Don't get me wrong, I am as much the avid Facebook user as anyone else; in fact you could tell me I have 'FAD' and I wouldn't be offended. I love the good things it stands for; the ability to stay in contact with friends that you don't see everyday; its frequent mundaneness and the way I can make complete strangers lifelong friends.
However, what I don't understand is Facebook's increasing disrespect for Members' privacy and security. I read a great article today on PC Pro about a new Facebook feature that they have just launched "See Friendship".
At first glance this link is a great new addition, allowing friends to see a history of all the posts and comments that they have made between themselves. However, this is where the 'creepy' side comes in, not only can you see everything between yourself and your friends, but also all of the content shared between any two friends via a new search facility. It lets you enter in the names of any two friends to reveal their entire Facebook correspondence with each other — even if the content dates from before you added either as friends.
Does the phrase 'Stalkers Paradise' spring to mind here? Of course you could do this yourself just by rifling through your friends accounts if you really wanted to, but this new facility saves you at least a day! Obviously this being Facebook, all users are automatically opted in and it currently appears that there is no way to turn the feature off.
To read the full article 'Creepy Facebook Adds Friend Stalker Tool' go to the 'PC Pro Blog'.
Are Individual Eureka Moments Really That Rare?
Monday, 18 October 2010
I recently came across a review for this book by Stephen Johnson - 'Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation' and immediately wanted to read it.
The author explores the idea that 'eureka' moments by individuals are extremely rare. He argues that good ideas and innovation are rarely attributable to just one person - rather it's a group or collaborative learning effort.
Looking forward to understanding the 'Stacked Platforms' effect. Look out for my review soon...
Are we moving back to a world of private messaging?
There have been many high profile reports of faux-pas with users of Facebook and Twitter. Many of us may not have been sacked from our jobs by posting inappropriate facts about our boss, but I'm sure at sometime or another we've all had a social networking regret. Whether that's sharing something you wish you hadn't, saying the wrong thing or accepting people as 'friends' because you felt you had to.
It seems that many of us are now looking at more discreet and private ways to share the intimacies of our lives with real friends, rather than our Facebook page or Twitter. So are we looking at a resurgence of the old-school chatrooms? I came across this interesting article on The Next Web, which looks at how people's concerns over privacy are leading them to find apps that allow private chatting with select friends. For example, Blackberry Messenger, Whats App and Foursquare. Even the new Facebook 'Groups' features allows small privately invited groups of people to chat together, share photos and videos that only they can view.
I quite like that idea that people are beginning to return to the 'old fashioned' way of communicating, (well circa the 1990's anyway). Sometimes it's nice to just share a few intimate words with close friends, rather than announce it to your extended Facebook or Twitter family.
It seems that many of us are now looking at more discreet and private ways to share the intimacies of our lives with real friends, rather than our Facebook page or Twitter. So are we looking at a resurgence of the old-school chatrooms? I came across this interesting article on The Next Web, which looks at how people's concerns over privacy are leading them to find apps that allow private chatting with select friends. For example, Blackberry Messenger, Whats App and Foursquare. Even the new Facebook 'Groups' features allows small privately invited groups of people to chat together, share photos and videos that only they can view.
I quite like that idea that people are beginning to return to the 'old fashioned' way of communicating, (well circa the 1990's anyway). Sometimes it's nice to just share a few intimate words with close friends, rather than announce it to your extended Facebook or Twitter family.
Why are Keywords so Important?
Friday, 8 October 2010
Just ‘Google it’ – I’m sure that there can’t be many of us who haven’t at one time used that immortal phrase? People use and rely upon search engines everyday to find and gather a diverse range of information – whether it is product or supplier research, sourcing specialist news articles or maybe finding their perfect partner!
What do we do when we want to find any of the above? Well simply we use words and phrases to try and find what we're looking for, hoping that they will find a match on what we want. Therefore, if you're using the right keywords and phrases to describe your website, then hopefully people will be able to find you.
Thinking about what those keywords will be is so important to getting your website noticed by search engines. It is a huge mistake not to chose the keywords and phrases for your website carefully, as search engine spiders depend on them to find your site. If you have not targeted specific keywords for your website, then you will not easily be found.
So how do I start to choose my keywords? There are many online keyword finder tools that will provide statistics on how many times a word has been searched for in a month; as well as all related searches. Keyword tools can help you get a clear idea of what people are actually searching for and you can then use those words within your website content and structure to attract more people.
Keyword selection is both an experimental and on going process. You need to continually review, amend and update them across your website.
What do we do when we want to find any of the above? Well simply we use words and phrases to try and find what we're looking for, hoping that they will find a match on what we want. Therefore, if you're using the right keywords and phrases to describe your website, then hopefully people will be able to find you.
Thinking about what those keywords will be is so important to getting your website noticed by search engines. It is a huge mistake not to chose the keywords and phrases for your website carefully, as search engine spiders depend on them to find your site. If you have not targeted specific keywords for your website, then you will not easily be found.
So how do I start to choose my keywords? There are many online keyword finder tools that will provide statistics on how many times a word has been searched for in a month; as well as all related searches. Keyword tools can help you get a clear idea of what people are actually searching for and you can then use those words within your website content and structure to attract more people.
