‘General Online News’

The Internet Without Writers Would Be an Empty and Unorganised Space

You open the Internet browser and type a search phrase in the search box of Google or Bing. It takes a fraction of a second to bring up a host of websites relevant to your search. Have you noticed the words on the search page and then the websites you visit? Those words are not created by robots, but by writers. Most of them are invisible to the world out there – they are called ghost writers.

Websites Will Be Empty If Not for Writers

The Internet as you know and use it today would not have existed in its present form without writers. Sure there would have been content, but definitely not the quality you are used to and most certainly not in the volumes available now.

You may differ and think that every website owner populates their own web pages and simply writes the blogs and many informative articles you have seen on the Internet over the years. Indeed, some do and are not bad at it, but the majority of website content is generated by the invisible writers, the people who never get credit and sadly don’t get paid their worth.

Gain Visibility on the Internet with Writers

With the recent changes in the Google algorithms, numerous website owners have seen their rankings drop to a ridiculous level with income losses in the thousands to millions. There are two groups of people on the Internet that can help a site regain its ranking:

• Search Engine Optimizers
• Writers

Most website owners don’t have the time or resources to monitor algorithm changes and adapt their online strategies accordingly. For that purpose they hire Search Engine Optimizers or as most know them, SEO specialists. They work with the invisible writers to help a website gain visibility amongst thousands of sites on the Internet. In addition, the writers create compelling copy, sales letters, press releases, and the free information that you use to make informed decisions.

Ghost Writers and SEOs

This blog for instance, has only ADMIN as author whilst the company gets the credit, but there are two persons working on it. The one is the SEO that does uploading and optimization and the other is the very same writer that writes these posts. Copyright Law stipulates that the author of a work has a moral right to be associated with the work. It is a non-transferrable right. Even when hired to write, the author still retains that right, but in order to make others look good, you need ghost writers. In essence, the website owner or SEO company takes credit for the writer’s work. In some instances people even add their names to work when indeed someone else did the research and writing.

Without the writers willing to be kept a secret, a lot what you see on the Internet today would not have existed. It would have been dull. Let’s be even bolder. Have you seen the sponsored ads at the side of the search results? Those ads are written mostly by copywriters.

Have you ever purchased from the Internet based on the information provided at a website? You most probably would not have bought at all if it wasn’t for a writer who knew how to connect to you as the reader.

Do You Need Writers?

Depending on your writing skills, you can very well create compelling content, many bloggers succeed in such. If, however, you are not a skilled writer, the page may be filled with grammar, styling and spelling errors. One look at such a page on the Internet and the readers will leave because they will not trust you and you will lose any credibility you had with the audience.

Compelling Articles Sell Websites

Skilled copywriters can write on just about any topic. Whether it is about website marketing, veneers for dental correction, patent law or various types of forklifts, they have the ability to put knowledge into readable format that can be understood by the intended audience. Next time you visit a law site or perhaps a website about travelling to South Africa, know that although no author may be mentioned, there is in fact a skilled writer behind it all.

In-depth Research Ensures Quality and Sticky Content

The same of course, will be the case when you make use of a writer to help develop content for your site on the Internet. The very same writer that has written on Botox treatment and anti-ageing solutions can also write about the latest technologies and mobile communication. They do in-depth research and you will still be able to control the content. As such accuracy can be guaranteed because you as an expert in your field check the copy written and thus authorize publishing thereof.

Accurate Information

So before you decide never to trust any information on the Internet ever again because you think that it is not written by an expert figure,  know that the expert still checks for accuracy and you can thus trust most of the content, even sales content.

Connecting With the Audience

The skilled writer knows how do adapt the tone of the article to fit in with the rest of the website and also knows how to tone down on personalization. The writer lets the company shine and takes a background role, almost like the person creating the stunning costumes in the theatre or does the makeup. Without the teams of writers and SEO specialists working behind the scenes about 50% of what you now see on the Internet would not have been there.

What Does It All Mean?

Besides the obvious that ghost writers need to be paid more and should get more credit for their work because I am a ghost writer, it means that you don’t have to appoint staff to add content to your website. You can rely on writers and SEO specialists as available from iLead Online to do the job and ensure not only a good ranking on the Internet, but also return visits to your site, increased sales, and credibility with readers who appreciate the informative, yet, professionally styled information provided by your company.

Twitter has taken the bold step to say what everyone is thinking – Google promotes it own social network Google+ at the expense of other social networks.

Twitter has not been tactful about it as well. The company outright complained that users and news organizations will all be disadvantaged if there are no tweets in the Google search results. Since news of important events often appear first on Twitter, then the news networks, and finally in search results, it goes without saying that the tweets are the most relevant when it comes to up to date reports on events.

