It is impossible to visit a website these days without seeing pop-up ads, feed recommendation ads and other forms of advertising. While some of those ads are basic images with links, others are just plain annoying.
If you have ever jumped on a site to see lottery scams, male enhancement ads and other annoyances you understand how polluted the internet has become.
The team at InsightsOne recently conducted its 2013 Bad Ads Survey and during that survey they found out which ads annoy customers the most.
Surprisingly it is not necessarily the type of ads (pop-up, auto play videos, etc) that annoys people, it is what they are trying to sell. read more
Social analytics start-up firm Blab launched in public beta today and it claims that its social analytics platform can predict the future of social conversations.
Blab works by listening to 60 million conversions that take place on 50,000 websites. The company uses both text and image matching to detect a websites pages content.
Blab then categorizes the conversations it collects into different general topic areas such as sports and news. Blab claims that it can take patterns from one conversation and then use them to compare new patterns as they emerge. The platform then makes an educated guess at the conversations that will occur over the next three days.
Essentially Blab is a trending tool that aims to predict trends rather than simply reporting on them. read more
The Twitter Vine app is now the number one downloaded free application in the Apple App Store.
Twitter purchased the popular app in late 2012 and launched Vine in January 2013.
Vine allows customers to record 6-second long videos and then share them on the Vine platform and through Twitter and Facebook.
Starting in March the Vine platform began allowing users to embed users with basic and postcard setups. The Vine embeds have begun to show up on various news reporting websites. read more
There are plenty of writers who have been studying for years and love the activity. It is definitely something that promotes a sense of intellectual stimulation and growth. But what about writing great headlines and web articles that grab even more attention?
I want to share a resource part of Depositphotos that will catch bloggers by surprise. If you have been a part of Depositphotos then it is already evident what type of resources they can offer. It is a very powerful eCommerce shop, and I have always enjoyed their useful features. Even just a basic search for writing photos can provide a starting point. You want to add graphics and tidbits into your articles that readers can tie into the content itself.
Web Copy and Graphics
The Depositphotos library of stock photography is enormous and growing every day. There are a lot of freelance photographers who are more than happy to contribute and sell their pieces on the Internet. It provides an exceptional means of quick money, plus they get paid to do what they love most. If you have never seen the photographs in Depositphotos it is definitely worth a peek.
Some of their categories will be intermixed if you do not specify a type of search. There are both icons, vectors, graphics, and stock photos all mixed into one search engine! It goes without saying that their products catalog is expansive, but just how useful can this be to writers on the web? It depends how many articles you are writing. And how many of these articles will benefit from using a piece of stock photography.
I’m a big fan of WordPress, in fact I haven’t built a web platform with anything but WordPress in the last 5 years. Need an e-commerce website? You can do it with WordPress. Need a Craigslist type classifieds website? WordPress is there for you again.
With that being said not all WordPress websites are created equal and that is often because of the theme framework used by the website operator.
WHAT IS A WORDPRESS FRAMEWORK
If you are unfamiliar with WordPress frameworks in the most simply of terms they are barebone themes that are optimized for SEO, page load and other optimization purposes.
Several of the most popular WordPress frameworks include the awesome Genesis Theme and the equally cool Thematic framework.
Users choosing a framework should keep in mind that too many changes to the framework can hurt optimization. I tell clients that they should use the custom.css (or equally similar section) to change the look of their websites output without changing the actual structure of its templates.
Gnip has added Instagram, Reddit, Bitly And Panaramio to its firehose of data licenses. The company was previously collecting data from Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress and Disqus. Data collected by the company was then sold to brands so they could better understand how their products are being discussed on social media.
Gnip will now use public posts from its new services along with their APIs to fold further data into its subscription based reports.
In a blog post Gnip notes:
“Our customers care about every public conversation that happens online.”
Using the new platform marketers will be able to monitor Instagram posts by keyword or by geolocation. With Bitly and Reddit brands will be able to track links that are being shared about their products. read more
Are you a technology buyer who is getting ready to purchase a new smartphone, tablet, ultrabook, or other gadget? According to the team at LinkedIn there is a very good chance you are utilizing social media to decide on the product you will buy.
LinkedIn on Tuesday released its annual Consumer Technology study in which it learned that “88 percent of LinkedIn members own smartphones, compared to 46 percent of the general population.” The company also found that “62 percent of LinkedIn members own tablets, compared to only 22 percent generally.”
Realizing the pull it has among tech savvy buyers the social network examined the purchasing behaviors of its users in December 2012.
According to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions lead Michael Weir, 56 percent of LinkedIn members turn to their social networks for advice before they make a purchase.
The study also found that 53 percent of LinkedIn members share information about what they buy after making the purchase. That information in turn helps other tech savvy buyers on LinkedIn make their next buying decision. read more
Facebook’s automated systems and unfortunate choice of words might be directly effecting the perceptions of racism for some users. A new study has found that the social network is finding unexpected ways to spread racist messages.
While we often think of Facebook and racism as something that happens among bigoted commenters, the truth is the network’s user logs reveal a more prevalent problem. The study published in the Computers in Human Behavior examines racism based on how long a user remained logged into the social network.
The study finds that the longer one is logged in, the more a user absorbs negative racist sentiments. Examining more than 600 participants, including 70 percent females, the study asked each user to read three different Facebook “notes” about race. Each of the notes had a different focus. read more
Twitter has more than half a billion tweeters and with those type of numbers the social network is bound to have run-ins with some really obnoxious users.
The team at Conduit decided to check out Twitter’s worst users and put together a hilarious infographic that examines the social networks most obnoxious people.
Talking about Twitter’s worst offenders Conduit’s Sivan Cohen revealed:
“With over half a billion users, it’s no surprise that Twitter has its fair share of awful tweeters.”
The company specifically examined eleven awful tech tweeter types. From “know-it-all developers” who attempt to always look brilliant, to eventaholic Twitter users who brag about all the cool events they are attending, the group really hits the nail on the head. read more
Hacktivist collective Anonymous will spam Facebook on April 6, 2013. The collective has promise to target the world’s largest social network with “uncensored material” that will clog up Facebook news feeds.
The fragmented groups known as Anonymous have attempted on various occasions to bring down social networks with no success, that of course does not mean they will stop now.
“In past years we have seen a growing force around the world. Governments and corporations are working strategically to stop free speech by the people. In more recent months we have witnessed an increased number of account blocking and deletion by Facebook, of users who dare to ridicule, mock, satirize, or speak out against political leaders or corporations heavily involved with politics.” read more
