#hate this bullshit algorithm driven internet.

[storm-driver]

xehanort, next question.

[hamtigers]

I’ve been here around 12yrs, and when the first attempt at an algorithm was tried, I was among the majority that immediately turned that shit off Tumblr is a blogging site masquerading as a social media site. Not an actual social media site. Control over your feed is essential to keeping what it actually is. It is one of the last bastions of “old internet” where the user actually feels in control of their experience, rather than being fodder to generate clicks and ad revenue through and algorithm.  We like that we curate our feeds, that we get to actually SEE what the people we CHOSE TO FOLLOW are posting without it getting shuffled or drowned out by an algorithm-driven feed!! It’s not hard to figure out how to fill your dash - just search for things you like, browse someone’s blog, and if you like what you see give them a follow. But y’know, with making it increasingly difficult to view peoples actual blogs instead of the neutered mobile-friendly version lately, a lot of the individual user personality is being lost. I hate that I can’t use the little corner tab to direct link to a post on the desktop version of someone’s blog anymore, I have to use the share button that takes you to the mobile version unless I wanna dig thru the blog itself to find the post manually. If you’re so worried about new users not knowing how to use the site bc they’ve been raised on computers doing the thinking for them, then give new users a built in tour that explains the functions. Don’t change the #1 thing that has kept old users like me around, even during the great exodus of the NSFW ban. (Nowhere was better, bc it was all algorithmic fueled bullshit making it impossible to see what I wanted)  Hell, fix the search function if you want creators to be able to be found!! Searching and using followed tags (an old feature that got nuked btw) was how people USED to build communities on this site! People would even make up the most inane bullshit tags to use as a community because they’d all follow it and thus get notified when a friend posted something! (My old skype group used to use “responsible adult problems” since we all met thru this site) I don’t mind the idea of threads in the reply function tho. That’s honestly fine. I hate when someone @s me in a reply but it doesn’t fit in the notification, so I have to take a wild guess at what post it was on, find it, and then scroll thru the replies to see what they were trying to tell me. Which is hell on a viral post. So yes, communication via replies is legitimately clunky as it is if you’re not the OP.

Being able to mute notifications on a post so that you aren’t drowned when it gets popular is also good. And should’ve been made a feature a long time ago tbh. But man, I hate that tumblr live was brought up as an example of the path moving forward. Fuck tumblr live - let me disable it permanently instead of having to go un-toggle and re-toggle the snooze once a week. The reason people have so much vitriol towards it (myself included) is because it’s the first time a new feature has been introduced that felt invasive and forced. Normally whenever something new got rolled out, unless it changed a core aspect of the website like the formatting of the dashboard, users had to the option to switch it off. But tumblr live for some reason has this ‘temporary’ disable that if this is really the route this place is taking, I’m expecting to eventually not even have that option anymore. Fuck an algorithm trying to show me what “25″ posts it thinks I need to see instead of my actual dashboard. When twitter started going more aggressive w/ their algorithm because they wanted their ‘best stuff’ to be viewed first, all it did was hide art and personal posts from friends of mine that weren’t popular, and shunt everything that was already viral to the top of my feed. And then they started putting peoples likes on my feed, completely removing the point of having the difference between likes and retweets. And then it started putting shit that wasn’t even interacted with in my feed, because apparently twitter thinks that I want to see stuff from people I don’t follow just because someone I follow follows them. If I wanted to see it, I’d be following them too! It drives me insane! Literally the only reason I haven’t quit twitter entirely with the fall of tweetdeck (the only way for me to view that dumpster fire in chrono reliably) is because I follow a lot of artists and friends on there that aren’t here on tumblr and I have 0 interest in any other ‘alternatives’.

Hiding duplicate reblogs isn’t the worst thing at surface level, except when you remember that a huge part of the culture here is “talking in the tags”. I personally find an appeal in seeing me and my mutuals all getting excited over the same post, but I can see where that would be redundant to others. So personally, I would want that to be a feature that could be enabled if you choose, not something forced on me. TL;DR if you really are so worried about the new user experience you better make goddamn sure that any changes can be PERMANENTLY opted out of by your existing users. Otherwise you’re going to drive away long-time users, especially those in fandom spaces, in favor of gambling on new ones.

