JP Mangalindan says, “As it gets more aggressive about growth, Twitter wants to be useful to just about everyone — including the media. Curator, a tool the company unveiled last week, makes it easier for media outlets to figure out which topics are popular and where. News organizations can also use a search function to sift through tweets, vines and data, with filters so granular, they can narrow things down by location, word count, the feelings expressed in the tweet, and even whether tweets were sent from an iPhone or Android device. Next, users can select tweets from the search results... [...]

Jinen Kamdar of Twitter has announced that now the Twitter users can send direct messages to groups. Kamdar says, “The group function lets you start conversations with any of your followers and they don’t all need to follow one another in order to chat. You can create a group in just a few taps. When you’re added to a group, you’ll get a notification. If you’re brand new to Direct Messages, here’s a good resource to learn more”. Read more about the story.  [...]

Danny Sullivan says, “It’s official. Twitter and Google are once again partnered so that Google has full access to Twitter’s feed of tweets, commonly called the Twitter “firehose.” What’s this mean for how tweets appear in Google? How’s it different from the last deal? Our FAQ tries to anticipate your questions and give answers as best we know. What’s today’s deal all about? Twitter announced that it will be providing Google access to tweets from its service. Twitter confirmed this on its earnings call today but didn’t give any further details. The assumption is that this... [...]

JP Mangalindan says, “During Twitter’s fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, CEO Dick Costolo confirmed the reports: Twitter and Google are partners once again. Costolo declined to share many details about the deal, which was widely reported on Wednesday. That left plenty of unanswered questions, such as how much Twitter stands to make from the deal and what kind of data would be shared. “The way we think about the Google deal is distinct,” Costolo said on the analyst call, adding it was all about “eyeballs.” Beyond that, Costolo simply said that it would be “several... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Twitter and Google have reached a deal to make tweets easier to find online, according to a report by Bloomberg Business tonight. The deal will give Google access to Twitter’s firehose, the data stream of the 140-character service, and therefore make tweets available for indexing by the search engine immediately after they are posted. The report, citing unnamed sources, said the Google and Twitter engineers are already working on the project and that it will be switched on in the first half of 2015. The reported agreement marks a rekindling of a relationship that ended... [...]

Martin Beck says, “Twitter today took a step to push its advertising products beyond Twitter, announcing partnerships to syndicate promoted tweets on Flipboard and Yahoo Japan. With the move, Twitter is hoping to boost its efforts to monetize its latent audience, the millions of people who see tweets on television, mobile apps and other websites. Twitter says tweets received 185 billion impressions off Twitter during the third quarter of 2014, but up to now it didn’t have a way to monetize those impressions. Twitter senior product director Ameet Ranadive explained in a post on the company’sAdvertising... [...]

JP Mangalindan says, “Signing up for Twitter can be a tedious and confusing process for new users. Normally, creating an account means being nudged into listing areas of interest, following some relevant accounts suggested by Twitter — and hoping some of the content that pops up as a result is compelling. But the days of that lengthy sign-up process may be numbered. As The New York Timesreported Monday, Twitter has been testing a new feature called “Instant Timeline” on a subset of Android users since last week. SEE ALSO: Twitter introduces group direct messages and native video... [...]

Lauren Orsini says, “Twitter direct messages just got more talkative. Now you can have a private conversation with a group, the social network announced Tuesday. Until now, Twitter’s direct messaging feature has been reserved for conversations between no more than two participants. Now, you can create groups of up to 20 Twitter users at the same time, and they do not have to be following one another to join. Group direct messages will support “text, photos, links, emoji and Tweets,” according to Twitter. The feature is expected to roll out over the next couple of days to all users. As Twitter... [...]

Karissa Bell says, “Twitter rolled out the web version of Digits, the company’s tool to help kill the password, to developers Wednesday. Digits is one element of Twitter Fabric, the new suite of tools for developers the social network rolled out last year during its Flight Developer Conference. Digits replaces passwords with mobile phone numbers with the goal of making it easier to sign up for new apps. The thinking is that reducing friction at signup will make it easier for developers to keep users on their service as some users are put off when they need to make a new account and password... [...]

Lauren Orsini says, “Twitter will be launching a native video feature in just a few weeks, sources close to the company have revealed toRecode. The feature, which will reportedly allow users to record, edit, and post video without leaving the Twitter app, will be similar to—but separate from—its Vine app. The goal is apparently to provide more ways for people to create video on Twitter, and more engagement as a result. Twitter first hinted at coming out with a video app in November last year, announcing several different new features including “While You Were Away,” its first non-chronological... [...]