Twitter Allows DMs to Verified Accounts Without Followbacks

Twitter is working on a way that fans and critics alike can send direct messages to verified accounts without the need of the follow back. This way, communication between representatives who handle those verified Twitter accounts and people who try to communicate with them becomes a little easier. It means that users with a verified account don't have to follow someone just for receiving and sending direct messages and then unfollowing them after the interaction is over. No need for follows to DM on a verified account This, of course, makes more sense for brands than it does for celebrities. While free DMing them will have its perks for fans, the usefulness of this feature will really be for services like airlines, banks and magazines. Right now, in India, services that perform a lot of customer service over Twitter are Jet Airways, Vodafone and ICICI Bank (to name a few). When a customer has a flight scheduling or reservation issue, it will be a lot easier to send DMs to Jet Airways than say tweet a generic problem tweet mentioning Jet Airways, waiting for them to follow you and tell you to DM them, and then finally DM them. Same goes for customer service problems with Vodafone and ICICI. The problem though right now is none of these three accounts are verified accounts. Once they get verified status, user interaction should get easier. Tata Docomo, however, has a verified account and has tweeted this new feature of Twitter. Now you can DM them directly without the need of reciprocated follows.

Facebook Blocks Extension to Export Contacts Onto Google+

We’re truly living amidst competitive times. Google, the popular search giant launched its fresh attempt at social networking with Google+. Even as the covers were being lifted, it was already being touted as an able contender to Facebook, the social networking giant. It didn’t take really long for users to join the Google+ bandwagon, just like they did when Facebook began in 2004.

Annoyed..

Users since then have been trying to bridge the gap between Google+ and Facebook, on their own personal levels i.e. getting their Facebook contacts onto Google+. Thanks to a software engineer, Mohamed Mansour who readied a Chrome extension, using which it was possible to export one’s Facebook contacts onto Google+. Was, did I say? Well, sadly yes! Facebook has now cut off all access to this extension, and Google+ users now stand at the either sides of the hedge.

The new extension allowed Google+ users to store the names, email addresses, birthdays, phone numbers, and other information into a text file, and/or have them imported directly onto Gmail. After Facebook allegedly blocked the extension, as per a CNET report, Google+ users were only able to get the names and Facebook page addresses and not the email address.

An annoyed Mansour stated that the move from Facebook has strengthened his resolve. And that he would come up with a backdoor to this, as well.

Google+: THE NEXT SOCIAL NETWORK

Waiting for a Google+ invite is currently what all the cool kids are doing. Google's latest answer to the social networks, Google+ opened up for a small group of testers, a few days ago. Invites spread like wildfire and Google had to shut down the invite button. Google+ is supposed to be Google's Facebook takedown device, but here's the problem with that; Facebook's already established itself and its format. Using Facebook's basic layout and adding a few more features upon it really doesn't give Google+ an edge. Users saw the futility of Google Wave, and Buzz didn't seemingly catch on. Will Google+ be an answer to Google's social scramble? Probably not. But there still is some fun to be had.

Layout
When you look at Google+, of course the first thing that jumps to your head is, "Oh hello, Flash free version of Facebook".The home news feed is laid out like Facebook's, as is the individual profile page. On the LHS of the homepage, you can choose whose updates you want to stream, and below that is your GTalk window. Up top you have your navigation bar which will take you from your homepage to a photos page, your profile page or your circles page.

Features
Google+ wants to pride itself on its features, some of which, I'll admit, are worth the 15 seconds of interest that Google+ will hold. For one, managing your contacts in groups of circles and dividing them by friends, family, acqaintances, colleagues, etc. is an interesting concept. It helps when you want to share information, because you can choose which circle you want to share what with. The other feature that Google's priding itself on with Google+ is Hangout. Hangout allows you to set up a group video chat session with entire circles of contacts or individual contacts whose email addresses you add. The obvious problem with this, just like any other chat program, is not everyone in your circle of choice will be online at the same time. However, Hangout is a more intuitive way of video calling just because it works off your Google contacts. However, now that Skype and Facebook are getting along better, we'll see what they retaliate with.