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

[localbizlift]

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s ‘twisted logic’ on hate speech and fakes

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti-Defamation League yesterday, the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision take-down of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these internet companies really want to make a difference, they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet,” he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of “free speech” to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem.’ ”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had single-handedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times.”

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees,” he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons.”

[workfromhom]

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s “twisted logic” on hate speech and fakes

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti Defamation League yesterday the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision takedown of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these Internet companies really want to make a difference they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet”, he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the Internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of ‘free speech’ to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had singlehandedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times”.

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees”, he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons”.

from Facebook – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2XAQRkO via IFTTT

[pmsocialmedia]

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s “twisted logic” on hate speech and fakes

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti Defamation League yesterday the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision takedown of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these Internet companies really want to make a difference they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet”, he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the Internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of ‘free speech’ to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had singlehandedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times”.

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees”, he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons”.

via Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2XAQRkO

[theshampyon]

Internet when I was young: Many small, relatively intimate communities with their own moderation. Lots of unfiltered stuff, but experience is mostly user-driven - you choose where to go, what to see. If you don't like the vibe of a community you leave and find a new one. Neo Nazi recruiting is less organised, more obvious. The only advertisements are obvious, and the more ads a site have the less you use it. There are sites run by businesses, but most of the most popular sites are just people offering a curated experience of things they like. You find stuff through directories, word of mouth, or recommendations from publications you trust. If you have people in your real life who make your life hell, you can escape from them for a while. When you find your tribe on the internet you feel a greater sense of connection, and it can help you feel less alone. Sometimes it even helps you foster real life connections.

Internet now: All social experiences concentrated on a handful of sites. If you're not on those sites, you're isolated. The sites are advertiser-driven via algorithms that prioritise engagement over actual positive user experience. According to the Facebook leaks, this means fostering rage and general discontent, because angry insecure people scroll and post more than happy ones and therefore see more ads. Neo Nazi recruitment has become more insidious and prolific. You find everything through one or two algorithmically driven megaconglomerate engines designed to benefit advertisers. Most content is hosted through a handful of corporations with algorithmically driven recommendations that actively push propaganda and hate because it raises engagement. People have been so thoroughly moulded now by advertisers that many make a living as "inflluencers" and view their entire life experience through that lens, including parents who turn every waking moment of their children's lives into drama for strangers. Every aspect of our humanity is commodified. We see more moments of everyone's lives than ever before and we feel less connected and more isolated than ever. Sites push everyone you ever knew, regardless of how horrible they make your life, into your face and you have to actively block them, and face the social consequences, to escape from their bullshit. Real life relationships and experiences often take a backseat to capturing images and videos for strangers to like and subscribe.

All this, by the way, is why I like tumblr better than any other social media platform. It's a lot more like the internet as I first knew it. Not exactly, but closer than most. The ads are few and easily ignored. Your experience is driven by who and what you seek out. Recommendations come from individuals you choose to be around, not an advertiser's algorithm. Even the most prominent celebrities on the site act like people, not brands. You don't have to deal with the people who make your real life harder. There's no social consequence for cutting off shitty people. For the most part, you can just be.

No, kids should not have unsupervised acess to the internet.   Yes, I got that and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.    Its a paradox.

[un-enfant-immature]

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s “twisted logic” on hate speech and fakes

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti Defamation League yesterday the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision takedown of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these Internet companies really want to make a difference they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet”, he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the Internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of ‘free speech’ to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had singlehandedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times”.

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees”, he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons”.

[sheminecrafts]

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s “twisted logic” on hate speech and fakes

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti Defamation League yesterday the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision takedown of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these Internet companies really want to make a difference they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet”, he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the Internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of ‘free speech’ to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had singlehandedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times”.

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees”, he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons”.

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/2XAQRkO via IFTTT

[technicalsolutions88]

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti Defamation League yesterday the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision takedown of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these Internet companies really want to make a difference they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet”, he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the Internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of ‘free speech’ to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had singlehandedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times”.

