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Google Will Censor Blogger on a Country Base Similar to the Twitter Censorship Policies

Not only Twitter, but also Google has joined the censorship campaign ordered by governments and big players. Google announced that it will censor Blogger posts. If you thus have a blog at Blogger, don’t expect to see your posts live in your country if you dare to speak out too loud against your government.

Google runs Blogger as its free blogging service where users can create their own blogs using the tools provided by the search giant to post opinions and share community content. Google will censor personal logs to ensure that the content complies with the laws of the particular country. There is thus no such a thing as freedom of expression as the worldwide government lock-down on information continues.

Country Domain Censorship

Any personal posts at Blogger will in future be redirected to country domains such as .za for South Africa or .uk for the United Kingdom. Google has stated that through a migration policy to the specific countries, they will be able to allow more freedom of information flow which will also allow for more flexibility when it comes to the control of information removal requests by a country according to its laws.

Google has furthermore stated that the by country policy will ensure that the impact of information removal will be limited as opposed to keeping the blogs at Blogger.com without redirection to a country domain.

Similar Censorship Policies

Let’s be fair about it all. Google and Twitter are companies and if they want to survive they have to give in to the requests of governments such as the USA and China, but they try to keep everyone happy. Twitter recently announced that tweets would be censored according to the country of origin.

Previously users of Blogger and Twitter could use the services according to the regulations of the USA laws, allowing for more freedom of expression. Countries such as China wanting to exert a lot of control over information flow, however, don’t particularly agree with the USA laws. As such a by country censorship is needed. It does ring alarm bells about the recent Information Secrecy Bill of South Africa. With such a broad act in place, South African bloggers at Blogger may soon find that their posts don’t show simply because they post about sensitive issues.

The trend of large Internet companies bowing to the wishes of governments should be alarming. People have grown accustomed to the Internet as a place where information is shared openly and where search results reflect the most accurate sites or posts for a particular query. Note that in future the most relevant ones may be hidden and in some cases already are.

With Blogger and Twitter ranking amongst the most visited Internet sites, a lot of traffic and information will be affected by the censoring policies. Blog posts will be removed and entire blogs can become invisible. Google’s remedy for the situation is to ensure a country based blocking only where the posts will not be seen in the country domain area. According to the company, not many changes should be expected.

If you are adamant to see a blog post, you will still be able to do so by entering the NCR URL which stands for No Country Redirect. This will allow you to see the content whether you are in another country or not.

With the new country domain censor policy, Blogger users in South Africa will when they access blogspot.com be redirected to BlogSpot for South Africa. The bad news is that the South African government will be able to implement censorship regulations, ensuring that South African users will not be able to see content that the government deems to be inappropriate. For the Internet savvy user there is hope with the NCR URL, but for the rest, complete information black-outs can be expected.

Activists in countries where freedom of expression is already limited, including Middle Eastern countries, some of the South American countries, and of course, China, have expressed their concerns. For most it seems just another ploy to keep citizens under control.

Twitter has announced that it will not randomly remove tweets without notifying users that some content is missing. Users will be able to see the censored content as will be the case with Google’s Blogger at a specific website called chillingeffects.org.

Why Do Companies Such As Google and Twitter Comply With Censorship Policies?

Twitter for one, wants to expand its user base worldwide. If they don’t act responsibly, they could end up in severe clashes with governments around the world. The same goes for Google. In order to get access to markets, they must compromise and ensure that their sites meet the laws of the particular governments, possible when they initialize country based censor systems.

One should understand that the companies have employees in the very same countries where they want to expand. If they don’t comply with the information control laws of those countries, their employees may be endangered. Google has shown that some side stepping can help them expand to countries such as China. The company did in the past regulate content originating and used in China, but because of a clash with the government, now routes traffic for China through Hong Kong, where more freedom of information flow is allowed.

How to Access Censored Blogs

Users can still see blocked content by simply changing the user settings showing that they are within another country domain area. If for instance, a Blogger post is blocked in South Africa, a user changing their settings to the USA, may still be able to see the content.

South African YouTube users may have already seen how censorship works upon visiting YouTube videos where messages are displayed that the content is blocked. One for instance, gets a message stating that the video cannot be viewed because of copyright laws of the country.

Governments fear micro blogging sites and the ease of registering a blog at Blogger because such sites can be used to spread news fast. A statement at a blog doesn’t really cause harm, but if that statement goes viral, it can easily become a threat to a government. Google will censor Blogger just as Twitter has censorship policies for tweets. Whether the blocked content will still be accessible in future remains to be seen as restrictive laws have become the norm rather than the exception.

