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4 SEO Questions for 2012 – Promotion World (press release)
Feb 1st
 International Business Times |
4 SEO Questions for 2012
Promotion World (press release) by Brian Easter Frequently in our office, a comparison between SEO and PPC is made where SEO is the plodding marathoner, maintaining a steady pace to eat up the miles and win the race, while PPC is the sprinter, rapidly looping the track to top their … Top SEO Firms 2012 Free SEO Book Provides Important 2012 Updates SEO Positive Partners With Bournemouth Nursing & Residential Home |
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Twitter’s Censorship Policy: Three Unanswered Questions
Jan 29th
In June of 2009, leading up to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising, the Chinese government blocked access by its citizens to Twitter, Flickr and a host of other US-based websites. Social media being already widespread throughout the country, perhaps the Chinese government feared the possibility of events like unfolded elsewhere 18 months later, in what became known as the Arab Spring.
Two and a half years later, Twitter remains blocked in China, though many people find ways to make us of it none the less. China isn’t the only country that’s related to Twitter’s announcement last week that the social network will now selectively censor messages country-by-country when it receives “a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity.” Debate went on throughout the last week about the policy, but I think there are at least three big questions that remain unanswered.
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Some have said that this is an unacceptable compromise by Twitter. World-renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei says, on Twitter, “If Twitter censors, I’ll stop tweeting.”
“If Twitter censors, I’ll stop tweeting.” -Ai Weiwei
But many free speech advocates begrudgingly say that the company is doing everything it can to stay engaged in repressive countries where non-compliance with local censorship is not an option.
“I understand why people are angry, but this does not, in my view, represent a sea change in Twitter’s policies,” blogs Jillian C. York, Director of International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Twitter has previously taken down content-for DMCA requests, at least-and will no doubt continue to face requests in the future. I believe that the company is doing its best in a tough situation…and I’ll be the first to raise hell if they screw up.”
It’s interesting to see York say she’ll raise hell if the policy is misapplied and Ai Weiwei to say he’ll go silent on the network if the policy is applied at all.
Three questions in particular remain in my mind.
How Will This Censorship Be Used?
What kinds of content will be censored with this new capability? What will governments around the world demand be removed from the site? Will it be things like the identities of people involved in court cases, as the UK’s controversial Super Injunctions looked to ban on Twitter this Spring as has long been banned from newspapers? Would Twitter have co-operated with that kind of legal move if it was instructed to today?
“I believe that the company is doing its best in a tough situation…and I’ll be the first to raise hell if they screw up.” -Jillian C. York, EFF
As London-based Matt Brian pointed out at the time, enforcement of such legal prohibitions could be complicated by the abscence of Twitter business operations on British soil. Will that be a relevant matter in the future?
Or will Tweet-zapping be called for in places like Syria, where users rallied under the hashtag #RamadanMassacre in August, to bring global awareness to the brutality of the Syrian government they protested? If told to do so by a government massacring its citizens in the streets, will Twitter render all people in that country unable to see messages of protest on its network? Will shouting into such an eerie silence change the way such Tweeting campaigns also engage with the outside world? I would think so.
At what point would such demands no longer be interpreted by Twitter as being “a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity?” When the US State Department ruled a foreign government invalid, perhaps?
How Will Twitter Censorship Impact People Arrested for Their Tweets?
It is not unheard of for people around the world to be arrested for their Tweets. As Curt Hopkins reported on ReadWriteWeb in November, 2010:
Cheng Jianping has wound up in a Chinese ‘re-education camp’ with a record-breaking five words on Twitter. Mocking nationalistic vandalism that flared up around a Chinese-Japanese dispute over the ownership of uninhabited islands, she retweeted another’s message and added the ironic admonition, ‘Charge, angry youth!’
Middle Eastern Tweeters have been arrested for quips mocking their ruling royal families.
Will the governments in question issue a take-down order to Twitter on their way to knock down the doors of the Tweeters in question? Or will they not bother?
Will people be arrested for messages that no one else in their country can even see anymore? How Orwellian.
Will This Reduce Conspiracy Theories About Twitter Censorship? Should It?
What’s unique about Twitter’s position, some people say, is not the censorship but the transparency about it. One might hope that if every instance of censorship is openly and loudly announced by Twitter, that critics who have long suspected Twitter was censoring conversation about topics of great importance to them might be less inclined to be suspicious.