Keyword selection is both an experimental and on going process. You need to continually review, amend and update them across your website.
Good Design is the Best Way to Navigate Information
Thursday, 23 September 2010
David McCandless from "Information is Beautiful", looks at complex datasets and creates infographics to simply define and present the information.
Listen to his talk on TED, it's really fascinating:
Listen to his talk on TED, it's really fascinating:
Google Instant Search - Kind of Official Launch
Thursday, 9 September 2010
We've kind of known about Google Instant Search for a good few weeks now. The feature has been promoted in the form of YouTube adverts (see previous post below) and some mystery news alerts and promotional logos.
So what does it really do? Well, Google Instant is a feature that predicts what you’re searching for and shows results as you type. It uses Google’s autocomplete technology to show predicted search terms in a drop-down box, and begins to display search results below the drop-down.
Ben Gomes, an Engineer at Google summarised the announcement as "Google Instant seems so obvious, that in retrospect, you'll wonder if search could have been any other way."
However, at the moment Google Instant is only available in the US, but will be launching in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia within a week. Also
the service is only available to users signed into their Google Accounts.
It will be interesting to see how this will affect Google AdWords and organic long-tail keywords / SEO. You can read what Google is saying about expecting traffic fluctuations around organic keywords.
If you want to find out more, then I came across a great easy to follow user guide on the features of Google Instant at Search Engine Land. Really read the article as it does provide an insight into this new feature.
It is difficult to say what impact Google Instant will have on SEO at this stage and how much it will change the way that we currently standardise our approach.
So what does it really do? Well, Google Instant is a feature that predicts what you’re searching for and shows results as you type. It uses Google’s autocomplete technology to show predicted search terms in a drop-down box, and begins to display search results below the drop-down.
Ben Gomes, an Engineer at Google summarised the announcement as "Google Instant seems so obvious, that in retrospect, you'll wonder if search could have been any other way."
However, at the moment Google Instant is only available in the US, but will be launching in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Russia within a week. Also
the service is only available to users signed into their Google Accounts.
It will be interesting to see how this will affect Google AdWords and organic long-tail keywords / SEO. You can read what Google is saying about expecting traffic fluctuations around organic keywords.
If you want to find out more, then I came across a great easy to follow user guide on the features of Google Instant at Search Engine Land. Really read the article as it does provide an insight into this new feature.
It is difficult to say what impact Google Instant will have on SEO at this stage and how much it will change the way that we currently standardise our approach.
'.co.uk' vs '.com' Domain Names
Friday, 3 September 2010
Many people ask if it's more advantagious having a '.com' domain name over a '.co.uk'. Many see the '.com' domain as a way of appearing as an 'international', or 'worldwide' organisation. However, you need to consider where geographically most of your services or products are provided and if it's the UK, then a '.com' could put you at a disadvantage in search engine rankings results such as Google.
It is worth noting that people in the UK tend to click on '.co.uk' website extensions more than any other website. Research carried out by Nominet showed that 77% of UK searchers are more likely to favour 'co.uk' domains rather than '.com', which actually means that if you register a '.com' website and manage to get a first page Google ranking, then you are more likely NOT to get any clicks from people searching in the UK.
If you do not have a geography-specific domain such as '.co.uk' for the UK and instead you opt for a '.org', '.net', or '.com', then Google will use the geographical location of your hosting centre as the method for determining which local index your results should be found in. So thinking about where your website is hosted is equally as important.
For example, if you were to search Google for UK results only, and your '.com' site was hosted by a UK hosting supplier, but in a German datacentre, then you would never appear in the search results. Of course, you would appear in the 'google.de' search results, but obviously not many German Google users are looking for websites and businesses in English or relevant only to a UK audience.
Careful consideration is needed in getting the right domain name. Make sure that you stick to promoting one single, consistent domain name across all your communications, such as 'http://www.oxfordwebseo.co.uk/'.
It is worth noting that Google has now changed its ranking algorithm in order to display more results from the same website, when there is strong interest in content from a particular domain. So consistent advertising of one single domain name for your organisation is even more important.
It is worth noting that people in the UK tend to click on '.co.uk' website extensions more than any other website. Research carried out by Nominet showed that 77% of UK searchers are more likely to favour 'co.uk' domains rather than '.com', which actually means that if you register a '.com' website and manage to get a first page Google ranking, then you are more likely NOT to get any clicks from people searching in the UK.
If you do not have a geography-specific domain such as '.co.uk' for the UK and instead you opt for a '.org', '.net', or '.com', then Google will use the geographical location of your hosting centre as the method for determining which local index your results should be found in. So thinking about where your website is hosted is equally as important.
For example, if you were to search Google for UK results only, and your '.com' site was hosted by a UK hosting supplier, but in a German datacentre, then you would never appear in the search results. Of course, you would appear in the 'google.de' search results, but obviously not many German Google users are looking for websites and businesses in English or relevant only to a UK audience.
Careful consideration is needed in getting the right domain name. Make sure that you stick to promoting one single, consistent domain name across all your communications, such as 'http://www.oxfordwebseo.co.uk/'.
It is worth noting that Google has now changed its ranking algorithm in order to display more results from the same website, when there is strong interest in content from a particular domain. So consistent advertising of one single domain name for your organisation is even more important.
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