Outlook.com Gets 1 Million Users in First 6 Hours

The team behind Outlook.com revealed in a tweet that one million people signed up for the new email service in just six hours.

Microsoft unveiled its Hotmail replacement Tuesday at noon Eastern, and by dinnertime it had cracked seven digits.

That’s an impressive spike, illustrated in the chart that @Outlook attached to the tweet (shown below). However, it’s still a tiny fraction of the user base of Hotmail, which comScore pegs at about 350 million — making it the most popular free email service in the world.

One of the first web-based email services, Hotmail has been around since 1996 and was acquired by Microsoft in 1997. In rebranding it as Outlook, Microsoft has integrated social networks and replaced the formerly cluttered interface with a clean layout that’s in line with the design aesthetic of Windows 8.

The label on the chart the Outlook account tweeted out says one million people signed up for the new service, and we’ve confirmed with Microsoft that the number indeed refers to account holders, not mere aliases. Outlook users can create up to five @outlook.com email aliases per year for every account. (Mashable.com)

Mark Zuckerberg’s Sister Is Now a Google Employee

In what may make for awkward family get-togethers, Mark Zuckerberg‘s sister, Arielle, is now a Google employee.

The younger Zuckerberg is presumably making the move as part of Google’s acquisition of Wildfire Interactive, which was announced on Tuesday. Arielle’s blog lists her occupation as junior product manager for the social media marketing firm. Arielle previously offered constructive criticism of her brother’s company’s site overhaul last fall.

Arielle’s not the only Zuckerberg sibling in the business. Randi Zuckerberg, former director of marketing for Facebook, left the company last August to pursue other projects. Randi is an executive producer for Silicon Valley, a Bravo reality TV show that is raising hackles in the Valley for bringing Hollywood voyeurism to tech. Randi tweeted about the move on Tuesday, alluding to the fact Arielle’s not the only Zuckerberg at Google:

Randi Zuckerberg
@randizuckerberg
Congrats Wildfire! There are officially now more Zuckerberg family members working for Google than Facebook! #awkward ;)

Zuckerberg also has another sister, Donna, who was born in 1987. (Mashable.com)

Tweets That Will Get You Kicked Off Twitter

Independent journalist Guy Adams tweeted his outrage about NBC coverage of the Olympics and found his Twitter account suspended. (Update: Twitter later reactivated his account and apologized.)

But it wasn’t his criticism that caused trouble, it was his inclusion of an NBC executive’s email address in the tweet, which violated Twitter’s terms of service.

Most of us check a box that says we agree with a company’s terms of service. But how many of us read them? Here’s a checklist of things to avoid if you want to keep using Twitter.

Don’t post a private email address, street address or telephone number without permission from the individual associated with the information. Posting social security and credit card numbers are also grounds for suspension.

You may not post direct, specific threats of violence against others. That’s what got Olympic Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella in trouble. No illegal activities, pornography or copyright infringement will be tolerated, either.

Twitter also has rules that kick in when a member follows 2,000 other accounts. At that point, you’ll have to have gain additional followers before you can follow more people. Not letting the following/follower ratio too far out of balance is how Twitter combats spammers.

Unlike other social media networks including Facebook and Tumblr, Twitter’s terms of service do not cover hate speech.

However, according to a June report in the Financial Times, Twitter is wrestling with minimizing hateful comments, while preserving free speech.

Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief executive, said he was frustrated by tackling the problem of “horrifying” abuse while maintaining the company’s mantra that “tweets must flow.” (Mashable.com)