NYPD’s Twitter campaign disaster spreads to LAPD

The NYPD’s comically disastrous attempt to create good will on Twitter turned into a coast-to-coast epic fail Wednesday.

Cop haters from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles all took to the popular social media site to bash their local police departments after reading about the online backlash New York’s Finest faced after the department naively invited people to post pictures of interactions with friendly cops on the Web.

“Lets help launch #myLAPD Thanks for the idea #nypd #myNYPD #LAPD,” wrote Gregory O’Bannon. “LAPD shot dead small 54-year-old homeless person Margaret Mitchell on 4th and La Brea. She was “armed” with a screwdriver,” tweeted Miracle Mile, using the hashtags #lapd and #mylapd.

“Just because #myLADP carries pepper-spray, doesn’t mean they USE pepper-spray…baton beatings are free, spray isn’t” tweeted Rudy Bucher in another shot at LA cops.

Oakland residents also weighed in using the hashtag #myOPD. “#myOPD planted evidence, routinely stopped and sexually assaulted women, and fired the whistleblower,” fumed a poster named elle.

MORE HERE VIA NYPost

Say Goodbye to # on Twitter?

Twitter's head of news, Vivian Schiller, momentarily sent Twitter into a self-reflective mini-frenzy when she revealed that the service might be eliminating some of its core features, namely @-replies and hashtags.

For now, the @-reply is the only way to connect a tweet with another account, and the hashtag is the main way to connect with a topic. Without the @-reply, the person you're trying to mention in the tweet would not get a notification. Although keywords can sufficiently connect topic-based tweets, the hashtag is the strongest and most effective tool for the collection of tweets around a given subject area.

What will Twitter look like in a year? Two years? A lot less like itself.

At least that’s the impression Vivian Schiller, head of news at Twitter, gave addressing the crowd two days ago at the Newspaper Association of America’s mediaXchange conference in Denver. During her talk, Schiller called at-replies and hashtags “arcane” and hinted that Twitter might soon move them into the background of the service.

Ben Smith @BuzzFeedBen

Twitter's @vivian calls hashtags & @s "arcane": "We are working on moving the scaffolding of twitter into the background" @cwarzelWhen asked about the comments, Twitter replied that Schiller was echoing a similar sentiment that the company’s CEO, Dick Costolo, addressed in a recent earnings call:

By bringing the content of Twitter forward and pushing the scaffolding of the language of Twitter to the background, we can increase high-quality interactions and make it more likely that new or casual users will find this service as indispensable as our existing core users do. And we took initial steps in that direction with the introduction of media forward timelines and in-line social actions in October, and we’re already starting to see early signs that those initiatives are working well.

Unlike Schiller’s, Costolo’s statement makes no specific mention of hashtags and at-replies, suggesting that Schiller may have accidentally hinted at specific targets for upgrade. While it’s not immediately clear how this disappearance would work, it’s possible that at-replies will be auto-replaced by formal Twitter names, like they are on Facebook.

It wouldn’t be the first time Twitter phased out one of its vestigial appendages. Twitter’s all but killed the original incarnation of the retweet or, as Twitter obsessives have now come to know it, the “manual retweet.” In its earlier days, the retweet was a user-generated feature; users had to physically add the “RT” shorthand to a tweet to share it with their followers. It was primitive and confusing to the uninitiated.

VIA BUZZFEED

Still Not A Doctor Jenny McCarthy Gets Crucified on Twitter

Somebody who gets that refusing vaccines because of 'toxins' and then shilling for e-cigs makes you a pathetic hypocrite #JennyAsks

Someone who think vaccines are safe, Botox is poisonous and who doesn't pick their nose and eat it on MTV #JennyAsks

Someone who puts the interests of the community ahead of preserving their own absurd, unshakable ignorance. #JennyAsks

A basic grasp of statistics @JennyMcCarthy: What is the most important personality trait you look for in a mate? #JennyAsks

My ideal partner understands that 'doing my own research!!1!' isn't cherry picking blurbs from blogs. #JennyAsks

My mate knows that anti-vax catastrophizing rhetoric& fearmongering hurts Autistic people like us IN ADDITION TO killing children #JennyAsks

Someone who vaccinates, b/c I'd want our kids to survive. @JennyMcCarthy: Most important trait you look for in mate? Reply w/ #JennyAsks

McCarthy waited until Monday to respond to the backlash, tweeting, "Thank you to all the haters who tweet my name. You make my Q SCORE higher and higher," the former Playboy model wrote. "It's because of you I continue to work. Thank you!"

The View co-host, whose son Evan was diagnosed with autism in May 2005, has often argued that vaccines are linked to autism in children. McCarthy has since clarified that she "and the autism community" are not anti-vaccine per se, but they are without question "anti-toxin and anti-schedule."

VIA E!News

Drugs, orgies and sex with teachers: The racy tell-all Twitter feed run by suburban Portland high school students

A salacious Twitter feed where Northwest high school students confess to lewd behavior is raising more than a few eyebrows, but the students behind it say parents are missing the point.

@ClarkFession is filled with tales of taking drugs and having sex at school and for money, illicit contact with teachers, large groups and even ranks Clark County (WA) schools on how debaucherous they are.

Students say it’s just harmless fun, but parents and school officials unable to stem the sex tide are concerned they don’t understand the implications of sharing their private lives online.

