gisssala oniatario wetherley
Hedvig Horning
Elon Musk's clumsy brand shift from Twitter to X caused a potentially big problem this week when the social network started automatically changing "twitter.com" to "x.com" in links. The automatic text replacement reportedly applied to any URL ending in "twitter.com" even if it wasn't actually a twitter.com link.
The change apparently went live on X's app for iOS, but not on the web version. It seems to have been a problem for a day or two before the company fixed the automatic text replacement so that it wouldn't affect non-Twitter.com domains.
Security reporter Brian Krebs called the move "a gift to phishers" in an article yesterday. It was a phishing risk because scammers could register a domain name like "netflitwitter.com," which would appear as "netflix.com" in posts on X, but clicking the link would take a user to netflitwitter.com.
"A search at DomainTools.com shows at least 60 domain names have been registered over the past two days for domains ending in 'twitter.com,' although research so far shows the majority of these domains have been registered 'defensively' by private individuals to prevent the domains from being purchased by scammers," Krebs wrote.
One of the newly registered domain names inspired by X's text replacement is the example mentioned above. Navigating to netflitwitter.com will show you a message that says, "This domain has been acquired to prevent its use for malicious purposes." The webpage was set up by X user @yuyu0127_ and goes on to say:
As of April 8, 2024, the iOS Twitter (now X) client automatically replaces the text "twitter.com" in posts with "x.com" as part of its functionality. Therefore, for example, a URL that appears to be "netflix.com" will actually redirect to "netflitwitter.com" when clicked.
Please be aware that there is a potential for this feature to be exploited in the future, by acquiring domains containing "twitter.com" to lead users to malicious pages. This domain, "netflitwitter.com," has been acquired for protective purposes to prevent its use for such malicious activities.
In an article on Tuesday, Mashable wrote that X had fixed the problem "for some of the domains affected by this change" so that domains like netflitwitter.com no longer appeared as netflix.com. But at the time of that article's publication, Mashable said it was able to "confirm that the X for iOS app is currently still changing many other references of 'Twitter.com' to 'X.com.'"
A post by @Arcticstar0 lists some real Twitter URLs alongside "space-twitter.com." A screenshot in the Mashable article showed that at one point, this post, when displayed on the iOS app, rendered "space-twitter.com" as "space-x.com." But today, the same post when viewed in the iOS app displays "space-twitter.com" correctly while rendering the "twitter.com" link as "x.com."
Even though the Twitter.com domain is still active, used by many, and important pages such as its Help Center still rely on the domain, apparently it was imperative to the team that Xeet links simply must be on-brand.
Crucially, however, if a user tapped on that link, which again was displayed to them as Netflix.com, they would instead be taken to the original link netflitwitter[.]com, a domain that was kindly picked up by a fast-acting Xeeter so it couldn't be used by bad actors.
For those not in the know, soon after Musk took over, he fired the PR team and set all inbound communications to its inbox to auto-reply with a poop emoji. Now it's just: "Busy now, please check back later."
Without any official account of the timeline here, we resort to searching past Xeets to see how long the error went unchecked. Based on various users' posts, it appears it was allowed to run for at least nine hours, but potentially longer.
Twitter advanced search features make X a surprisingly powerful Twitter search engine. Using dozens of search operators, you can quickly find old tweets from specific users, on certain topics, and much more.
In the X / Twitter app, searches only display tweets and profiles. But with Twitter searcher tools like Tweet Binder and Audiense Connect, you also get Twitter stats that provide tons of additional insights.
Twitter advanced search operators help to find specific old tweets on X. The search result might either include or exclude specific words in the text, mentions, hashtags, etc. We cover all possible Twitter search commands in the next sections.
In addition to the fields above, Twitter advanced search filters (or operators) can refine search results. These commands work for advanced searches in the Twitter app or in third-party tools like Tweet Binder.
What can we search on Twitter? The answer is actually pretty simple: anything. Twitter advanced search is the way of obtaining very concrete results on Twitter. There are some basic Twitter search operators which are helpful if you are looking for hashtags, terms, accounts or links.
