BA, X Factor, and Snoox

It’s been a busy week here at Siren Towers and a busy week in the world of social media too, as our desks were literally inundated with stories this week. We’ve tried to cherry pick the very best for your social media roundup. So, sit back, relax and enjoy…

British Airways has apologised this week after inadvertently retweeting an angry customer tweet containing racial abuse. Within minutes, hundreds of Twitter users had resent the retweet, leaving a BA spokesperson to investigate the error. They are not ruling out the possibility that the account had been hacked.

Meanwhile, it’s been another controversial week in celebsville on Twitter with the X Factor’s Christopher Maloney receiving death threats; Tulisa Contostavlos having a pop at her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriends and Sally Bercow breaching a court order by naming a runaway schoolgirl. This is all in the wake of Lord McAlpine preparing to sue all and sundry over false allegations of child abuse… oh and the Top Gear presenters getting busted smoking in a hotel in California by the General Manager who was following their illicit antics. It’s all very Eastenders! #thinkbeforeyoutweet

The New York Times had a major sense of humour failure when it instructed its lawyers to suspend parody account, The Times Is On It, on Monday. The issue? Violation of its trademarked ‘T’ logo, apparently. Followers rushed to the account’s defence and it was reactivated on Tuesday, with a bigger following than ever. They are now running a competition to find a new avatar. David 1 – Goliath 0.

Word on the street is that Facebook and Yahoo! are in talks about forging an alliance which could spell the end for Yahoo!’s relationship with Microsoft. The two internet giants have worked together on small projects before but there is an expectation that this could lead to a more substantial collaboration around web-based search, with the potential to pose a major threat to Google. Watch this space…

A new social networking site has launched, to encourage us to take advice on everything from restaurants, movies, hotels and gadgets from our friends rather than complete strangers. Snoox is available online and as a Facebook app and a mobile phone app is coming soon. Users will make recommendations on and give reviews of their favourite things but when searching the site for recommendations they will only find those from people they know. The idea is based on the premise that decision making is based on trust… but you’ll need to convince your friends to sign up for it if it’s to be any use to you. 10,000 have signed up in the first 5 days, so you never know…

Parents concerned at how much time their teenagers are spending on Facebook need worry no longer, according to The Times. Social networking helps teens to develop their own identities, become less self-absorbed and learn collaboration, making them ultimately more employable in the 21st century workplace. Plus, it keeps them quiet, so everyone’s a winner.

And finally, we were tickled by this amusing infographic depicting the alternative Twitter Map. Where are we? Actually, don’t answer that…

Siren Communications