Social payment service company Ribbon announced today that it has been granted permission once again by Twitter to use its Product Cards. Yesterday, hours after the company launched in-stream payments within Twitter, the social networking company put an end to it for unknown reasons. Now it’s back, but not in its original form.
According to the company’s blog post, co-founder Hany Rashwan writes that he had a “productive conversation” with Twitter over the surprising deactivation. But now that it has been re-enabled, it will certainly affect what the company released yesterday. He states that while its vision for Twitter has been compromised, YouTube annotations and in-stream payments on Facebook remain as they were.
The relevant parts of Rashwan’s post relating to Twitter is below:
After a productive conversation with Twitter, we’ve been given access again to Product Cards, and are actively implementing support for Ribbon content. While this isn’t the same in-stream payments we released yesterday, that is still our big vision and one that we’ll actively work on finding a way to enable.
It’s important to note that this in way affects what we’ve already released in our product. We’re still doing in-stream credit card payments on Facebook today, and that’s still very much active.
In addition to that, we have support for putting our links on YouTube. Through our button, we also enable you to embed the whole process on your own website, blog, WordPress, or Tumblr.
On a personal note, the amount of support we’ve received from everybody has been overwhelming. What we have shown yesterday is that our vision and product are extremely well-received. That’s what motivates us every day.
Based on the above statement from Rashwan, it appears that Twitter had a particular issue with the payments feature of Ribbon. What specifically the complaint or violation to its terms of service remain unknown. However, it’s rather interesting considering that Chirpify, another social commerce platform similar to Ribbon has been able to utilize in-stream payments for a while now, but perhaps it was slightly different in execution.
We’ve reached out to both Ribbon and Twitter for comment and will update this if we hear back.
While we haven’t heard from Twitter, Rashwan tells us: “We have been given access to Twitter’s Product Cards. Our vision to bring in-stream payments to every platform, including Twitter, is still the target we’re aiming for, especially given the overwhelming positive support from users. We’re in extensive contact with Twitter and will work on making a solution that makes sense to both Ribbon & Twitter.”
Photo credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
What would you do if you launched an app capable of processing payments without ever leaving Twitter and it was immediately shut down by Twitter?
Well, if you were the CEO of Ribbon, you’d tell the world about it and make Twitter (collectively speaking) look like a jerk.
And if you were the CEO of Chirpify, a Twitter payment processing competitor, you’d likely grin from ear to ear over this decision.
Hany Rashwan, Co-founder & CEO of Ribbon blogged about the experience, saying (in part) that a little over an hour after it launched and “with no heads up, our integration of Twitter Cards was taken down, and now Ribbon links go back to Ribbon.co without the in-stream buying experience.”
Before we released this, we made sure to validate our Twitter Card implementation (screenshot below), and all lights were green. We’ve had discussions with Twitter in the past, and are eager to find a way to work together. This is clearly something that’s good for not only Twitter, but also for Twitter users all over the world.
And shared this screenshot as proof that all lights were, in fact, green:
Why did Twitter revoke access? Folks are speculating, as Twitter isn’t saying, but maybe it just doesn’t want another payment processing app on its platform. It already has a payment processing partnership with American Express and then there’s Chirpify to consider – both are viable consumer options.
But, who knows? Maybe there’s room in the nest for another choice.
In Rashwan’s update today, we learn that Ribbon has “access again to Product Cards, and are actively implementing support for Ribbon content, [but] this isn’t the same in-stream payments we released yesterday” but it IS progress. More progress than we would expect, honestly, considering.
But you tell us: Was calling Twitter out about its actions a smart move? How would YOU have handled the situation?
(Cutting ribbon image from Shutterstock)
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Flickr, LinkedIn — the list of leading social networks businesses and brands must suddenly pay attention to goes on and on. Needless to say, it can be a daunting task to keep track of the social media marketing world when it comes to your business. Before you get overwhelmed, know that there are a number of handy online tools, software programs and apps out there that can not only help you save time, but also simplify your social presence. While many great options exist to choose from, to save time, we’ve narrowed the list down to seven of our favorite tools that any corporate enterprise should be using.
1. TweetDeck is a social media dashboard application that helps you manage Twitter and Facebook accounts all in one place. If you are big on interaction (shares, retweets, etc.) this is a great way to scroll across and see what’s going on, find out where your business was mentioned in conversation, and respond to several accounts at once. TweetDeck is ideal for people who manage multiple social media accounts, however no in-depth analytics are currently provided with this service.
2. HootSuite is a social media management system that also allows the user to manage multiple networks at once.It currently supports Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Foursquare, WordPress, Mixi and even MySpace. HootSuite has a great scheduling system that allows you to pre-program an infinite amount of posts for future sharing, a huge time saver. Users can also look at the scheduler page to see what posts they’ve scheduled for the future, and HootSuite also keeps track of all-important analytics.
3. AddThis is a social bookmarking service that can be integrated into a website with the use of a widget. Once this widget is added, website visitors can then bookmark an item using Facebook, Google Bookmarks, Pinterest and Twitter. Capable of boosting shares and user pass-along, it’s a handy way to promote specific pieces of content, sites or initiatives.
