As I sit back and ponder what is going on in my life right now, it seems like there is a whirlwind of activity. We are now officially one month into the year 2012, and I wonder where the time has gone. I can remember as a kid thinking that time just crawled by, but as I get older, time just flies. I just celebrated my 33^rd birthday, and as I read the many posts on Facebook wishing me a ‘Happy Birthday,” I am also coordinating phone calls, reading emails, responding to text messages; the list just goes on and on.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but one of the things I miss most about my childhood is having very little to be concerned about and just being care-free. I definitely can’t say that now. Being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and corporate manager gives me lots of things to be concerned about – now.

As a child, I can remember watching shows like, “I Love Lucy,” “Leave it to Beaver,” “Lassie,” and one of my all-time favorites, “Dennis the Menace.” Growing up I wasn’t as fortunate as some of the kids on these shows because my mom worked outside of the home, but she always found a way to keep it all together. My husband and I made a conscious decision to have children early in our marriage so that we could enjoy our time and grow together. Now, as a mother of two wonderful boys, I too have had to find a way to do the balancing act that my Mom seemed to do so well. My boys are 13 (going on 25) and 9, and my hubby is 39. I am not at all sure how I am going to handle these teenage years; I just hope my boys are not as head strong as I was (If any of my readers have the manual, please send it along!). I can honestly say that becoming a mother just 2 months shy of turning 20 meant that I knew I was taking on a lot of responsibility, but I was up for the challenge. I know that there are things that have occurred in the lives of my children that I have missed; however, I have had the pleasure of getting to be there for all of the major milestones and for a lot of the day-to-day activities.

I believe that my career and my role as a mother and a wife complement one another. Being a mom helps me keep a level head when I’m under pressure at work. If you have ever raised a boy that is “all boy,” you know what I mean. I also think that having to be organized and structured at work has helped me to keep things organized and structured at home. I have learned through my job how to be empathetic in some situations instead of being sympathetic all the time. This was a hurdle that was hard to overcome, but with a lot of coaching, I think I have gotten there for the most part. Learning the difference between the two has been one of the things that has helped me to create stronger more independent children. I’ve created a strong foundation, so when they don’t get everything they want, they learn early on that sometimes life just isn’t fair but are prepared for it.

To be honest, I don’t know if I could be a “stay-at-home mom.” I applaud all families that have been able to do this, but I’m not sure if it is for me. I love going into the office and having interaction with my co-workers and Affiliates. I am constantly learning new things. I can admit there are days when leaving the house while the boys are out on Spring Break or Summer Break is especially hard, but that time apart makes the time that we spend together even more special. I love my family and I love my job too. I think that having both in my life gives me just the right balance and allows me to be better at everything that I do.

Each morning my wife and I would go through the day’s itinerary and select the items we wanted to participate in for that day. There was everything from hitting golf balls into the ocean to a piano bar. No matter what events were happening, we always went to the Vegas-style show they put on each night as well as the “nice” dinner in the dining room. One thing I found very accommodating at first was the “Sail and Sign” card they issued me. If I needed anything while on board, I simply swiped the card and signed my name, and they ran a tab for me the entire cruise. Though the customer experience was great, this was also a way for the cruise ship to have me spend more money than I intended to budget, and of course my wife loved every minute of it! Regardless of the intent, the experience and service were memorable.

At the end of the cruise, I learned that the staff was represented by 46 different nationalities! Can you imagine the different cultures, obviously with various backgrounds and beliefs, having to collectively work together together to create a wonderful and inviting customer environment? And, on top of that, doing a great job at it? Talk about a place that could give the United Nations a lesson or two!

In our day-to-day work lives, we work with and come in contact with people who come from very different cultures than us. We are asked to be on a team even though we all have different beliefs and ideas. Most of our co-workers do not even have any of the same interests, yet we must work together and combine our efforts to accomplish our Company’s goals. We are asked by our bosses to work through any differences we might have even if our objectives are completely opposite because again, we are focusing on our Company’s bottom line.

