Bring Instagram Thumbnails Back to Twitter in Chrome

Remember when Twitter stopped showing Instagram photo previews to users, both online and in apps? Now you can add those photo previews for Instagram and other third-party photo services back to your Twitter feed, at least on the Web.

This is done through the use of a Chrome extension called Previeweet. The extension actually works for more than just Instagram. While testing it out, I was able to see previews from Instagram, Photobucket, Facebook, Yfrog, Twitpic, Twitvid, Flickr, and Imgur -- which is great, since those are in the list of services that Previeweet says it supports.

How Apple and Google's Fortunes are linked

Apple, which until a few months ago was the star of Wall Street on the back of the massive sales success of its iPhones and iPads, has seen a significant dip in its stock-market fortunes. Google, meanwhile, seems to be taking on the mantle of a company that can do little wrong in the eyes of investors.

Apple's shares fell to their lowest level in more than a year on 5 March, and have barely recovered since, reflecting a trend that has seen a whopping 40% of the company's market value wiped out in the past six months.

How to Customize Your Facebook Page for Free

Facebook is in the process of rolling out yet another interface revamp. As Sharon Vaknin described in a post earlier this month, the new look for the Facebook News Feed provides many new options for viewing your friends' posts. You can add your name to the waiting list for the new-look News Feed, but you don't have to wait to enliven your Facebook page's appearance.

While the company provides only a handful of options for tweaking the look of your Facebook profile, Matt Kruse's free Social Fixer browser add-on (formerly named Better Facebook) takes Facebook customization to a new level. Social Fixer lets you update the social network's interface with a tabbed news feed, feed filters, image previews, and many other options.

Ad Agency Answers 140 Character Twitter Briefs in 24 Hours

A networked team of creatives in New York launched a new service that meets the demand for rapid turnaround advertising.

Using Twitter as a medium, the World's Fastest Agency will respond from briefing to idea within 24 hours. Outputs will include tag lines, product and service naming, communications platforms and (of course) stunts. According to its press release.

7 Things You Didn't Know About Twitter

Twitter which now has more than 200 million users, turns 7 years old on Thursday. To celebrate, we thought we'd share seven facts about the micro-blogging site that most people don't know.

1. Twitter almost never came to be. In 2006, there was a company called Odeo, which helped individuals publish audio. With a lack of growth and investors souring, the company pivoted and decided to conduct a hackathon one day. This brain-storming competition led to the birth of Twitter.

2. Twitter was created on a playground. Founding team member Dom Sagolla says the group went on the top of a slide at a playground in South Park, a small neighborhood in San Francisco, and Jack Dorsey discussed an "idea so simple that you don't even think about it—you just write." This moment of inspiration has turned into a multibillion dollar company.

3. When Twitter began, "everyone's first tweet was automated," Sagolla said. It published, "Just setting up my twttr." Co-founder Dorsey sent the first tweet, on March 21, 2006. It now has more than 8,900 retweets.

4. The user with the most followers is Justin Bieber; the pop musician has 36 million followers. Hootsuite, a social media management company, follows more than 1.1 million accounts, the most of any user. Who has tweeted the most? That honor belongs to @Yougakduan_00, a girl from Japan, who posted a mind-boggling 36,402,262 tweets before Twitter suspended her account. The most followed brand is YouTube with nearly 25 million followers.

5. The number of accounts that have been verified as authentic—those with a blue badge—is 47,815, but Twitter CEO Dick Costolo's (@dickc) is not among them.

6. The official name of Twitter's bird is Larry. Yes, his name is Larry Bird.The iconic little fellow—seen in Twitter's logo shown in TV commercials, print ads and practically every web site—was named after Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird. Why choose to name it after a basketball player from Boston? It may have to do with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone growing up in Massachusetts.

7. Twitter didn't create retweets, replies, hashtags, a mobile app or social ads—it was created by users and developers in its ecosystem. Those features were later supported by Twitter, according to marketing site 140 Proof. Unfortunately for the inventors, they won't be receiving a slice of the company that some are valuing at $10 billion. Like most of you, they will have to wait for Twitter's IPO.

How Facebook Briefly Killed the Internet

For a few minutes this evening, Facebook was redirecting users visiting dozens of websites — including Mashable — to cryptic error pages.

The reaction online was pretty much what you'd expect, with — as the The Next Web noted — hashtags like "Facebookmageddon" and "Facebocalypse" common amongst Twitter users.

The Difference In Censorship On Facebook And Twitter

Perhaps this isn’t censorship: in strict terms that refers to what a government insists is allowable or not. But there are indeed considerable differences in the way that Facebook at Twitter police the content on their sites. The difference is most obvious when considering the way in which the sex industry is using both sites:

Sex trade workers have taken to using Facebook and Twitter as a 21st Century phone box by posting calling cards on the networks that show them clearly touting for business.