January 2013 Highlights: #DataPrivacyDay, Vine, a Security Breach and more!

January 2013 was a busy month on the popular microblogging social utility tool we all affectionately know as Twitter.

Of course, during the month of January, one would expect lots of coverage on Twitter about the Oscars, Obama's inauguration, countless of major sporting events and Hollywood celebrities.

Separately of those typical topics, there were a few other interesting happenings on Twitter I feel are worth noting.

Here's my list of top Twitter pics for January 2013:

It's (Much) easier to embed tweets
The ability to embed tweets seems to have been streamlined recently. The embed code generated by Twitter for embedding tweets seams cleaner and much easier to use. It also seems to implement nicely when using WordPress. Boy am I glad about this improvement. I embed tweets into blog posts a lot and can tell the process is just much smoother. Also, in the past, you had to click the "Details" link in a tweet to access the ability to embed a tweet. Now, however, the "More" link allows one to email or embed a tweet without being taken to the "Details" page. Read more here.

#DataPrivacyDay
Data Privacy Day is held on January 28th every year. The effort, spearheaded by StaySafeOnline.org (a site by the National Cyber Security Alliance) empowers people to protect their privacy and control their digital footprint and escalate the protection of privacy and data as everyone’s priority. Of course, there's always a hashtag for such things on Twitter and, sure enough, the celebration on the microblog for all things data privacy was #DataPrivacyDay. Twitter used the occasion to launch its first ever Twitter Transparency Report which publishes six months of data detailing the volume of government requests it receives for user information, government requests to withhold content, and Digital Millennium Copyright Act-related complaints from copyright holders. Read more here.

Hello Vine!
Remember 12seconds.tv? Users could post video clips up to 12-seconds long. That was all the rage back then and hard core 12seconds.tv users were known as 12ers. Fast forward a few years later, 12seconds.tv shut down in 2010. Yet in 2013, the rise of Vine -- which allows users to share 6-second video clips on Twitter -- is "born." Well, possibly better to say "acquired." Twitter acquires the Vine mobile app and the announces the news of this acquisition near the end of the month. Me? I'm not sure about Vine. I haven't it tried it just yet but I'm sure I will check it out eventually. Will keep you posted. Read more here.

Sorry to say, Twitter ends out the month of January with a security breach which seemingly has impacted approximately 250,000 users. "This attack was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident," blogs @boblord on the company's blog. Read more here.