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees”, he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons”.

from Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2XAQRkO Original Content From: https://techcrunch.com

[connecticut-seo-adwords]

The Complete Guide to Blog SEO

The Complete Guide to Blog SEO

Rating:

Ryan Stewart is a web marketing expert with over 10 years of experience working with clients like Best Buy, Accenture and the Department of Defense. Ryan holds a number of web certifications as well as a Master's in Business Administration (MBA). Follow Ryan on social media: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

Over the last 8 months I’ve driven over 10,000,000 organic visits to my client’s blogs and my own. I decided to put together a no bullshit SEO guide to show you exactly how I’m doing it. Before I do, I’m going to show you some screenshots from my Google Analytics account: I’m not showing you these screenshots to beat my chest.

I’m showing you to prove what I’m going to tell you works.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

How to come up with the right blog strategy

How to do keyword research to find high volume, low competition searches

How to craft amazing blog content optimized for Google

The best WordPress plugins to help optimize your blog

How (and where) to build links to your posts (you don’t want to miss this…)

This is long post (5,000+ words). Use the navigational links below to jump to each chapter: [mailmunch-form id=”35465″]

Chapter One: Blog Strategy

1. Define Your Audience

I hate writing cliche tips that you’ve already read a million times, but it’s the truth. You need to define your target audience. I’ll use Webris as an example (we sell Internet marketing and design services). I target 2 segments with my content:

Business owners / marketing managers (potential customers)

Other marketers

You might think speaking to customers is more important –it’s not. Other marketers provide more value:

Social media amplifiers– they’re more likely to share content

Link sources– the content they create is related to yours. This greatly increases the changes of gaining quality and relevant backlinks (key for your blog’s SEO)

Influencers– Your clients don’t make you an influencer though –your peers do. If you’re viewed as an influencer in your vertical, you can sell water to the ocean

Make sure your content speaks to more than just potential customers!

2. Create Epic Posts

I really can’t stress this enough. In fact, this is the most important piece of advice I can give you.

You will never have success with blog SEO if you’re not creating amazing content.

I know, I know – I sound like Matt Butts (ahem, sorry, Cutts). As much as I hate that stupid fucking buzzword “content is king”, it’s true. You have to create content that people want to read, share and come back to. Otherwise, blogging is a complete waste of your time. Every time I create something, I ask myself a number of questions:

Does this solve a problem my audience has?

Does this teach my audience a new skill?

Would I share this with my peers?

If it doesn’t meet all of those requirements, I refuse to post it. If you own a business, you’re an expert at something. Share this expertise –don’t hold anything close to chest. This type of content sets the building blocks needed for blog optimization.

3. Stop Selling, Start Giving

When I log into my Facebook account I’m overwhelmed by shitty marketers selling even shittier products. Stop! Please. Just stop. I’ve been down that road. It’s a waste of time and money. I created [what I thought] was a great offer, funnel and upsell. I set up some remarketing ads on Facebook and was ready to watch the cash roll in. That never happened. Here’s what did:

I spent a ton of time tweaking ad copy, targeting, messaging, landing pages, etc

I spent a ton of money advertising my offer

The leads that converted turned out to be duds

In November I launched this site on a new domain (webris.org). I wanted to start new. I began posting the content to the blog that I was previously charging for. Here’s what happened: This site is now driving 1,000 times the weekly leads and they’re 100% FREE. I no longer have to convince people to opt in –they choose to.

4. Update Consistently

I’m not going to lie to you – maintaining a blog is a bitch. It takes a lot of patience and discipline to continue to create content when you’re seeing no results. I like to try and write for at least an hour each day. At that rate I crank out a solid update once or twice a week.

Remember, the more content you create the more traffic you’ll drive.

Create a schedule and stick to it.

5. Find Your Voice

The chances are you’re writing about something that’s been written thousands of times so it’s extremely important to show yourself in your writing. I write like I speak. I use jargon, humor and I curse. Even though I’m writing about professional topics, I don’t care. This is who I am – this is who I am and my readers respect me for it.

Chapter Two: Keyword Research

If you want your content to perform well in search engines you need to understand the search demand and competition of each post you write. That’s why keyword research is so crucial. Here are the tools you’ll need:

Necessary: Google Keyword Planner– FREE

Necessary: – FREE

Optional: Long Tail Pro– $97

KW Research Step 1: Finding Keywords

Lets’ go back to my target segments:

Business owners / marketing managers (potential customers)

Internet marketers

We want to create problem actionable content that solves their problems –how do we know what those problems are? I use forums and social media groups – specifically, Facebook Groups. Good, active Facebook Groups are hard to find – but they’re gold.

