privacy

Digital Consultant links for August 26th through September 5th

These are my links for August 26th through September 5th:

Google pays $8.5m to settle Buzz privacy invasion suit – It’s hard to feel sorry for web overlords Google, but 2010 appears to be their year of flops. After Orkut fails to gain ground, and their Google Wave failed to transform how people use email, Google Buzz have now been sued for inadvertently revealing users top contacts. Google Buzz seems to perform now better/different function to Twitter and Facebook, and is rarely used so is likely to lead to another wave goodbye moment. Interestingly, they will use the fine to support a $8.5M fund for internet prviacy organisations.
File sharing solicitor to face disciplinary body – Which? Report on how solicitors heavy-handed techniques to accuse (often wrongly) consumers of illegal downloading are getting them a rap on the knuckles. Which? also have a useful guide to how to respond to an accusation of file-sharing. No doubt the implementation of the Digital Economy Bill will mean consumer should arm themselves with a better understanding of their legal rights.
Crowd Sourcing HealthCare: Sustainable Digital Strategy for the Pharmaceutical Industry – An interesting comparison between lessons in social media monitoring, niche markets and crowd sourcing in the music industry, care of WIRED editor Chris Anderson, and how it can apply to the pharmaceutical industry.

Digital Consultant links for May 9th through May 16th

These are my links for May 9th through May 16th:

How to create compelling content that ranks well in search engines – A great 29 page e-book by Copyblogger author Brian Clark on how to make great web writing copy that also pushes all the SEO buttons. Some very useful tips, as a long pre-amble to promote his Scribe software which I admit has my interest: you enter your copy and the software gives you tips on how to improve it better for your chosen keywords.
The Internet Conference: Powerpoint Presentations – Susan Hallam organised the Internet Conference last week in Nottingham, an impressive collection of speakers and presentations from major e-marketing, e-commerce and SEO experts. Here's are some presentations from the day.
Matrix: How Facebook’s ‘Community Pages’ and Privacy Changes Impact Brands – Jeremiah Owyang's review of how Facebook's latest raft of changes are affecting brands: mostly as a negative effect. Facebook strategy is to aggregate the web, including wikipedia style aggregation, which negatively affects brands as well as personal privacy. In other news, web people vote overwhelmingly to say they prefer Facebook's 'fan' to 'like' status – which seems to have had the affect already of diluting loyalty to a Facebook Page. http://polldaddy.com/poll/3183296/ Overall, Facebook's endless tweaking and twisting seems to be having a negative affect on it's community. It's international gathering of staff to discuss privacy issues this week may signal a sea-change in their steam-roller approach to aggregating and connect all user data.
Is Your Social Media Strategy Just Digital Flyering? – Good article by Andrew Girvan on lessons from theatre producers on the digital equivalent of flyering – Twitter broadcasting. Some good tips on doing it better: running special promotions, targetting groups of interest, and of course making your Twitter presence be conversational.
From Realities to Values: A Strategy Framework for Digital Natives – No great answers here but a useful framework for understanding how to define and consider the needs of 'digital natives' (or the under 28s as this article defines them) when planning a digital strategy including content creation, engagement and advocacy.

Today’s Digital Consultant Links for April 23rd

These are my links for April 23rd from 10:17 to 10:24:

Hitler Is Very Upset That Constantin Film Is Taking Down Hitler Parodies – After Marmite ordered the BNP to take out images of their product from their site, another strange copyright take down notice has been served this week on hundreds of un-suspecting parody film makers: Constantin Films, makers of the (outstanding) film Downfall, have served notice on many parody film that use the scene of Hitler in his bunker to convey everything from frustration at the new iPhone, leaking a list of BNP members and anything topical/mundane/silly. Parody falls into 'fair usage' in many settings, and the web memes gave the film a breath and life that many German films could never have. It seems a strange move on the part of the film makers, particularly when it's become a 'genre' in itself (this is publicity independent film makers cannot buy), and further shows the divide between how some copyright holders perceive their work should be used, and the means people are choosing to re-create and use their works.
Altimeter Report: Social Marketing Analytics (Altimeter Group & Web Analytics Demystified) – A summary of how social media can be measured, and what analytics tools can be used.
First Take Analysis: Facebook’s Crusade of Colonization – The irrepressible rise of Facebook continues with yet more changes aimed at opening up the platform, mainly to the benefit of developers and marketers, but with some controversial loss of privacy (basic data about your locations and interests will now be visible to all, unless you choose to remove it). Jeremiah Owyang gives a roundup of the raft of new technical features, and how they threaten to compete with other social services including Google. Facebook are positioning themselves as the personal hub online – even making moves to compete more seriously with email and document sharing services.

