Creative Thinking and Creative SEO for Today's Digital News

Shut The Tweet Up? You’re Committing “Social Suicide”

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:06:00 +0000

UPDATE: Letter from The Reporters Without Borders to Twitter Chairman

Twitter, the platform that many say was an important tool in the Arab Spring uprising, has decided that this open forum will change and start to use forms of country-based censorship. This change has received a widespread backlash from Twitter users and beyond.

"If Twitter starts to censor, I'll stop tweeting." [Source:@jenmisstx]

As announced on their official blog they will now enable county specific censorship of content on the site. Forbes describes this move as “social suicide”. The post is titled “Tweets still must flow” and the opening paragraph states:

Mr Ronald McDonald – Twitter is More Than Just Another Big Mac

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:59:00 +0000

As reported in The Independent, fast-food chain McDonalds has received a huge backlash in response to its ill-fated social media campaign on Twitter. This campaign called #McDstories did not get the desired response as the users decided to set about telling horror stories about the fast-food giant. A quick search shows that one Twitter user said, “Happy #McDStories is taking a beating. In the information age, that's what blatant #Greenwashing will get you” with another taking a more drug-fuelled Tweeting route, “Paid for my food but almost left cause I was high and convinced that the workers called the cops and were using my food as bait.”

So, this week they launched #littlethings which seems to have engaged people in a more pleasant way. But, this is not a triumph as some are using the hashtag as a platform to bash the brand further. They launched this on Wednesday with one simple Tweet: “No line at the bank, a large tax refund, & those extra fries at the bottom of the bag. What are some #LittleThings that bring you joy?”

The Right to be Forgotten...Online

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

UPDATE: Use this link to stream Tweets related to "The Right to be Forgotten"

UPDATE: Great take on "The Right to be Forgotten" in terms of implementation

We all have so many online accounts it can get to a saturation point where you really have little control what is being read about you. You Tweet, post, blog and more but it is very hard to delete all of this if for some reason you wanted the right to be forgotten. This may change.

A Look Back at 2011 - When Social Media Democracy Arrived

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:50:00 +0000

We wanted to remind you of the amazing events that the world of digital supported last year. From The Arab Spring, to how Facebook supported the Egyptian Revolution social media was used for great actions in 2011. The Occupy Wall Street movement started too and now have been developing their social network called The Global Square.

You may remember the Twitter Stories post we put out last year which talks about how Twitter is connected to the good of the world. Another brief post talked about a space themed Twitter Story around Mike Massimo, the first person to Tweet from space. These were intended to show that digital can be used for such good it can warm your heart. But social media – like many tools out there – can also be used for bad as we saw in the London Riots with two men being jailed for attempting to use Facebook to create more riots and destruction. But social good came back with the @Riotcleanup Twitter account starting, which now has over 63, 000 followers and was key in getting the public out to the streets to clean up the debris from the riots.

So, the last post of 2011 was about Shopping Apps and the first of 2012 will be for Google’s Zeitgeist 2011 review. It will show how the news for how Osama Bin Laden ’s death came to light; the Brazil floods; Steve Job’s sad death and the phenomenally uplifting moment of when a 29 year old could hear for the first time in her life. The video is very promotional with its heavy branding and not so subtle pushing of Google+. But it is still a good way to look back on how the use of digital supported a year that will be remembered as the year of social democracy. Who knows, could this change the way policies and governments stand (and fall) from now on?

Economic Christmas, Cheap Holidays & Shopping Apps

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 22:18:00 +0000

According to Google Insights this week may see a large spike in people looking for “shopping deals” on their search engine. Because of this and the recent Black Friday post we put out we decided to help consumers find the best deals with apps and browser plug-ins that will make the holiday season less stressful. According to an America Express (Amex) report posted on the Which? site, consumers will be looking to spend ₤360 on average for presents for Christmas 2011. Perhaps surprisingly that’s up for 2009 where the average sat at ₤307! That said the report also highlighted some growing ways to save – or perhaps improve – the approach on Christmas 2011 spending. These are:

Secret Santa - Having a secret Santa for the family where everyone gets a present but collectively spend less

Capping – Of the people surveyed 68% are looking to agree a limit of how much they spend on each other

Gift Lists – A large portion of the consumers are saying that they will provide gift lists for more accurate gifts

Vouchers – Not the most popular but its another way to make sure money goes to good use is by a voucher

Booking Flights for the Holidays

Google has a tool that was reported in USA TODAY (14^th 09^th 2011) that allows you to set your price for where you need to travel to (US at the moment) and will bring up an overlay on its maps tool and the possible companies you can get that deal from. You can set the price and the tool is easy to use. But, for the Creative SEO team the better tool is what Bing offers.

This tool, though not very new (June 2009), offers a busier interface but still easy to use option. This tool has been gathering data since 2009 so they have had far longer to perfect the system. And that they have with a warning system that will tell you if you should book that New Years Eve trip TODAY or wait to get a better deal. The down side is this price saving feature is only available in “Bing travel cities” which limit it to the US. Still, even without that option the interface is great to use. To see the flight predictor tool in use – if you haven’t already - click here. For those in the UK you should look at Money Saving Expert as they have a range of great suggestions for travelling by train and saving that hard earned money. One of their more famous tips includes a method for splitting tickets while not splitting the journey.

