Terry Collins

Facebook hosting Communities Summit this summer in Chicago

Looks like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is trying to make good on his word to help users of the social network have more face-to-face interaction. Facebook will hold its first “Communities Summit” in Chicago on June 22-23, the company said Tuesday. The goal is to have a few hundred Facebook Groups administrators — the people …

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Twitter’s livestreaming effort takes a body blow from Amazon

Twitter got sacked big time when it lost out to Amazon in a livestreaming deal with the National Football League this season. We learned Tuesday the social network had been outmaneuvered, after the league chose e-commerce goliath Amazon to stream 10 “Thursday Night Football” games this year. The deal was reportedly valued at $50 million — five times more than …

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Twitter releases MLB streaming schedule after losing NFL deal

With Twitter striking out on streaming NFL football, it’s now shifting its focus back to baseball. The social network on Wednesday released its schedule of live-streaming Major League Baseball games in April. The action starts this Friday as the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs take on the Milwaukee Brewers. The weekly streams are part of a deal Twitter struck …

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March Madness app sets livestream record

Looks like national champ North Carolina isn’t the only big winner. The NCAA said Tuesday fans watched a record 98 million livestreams of the men’s college basketball tourney on the March Madness Live app. That’s a 33 percent increase compared to last year when more than 74 million tuned in to watch all 67 tournament games on 15 different platforms …

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No March Madness sadness over here: I beat Microsoft’s Bing!

I beat Bing Predicts! Yep, no mistype here. I beat Microsoft’s forecasting engine in a bracket battle over this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament. OK. I barely beat Bing. But I still won. Out of 65 games, I won 40 compared to Bing’s 38. Of course, we shared some defeats. Both of our picks to win the national title fizzled …

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Facebook Live gives glimpse into Oregon’s run to Final Four

If you’re an Oregon basketball fan following the Ducks on its improbable fun run to the Final Four — you’ve probably checked them out on Facebook Live, too. Before Saturday’s tip off against North Carolina, Oregon, affectionately nicknamed ‘The Webfoots,” has been giving fans rare, behind-the-scenes glimpses of its March Madness tourney journey using the social network’s popular live-streaming service. …

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Twitter replies don’t count usernames in 140

Twitter is giving its users a little more space. The social network said Thursday that when people reply back to fellow users, usernames will no longer cut into the 140-character limit in tweets. Usernames, such as @thecleanmachine, the Twitter handle for Sasank Reddy, a product manager at the social network, will now appear above the tweet’s text, rather than within …

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Twitter tackles NFL vote on Raiders’ move to Las Vegas

Talk about mixed emotions. Moments after the NFL announced Monday that owners overwhelmingly approved the Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, many took to Twitter to share their feelings as #Raiders became a top-trending topic on the social network. For the Raiders, it would be the team’s third move in franchise history after leaving Oakland for Los Angeles in 1982, …

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LinkedIn wants to keep you up on Trending Storylines

LinkedIn is recasting the way its members keep up with the latest headlines and topics. The professional network launched a new feature Wednesday called “Trending Storylines,” which displays curated news from editors based on members’ professions, favorite sites, and their LinkedIn connections and followers. LinkedIn hopes its new Trending Storylines curated news feature will keep members on the network longer. …

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Are your teens strung out on tech?

Amy Fleetwood was tired of all the fighting. Her daughters seemed caught up in nearly nonstop texting, watching videos and sending Snaps. She hoped the big screen would show them what their phones’ small screens were doing to them. So just before Thanksgiving, she took Martha, 13, and Sarita, 16, to see “Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age,” a …

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