Posts Tagged ‘Associated Press’

Wikipedia Says It Is Losing Contributors

Published by pratyushkp on August 5th, 2011 - in Social, Technology

Image via CrunchBase

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit its entries, says it is losing contributors.

Founder Jimmy Wales says administrators are scrambling to simplify what he called “convoluted” editing templates that may be discouraging people from writing and editing Wikipedia’s entries.

In another effort to encourage volunteers to stay active, Wales says the site has introduced a new feature called WikiLove that lets users post positive feedback.

He was speaking to the Associated Press on Thursday from the website’s annual conference, held this year in Haifa, Israel.

Facebook Party Gets Out Of Control After German Girl Forgets Privacy Setting

Published by pratyushkp on June 6th, 2011 - in Social, Technology

Better check your Facebook settings before posting a party invitation online.

A teenage girl in Germany who forgot to mark her birthday invitation as private on Facebook fled her own party when more than 1,500 guests showed up and around 100 police officers, some on horses, were needed to keep the crowd under control.

Eleven people were temporarily detained, one police officer was injured, dozens of girls wearing flip-flops cut their feet on broken glass and firefighters had to extinguish two small fires at the 16th birthday party in Hamburg, police spokesman Mirko Streiber said Sunday.

The birthday girl, identified only as Thessa, went into hiding, Streiber said, but “nonetheless the party was a hit.”

Thessa had initially only wanted to ask some friends over to her home in Hamburg-Bramfeld when she posted her invitation on Facebook, but mistakenly she published it so that everyone on Facebook could see it.

The invitation quickly went viral, and some 15,000 people confirmed online they would come to the party – without even knowing the girl, weekly paper Bild am Sonntag reported.

When Thessa’s parents found out, they made their daughter cancel the party, informed police and hired a private security service to protect their home on Friday night.

Despite public announcements in Hamburg that the party had been canceled, some 1,500 teenagers and young adults showed up on the street in front of Thessa’s home, Streiber told The Associated Press.

“We had cordoned off the house, some 100 police were on the ground, four of them on horses – but that did not keep the kids from celebrating,” Streiber said.

Some revelers held up signs asking “Where is Thessa?” others brought birthday presents and homemade cake, there was lots of alcohol and the crowd chanted again and again, “Thessa, celebrating a birthday is not a crime,” – in obvious relation to the massive police presence, Bild reported.

The police officer was injured when he tried to keep a party reveler from breaking off the Mercedes-Benz logo of his patrol car.

“It was sheer insanity but mostly peaceful,” Streiber summed up the night with a laugh.

As for Thessa – she was nowhere to be seen. Police confirmed she “was not at home that night” and Bild reported that she celebrated quietly with her grandparents at an undisclosed location.

Source :- http://www.huffingtonpost.com

  • German Girl Forgets To Set Facebook Party As Private, Greets 1500 Uninvited Guests (huffingtonpost.com)
  • Facebook invitation brings 1,500 guests to party – and 100 police (theglobeandmail.com)
  • Facebook party spins out of control (hosted.ap.org)
  • Girl accidentally invites 1,500 people to Facebook party (thestar.com)
  • Facebook Birthday Party [Birthdays] (gawker.com)
  • Facebook Flashmob of the Day (thedailywh.at)
  • Thessa’s mess: 1,600 Facebookers crash birthday party (rt.com)
  • Facebook party spins out of control (msnbc.msn.com)
  • Facebook gaffe nets German teen 1,500 birthday guests (ctv.ca)

Homeland Security Taps Twitter, Facebook For New Alert System

Published by pratyushkp on April 10th, 2011 - in Social, Technology

The Department of Homeland Security plans to use Twitter and Facebook to warn citizens about threats with its new National Terrorism Advisory System. The new program will in part replace the old color-coded system, put in place following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, that’s being phased out. Please RT, etc.

The new system, which the AP says is expected to launch on April 27, will post warnings to the social networks “when appropriate.” In truth it’s probably not too far removed from the emergency broadcast system warnings and tests that go out over TV and radio. Might as well tap into Twitter an Facebook if people are on them all day long, right?

Source : http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/07/homeland-security-taps-twitter-facebook-for-new-alert-system/

  • Homeland Security Taps Twitter, Facebook For New Alert System (crunchgear.com)
  • Homeland Security Taps Twitter, Facebook For New Alert System (techcrunch.com)
  • Homeland Security to issue terror alerts via Facebook, Twitter (zdnet.com)
  • Department of Homeland Security Now Adding Twitter and Facebook Notifications to Terror Alerts (tengoldenrulesblog.blogspot.com)
  • Report: U.S. to issue terror alerts via Facebook, Twitter (news.cnet.com)
  • Report: U.S. to issue terror alerts via Facebook, Twitter (news.cnet.com)
  • Homeland Security Turns to Twitter, Facebook for Terror Alerts (pcworld.com)
  • Report: Homeland Security to Use Twitter, Facebook for Terror Alerts (bloggersblog.com)
  • US Homeland Security Department planning to use Facebook, Twitter for terrorism alerts (engadget.com)
  • Department of Homeland Security to Dispense Terror Alerts Via Facebook (insidefacebook.com)
Tags: , Emergency Broadcast System, , September 11 attacks, , , ,
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