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It seems the mainstream rush to jump aboard Twitter is everywhere, and while seasoned bloggers and tech geeks have been using the service for years, it’s as well to remember that many individuals and businesses are only just getting their heads around blogging, let alone microblogging.

There’s no shortage of information online about using Twitter, with UK-based PR company Punch Communications one of the latest to set up online resources to help new users get the most out of their tweets.

I’d expect any forward-looking PR company to be both using and advising on the use of these newer forms of online communication. Punch has set up a fairly useful introduction to Twitter as well as two Wiki pages (presumably “Wiki” needs to be explained as well) covering useful Twitter applications and celebrity twitterers.

Punch’s MD, Pete Goold, commented that, “Twitter combines the best of both blogging and social media. With such buzz surrounding the service at present, we thought that a number of information tools for both the uninitiated and existing users alike might help individuals to get more out of their Twitter experience.”

The news came through a couple of days ago that Microsoft’s Live Hotmail CAPTCHA system has yet again been compromised by spammers.

The method works by using an army of zombie PCs (those that have been compromised by malicious software and can be remotely controlled) and a remote computer server to handle image decoding.

It’s not the first time Microsoft’s system has been compromised, and it likely won’t be the last. Other online accounts aren’t immune either. Spammers need lots of fake accounts in order to send emails and publish splogs.

At present, companies fight these attacks by making the images used in CAPTCHAs more complicated. This is only a stopgap “solution” though, and makes things more difficult for legitimate users trying to sign up for new services.

Finding a solution that minimises inconvenience to everyday users but thwarts those wanting to abuse the system isn’t easy, and is a wide-ranging and ongoing discussion. However, trying to close down the army of zombie PCs roaming the web would be a start, as it’s these that cause so many problems.

Until a system can be implemented that’s very difficult to circumvent, the problem of fake blogs, spam emails and blog comments will continue.

In the new-found celebrity playground of Twitter, Stephen Fry has just become the second most followed person. While Barack Obama has some 290,000 followers, Fry has doubled his count to over 200,000 in a little over two weeks.

It’s predicted that this quintessentially English celebrity, who tweets while stuck in lifts and is somehow able to follow close to 55,000 people, will overtake Obama some time next month.

Meanwhile, it’s not all smiles as twittering pop star Lily Allen has started a feud with Perez Hilton. Earlier jibes about Allen’s personal life moved on to album sales and gratuitous name calling.

While Allen says that she hates Hilton, the reverse is (apparently) untrue. “[It's] sad because I don’t hate her. I actually really enjoy her,” he confessed. “She’s just upset that I point out every time she’s a hot mess, which is quite often… she doesn’t like having her own words and actions thrown back at her, but that’s my job.”

Of course, plenty of others have used Twitter to have a go at one another, all in insults of 140 characters or less.

Google shuttered its question and answer site Google Answers more than two years ago. Yet Yahoo Answers continues to thrive and putting the phrase question and answer sites into Google yields more than a million hits.

TechCrunch is feeling the heat from Erick Schonfeld’s story on Last.fm handing over data to the RIAA. Which got a pretty harsh denial, and to TechCrunch’s defense, they did update the post with more and more information. Most people are pissed, however, and rightly so. The story was false, and although it is presented as a rumor, it could be hurting Last.fm. As it were, I think TechCrunch is taking a bigger hit, in credibility, despite a surprising defensive post from Duncan Riley.

Selling advertising alongside unmoderated user-generated content can be tricky because it’s near-impossible to guarantee the quality of that content.

On Twitter, anyone can use a particular hashtag even if their tweet has nothing to do with the subject.

However, the online publisher/advertising network Glam thinks it’s found a way to appease advertisers by guaranteeing a moderated feed of particular events via its “gWire” widget.

Starting with last weekend’s Oscars, Glam used a number of trusted editors to filter the raw #Oscars Twitter feed and only push through approved comments. The widget itself can be embedded on third party sites in much the same way as Twitter offers its own widgets, except the content is pre-approved.

Glam’s network of publishers may even be able to earn a share of any revenue generated, with the scheme possibly extending to those outside the network in the near future.

Glam’s CEO, Samir Arora, said that the feature works best when it’s covering an offline event with plenty of commentary. The Oscars is a great fit. The company may also do the same with FriendFeed and Facebook feeds.

In an age of blogging and tweeting, it’s hard to keep a secret.

Though Apple made it quite clear that its latest shareholders meeting was not to be live-blogged, it didn’t stop a couple of shareholders pushing out updates.

According to CNBC, Apple refused to allow journalists to carry in communications devices, thus making live reaction impossible. However, it did manage to run a live-blog of sorts based on the pings of “Cheddarmuff” and “idannyb”.

It’s just another example of how difficult it is for companies (even such a secretive one as Apple) to keep a lid on things in the age of near-ubiquitous instant mobile communication. In fact, banning such activities is only likely to increase the determination to break the rules.

Even when the press adheres to non-disclosure agreements and gagging orders, it doesn’t mean members of the public will. It’s a tricky situation for any company disseminating confidential information or trying to control the way that news and events are covered. I can’t see it getting any easier either.

In general optimizing a product feed is like optimizing a site.
- Unique titles and product descriptions/content based on Keyword research.

One of main things to remember is you will be rewarded with higher placement on the shopping engine by having more information and details than your competitors. This includes pictures. On Google in particular your site’s products will show in search if you optimize thoroughly, and have reviews. Once you have submitted, have past customers review your products.

After many “Google Slaps” heard around the world over the last couple of years, advertisers have learned Google is serious about relevance.

Google’s general philosophy surrounding AdSense ad placement is to make them blend with the rest of a site’s content, so it’s always struck me as a little strange that publishers have had no control over the fonts displayed.

That’s just changed, with Google announcing an update which allow ads to be rendered in a number of fonts. Don’t get too excited, though, because there’s a small selection — Arial, Times and Verdana.

You don’t get much control beyond that. Obviously, you can’t alter the size of the fonts because the ad blocks are specific sizes and you’d end up clipping ads (this often happens if a user manually increases the font size on their browser). It only works on ads displaying Latin-based characters, and it won’t affect image-based adverts.

The default is to use the “Standard AdSense font family” so you don’t have to worry that all your ads will suddenly transform into Times font if you don’t want them to. It will be interesting to see if this change makes any difference to conversion rates. Never an exact science, of course.

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