Submissions to the feed's admin are made through various channels including other social media sites, everything remains anonymous.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559116/Drugs-orgies-sex-teachers-The-racy-tell-Twitter-feed-run-Northwest-high-school-students.html#ixzz2tJz0Jbkt
 

The Night Misguided Justin Bieber Fans Turned To EL-P For Support

VIA PigeonsandPlanes.com: Yesterday, police raided Justin Bieber’s house after an incident last week in which the singer allegedly egged a neighbor’s house. According to TMZ, the LAPD served the 19-year-old with a search warrant for anything relating to the dubious egg-throwing, which frankly doesn’t make any fucking sense because besides the eggs that were thrown, what other kind of evidence is involved with egging someone’s house? Maybe like a plan of action scribbled down on a Taco Bell wrapper? I don’t know, at this point I’m exhausted by Bieber’s life but he keeps popping up, so here we are.

Anyways, during the raid, police found what they now believe is molly belonging to Justin’s close friend Lil Za and Za was consequently arrested yesterday morning for drug possession. This whole ordeal obviously sparked a lot of reaction from the Twitter community, but out of the sea of those making jokes about pretty much anything having to do with this, an unlikely voice emerged: El-P. The rapper Tweeted his disapproval for the need to use law enforcement for something as stupid as egging someone’s house; and while his point is understandable, many young Beliebers looking for a voice of reason took this mistakenly as the rapper defending Bieber. How they found El, no one knows but once they did they followed, retweeted, and praised. In droves. The result was hours of El-P hilariously dealing with Beliebers in a way only El-P could. So turn on Cancer 4 Cure and enjoy.

See the tweets HERE.

Shark Tweets

Scientists in Western Australia are using Twitter to warn surfers and swimmers when sharks are nearing shore.

At least 320 sharks, including Great Whites, have been equipped with transmitters that update a Twitter feed  with information about their movements up and down the coast.

When a tagged shark comes within about one kilometre of a beach it triggers an alert, which is converted into a message on the Surf Life Saving WA Twitter feed (@SLSWA).

The tweet contains details of the shark’s size, breed and approximate location.

Chris Peck, from SLSWA, told Sky News that the system is far quicker than traditional warnings on local radio and in newspapers.

He said: “You might not have got some of that information until the following day in which case the hazard has long gone and the information might not be relevant.

”Now it's instant information and really people don't have an excuse to say we're not getting the information, it's about whether you are searching for it and finding it."

According to the Australia Shark Attack File, there have been five shark attacks in Western Australia in the past year, including one fatality. Chris Boyd, 35, was killed by a Great White while surfing in November. 

However, environmental groups have not welcomed the scheme. Ross Weir, from the group Western Australians for Shark Conservation (WASC), said: ”This is a simple knee-jerk reaction, based on zero science.

“It's not going to have any positive benefit for beach goers and their safety and it’s certainly going to have a decimating effect on any great white sharks or other endangered shark species.”

The government in Western Australia has recently launched a controversial scheme which will see professional fishermen hunt and kill any large sharks that go near popular beaches, with one kilometre “kill zones” set up around the busiest stretches of shoreline.

Conservationists have said they will consider direct action to disrupt any culling of sharks.

Via The Independent

Celebrity Chef David Chang Wants to Use Kickstarter to Buy the Redskins From Daniel Snyder

Do you think that David Chang could do a better job running the Washington Redskins than current owner Daniel Snyder has done during his tenure with the team? Even if you have no idea who Chang is, you probably just answered "YES!"

Chang is a celebrity chef who has made appearances on Top Chef and Treme in the past, and he's interested in purchasing the Redskins for $6 billion. The only problem? He doesn't have $6 billion (surprisingly, celebrity chefs don't make that much!) so he needs your help. Here's his pitch:

Via Twitter Feed

I''m going to try and raise $6 billion on @kickstarter to buy @redskins from Dan Snyder. I'm serious...who's coming with me?

More here via Complex

R. Kelly’s ‘#AskRKelly’ Twitter Chat Goes Horribly Wrong

In support of his new ‘Black Panties’ album, R. Kelly kicked off a Twitter Q&A session to interact with his fans today. However, the conversation turned ugly within minutes of its inception.

“Getting ready to answer some of my favorite #AskRKelly questions!! Start tweeting!” the singer shared. Things didn’t go quite as planned as #AskRKelly unexpectedly graduated to a free-for-all for fans and critics.

Fans poked fun at the ‘Cookies’ crooner and his highly-publicized scandals with sex and underage women. “What it feel like to pee on somebody? …im asking for a friend. #AskRKelly,” asked one fan.

Overall, the consensus shows that giving people the freedom to ask Kellz questions went horribly wrong.

Check out some choice questions here.

Via theboombox.com

Google, Apple, and Microsoft Agree: NSA Spying Undermines Freedom

A total of eight prominent tech companies are urging President Obama and Congress to rein in the surveillance state.

In an open letter to President Obama and Congress, eight of the most prominent U.S. tech companies have demanded that strict new limits be put on government surveillance, citing revelations made earlier this summer, when stories based Edward Snowden's leaked documents began running in The Guardian. "The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual," they argue, "rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change."

They've staked out an extraordinary position. 

Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and AOL all have an interest in restoring public trust in their products and averting new regulatory challenges in countries disinclined to let a spying hegemon control the Internet. My colleague James Fallows has written eloquently about the damage the NSA's behavior could do to U.S. economic might as other countries react to it. The companies could've made a compelling case for reform on those grounds alone. 

More here via The Atlantic