Log into your Facebook account and use the search bar – I use “SEO” and “analytics”

Click on the Groups with the most members

Join as many as you can – once accepted, look for active groups with NON SPAM threads

Browse the group and look for questions – I use [command + f + ?] to find questions quickly

Here’s a thread that I found generating a lot of responses: I also saw related threads in other groups. Using these threads, I can generate a list of preliminary keywords that has a built in audience. The ones I came up with were:

Website silos

Link silos

SEO silos

How to create website silos

Silos link juice

Facebook Groups are great, but I also use other sources. Here are some of my favorites:

Quora

Google+ Communities

Niche forums (Blackhatworld.com, Yahoo questions)

LinkedIn Groups

Twitter #’s

Blog ideas and keywords are all around you – pay attention!

KW Research Step 2: Flushing out Keywords

If you’re on a budget, use Google’s Keyword Tool – it’s free. If you’ve got some extra funds, I strongly recommend Long Tail Pro. For the purpose of this post, I’ll be using Google’s tool.

Login with your Gmail account

In the first box, type in some sample keyword searches. I chose:

Website silos

Link silos

SEO silos

Silos SEO

How to create website silos

Silos link juice

Click “Get Ideas”

On the next screen click “Keyword Ideas” tab

The top box will show you the data for the keywords you put into the search field. What we’re looking for here is “Avg. Monthly Searches” (don’t pay attention to the other data because it’s referring to Google AdWords campaigns, not SEO).

Download the entire list as an Excel spreadsheet. Open it and sort the keywords by volume

Take keywords with a high volume, copy + paste them back into the Keyword Tool, and click Get Ideas

Download the new list an Excel spreadsheet. Open it, Copy + Paste the data into the other Excel spreadsheet

Sort the keywords by name and delete duplicates

Repeat this process 3 more times

The goal is to find as many high volume keywords as possible. Try to flush out at least 50 keywords that get 30 or more monthly searches. Don’t be afraid to focus on finding groupings of long tail keywords. If done correctly, long tail keywords will drive more traffic than your main keywords. Save the spreadsheet and keep it handy. We’ll be using it shortly.

KW Research Step 3: Analyzing The Competition

Before creating the post you need to analyze the competition.

The goal is to find keywords with high search volumes and low competition.

Start by downloading and setting up the Moz toolbar:

Chrome version | Firefox version

Click the Settings icon and select Display SERP Overlay

Type your website name into Google: You’re looking at 2 factors:

PA (Page Authority)– The ranking power of that individual page (i.e. rankingsite.com/ranking-page)

DA (Domain Authority)– The ranking power of the overall website (i.e. rankingsite.com)

For your website, find the DA and write it down – this is a gauge of the power of your root domain (NOTE: NOT exact science, but still accurate). You will be comparing your DA to the competition’s. Next:

Re-open your Excel file with list of keywords

Copy the keyword with the most search volume and Paste it into Google

Analyze the DA and PA of the top 4 results returned

The higher the PA and DA of the ranking websites, the harder it will be for you to rank for that specific keyword.

We’re looking for results in the top 4 spots with PA less than 20 and DA similar to yours OR less than 50.

Below is a matrix to help explain:

For each keyword you analyze, record the result in your Excel file

If the keyword you Pasted into Google returns websites with high DA / PA, highlight that keyword row in red

If Google returns sites low DA / PA, highlight that keyword row in green

Repeat this until you’ve Googled every keyword in your Excel file (below is the Excel file for my post I wrote on SEO silos).  

Chapter Three: Optimizing Your Content

6 years ago all you had to do was jam a bunch of keywords into a page and you were golden. Through the use of semantic search, Google’s gotten a lot smarter. The algorithm combs your entire page and looks at overall context, synonym keywords and semantic markups. It’s important to keep this in mind when creating your content.

Filter Your Keywords

Filter your Excel list so the keywords with the highest search volume and lowest competition are on top (these rows should be green). The keyword at the top will be your main keyword – the others we will use as long tails and synonyms throughout your post. To better illustrate, here were my top 5 keywords for this post:

blog seo – 2,900 searches

seo for blogs – 260 searches

increase blog traffic – 1,170 searches

optimize blog for google – 50 searches

blog post search engine optimization- 40 searches

NOTE: my keyword list contained 40 keywords in total. For the purpose of brevity, I’m only showing you 5.