Buying Gifts With Browsers

Now you have managed to get to-where-you-need-to-be let’s look at some great ways to save money when shopping. Even if you are using the suggestions that Which? reported on these will make it even more gentle on the holiday funds. First we will list browser plug-ins. There are two which stand out.

Invisible Hand – Compatible for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer (most versions) this is a simple tool that acts within your product search. We fist talked about this plug-in way back in January 2011 and how this can help with the best deals, online! They brag about finding ₤89, 867 369 in savings with an average saving of ₤6.39 for each search. They too support airlines but sadly again this is (still) limited to the US, UK and Germany. A quick test on one of the retailers this tool works with (see the full list here) shows that on Amazon we can get a saving of ₤100 on the Sony Alpha DSLR 390L by purchasing it from Play.com instead. Download the tool here.

Booly – Like Invisible Hand this tool works across browsers. The odd part about this tool is that they have made it hard to find by searching for it. If you type in Booly (to which they and most sites are calling this) you will be lucky to find the tool. So just to make it easy it is boo.ly for reference. Again this tool can work with holidays and works from your first product search.

You must be aware that it is generic search terms such as “Sony camera” that both tools fall short on. You must know the product you want for the tool to kick in. The neat part about Boo.ly is that it will show up small flags by you search results and these can be clicked to show possible deals. To make their site more visible they need to look at their inbound links and site content as both are very low.

For the Sony Alpha DSLR 390L the boo.ly tool brought up prices in the states and not UK. Invisible Hand was able to detect where we were shopping from and provided local prices.

Buying Gifts with Shopping Apps

Below we will list some apps that you may be able to use while shopping to get a better deal.

Shopsavvy – It is a simple bar-code scanner that will search online for cheaper options. This works for Windows Phones, Android and iPhone. Just as long as you can get to the bar code!

Snaptell – Clever app that will allow you to take a picture of the product and will ping back a range of reviews and prices for its range of retailers it works with. Be warned, a bad camera and poor image will cause frustration and it simply won’t work. Their website is a poor execution when compared to that of Invisible hand that instantly makes you see the benefit of their browser.

Groupon – This must be in the list as it is a way of life for most of us. It works for iPad, iPhone, Windows, Blackberry and Android.

Now you have these you should not forget that the main reason for the holiday season is to spend time with people you care about, eat well and (most of all) turn off your mobile phone and stop working!

.XXX Domain Lawsuit, TLD's and Playboy!

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:45:00 +0000

Following on from our post about the new .xxx TLD (Top Level Domain) the team decided to update you on the latest news for this new-ish TLD. Reported in The Wall Street Journal two of the world’s biggest pornography firms have filed a lawsuit against ICM Registry saying that the .xxx domain name is aimed at causing damage to the adult industry. ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) allowed ICM to be in charge of managing this new domain and collaborating with 50 registers for prospective buyers. ICM – who seem to be very much pro this move for .xxx TLD’s judging by their homepage and the unavoidable “DONT MISS THE LANDRUSH” call-to-action - are yet to review the lawsuit. So, lets talk about these firms, who they are and what a "TLD" is.

Will I Know Either of These Firms?

Perhaps, one of them is called Manwin Licensing International SARL and the other is named Digital Playground Inc

Never Heard of Them!

Well, they run a host of high-traffic adult sites and one of them is Playboy.com.

OK!

Thought that would help...

What is a TLD?

As said this means a Top Level Domain. The reason this is vital, or one of the reasons is for Search Engine Optimisation. The debate for the benefit for TLD’s and the value it has to Search Engine Optimisation goes back years. Online is vital for a TLD – great breakdown of TLD here and a good overview of Search Engine Optimisation factors here – but it is more than that.

When you are running your ATL you will (or should) have some form of call to action. For these you want a domain that sounds right. For example, if Gucci ran a print ad and at the bottom it said “See the new range at Gucci.biz” it may not look as desirable as “See the new range at Gucci.com”. To know more about TLD’s (and how they work) check out this great post by pcnames .com. But use this only as a guide.

[Note: We only provide search links to adult content and do not support this industry]

Black Friday Sale? Beware Black Friday Digital Scams!

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 08:53:00 +0000

UPDATE: Black Friday 2011 iTunes Scam

UPDATE: 11 Insane Black Friday 2011 Deals at Best Buy

UPDATE: BC consumers warned about Black Friday scams!

UPDATE: Black Friday Twitter infographic on the who? what? and where?

Black Friday (for those that don't know) is an event in the US that falls on the Friday after the 4th Thursday in November. Also, it is the day after Thanksgiving Day so many people are in high spirits during this time. For the most part it is a Bank Holiday similar to that of what the United Kingdom celebrate, this too is a day-off where people relax but more often than not nursing a hangover and also sometimes call off sick the next day as they partied too hard.

Click to enlarge

Walmart are always keen to take advantage of this good will and hang-over-induced impulse buying by having a dedicated page for this. Added to this they are looking in good shape for Black Friday 2011 with their brand –according to this source – having its Facebook fan base rise by over 9% in the last month alone (ranking 6^th in the US by Number of Facebook fans for brands). Not bad for a supermarket and given that they are only just behind 4^th place NBA it is looking good for this coming Black Friday 2011. If you look at the data reported by techcrunch.com that states that you are looking at around 1 click per 1000 fans its fair to say that a well written post, at the right time would work well to drive traffic to their dedicated landing page.