Taking this cruise and interacting with the staff has taught a valuable lesson that I will always take with me: In the service industry, if the customer experience is everyone’s primary focus, then working together to accomplish that goal should be rather simple regardless of where we come from.

]]> http://blog.zcorum.com/2012/01/cruising-together-to-reach-our-goals/feed/ 1 http://blog.zcorum.com/2012/01/cruising-together-to-reach-our-goals/http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ZCorum/~3/PSp48UfE-D0/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thebusinessofbroadband/~3/3Ow57CA_4oo/ http://blog.zcorum.com/2012/01/tv-whitespace-for-broadband-access-networks/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:41:53 +0000 Scott Helms http://blog.zcorum.com/?p=5426 Whitespace is a technology that accesses unused channels in frequencies previously set aside for broadcast television. It’s an unlicensed spectrum, which means that anyone can use it without purchasing the rights to it.  In this way it’s similar to other unlicensed bands like ISM (Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) and U-NII (Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure). Anyone can use it and devices operating in those frequencies must be accepting and tolerant of interference.  ISM was originally designated for things like microwave ovens (2.45 GHz) rather than communication gear, though today the most common use is for data communications.  This is a good example of how unlicensed spectrum can be much more efficient than licensed spectrum,  which locks out anyone except the licensed user.  Think about how many WIFI access points that operate in a neighborhood or apartment complex and manage to provide service without too many headaches.

While whitespace is similar to other unlicensed bands, there is a big difference in that there are a lot of licensed users in the frequency range, and the channels protected by licenses varies by location.  This presented a challenge to the FCC, the broadcasters who are the main license holders, and whitespace advocates.  How can unlicensed users be allowed to operate without causing interference to licensed users?  The debate on this took several years. The final ruling from the FCC stated that all unlicensed devices using whitespace must know their own location and be able to query a database run by one of several FCC approved providers (Spectrum Bridge, Microsoft, Google, and others). That database must be continually updated to account for newly licensed channels and changes to existing licenses.  This solution lets the spectrum that had been lying fallow be used without hurting licensed operators in that area.

Now, setting up a GPS receiver and a client capable of querying a database to dynamically determine available frequencies in a specific area has some downsides. The biggest one is cost.  Even with the downward pressure on costs that Moore’s Law puts on chips, we’re talking a lot more intelligence than your average WIFI Access Point has, or even most dedicated broadband wireless systems.  The numbers I’ve heard so far indicate that the subscriber side costs are around $600.00, which is obviously way too expensive to see a lot of deployments.

From a technical standpoint the channels that are being used are the same as TV broadcast channels and are 6 MHz wide.  I’ve seen some commentators highlight this as a disadvantage for the technology, but I don’t really see it that way.  This the same channel width that the cable networking protocol DOCSIS uses and while I don’t see anyone running QAM 256 across over-the-air channels there are lots of good options for getting bandwidth out of that kind of frequency.

Speaking of the frequencies, this is one of the big reasons to be excited about this technology.  Existing unlicensed spectrum usually requires clear Line of Sight between the subscriber antenna and the base station antenna.  This is because 2.4, 5.3, and 5.8 GHz are all easily absorbed by leaves and don’t penetrate building materials well either.  900 MHz has more penetration ability, but there is a limited amount of spectrum there (902-928) and its the “dirtiest” of the existing bands mainly because that’s where most garage door openers, model car controllers, and many cordless phones operate.  The spectrum for whitespace is 54-698 MHz, which penetrates well.  It’s also largely free of interference because up until now only licensed operators were supposed to use it.  There’s been some “unofficial” use of broadcast spectrum, but the number of devices is miniscule compared to the ISM channels.  The combination of low interference rates and high penetration means that we should be able to cover much larger areas per access point as compared to other unlicensed frequencies.

