Relaxed lets you auto-respond to Facebook and Twitter messages over the Holidays

If you want to step back from your social networking over the Holidays but don’t want to seem like you’re ignoring your followers and friends alike, you can setup Relaxed. The tool responds to Facebook and Twitter mentions on your behalf. There are canned responses or you can generate your own, much like those out of office email responders. However, while it can reply to public and private messages on Facebook, it can’t do the same for Twitter Direct Messages. 

Twitter adds age verification to keep young ones away from alcohol

Twitter introduced a screening-age feature for alcohol brands using the social network. Mashable reports that if you plan to follow Heineken on Twitter, you will get a direct message linking you to the age verification page. You will be given 24 hours to state your age and if you meet the requirement, you can then follow the brand. Other partners Twitter has for this feature include Bud Light, Bacardi, Jim Beam, and Knob Creek. The feature works on the web as well as Android and iOS apps.

Twitter takes out option to receive direct messages from non-followers

Twitter introduced a new feature last month that allows you to receive direct messages from any follower. Now, The Next Web reported the social network site quietly took out the feature. The attention to improving DMs supports rumors that Twitter plans to release a standalone app for messaging.

I asked Twitter why the "accept DMs from anyone" feature is gone, and all I got was a link to this post: https://t.co/HMfDnHiEn6

— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) November 18, 2013

Website tracks F-bombs on Twitter

Curious about how many times and where F-bombs are dropped around the world? Fbomb.co tracks where the F-word is said around the world on Twitter. Leading offenders are the Americans and British with New York as the biggest cursers there are. But curses seem to be used frequently in non-English speaking countries as well.

Site creator Martin Gingras, a junior from Carleton University in Ottawa, told CNET: "I'm really happy about how widespread the views for this application have spread and I hope people get some entertainment out of it. However, I also hope that people take a moment to read a few of them and realize how ridiculous they can sound and think twice before just saying the first thing to come to their mind using social media."