Two persons were arrested and jailed four years each for inciting the recent UK riots which have left several buildings and vehicles damaged as well as numerous people dead. They apparently used the Social Media giant, Facebook to create posts for stirring an uprising in London about the killing of a young man by police.

It would be easy to condemn them and applaud the authorities for taking swift action, but even though they have certainly been guilty of creating chaos and causing large scale disruption and injuries because of their Facebook posts, the usage of Blackberry phones and Twitter to distribute false messages and thereby creating complete panic throughout the UK, must also be taken seriously.

Governments Want Control Over Social Media

Perhaps even more disturbing than the usage of Twitter, Facebook, and Blackberry as social media tools to create such uproar is the reaction by governments. The British Prime Minister David Cameron told the UK parliament that they may need to consider means for stopping the usage of social media tools by suspected perpetrators of violence and crime. Not only the UK government, but also the countries in the Middle East want more control over the usage of social media networks and tools.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have expressed concern about the power of social media and from October 2011, some tools available in Blackberry will be on the ban list in the UAE. The sending of messages and accessing the Internet with Blackberry will for instance be banned in the UAE.

What Makes Blackberry So Powerful As Social Media Tool?

Unlike Facebook and Twitter where messages can be public, the PIN associated with Blackberry ensures that messages stay private through encryption. This means that Big Brother cannot access private conversations amongst BBM users.

With Blackberry being cheaper than smart phones such as Android based handsets, more than 36% of the UK youth has Blackberry and thus access to completely private means of communication. It should not be a problem, but with Egypt brought to its knees through the usage of social media to stir protest action against the government, China already on the receiving end of the power of Facebook, and the Middle East fearful of losing control, one can appreciate the disruptive power of Blackberry. Governments want to have access to messages which can be used to stir the crowds into action, but with the encrypted Blackberry messages they can only speculate. There is no audit trail to follow unless the government authorities can get the PINs, but such would only be possible by court order.

Twitter, Facebook & Blackberry Become Social Media Scapegoats

To make Blackberry, Twitter, and Facebook the culprits is wrong. Although the social media tools encourage communication and are potentially dangerous weapons in the hands of terrorists, the applications have also been used to create awareness of legitimate causes. Although the Internet is filled with child pornography and has opened a whole new world of crime, it is also an essential tool for communication and information retrieval. The same applies for telephones. If one is to use telephones to create a stir, the governments will not be able to ban all phone calls. The postage system cannot be shut down if a terrorist organisation uses it to distribute letters calling for the overthrow of a government. In the same sense then, the social media network tools cannot be blamed or banned, and nor should the governments invade the privacy of the users.

Governments Use Social Media Such As Flickr

The UK government used Flickr to post photos of the people participating and stirring the London riots and did not consider privacy issues when they did so. One has to dig deeper. Governments are concerned with the power that social media gives to users. Instead of the governments being in control of the media and usage thereof to create the desired image and control over the masses, the people have realised that they have the power of communication. With such then, governments become more accountable to their citizens and it must be a scary thought.

Legitimate Concern Of Governments Regarding Power Of Blackberry, Facebook & Twitter

At the other end of the spectrum one must appreciate the concern regarding such tools and how easily Twitter became a tool for sending false messages and thus creating panic. Some form of control may be needed, but it does make a person uneasy to think that someone is viewing your messages and if they don’t like how you express yourself, you may land up in jail.

Facebook Exerts Control Over Some Sites

Facebook blocked a site earlier this year and came out to say that it was done by error. Some journalists and users don’t believe it since the site was blocked, unblocked upon investigation by a journalist and then blocked immediately after. Every user who tried to access the site received the same message of site blocked. In addition, all links to the site and any articles about the incident were also blocked. The site was about the June strike and promoted a peaceful action, but some speculate that Facebook was not too happy about such and thus not impartial. When it was used in the toppling of the Egyptian government, management was quite happy with the role of Facebook, but closer to home and their attitude may have changed. Users have expressed concern with the partiality displayed by the social media giant.

Is Social Media Too Powerful?

It begs the question of whether social media tools have become powerful communication tools or instruments of potential war. Another question raised by the London riots is whether Blackberry should open up its messages for investigation to ensure protection for governments and citizens. It does seem reasonable, but who determines the potential danger to the stability of a country? In some Middle Eastern countries even mentioning concern with fuel price hikes can land one in deep water and as such encrypted Blackberry messages protect freedom of speech.

