In contrast to a ban on US Marines from using Twitter and Facebook on the military network, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has told troops they’re free to use social media tools and should apply “common sense” when deciding what to share online.

What’s more, the MOD has said it will sponsor soldiers who want to use blogs and Twitter to share stories of military life with the outside world.

The unclassified memo is available online, and reads, in part:

1. Service and MOD civilian personnel are encouraged to talk about what they do, but within certain limits to protect security, reputation and privacy. An increasingly important channel for this engagement, and to keep in touch with family and friends is social media (such as social networking sites, blogs and other internet self-publishing). Personnel may make full use of these but must:

Follow the same high standards of conduct and behaviour online as would be expected elsewhere;
Always maintain personal, information and operational security and be careful about the information they share online;
Get authorisation from their chain of command when appropriate (see para 2 below);

2. Service and MOD civilian personnel do not need to seek clearance when talking online about factual, unclassified, uncontroversial non-operational matters, but should seek authorisation from their chain of command before publishing any wider information relating to their work which:

Relates to operations or deployments;
Offers opinions on wider Defence and Armed Forces activity, or on third parties without their permission; or
Attempts to speak, or could be interpreted as speaking, on behalf of your Service or the MOD; or,
Relates to controversial, sensitive or political matters.

Online Presences “Encouraged”

In fact, the wording of the document is wildly opposite to the US Marines’ order issued this week, which essentially ruled out the use of all social media tools on the DOD network. The MOD memo instead focuses on the need to “harness new and emerging technologies, new unofficial online channels, and new unofficial online content in order to communicate and disseminate defence and Service messages and build defence and Service reputation”.

It’s a policy that’s likely to earn praise from bloggers, and could foster a positive brand image for the British military. What’s more, starting online conversations about military life might also help with recruitment to the armed forces.

The MOD maintains an official Twitter account and their Armed Forces Day Facebook page has accrued over 178,000 fans. For the icing on the cake, the MOD even Tweeted about their new guidelines with the hashtag #whentwitterwasdown:

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Twitter has started linking hashtags in tweets to Twitter searches. A few other Twitterers have started to notice as well:

The move makes sense, considering that the hashtag phenomenon has reach tremendous popularity. They often appear in the trending topics.

The move also illustrates a greater emphasis being placed on Twitter Search, which only this year has become a focus of the company. It wasn’t that long ago that it was added to the Twitter home page, and it is already sparking big interest in real-time search throughout the entire search industry.

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There were unknown lifeforms, #moonfruit, Firefox 3.5, and the sale of The Pirate Bay making social media news this week. From the shocking $7.8 million sale of the web’s pirating hub to the release of Firefox 3.5 and its killer features, social media events kept rolling in.

There were also some insightful and useful resources that got people’s attention this week. If you’re interested in gorgeous Twitter visualizations or how to get retweeted on Twitter, social media provided the answer. Here are this week’s top 11 social media stories:

1. 6 Gorgeous Twitter Visualizations – Stan Schroeder takes a close look at six of the most beautiful Twitter visualization apps around.

2. Sneak Peek: What’s On Tap for Firefox in 2010 – While Firefox 3.5 may have come out this week, Mozilla’s already hard at work on version 3.6. Josh Catone explores what’s coming for the popular browser.

3. The Pirate Bay Sold For $7.8 Million – Global Gaming Factory X AB shocked the technology world this week when it announced its acquisition of The Pirate Bay. Why did they sell? And what’s next for the controversial peer-to-peer website?

4. Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer: A Monstrous YouTube Hit – It’s the breakout YouTube hit of the week, and nobody’s quite sure what it is. What is this thing that has piqued the web’s curiosity?

5. Twitter Promotion Done Right: #moonfruit – There’s a new hashtag-based marketing campaign making buzz on Twitter. Learn how they got right what #squarespace got wrong.

6. HOW TO: Get Retweeted on Twitter – Pete Cashmore explores some interesting data on retweets, and how that can apply to getting retweeted more often.

