How to correct tweets

It happens to everyone on Twitter: once in a while post a tweet with a typo. It’s actually becoming really common thanks to iOS and Android auto correction tools, because the software checks for spelling mistakes and literally changes your words (normally to something either dirty or just really funny). But it can also be that your link doesn’t work, you link to the wrong page or you just got a name wrong. And then what?

Twitter doesn’t allow you to edit tweets, which protects the whole concept of retweeting and replying to them. A lot of people and companies just delete the tweet with the typo and post a corrected one. This would clean up your timeline, but has some disadvantages. For example, even though the tweet disappears from Twitter some third party clients like Hootsuite keep displaying it (if they retrieved it when you published). Also, some people might have seen it already, replyed to it or retweeted it. In any case, it could be considered that a tweet is not a transparent policy because of its similarity to trying to delete parts of your news release or public speech once it’s out there.

That’s why I like what Time Magazine seems to be doing. One easy, fast and very transparent way to correct your tweets: just post a second one and let people know it is a correction. You see? Social media can be as easy as just talking to a friend. Just make sure you double check all your tweets so you don’t have to post a lot of corrections, but don’t be afraid of publicly fixing your mistakes.

So that’s what is wrong with Ubuntu!

A while ago I posted an article wondering why a big number of hardcore Linux fans hated Unity and Ubuntu so much. From my point of view (a newbie to Linux just playing around with different OS) everything looked fine. And I still believe Unity and Ubuntu represent what most PC users need: a clean interface similar enough to Windows (which is what most of them are used to), with the support of a large dedicated company that ensures consistency, and a huge community of users out there to get responses when something isn’t working. But this week I read this interesting article on Wired Magazine about the next developments and I finally saw the big picture.

The problem is not that Ubuntu or Unity aren’t good enough. The real issue here is that Canonical is moving a little further from the open-source community values with every update. Instead of taking advantage of the community to work together for the greater good (better standard software for everyone) they are working on their own. They are still developing great software, but missing the point that makes Linux such a powerful concept and losing the input of hundreds of developers who would help them for free to make their OS better. It doesn’t make sense to close that door, and I understand how that might feel when you are a respected developer in the open-source community. Just look at Linux Mint, which is basically what the larger community came up starting at Ubuntu and working all together to make it better.

Although I think Canonical’s strength and Ubuntu’s popularity are still a great push for Linux and open-source systems, I believe they are drawing an important line between the community and their own company. And that line will hurt Canonical more than it may hurt the open-source community, which as always will find its own ways to create great things… because it’s just easier when you have thousands of people working together.

My favourite Android apps (III)

I just realized that last Fall I forgot to write my annual list of favourite apps. I’m still happy with Android, although I look forward to try UbuntuOS and FirefoxOS in the near future. Meanwhile my list of installed apps hasn’t changed much, even though I had to change my terminal in early 2012 because of the international broadband differences (my Motorola Milestone from Spain didn’t work with my Canadian provider, so I got a good deal on a Samsung Galaxy Ace). If my list of installed apps hasn’t changed much it’s obvious that my list of favourite apps is also pretty much the same. Granted, my current phone is not a high-end device, but I haven’t heard about any app that I was really missing about except for the fact that I can’t run Firefox for Android.

One last thing before the actual list: I am still avoiding to pay for any app, since I can always find a free one to do pretty much the same. The only exception that I have had to make is Whatsapp, since my free first year of use is over and I couldn’t give it up, as I explain below.

1- Twitter. Within the year and a half since my last apps review, Twitter for Android has grown up a lot and it is now my default Twitter app. It’s clean, intuitive and easy; and its integration with Android is perfect (meaning that you get notifications when things actually just happened, which doesn’t happen with Hootsuite). It could still be better with better access to Twitter Lists and private messages, and with a URL shortener with stats.

2- Foursquare. After Twitter and the phone-related apps, Foursquare is still the app that I use the most. I still get excited about getting a new mayorship or badge, even though it means sharing my location with hundreds of people who don’t care about it. Moreover, since I am in North America I have enjoyed several perks such as free breakfast at hotels or free tours at beer breweries, so I am a total addict.