Using Your Keywords

There are a couple of places you need to inject your keywords:

Title

Creating a title is tricky because it needs to accomplish a few things:

Contain your main keywords

Convince users to click on it

Be under 55 characters (Google’s display limit)

If possible, stick your main keywords at the front of the title. Then, work in secondary keywords. For this post, I was able to work in my main keyword up front and a secondary keyword behind it:

Blog SEO: How to Optimize Your Blog for Google

The main thing is to include your top keyword and make it legible for users – the rest is a bonus!

URL

Your website should be set up to support permalink structure. If it does, your URL will be auto optimized based on the title of your post. For example:

http://webris.org/blog-seo-guide-to-optimizing-your-blog-for-google/

If your blog is running on WordPress, click Settings -> Permalinks to set it up.

Content

The most important thing is to write a great post that is clear to users. Don’t try and stuff your entire list of keywords in where they don’t read well. Here’s what I like to do:

Use main keyword in the first 100 words of the post

Use main keyword 2 – 3 times throughout the whole post (no more!)

After I’ve written the post, I go back and look for places I’ve repeated low volume keywords (Control + F)

I then replace them with higher volume, long tail or synonym keywords

Again, Google is getting really good at picking up relevancy. The most important thing is to write a focused article that is clear to users – Google will handle the rest.

Semantic HTML Markups

AKA the use of HTML markup to reinforce the semantics (meaning) of the information in your post. Most refer to these as

,

,

,

,

and

tags. These tags are used as headings and can increase a search engine’s ability to pick up content relevancy. Here’s what you need to know:

Your

tag is your title and auto added to your post

DO NOT add additional

tags

is the most important heading;

is the least

You can use as many

–

tags as you see fit

tags should be used as subheadings to break down content

tags should be used as subheadings to break down

content

tags should be used as subheadings to break down

content

NEVER skip headings (i.e. go from

to

with no

in between

These tags are best used to organize content –not spam the algorithm. For example:

Good:

How to Set up Google PPC Ads

Body content here

Setting up An Account

Body content here

Keyword Research

Using the Keyword Tool

Body content here

Selecting the Right Keywords

Body content here

Bidding on Keywords

Body content here

Bad:

How to Set up Google PPC Ads<h1>

Body content here

Setting up Google PPC Account

Body content here

Google PPC Ads Keyword Research

Using the Google PPC Ads Keyword Tool

Body content here

Selecting the Right Keywords for Google PPC Ads

Body content here

Bidding on Google PPC Ad Keywords

  Adding these tags are easy if you’re using WordPress:

From the post editor screen, click Text

Locate the text you would like to markup

Wrap the text in desired HTML

Images

Image optimization is a pain in the ass. However, it’s vital if you want to rank for competitive keywords.

Naming the File

I’ve seen people write about it for YouTube video SEO, but rarely for image SEO.

Before you upload your image, right click on it and select Get Info

Add a couple of descriptive tags that classify the image

Add fitting title by changing the Name & Extension

Close the file

When adding these elements, make sure not to keyword stuff. Simply add in plain English what the image displays. Here’s an example from an image in this post:

Image Title and Alt Tags

Upload the renamed file to your website. The title will pull through as the Name & Extension from the previous step. This is optimized so there’s no need to change it. What you need to add is the Alt Tags. Search engines can’t read images so they rely on Alt Tags as descriptors. The key to a great Alt Tag is being descriptive without keyword stuffing. Let’s say you have the following image (a screenshot of a Google Analytics SEO Report):

Good Alt Text: Google Analytics Avg Page Load Report

Bad Alt Text: SEO Report – Webris the Best SEO Company in Miami – Miami SEO

NOTE: If using WordPress, edit Alt Text on the Media Library upload screen.

Chapter Four: WordPress Plugins

If you website isn’t build in WordPress you can skip this section. If it is, these are my top recommendations.

Yoast SEO Plugin

You can’t fully appreciate the power of an SEO plugin until you optimize an HTML website. The plugin makes optimizing your blog posts a cinch (so easy that I’m not going to cover it in detail here).

WP Smush It

Large images slow down page speed (Google hates slow sites!). This plugin compresses your images and decreases page load time.

W3 Total Cache

By far the most powerful caching plugin. It can minify CSS and JS, disk caching, comment removal, browser caching and more.