The next question I usually get is “when can I start using whitespace in my area”. The answer is likely to be “not just yet”.  The FCC is still keeping this under tight controls and the only area in the nation with official approval is Wilmington, North Carolina, with Spectrum Bridge being the first approved provider to manage the spectrum there.  That network is scheduled to launch today in a a ceremony scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

Even with deployments beginning, I’d advise waiting until the 2nd generation of gear is out, since the current data rates are pretty low (<4 mbps for most of the manufacturers) and the equipment very expensive.  Right now most of the names in the space aren’t the familiar ones for most operators.  You can’t buy this gear from Cisco, Alvarion, or Motorola yet. Instead the names are Carlson, Neul, and Koos Technologies, but I expect some of the more familiar names to enter the market as it matures.

Another challenge for operators is that rural broadband doesn’t offer the kind of scale needed to drive down costs.  All of the existing manufacturers seem to understand this, so their gear is pitched to solve broadband access and other challenges.  Smart utility meters and other machine-to-machine communications seem to be a focus for all of them to as a way to improve their economy of scale.

I’ll be tracking the continuing development of whitespace communication, including a trip to Miami for the Super-WIFI symposium on whitespace next month.

What about you?  Is your company considering TV whitespace as a new way to deliver wireless broadband?

Leavin’ my home, leavin’ my friends

Runnin’ when things get too crazy

Out to the road, out ‘neath the stars

Feelin’ the breeze, passin’ the cars

          Bob Seger – Travelin’ man

One of the great pleasures of developing relationships with customers is visiting them face-to-face, on their turf. This is the best way to understand their unique challenges and needs. As a service company, one of ZCorum’s fundamental tenants is to provide an uncompromised value based on meeting those needs.

My last trip took me to the Ohio Valley, northern Kentucky and Eastern Tennessee.  These areas are semi-rural as many of our customers are. Even though each ISP has opportunities and challenges, the one issue that is trending with every ISP is bandwidth consumption.

Subscribers – users – consumers, like you and me, have historically thought that bandwidth is just part of the Internet deal.  Times have changed. In what is becoming an insatiable addiction, we are moving unprecedented amounts and data and it continues to escalate as rich content is becoming more and more the norm. The number of Netflix downloads and streams is constantly growing. Dish bought Blockbuster and has 25,000 titles at your fingertips. Hulu has grown to $420M in 2011. Amazon provides free storage (for Prime customers) and on, and on.  All this content rides on the local ISP on bandwidth that has a hard cost.

Central to my visits was to share how we are assisting our ISPs to get control of the traffic on their network.  Our Broadband Policy Enforcer facilitates the communication to, and the management of those few users who consume an unusually high share of the bandwidth. By implementing a strategy to manage high-usage consumers, you can improve the Internet experience for the vast majority of the subscribers who are not overeating, so to speak.  Best of all, managing bandwidth based on overall individual usage in this way is well within the guidelines established by the FCC’s Net Neutrality Act, as long as those policies and practices are clearly laid out and fairly implemented (collective sigh of relief).

Travel is sometimes a grind, but when I can bring good news and value to my  customers, travel quickly becomes the most exciting part of my role.  Our Affiliated ISPs are quick to share not only their business needs but also their history and regional cultures. I find this personally enriching.  On this trip, I sat where George Clooney sat, got to see the mighty Ohio River for first time, and had my first taste of Cincinnati chili – in Kentucky, no less.  I’m a Travelin’ man, and I love it.

I found out that these notices are valid, and are an awareness effort by the DOJ to notify potential victims about the DNSChanger Trojan.   Some four million computers were reportedly infected with the nefarious malware.  It was first discovered back in 2007 and has since been re-engineered to infect not only Windows systems but MAC and home networking gear as well.  This past November the FBI finally cracked down on the hackers when they arrested six Estonian nationals and confiscated their computer gear in Operation Ghost Click.  To ease the impact of the infected users, the DOJ implemented a temporary clean DNS system for 120 days to allow infected users to identify and clean their systems.  This solution helped some, but it still doesn’t resolve the fact that millions of systems and devices are still infected.

To help raise awareness before they turn down the temporary DNS solution, they started sending out notifications to various parties that might have been infected or who provide service to potential victims.  So what can you do to find out if you’re infected?  The DOJ has created a website to assist users in understanding the issue, determine if they have been infected and help them fix the problem.