If governments, such as the UK government, are allowed more control over social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry, the very next step may be government manipulation of emails, the Internet and then also landlines, wireless networks and not too long, and the whole world succumbs to dictatorship while the freedom of speech principle takes a backseat.

Click fraud costs the advertiser loss of income and also increases the cost of Internet marketing. Advertisers monitor clicks and adjust their marketing spending accordingly. The price per click is adjusted according to keyword popularity and the total of advertisers competing for the keyword.

If the keyword is particularly popular, click fraud can lead to depletion of an advertiser’s budget within a day. Given the consequences of such criminal activity, it is understandable that advertisers call for more effective methods to prevent people from simply clicking on their ads.

Clicks mean money and if the clicks are valid such actions mean money for the advertisers, but invalid clicking lead to money loss for the advertiser. It drives up the cost per click while at the same deplete advertiser budgets.

What Is Click Fraud?

Clicking is the action of selecting a sponsored (pay-per-click) ad to go through to the advertiser website or the landing page of the ad with the purpose of learning more about the product or service offered. If, the selection is not based on a sincere interest in the advertiser’s offering, but simply to drive up the cost for the advertiser and thus eliminate competition, it constitutes click fraud. Another reason why such is done is when an Adsense income generator makes use of unethical means to gain more income from selecting sponsored ads on their page. They normally do this from various computers or pay others to do so to get more income.

There are thus two main types of click fraud:

• Network ad publisher fraud
• Targeted competitor ad fraud

Targeted Ad Fraud

In this type of fraud, the fraudster targets the ads of a competitor company and generates hundreds of false selections to deplete the budget of the competitor. Small businesses suffer most as they have limited funds for their online marketing campaigns and as such it is possible to get rid of all the small players in order to drive the traffic to larger players.

Does Click Fraud Cost Google?

Although Google does get money for every click, they also pay out for such. In addition, the whole sponsored ad network integrity is affected. Companies want to know that the click-through rate is accurate and that the actions will generate leads as well as sales.

What Does Google Do About It?

Google has a system in place to detect click fraud and offers the service for free simply because they want to ensure the integrity of their ad network stays intact. The three step system includes filters to assess whether a clicking action is valid. The filter uses data such as IP addresses, rate of click, time spent at the advertiser site and dates. Further offline assessment is done where not only automated filtering and analyses take place, but also human based analysis. The next level is that of Google reacting upon an advertiser report of possible fraud. If the advertiser’s suspicion of fraud is confirmed by the Google team, reimbursement takes place. As such Google also stands to lose a lot if the invalid clicking is done.

How To Identify Click Fraud

If you are an advertiser and suspects invalid clicks there are a number of ways to confirm your suspicion and to stop the actions. For one, if your ad budget is suddenly depleted without any leads or sales then you already have reason to be suspicious. Should the budget for one month be R1000 and be enough to drive adequate, relevant, and valid traffic, but the next month R3000 is not enough, you may want to look into it. Audit the netlog files and if any suspicious clicks are found, report such to Google or the Pay-per-click company immediately.

If you are a second tier publisher, thus have a website where sponsored ads appear, and find that your income from the ads suddenly drops, you need to investigate. There may be another company stealing your Adsense income. If you find that there are many clicks which Google doesn’t pay you for, investigate. Check if there is any malicious code inserted in your code and also change the ad codes. In addition, ensure that only specific sites may display ads from your ad publisher account. If such continues, Google may ban your site from displaying sponsored ads. Report suspicious activities to Google.

Advertisers Still Pay For Fraud

Advertisers stay the victims as the estimate is that around 10% of clicks are not valid. Taken into account that with other methods of advertising one seems to lose more money than with online ads being clicked for no valid reason, the ten percent may not be that much to pay for the convenience of reaching targeted audiences.

New Pay Per Click Schemes

Unfortunately as Internet advertising grows and new methods for detecting click fraud are developed, so too will the fraudsters come up with new schemes to go undetected. One way of accomplishing fraud is by creating a site that offers ad or information space. The advertiser displays their AdWords on the site while thousands of second tier publishers gain commission. The publishers share their commission with the fraudulent site, not knowing that the site is indeed a fraud. Once the affiliate signs up, an email infected with spyware is emailed to the unsuspecting affiliate. It infects their computer and when they then visit valid sites, they receive pop-up windows and often purchase from those ads which they would not have done otherwise. It is more complicated, but just one example of how fraudsters go about to bypass the system.