7. Top 5 Killer Features in Firefox 3.5 – Firefox 3.5 is a huge upgrade over its predecessor. Find out what sets this new version apart as a browser.

8. Facebook Page Frenzy Due Today: URLs Available to All – While Facebook opened up vanity URLs for profiles earlier this month, it left smaller Facebook fan pages to wait until this week to claim their usernames. Pete Cashmore explains the details.

9. Twitter Increases API Limit – Twitter has upped the API call limit by 50% this week, making your favorite Twitter apps a lot more useful. Learn why this is important.

10. 10 Ways to Find People on Twitter – Josh Catone discusses 10 different ways to find new friends and people on Twitter.

11. Michael Jackson Died in 2007, Says Google – With the world turning to Google and the web for information on Michael Jackson, some information was a bit…off.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, AndrewJohnson

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Now when you click the Following and Followers links from your Twitter account you’ll notice some major changes. Twitter has upgraded some of the design of the pages and added multiple new features.

When you click on Following you’ll notice a new pull-down menu which includes several options which include: @ message, unfollow them or send them a direct message. Below is an example of the new Following page in the new expanded view…

Sidenote: You may also be interested to know that our own Twellow service offers some great features for following other Twitterers of interest. In fact, there are features that frankly are lacking from the new Twitter interface, like the ability to search through your friends and followers. This can be especially convenient when you want to send a specific friend or follower a direct message or a mention. It comes in handy when you can’t remember somebody’s handle.

In addition those new features, When you click on Followers, Twitter now shows you a check mark beside the people who you are reciprocally following.  Like with the page I mentioned above you can @ message, direct message, follow (if your not doing so already) and the option to block. Below is an example of the new Followers page with the list view…

It should be noted that these features aren’t just available on your profile, but on any profile you visit.

Don’t worry, if your not a fan of the new expanded view (based on the comments below, most of you don’t like it) you can always choose the list view which is very similar to the former layout.

Below is a snippet from the official Twitter blog about the upgrade…

“Instead of a basic list, there are now actions you can perform that provide a better overall experience. For example, you can turn on SMS, unfollow, mention, block, direct message, and more.”

With these new changes and updates was there any real value added to the pages? I’ve talked to a few people and most feel the changes don’t really bring anything better to the table. Some have even said they’ll start using 3rd party apps to manage follows/unfollows.

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A few months ago, we reviewed a unique reminder app: Task.fm. In our assessment, we noted its Twitter-like approach to reminders and its ability to decipher human language – you can tell it Task.fm “I need to call mom at noon tomorrow” and expect a reminder the next day. We did note though that you couldn’t set reminders via email, SMS, or Twitter, which decreased its utility.

Since then, Task.fm has been busy adding new features to its app, culminating in the release of Task.fm 1.0 earlier today. Now not only is the interface much more elegant, but you can set and receive reminders via Twitter, SMS, and email.

The big feature in this release is Twitter integration. You can direct message @taskfm with your task and you can then set the reminder. This is on top of the recent additions of setting reminders via SMS and email.

In addition to Twitter integration, Task.fm sports a sleeker, curved design (look at their previous blocky design to see the difference), offers new pro accounts that replace the old credits system, and adds more natural language support. Task.fm 1.0 also improves its To-Do list functionality.

Three months ago, Task.fm was unique for its language parsing ability, but didn’t have the tools necessary to be truly useful. Today, the story is different – with the ability to set and receive reminders nearly everywhere, it can compete with the likes of RememberTheMilk, although there’s still plenty it can do.

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There has been more than one story in the news recently about Twitter accounts being hijacked. The most recent examples of note include the accounts of Britney Spears and famed blogger/entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki. These issues have highlighted some potential dangers of using the service, or really social networks in general. Have you encountered security issues with Twitter or other social networks? Share with WebProNews readers.

Amit Klein, CTO of Trusteer, a security firm, who counts the nation’s largest direct bank, ING Direct, among its customers, feels that Twitter account hijacking is an issue that more people need to be aware of. WebProNews asked Klein a few questions about it, and the following is the resulting Q&A session.