As a precautionary measure it would be wise to verify that all your computer systems and networking gear are not infected, and that all anti-virus and system updates are current.

It’s great that the government is trying to let folks know they may have a security issue.  I’m not sure how effective the notifications will be, though. They look pretty “phishy”, and even if someone assumes it’s a valid warning, it’s not real clear what to do about it.

Following is the text from one of the emails received:

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.

U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation
FBI – New York
26 Federal Plaza, 23rd Floor
New York, NY 10278
Phone:  (212) 384-2564
Fax:  (212) 384-4104

January 17, 2012

Business Representative

RE:  288A-NY-303468

Dear Business Representative:

We are contacting you because you have been identified by the FBI as a possible victim of a crime. This case continues to remain under investigation. A criminal investigation can be a lengthy undertaking, and, for several reasons, we cannot provide you with additional information about its progress at this time. A victim of a federal crime is entitled to receive certain services, such as information regarding available emergency medical and social services; available public and private programs for counseling, treatment, and other support; and notice of certain events in the progress of the case. For further details, please refer to Title 42 United States Code Section 10607 and/or the brochure posted on www.notify.usdoj.gov.

Attached you will find additional information related to this case and details for how to access the specific address associated to your company which were affected.

Current information regarding the status of your case can be found on the Internet at www.Notify.USDOJ.GOV or by calling the Victim Notification System (VNS) Call Center at 1-866-DOJ-4YOU (1-866-365-4968). You will need to enter your Victim Identification Number (VIN) 3527540 and your Personal Identification Number (PIN) 2670 anytime you contact the Call Center and the first time you log into VNS on the Internet.

You can also use the Call Center and the Internet to correct/update your contact information and/or change your decision regarding participation in the notification system. Please remember however, that the first time you access the VNS Internet site, you will be prompted to enter your last name (or business name) and need to enter it as currently contained in VNS and spelled within this letter. Your participation in this notification system is totally voluntary. You can choose not to participate or reactivate your access at any time.

If you have any concern regarding the validity of this letter or would like to speak with me regarding any questions you may have, please feel free to call me at the number listed above. When you call, so that I can assist you as promptly as possible, please provide me the file number listed at the top of the letter.

Sincerely,

Laura Riso
Victim Specialist

A few weeks ago I wrote about SOPA, which is the Stop Online Piracy Act introduced in the House a few months ago.  It seems that the vocal opposition from many sides has had an impact. Since my last post, support for the bill in its current form has quickly waned. Representative Lamar Smith, the bill’s sponsor,  announced Friday he was backing off on the requirement for ISPs to block DNS for offending sites, one of the more controversial provisions in SOPA. Then, the White House this weekend laid out what they will not support in a piracy bill, which also means there would be no support for SOPA from the Administration in its current form. Finally, Majority Leader Eric Cantor went on the record stating he would not bring SOPA to the floor unless there is consensus on the bill.  Wait a minute…. consensus? In Washington?  Maybe that’s the death knell for SOPA.

Before  SOPA was shelved there was talk of a blackout by major Internet sites that would go dark for 24 hours in protest to the bill.  Names like Facebook, Amazon, Google and others were thrown around as possible participants. Can you imagine? We can’t be without the Google for a day!  Our brains can’t hold all the information we need to know.  We need Facebook. How else will we know what’s going on with that guy we haven’t seen since he donned a tux at the senior prom that would have been right at home on John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever?  Wait a minute… I was that guy.  Anyway, it will be like withdrawal from a powerful drug that has slowly taken over our lives.  Just ask Sheenika Wilson, who purposely disconnected from everything this weekend.

How dark will it get?

