #MWWA2012

— Emeka Azuka Okoye (@EmekaOkoye) April 25, 2012

Is there Nigerian blog where I can read the analysis of the football match after the game? #MWWA2012

— Jesse Oguntimehin (@JesseOguns) April 25, 2012

Any other tweets you’ll like to include in this list? Please leave us a comment

UPDATE: MTN has issued a statement on its official Twitter page acknowledging the problem and assuring customers that they intend to refund whatever amount of money deducted.

MTN Subcribers went on a Twitter rampage earlier today to signal their disgust over the most recent MTN goof, which saw subscribers lose all their airtime. Sanusi Ismaila, an MTN employee on Twitter took time to explain the situation that led to the loss of airtime. In his words;

There was a core network failure that affected data generally yesterday, and while they were sorting that, billings (for data) went haywire, hence the deductions during the period when data was fluctuating. The core network failure has been resolved and the billing issue sorted.

He assured everyone that the standard procedure of Nigeria’s largest carrier is refunds/compensation which would come into effect soon. Even MTN employees were not shielded by the core network failure.

@supersanusi: And for those asking…I lost credit too…enough for a few BB activations actually…lol..so we were all feel the pinch.

In the meantime, Nigerians with their great sense of humor have developed rather interesting conspiracy theories the most prevalent being; MTN needed the funds to pay their newest Face for their Pulse campaign, Davido.  In addition to the theories, Nigerians took the liberty of giving the company new names; MTN HARAM and #OccupyMTN amongst other.

Some have signaled their intent to begin a class action lawsuit against the company. Others were just angry at the situation:

We will keep you updated as more details unfold. Were you affected? Leave us a comment below