The Google+ centred approach has been criticized widely, with Twitter being the most prominent of the complainers.  The company loves the traffic from the search giant, but with no direct advantage for Google to send traffic to tweets, one can understand the shift in focus to promote their own struggling social network.

Twitter’s Perspective on Google+

Google can still index the tweets which are public and most of them are. Twitter feels that people rely on the search giant to deliver accurate search results including breaking news and events. With Twitter being a major source of information fitting the profile, it goes without saying that the results should include searches in their 250 million or so daily tweets covering just about any given topic.

Twitter boasts about a 100 million users and as such their input should not be ignored. With the changes in Google’s focus and subsequent search results, the users and publishers definitely are at a disadvantage and the results cannot be given as the most accurate or relevant to the user.

Google hasn’t included any public Facebook content in its search results up to now and Twitter has thus just joined the low search results ranks together with other social networks.

Google’s Perspective on Social Networks

Google’s response is that they don’t have access to crawl the content of certain sites including social networks. They can thus only provide results on information not hidden behind password protection and pay-walls.

Google has also announced that they are surprised by Twitter’s outrage since the company chose not to renew the pay agreement and since then the search giant has simply observed the no follow instructions.

Review of the Twitter versus Google+ War

If one has to be completely objective then Google certainly has the right to promote Google+ more than any of the other social networks and if Twitter has not renewed their agreement, there is certainly no reason for the search engine giant to send traffic their way. Google also has the right to get others to play nice and open up their networks for crawling, but look closer and you will be able to see that the exclusion of such results and pushing sites down the rank, influence the accuracy and relevancy of results.

Even though a user with a Google+ account now has a more relevant search experience when taken into consideration that search results are adapted to the user’s past searches and profile, essential results don’t show up. For Google, it may seem relevant, but the user is suffering because of their policies. With that then the giant engine shouldn’t proclaim the best results when indeed they are self-promoting and then demoting others at the same time.

Google+ is struggling and with all its excellent privacy features, little circles and clean lay-out, it cannot compete with Facebook and Twitter following. The search engine wants access to Twitter and Facebook to crawl, but then one also has to look even deeper. Google doesn’t make ad revenue from Facebook accounts and being excluded from revenue on Twitter, it seems like another ploy to downsize competition.

One must appreciate Google’s effort to get all information accessible under one umbrella. Currently you will search your Facebook page, do a Twitter search and a Google one if you want to get up to date and really relevant results. But, Google has also been accused of bullying Android and Motorola has complained that they don’t have freedom of decision. It does seem that Google pressures every other network, platform, mobile provider and site into submission to fit their own agenda.

Does this Tug of War Hurt the User or the Company the Most?

Undoubtedly the ongoing monopoly tugging does hurt the Internet user. One should, however, ask whether another social network is needed. Does anyone have the time to login at Facebook and Google+, make your way to Twitter for some tweeting, chat at Skype and then move onto searching? Indeed, Google surely doesn’t have in mind to just add another social network, it is more an issue of taking down the one network where it doesn’t get an income from and then if they succeed in pushing tweets down the results far enough, they may even take the market there as well.

The search giant, cannot however, be criticized for being so large and marketing itself since they do give a lot of free stuff. If many of their competitors would have done the same, they may also have flooded the market. They certainly also have the right to put pressure on companies to use their products.

Twitter’s complaint against Google is somewhat legitimate and resembles how many of the smaller companies also feel. With the constant changes made by Google, several thousands of little AdSense publishers have seen their income dwindle and their sites pushed down far on the search results.

One must ask whether Google has become so big that they have lost touch with their users in the quest to promote their Google+ and other products. One must also ask whether ad income from the large companies have become more important than accurate information as search results have become focused on the large sites recently. The Twitter versus Google+ war is far from over and one can expect to see more complaints surface in future.

Back to the question of whether Twitter’s complaint against Google for promoting their own social network while pushing others down should be supported – it depends on whether you still benefit from Google’s traffic and whether you want your searches and social network to be an integrated experience.

The web strike against SOPA and PIPA is to go ahead on Wednesday 18 January, 2012. The web is to be a dark and silent place with many of the major sites going on a black-out. The occasion – SOPA and PIPA. One the 18^th of January 2012, the unprecedented will occur. Never in the history of the Internet have so many sites protested censorship at once. Wikipedia will also strike in protest against SOPA and PIPA as will thousands of other sites.