WebProNews: Please talk a little bit about what is happening when Twitter (and other social network) accounts are hijacked.

Amit Klein: Typically, criminals hijack Twitter accounts in order to spread malware. That is, they abuse the hijacked accounts to post messages to all the “followers”, with a link to a site that serves malware. In the Guy Kawasaki incident, for example (not a classic account hijacking, but still a malware spreading campaign), of the 139,000 followers, it is estimated that hundreds got infected. Earlier this year, accounts of 33 celebrities (among them Barack Obama – 1.6 million followers, and Britney Spears – 2.1 million followers) were hijacked.

WPN: How big of a problem is hijacking of Twitter (or other social network) accounts?

AK: This is quite bad, since a twitter account enables one to send malware links and plain spam to all followers. Of course – the more followers, the more widespread the attack is.

WPN: How common is it?

AK: Over the last 10 days, we’ve seen two high profile incidents, in which an account was abused to serve spam and malware. One is the Guy Kawasaki incident, and another is Britney Spears.

WPN: Has it been limited to “high profile” accounts, or is it becoming common for regular users as well?

AK: Obviously the media covers only the high profile attacks (celebrities, politicians, etc.). We believe that attacks against more average accounts are also taking place – quite possibly via mass production utilities.

WPN: What are the dangers that come with it?

AK: The most obvious danger is that a hijacked account can be used to serve malware and spam automatically to all a user’s followers. An account can be hijacked a long time before it is abused. Attackers usually wait for the right opportunity to hit as many users as possible.

While twitter is currently used to spread malware, it’s a perfect platform to commit fraud as well. Followers trust the messages that come from the person they follow, while in reality the message could be spam trying to convince followers to fall to a scam. A very simple example would be a request to donate a small amount of money to charity (for example to support the situation in Iran). The link would go to a fraudulent website that records credit card numbers. A high profile account that sends such a message could result in hundreds of thousands of compromised credit cards.

Another example is false rumors about companies and stock, which could result in pump and dump attacks.

WPN: What can users do to protect their accounts?

AK: To secure their Twitter presence, users needs to take several actions:

1. Protect their twitter credentials – users need to be vigilant and keep on the look out for Twitter phishing attacks, and pharming (DNS poisoning) attacks. Users can install client side security tools that ensure they are only providing their Twitter credentials to the genuine twitter website. In doing so, they will protect their credentials against keyloggers or malicious browser plug-ins (”man in the browser” attacks).

2. Control and protect their twitter information. As tempting and convenient as it may be, using 3rd party applications and services that enhance Twitter may increase the exposure of users to abuse. Every website which is allowed to automatically post to a user’s Twitter account adds attack surface that criminals may exploit.

WPN: Please feel free to discuss anything else related to the subject that you feel people should know.

AK: Somewhat akin to phishing, is a practice called “twitter-squatting”, wherein names of people/organizations are registered by fraudsters (or sometimes pranksters). It makes a lot of sense to monitor for such registrations, or better yet, to register brand names and individual names as early as possible to thwart such attacks.

Another threat associated with Twitter is abusing “Trending Topics” to serve malware. The attack involves sending many tweets (with malicious links) with some special keyword in them, so that this keyword will show up as a trend in the “Trending Topics” list at twitter.com. A user that views a sample tweet for this keyword and clicks on the malicious link will be served malware.

Both examples show how well established web attacks carry over into the twittersphere. Cyber squatting is a well-known practice on the web, which is now occurring in Twitter. Likewise, search engine poisoning is a common practice on the web, and now in Twitter also.

Security-wise, Twitter should be treated both as an individual website with its own potential security issues, and as a microcosm into which many existing web attacks can be mapped. This makes securing Twitter harder than protecting typical websites.

Wrapping up

WebProNews would like to thank Amit for sharing the above insight into Twitter security issues. Has your Twitter account ever been hijacked? Have you been a victim of Twitter abuse of any kind? Tell us about it.