A digital point of concern is the banner for Walmart that sits on their homepage. The creative treatment for this looses the eye with its layout. Though the whole banner is clickable the angle and layout seems to go against best practice for banner design.

But be warned! Black Friday scams!

Just as a warning for you all we decided to wrap this post up with an Infographic by Veravcode and Nowsourcing.com (click the image to enlarge and find the full version here). Sadly with any holiday online scammers are looking to trick you into given details to get access to your hard-earned cash. The BBC has been warning people of this digital trend too with their recent post found here and with Google showing a huge uplift during this time of year it is a time of caution. We have pulled out three quick tips from this infographic for you to remember:

1. Browse encrypted if possible using Google SSL when looking for online deals
2. Use caution with public WIFI to get that product cheaper and safer
3. Don't just click something that looks to good to be true, it often is!

Twitter Stories - Mike Massimino Sent the First Tweet From Space

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:34:00 +0000

We continue the team’s review of some amazing adventurers and landmark moments that come about through Twitter. This story – which you may already know – is about the first ever Tweet from space (May 2009) and is hosted on the recently launched Twitter Stories that we reported in recently. Michael “Mike” Massimino was the first person to take this social network to the stars and this famous in-space Tweet reads:

“From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”

Found on Twitter @Astro_Mike he has a large following of 1,271, 011. Using the TweetValue tool to evaluate the value of a profile (just as a bit of fun) Mike’s profile value is at $56797. Then when you look at the value of ABC News which is valued at $61255 you start to see how much influence he now has. Connected to that, ABC News reported that he is “a gregarious man with an outsize sense of humour”.

Twitter Stories - Choose Your Most Inspiring Twitter Story

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 11:45:00 +0000

Social media networks are being used for more-and-more reasons that surpass that of tagging someone in an image taken from a party or perhaps tweeting something about Justin Bieber. Twitter Stories as reported by Mashable is a collection of Twitter stories that shows that the service is more than just for fun and has a real impact on real-life situations. Indeed this is a growing phenomena where social media is used pro-actively for good and bad on a mass level.
The recent London riots were another example where social media played a role in this shocking event that rocked London – Hitwise reported how this came about and where the key postal areas were Tweeting from. The Twitter traffic during this event surged and shows that during such situations people will turn to social networks to report, subdue and inflame in equal amounts. So below we have placed in one of the Twitter Stories for you to see and more will be reviewed in detail to show what went well and what they could have done better for their personal cause.

Who Wants An Unhealthy Breakfast? & Healthy Breakfast Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 09:51:00 +0000

Update: Bacon health from the world of digital

Update: Bacon taste tips from the WWW

When we get to the weekend we always look for a nice breakfast to start the two days of relaxation. So, in honour of this (and another fun, simple take on the world of digital) we decided to look at what is trending on-line around this culinary activity and share some key statistics around this. But first, some top facts about Bacon, the most widely used food in breakfasts round the world.

We Are Not Searching For Health!

Using a very simple tool from Google we placed in "Breakfast" to see what Google Insights for Search brings up. For those that don't know Google Insights for Search is a tool that shows the patterns of what people search for and also shows the location these searches have risen from. From this we found some fun - and perhaps worrying - statistics that we are not so connected to the in-vogue world of healthy eating. Here is the list of the top words that have and the "%" means the rise in searches for a period of time - in this case over the last year.

Golden Coral (who appear as one of the global top rising words people enter to search for 2011) - and for those that don't know - are another fast food chain. They seem to have a political agenda too as on their site they have a section called "Military Appreciation" that allows you to be part of a fund raising initiative for disabled military veterans.

Fast Food is What We Want For Breakfast!

Rising Searches for 2011 Related to "Breakfast" searches

Sad to note that of all these top five biggest rising searches round the world for fast-food-chains are not terms like “healthy eating”, “salad bars” or at worst “Pret A Manger” because at least their food is a little healthy. No, the top ten rising searches - and by how much they have risen round the world are:

We then looked at which countries are most responsible for this rise connected to Golden Corral and its military leanings. Top is: the US, then UK, thirds is Italy, South Africa and fifth is Canada. So that’s that. The team can clearly see that for 2011 it is not as healthy as it seems (online at least) and that we seem to want that quick fix from a fast-food-chain. On a positive note we searched the digital world for some fun breakfast making tips and – like many searches – it leads to a video from YouTube...Enjoy!

Hurricane Irene and Some Help From Google and Ibiseye

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:37:00 +0000

UPDATE: NYC residents allowed to return home after the storm

Google's Crisis Response unit is in full flow with coverage and updates on Hurricane Irene. You can access the site here. For ease we have also listed 4 other links from Google that can help during this storm: Google Crisis Maps > NY-Specific Crisis Map > National Hurricane Center > Ready.Gov Hurricane Preparedness

Social media has been covering the event in great detail with Irene herself having a Twitter account which you can find here. The Guardian has just reported that there has been 1 million people without power and over 9,000 flights have been cancelled.
To get the most detailed up-to-date information you can also use the very detailed yet simple to use mapping system of Ibiseye. It allows you to track the daily wind speed of Irene, which is missed by Google's Crisis website.