NextScripts Auto Poster

This plug in allows you to auto push your blog updates to 26 social networks. I’ll cover this in more detail in Chapter Five of this post.

Chapter Five: Link Building

Links to your blog posts are critical for SEO. Luckily, getting links to your blog is 10 times easier than product, service or home page. In addition, it looks more natural to Google (why would 10,000 websites link to your product page about microwaves?!). There are 5 types of links to utilize:

Social (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, etc)

Contextual (think links from other blog posts)

Blog comments

Niche forums

Internal (links within your site)

1. Social Links

Over 74% of adults spend time on social networking sites. It looks unnatural if your site generates 1,000 links yet no one’s talking about it on social media. It’s important to generate a buzz for your posts before building links – otherwise you can trigger penalties / Google sand-boxing. Here’s how I do it:

a. Social Network Auto Poster {SNAP}

{SNAP} is a free WordPress plug in that pushes your content to:

Facebook

Twitter

Google+

Blogger

LiveJournal

Delicious

Diigo

Stumbleupon

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Plurk

Tumblr

Setting up the plug in can be a pain in the ass, as you’ll need to configure API keys for most accounts. Instead, use Fiverr to get it done. Here’s the gig I use: https://www.fiverr.com/seo5rr/setup-social-networks-auto-poster-snap

b. Buffer

{SNAP} pushes your content out when it’s published. Buffer creates a calendar to re-publish when you want. Buffer is great to keep fresh signals flowing through your links on auto pilot.

c. Social Media Groups and Forums

Remember how I showed you to find keywords using Facebook Groups? Use those same groups to push some of your content. Be careful! Group moderators are highly sensitive to blog spam. It’s important to participate in group threads and not just post links to your site. If your content is good, you’ll get a ton of social signals, shares and traffic.

d. Buy Signals

I’ve built my social media following over time so my links get good organic engagement. This wasn’t always the case. When I first got started I bought +1’s, Tweets and bookmarks from vendors. These don’t come close to the strength of signals you generate from your own accounts, but they still help. I use the following vendors:

http://www.socialsignifier.com

http://www.feedmefollowers.com

e. Create Signals

If you find yourself spending hundreds buying social signals you should look into syndication software (I use Syndwire). It’s essentially a software that allows you to auto hundreds of social media profiles with the click of a button. You’ll need hundreds of social media accounts for this to be effective. I don’t suggest you create them yourself:

Hire someone on Fiverr to build accounts (simply search for Syndwire or Onlywire)

Tell them to use proxies when creating accounts

Make sure they add profile pictures to each account

Create profile names based on your niche (i.e. twitter.com/seogurusteve)

The goal is to make these profiles real. Schedule regular updates that contain links to authority sites – not just links to your site! If you follow those rules your signals will hold more weight.

2. Contextual Links

A contextual link is found within the body of content and is in context with the idea surrounding it. These are the most powerful links you can get – a few links from quality sites will skyrocket your SEO efforts. Few marketers know how to correctly acquire and/or build them. This section is going to show you exactly how I build a number of powerful contextual links for my sites.

a. Link outreach

I used to talk a lot of shit about link outreach. I thought it was time consuming and unsuccessful. I refused to do it and would buy/build/use PBN links instead. Then, I started creating great content like this post and I realized how effective it can be. I read a lot of blog spam about how to writing ‘the perfect outreach email’ is the key.

The key to link outreach is giving great content to link to.

That’s it. People only link/share content that can better the relationship with their audience. If you’ve got something of great value link outreach is easy. Now, let me step down from my soap box now and show you exactly how I land between 3 and 5 outreach links every week.

Crafting the Email

Start by writing the email. That way you can easily fire off emails once you find targets. Don’t over think the email. In fact, keep it short and to the point.

Open with personalized greeting [Hey John]

Give a brief intro [My name is Ryan Stewart and I’m a marketing consultant]

State why you’re reaching out [I have a piece of content that I think would be perfect for your weekly roundup]

Send the link [http://webris.org/content]

Thank them

Here’s the exact template that I use week in and week out to score links: Trust me –this template works (even with misspellings)!

