Twitter

Last year when Michael Jackson died, average people all over the world knew it within minutes, thanks in part to advances in social media technology such as Facebook and Twitter that make information sharing instantaneous. But maybe these new media have a role in getting out actually important, yet under-reported stories. That may be the case with the horror of violent forced abortions in China…

Voting is encouraged, unless you don’t agree with me – then you can go pound sand. That’s essentially the message ABC TV producer Danny Zuker tweeted on October 26. “Next Tues. please vote,” the “Modern Family” writer tweeted. “Unless you're a racist/homophobic/evolution denier. U should probably just go to the dentist.” Zuker, whose Twitter profile states he is a “TV writer/producer” who is…

[Update, Wednesday, 11:15 pm Eastern: The Tweet by O'Brien apparently "doesn't exist" any more. A screen cap of the Tweet in question can be seen after the jump.] Former CNN anchor Miles O'Brien (no relation to current CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien) slammed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell as a "Tea Party nutbag" in a Tweet on Wednesday evening. O'Brien continued that he…

Want a tutorial in the hypocrisy, vitriol and deep unhappiness of the American left? You don't need to subject yourself to MSNBC, or wade through the muck of Daily Kos. Actor John Cusack's Twitter feed is a clearing house for liberal memes and nasty rhetoric. Here's his peaceful entry from Aug. 29 [All spelling from original Tweets, but Cusack admits: "I type with I phone fast and loose with no…

Lefty blogs have been having a field day with a tweet that showed up on Glenn Beck's "favorites" list - a list of tweets bookmarked, in a sense, by the user - directing followers to a white supremacist message board.Keith Olbermann picked up on the line of attack last night, crediting a website called "Stop Beck," which he says noticed the tweet. Stop Beck came as close to stating that Beck was…

Obviously uncomfortable without someone stroking his over-sized ego, Keith Olbermann has been spending his much-needed vacation chatting with his fans on the social networking website Twitter.Since joining in April, MSNBC's hottest property has actually sent 3,000 messages to his followers.That's over 800 "tweets" per month.But this has greatly increased during his vacation. As Steve Krakauer…

Tucker Carlson is now the proud owner of a slightly used Keith Olbermann.With a large-print headline announcing "We own you" and a picture of ol' Keith looking bemused whilst he adjusts he glasses, The Daily Caller promoted their newest acquisition: http://keitholbermann.com/. It's just the latest shot across the bow in the escalating feud between Olbermann and Carlson, which will one day be…

Reporting on CNN's firing of Octavia Nasr, AP's David Bauder buried the lede in his 7-paragraph July 8 story. Here's Bauder's fourth paragraph wherein he described the Lebanese cleric that Nasr had praised as "[o]ne of Hezbollah's giants [she] respects a lot" (emphasis mine):Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah died Sunday after a long illness. He was staunchly anti-American and…

The Twitter "Fail Whale": An irritating part of anyone's day that regularly uses social networking in their day-to-day activities. But could this endanger the viability of Twitter as long-term business? A couple of analysts say think so. Both CNET.com senior editor Natali Del Conte and Herb Greenburg of CNBC Business News suggested Twitter's infrastructure problems could pose issues for Twitter'…

When the vitriol is too much for Keith Olbermann, something is seriously wrong.The MSNBC prime time anchor parted ways with the far-left Web site Daily Kos on Wednesday, citing the site's apparent unflinching, see-no-evil attitude towards President Obama, and the omnipresence of wild leftist conspiracy theories there."You want Cheerleaders? Hire the Buffalo Jills," Olbermann wrote. "You want…

Do you think politicians, government officials and agencies should have more tools at their disposal to spread their message to the public?The social networking Web site Twitter does.A new full-time position the organization is looking to fill is called Government Liaison.Here's the job description (h/t Adam Baldwin):

Perhaps you could call it #footinmouthfriday for Devin Gordon.The former Newsweek editor snarked on GQ.com's The Wire blog earlier this afternoon about Missouri Republican Roy Blunt's "follow Friday" (#ff) tweet urging his Twitter followers to check out and follow Best Buddies International and the Special Olympics.In a post entitled, "Really? You're Using #FollowFriday To Score Cheap Political…

Newsweek's Andrew Romano isn't really anti-Michelle Bachmann, he argues that he just sounds like one on Twitter. In a May 17 "Web Exclusive," entitled "Tweet the Press," the Newsweek staffer explained to readers how an editor assigned him to write a "Twitter profile" of the Minnesota Republican:My editor had just stepped into my office to discuss a new assignment. The NEWSWEEK brass is…