Where is Chuck Norris and other crucial social media questions
May 9th
Who, what, when, where, why?
These are the words every journalist lives by and the words usually at the heart of every great story and blog post. But what does Google think about these questions? Just for fun, let’s find out. Here is how Google “pre-populates” these common searches:
Conclusion? Facebook is down, evil, stupid and dying … but Chuck Norris rules.
Klout innovation will power search engine results
May 8th
Earlier this week Klout announced a significant commercial partnership with American Airlines — everybody with a Klout score of 55 or over gets rewarded with free access to American’s network of airport club lounges, even if they are not flying on that airline. But it turns out, that was only the beginning of Klout’s surprises for the week.
In a radical turn for the company, Klout will enable targeted and specific “influencer” content creation though an initiative called “Klout Experts” that will begin showing up as the lead items in Bing search engine results. You read that correctly. Your activity through Klout can propel you to the top of organic search results.
Why this matters
Obviously any new factor that could affect search results — even in a small way — is going to receive a lot of attention. This agreement with Microsoft seems to have profound and broad implications for the emerging world of “social influence” and the high-stakes world of search engine marketing.
First, a little background on why this development is important.
If I do a web search for “best car under $20,000,” the first results are probably going to appear because somebody behind the scenes has been optimizing an automotive firm’s website The results may not necessarily provide a useful or accurate recommendation on the best car, the best value, or even a car that is available in my area.
That’s why search firms are desperate to supply “warm results” that consider, who, when, and where a person is searching … and perhaps most important — what are the recommendations from those you trust? Both Google and Bing have been open about including more results from your personal “social graph” in results.
Influencers and search
“We have been experimenting with an idea,” said Klout CEO Joe Fernandez. “What would happen if we asked topical influencers to share their expertise? Would they be interested? Would they repond?”
In 2012 Klout ran a beta test to try the idea, introducing questions to a small group of influencers.
“If you wanted to know the secrets of growing beautiful tulips, or the best make-up for your skin type, wouldn’t you love to have a response from a passionate expert?” Fernandez said. “We found that influencers love to share their knowledge and help, so we are helping them do that through this new program called Klout Experts.”
Example of how Klout Expert answers will show in search results
“Our users are already the best content creators,” he said. “We are helping people realize the full impact of their influence through new, original content they provide on Klout. Every passionate content creator now has a chance for massive exposure through search.”
This new content will be “pragmatic” according to Fernandez, and direct — responses are limited to 300 characters. The best answers will show up at the top of the organic search results on Bing. There will be no “exclusivity” on the content so there is a chance the responses will show up somewhere on Google too.
Gaming Klout and search results
Fernandez is aware that he is creating a giant target for spam and SEO gamesters and is putting counter measures in place to keep the responses targeted, limited and relevant.
“Reputation has to come first,” he said. “If you’re not an established subject matter expert with a high Klout score, you won’t be able to participate.”
However, the top content results will not necessarily be determined by an individual’s Klout score, Fernandez said. “We are developing methods to sort through the content. Answer quality is most important and we have created a novel voting system based on user feedback and input from other topical experts to help us do that. You can only rank if you have influence on that topic. But feedback from other influencers will help determine what gets to the top.”
Klout has developed a system that randomizes the feedback mechanism and limits the ability to get votes from “friends” that would game the search results. ”We will also have visibility on what people are clicking on through our partnership with Bing,” Fernandez said. “We are working closely with the Bing team to keep the product pure and successful.”
Industry momentum
The American deal, and the Klout Experts announcement represent the fourth major commercial roll-out for Klout in two months. The company also introduced “Klout for business” this year, which provides a simple dashboard to discover and connect with topical influencers. Klout reported that it has now attracted more than 200,000 business accounts for its service. In early April, the company announced a partnership with telecom company Orange to bring Klout to France.
Despite fierce and growing competition in the influence marketing space, Klout seems to be at least winning the war on the PR front. The company’s financials are also improving, with revenue expected to double in 2013 to more than $10 million, although the company would not reveal any data regarding profitability.
The “Instagram Act” and How to Protect Your Photos Online
May 8th
By Kerry Gorgone {grow} Contributing Columnist
The Internet is a bit like the Wild West when it comes to protecting intellectual property and a new law makes it even a little more difficult to lay claim to your images without some proactive measures on your part.
The controversial Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, which just received royal assent in the U.K., permits the use of “orphan works” — copyrighted works for which the owner cannot be identified. In most cases, the owner is dead, although it’s also possible that he or she simply has no interest in laying claim to the work.
Permitted uses under the new law would include digitizing archival library collections of unpublished works for purposes of preservation, but the law also allows commercial, for-profit uses of these works, such as advertising.
Photography groups vehemently opposed the legislation on the grounds that they stand to lose ownership and control over any images they post online. Critics have compared the law to the sweeping changes that Instagram made (and later unmade) to the app’s terms of use in December 2012.