3- Whatsapp. Last time I put Skype on this list, but I have since discovered that Whatsapp is more convenient. Skype has become more of a “Skype date” tool for me, for which I prefer the laptop; while Whatsapp is now the best way to keep in touch with my friends in Spain. It allows a very spontaneous and constant conversation while still being able to share videos and pictures. Also, the Groups feature is what is keeping us together now that we are all spread around the globe.

4- MapFactor Navigator. It has taken me years (literally) but I have finally found a free GPS+Navigator app that works without data connection. Navigator is not as fast or as good-looking as Google Maps, but it’s definitely the best option to travel to a different country (GMaps would cost you a billion in roaming) or to use locally when you discover how ridiculously expensive mobile rates are in Canada. Plus MapFactor Navigator uses OpenStreetMaps, and I am a big fun of open-source projects. It also has a paid version that uses Tom Tom maps.

5- Hootsuite. Although it’s starting to drive me nuts, I still think Hootsuite for Android is the king of apps when it comes to manage several social media profiles in different platforms from your phone. Plus the addition of the “AutoSchedule” function makes my life (and my clients’ lifes) way easier when I have some free time to read a bunch of articles and then I want to share some of them without saturating my feeds. disclaimer: I have been using Hootsuite in my laptop for personal and professional purposes for a while, and the fact that it’s all synchronized makes it harder to change.

6- Photoshop Express. Considering how expensive Adobe software normally is I still can’t believe this is free, but what really surprises me is that not that many Android users know about it. I really like how easy it makes it to improve a picture as if you actually had Photoshop in your phone. The only complain I have is that they haven’t change it at all in almost three years, and it could use some more funky filters and frames.

7- Zite. This has quickly become one of my favourites, as I find it great to find new contents outside of my own bubble (the people I decided to follow on social media, the blogs and media I keep on Google Reader, the alerts in Google and Topsy that I created…). While Reddit does pretty much the same I believe the success of Zite resides on its very clean layout, as it looks just like the app from a magazine. I only wish it would work in Spanish too.

8- Cyanogen. Although it’s not an app, I think CyanogenMod deserves some recognition here. When I first got my new phone it came with a Samsung-baked Android rom that really disappointed me. I expected much more from the only company able to kick Apple’s ass in the mobile market these days, so it only took me a few weeks to decide to give up and change to Cyanogen.

Linking the two screens: from TV to Twitter

This week the TV show Bones returned from its Christmas break. It’s one of those shows that has embraced social media, showing on each episode the Bones hashtag to guide the Twitter conversation into a common place. This allows the producers to monitor what the audience is saying about their work, and it makes it easier for the show to appear as a Trending Topic. It’s a promotion tool that is easy and free, plus the little sign doesn’t really bother anyone because we are already used to have the broadcast channel logo on-screen. They also participate in the live conversation from @BONESonFOX, for which using a hashtag helps them reach an audience larger than their followers base.

But after the Christmas break they played a really smart move, and changed the common, plain hashtag to something more engaging: #bonesisback.

#bonesisback

It’s more dynamic than the common hashtags, better linked to the now and here of the episode, meaning it actually promotes the real-time conversation. It won’t work for next week’s episode, but that doesn’t matter: it has done its job and there will be another hashtag to use. This simple change proves that whoever is in charge of the social media buzz for the show is listening and understands their audience: this week the episode could have been better or worse, but what was really important for the fans was that the show was back:

I would like to see TV channels doing something similar in sports. Lets say Leo Messi scores an incredible goal, Dwyane Wade and Lebron James do a mind blowing alley-oop, Juan Carlos Navarro breaks Barcelona’s total score record during the next game, or for some random reason James Reimer scores a goal for the Maple Leafs. Those would all be great moments that would go viral and generate tons of comments, so if the broadcaster is fast enough to catch it and show a little message along the lines of “wow, that was incredible! #MessiGoal” the audience would probably fall for it. I hope to see a lot of this during the next Olympics, allowing fans to find a common place to talk to other fans from all over the world about what they are all watching at the same time, whether it is football, gymnastics, track and field, tennis or any other discipline.