Israel announces military action on Twitter, setting new precedent for the service’s ability to spread news
Update: The same Twitter account has just published a tweet that had the TNW staff back on its heels. Here’s the text: “Ahmed Jabari: Eliminated.” And, here’s the accompanying image:
As we noted in discussion, that image could be a cut-rate video game advertisement. Our prior notes on what felt like a somewhat lack of seriousness on behalf of Israel’s social media team now has extra strength.
–
Today the Israel Defense Forces’s official – and verified – Twitter account began to release military information concerning action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip:
The IDF has begun a widespread campaign on terror sites & operatives in the #Gaza Strip, chief among them #Hamas & Islamic Jihad targets.
The Twitter account was far, far from over, releasing the following tweets in chronological order:
The first target, hit minutes ago, was Ahmed Al-Jabari, head of the #Hamas military wing http://t.co/qD5osfwb
There are 2 main goals of this IDF operation: to protect Israeli civilians and to cripple the terrorist infrastructure in the #Gaza Strip.
Since the beginning of 2012, Palestinian terrorists in the #Gaza Strip have fired 768 rockets into #Israel.
And then results, promises and boasts started rolling in:
The IDF has seriously damaged Hamas’ long-range missile capabilities (40 km/25 mi range) & underground weapons storage facilities. [...] The IDF has embarked on Operation Pillar of Defense.
All options are on the table. If necessary, the IDF is ready to initiate a ground operation in Gaza.
Some of which felt vaugley childish in their tone, given how deadly serious the topic at hand is:
We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead.
The Twitter account continued:
Initial reports indicate that the Iron Dome has intercepted a number of rockets above a major Israeli city. #Gaza #PillarOfDefense
Breaking: Israeli Navy has struck terror sites in the #Gaza Strip. #PillarOfDefense
Why This Matters
Live-tweeting military action may feel slightly tawdry, but in this modern age, a press conference has a certain reach, as do tweets. Both, in unison, can spread a message perhaps farther than either on their own.
That said, according to Fast Company, “[the] Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip was announced today via Twitter in lieu of a formal press conference.” Twitter, in this case, is press room, wire service, and billboard for the country’s war.
Perhaps the country will pay to promote the initial declaration of violence, to ensure that it reaches as many individuals as possible.
As a final note, this is not the first announcement of military action on Twitter, exactly. Recall that during the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound, one Twitter user who happened to be nearby accidentally live-tweeted that entire affair, not knowing what the cause of the the noise was.
Welcome to the new world.
Top Image Credit: James Emery
View original post here: Israel announces military action on Twitter, setting new precedent for the service’s ability to spread news
Twitter changes the way it takes down copyright-infringing tweets, now ‘withholds’ instead of deleting
To better serve its users and help account owners understand what has happened to their tweets, Twitter has changed the way it serves copyright takedowns from rights-holders, now “withholding” tweets instead of deleting them.
GigaOm noticed the change, which was documented in a tweet (where else?) by a member of Twitter’s legal team, pointing to the company’s updated copyright policy page.
In that page, Twitter explains that “in an effort to be as transparent as possible regarding the removal or restriction of access to user-posted content,” it will mark tweets as withheld, providing feedback for users instead of simply deleting the tweet.
If a rights-holder requests the takedown of a tweet and Twitter enforces it, the offending tweet will now read:
This Tweet from [Twitter user] has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder. Learn more: https://t.co/LAk1oFhH
As GigaOm points out, one tweet may have already been taken down since the new policy came into effect. Luckily (or should we say unluckily), the offender is none other than F-Secure’s malware expert Mikko Hypponen.
While Hyponnen is well known for sharing security-related tweets, links and information, there’s no saying whether he posted a tweet that was then pulled, or he knew of the policy change and tweeted something to that effect.
If an image or video receives a copyright notice, Twitter serves this notice:
Either way, Twitter now provides more context when a tweet is subject to a copyright complaint. This not only allows a user’s followers to interact and discuss why it’s been withheld but it also ensures that tweets don’t just disappear and confuse people when they come upon a dead link.
Twitter needs to enforce such requests or it could be liable for legal action, this way it allows the company to be more transparent with its actions.
Image Credit: benny_lin/Flickr
The iPad Mini And The New 13″ Retina MacBook Pro Strut Their Stuff In Our Hands On Video
I already shared my first impressions of a lot of Apple’s newly announced products today, but we’ve also got video from the time we spent with the iPad mini and the Retina MacBook Pro. Watching these things in action provides an entirely different perspective compared to reading about them or looking at static pictures, and seeing the iPad mini do its thing really does a better job of conveying the value of the device, so check out the video above.