Artists and photographers everywhere need to take proactive measures to protect their creative works, placing watermarks on images prior to uploading them online, and populating metadata with ownership information.
The U.K. media is also recommending that photographers and artists register each individual work with the U.S. Copyright Office or the PLUS Registry in the U.K. to ensure that they are identifiable. This way, even if someone could strip identifying information out of an image and repost it online, an interested owner can always come forward to claim their work. Many have cited the cost and time required to register each individual work as prohibitive, but at the moment, there aren’t many options.
Individual authors / artists registering through the U.S. Copyright Office could try registering works as a compilation, provided they published them all within the same year. (37 CFR 202.3(b)(10)) The filing fee for registering groups of photos is currently $65. At minimum, this reduces the likelihood that a work will be considered “orphaned” in the first instance.
Obstacles abound for copyright holders, including the fact that the U.S. Copyright Office does not offer a reverse image search. In the U.K., the PLUS Registry only holds names, and the “upload and search on an image” function does not yet work. Still, anything is better than nothing, given that the law has passed.
Another important thing to note is that the U.S. Copyright Office saves images for only ten years, unless the copyright holder pays an additional $470 for “full-term retention of a published deposit,” so the value of registration after that point is questionable.
One thing photographers can do is monitor Google for uses of their copyrighted works. Google’s sophisticated search technology does permit reverse image searches, so users can upload their copyrighted image and see matching images identified by Google. This will help copyright owners to detect infringing uses, so they can assert their rights against the infringing party.
As theoretically devastating as this development is for photographers, I really think that most works affected will be works no owner will ever claim; images that previously could not be used because of a potential copyright claim that would never materialize.
Companies don’t want legal headaches anymore than you do. They’re unlikely to intentionally use works that someone might sue over. Given the huge body of available images, there’s no reason to think they’d elect to steal a copyrighted work when they could find (or create) any number of suitable images for advertising purposes.
Bottom line: protect yourself to the extent you can. Wouldn’t you do that anyway?
Kerry O’Shea Gorgone, JD/MBA, is an attorney who teaches New Media Marketing in the Internet Marketing Master of Science Program at Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida. Follow her on Twitter: KerryGorgone
Photo courtesy Flickr Creative Commons umjeandoan
Could too much tweeting cost you your job?
May 7th
This is not a blog post about any titanic trend or an insight into a new marketing strategy. This is about one little thing — tweeting when you’re not supposed to — and what it might mean to your career.
One of my favorite college football players is Geno Smith of West Virginia University. I have rarely seen a young athlete approach the game with more intelligence, intensity, and leadership.
Many people expected him to win college football’s highest honor, the Heisman trophy and perhaps be the first athlete picked up in the professional football draft last week.
It turns out, he wasn’t a contender for the Heisman honor and was not even the first player at his position to be chosen in the draft. Over the last six months, his stock has continued to slip among the professional football executives despite his breath-taking skills. Why?
Perhaps it is because he tweets too much.
The thrill of victory. The agony of de tweet.
Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reported that when Smith went on visits to prospective teams, rather than interact with coaches and front-office people who would be making the decision to hire (draft) him, he would spend much of his time by himself on his cell phone, texting friends and interacting with his Twitter stream.
One official said: “All these other players who were in there were talking to the coaches, trying to get to know people and he was over there by himself,” one of the sources said. “That’s not what you want out of your quarterback.”
Eventually Geno was drafted in the second round by the New York Jets, but his disconnected attitude may have cost him millions of dollars in salary, endorsements, and publicity as a first-round draft pick.
I have a friend who might actually lose his job over Twitter. He’s addicted to his Twitter stream and tweets constantly. His employer is upset about this habit and told him that he needs to concentrate at work. ”They just don’t understand me,” my friend lamented. “This is how I stay connected to my friends.”
A few weeks ago, I noticed that a well-known social media celebrity was tweeting and texting from a conference panel in front of a room filled with several hundred people. Instead of paying attention to the moderator and interacting with the other panelists, he disconnected from the conversation the entire time with his head down in his Twitter stream.
Be here now.
I imagine that some readers from Generation Text might be thinking “Who cares?”
Obviously the NFL team owners care. Even though Geno Smith is a remarkable talent, they wanted him to pay attention. I think that even in our text-frenzied world, it should be a priority to be present in the moment, to provide individual attention that communicates “I care about what is going on here, right now, instead of the action on my phone.”
I might not be an NFL team owner drafting a quarterback, but I have made a mental note to never hire or recommend that distracted social media celebrity panelist for a speaking engagement. There are a lot of choices out there. Being attentive and professional is important, even if you have loads of talent — as Geno found out.
Everything communicates. Everything becomes part of your personal brand … including how and when you use Twitter. Do you agree? Or, do you see expectations in the business world changing to conform to Generation Text?
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-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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