But there are also many others which make it easier to find tweets by date, by type, by language, etc. These Twitter search operators can also be used when using Tweet Binder. This is a way of creating a very useful and concrete report.
All these operators can be combined. You can try all these Twitter advanced commands in the search box below. Analyse any hashtag, keyword or mention on Twitter / X. Up to 200 tweets from the last 7 days.
With pro (paid) Tweet Binder reports, you can view all the tweets and sort by retweets, images, and links. You can also see a complete list of contributors and place tweets in binders for additional analysis.
Every pro Tweet Binder search functionalities also gives you the option to download tweets in XLSX format. With the Excel report, you can sort, filter, and further analyze tweets and contributors offline.
When you need to find accounts rather than tweets, Audiense Connect is the best free Twitter user searcher. With this platform, you can do Twitter handle search by username, keywords in bio, location or search twitter accounts for words.
You can view, download, and analyze this Twitter historical data. Then you can measure the full impact of the user or Twitter marketing campaign using the tweet activity, engagement, sentiment, and contributor stats.
This search type is helpful for spotting interaction trends, revealing relationship sentiment, and adding up total tweet volume. It can also provide more context for relationships with influencers and customers.
Because advanced Twitter searches can get so specific, you can use them to listen for certain topics or keywords. For example, you can find out how people are talking about your brand or other solutions in your category.
Tweet Binder reports offer in-depth stats and insights into hashtag tracking performance. In addition to impressions and engagement, they chart hashtag activity over time and calculate the economic value of the hashtag campaign. Try Twitter search for free.
Using these insights, you can find the most active and the most influential Twitter users on any topic. As a result, you can find relevant influencers and identify people to add to your Twitter community.
Use the filters in the left navigation to define the types of accounts you want to see. For example, you can opt to view active accounts that tweet at least 5x per day and have a follower ratio of at least 2.
Then you can analyze the types of users following your account, your competitors, or influencers in your niche. You can also understand their audience makeup and find valuable accounts to follow and engage.
YYYY will be the year, mm the month and dd the day. So for the first option, if we want to analyze tweets that mention @Netflix since the 8th of November we will write on the search box: @Netflix since:2021-11-08.
If you want to create a report with tweets from a specific city you can use the same command and add the name of the city. For example, if we want to create a report with tweets sent from Detroit the query will be:
For example, you may find that there are far more tweets in a certain language about a topic relevant to your business. These insights can inform your Twitter marketing strategy and help you decide whether to offer support or launch a dedicated account in that language.
It breaks down sentiment by tweets, contributors, and impressions so you can better understand the impact of the sentiment. It also shows a timeline for the entire report period so you can see if and how the sentiment changed over time.
Yes, there are a few ways to do an advanced Twitter search at no cost. To find accounts or tweets, you can use native tools in the Twitter app. To access tweet and user insights, use an advanced search tool like Tweet Binder to get a free report on up to 200 tweets or Audiense Connect tool to search Twitter users.
Javier is the founder and CEO at TweetBinder. With more than 10 years of experience in Twitter Analytics space, he is on the mission to build best-in-class Twitter marketing tools helping X community to thrive.
Dyn, a New Hampshire-based company that monitors and routes Internet traffic, was the victim of a massive attack that began at 7:10 a.m. ET Friday morning. The issue kept some users on the East Coast from accessing Twitter, Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, Tumblr, Reddit, PayPal and other sites.
Troubling to security experts was that the attackers relied on Mirai, an easy-to-use program that allows even unskilled hackers to take over online devices and use them to launch DDoS attacks. The software uses malware from phishing emails to first infect a computer or home network, then spreads to everything on it, taking over DVRs, cable set-top boxes, routers and even Internet-connected cameras used by stores and businesses for surveillance.
The source code for Mirai was released on the so-called dark web, sites that operate as a sort of online underground for hackers, at the beginning of the month. The release led some security experts to suggest it would soon be widely used by hackers. That appears to have happened in this case.
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