Today’s Digital Consultant Links for March 7th

These are my links for March 7th from 10:51 to 11:12:

Google ‘personalizes’ one in five searches – The future of SEO is a moveable space: Google are continuing to 'personalise' results of users – if you're logged into your Google account you can 'star' results you find interesting to appear top of the tree next time, and searches will vary depending on previous user habits. Non logged-in users will get some specific results depending on their geographic location. The future will be more sentient search based on previous habits ('evolutionary search') which tallies more with the referral trends of social media – eventually the two will become interlinked. Ths makes SEO a dying art. All hail the relevant non-commercial search!
The Hunt For The Dope: Mike Masnick Responds – Another interesting discussion over at The Cynical Musician where Mike Masnick from TechDirt (who formulate the 'engagement with fans plus reason to buy' formula for independent music sales) has responded to the idea of those who chose to buy music, when they could get it for free, are the 'big dope'. Once again, the new music evangelists misunderstand the economics of actually how you can make money, if 99% of your 'fans' won't pay the answer is evident. The debate is raging as to whether 'freeloaders' are like people who listen to music on radio but don't buy, and our sampling with view to purchasing – or are just freeloaders. I think the reality is somewhere in between: you need to open your music up to 'sampling' but in a controlled environment, making it easier to buy something great from you in return.
Advertising on Facebook Strikes Some as Off-Key – What happens when you open up the world's biggest website to uncensored advertising? A lot of near misses and off key advertising, like the newly engaging ladies being flooded with adverts for diamond rings, dresses, wedding organisers. Facebook ads, through the low cost entry point, like Google Pay-Per-Click, are a revolution in business advertising due to the specificity and reach – no other platform allows you to target people based on their exact age, location and interests. But without the rigorous systems of Google, allowing adverts to be 'disapproved' by members rather than pre-approved by experts, means that quality and relevance can be low. This puts trust in advertising on social networks, already very low for established brands, in even more jeopardy. There's also a question of whether users are feeling their privacy is under threat from this type of advertising.

Digital Consultant links for January 11th through January 12th

These are my links for January 11th through January 12th:

Facebook Founder on Privacy: Public Is the New "Social Norm" – Intriguinging developments in social media network privacy land: as public edges towards being the new 'default setting' in how we use personal data online, users will need to make proactive choices to avoid sharing data (and some sharing, like friends lists, is unavoidably public). This is seismic shift not just in social networks, but how the internet is forcing a more translucent society. Lots of good, heaps of bad things here. Will blog about this soon.
Why Most CEOs Are Bad at Strategy – A searing assault on why strategy is so damn bad (I'm humbled): strategy needs to combine a 'where to play' (markets) with 'how to win' (USP) approach – and rarely the two work together due to global market forces. "The majority of people who seek to become corporate strategists or strategy consultants do so because they are much more comfortable with analysis than what they perceive as guesswork."
Touche – however I like to think that people who are from a creative background (and not the typical corporate strategist) like myself can help make the links to combine strategic analysis with good creative ideas.
How to Build a Digital Strategy with Edelman Digital Vice President for Interactive Solutions, Gary Goldhammer – An interesting podcast on growing a digital strategy (mainly big brand, US focus) with some comments on selective disclosure in public companies financial services and pharmaceutical industries and duty for response.

Digital Consultant links for August 26th through September 5th

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