Technology News Archives

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitterAs I wrote about back in February, ManageTwitter is easily one of the most useful third-party Twitter services out there. While there are plenty of services that help you find new people to follow, there simply aren’t enough that help you prune those that you already follow. For those of us who have been using the service for years now, and have accumulated a lot of people we follow over that time, this is a problem. ManageTwitter solves it brilliantly. And now Twitter is going to kill them.

As the service posted on its Posterous blog yesterday, Twitter has sent the service an email letting them know that they’re breaking one of their rules. Specifically, this is what Twitter wrote:

We’re writing to let you know that your application, ManageTwitter, breaks our Automation Rules and Best Practices (http://help.twitter.com/entries/76915). Specifically, it facilitates bulk automated user unfollowing, which is not allowed. It’s best for both our users and your users if your application follows the rules, so please make the necessary changes, such as removing the “Select All” option (and requiring users to decide on each user individually) to bring your application into compliance.

The problem is that ManageTwitter’s service isn’t automated at all. It simply offers up suggestions for who you should unfollow. As ManageTwitter writes:

Yes our application does facilitate bulk unfollowing BUT ManageTwitter does not facilitate any *automated* bulk unfollowing, the user has to filter based on criteria. The user is still required to do significant processing to unfollow groups of people. Furthermore the system only allows unfollowing of up to only 100 at a time.

They go on to note that they understand Twitter’s rule, but again, do not believe they are breaking it. It’s possible that the portion Twitter doesn’t like is that the checkboxes next to usernames are automatically selected for deletion (I don’t particularly like this either because most users — even many of the ones they suggest — I don’t want to unfollow) — and if so, that’s an easy fix. I have an email into Twitter asking them if that would be good enough and will update when I hear back.

I can certainly see Twitter not approving of the name for trademark reasons — but they’re apparently not disputing that at the moment, just the bulk unfollow bit.

Or maybe Twitter just doesn’t like the fact that ManageTwitter has managed to help 35,000 users unfollow nearly 6 million people on the service. I can’t imagine any social network would like a third-party service changing the social graph in such a way. But again, this service is very useful to many users, and I believe makes Twitter better — even if it is slightly less connected.

ManageTwitter is asking that you retweet this tweet in support of them.

[Thanks Courtenay]

Information provided by CrunchBase

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter
6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter 6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter

6 Million Unfollows Later, Twitter Moves To Silence ManageTwitter

How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

4246v4 max 250x250 How Not To Handle A Resignation GracefullyThere are two sides to every story, but this email exchange between Mahalo founder and CEO Jason Calacanis and one of his (now former) employees is a lesson in how not to handle a resignation.

Jason says this was a private exchange and that he was just being honest with Evan. Evan says Jason can’t control his emotions.

If you’re going to trash your employee, do it verbally so that there isn’t a record of it on the Internet later. Or, don’t trash them at all and organize drinks with the team to see them off so that the rest of your employees know you care. Read from the bottom up.

April 20, 2010

Resignation

Jason Calacanis at his finest.

I should note, that instead of responding, he instead removed my email account. Real pro of him. Good thing I forwarded it to myself first icon razz How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

Begin forwarded message:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Evan Culver
Date: Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: Resignation
To: jason@calacanis.com

Really?

What is your deal? I will ultimately *have* to come back to Mahalo to pick up my things. Why so rash, what is your rationale? This seems really unprofessional and when other developers and employees see this, it just makes them want to leave ASAP. Is it really that big of a deal that people find better things for them than Mahalo?

On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:19 PM, wrote:

Evan,

Don’t come back to the office, do not email the team list.

Elliot will send you paperwork tomorrow. Today was your last day.

Good luck being employee 4,367 at a dying company.

Horribly disappointed in you.

J

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

From: Evan Culver
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:48:37 -0700
To: Jason Calacanis; Jacob Burch; Jeff Ammons
Subject: Resignation

Hey guys,

This isn’t an easy email to write, but as the subject suggests, this email is to inform you of my resignation from Mahalo effective in 2 weeks. An amazing opportunity came out of nowhere that I just couldn’t say no to. I’ll be writing code as a UI engineer at and contributing to the open-source project on a full-time basis.

I’ve never worked with such a great team and learned so much in such a short period of time. I owe all of it to the opportunity you’ve given me, Jason and I thank you immensely for that. Jeff and Jacob, you guys are amazingly brave for tackling such a great undertaking. I’m impressed you do it with seemingly such ease. Many people would fail quickly in your shoes and I applaud you for your leadership in such a fast-paced environment and against such great odds.

I certainly won’t be going far (), so I hope to continue a lasting relationship and hope that we all can work together sometime in the future.

Thanks again,

How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully
How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

How Not To Handle A Resignation Gracefully

Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

giltcitylogo Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYCGilt, the well-funded company that sells high-end luxury goods online at steep discounts in short-term “flash sales”, has its eyes set on a new target: Groupon. At least, it’s launching a new service that has a very similar model. In the last two days, Gilt has been sending some members invitations to ‘Gilt City‘, where they can get “exclusive local deals and offers up to 70% off.” The service is only available in New York City for now, but it’s clear that Gilt intends to expand it elsewhere. As with Gilt’s normal flash-sales, you’ll have to request an account to take part (it looks like existing accounts already work).

Like Groupon, Gilt City offers deals from local businesses (restaurants, beauty salons, etc.) and events. Deals are available in limited quantities and for a limited time. But the site differs in a few ways from Groupon: there doesn’t seem to be a minimum number of participants needed for a deal to become “activated”, and some stores are offering multiple deals. And unlike Groupon’s one-deal-per-day, Gilt only updates once a week for now.

Gilt is only the latest in a long, long string of Groupon-like sites to launch recently, but it’s in a better position than most. Gilt already has a strong brand presence, and it’s raised $48 million. But it’s typically focused on luxury goods whereas Groupon has a broader focus, so there’s likely room for the two to coexist.

Among the deals currently being offered are specials at a local salon, a trendy restaurant, and a show, all of which are high-end. However, there’s also a deal for the 16 Handles yogurt chain, which has a pretty broad appeal.

Thanks to Josh Goldman for the heads up.
giltcity Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC
gilt city new york Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC
Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

Gilt Launches Groupon Competitor ‘Gilt City’ In NYC

Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag

Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag

sunchips Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable BagI love our planet as next as the next person, but I despise efforts by companies and people to get credit for caring about the earth with empty gestures.

Like Pepsi’s ridiculous Aquafina press stunt. Or all this black screen Earth Day nonsense. Or bringing in goats to eat your lawn. Or banning black cars.

But I can’t find anything wrong with Frito Lay’s creation of a 100% biodegradable bag for SunChips. It will completely compost in 14 weeks under ideal conditions. I can imagine a day when most of our trash goes into our own back yard, simply to melt away into the ground.

Sure, it uses a corn based product, and there are all kinds of environmental issues with our corn production. But when you see the huge amount of trash accumulating around the world, including in our oceans, it’s hard to argue that this is a very, very good thing.

Watch the video of a bag biodegrading here. More detailed information on the process here.

Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag

Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag
Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag

Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag

Finally A Green Story I Can’t Mock: The Sun Chips Biodegradable Bag

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