Social Media Newsfeed: Twitter Sued Again | Apple Buys WiFiSlam

Click here to receive the Morning Social Media Newsfeed via email. Twitter Sued for $50 Million over Anti-Semitic Tweets (AllTwitter) We told you about Twitter’s refusal to identity the account holders behind a series of anti-Semitic tweets and then a French court ordering Twitter to comply ... and now Twitter is getting sued for holding out. But those on the other side of this lawsuit shouldn’t start counting their money yet, because in true Twitter form, the scrappy little blue bird is coming out swinging. CBS News The Union of Jewish French Students, UEJF, has doubled down in its battle with Twitter and said it filed a $50 million lawsuit against the social network. The cause of the suit? User data for anti-Semitic tweets. International Business Times Last October, the UEJF sued Twitter after the hashtag "#unBonJuif" (French for "#aGoodJew") became the third most popular trending topic on Twitter in France. With so many tweets indexed under that hashtag, many users took the opportunity to post Holocaust jokes, racially charged statements (e.g. "#aGoodJew is a dead jew"), photos of dustpans filled with dust and even calls to kill more Jews. Politico In January, a French court ruled that the U.S.-based social networking site must hand over data to help identify the users “within the framework of its French site.” Twitter on Thursday filed its appeal against the January ruling, a company spokesperson said. ZDNet Twitter also said that it has held discussions with the UEJF, but, "as their filing of a case demonstrates, the association is unfortunately more interested in theatrical rhetoric than in finding the appropriate international processes to gain access to the requested data." Apple Acquires Indoor GPS Startup WiFiSlam for $20M (TechCrunch) The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has acquired WiFiSlam, an indoor GPS startup that enables smartphones to pinpoint its location — along with that of your friends — in real time up to 2.5 meters in accuracy. Apple paid $20 million to acquire WiFiSlam, although the specific terms of the deal have not been shared as of yet. The Wall Street Journal/Digits The two-year-old startup has developed ways for mobile apps to detect a phone user’s location in a building using Wi-Fi signals. It has been offering the technology to application developers for indoor mapping and new types of retail and social networking apps. CNET Apple, of course, tossed Google Maps as the default mapping service in iOS and launched its own mapping app, which, on its debut last September, was lambasted for its shortcomings. Since then, Apple has stayed relatively quiet on improvements to its Maps app. Facebook Disabled Website at HQ, Prompting Employees to Use Mobile (AllFacebook) Facebook has been big on dogfooding its employees, and it appears the latest round came when the company shut off its website internally, forcing employees to only use their mobile applications. Facebook product manager Josh Williams, formerly CEO of Gowalla, told attendees at South by Southwest that Facebook blocked some employees’ access to Facebook.com at the campus for a while in an effort to get them to communicate using the native mobile apps. David Ko Sees Mobile as Critical for Zynga’s Comeback in 2013 (VentureBeat) Mobile gaming is perhaps the most strategic market in gaming now, and David Ko, chief operations officer of Zynga and No. 2 in command next to chief executive Mark Pincus, knows it. Ko is optimistic that Zynga will succeed in mobile with titles such as Draw Something 2 (which was outed by Ryan Seacrest) coming this year. Take A Tour of YouTube Space LA with Google Street View (SocialTimes) Last November, YouTube Space Los Angeles officially opened its doors to YouTube creators looking to learn, collaborate and up their game. Now, YouTube Space LA is “virtually” open to everyone on Google Street View. The Personal Social Network Couple Celebrates its One-Year Anniversary with 1 Million Users (The Next Web) Couple, formerly known as Pair, the couples mobile app, has reached the 1 million user milestone. A year after it was started, the service appears to have flourished as a means to allow two people in a relationship to keep in touch. SnappyTV Powers Real-Time March Madness Video Highlights on Twitter (LostRemote) March Madness is now under way, and if you’re following @MarchMadness on Twitter, you’ll discover a steady stream of “real time highlights” from games as they air. Expand one of these tweets, and you’ll see an embedded video player — displayed as a “Twitter card” — that automatically plays a quick pre-roll ad followed by a short highlight from the game. Facebook CEO Zuckerberg, Other Tech Execs to Form D.C. Advocacy Group (AllThingsD) Mr. Zuckerberg is going to Washington. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is involved in early efforts to form an issues advocacy organization in Washington D.C. in conjunction with other tech executives, according to people familiar with the matter. Three Ways Facebook Hashtags Could Help Brands (PRNewser) Facebook hasn’t confirmed it yet, but most observers expect a hashtag option nearly identical to the one we all overuse so often on Twitter to launch in the near future. Marketers and PR pros are pretty excited about the potential change, and we spoke to Stacey Acevero, social media manager at Vocus, to figure out why.

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Social Media Newsfeed: Twitter Sued Again | Apple Buys WiFiSlam

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