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Amid concerns over adult content popping up on its new Vine video app, Twitter appeared Tuesday to have restricted how users can share sexually explicit clips.

Twitter says it turns over user data to government agencies in the U.S. in 69 percent of the requests made for such information, according to a new transparency report released by the microblogging site.

The Twitter haters are losing the war. You know who they are, or, perhaps, who you are. Those who dismiss the snappy social network as the Platonic Non-Ideal of oversharing undercooked ideas, of blurting out what’s better left unsaid.

It seems Facebook's planetary ubiquity is inevitable ... until you take a look at the sheer size ofthose competitors: Total membership of the four major non-U.S. networks total 778 million. Combine that with Twitter's 500 million active users around the globe, and you've got a social horde that eclipses Facebook's.

The battle lines are sharpening between Facebook and Twitter, as they fight to become the prime hub for photo sharing on the Internet.

It may look like Pope Benedict XVI’s first tweet on the auspicious date of 12-12-12 will be a divine act. But orchestrating the pontiff’s debut on Twitter has been a far more earthbound effort, involving an elaborate behind-the-scenes production.

Twitter pages are getting a bit fancier (some might say more Facebook-like) whether you like it or not, starting Wednesday. For years, a user's Twitter page has featured the option of a profile photo and a page background of your choosing. Now, there's a third element being added to your page's look, a "header" photo that surrounds your profile photo. The short messaging blog has been doing a soft rollout the past few months of the three-element look, but on Dec. 12, it goes site-wide to all users.

Images from Instagram, the photo-sharing app that lets user spruce up their work with a slate of arty and retro filters, no longer show up on Twitter, a popular place to share them.

Hoping to break any stigmas of government assistance, Newark Mayor Cory Booker of New Jersey will live on food stamps this week–a challenge that first began as a Twitter conversation. The Democratic mayor will operate on a food stamp budget of about $30 a week ($4.32 per day), roughly the same amount provided to people in New Jersey who take part in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI would begin posting messages on Twitter next week under the handle @pontifex, a term for pope that means bridge-builder in Latin.