Steve Jobs Resigns From Apple - A Sad Day for Digital!

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:21:00 +0000

UPDATE: Jobs' departure may impact staff loyalty

UPDATE: Tim Cook taking over and why that's good

This week Steve Jobs, Apple's leader, has resigned from Apple. The news sent Apple's share price down by 5.2%. However, it seems though - from initial interviews - that consumers of the brand (and its stylish products) feel that his legacy will continue. Below we have two things for you to see. The first is the resignation letter from Steve Jobs (as posted on Mashable):

"To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee. As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve"

Drinking Alcohol Tonight? Then Read This For Next Day Cures

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:38:00 +0000

Update: The Guardian newspaper talks hangover cures and the use of bacon!

The Creative SEO team conducted a quick piece of desktop research on hangover cures (for a friend) and came across a great article from the National Geographic. This post, found here, is a great run-through of how different cultures approach the issue of hangovers. We know from cultural pioneers like Geert Hofstede that each county has special nuances and the below infographic is a fun way of showing that. For fun, click this link to see what three countries have shown a search interest in "Hangover cures." [You wont be surprised]
Special thanks to FlavouredDelights.com for this image too.

28 Odd Facts For the Human Body Based on the Operation Game

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:04:00 +0000

The Creative SEO team are inspired by this infographic by Jerry James Stone. It screams of Operation, the popular 1965 board game by Milton Bradley. This family game became very popular in the 1980’s with its very catchy theme tune helping drive sales. We used Google Insights to see if anywhere in the world still is interested in this board game (Interest being defined as who still searches for it). The game seems to inspire in the social world too with a Twitter user saying (KNBresee) “Guys guys I have an idea for a horror movie based on the board game operation.” And just so you know you can get a Simpsons version.

28 Odd Facts About the Human Body

Enjoy the infographic and learn great things about the human body. Like what year was the..:

...The first face transplant?

...First lung transplant?

...First hand transplant?
See, we can all learn something new today that is not just about Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

NFC - Near Field Communications and Angry Birds

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:57:00 +0000

Mobile phones are being used in ways that surprise us still in this Blade Runner future we live in. Now, this simple device is being used to make the wallet a redundant accessory for mobile-mankind. The mobile ended the practical need for a watch and now that trendy leather card holder will soon be next. This is down to the latest buzz surrounding NFC. Though this has been around since 2004, this year the interest has grown due to rumours from manufacturers around how they intend to use this technology. NFC – Near Field Communications allows the transfer of data over small distances. Just by placing a NFC enabled smartphone next to an NFC reader and the transaction will be made. And, with rumours that HTC will be creating an NFC enabled phone later this year it is starting to get the interest we all expected.

Who is Using HFC?

There are many companies that are already using NFC but one stands out. Starbucks – In the last year they launched a pay method that allows users to make purchases by scanning a code of a product. To do this the user needs to down load the app. PayPal has recently stated that it will allow a peer-to-peer payment method for Android NFC devices. What this infographic shows is a few thought starters and the Creative SEO team have added in some extra for you to mull over. It could be used for:

Airline Tickets

Identity Payments

Electronic Keys

Subway Travel

Home settings - The device can trigger the personal settings to be activated

Event VJ’s – Allow users to have their image appear in the large display

Angry Birds and NFC

For Angry Birds fans, the creator of this popular game has suggested that the following NFC features may come to light [source]:

“Integrating NFC tags into Angry Birds plush toys. The tags will be built into the toys behind the character's left eye. "We've already sold millions of these" [without NFC], said Wilson. Reading the tag with an NFC phone could unlock levels or deliver Facebook Credits.

Integrating NFC tags into plush toy display bins, in-store promotional posters and Mighty Eagle toys. Here, says Wilson, NFC could be used to drive foot traffic to retailers that stock its merchandise. Players could gain in-game benefits or credits in return for checking-in at participating retailers by touching their NFC phone to in-store displays. Rovio has "a big Facebook game in the works and we're hoping to integrate NFC there," says Wilson. The company already has more than 2m Facebook fans. We also "hope to integrate NFC in our full version in the not too distant future," Wilson added.”

To keep abreast of NFC updates go to this site.

Chinese - If You Don't Know the Language...Learn it Quick!

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 22:01:00 +0000

TNW have provided this great info-graphic on Chinese language and how this tough-to-learn dialect may soon start to rule the World Wide Web. Using data provided by Internet World Stats it is worth noting that this language is the second most used on the internet with over 32% penetration, runner-up to English with 42%. Focus on the growth section to see how quickly this language penetration has grown.

LinkedIn For Students - An Introduction and Some Tips for Students

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:11:00 +0000

In this post we talked about how to get people to engage with your LinkedIn profile. The point of the post was to try and make sure that not only do you drive traffic to your profile but you also make sure people read it with great, simple tips. Now the importance of LinkedIn reaches academics as there is now LinkedIn for students. This news, announced on the LinkedIn blog talks about how the growing social network for business is creating new features for keen and eager under-graduates.

