Everyone who Tweets received an email early this morning with the subject line: Update: Twitter Apps and You about updates to the Twitter service. We have had a few questions from our Acorn customers about this email, so here are the answers:
It's very straightforward, basically explaining that Twitter will now require authorization for any apps- like Tweetdeck, Twitpic, etc- via OAuth, which is an authorization service. Basically- every time you try to use an outside app with Twitter, it will require a log-in to Twitter. It's very easy to use. Another cool thing is that all outside apps you are using will now be listed in your settings, and you will be able to "de-authorize" any apps you don't want from settings, too. The only thing you may have to as a result of this is to re-verify any apps you have been using up to now.
The other update concerns how Twitter will now use a service called http://t.co to make links posted on Twitter more transparent, by making the short link relevant to the actual link, and also to warn you if the link you're about to click may be potentially harmful. You should still use traditional link shortnening sites like http://tinyurl.com or http://bit.ly, as this new service won't replace link shorteners, it will only apply to links posted in Twitter. You can read more about that on Twitter's Blog.
Annie Buck
Pre-Development Manager
Acorn Marketing