Do Your Homework Today

If you have research to do, it will be best to get to work today as for tomorrow, you will find the web on strike against SOPA, PIPA and web censorship. The protest across the web is against the Internet censorship bills to be voted on in the USA Congress on 24 January 2012. The idea behind the blackout, including the Wikipedia strike, is to create enough public opposition against SOPA in the USA House and PIPA in the Senate.

Core Protest

Protesting sites state that web censorship attacks the very core of the Internet. It takes away freedom of speech, creativity, and privacy. Should a government not like what is said about it on a website, it will be easy to ban the site and block access to it, pretending that it has violated copyright through file sharing facilitation or the likes. The Internet belongs to the users and not the governments of the world. If the USA is allowed to enact SOPA and PIPA, they will in effect exert control over the information flow on the web.

Wikipedia Will Not Be Available

Sites such as Wikipedia and Reddit are at the forefront of the all-out strike against SOPA, PIPA, and web censorship. If you are using Mozilla Firefox as your browser, you may very well find it offline tomorrow. DowntownMiamiNews.com will also join the SOPA Blackout. According to them, the MPAA and RIAA, as driving forces behind the bill are the only ones to benefit whilst thousands to millions of users will be negatively affected by the regulations.

Even if you haven’t paid any attention to the information war between large corporations, including the likes of Google, Wikipedia and Facebook and the USA government hoping to push through legislation to censor the web and to prevent online piracy, you will be affected by the all-out one day blackout strike.

Wikipedia is a popular research source on the Internet, used by students, writers, and the general public to get a background on any topic before conducting more in-depth research. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, announced that the site will not be available for a full 24 hours in support of protest against the shutting down of sites such as The Piracy Bay and other file sharing sites and the proposed bills.

Entertainment Companies Support SOPA and PIPA

At the other end of the spectrum, the movie and entertainment companies fight hard to get SOPA and PIPA through because they lose money according to them, because of piracy, file sharing, and illegal downloading of movies and music on the Internet. Wikipedia has warned students to do their work early because the site will be off for the whole of Wednesday.

The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has indicated that such laws will help to fight piracy and general intellectual property theft. According to them, the protest in the form of a web strike or black-out distracts from the real issue of ongoing piracy. They feel that foreigners, that is users outside the USA, are stealing from the USA by means of downloads; facilitating downloads, and file sharing.

Large Sites Join Opposition to Legislation

Notably, rather useful sites and resources on the Internet are against the proposed SOPA and PIPA including WordPress and TwitPic. WordPress provides free content management blog templates, plugins and resources and with such has the right to oppose such bills. As a free resource with contributions from developers around the world, willing to share their knowledge, it is understandable that they will oppose legislation.

Online Piracy is a Problem

Online piracy is definitely a huge problem for the entertainment industry, but although the large companies complain that file sharing costs them millions in revenue, research reports have indicated that book, music and film sales have increased rather than decreased because of or despite file sharing practices.

Information Flow at Risk

The dynamic nature of the Internet is in jeopardy should the USA be allowed to control web access to so-called pirate sites or file sharing sites considered as facilitators of intellectual property theft. It does, however, ring alarm bells even with free information contribution sites such as Wikipedia since legislation will open the doors for more web censorship. It creates the risk of a completely USA controlled Internet.

Google has indicated that they support such a web strike because SOPA would allow for governments and companies to take action against so-called perpetrators without a proper trial or investigation. The free flow of information is at risk with such legislation.

Internet companies joining the web strike said the proposed legislation — SOPA in the House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act in the Senate — would allow operators no real chance before government actions could be taken against them. The web strike also including the Wikipedia blackout is a desperate cry-out by the public against web censorship and control over the information flow and freedom of expression that will come about with SOPA and PIPA.

Voting to Go Ahead

The USA Chamber of Commerce has reacted to the proposed web strike with an announcement by Steven Tepp (Chief Intellectual Property Counsel) that concerns about the bills have already been addressed including the wholesale blockage of infringing sites. Accordingly, the criminal activity of intellectual property theft is robbing companies of their rightful income.

The web strike against SOPA and PIPA will reach far and wide with many Facebook pages also joining. It is expected that as many as 5000 websites could join the black-out. There are even sites promoting the black-out in protest with the inclusion of an HTML code or JavaScript in the site’s theme. People are encouraged to Tweet about the blackout and to join the strike effort by adding their sites to the protest sites such as ProtestSOPA.org and Sopastrike.com.

The reports on the latest social networking growth stats indicate that Facebook is the leader of the pack with Twitter second and LinkedIn trailing in third place. More significant is continues growth of the networks with Facebook, showing tremendous increase in usage. With over 1.1 billion users globally and attracting more than 81% of the Internet users, Facebook is by far the biggest gun in the social network industry.

