By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:02 PM
It’s the end of an era for tech blog Mashable. Today, the venerable new media site replaced the iconic image of its founder, Pete Cashmore, on its Twitter account.
Cashmore had long been the “face” for Tweets from the official Mashable Twitter account, @mashable. When he started the Twitter account for the site in 2007, he used an image of himself as the Twitter avatar, and things have stayed the same since then.
Now, on the heels of a sitewide redesign, Cashmore addressed the issue of his mug on the Twitter account.
“When I go to conferences, a lot of people tell me that they read my tweets,” Cashmore wrote in a post on Mashable a few minutes ago. “And while I’m thrilled that people follow the account, and flattered that people think that I’m so prolific, I can no longer take credit. We have a talented Community team that has built our social strategy and engages our community across all of our social channels.”
Although Cashmore’s face will no longer grace Tweets from the Mashable accounts, he does maintain a personal Twitter account, and will continue to post from there, using his own likeness.
By Gilbert Falso :: 12:09 PM
A series of horrific storms descended on the state of Oklahoma yesterday, leaving a swath of death and destruction in their wake. Several tornadoes formed and touched down, with the most severe damage coming to the community of Moore, located on the outskirts of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
The massive storm was, at times, up to a mile wide, and packed winds estimated to be at least 200 mph. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, and an elementary school was destroyed, including several student fatalities.
Oklahoma officials with the state’s medical examiner’s office have so far confirmed 24 people dead.
Below, a video captured by Charles Cook, shows the formation of the deadly Moore tornado. It was taken in Newcastle, a town about ten miles southwest of Moore. This tornado picked up strength and speed before plowing in to Moore several minutes later.
By Paul Thomson :: 4:29 PM
With the Yahoo acquisition of blogging service Tumblr yesterday, competing blog host, WordPress.com reported an uptick in the number of blogs imported into its system.
Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, posted on his blog yesterday that imports of Tumblr content into WordPress.com-managed blogs peaked at 72,000 posts per hour after the news of the acquisition was made public. Normally, Tumblr users import between 400 to 600 posts an hour into WordPress on any given Sunday.
Such a large influx of content from Tumblr is not surprising. Many users with blogs on Tumblr are unsure of what Yahoo will do with the service once it takes over, despite Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s assurances that things will stay the same, and that Yahoo “won’t screw it up” with the Tumblr purchase.
While Mayer may have promised not to screw anything up – she certainly didn’t promise to monetize the platform. During a call with Yahoo’s investors this morning, Mayer explained the mechanics of Tumblr and its dashboard feature. Tumblr currently features some ads on user dashboards, but Mayer told the board that Yahoo, “would like to look at them and understand how we could introduce ads, in a very light ad load, where the impact is really created, because the ads really fit the users’ expectations and follow the form and function of the dashboard.”
Yahoo’s head of finance, Ken Goldman, also mirrored Mayer’s outlook for Tumblr, saying that Yahoo hopes Tumblr will have an impact on overall revenue as soon as next year.
Times will likely change for Tumblr users soon, and change fast.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:44 PM
Italian company Ferrero, the parent behind the Nutella brand, that deliciously sweet hazelnut chocolate spread, has decided that it doesn’t want fans online to honor the chocolatey goodness of its product.
Ferrero sent a cease and desist letter last week to a woman who runs the website “World Nutella Day.”
The day, an event that the owner of the site has been running for about seven years, started out simply as Nutella fans sharing recipes and swapping tips for baking with the spread. Over the years, along with the spread of online social networks, the event has morphed into an online gathering with thousands of fans Tweeting about it, sharing recipes on Pinterest, and posting pictures to Facebook.
“On May 25, 2013, I’ll be darkening the World Nutella Day site, nutelladay.com, and all social media presence (Facebook, Twitter), in compliance with a cease-and-desist I received from lawyers representing Ferrero, SpA (makers of Nutella),” she posted on her website. “The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I’ve had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA., and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants.”
Although Nutella’s official Facebook page does not allow fans to post, it does allow fans to comment on posts made by the page, and right now, they’re getting an earful from customers who are upset with their plans to cancel future instances of World Nutella Day.
By Paul Thomson :: 10:35 PM
A series of tornadoes tore through parts of the midwest today, with states like Kansas and Oklahoma among the hardest hit.
Many amateur and professional weather spotters took to their cameras and captured footage of the storms as they swept through their towns. Below are some of the videos, which were posted to YouTube.
Large tornado near Wichita, Kansas
Rope tornado near Viola, Kansas
Tornado in Carney, Oklahoma