Circles on Google Plus

There's also an easy to miss feature in there, called Sparks. Sparks allows you to view content online divided into categories of interest like Cycling, Fashion, Soccer, Comics etc. These categories are content aggregators, and you can make more of your own categories, as well. Here, it really feels like Google's trying to take Zite and put it into a social network.

Spark wants to bring you Zite on the web

No social network would be complete without the ability to share photos and videos, of course. You can add pictures by dragging and dropping or choosing from your computer, or more intuitively, directly from your Android phone without the need of wires. The catch is, when you add any photo, or an album, in order to get published, it must be shared with either your circles or individual contacts (hint: you can share with circles that don't have any contacts just so the picture/s get published). This is where Google seems to have taken Facebook's 'share' philosophy and put it on steroids.

The one feature that currently seems a little pointless is how +1s work. +1 is Google's sharing service where if you like an article or a video you found, you hit +1. If you hit +1 on a link that a contact posts in Google+ itself, it goes into your +1 section of your profile. If, however, you hit +1 for an article on an external site, it doesn't automatically show up in your Google+ profile. There's also a Buzz section which seems to be Google's little, "let's revive this feature" technique. Or in a way, it's taking their version of Twitter and mashing it into their version of Facebook. However, the last time I buzzed was exactly a year ago and to me the addition of Buzz seems pointless.

Conclusion
If you're already on Facebook and all of your stuff is on Facebook, it's very unlikely that you're going to come over to Google+ to start Facebook over, from scratch. Hangout and Circles really aren't big enough features to pull Google+, in fact, they're better suited for GTalk itself. Google really didn't bring a new format of social networking to the table, instead it seems as if the folk who worked on this product sat in meeting room after meeting room asking questions like, "What does Facebook do? How can we Googlify it," and "What's Facebook not offering that Google can". In other words, Google+ seems derivative, and unless Google gives it a major overhaul, interest in it is going to die out.

So You Wanna Hack Someone's Facebook?

This theory's a little bit of a longshot but it can work with a little bit of luck and a little bit of the smart touch. A report indicates that with Facebook's "Three Trusted Friends" password recovery system, user accounts are actually pretty easy to hack into without knowing any sort of special code. The first step is to create three fake Facebook accounts and friend your targeted victim. This is where the luck and brains come in. You need to make sure that your victim accepts these friend requests and therefore you need to make them look like actual people that they might know. After they've accepted all three friend requests, the easy part begins. On the account login page, click the "Forgot your password" tab. That will take you to a page asking for either your email, Facebook username, or your name and a friend's name. Getting these details of your victims account is no biggie at all.

Note the "No longer have access to these"

After this, you'll be taken to a page where you're asked to verify the account in question with a profile picture associated with the account (in this case, your victim's profile picture). A variety of ways to send a reset password will also be provided including the victim's phone number and email address. At the bottom of it all, there's an option that says, "Can't access these right now" which if you click on, takes you to the three trusted friends page. Here, you're given a list of the account holder's friends, and you choose the three friends you created. A reset password will be sent to those friends and you use that to hack into to your victim's account.

There are two flaws in this system, both of which are not too major. One, which is already mentioned, is the fact that your victim actually has to accept these friend requests. Two, when you choose the option of not having access to any of those email address, an email is sent to the victim saying that they have chosen to reset their password. They'll know that suspicious activity is going on with their account but they won't really be able to do anything since changing their password will not be effective. The most they can do is report back to Facebook that they haven't actually been trying to reset their account information.

Note: More than a how to hack someone's account, this is meant to be more of a warning. Be careful who you're accepting friend requests from and of course, respond to an email saying that you've requested to reset your password (when you haven't) immediately.