Tomorrow is the day that was targeted for the SOPA blackouts.   We know at this point that Wikipedia is on board, announcing their plans even after SOPA was shelved.  Social news site Reddit also is supposed to participate. But, with SOPA on life support at best, there seems to be much less impetus for other sites to get involved.  Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, has indicated that he has no plans on shutting down his site tomorrow.  I suspect that Google, Facebook and others have also determined that making a point at this point is not necessary–if they had ever even considered it. It’s one thing for sites like Wikipedia and Reddit to go dark for a day.  They’ll get some publicity out of it.  For Google and Facebook, the loss in revenue would be substantial.

Of course, there’s still PIPA. That’s the companion bill in the Senate, by the way, not Kate Middleton’s little sister.  Harry Reid said Sunday on Meet the Press he still plans on moving ahead with PIPA, despite SOPA being shelved, and despite calls from multiple Senators asking him to hold off, including the bill’s co-sponsors.

Maybe there will be some other protests around the Internet just to be sure the day doesn’t go unnoticed. Will Facebook do something else to acknowledge the blackout? Will Google change their logo? Will most sites ignore it? I guess we’ll see if tomorrow will bring a major blackout, a brownout of some sort, or not much of anything.  I suspect the most significant impact will be for those who search for something and click on a Wikipedia link, and who’ll then have to do without the sometimes questionable facts and those ever-present personal pleas to contribute to the site.  Should be interesting to see what else happens. Bring a flashlight just in case… or at least a good book.

I let my friends and family know on Facebook and Twitter (oh the irony) that I’d not be responding to any messages or forms of Internet communication for a couple of days. If you needed to get a hold of me, you had to do so the old fashioned way by picking up the phone and calling. I’m not much of a phone person, so I sometimes wonder why I even bother to have an unlimited everything on my BlackBerry. Nearly everyone doubted that I’d be able to do this because for some reason, I suppose I’ve developed a reputation as being one of Inspector Gadget’s interns because I’m always wielding a smartphone, tablet, laptop or some other connected device.

The Beginning

At 12:04am, my foray into being unplugged had not lasted even five minutes when I saw the dreaded flashing LED. I shrugged it off and just stood in the doorway of my room wondering, “Now, what am I going to do?” At this hour, I’d normally be immersed in some type of online activity or catching up on my TV shows that I’d missed during the week. I surely hoped that my entire weekend wouldn’t be consumed by an almost uncontrollable urge to see who was trying to contact me or trying to find out what was going on in the social media world. The cure for the urge seemed to be sleep.

The Middle

I awakened Saturday morning and didn’t even bother to look at my phone other than through my peripheral vision. I was proud, but what made me even prouder was the fact that I got an entire month’s worth of items on my “To-Do List” done in one day. I’ve never sang and folded so much laundry in my life! I listened to a “Stephanie Plum” audio book and even helped a friend with a birthday party. I was on a roll, but still being taunted by the varying shades of blue when eyeing the Twitter and Facebook icons on my phone.

The End

The end seemed endless. But, I made it. At 12:01am, I sent a friend of mine a BBM since I’d missed a call earlier in the day, and I smiled as I sent it. I smiled because I made it and not once did I have to resort to applying a nicotine patch to determine if whatever ingredients are in those would assist in tackling my incessant desire to type the letters “www.” Maybe I should have written the letters on paper since my hand-writing is pretty atrocious these days thanks to the keyboard, stylus, and capacitive touchscreen.

What I Learned

Through this ordeal, I did learn a few things:

1. I should make use of my unlimited calling plan since I’m paying for it anyway.

Because I had no other choice but to talk on the phone, I talked to people that I hadn’t talked to in days and even weeks simply because I wasn’t able to communicate through any electronic means. Maybe my brother will stop calling me a hermit if I do decide to call instead of BBMing him.

2. I get more done without constantly being plagued by that bleeping red (and sometimes pink and purple) LED.

In this case, actions definitely resonated because my “To-Do List” is still current with this week’s items.

3. I have become too reliant upon items that were once not even a part of my life.

I managed to make it through the first 16 years of my life never having a cell phone, the Internet, and all of the other technology-based items that round out my must haves. I thought that Internet and my BlackBerry were almost essential to my life as food and water, but boy, was I wrong!

