People Paid to Post Misleading Information on the Internet Is a Global Practice
The practice of marketing companies paying armies of people to post misleading, false information on blogs, forums and social sites is expanding globally. While the practice can be used to post fake positive reviews for pay, for example, more often these paid posts are intended to destroy competition. I’ve been getting unsolicited calls from companies looking to hire people to do “SEO work” where the work consists of signing up for fake accounts and posting fake testimonials...
Read MorePay Per Conversation – Bringing User Behavior into a Social Networking World
It took us 15 years but finally, FINALLY, humanity is connected by one unifying activity. Online communication. This is not the same thing as chatting, emailing, newsletters or forums. They’re the medium. What I mean is that we’re making contact and learning from it. I had an epiphany in 1995 the first time I ever saw the Internet. A neighbor had showed me AOL and chat areas grouped by interests. I’m driven by a powerful sense of curiosity (when untamed, it can be...
Read MoreFacebook Ties Up, Blindfolds and Gags Its Usability Department
As if this is isn’t an already stressful season, Facebook has decided to change its user interface YET again. We had a learning curve the last time they did it. With this latest “upgrade”, they’ve clearly lost their minds. Facebook. What have you done! Let’s explore. If I wanted to update my status, or add a link, photo or video, that main task was front and center and easy to use. Underneath that, in the wide center column, it was easy to scan what I linked to...
Read MoreFacebook Sending Photos of You for Criminal Investigation
I learned today that unknown to most Facebook users is a facial recognition application used by Facebook that is sending information for criminal investigation use by governments. In the USA, the information is available for use at the state police level. The warning I got from my source was to get off Facebook. Knowing what he knows about how the software application is being used without public knowledge, is the reason his family will not use Facebook. I’ve been informed by other...
Read MoreWhat Will You Do With Your Facebook Page?
Once again Facebook has outraged its user base with the result being another round of calls for worldwide boycotts. Listening to users is not a Facebook principle. Run a search on “Facebook boycotts” and you’ll find some going back to 2006. Clearly, beta testing is not done before rolling out any new functionality or user interface changes. It’s absurd to call Facebook a “social networking” web site when in reality, it is anything but social or community...
Read MoreFacebook Removes User Profile Rights and Choices
Facebook has removed your right to present your user profile the way you want it. Without your permission, they simply went ahead and turned every profile into a Facebook link farm. What They Did Your personal profile is now a list of links. They link your content at their own discretion. So for example, I have the phrase “I am very proud of her”, referring to my daughter, in my profile. Facebook decided to link that to this Facebook page they created, without my permission. You...
Read MoreSearch Marketing and Social Media Camp This Weekend for $21
This weekend a special event takes place in Philadelphia for those who want to learn more about search engine marketing, web site usability and social media. It’s called Search Camp and Social Media Camp. For a small attendance fee of $21 (no catch. That’s all it is!), you get a weekend at Temple University with a small group of like-minded folks and experienced speakers. There are 5 time slots, beginning at 10am, with 4 choices of sessions to pick from. The last one ends at...
Read MoreContent Sites Satisfy Users Needs Best
I thought this was an interesting, strong statement by Jakob Nielsen: When people have questions or want to accomplish tasks, they turn to their preferred search engine — which is why search engines collect billions and content sites collect peanuts, despite the fact that they’re the ones actually satisfying the users’ needs. Source: Social Media Outsourcing Can Be Risky His article offers good advice and solutions regarding adding videos to web sites. ...
Read MoreWith Social Networking, Above All, Be You
When someone sets up a web site, blog or online business, meeting the Web for the first time can be perplexing. How do we go from face to face interaction to techno-keyboard, static image, wordsmith-dueling communicators? Lately I’ve had a group of folks coming to me for web site rebirth help. Their old web sites have grown old, grumpy and forgotten. A few have chosen to add blogs, sign up for Facebook and try out Twitter. Each of them had the same question: “What do I...
Read MorePlease Wait While We Try to Find a Cell Phone Tower
Before the brakes went out on our motorhome, we had gotten lost. For reasons we still don’t understand, I was calm about the brake loss part. What I was totally freaking out about was relying on Internet technology to help us. The idea was offered by our friendly motor home dealer, who took our older Class C motor home in need of a new $10,000 roof and sold us, cheap, a bigger Class A rig. Cheaper because what crazy person buys a gas hog, right? We wanted diesel but fell in love...
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