Globally, social networking growth stats show that citizens in Israel spend the most time at social networking with more than 11 hours a month per user. The people of Argentina are not far behind with over 10.6 hours a month per user and then Russians with their more than 10.3 hours monthly. Turkey, Chile, The Philippines and Colombia are not far behind. Trailing the top ten are Peru, Venezuela and Canada. Surprisingly, the US citizens spend less time on social networks than the citizens in the above countries, with South Africans not yet coming close.

Gender Profiles

Reports further indicate that women use the social media sites for comparison with their female peers whilst the men use such for finding friends. Men love the idea of body photos whilst women tend to add facial photos.  Men use the platforms for finding information about people whilst females tend to use such for personal engagement.

Social Networking in South Africa Compared To the USA and Europe

Studies indicate that more than 75% of Americans use social networks with European users slightly behind them, but when it comes to South Africa, the picture looks different. Reports show that Twitter has grown its market tremendously to now include more than a million users with estimates indicating that more than 39% of the users are active. With the majority of users in South Africa, only joining during 2010-2011, it is definitely the hottest new thing on the social media scene when it comes to South Africa.

The South African Social Media Landscape 2011 released by World Wide Worx and Fuseware indicated that the SA media is mostly responsible for the tremendous growth in Twitter usage. Accordingly, many use the platform for retrieval and for following of news.

When it comes to Facebook, the social network growth stats indicate that many of the users didn’t even log in during 2010-2011. With more than 4.1 million users and only around 3.1 million plus, who logged in during the period, it seems as if the obsession with Facebook in South Africa has subsided a bit.

Numerous users now utilize BBM and MXit as well as Twitter instead, whilst some, and only some, have begun to use Google+.  Many of the Facebook users have accounts, but only occasionally visit their profile pages to upload new pictures or to play a game or two.

Surprisingly, LinkedIn has also passed the million user mark with reports indicating 1.1 million users. It shows tremendous growth with active usage also on the increase. It has indeed shown more than 86% growth in one year. Only a tenth of the users are businesses.

MXit, though certainly not forming part of the international social networking growth stats, is still the largest mobile social media platform for the country. Its user profile shows that more than 74% of the users are teens and younger kids. It is thus, apart from BBM, the preferred platform for social networking when it comes to the youth of the country.

USA Usage

When it comes to the USA, Facebook is definitely the most important of the social networks with reports indicating that more than 57% for the users use the platform on a daily basis. LinkedIn has a smaller market penetration with just over a fifth of the user profile and Twitter in the same region.

European Usage

The Europeans are surprisingly conservative in social media usage with about half the profile logging into one social platform only. Around two thirds of Europeans use at least one of the social media networks with over 60% logging in at Facebook on a regular basis and around 15-17% on Twitter. Another social network called Vkontakte that takes around 11-13% of the user profile.

New Networks

Apart from BBM that has made its mark, reports indicate that users don’t easily migrate to other networks or add them to their profiles.  It may explain the low usage level of Google+, although it certainly has enough subscribers, just not active users. Smaller social media networks will have an even harder time in penetrating the market. It can be ascribed to persons already having all their contacts at Facebook or LinkedIn and with them already following tweets they don’t seem to have more time or willingness to add another platform to their schedule. People, according to experts in the field, tend to ignore smaller social networks because of the low level of interactivity.

 Social Networking and Branding Growth

According to the various reports, globally the USA and European users follow brands, although international figures suggest that only half the number of users from other countries, including South Africa, actively follows brands on the social networks.

Other reports indicate that MySpace usage is on the fast track downwards with Tumblr surprisingly showing growth. Accordingly, the average time spent at Facebook has increased to more than six hours a month for the USA profile. Market dominance of the big players in social networking will continue, and currently only around five networks show massive growth while the thousands of other networks have indeed shown a decrease in activity.

Social Networking Growth Stats in Japan

The Japanese, according to reports, love Facebook and Twitter just about the same, but when it comes to usage, Facebook leads with more than 52% of the sharing whilst Twitter is only used for just under 14%. Twitter has, however, shown tremendous growth in 2011 with more than 576% growth in one year. Google has shown a drop in usage of around 7-8%. Reports indicate that more than 11 million of social networking users globally are in Japan.

Social networking growth stats clearly indicate Facebook as the leader. Twitter and LinkedIn are the two other big players, but usage trends differ from country to country. In South Africa, as shown, MXit and BBM are also big, with Google+ not really a threat to any network. What is important is to take note of the tremendous growth in social media and networking. Any business hoping to reach their target audience must make use of the social platforms where their users are in addition to offline marketing and their websites.