The theme of this new feature is understanding that students are not always in a place where working qualifications are relevant for their post university life. There are 5 key areas for this feature, these are:

Projects - How you connect seminar-based-learning to the working world.

Honors & Awards - “Did you make the Dean’s List or earn a merit-based scholarship?”

Organizations - This section allows you to show your leadership skills through external events you were/are connected to.

Test Scores - This allows you to flaunt your test scores.

Courses - Gives you the chance to highlight your most relevant courses.

How Do I Add Student Sections to My Profile on LinkedIn?

To start doing this, go to your LinkedIn profile [edit mode]. Once you are there simply click the “Add sections” link which is under your profile summery. You will then be able to choose what area you wish to add.

Top Tip: You are allowed to move the sections around to show your most favoured feature at the best position on your LinkedIn profile.

Top Tip: Make sure that your profile gets viewed and read by reading this post about LinkedIn visibility.

Extra Top Tip: These new sections allow you to put in what you feel is right. Consider keywords in all of these and use the approach in this post to make sure these new additions can add further traffic to your LinkedIn profile.

Puppets Say What Ten Things Annoy Them on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000

The Creative SEO team came across this video where these puppets list the top 10 most annoying things that people do on Facebook. We have broken down the whole video by using this tool to link to the moment in the video for each of the 10 annoying things. To get these links below:

Right Click on the link > Copy Link Location. You can then place this on Twitter, Facebook or even Google+ if you have it!

1. Babies – Where new parents seem to want to place up pictures of their babies for the world to see > Click here to go to that point in the video

2. A random picture of what you just ate – People seem to want to show the world they have cooked an omelette for the first time > Click here to go to that point in the video

3. That your mum is on Facebook too – Not sure if this is the best use of Facebook > Click here to go to that point in the video

4. Suggesting I like something that benefits yourself – This is a great tool but one that is over used by some > Click here to go to that point in the video

5. That old cool friends have gone insane > Click here to go to that point in the video

6. Getting gifts that are cartoon cows from Moo Land – Either this or being sent a fortune > Click here to go to that point in the video cookie/cocktail is not the best present for a friend > Click here to go to that point in the video

7. Being tagged in pictures where you look terrible – Never a good thing > Click here to go to that point in the video

8. Friend suggestions > Click here to go to that point in the video

9. Default privacy settings > Click here to go to that point in the video

10. Sending drunk messages – Check out our Facebook Sobriety Test to prevent this > Click here to go to that point in the video

Enjoy the video!

LinkedIn - How to Get People to See and Read Your Profile

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 16:26:00 +0000

LinkedIn, founded in 2002 for business minds has seen vast growth recently. In India alone there are now over 10 million users of this platform. It has opened up its door to Russian, Romanian and Turkish versions (in these areas there are more than 1.4 million profiles). During the last two years www.linked.com has grown past 100 million members. Because it is expanding so much there are many sites that talk about how to get your profile viewed – which is vital and the Creative SEO team knows this – but there are neat ways to make sure your profile is read. Read on...

Get People to Engage with Your LinkedIn Profile

Dustin Curtis conducted this neat little test where the sentence that got the best click-through-rate was the sentence that said, “You should follow me on Twitter here.” So, as a test why not try this and have the sentence say, “You should connect with me on LinkedIn here.” (It may be worth a try!)

Selected Tweeting

You will not always want to have your Tweets appear in this business social network. To ensure this, add the Twitter App here and go to your settings. You can then make sure that all you need to do is add the “#in” tag for them to appear in LinkedIn.

Create Deeper Engagement With Clever Linking

By using simple tools like BridgeURL you will be able to allow the user to see more than one page of your profile on LinkedIn. This means that through one link (in Twitter of perhaps your email signature with the call-to-action mentioned in the first tip) you are able to show the user more than one area of your LinkedIn profile – AND THIS EVEN INCLUDES YOUR LinkedIn PDF Profile. Try our example version here.

Use LinkedIn Advanced Answers Search

Found here, this is a great tool from LinkedIn that will allow you to get a fresh view on any given subject. This is worth doing as some of the details in your profile may need updating and your Tweets (if linked to your profile) will also need to seem in-line with the latest trends.

Use Keywords for Your LinkedIn Profile

Simply put you must know the keywords for your industry. What do people search for when looking for employees in your profession? What keywords do they use? This simple Google tool here (and video guide here) will help you decide what keywords to use and how to write your profile so more people see and engage with it.

Use the 3 website Hyperlinks

For online visibility value, LinkedIn works well. On your profile you will be able to add three hyperlinks to websites of your choice. Top Tip: Select “Other” and create your OWN keyword for the website link. Use the same keywords throughout the profile to help with visibility (See this tool in the previous tip to decide what this keyword should be).

Optimise Your Job Title

Include the similar keywords you have used in the URL and 3 site links too. Then when creating your job title ensure it’s written in the best way. Top Tip: Use the Google keyword tool to see what types of phrases people search for when looking for someone like you.