In recent months some have worried that Twitter was systematically de-emphasizing discussion about the Occupy protests. In 2010, some of the first wide-spread concerns about Twitter censorship arose when the Israeli army clashed with a flotilla seeking to deliver aid to Palestinians despite an embargo.
Charles Arthur of the Guardian told the story as follows:
The attack by Israel on a flotilla of ships approaching Gaza has, as you’d expect, generated a huge response on social media – and of course Twitter, with its real-time content, was quick to react.
Many users began the morning by tagging their comments about it with “#flotilla” – a “hashtag” which gives a structure to a discussion or emerging event, as you can filter searches in applications such as Tweetdeck so that you only see those with that tag.
But at around 11am, as #flotilla began “trending” – rising to the topmost-used hashtags on the service – it seemed to vanish.
Was this censorship by Twitter?
Twitter Headquarters investigated the communications event and found that there was another event, elsewhere in the world, that was using the hashtag #flotilla as well, at the same time. Twitter’s automated spam fighting software saw unrelated uses of the hashtag and zapped it from the Trending Topics list. Conspiracy resolved.
In all likelihood, critics will still suspect in many cases that Twitter is engaged in censorship even if the company doesn’t take the steps for transparency that they have pledged to take. No one but perhaps some of the very deep pockets who have invested in Twitter is really evil, though, (not the employees) and so now under the new policy, the simplest explanation of why some communication is less visible on the network than expected will likely never be covert censorship.
It’s a complicated situation, though. Much remains to be seen with regard to how the new “feature” will be used and what it will mean for people facing repression around the world. Twitter will no doubt face ongoing scrutiny for its practices, as all communication network infrastructure companies deserve.
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4 questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant – iMedia Connection
Jan 16th
 MarketingProfs.com (subscription) |
4 questions to ask when hiring an SEO consultant
iMedia Connection Hiring an SEO consultant is the perfect way to outsource this vital task, but how do you know who is the best resource for your company? There are a lot of SEO "experts" out there who use shady tactics to drive traffic. You don't want to invest your … Search plus: five changes you need to make to your SEO campaigns Three Ways to Enhance SEO With Twitter Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto: Writing The Blogs That Nobody Wants To |
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5 Questions To Streamline Your Keyword Research
Jan 10th
It’s time for the first meeting with the customer. You may be a seasoned search marketer, but you’re still a little nervous. How do you achieve that perfect balance of getting the information you need while still exuding an aura of consummate professionalism, knowledge, and generally make yourself…
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Top Ten Questions to Ask to Avoid Getting Ripped Off With a Law Firm SEO Campaign – Newsome Law (blog)
Dec 10th
 Newsome Law (blog) |
Top Ten Questions to Ask to Avoid Getting Ripped Off With a Law Firm SEO Campaign
Newsome Law (blog) There are a host of experts and consultants who purport to sell SEO, or 'search engine optimization' to law firms. The pitch usually goes something like this: hire us for a fat monthly fee and we'll help you get to the first page of Google, Bing, … |
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Eric Ward Answers 10 Questions on BizDev Link Building
Dec 6th
Eric Ward is the godfather of link building (just ask Jeff Bezos, who hired Eric to help launch Amazon). I’ve been learning from him since I started in the SEO industry back in 2001, and continue learning from him to this day through his LinkMoses…
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Eric Ward Answers 10 Questions on BizDev Link Building – Search Engine Watch
Dec 6th
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Eric Ward Answers 10 Questions on BizDev Link Building
Search Engine Watch I've been learning from him since I started in the SEO industry back in 2001, and continue learning from him to this day through his LinkMoses Private Link Building Newsletter. Big thanks to Eric for helping continue the BizDev link building interview … 304 Link Building Opportunities |
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Beyond Facebook: 5 Questions to Ask Before Jumping into a New Social Network
Nov 28th
New social networks are popping up on a regular basis, and the fact that these specialized communities don’t have Facebook’s 800 million users doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t great places for brands to be. In many cases, brands are adopting n…
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4 Questions with Rand Fishkin About Using SEOmoz Tools Effectlively
Nov 21st
A asked Rand Fiskin, CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz, some questions about the tools SEOmoz pro offers. There are a lot of tools to play with and I know sometimes you can start to love one and never really get engaged with the others. I asked Rand some questions about what we may be missing. [...]
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