Twitter has launched a functionality that allows new users to sign up to the service from a third party website or application.

Twitter has created a new ‘Sign-Up’ API (application programming interface) which will make it possible for anyone to create an account when away from the site. The new Twitter Sign-Up API has not been released publicly, but it has just found its first implementation with popular online local guide Citysearch.Businesses with profiles on Citysearch which create Twitter accounts using the new API, will have their tweets appear on their Citysearch business page.

“Potential customers can make smarter decisions with the fresh information being shared with them in real time,” Twitter wrote on its blog, “and businesses can manage closer connections with audiences across the Web.”

The API also has shades of a future Twitter business model.

Businesses keep looking for new ways to integrate with Twitter, but the launch of the Sign-Up API with Citysearch may be one of the most important integrations yet.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project released a new report on the growing popularity of Twitter and other services used by people to post status updates to the Internet.This report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans’ use of the internet.

Twitter use and status updates in general are on the rise among Internet users overall and several specific user groups as compared to 2008 and earlier this year, according to research just released from the Pew Internet Project.

1) Thirty-five percent of those who use social networks reported that they also use Twitter , compared to 6 percent of users whose only social network is Twitter

2) The study also shows that more than half of all Internet users use a mobile, wireless connection, such as a laptop or cell phone.Mobile users also said they used their mobile devices primarily to stay in touch with others and access information online.

3) Interestingly, gadget geeks represent a large and growing group of Twitter users. Almost 40 percent of Internet users with four or more Internet-connected devices use Twitter.

4) The final growth area identified in the Pew study was younger users. Those under the age of 44 reported a rapidly increasing adoption rate, from 19 percent last year to 37 percent last year. Users 45 and older, on the other hand, have been much slower to adopt Twitter or a similar service.

Source:http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitter_use_up_among_internet_social_network_mobil.php

Here is an excellent post from Media140 ,an Independent media movement exploring the future of the ‘real-time’ web.The 140 reference in their name reflects the 140 character limit of Twitter posts and text messages.

Brands must take social media such as Twitter into account .People have always interacted with brands, and brands have always been social. But since social media turned this world into a publishing society, brands have found themselves in a new situation.

In the age of social media, Brands can fail to communicate, vanish or produce an outcry which can affect their business badly.

Social Media are a challenge for brands, and they have to be taken into account. The brand of today faces much more interaction. Depending which way you look at it, social media either forces or enables brands to develop new ways of communication with their customers.

[Read the complete story..]

Twitter’s co-founder, Evan Williams, talks exclusively to the Daily Telegraph about the future of online search and his plans for improving the micro-blogging platform.

Imagine a world where you were given answers to questions you didn’t know you had. That’s the future of search according to the chief executive of Twitter, the site every tech company wants a piece of.

“Search is a huge thing for us. I think about it a lot.”- says Evan Williams, co-founder and chief executive of Twitter.

“Location is an obvious one – we can tell quite easily where you are and what information you could be interested in from that. But with our new lists feature [which allows people to create groups of those they follow] and as we get better at curating and filtering the information we have, we will be able to serve people increasingly personalized real-time content. That’s valuable and will make people continue to use and rely upon Twitter.”

Mobile is another key area which Williams is prioritizing because of the mammoth gains in reach and revenue he believes it will bring. “Mobile is really exciting as our goal is to make Twitter essential to everyone’s lives. We want to help people make better choices on the move.
“We think we can do well on mobile because Twitter is native to it. The 140 character limit [the maximum length of a single tweet] was originally set so it could fit onto one text message. Most people don’t realise that,” he says.

Read the entire conversation here….