TwitsMag Canada

Struggling to wrap your mind around the intricacies of the 140-character broadcasting system known as Twitter? Good news: You can now take a class on it at an accredited college.

DePaul University is now offering a course in its journalism department called “Digital Editing: From Breaking News to Tweets.” According to WBBM 770, “It will focus on how to confirm and evaluate reports by citizen journalists, particularly in cases of breaking news. The class will also help students learn how to sort through information on the Web for story tips and context.”

According to the university, the course, taught by DePaul alumnus and Chicago Tribune “digital intern” Craig Kanalley, “is believed to be the first college-level journalism course focused solely on Twitter and its applications.”

Frivolous? Twitter may not be the second coming that its proponents often profess it to be, but the site has definitely become the de facto medium by which most big news is broken. Eagle-eyed Twitter followers are often the first to hear about current events as they’re happening. Of course, Twitter is also legendary for spreading misinformation and lots of it. Just ask Jeff Goldblum, who is not dead.

And despite Twitter’s notorious unreliability, many over-eager reporters are more than happy to repeat anything published there as fact. Maybe a class on how to use a little common sense in evaluating a tweet isn’t such a bad idea.

Still, I for one can’t wait to see what the final exam questions are like. #twitterfinal

Article Source: Yahoo Tech

The video gave substance to what seemed so far away. We saw the look in her eyes as they went lifeless. We heard the sounds of her friends and family as they begged her to hold on. And she became the personification of the struggle for democracy in a country where voices for freedom are quelled.

Her name was Neda Agha-Soltan, and without Twitter we might never have known that she lived in Iran, that she dreamed of a free Iran, and that she died in a divided Iran for her dreams.

Neda became the voice of a movement; Twitter became the megaphone. Twitter is a free social-messaging utility. It drove people around the world to pictures, videos, sound bites, and blogs in a true reality show of life, dreams, and death. Last month’s marches for freedom and the violent crackdowns were not only documented but personalized into a story of mythic tragedy.

When traditional journalists were forced to leave the country, Twitter became a window for the world to view hope, heroism, and horror. It became the assignment desk, the reporter, and the producer. And, because of this, Twitter and its creators are worthy of being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. >>>>Read more

In Toronto, fans of the pop icon held a candlelight vigil at Dundas Square while others gathered outside the MuchMusic headquarters on Queen Street.

In Vancouver, a custom T-shirt shop in the city’s downtown made commemorative shirts.

“There’s been a lot — in the past couple of hours, probably half the people are getting Michael Jackson shirts,” said store supervisor Dave Lennon Thursday night. “I mean, he’s really popular.”

The news of Jackson’s death interrupted morning programs from Sydney to Seoul was splashed across front pages of newspapers worldwide on Friday.

In London, shocked fans gathered at the Lyric Theatre, where a live show based on Thriller is being performed.

Even world leaders weighed in the death. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called it “lamentable news” while former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, who had met Jackson, said, “We lost a hero of the world.”

Read More ..

Canadian fans of Michael Jackson expressed shock and sadness upon hearing of his death Thursday and predicted talk of his career and legacy will continue to dominate conversations for the foreseeable future.

Alana Copps was out shopping in Toronto with her daughter Ashley Williams when she heard the news and had to stop and compose herself as tears started flowing.

“I never believed in this – crying over someone you don’t even know – but yet, I’ve known him from when I was two-years-old watching him on TV. My mother loved him, I’ve loved him, my kids have loved him,” she said.

“He’s amazing, that’s all I have to say.”

“He’s a big inspiration to everyone,” Williams added. “God bless him and his family and his kids.”

Trevor Mulvihill lost interest in Jackson’s music as his career waned but said he will be remembered for his classics and his great contributions to pop music.

“This is a huge deal,” he said. “I love his music, I think it’s great. On the other hand, he hasn’t done anything for 20 years or so either, but ‘Thriller’ is one of the greatest albums ever.”

Within hours of Jackson’s death, “Thriller” – the best-selling album of all time including hits like “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and the title track – had shot back atop the charts on iTunes Canada, and four of the other Top 10 titles were Jackson albums.

Mulvihill said it’ll be a long time before the world gets over Jackson’s death and joked that his legion of fans may refuse to accept his passing, like some Elvis Presley fanatics.

“It’s going to be 30 years of Michael Jackson sightings,” he quipped.

A throng of fans gathered outside the street-side studio of MuchMusic in Toronto late Thursday to watch as the national music network went live with a special commemoration.. continue

Is it true that the %60 of twitter users quit within the first month???

David Martin, Vice President, Primary Research, Nielsen Online

Oprah embarrassed herself on it with a stuck caps lock. That guy from Punk’d competed with “the most trusted name in news” for audience. A befuddled Jon Stewart shook his fist at it in anger. Let there be no doubt: Twitter has grown exponentially in the past few months with no small thanks to celebrity exposure. People are signing up in droves, and Twitter’s unique audience is up over 100 percent in March. But despite the hockey-stick growth chart, Twitter faces an uphill battle in making sure these flocks of new users are enticed to return to the nest.

Follow Vs. Follow-through

Currently, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month, or in other words, Twitter’s audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month’s users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent. For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention.

To understand why this poses a problem for Twitter, check out the chart below. By plotting the minimum retention rates for different Internet audience sizes, it is clear that a retention rate of 40 percent will limit a site’s growth to about a 10 percent…. Continue Reading

A new study has confirmed what the rest of Canada knew all along: Toronto is full of twits.

By twits, I mean Twitter users — although many have argued the term “twit” is an appropriate description of people who use the service.

The study was conducted by Sysomos, a company based in Toronto that mines and analyzes conversations from online social media such as blogs, Twitter, social networks, messages, boards and wikis.

Based on an analysis of 11.5 million Twitter accounts, the study determined that Toronto has the third largest number of people using Twitter in the world. Only Los Angles and New York have more twits, with San Francisco ranking a close fourth.

Kidding aside, what does this say about Canada’s biggest city? Are residents really twits in both senses of the term? Are people in Toronto tweeting what they ate for breakfast, as the stereotype goes, or are they using it in a more enlightened way?

Of course, the internet has an answer to these …. Continue

tweetbeep.com

TweetBeep is as intersting as Twitter itself because it provides you with the chance to keep track of all topics mentioning you, your products,or anything related to you like retweeting your website or Blog. Tweetbeep is like google alerts for twitter!!! It is essential for managing your reputation on Twitter.

twitsmag.ca

TwitsMAG.com proudly announces the birth of a new Canadian Digital Magazine, TwitsMAG.ca

TwitsMAG Canada is dedicated to all Canadians on the famous social network Twitter.

Why TwitsMAG.ca?

TwitsMAG Canada narrows down the Wide micro-blogging Service Twitter to address Canadians all over Canada and worldwide.
It makes it easier for them to find friends, celebrities, interests and advertise their business efficiently.

On TwitsMAG Canada, you can communicate and find local friends, add yourself as a Canadian Twittee, suggest new ideas, websites, events in Canada,
and yet more is to come.

Please feel free to contact us for any suggestions or ideas or to Advertise on our website

Enjoy it! and follow us on twitter @TwiTsMagCa