Google has faced numerous class action lawsuits and Yahoo! has also been on the receiving end of such, but both have taken action through improved click fraud detection systems and through refunding policies. The only way to prevent large scale fraud and becoming the victim of such is to regularly monitor netlogs, Google Adwords budget accounts, clicks, and if you are a second tier publisher, the income statement and channels.

The Google +1 button has been rolled out and received with mixed enthusiasm by website owners and AdWords advertisers. Many of the webmasters have already added the +1 button to their sites. No doubt, Google changes their search and indexing algorithms on a regular basis and keeping up with all the changes can be hard work. Google Buzz may very well disappear completely or if the company strategizes correctly, they may just combine the two ensuring more interactivity amongst searches.

If you haven’t placed the Google +1 button on your website yet, you will benefit from the tips and pieces of information about the new roll-out from Google.

Google +1 Button Will Influence Rankings

Google announced that the +1 feature will definitely be used in determining a web page relevance to a search string and thus also its ranking. Website owners will thus have to carefully consider the content of their sites and the keywords optimized for. Quality will count since the user will have the power to click on the button for liking the content. The button can almost be compared to the Facebook Like button, just with a bit more power.

How Does The User See The Google +1 Button?

When a searcher comes across a web page related to a specific search, they can simply click on the Google +1 button to recommend it as relevant to the search. The users must be logged in with their Google account to use the button and can set the public display in their profiles. The button and likes of a person will by default be publicly displayed unless set otherwise in the profile settings.

Users will see recommendations from contacts below their search results, helping them to get more relevant search results. The moment the user clicks the button, the content will appear in the user’s profile at Google under the Google +1 button tab. It can be seen in 44 languages, but the annotations will only be visible in English.

Is The Google +1 Button The Same As Google Buzz?

The +1 feature is not intended as a conversation tool whereas the Google Buzz feature has been created to promote conversation about interesting topics or web content found by searchers. Up to now, it has not been used widely and many website owners have already replaced it with the +1 feature, seen as more relevant to searches.

How Will The +1 Button Feature On A Website?

Google provides the website owner or AdWords advertiser with several styles and sizes to select from. If a site owner has a bit of technical knowledge, more customisation can be done to the button. One can add several +1 buttons to a single web page at various places. If a user clicks one, it will mean a recommendation for the whole page. Google has suggested placement of the +1 button near the page title and the links to be shared. In addition, you can place the button at the end of the page as well.

Google has given recommendations regarding faster loading speed such as placement of the script tag at the end of the page before the closing of the page body tag. It is worth keeping in mind since loading time of a page is also considered regarding page ranking. When it comes to AdWords, the +1 annotations will appear next to the headlines.

Where Will The Button Also Be Visible?

The Google +1 button will be visible under the Share at YouTube, and will also be visible at the Blogger, Android Market and the Google Product Search facility. It is not available for mobile search at the moment, but Google most probably will add the feature to the mobile search in the near future.

How To Add The Button At A Blogger Site

Simply click on the Page Elements under Design on the blog dashboard and once you have located the blog posting area, you can edit by selecting the share buttons option where the +1 button can also be found.

Why Place The Google +1 Button At Your Web Pages, Blog Posts And Search Ads?

According to Google, adding the button to your pages, AdWords and blog posts, you ensure that your pages and ads will be immediately visible. By giving your visitors more opportunities to plus one your content, you increase the chances of more relevant traffic to your site. This is so because the plus one annotations will be visible in the search results. The idea is that people are more likely to click on search results with plus one annotations than those not reviewed and recommended.

Terms Of Usage

Google by now has learned that SEO marketers and web publishers don’t take long before they get shortcuts regarding Google features. As such the company has created strict rules and regulations for the usage of the Google +1 button. One for instance, may not entice a visitor in any way to click on the +1 button. Publishers may also not try to discover who used the button unless the user has allowed sharing of such information with the publishers. Publishers cannot give awards in return for clicking on the + 1 buttons.

Analytics For The Feature Are Not Yet Available

Although you will not be able to use Google Analytics for the +1 button yet, Google is working on such to ensure that website owners will be able to get information on the demographics and content clicked for. In future then, webmasters will be able to use information derived from Google +1 button clicks to improve their web content and marketing strategies.

Should You Ignore Or Use?

The Google +1 button is a social sharing feature, something at which Google has not been able to succeed thus far. Considering that web pages are now almost cluttered with all the social sharing buttons, one may be sceptical regarding usage of the +1 by users.