I made it, and I plan to make it at least once a month. How about you give it a try and see if you can survive the disconnect!

#1.  I began my day as what I like to call a “socialmedialite”, catching up on some news and reading blogs on Mashable.  I always find something interesting to share or comment on while on Mashable.  It’s a great site if you only have time to check out one.

#2.  My Deer Park water bottle was already spiked with a protein drink supplement for my mid-morning pick-me-up boost, which will keep me driving til I have my 4pm protein bar.  I do have lunch in between, so no worries.

#3 That’s a Starbucks coffee cup, but it’s actually filled with Caribou coffee.  I still get about 10 oz of high octane coffee before the day really begins, but always accompany this sometimes daily beverage with a high fiber / protein breakfast.

#4.  Everything is good in a SOLO cup.  In this case it’s good ol’ filtered H2O. This daily regimen of H2O is coolant for the brain. I try to drink around 60 oz. in a day.

#5.  Yes, that’s a stack of resumes. We had a great 2011, and look forward to another great year in 2012. I’m always on the lookout for new and creative sales talent who can make a difference at ZCorum. If you’re looking, we are always looking for good folks.  In addition to sales, we have openings for java developers, network engineers, and marketing. There’s no recession here.

I won’t always have my desk with me as I start each day this year. I’ll be hitting the road numerous times, but I have my daily routines on the road, as well.

I hope you have a wonderful and prosperous 2012.  Be on the look out for ZCorum as we introduce new and creative products and services during the year.

See ya on the road!

Both bills are designed to go after foreign sites that host material that infringes on US copyrights, such as pirated movies and songs.  These so called “rogue” sites are outside US jurisdiction, and US businesses are certainly losing a lot of money because of them. Supporters of the bill claim that SOPA will protect the companies and jobs in those sectors that are affected by online piracy. For example, in a letter supporting the bill, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) states that “more than $58 billion is lost to the U.S. economy annually due to content theft, including more than 373,000 lost American jobs, $16 million in lost employees earnings, plus $3 billion in badly needed federal, state and local governments’ tax revenue.” Sure, the MPPA has a dog in this fight, but there’s no question that the piracy problem exists, and has a serious impact on traditional media companies like movie and television producers, record labels, etc.

So what’s all the ruckus?

The bill pits these traditional media companies, who want to protect their content from online piracy, against online media companies like Google, Yahoo, YouTube,  Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and others, who would be negatively impacted by the proposed legislation.  The controversy centers around whether the bill targets the problem in the right way, and the collateral damage that could be caused by its enforcement. It also broadens the players on the Internet that would be responsible for its enforcement, even going further than the Senate bill that inspired it by adding ISPs to the mix. Under SOPA,  ISPs would bear the responsibility for making the offending sites unreachable.

A key issue opponents of SOPA have is that it does not offer the same protections as those that are in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Under the DMCA, those who are hosting content on the Web are granted safe harbor protection as long as they act in good faith to remove infringing content when notified by the content owner. Under SOPA, Web content providers could be sued, and entire sites could be taken down because of one piece of infringing material. Also, under the DMCA, hosting providers are not required to police their sites. Under SOPA, it’s not clear whether that will be the case.  Those opposed to the bill say it’s too broad, and is ripe for abuse.  Supporters counter that it will be used only to go after the worst offenders—those who make a living out of copyright infringement.

Who would be subject to SOPA?

Under the bill as it is written now, the US Attorney would be able to seek a court order against the owners of rogue sites, and the law would require certain actions that must be carried out by various entities on the Internet.  Here are the four main areas of enforcement:

Internet Service Providers.  The bill would require ISPs to take action that would make the infringing site unreachable by its subscribers, such as rewriting DNS to prevent the domain from resolving to an IP address.  This is scary for hosting companies, because if an entire domain is turned off, a huge number of underlying sites that have done nothing wrong could be affected. Also, as described in this Trend Micro blog, there are concerns that the proposed changes in how DNS works would have a negative impact on Internet security, including hampering efforts that have been long underway to roll out a more secure DNS infrastructure.