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Last month, there was a lot of hubbub about Twitter’s growth flat lining. Matthew Daines, the lead developer of our own Twitter app, Twellow, showed me a graph that he put together from the user IDs he found in the Twitter API, based on when they registered with Twitter.

What Matthew found was that there was a significantly larger number of new registrations in April – the month Oprah joined, which caused a well-publicized surge in new Twitter users. So naturally, the next month didn’t see as many new users flocking to Twitter, but it was still i decent increase from the month before Oprah joined.

Daines has now shared a new graph with me, which seems to suggest Twitter is still growing just fine. June shows that new registrations are right at what they were in April, when Oprah joined, which means that there are quite a few new people.

We should be able to get a really good idea of Twitter’s growth when we can take a look at July’s numbers in a month. At that point, we can see which direction the trend goes. I think we’re going to see growth though. Take a look at this other graph Daines shared with me, which shows the number of tweets. It looks like there is a lot more tweeting going on.

“Looks like the total tweets chart shows that the claim last month that Twitter traffic had come to a stop was not quite accurate,” says Daines. “The total tweet numbers are not exact, but should be within a few hundred thousand.”

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New Plugins

AVH Themed By Browser

The AVH Themed By Browser plugin gives you the ability to set a correlation between browser and theme. The theme of your blog can change dynamically based on the browser the visitor is using.

Follow My Links

Follow My Links is a very simple plugin that prevents WordPress from automaticaly adding a “rel=nofollow” attribute to links in the post authors URL and comments.

YOURLS: WordPress to Twitter

This plugin is the bridge between YOURLS, Twitter and your blog: when you publish a post or a page, it will use your own YOURLS install, either hosted on the same webserver, or another server, to create a short URL for your post and send it to your Twitter account.

Sliding Panel

It is a panel that can be opened and closed with a click of a mouse that will allow you to house additional content on your site without it getting in the way.

Injection attack protector

Protects a list of web pages and files that are likely to be targeted by injection attack by restoring files from local backup whenever they are modified.

Single Post Template

Single Post Template gives you the ability to create and use “Post Templates” in much the same way you create and use “Page Templates” in WordPress.

GeoSmart

GeoSmart is a plugin for WordPress which allows you to determine where in the world the people who comment on your posts are located based on their IP addresses.

Updated Plugins

SEO Ultimate

This SEO plugin can rewrite title tags, noindex archives, edit meta data, and insert “link rel canonical” tags. Version 0.4 adds a 404 logger.

GD Press Tools

GD Press Tools is a collection of various administration, seo, maintenance and security related tools. This tools can be integrated into the various WordPress admin panels, can perform maintenance operations, change some aspects of WordPress, see detailed server settings and information.

Related Websites

Related Websites is a cloud based traffic exchange. Readers interested in additional reading are presented related posts from other blogs. Your posts are presented on other blogs when related. Balancing the exchange is traffic based.

Twitter Hash Tag Widget

A widget for displaying the most recent twitter status updates for a particular hash tag.

Transpose Email

Transpose Email plugin allows you to use JavaScript to create an encoded link. Clicking that link will trigger the user’s email client to open and create an email.

Shadowbox JS

Shadowbox is an online media viewing application that supports all of the web’s most popular media publishing formats.

Post from: Weblog Tools Collection

WordPress Plugin Releases for 06/30

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Larry Page and Eric Schmidt from Google did a double header interview from the Google Zeitgeist conference just outside of London today. But the real question on our lips was what is Google going to do about the astounding buzz around realtime search and Twitter?

During a press conference I asked the question of of of Google’s executives, and the answer came back that “the kind of innovation like what Twitter is doing and what we’re doing is increasing search speed, relevance , freshness and comprehensiveness. Other companies will come up with solutions of course.”

Not a great answer.

Luckily, Loic Le Meur is also here and put Larry on the spot on stage, and captured this:

I have always thought we needed to index the web every second to allow real time search. At first, my team laughed and did not believe me. With Twitter, now they know they have to do it. Not everybody needs sub-second indexing but people are getting pretty excited about realtime.

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