Continue reading here: The iPad Mini And The New 13″ Retina MacBook Pro Strut Their Stuff In Our Hands On Video
Five steps to optimize your social media campaign in real-time
Optimization is critical to success, yet when it comes to social media, brands are often several steps behind the action. When a campaign ends, marketers set out to assess whether it was successful or not. The insight is then used to improve the next campaign, but what about optimizing a campaign as it happens…in real-time?
Running a campaign is like playing for a sports team. Waiting until the end of a campaign to perform analysis is like skipping a game and then checking the highlight reel afterwards. As a team member, you need to be on the field influencing the final score. 
Here are five steps to leverage real-time optimization in your next social media campaign:
1. Determine which parts of the campaign are “optimizable”
When you boil it down, social marketing optimization is about improving the performance of content, links, calls to action, channel choices, etc. Your first step is identifying which parts of your campaign can be optimized. In short, you’re looking for which elements can be changed and what will have an impact on the ultimate goal(s) of your campaign.
Optimizable elements include:
- The message or layout of your landing page
- Call to action statements
- Your choice of target audience
- Your choice of social network
2. Implement the ability to measure in real-time
You can’t control what you don’t measure. Metrics tell you what is and isn’t working. To optimize a campaign in real-time, you need to create the proper framework for measuring your campaign in real-time.
Of course, there are a lot of numbers generated in a social marketing campaign, yet only a fraction will be useful. You should focus on those specific metrics that are directly tied to the overall goals of your campaign – whether that’s increasing sales, generating leads or getting feedback. You may choose to look at:
- Audience size and engagement. For example, are the number of Facebook fans growing? Are people engaging with your content?
- Clicks, conversions and sales. For example, how many Twitter followers downloaded a whitepaper?
- Echo and reach. For example, how many retweets and mentions per tweet?
3. Set some baselines
Before implementing a new social media campaign, it’s important to establish a baseline of where you stand right now. How else can you gauge the impact of your activities? Break down your baseline measurement into whatever metrics reflect the goals of your campaign. If you’re looking to increase sales leads, you’ll want to know the current rate of traffic to your website/landing page, as well as which social media channels are sending you the traffic. If you’re looking to build exposure with a new whitepaper, you’ll want to know the current rate for whitepaper downloads on your website.
4. Watch and react to campaign performance in real-time
Once you launch a campaign, it’s time to start paying attention to your important metrics in real-time. This lets you respond to situations on the fly. If something is doing well, you can stay the course. On the other hand, if something isn’t working, you’re quickly aware of it and can adjust your approach. This might involve posting at different times, adjusting the message, or adding a new visual.
- Use unique links for each social network so you can see the number of clicks and conversions generated from each one. For example, are clicks via Twitter coming in consistently and generating leads? If so, keep things as is because it’s working. However, you may need to try new messaging for your LinkedIn or Facebook audience.
- Watch your conversions. For example, if there’s lots of traffic coming from your Facebook awareness campaign but few conversions, it’s time to spruce up the landing page.
- Test various landing pages and messaging. You may want to consider doing A/B testing to determine the best combination to drive conversions (or whatever your goal may be).
5. Look at the entire campaign to determine results
Many brands track basic metrics such as the number of social actions (i.e. likes, retweets) taken on campaign posts. But to truly assess the impact of a social campaign on your key goals, you have to take a broader look. This means evaluating your campaign from initial publishing all the way to conversions and know how well your message is shared throughout all of social media (echo).
In summary, your real-time optimization efforts will let you improve the performance of a single campaign as it happens. However, your real-time analysis will also yield more actionable data for the long run. As a result, when it’s time to run your next campaign, you’ll be miles ahead of where you’re used to starting.
Image Credit: Soon Koon
Visit link: Five steps to optimize your social media campaign in real-time
The Google Calendar app finally comes to all Android 4.0.3+ devices, with event snoozing, more
Today in a blog post Google announced that its Calendar application for Android is now available in the Google Play store. This opens its use up to a much wider swath of Android devices; the application was previously curtailed to use on certain handsets, including the Nexus line.
Provided that your phone is running Ice Cream Sandwich – Android version 4.0.3 – or newer, you are set to go. The app can be found here.
As you might expect, the application is the mobile component of Google’s popular Calendar tool that is part of its online suite of productivity tools. This update to the product brings the ability to ‘snooze’ events, send short, “predefined” messages while on the go, and accept pinch/zoom input.
Here’s a shot of the application in action:
Bringing the Calendar application to all Android devices may seem like a simple choice, but by doing so Google does lessen the edge that Nexus devices previously held; such deals that keep select software on certain hardware and not others in a family of mobile devices is not unique to Android – Nokia’s Lumia handsets are an example of the practice.
Go get it, Android fans. Top Image Credit: danielmoyle
See the article here: The Google Calendar app finally comes to all Android 4.0.3+ devices, with event snoozing, more