Finding Targets

I only do outreach to link roundup targets because these people are actively looking to post links. Other link outreach techniques are annoying. How would you feel if you got pesky emails asking for links in content you spent weeks writing? I do simple Google searches to find link roundup targets:

[insert niche] “weekly link roundup”

[insert niche] “monday link roundup”

[insert niche] “friday link roundup”

[insert niche] “best posts of the week”

You need to make sure that site is actively publishing roundup posts.

Click the “Search Tools” option in the Google results

Change the date to “Past Year”

This will filter the results to only show blogs that have published roundup posts in the last year. You can also do it by month or by week to get extra granular.

b. Private Blog Networks (PBN)

I have a powerful 50 site PBN, but I stopped building it 6 months ago. It was taking too much of my time to maintain. Instead, I buy links on other people’s private networks. The key to buying links is twofold:

Knowing where to buy them

Knowing how to gauge quality

Part 1: Where to Buy Them I don’t use BlackHatWorld or Warrior Forum anymore – those links don’t come from PBNs, but BNs (aka not private). You’ve got to find someone who doesn’t whore out links on their network. These people link to their own personal sites and care deeply about the quality of their network. That ensures the links are not only safe, but powerful. I use Facebook Groups to find these PBN owners. I’ve never had a problem finding niche specific links on well kept networks. Here are the Facebook Groups I use: Part 2: Knowing How to Judge Quality Most PBN vendors won’t share URLs because they think you might work for Google or some shit. If you insist they send you at least one URL they generally will. Then you can check quality for yourself. The best way to do that is Majestic SEO’s browser plugin. Simply install the free plugin and run it on the URL you want to evaluate. Citation Flow is a measure of the power of that domain’s inbound links. Trust Flow is a measure of the quality. I firmly believe Trust Flow is the most relevant measure of link impact. Don’t buy links on domains with a Trust Flow less than 15. The higher the Trust Flow and Citation Flow, the more powerful the potential link.

c. Web 2.0s

Web 2.0 sites like Weebly, Tumblr, WordPress and Blogger are stillgood links. These links are great because:

They’re free (or cheap to outsource the labor)

They’re self hosted on extremely powerful domains

Let’s take a look at one of my Tumblr pages using Majestic: As you can see, Tumblr’s root domain has a Trust Flow of 91. What does this mean?

Google has tremendous trust in this domain

You can blast the SHIT out of it with tier 2 spam

The quality of the domain will filter out that spam and pass on a ton of link juice to your site

Here’s what I do:

Hire someone on Fiverr to set up 20 web 2.0 sites using subdomains related to my niche (i.e. seoexpert.wordpress.com) – make sure they use proxies and different emails

Set up the web 2.0s with original or spun content

Schedule posts and link to authority sites like Wikipedia

Let them sit for a few months

Buy dirt cheap links on Fiverr, BlackHatWorld and Warrior Forum and direct them at the web 2.0s

Link to the blog posts of your choice

This builds a mini authority PBN on high quality subdomains that you can use to link to your blog posts of choice.

d. Guest Blogging

If you don’t write well, learn. Guest blogging is really the only way to get links from top sites (it’s also one of the best ways to drive traffic, exposure and trust for your brand). I hate to beat a dead horse, but the only way you’ll get accepted as a guest author is by writing amazing shit. Here’s how I find website to guest post on:

Enter your blog’s niche in the search bar

Set category to Guest Posts

Set Footprint to a variety of options

Make sure your Moz Bar SERP Overlay is turned on. Guest blogging takes a lot of effort –you only want to submit content to website’s with a DA of at least 60.Be over selective about which sites you submit guest posts to. If you don’t it will take up a ton of your time and deliver very little in return. Don’t buy blog comments. I repeat DON’T BUY BLOG COMMENTS! I don’t care if they tell you they’re using proxies and hand writing them – they’re still spam. The only way to blog comment is to do it naturally. That means YOU post comments on blogs that YOU read regularly. Here’s how to blog comment for links the right way:

Grab the URL from your blog that you want to link to

Once you have the blog URL, find a post on that blog that’s related to yours

Go to Google and type site:qualityblog.com + “keyword”

You should see articles related to the “keyword” that you typed in

Click on the results and read through most of the article

Scroll to the bottom and leave well thought out response to the article

Drop your link at the end of your post

Here’s a live example of how I do it: My blog post to promote:http://webris.org/ultimate-list-of-authority-domains-accepting-backlinks/Target blog to comment on: http://neilpatel.com Google search:site:neilpatel.com + “backlinks” As you can see, I also snuck in a request for a link (it didn’t happen). When done correctly, you’ll see a nice increase in quality traffic as well.