4. Instagram is a free photo sharing platform that allows users to take featured photos and apply visual filters that can transform the look and feel of the image. Easy sharing support makes it simple to post these photos on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, which provides professional with a unique way to personalize social media content. Popular with the technorati, it’s a surprisingly practical and handy way to add a little sparkle to any snapshot.
5. PinReach is a Pinterest tool that helps you view activity, measure impact and gauge success on your Pinterest pages. This analytics tool is the leading Pinterest solution for small businesses, according to MoneyandRisk.com. Its two main purposes are to assess Pinterest marketing engagement and to identify new marketing and sales leads. Consider it a handy go-to for those who are frequent users of the popular image-based social network.
6. Storify is a social media service that combines multiple parts of a story into one cohesive whole. Or, in plain English, if you have a topic that is trending or being discussed across different social media accounts, you can curate pieces from each account and compile them all in one spot, creating a more easily read and followed narrative timeline. Users can reorder the pieces, add text and massage previous posts to create one larger piece. This can be used as a marketing tool for current customers or to woo new clients.
7. YouTube’s Audience Rentention Report. SocialMediaExaminer.com lists this as the single most important social media marketing tool to come around in a long time. Noting that many videos are carefully tailored to maximize search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, time watched by viewers, and prompt specific reactions, this solution helps you see which audience your clips are reaching, monitor audience habits, and strategize accordingly. Video production and distribution cost companies countless millions every year: Using such targeting tools, you can more effectively aim your marketing muscle where it counts.
Scroll through your Facebook feed and you’re likely to endure artful photos of people’s lunches, statuses bragging about European vacations, and plenty of vague emotional broadcasting (“So upset right now.”)
It turns out the people posting this anodyne material may be more likely to have anxiety or alcohol problems than the people who tend to stay away from the site altogether.
A new study conducted by Russell Clayton, now a doctoral student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, found that college freshmen who were anxious or drank to excess were more “emotionally engaged” with Facebook than average students.
A university press release details the study, which was originally published in the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior.
Clayton asked 225 students about their “perceived levels of loneliness, anxiousness, alcohol use, and marijuana use” as well as their level of Facebook engagement.
The anxiety piece of the study seems intuitive. “People who perceive themselves to be anxious are more likely to want to meet and connect with people online, as opposed to a more social, public setting,” Clayton said.
As for alcohol, Clayton explained that “when people who are emotionally connected to Facebook view pictures and statuses of their Facebook friends using alcohol, they are more motivated to engage in similar online behaviors in order to fit in socially.”
Since alcohol is considered socially acceptable, Clayton theorizes, people who drink a lot may feel a pull toward social networking. Marijuana, on the other hand, is not considered as normative, and people who use it reported less Facebook connectedness.
Studies on the mental state of Facebook users are nothing new. In 2010, researchers found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that people who use the site heavily are more likely to be narcissistic than others.
And whether Facebook is a healthy venue for anxious people is hardly obvious. A 2012 study found that using simply using the site makes many people anxious.
One of the world’s biggest newspapers, the Daily Mail, has run a big article on the abuse claim that a woman named Jenn Allen made against TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington last week:
There’s no new news in the Mail article. It consists mostly of pictures of Allen, who is described as “the latest in a string of beautiful and successful women with whom Arrington has been romantically linked.”
What’s notable about the article is that the Mail is a mainstream publication. So this will likely raise awareness of the claim against Arrington, further damaging his reputation. It will also likely increase the pressure on Allen to either elaborate on what happened or withdraw her claims.
To be clear:
Jenn Allen has accused Mike Arrington of committing at least two felonies. First, physically abusing her. Second, “raping” her friend.
Those are extremely serious claims.
Although they were instantly taken as fact by some in the tech community, they were also made in a highly unconventional way:
In a Facebook comment left at 2:06am and then in a follow-up blog comment on Gawker.
To say that these are not the typical forums for physical assault claims is an understatement.
In the days since Allen made these claims, Gawker and other publications have researched them and others and learned the following:
- 15 years ago, Arrington was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint and investigation at a company called RealNames. Importantly, the investigation was resolved without Arrington being reprimanded in any way. In other words, as far as the company was concerned, nothing inappropriate happened.
- A couple of years ago, there was a story going around that Arrington threw a friend named Megan Asha against a wall. Importantly, Asha has since denied this story and said that she and Arrington remain friends.
- Two girlfriends of Arrington have told TechCrunch that there was no abuse in their relationships.
In other words, with the exception of Jenn Allen’s late-night Facebook post and follow-up blog post—both of which allege that Arrington committed felony assault—there have yet to be any other instances revealed in which Arrington is alleged to have physically abused anyone.
Allen has gone silent since making the claims. Arrington, meanwhile, has yet to comment publicly.
Now that this story has hit the mainstream media, it is unlikely to just go away. So it’s time to get to the truth (or at least more details).
Jenn Allen has accused Mike Arrington of two serious crimes, both of which are damaging to his reputation. If Arrington committed these crimes he should be held accountable. If he didn’t, meanwhile, he should be exonerated (not just legally, but publicly).
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