Edit Your Profile For the Best Vanity URL

This could be your name for example www.linkedin.com/in/CreativeSEO – the part in red is the part that you may be able to get visibility for in the search engines and also make it easy to remember if used on email signatures. And finally here are some facts from the LinkedIn Press Team to get you up-to-speed:

Men seem to be better online networkers that women – Click here for the Press Release

India now has over 10 million users of this business platform - Click here for the Press Release

LinkedIn now is available in more languages - Click here for the Press Release

Facebook Skype Video Chat - A Quick Review For This New Feature

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:03:00 +0000

Google+ and the focus around this latest Google social network have been immense. It has received widespread reviews with the majority being positive. In fact as it stands today the weight of positive to negative sentiment stands at 5:1. But if you thought that this sentiment was strong then the new feature from Facebook (at the time of this post) is coming in at 25:1. Google+ should worry? Read on...

The Facebook Vs Google War is On!

With what a member of the Creative SEO team called “digitally impeccable timing” Facebook have fired up their digital-missile-silos with this recent announcement. The clever timing of this is picked up in Twitter by one user saying, “One week after Google+ announces Hangouts.”

Facebook will now combine Skype and their social platform into one. It means that the chat feature will be pushed up a whole-new-level. It is a big blow to the buzz that Google have been getting and from initial images that have been placed in this post it seems to look great.

What Facebook Chat Will Do - What Google+ Should See

On their blog they have placed in another emotionally fuelled video where Facebook users are saying “I love you” in a global-host of languages. This is a neat little nod to Facebook’s world-wide presence and even more when you see how they cast some people from expanding markets such as India, China and Brasil. We stated in this post reviewing the latest Google social network Google+ and how the promotional material tugged on the retro mindset of the 30+. Well, Facebook is doing no such thing and it seems hard to pin down what the age range is but it visually leans more toward the 30-.

The feature will allow you to video-dial your friends through Facebook. It has a sidebar with “the people you message most” and will be ready for over 70 different languages.

To get started with this click here. You will then be asked to download an .exe file. Install this and you are ready to start video chatting through Facebook...If the other person picks-up!

Group Chat

Facebook state: “We're also launching multi-person chat, which is one of our most requested features. Now when your friends can't figure out what movie to see, you can just add them to a chat and decide together. To include more friends in your conversation, simply select Add Friends to Chat.” This will really show the social power of this giant as it is a feature that – as they rightly say – is in demand and one that works very well in Skype. At this point it is not clear if this will work for fan pages, groups etc.

What Makes the Facebook Chat Video Work Well?

The use of many languages works great and is a tried and tested way to promote a global brand. Google+ (at this point) did not do this with the videos that support their Google social network. Accents are all American for the Google+ narration, no such thing for Facebook Video Chat. Even the feedback is in multiple languages which you can view here.

Strategic Implications

This really opens up a whole world for business and companies to use. No doubt the adult industry will use this for negative reasons. For the Creative SEO team we have listed what it can be used for, and this is an initial list as the service is not fully tested. (Below are some fun/serious takes on what this can be used for):

Product Demos (If this works on a branded page)

Allow brands to show new products to a selected audience.

Off-site Inspections

It may allow trades such as plumbing and electricians to remotely view an issue and gauge what is needed before heading to a job.

Dating

Does this give Facebook dating a whole new way to connect before you go on that first date? Just remember what this post said about chatting online, this is a warning for the girls reading this post.

Celebrity Endorsement

This may open the Facebook platform up to a whole world of celebrity connections and endorsement.

“If you win this competition you and your friends will be able to chat with X for 30 minutes!”

Beta Trials (If this works on a branded page)

When a product is in beta the social sphere are always keen to test new products. So, again this will help push a group and create a strong loyalty to the brand.

These are just some thought starters. The battle of the new Google social network and Facebook will only get more interesting. Who do you think will win? Google want the 30+ and (it seems) that Facebook want the 30-, so which carry more dollar value to them? Use the contact page to email in your thoughts.

The Google+ Project - Google Social Network

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:07:00 +0000

Google+ is reviewed in this post with views on the videos that promote it and their errors, through to the platform itself. You may remember this post where the Creative SEO team talked about Google social networks and where and when they'd failed. Google are not being deterred with their most recent attempt to get some friends/fans or followers from Facebook with their new Google+. It is in beta so reviews at this stage take that into consideration.

What is Google+?

Google+ is a Google social network with some neat features. Created under the Emerald Sea project name, it is the search giant's latest venture into creating a social network. They are looking to make sure that the popular products that they have will line up and work well with this platform. They have taken many learnings from previous attempts, like their failed Dodgeball. This gives Google (on paper) a solid advantage and with the mountains of data that they have on platforms such as Google Maps and through their search engine too it should mean that it will work better than Jaiku did. Google is clever in the way they call it a "project", rather than a "product" - and this subtle approach - and less subtle jibes at Facebook users - runs through their promotion as we will review later in this post. Read on...

Is Google+ Mobile Ready?

Yes, Google have made sure that this will work on the Android platform as a Google+ mobile app. To get this app you download it and then log into your Google+ account to set up your device. The app looks clean and has an intuitive user interface. It is very much geo-prepped as you will be able to see what contacts have said about the area you are in or the pizzeria you are going to.

