Disgruntled consumer uses Twitter's promoted tweet feature to embarrass British Airways

With the rising popularity of social networks, brands started hopping on to them to grab the attention of their target consumers. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook started leveraging this with ad products like promoted tweets and sponsored posts, putting promotional messages right in between user-generated content.

It's also widely known that a number of consumers use Twitter as a platform for raising their voice against brands and bringing their grievances to the notice of not just the brand but also to their followers and subsequently, their followers. In an interesting move, a disgruntled consumer used Twitter's promoted tweets to spread the word against a brand to express his dissatisfaction after suffering at its hand, and grab the brand's attention.

Businessman Hasan Syed bought promoted tweets to express his anger against British Airways after his parents who flew Business class on British Airways, lost their luggage while travelling from Chicago to Paris.

After not getting any response from British Airways, Syed decided to use Twitter to get the attention of the airlines and bought promoted tweets "Don't fly @BritishAirways. Their customer service is horrendous," targeting the UK and New York markets, as per a report by the BBC.

British Airways noticed the tweet after 10 hours of it going live and asked Syed to DM (direct message) the baggage reference number. The BBC reports that the airlines has apologised and would be delivering the missing piece of luggage.

A limited number of brands use Twitter as a customer service platform, registering complaints and offering a resolution. However, most think of it as a broadcasting platform spamming users with product related information and running contests with an intent to 'trend,' which some feel is a measure of success on social media platforms. With promoted tweets and sponsored posts, it's easy to reach a big audience. This incident proves that even consumers can use this tool to make their angst against a brand go viral.

Twitter introduces app-based two-factor authentication

Twitter has now introduced a new way to authenticate logins while using the service's two-factor authentication feature. It now allows users to enrol in two-factor authentication and verify login requests through its iOS and Android mobile apps.

The social networking service had rolled out two-factor authentication in May, allowing users to opt for secondary verification through their verified mobile phone numbers. Users could choose to get a verification code on their mobile phones and verify the same while logging-in on Twitter's website. However, it was limited to select mobile carriers (for instance, only Airtel, Reliance and Tata Docomo were supported in India).

Following the rollout of app-based verification, users will now be able to verify their logins through the mobile app, without the need for receiving an SMS from Twitter. This means that anyone with access to the apps will be able to use Twitter's two-factor authentication for increased security. They'll also be able to opt for two-factor authentication while logging in, through the mobile apps. 

To enable the feature, users will need to tap on the Me tab in the Twitter app, open Settings and then tap on Security (Android users will need to tap on their Twitter username before they can select Security). You can then enable Login Verification from the screen. The app will then generate a backup code which you can note down at a safe place. This code can be used to login when you don't have your phone with you.

Following the process, you'll get a push pontification on you phone which will have the option to approve the login request. Tapping on the checkmark will automatically log you in. Even if you don't receive a notification, you can simply go to the app's Security settings and tap on 'Login requests' for approving them.

Interestingly, when a login request is made, you will see details related to the browser details and approximate location of the login attempt in the app.

The move increases the security of Twitter accounts, especially for users who access the service through public computers. It also decreases Twitter's dependence on telecom carriers and covers a larger number of users.

In addition to the security feature, Twitter has also added a couple of new features to its iOS and Android apps.

The service is introducing some new Search features including 'social context' that displays connections to other users when users search for a related term and a new photo gallery in search that displays a rich gallery-like interface when they search for pictures. On the iOS app the gallery would appear with user profiles allowing users to see all photos posted by a user/ account in one place.

The app also introduces list management making it easier to create, edit and organise lists and subscriptions. This feature was offered by third party apps like Tweetbot but was not part of the official Twitter app.

Twitter updating Web-based search to offer a richer experience

Twitter is reportedly updating search on the Web version of its service to offer a universal search-like experience, displaying photos and accounts in results, in addition to recent searches and social context, as users type their query.

The update was announced by Twitter through its official handle. Following the update, which is being rolled out gradually to all users, the search experience would be inline with Twitter's mobile experience.

As reported by Search Engine Land, the changes in the search experience include People results (Twitter accounts/ handles) being displayed with search results on the top, and photos also now being made part of the search results. Instead of the Tweets, People and Top Photos filters on the left pane, the new search listings page will feature Results, People and Photos filters.

As per the report, the new search listings page will first display People results, followed by the top 3 tweets around the topic, then Photos results which are followed by more Top Tweets.

The search box also includes drop downs for Recent Searches and Saved Searches, and when a user started keying a term (or a name), Twitter also tells the relationship between the user and any existing accounts that feature the term, if any. For instance if you search for NDTV, Twitter will also display NDTV accounts and mention that you follow them, if indeed you do.

We haven't been upgraded to the new Search experience, at the time of writing this post. Through the update, it appears that Twitter wants to streamline the Search experience on the service displaying relevant content, tweets, accounts to make the overall user experience richer.

Apple, Google and others urge US surveillance disclosures

Dozens of companies, non-profits and trade organizations including Apple Inc, Google Inc and Facebook Inc sent a letter Thursday pushing the Obama administration and Congress for more disclosures on the government's national security-related requests for user data.

Together with LinkedIn Corp, Yahoo Inc, Microsoft Corp, Twitter and many others, the companies asked for more transparency of secret data gathering in the letter addressed to President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, National Intelligence Director James Clapper, National Security Agency (NSA) Director General Keith Alexander and national security leaders in Congress.

Tech companies have been scrambling to assert their independence after documents leaked last month by former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden suggested they had given the government direct access to their computers as part of the NSA's secret surveillance program called Prism.

Such data collection activities are overseen by the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and largely done under the laws of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the USA PATRIOT Act.

The classified nature of the data gathering has barred the participating companies from disclosing even their involvement, let alone the content of the requests.

The leaks have renewed a public debate over the balance between national security and privacy, and have put tech companies in an awkward position, especially because many have been assailed for their own commercial use of customer data.

Some companies, including Facebook and Apple, in June struck an agreement with the government to release some information about the number of surveillance requests they receive. But they were limited to disclosing aggregate government requests for data without showing the split between surveillance and criminal requests, and only for a six-month period.

In Thursday's letter, they asked to be allowed to regularly report statistics on the number and scope of user data requests done under specific national security authorities and the number of individuals, accounts or devices affected by those requests.

"This information about how and how often the government is using these legal authorities is important to the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of those authorities and their use, and to international users of U.S.-based service providers who are concerned about the privacy and security of their communications," the letter said.

The letter also asked Congress to pass legislation that would require the federal government to make transparency reports and let companies disclose user data requests without having to first ask the FISA Court for permission.

Co-signers included investors such as Boston Common Asset management and Union Square Ventures, as well as scores of associations including Human Rights Watch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform and conservative FreedomWorks.

One of the lawmakers the letter was addressed to is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who has introduced a bill that would expand reporting requirements for the secret programs, add more court reviews and move up the expiration of the authorization for some of the data collection by 2-1/2 years.

"Americans deserve to know how much of their communications data is being swept up by government surveillance, and the government's use of these authorities must be subject to strong oversight," Leahy said on Thursday.

He said the Judiciary Committee will hold another hearing on the issue later this month.

The U.S. government is facing multiple court challenges over its surveillance programs. Yahoo this week scored a victory when the FISA Court sided with the Internet company and ordered the Obama administration to declassify and publish a 2008 court decision justifying the Prism program.

The government is expected to decide by August 26 which parts of the 2008 opinion may be published, according to a separate court filing by the Justice Department.

The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately comment on Thursday's letter.