Twitter blocked in Pakistan over contentious material

Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter on Sunday because it refused to remove material considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country’s top telecommunications officials.

The material was promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, said Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication’s Authority. Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

Yaseen said Facebook agreed to address Pakistan’s concerns about the competition, but officials have failed to get Twitter to do the same.

”We have been negotiating with them until last night, but they did not agree to remove the stuff, so we had to block it,” said Yaseen.

Instructions to block the site came from Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology, said Yaseen.

”The ministry officials are still trying to make them (Twitter) agree, and once they remove that stuff, the site will be unblocked,” said Yaseen.
Officials from Twitter and Facebook were not immediately available for comment.

A top court in Pakistanordered a ban on Facebook in 2010 amid anger over a similar competition. The ban was lifted about two weeks later, after Facebook blocked the particular page in Pakistan.

The Pakistani government said at the time that it would continue to monitor other major websites for anti-Islamic links and content.

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Twitter's new email digest feature to summarise top stories, tweets for users

Micro blogging site Twitter has planned to roll out a new 'email digest' that would summarise top stories and tweets in users' networks. According to Othman Laraki, Twitter's growth and international director, the new weekly summary feature, which was announced on the company's blog Monday, is already available to some users.
 "This summary features the most relevant tweets and stories shared by the people you're connected to on Twitter," Laraki said in the blog post.
According to The Los Angeles Times, the new feature is described as being similar to Twitter's 'Discover' tab, which the social network redesigned earlier this month.
 The feature comes just four months after Twitter acquired Canadian start-up Summify, which is a service that sends users emails summarizing the top stories from their Twitter and Facebook networks as well as other services, such as Google Reader.

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Lady Gaga's Twitter followers reach 20m mark

How many followers do you have in twitter and how many likes on face book? Lady Gaga has become the first Twitter user to amass 20 million followers. The singer tops the microblogging site's most popular list ahead of fellow pop stars Justin Bieber (18 million), Katy Perry (15.7 million) and Shakira (14.5 million).

Lady gaga

Gaga's massive following is in addition to 48 million fans on Facebook and more than 800,000 "circles" on Google+, the BBC reported.
Unlike some other stars, the best-selling singer has said she personally updates her account.
Last month, she revealed she was preparing to launch her own social network, Little Monsters.
A preview holding page for the new site suggests it may resemble popular image-sharing site Pinterest. Fans have been called on to sign up and receive an invitation to test the site.
Lady Gaga's latest album, 'Born this Way', has sold about 8 million copies - thanks in part to a considerable social media marketing effort.
As well as her huge presence on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, the 25-year-old has also teamed up with social gaming giant Zynga to launch GagaVille - a Lady Gaga-inspired take on the massively popular game Farmville. 

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Lady Gaga fans hit by free 'iPad scam' on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Have you got message offering from Pop starlets Lady Gaga? If so be cautious & don’t provide your information.  Lady Gaga was targeted by cyber-punks who hacked her Twitter and Facebook accounts. Multiple messages were sent, seemingly from the singer, offering free iPad2’s to every fan.

Attached links directed more than 100,000 of her followers to a site requesting personal details, possibly as part of a phishing scam.
The problem was finally resolved and the pop queen took to her micro blogging site to express her relief.

Lady Gaga

“Phew. The hacking is over!” the BBC quoted her Gaga as writing.
Her Facebook page had the post saying: “Lady Gaga’s new iPad comes out in 3 days!
“So for the next 72 hours we will be hosting a massive giveaway to all the Mother Monster fans. Sign up and receive your special Lady Gaga edition iPad in time for the Holidays! For contest rules and registration visit the link below.”
This was followed later by a tweet saying: “Monsters, I’m giving away FREE ipad2’s to each one of you in the spirit of the holidays :)”
The singer often refers to her fans as “monsters”, suggesting the hack was specifically targeted at the singer - rather than a more general phishing attack often seen on social networking sites.
Phishing attacks typically trick users into believing they are signing in to a legitimate website, but instead illegally gather personal data which can then be used to gain access to private accounts such as email and banking.
The offending messages have now been removed, but web statistics show more than 100,000 of her fans followed the links. 

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