The Huddle feature allows you to make "quick decisions" through its group messaging tool. This combined with the ultra easy photo sharing feature makes the app work very well for people, whatever situation they are in. When tested, immediately after a new picture is taken on the mobile device, the image taken gets synced-up to your private album on the cloud. It will then appear on Google+ and Picasa simultaneously if you so wish.

What are Circles, Sparks and Hangouts in Google+?

1. Circles

Google say Circles is, “The easiest way to share some things with college buddies, others with your parents, and almost nothing with your boss.” The intro video for Circles has moments where it seems as though the wording is created by an art director from time gone by. They talk about life-long friendships and at one point state how these can "last till you die". You can see by the copy here that they are – on a very basic and somewhat crude level – trying to already sound “social” by saying funky lines like, “...and almost nothing with your boss.”

This style of copy is shown in the sign up phase for invites to the programme where Google wants to sound in vogue. When the copy says, “But, if you want, we’ll let you know the minute the doors are open for real. Cool? Cool.” For the Creative SEO team its a somewhat rudimentary effort from Google to try and fit in with Generation Y.

2. Hangouts

The second main aspect of Google+ is Hangouts. This section and the video shows what Google’s Facebook plan may be. In the opening line the narrator says, “I wish we could go back to those times when nothing was planned...” At this point the image to the right appears in one of the frames. You can see the we grabbed the frame where the cursor is over "Mixtape Club." This menu wording has a retro feel that starts the thinking of "who?" Google+ is trying attract. The narration in the Hangouts video moves on to being more empathetic when it says, “Being adults – with so little time – we tend to schedule everything.” It becomes ever more apparent that Google's (maybe) not looking to gather users from the youth market and they are more about Generation X. This ties in well with where Facebook demographics sat last year, with the largest audience (in the USA) coming from the 18-25’s. This group won’t be too familiar with the mixtape references and its certainly an age range that can’t be too jaded by the problems of work-life balance and yearning to go back to, “those times when nothing was planned.”

Could this be an indication that Google are planning an attack to the 30+ market, a market that actually knows what a mixtape is? From the Circles video and the Hangout video Google are looking for the more mature social networker.

3. Sparks

Then we have Sparks: “A feed of just the stuff you're really into, so when you're free, there's always something waiting to be watched, read, or shared.”

This is how Google (scroll down when you click the link) explains this feature. Again the wording is the clue to their strategy which will be used to make this succeed or fail. The few words to focus on here are, “so, when you’re free” as this shows, yet again, that Google may want Generation X to leave Facebook and move to their new player in the social network war!

Twitter is Google’s Enemy Too!

Data provided by Digital Surgeons also suggests that Google has conducted some homework this time. Twitter too is a site that works very well for the younger age range, in their great info-graphic they show how the largest group for them (in 2010) was the 18-25 age range, much like Facebook.

Will Google+ Worry Facebook?

Well, to sum up this review in a short fashion, look at Mark Zuckerbergs's face and decide how happy or sad he is. Oh, and you may see that this is his profile picture...On Google+!

The Creative SEO team will keep a close on this offering from Google and will start to break it down further.

Social Media Quiz - Social Trends 2011

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:12:00 +0000

One area that is missed by people working on Facebook for business reasons is when to post and how to write status updates that connect with a fan base. So, the Creative SEO team decided to use a recent announcement in the digital sphere to create a quick and simple social media quiz (thanks to our friends at kissmetrics).There are just three parts to this:

Part 1 of this social media quiz is about what day is best to share on Facebook. So let’s get to the question: What is the best day to share on Facebook?> Answer

Part 2 of this social media quiz is about when’s best to share on Facebook. So, you know the drill, let’s get to the question: When is the best time to share on Facebook? > Answer

Part 3 of this social media quiz is about what is the optimal amount of posts per day. So, again, let’s get to the question: How many posts are best to put on Facebook to get the most amounts of likes? > Answer

This is a fun post and one to help break-up the day but it does have a more vital implication. For any promotion going out every area of the promotion should be thought about. Too often the answer is the big idea and not enough attention is paid to the tactile areas. It’s these tactile areas that should feed up into the big idea. If you know that people are on Facebook during a certain time of the day then ask yourself the following three questions:

1. Are there any events for that day that correlate to the promotion I am doing?

2. How can I connect with these events either within my budget (in some form of sponsorship) or connect with these events in a guerrilla format?

3. Can I use events to form digital event segmentation?

By doing this you will then be able to connect with users’ at the most opportunistic moment. It will also allow you to provide value to the user rather than casting a wide net trying to catch people that may not want to perhaps connect with your brand, ergo annoy them!

Barbie & Ken and Social Media

When looking at the "how" to speak in social media, then Barbie leads the way. This campaign is a good example of using multiple social media platforms to gain attention. Mattel launched a new campaign that lets fans decide if Barbie should take Ken back after Mattel famously split them up in 2004. Using Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook, the concept is well integrated. Check out Barbie's Facebook profile here.

Fancy a Quickie? Want a Quickie? Or Maybe a Qwiki!

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:07:00 +0000

Some of us have never been asked if we want a quickie. Some of us may not even know what this means (click here if you want the answer). But a new website called Qwiki may provide a new answer for all of us.