The Apple and Samsung patent battle has been going on since April 2011. The giant Apple has sued Samsung for infringing on their iPad and iPhone designs. The patent infringement case is battled across borders from Australia to Europe.

Ban of Galaxy Tablet and Smartphones in Australia Lifted

The Samsung Galaxy Tab. 10.1 as the alleged patent infringing object was removed from the shelves of Australian shops because of an injunction filed to court by Apple. It obviously was a strategic move as the court order came only days before the big shopping spree for Christmas started.

More recently Samsung Australia admitted that because of the court ordered injunction the Samsung brand name got free and welcoming publicity. Indeed, it seems as if the court order backfired against Apple in their patent battle. With the public prepared and now in waiting for the Samsung tablet that will be returning to the shelves after a sales ban on the Galaxy tablet, orders have already rolled in for the tablet.

Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus will also ride on the free publicity gained through the patent battle. It is perhaps something worth waiting for as it is the first smart phone that will have features such as facial recognition for user identification and with the cool bump app available, the phone users will be able to share information and pictures with other users by simply bumping their phones against each other.

Bump App

Although reviews about Bump seem to indicate that it is a slightly more complex process than advertised, it is still a feature that will be well appreciated by Android-based mobile phone users. Although Samsung certainly received a lot of free publicity because of the patent battle, the company has lost a lot of money because of the retraction from the shelves.

Free Advertising for Samsung Galaxy

According to reports, no indication has been given regarding the exact amount lost, but Samsung has indicated that they appreciate the awareness created for the Galaxy Tab. The company plans to take Australia by storm with units and looking at the orders already rolling in, it seems that a shortage can be expected in the market. This can in turn drive up market prices as well as create even more desire for the tablet.

What will perhaps count in Apple’s favour in terms of market share is the pricing of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Previous indicators have shown that consumers are not so eager to pay just as high prices for Android-based mobile phones and tablets as will be the case for iPad and iPhone technology.

Samsung Market Growth

The expectation is that Samsung will take larger chunks of the market in the coming 24 months, putting it just behind Apple on the top tablet chart. Fans of Android tablets will be glad to know that the 7.7 inch version is expected to hit the world market early in 2012 with the 8.9 inch version to be released only later. Samsung has already reached the top spot in the Australian mobile market in 2011.

Google took a risk with the Galaxy Nexus with the Android platform, but at the end it paid off. iPhone may still be in the lead overall, but one must take note of the underlying patent battle between the giants. As competition heats up, more court battles may become everyday news. Although Samsung has been delayed in the release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 through the Apple court injunctions, with the ban on sales lifted just before Christmas, it has indeed come in their favour.

Although media attention focused on the Australian court battle, many markets around the world suffered the consequences of the ongoing Apple and Samsung patent battle, including the USA and Europe. Tyler McGee, who is the VP of Samsung telecommunications in Australia, has noted to news reporters that the whole patent infringement court battle between Apple and Samsung may have contributed to a loss of marketing sales drive because of the severe interruptions.

Mere curiosity can lead to consumers reading up on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and also to experiment more with Android tablets and smart phones in the upper price range.

Is it the End of the Apple vs. Samsung Patent Battle?

Maybe in Australia, Samsung has won the battle for now, but similar patent infringement battles are still in the pipeline in countries around the world. The prices of the two giants are similar and because the products fall within the same class, the competition is just starting to heat up.

Apple has failed to convince the High Court to give them a hearing. As a result the decision reached by the Federation Court was duly overturned in favour of Samsung. The battle has been going on for several months over two aspects only. Apple has accused Samsung of infringing on their intellectual property rights in terms of the multi-touch browser capacity as well as heuristic features.

It is not only in Australia where Samsung has been victorious, but also in California USA, where Apple’s request for a ban on sales of the Galaxy smart phones and tablet was rejected. Apple has indicated that they plan to appeal.

Retaliation by Samsung

If anyone has ever questioned the value of a patent, they should just follow the gigantic court battle between Apple and Samsung. Although Samsung has been on the receiving end of accusations, the company has also moved to take legal action against Apple for technologies used. In a similar manner, Samsung was defeated because their request for a ban on sales of Apple iPhone 4S in France was turned down.

With Samsung’s Galaxy SII being the direct competitor of the Apple iPhone 4S, the company went dirty in its fight with a pan indented ad about the capabilities of its smart phone pitted against the iPhone in a rather subtle manner.

The end of the Apple and Samsung patent court battle is not even near. With some 30 or more patent battles fought in numerous countries, it should be good reading for the next couple of months.