Twitter bolsters iPhone app with push notifications

Microblogging juggernaut Twitter introduced @mentions, a push notifications tool designed to alert on-the-go users to important tweets. "Whenever an account that you follow mentions you, you'll immediately receive a notification," writes Twitter mobile products manager Leland Rechis on the company's blog. "You'll know who is talking to or about you on Twitter, and you'll be able to continue the conversation in real-time." The @mentions feature is optimized for SMS as well as the popular Twitter for iPhone application--moreover, Twitter said it will add Messages push notifications to the iPhone app, with the feature in the works for its Android and Windows Phone clients as well.

Twitter now boasts 175 million registered users worldwide, up from 503,000 three years ago and 58 million only last year; roughly 370,000 new users sign on each day. The firm credits smartphone applications like Twitter for iPhone for increasing its total number of mobile users 62 percent since mid-April 2010, adding that 16 percent of all new users now begin tweeting on mobile devices, compared with 5 percent before it unveiled its first branded smartphone client. Moreover, 46 percent of all active users now make mobile a staple of their Twitter experience.

For more:
- read this Twitter Blog entry

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