Qwiki produces a high quality video experience for the user by summarising information into a simple format without the need for any human intervention. It holds a vast database of over 3 million articles that they use to serve up these vignettes of information. Its co-founders are entrepreneur Doug Imbruce and Louis Monier, founder of the AltaVista search engine.

It is a great concept and one that seems to be very much in line with the famous Bing TV adverts that took a satirical swipe at Google. Bing achieved this by mocking the search process which (they suggested) leaves consumers lost in an algorithmic maze. If the Qwiki service can be placed onto mobile and within slates then it could start to gain real traction.

Next Steps for This Website?
An app for this is something that many would download and would serve very well in the education sector.The related videos section is a triumph as this is a way that learning can really take hold. Should Google worry? Not yet, but it should keep a very strong eye on this platform.

What the Creative SEO team have done for you is to list some fun introductions to what this site can do, choose from the list below to see how Qwiki works. Also, you may of noticed that most of the links in this article are links showing how this site works by linking to example results for that word that is linked.

Holiday

Chris Rock - Women Hate Other Women? - When Driving!

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:55:00 +0000

It must be made clear that men and women have their failings. Men (and this is being penned by a man) have more than their fair share. So for a bit of Monday fun we will look into errors from each gender. Today it will be about Women and how the digital world has pulled up so interesting information on the Venus of the species.

It has been noted by some it may be the case that Women seem to [sometimes and like men] not be best of friends with other women. In the Twitter world we are seeing similar sentiment with one Twitter user saying, “It's amazing how women hate on each other instead of uplifting one another... Where is the love?!” and another having a wider cultural stance, “Women can't live without men because women HATE other women.”

Now, we may have great reasons to think that this may work on a deeper level of dislike from a new study that has been realised. This report talks about how Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute said they (Sivak and his colleague Brandon Schoettle) wanted to see if there is a gender factor in road-traffic accidents.

The Slow Decline of the Keyword "Sisterhood."

Before we get to the findings we noted some search data of interest. It was a surprise to see that the word “Sisterhood” was a word that has been on the decline since 2008 in terms of Google search interest >

The Steady Rise of the Keyword "Women Hate Women."

Added to this is that the term “Women hate other Women” seems to be on the rise! This really is not showing a direct indication that Women hate Women more a fun way to look at how people search online >

Women Drivers & Road Rage

So, back to the findings. Sivak and his team examined (US) police reports of two-vehicle traffic accidents across the USA from 1988 through to 2007. They conducted a deep-dive on cases in which the drivers of both vehicles could "potentially" determine the sex of the driver in the other car moments before the crash. The "expected" percentage of accidents where both drivers were men should be around 36 percent and for Woman to run into another woman was expected to be less than 16 percent, because women drive less than men.

The study showed that the percentage of accidents in which a woman sideswipes another female driver to her left came in at a whopping 52% of all cases. So, women may be more likely to crash into other Women than for them to crash into men.

What Does This mean?

It could have a whole manor of implications. One is that through search you can often see a rise, decline or constant in what people search for. This does not mean that if people stop searching for a certain word it is the end of it. Far from it, what it does show is that the searched word can often be tied to offline trends.

And Just A Note: Comedian Chris Rock seems to use the wider view that women may not like each other in this video here. Any views in this post is no reflection of James-Kinloch.com and are not connected to that of the Creative SEO team.

Facebook Growth - It's On Sabbatical

noreply@blogger.com (James Kinloch - Creative SEO) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Facebook seems to have reached a plateau in terms of its growth. We have all seen the rampant growth of this social network over the years but now it seems that this trend may slow. This report talks about how in April and May 2011 the social giant saw its membership uptake slow considerably. The report from Inside Facebook goes on to say that Zuckerberg's [large] baby gained, "11.8 million new users in May, and 13.9 million in April — compared to a typical month in the last year when it grew by at least 20 million users."

Facebook Search Interest From 2005 to 2011

It is in no doubt that Facebook will carry on toward the billion user mark, but, as the Creative SEO team see in the search world, the interest in Facebook has levelled for the mean time. You can see from this simple review through Google Trends that even search interest has started to level out. (Image has been placed to the left for your convenience)

The (small) image to the left shows the level of interest in Facebook back in 2007. You can see it is mostly America at this time that are keen on searching for the start-up.

But then by the time we get to 2011 it has boomed to a global level, as you can see to the image to the right.

Video Usage and Why Facebook Needs to be Part of the Creative Idea

Though Facebook's growth has slowed - this by no means shows that it’s in trouble - and it ranks very well for online video usage. When looking at the top online video brands by unique viewers Facebook ranks 2nd...Above Vivo and even above Netflix. This report by Nielson got the Creative SEO team thinking. The general consensus was that beacuse video usage on Facebook is one of the highest in the top ten; it shows that assets need to be looked at in more detail for any ad campaign. If you are producing an advert you should look at the following details to make sure that the advert will work well in your ATL efforts:

Time the user spends on a platform?

How long do people spend on a social network? This will impact how long they will dedicate to watching a video and in-turn how long and how much time you have to get their attention.

When they are on platform?

If the whole of your target market is online in the evening, perhaps you could consider the content of the video to be more risky.

Who is on the platform?

Check the above and cross reference it with demographics. You need to make sure that the creation of the video works well with the seeding.