Twitter Headlines: Obama, Palin Accounts, Credit, and Sharia Law

Usually I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel of Twitter headlines after picking out the super-celeb and sports stories about someone famous tweeting something their manager or coach disapproves of, but this week is rife with tasty tidbits!

Obama Hacker says "Excusez-moi!"

A 25-year old French man has been apprehended as a hacker who got into Barack Obama's Twitter account. Great: another reason for Americans to baselessly hate refined wine and delicious cheeses. Of course, all the blame doesn't go to the man himself; when your password is "pelosi" it's not rocket science to hack.


Palin Takes Aim

Sarah Palin's healthcare tweet:

Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: "Don’t Retreat Instead – RELOAD!" Pls see my Facebook page.

Oopsie! I get it. I understand the figurative language. Unfortunately, I suspect it will take less than 2 weeks for someone somewhere to take that literally and act upon it. When you're famous, social media also contains an aspect of responsibility.

(Note: She's also getting a show on Discovery)


Social Media & Your Credit?

Seriously, are we shocked by this? Years ago, I had a credit card company I'd been with for years run a credit check and - without notice - raised my rate by over 10% because they didn't like my debt-to-income ratio. Colleges and employers readily use social media checks as often as they do background checks. And now companies are checking out Twitter and Facebook for excuses to increase rates or deny you credit? I've got 3 words for you:




Amputation Chatter Cut Off in Nigeria

A Nigerian court has ordered no more chatting about a guy who was punished with amputation for stealing a cow.

An order is hereby given restraining the respondents either by themselves or their agents from opening a chat forum on Facebook, Twitter, or any blog for the purpose of the debate on the amputation of Malam Buba Bello Jangebe.

Bwa-ha-ha! A chat forum on Twitter. They must be really good at the internets.

Slightly more disturbing:

You would think that social media sites are not particularly popular with Sharia Law proponents. Wrong. After a British guy ended his marriage on Facebook last year, a couple of Sharia lawyers claimed that, rather like SMS, divorce on Facebook or Twitter would be acceptable.

Wha-what?

Not that I agree with it, but as opposed to our own courts, it's interesting to see that Sharia law has someone paying attention to emerging technology and social media.


That's it this week. Cheers!