Kanye West apologizes to Taylor Swift, wrote a song for her

Kanye West, the hip-hop star who caused controversy when he interrupted country singer Taylor Swift at the Grammys last year, has apologized to her (via Twitter) and revealed that he wrote a song for the 20-year old.

West 'unleashed a torrent of emotions on his official Twitter account', according to the Associated Press, while also acknowledging that he had done wrong in interrupting the order of events last year, as well as saying that the award Swift had won should have gone to Beyonce.

He also revealed, also via Twitter, that he had been the subject of death threats and much public disapproval since the incident. "How deep is the scar ... I bled hard ... cancelled tour with the number one pop star in the world ... closed the doors of my clothing office," he tweeted.

The incident at the Grammys in 2009 provoked worldwide media attention. President Obama even referred to West in a press conference as a 'jackass'. "I'm the guy who at one point could perform the Justin Timberlake on stage and everyone would be sooo happy that I was there," he wrote.

"People tweeted that they wish I was dead ... No listen. They wanted me to die people. I carry that. I smile and take pictures through that."

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Sarah Palin attacks Obama's defense of NY mosque

Sarah Palin took to the internet to publicly bash comments made by President Obama which defended the religious freedom of muslims living in the United States. Using social networks like Twitter and Facebook, the former Vice Presidential hopeful criticized Obama's lack of verbal continuity.

Reports were released today which suggest Obama has changed his view on the matter. See Palin's tweets below:

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Angelina Jolie joins Twitter, but doesn't want any followers

Angelina Jolie has joined the social networking site Twitter, but has protected her tweets so that only people she approves of can stalk her whenever they please.

According to various sources, the star requested the username @angelinajolie, even though another user was already using that account.

Us Magazine reports that, according to one of its sources, Jolie may become active on Twitter later this year, a site that has become famous for allowing users to send out bite-sized 140 character messages called 'Tweets'. [Us Magazine]

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Marc Jacobs and his boyfriend have officially split

Lorenzo Martone, the (former) partner of fashion designer Marc Jacobs, has confirmed rumors - via Twitter - that he and Jacobs have officially split.

This follows a Vogue interview several weeks ago where Jacobs was asked whether the couple was considering marriage - a question to which he replied, "no, I'm not getting married".

"Thanks for t notes. yes, I saw t press today. We are not together, haven't been in 2 months. And we will not comment on it. Sorry. We r fine [sic]," Martone's tweet read.

The celebrity section of the New York Post first reported the break-up, although, as many have pointed out, the report filed by the Post's Page Six was a little premature, when one considers that the couple was seen together a number of times following the report.

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Be careful what you tweet; it may cost you your job

CNN, the global news network founded by media mogul Ted Turner, has had its credibility police out in force after the company sacked a long-serving reporter who tweeted that she respected the man said to have inspired Hezbollah.

An official from the network said that Octavia Nasr was leaving CNN because her 'credibility has been compromised'.

According to the BBC:

Ayatollah Fadlallah, Lebanon's top Shia Muslim cleric, died at the age of 74. He was customarily described as the spiritual leader of the militant movement Hezbollah when it was formed in 1982 - a claim both he and the group denied.

After hearing of Ayatollah Fadlallah's death, she wrote on the micro-blogging site Twitter: "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot." [BBC]

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Google Gears Up to Take on Facebook, Twitter

Google is preparinganother attempt to crack the social networkingworld owned by Facebook, and to a lesser extent, Twitter.

Why is Google traveling down this path once again? Aren't the failures of Orkut, Buzz, Wave, etc. enough for Google to realize that it just doesn't understand social networking? Maybe, but Google can't afford to watch the web become social without it. 

As Google researcher Paul Adams explains in a huge deck of slides getting passed around on the web, people buying things are more inclined to trust their friends than strangers—or search ads.

Do you think Facebook or Google is more trustworthy if you're thinking about buying the new Prince CD? What about a new toaster? Or a new golf club? Today, it's probably Google, but soon enough you could be asking Facebook friends what to buy. It's this threat that should (and probably does) scare the pants off Google's executives.

Adams revealed some of these threats in his presentation—a great read in the context of him presenting these results to Google execs who are plotting "Google Me."

A couple things to keep in mind: This presentation isn't new. And it's not necessarily indicative of how Google feels. The company has hundreds of researchers. Still, we think this is instructive for people wondering why Google wants to get in the social network business. [Republished from www.businessinsider.com]

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Which social network do you suit?

In today's Venn Diagram of the day, we're exploring how different social networks cater to people with differing degrees of some common disorders. There you go, Facebook stalkers, it's not just you. [Image via TNW]

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New York Times bans the word 'Tweet'

The word 'Tweet' has become as embedded in social media culture as the term "friended", but don't expect to see it in the New York Times.


One of the world's most respected newspapers has put its foot down, complaining of the word's ambiguity.

To tweet, is to send out a small bite sized message 140 characters or less on the social networking site Twitter, which facilitates such literature known as 'micro-blogging'.

The Times, according to CNN, will stop using the word because it claims the word isn't actually standard English. The editorial team of the Times also took time to note that not everybody uses the social networking site, and therefore may not know what is meant by the word.

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Fish gotta swim...

Once again the iconic 'Fail Whale' is again gracing the screens of Twitter users all around the globe.

The image, which depicts a whale (symbolising the huge quantity of tweets in the social network's 'ecosystem'), shows when the site, which was founded by former Blogger CEO Evan Williams, is over capacity.

While up, the site is not functional, and the image has become an iconic and symbolic image of the new 'Web 2.0'.

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