Social Media Observatory

Twitter has finally introduced two-factor authentication to more securely protect accounts, the company announced Wednesday. The move comes after a number of hacks of high-profile Twitter accounts, including The Onion, the Associated Press and E! Online Jim O’Leary from Twitter’s product security team announced the new feature via a blog post, saying it is in response to accounts “occasionally” being compromised by phishing schemes or password breaches on other sites…

Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has evolved from SMS-based status updates to one of the most popular social networks out there. The platform has more than 200 million active users, and odds are you’re one of them — but are you using it to

About 12 years ago, I happened to take my Palm Pilot (remember those?) to a friend’s house. A friend of a friend asked if she could borrow it. Sure, I said. She proceeded to download a game called Bubblet, then curled up on the couch with it for t

In July 2005, I created Mashable.com on a WordPress blog. In 2007, I created the @mashable Twitter account. In the beginning it was a feed of my personal thoughts and actions. Mainly, I was posting what I was having for lunch. But when I started

Question: What is your #1 advice for social media strategists and managers? Answer: Stop talking about social media Type “social media” into a Google search bar and you’ll find roughly about 4.7 billion results in .30 s

Yahoo’s board of directors has approved a $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr, it was reported earlier today. The initial reactions from many Tumblr users have ranged from skepticism to outright anger, as many fear the acquisition will change the c

At the beginning of this year, Facebook overtook Google Maps as the most-used mobile app in the U.S. The social network giant also recently introduced a controversial new mobile interface, Facebook Home. Earlier this week, Home hit 1 million downl

I received an email from my friend at CIO Journal just as I boarded a United flight from Mexico City to San Francisco. He was on deadline and the topic was too good to miss as I’ve spent more than a fair amount of time studying and r

In a move that shows how Yahoo values what industry organizations, outlets and people are saying on Twitter, the company announced it will be integrating tweets into the news stream on Yahoo.com. CEO Marissa Mayer delivered the news in a bl

You are your Facebook account. Public or private, its contents define you in a professional, commercial and social nature. Your photos are keepsakes, and personal messages can be confidential exchanges. Either way, it’s an identity you want to pro