Search Engines.  Companies like Google and Yahoo would be required to prevent links for infringing sites from appearing in their search results.

Payment Processors.  Companies like PayPal or MasterCard would be required to prevent payment transactions to rogue sites.

Internet Advertising.  Those providing Internet-based advertising, like Google Adwords, would be required to remove any ads promoting the rogue sites.

Where does it go from here?

Last month the House Judiciary Committee failed to get the bill out of committee, and faced blistering criticism for only having representatives from industries who support the bill participate.  No one who opposes the bill and could talk about the technical challenges and possible ramifications of the legislation had any input.  It was also noted that those who are legislating what would be a significant change in the Internet admittedly don’t know how the Internet works.

Because of this opposition, the bill’s chief sponsor, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), has agreed re-examine provisions in the bill that impact the DNS system and search results, but he vows to resume hearings on “the earliest practical day”, which most expect to be this month.  In addition, Harry Reid has said he plans to bring PIPA to the floor on January 24th, despite the outcry regarding SOPA.

Many are convinced that the bill will be passed.  The entertainment industry has deep pockets that has helped generate a lot of bi-partisan support.  It the bill passes, it’s also unlikely to be vetoed by President Obama, especially in an election year, although over 46,000 people have now signed a petition asking him to do so.

But, the Internet also provides a way for everyday folks to have a voice–and a big voice at that.  For example, Domain registrar and web hosting company GoDaddy originally came out supporting the bill, but quickly withdrew that support when a boycott called “move my domain day” caused over 70,000 GoDaddy customers to transfer their domain name to other registrars. There have also been over one million emails sent to Congress in opposition to the bill. Finally, there’s talk of an Internet blackout to galvanize  public support against SOPA.

Whew! And I thought the Republican primaries would make January interesting.

Thankfully, it’s quite simple. A hashtag is just a way to categorize or tag a tweet on Twitter, which makes it easier for Twitter users to find tweets about a particular subject. Basically, when using a hashtag you are helping to organize Twitter for yourself and others.

Hashtags define your search. For instance, if you have a favorite show that you watch, want to tweet about it, and would like for other people who watch the show to be able to easily search for tweets associated with the show, a hashtag is exactly what you need. For example, if you watch Fringe and want to tweet about it, #Fringe will define your tweet as a tweet about the show and separate it from other tweets that might not have anything to do with the show.

Take a look at the difference between these two searches made within seconds of each other. One was searched with the hashtag and the other with just the keyword:

While there isn’t a big difference in this example, you can see that it does help define the search.

Although anyone can make up a new hashtag just by putting a # sign in front of a word, there are optimal ways to use hashtags. Here are a few tips and sugguestions:

1. Only use 1 to 3 hashtags in a tweet. People generally consider more than 3 in a tweet to look like spam. Putting more than 3 may cause people to stop following you.

2. Only use hashtags when they bring value to your post. Don’t over do it by making up a new hashtag for everything or by putting a # in front of every word in your tweet. Do a quick search and see if there is already an established hashtag referring to your subject or event before tweeting. After all, the point of hashtags is for others tweeters to be able to see what other people on Twitter are discussing. For example, if you are going to a large event, find out what the hashtag is that people are using and use it in every tweet associated with the event.

3. Hashtags can be used anywhere in a tweet, but is usually used within the content of the sentence (in a place that makes sense) or at the very end. For instance, if you were attending the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2011 tradeshow, your tweets might look something like these:

Loved the first day at the #SCTEexpo. Did anyone see the new interactive display by Motorola?

Wow! There’s a wreck right outside parking deck A. Where else is there to park? #SCTEexpo

5. Tell people! If you are going to make up your own hashtag, make sure it’s easy to understand, even if you didn’t know what it was about and, most importantly, tell your followers. Something as simple as this would be a useful tweet for your followers:

Are you tweeting about the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo? I am, and I’ll be using this tag on all my tweets #SCTEexpo.

Do you currently use hashtags? Do you find them helpful? I would love to hear your thoughts!