Twibbon now uses OAuth - an open standard for authorisation adopted by Twitter which allows users to login to applications without sharing their password.

This much more secure method has now been implemented around the Twibbon site, allowing you greater peace of mind when joining a cause or creating a Twibbon.

At the top right of the home page, you will now see a link that invites you to log into your twitter account. Clicking here will send you to Twitter where you can login to your account, and then be redirected back to Twibbon.com.

Not only is OAuth incredibly secure, it will greatly speed up your Twibbon experience. Once you have logged into Twitter, you can join Twibbons, create causes and edit your profile with just a single click! There's no need to re-enter your login details ever again.

OAuth was a feature that was requested frequently amongst the Twibbon community and it's great to finally make it a reality. Please share your thoughts on our new feature in the comments below, over on our forum or @twibbon.

Happy (Secure) Twibboning!

The Twibbon Team

Could ‘Twibbons’ be the secret weapon in Gordon’s online war?

John Prescott    

Jim Knight  

Kelly McCarthy

The digital drama that has dominated the UK’s political coverage this week took another turn yesterday, as Labour politicians escalated their presence on social networking site, Twitter, by donning ‘Twibbons’ – small Labour Rosettes – in the corner of their profile pictures.

The Labour party’s decision to create a 20-page document outlining their strategy for communicating through Twitter, has been the subject of both positive and derogatory press in recent days.

The Twibbon was created by @david_taylor, a Labour activist, and was quickly employed by MP Kerry McCarthy, who was named by The Independent on Monday as the most influential minister on Twitter.

Within minutes, councillors, ministers and student Twitterers were adding the Twibbon to their avatar pictures and by late evening, John Prescott had adopted the Twibbon, following his blog on David Cameron’s now ignominious radio interview.

Curiously, there has been a half-hearted response from the opposition, with some Conservatives adopting their own Twibbon and giving credence to the perception that the Tories are unclear as to their own position on Twitter. This campaign has attracted support from the likes of South East Regional Chairman Paul Swaddle, but has not taken off with the vim of the Labour effort.

  Paul Swaddle                

OAUTH UPDATE

OAuth is now live on Twibbon. Read our post about it here: http://blog.twibbon.com/oauth-is-live

This means that you'll never have to give your login details to Twibbon.com anymore, only Twitter.

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Twibbon needs you to enter your Twitter username and password in order to update your Twitter profile image and send the support tweet for the cause.

When you enter your username and password into Twibbon we pass these details directly to Twitter. Together with your credentials we send Twitter your new profile image (including your Twibbon!) and text for the tweet to say you have joined your Twibbon cause. Twitter takes care of the rest.

That’s it.

Your login details are not used for anything else and nor are they stored. This approach has also been adopted by the popular TwitPic service, although they also save your details for your convenience – we don’t do that; that’s why you need to keep entering them!

As we do not store your details you can be certain that we will not share them with anyone else nor can we perform any unauthorised tweeting on your behalf.

So add your Twibbons at will. Oh, and please tell your friends!

OAuth
We will shortly be offering OAuth as alternative method for logging in to Twibbon. The advantage of using this will be that we can keep you logged in and therefore save you time. It also means that you will pass your credentials directly to Twitter yourself rather than via Twibbon.

The disadvantage of this is that it takes a few more steps for you to login this way and relies entirely on this aspect of the Twitter service being available – which has caused problems for some service providers in the past. This is why we have not started out with this implementation and are offering it as an alternative rather than the primary means to get a Twibbon.

Thanks for continuing to use Twibbon!

The Twibbon Team

It's only been a few days since our last update, but we've been working night and day to bring you more new features that you've been requesting on our forum.

1. Hover Descriptions
A tasty little feature that now displays each cause's name, the number of supporters and the founder of the cause. We belive this to be much more visually appealing, and allows us more space to promote more Twibbons on the home page. Win-win all round!

2. Profile Page Updates
We've added a nice big button to each user's profile page that will allow you to follow said user, as well as a widget that displays their latest tweets. Our continued integration with Twitter will allow you to interact with other supporters much more easily.

3. Duplicate Supporters
We've now removed all duplicate supporters from causes. If you have any need to re add a Twibbon (e.g. you reverted to an old avatar), rejoining a cause will no longer register you as 2 supporters. We will still add the Twibbon and tweet out on your behalf when you rejoin.

If you have any suggestions for what new features you'd like to see on Twibbon, please let us know on the forum, @twibbon, or via support@twibbon.com. You can also let us know what you think of these new features or how well a job you think we're doing (nice emails only please :D).

Thanks for continuing to use Twibbon!

The Twibbon Team

New Features

A brand new release of Twibbon has just gone live with some tasty new features that will allow greater control for supporters and founders alike.

1. My Profile

At the top right of the Twibbon home page, each Twibbon user is now able to access a profile page. From here, they can:

• View your history and see what causes you have joined in the past
• Revert back to your original avatar or any of the avatar's in your history
• View which causes you have created

The creation of this much demanded page will give you the power to add, switch between and delete Twibbons with just one click.