4. Niche Forums

I love forums. They’re a great place to learn, network, build links and drive traffic. Good forums are extremely susceptible to link spam so you’ve got to be careful not to get banned. Dropmylink.com has a forum search, but it’s not very good. Here’s how I do it:

Head to Google

Use the search string inurl:forum “your niche”

Find forums with active discussions related to your blog

Jump in on discussions – drop a link to a blog post when relevant

Rinse and repeat

That’s really all there is to it. Don’t buy forums links and don’t copy + paste the same link spam over and over.

5. Internal Links

Linking your content together has tremendous SEO value:

Helps search engines crawl and index more content

Distributes the power of inbound links to other pages on your site

Adds additional signals of relevancy through anchor text

I hate to cut this section short, but I don’t like to duplicate efforts. I wrote a kick ass piece about internal link silos a few weeks back. I strongly suggest you read that piece for in depth details on internal linking.

Closing

Maintaining a blog is a lot of work. However, it’s the best way to increase your organic traffic (and conversions!). I’m awful at writing conclusions so if you have any questions / comments, please leave them in the comments section below! I’ll answer them all as they come in.

Ryan Stewart is a web marketing expert with over 10 years of experience working with clients like Best Buy, Accenture and the Department of Defense. Ryan holds a number of web certifications as well as a Master's in Business Administration (MBA). Follow Ryan on social media: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

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Source

http://webris.org/blog-seo-how-to-optimize-your-blog-for-google/

[localbizlift]

Watch Sacha Baron Cohen skewer Zuckerberg’s “twisted logic” on hate speech and fakes

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has waded into the debate about social media regulation.

In an award-acceptance speech to the Anti Defamation League yesterday the creator of Ali G and Borat delivered a precision takedown of what he called Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s “bullshit” arguments against regulating his platform.

The speech is well worth watching in full as Cohen articulates, with a comic’s truth-telling clarity, the problem with “the greatest propaganda machine in history” (aka social media platform giants) and how to fix it: Broadcast-style regulation that sets basic standards and practices of what content isn’t acceptable for them to amplify to billions.

“There is such a thing as objective truth,” said Cohen. “Facts do exist. And if these Internet companies really want to make a difference they should hire enough monitors to actually monitor, work closely with groups like the ADL and the NAACP, insist on facts and purge these lies and conspiracies from their platforms.”

Attacking social media platforms for promulgating “a sewer of bigotry and vile conspiracy theories that threaten our democracy and to some degree our planet”, he pointed out that freedom of speech is not the same as freedom of reach.

“This can’t possibly be what the creators of the Internet had in mind,” he said. “I believe that’s it’s time for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies.”

“Voltaire was right. Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities — and social media lets authoritarians push absurdities to billions of people,” he added.

Cohen also rubbished Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Georgetown University in which the Facebook founder sought to appropriate the mantle of ‘free speech’ to argue against social media regulation.

“This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people — including some of the most reprehensible people in history — the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet.”

“We are not asking these companies to determine the boundaries of free speech across society, we just want them to be responsible on their platforms,” Cohen added.

On Facebook’s decision to stick by its morally bankrupt position of allowing politicians to pay it to spread lying, hatefully propaganda, Cohen also had this to say: “Under this twisted logic if Facebook were around in the 1930s it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his solution to the ‘Jewish problem’.”

Ouch.

YouTube also came in for criticism during the speech, including for its engagement-driven algorithmic recommendation engine which Cohen pointed out had singlehandedly recommended videos by conspiracist Alex Jones “billions of times”.

Just six people decide what information “so much of the world sees”, he noted, name-checking the “silicon six” — as he called Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki, and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey.

“All billionaires, all Americans, who care more about boosting their share price than about protecting democracy. This is ideological imperialism,” he went on. “Six unelected individuals in Silicon Valley imposing their vision on the rest of the world, unaccountable to any government and acting like they’re above the reach of law.

“It’s like we’re living in the Roman Empire and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar. At least that would explain his haircut.”

Cohen ended the speech with an appeal for societies to “prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference, and experts over ignoramuses” and thereby save democracy from the greed of “high tech robber barons”.