In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about how deleted tweets are “undetweetable,” Facebook’s upcoming design tweaks, new facial recognition technology, and a guide to Google+ privacy settings.

–

Undetweetable Archives Deleted Tweets

When someone deletes a tweet, he or she probably assumes that nobody will be able to access it (and rightly so). Unfortunately, that’s not the case, as demonstrated by the new website Undetweetable. The website was created by Dean Terry who says it is meant “to test limits, to question privacy, data ownership and explore the idea of the permanence of online expression.” Twitter has already forced Terry to shut down Undetweetable, but the website still retains all of its archived tweets.

Facebook Working on Unfiltered News Feed, Expanded Like Buttons to Improve Advertising

ZDNet writes that Facebook is experimenting with an unfiltered news feed and expanded functionality for the site’s ubiquitous “like” button. Facebook is making the changes to improve advertising on the site. As ZDNet explains, “Facebook’s algorithms don’t display every piece of content that is shared, limiting the impact of the various advertising campaigns launched on the website. Facebook engineers are reportedly working to create an unfiltered News Feed that would show everything your friends are doing on the social network: from what games and apps they are using on the site to what Pages of companies and products they Like.”

Facial Recognition Software Tracks Faces Over Time

A new software program from a University of Washington scientist and Google engineer is pushing the limits of facial recognition technology. The software, which has already been incorporated into Google’s Picasa photo-sharing service, synchs an individual’s facial features and expressions across multiple photos to create a movie. In Picasa, the feature is known as Face Movie and it also includes a name tagging feature. While technologically impressive, this software raises numerous privacy questions. If software like this can do such a good job of organizing unstructured photos, what could it do on a website like Facebook, where there are billions of available images?

Lifehacker Guide to Google+ Privacy Settings

Gawker’s Lifehacker blog has a great guide to Google+ privacy settings. Included in the guide are detailed instructions on how to conceal one’s profile, manage Google’s Social Circles feature, and how to ensure your posts don’t unintentionally end up being public.