2. New Layout

A cleaner design has been created, with the 3 main functions of 'Home', 'Create' and 'Find' taking centre stage, and support functions appearing in a bar along the top of the website.

There is also now information on the amount of causes created (Top Bar) and total amount of supporters (Recent Supporters).

3. Find

The new 'Find' function has an enhanced search which makes it easier and faster to find the causes you want to support.

4. How to make a twibbon

When creating a new cause, we now offer a handy link to our blog post on 5 tips for creating a top Twibbon.

5. Recognition

On our cause pages, we now show which user created said cause, allowing you to boast to your friends about how many supporters you've gathered :-). The founder of the cause can also edit the Twibbon from here.

Next Release

We have been listening to your suggestions and hope to have the following features (amongst others) implemented within the next week:

1. OAuth

**UPDATE**

Twitter's API does not support file transfer using OAuth. Therefore we can get users' avatars from their Twitter profiles, we just can't put them back with the Twibbons on top. We are still trying to find a way to fix this, but unfortunately, for this reason, we cannot offer OAuth support at this time. Apologies.

2. Avatar Preview

Soon you will be able to see what your avatar looks like post-Twibbon before you join a cause.

3. Milestone Tweeting

In the next 7 days, we will start tweeting out anytime a particular cause reaches 100, 1000, 10000, etc. supporters.

4. Duplicate Supporters

Our next release will filter out duplicate supporters (people who have joined twice or rejoined a cause).

5. Support for Transparent PNGs

As it says on the tin!

What Do You Want To See In Twibbon?

As always, we truly value your comments, queries and suggestions for Twibbon. To offer your thoughts, check out our forum, reply to us on twitter at @twibbonsupport, or fire us an email at support@twibbon.com.

We hope you enjoy these new features and greatly appreciate your continued use of Twibbon.

Thanks,

The Twibbon Team

5 Tips for creating a top Twibbon.

Update: You can now create Twibbons online without using a graphics package with our new features! See here for more details.

1)      Choose a Cause: People are passionate. Whether it’s for a charity, political movement, lifestyle choice or sports team, everyone has a Twibbon in them, waiting to burst free! Check your Twibbon hasn’t already been created using the ‘Search’ function – duplicate causes will only confuse and divide your supporter base. 

2)      Transparency: For your profile picture to remain visible, the background of a Twibbon must be transparent. This is easily achievable through any good design software such as Pixlr.com. In Pixlr, simply select ‘Layers’ drop down menu and select ‘Layer Properties’. Reduce the Layer Opacity to 0% and your image will have a transparent background. Phew!

3)      Resolution: To ensure your Twibbon renders well, make sure that your canvas size is ideally 200 x 200 pixels. This can be found in the ‘Image’ drop down menu in Pixlr.

4)      Naming: Consider adding a #hashtag to your cause’s name. This means that when your cause is retweeted, it will be identified as a trending topic on Twitter and will drive more traffic to your Twibbon join page and generate more interest in your cause.

5)      Be Creative!:  A majority of Twibbons are overlaid in the bottom right corner of a profile so why not create one that displays in the top left corner allowing Twitter users to support multiple causes? Just a suggestion.

Got it?! Congratulations! You are now fully equipped to...

By popular demand, new features have been integrated to improve users' Twibbon experience. We identified suggestions and concerns about the service through our UserVoice Feedback Forum, where we are enjoying an useful ongoing dialogue with the Twibbon community.

1) Search Function:

This addresses a concern that a number of users raised when Twibbon initially went live. By searching for causes, users avoid the risk of duplicating Twibbons and are able find their particular affiliation more easily. This function is accessible from the home page and also from a new 'Find' sub-page.

2) Twibbon Replace Function:

This feature was integrated in order to address a concern by users who wanted to change the appearance of a cause's Twibbon. Previously, a duplicate cause with a new design would have had to be created, losing the momentum and support generated by the Twibbon. To eliminate the possibility of abuse, only the creator of the Twibbon has the power to replace the design and the avatars of supporters with the original Twibbon will not be affected, although they will be notified of the new design should they want to upload it. This function is accessible from 'Join' pages, as seen here.

3) Embed Twibbon Button

To broaden awareness of their cause, users can now embed their Twibbon on external sites with HTML code, which we have provided with simple instructions at the bottom of Twibbon 'Join' pages, as seen in the above image.

We’re not done yet! At Twibbon Towers, we are working hard to make your experience of Twibbon more convenient and enjoyable. Expect to see plenty of new functions, features and alterations in the coming days and weeks – and check back here for regular updates!

We love hearing from our tweeple – if you have a suggestion that could improve Twibbon, please let us know by using the UserVoice Feedback Forum and follow us at http://twitter.com/twibbon!!

Thanks,

The Twibbon Team,

http://twibbon.com

www.stormideas.com