Although people use the Like feature for Facebook, they tend to be less concerned about what their friends search for and will want to search for regarding organic searches. On the other hand, a +1 annotation or more can certainly help to improve visibility in the search results and as such we recommend that you add the button to your pages and ads sooner rather than later.

Let us handle the process should you struggle to add the new Google +1 feature to all your web pages.

It is no surprise that Facebook leads the way into merging of online and offline marketing. Most recently Facebook itself, the Coca-Cola brand and also car manufacturer Renault, made use of Facebook RFID to bring the offline and online worlds together at events with tremendous success.

Reality games played online and in the offline world have been around for quite a while now, but getting the chance to share what you like with your friends online by just swiping your Facebook RFID is something totally different and it is catching on fast.

The line between the offline world and the online world is blurring faster than you can swipe your bank card. With the latest technologies available you have tagging of photos taken offline and sharing those simply by swiping your card and you have mobisites, instant messaging services and ongoing chat rooms.

You find your way around town with the help of Google Maps loaded onto your phone or use an online service to track the whereabouts of your lost phone. Banking is done from your cell phone and money received through Facebook orders with electronic purses such as Monster Pay. For some the world of online and offline marketing is still complex and they are about to become more confused with the latest trend of merging the online and offline worlds.

Facebook Developer Conference

Some examples will make it easier to understand and it is best to start with Facebook first. Attendees at the recent F8 Developer’s Conference received small plastic tokens which were securely fitted to their badges. The secret to the merging of online and offline worlds, however, was not the plastic token, but what was in it. The RFID chip neatly tugged in the token was what made everything so exciting. At the back of the token you could find a unique identification code.

The developers entered their personal codes at the Facebook Presence site and it activated the Facebook RFID. It was with this little token that attendees could use to browse the venue and whatever an attendee liked appeared on their Facebook Profile.

Attendees could become fans of games by simply tapping their Facebook RFID chips against the readers. Sharing experiences with friends became a whole new game.

Coca-Cola Village Amusement Park

When a bunch of teenagers visited the Coca-Cola Village Amusement Park in 2010 they had no idea that they would be one of the first groups of Facebook RFID bracelets. The teenagers each received a bracelet with a RFID chip embedded upon entrance. They had to activate their bracelets and could then login to their Facebook accounts to share which rides they liked and could even tag photos of themselves on rides by simply flashing their bracelets in front of the photo where they wanted to be tagged.

It wasn’t long before every teenager joined in and shared their experiences at the amusement park with their friends online. With this then offline world experiences became online marketing tools in an instant. Publicis E-dologic, an innovative ad agency came up with the idea to join the two worlds together for maximum exposure.

Renault At AutoRAI 2011

At the latest vehicle show in The Netherlands visitors to the show experienced the power of merging offline experiences with the online world of Facebook. Armed with a Facebook RFID, visitors had the chance to share what they Like with their online friends at Facebook. At the front of each Renault you could find a special Facebook pillar. The visitors could hold their Facebook passes in front of the well placed pillars where every car they liked appeared on their Facebook profile.

Who Else Will Benefit From RFID Technology?

The hospitality industry will benefit the most from merging offline and online worlds. Trends suggest that it will soon be possible to connect Blackberries in the same way ensuring that offline experiences can be shared with hundreds of friends rather quickly.

What Is The Secret?

If you simply plan to use technology such as the RFID for the sake of a gimmick you will not reap the benefits. Whatever technology used to merge offline and online worlds should add value to the offline event and be worth the while to share online.

The Perfect Online & Offline Marketing Mix

With all the hype about Facebook as the marketing tool of the future, some business owners have completely moved away from offline marketing. It is a mistake. Although the virtual world is global and gives you endless reach, you still want to ensure that the two comes together. The idea of a website is to:

• Attract attention
• Create more ways for customers to buy from you
• Extend your office hours
• Expand your market beyond your normal boundaries
• Create a convenient method for browsing
• Generate leads for follow-ups
• Increase profits
• Lower overheads

How To Use Online & Offline Marketing Effectively Together

When you use online tools such as “Refer a Friend”, “Subscribe” and of course collect customer details on your Pay Per Click landing pages, you build a large customer base. Auto responders can be used for follow-ups for many months. The trick is to bring the online technology and the offline world together. Whenever you are at an event you should enable visitors to Like your products or services on Facebook with RFID.

In addition you should give them the chance to refer friends, write short reviews there and then about the products and thus build your testimonial database, and also ensure that they can purchase online what they see offline at special prices. Make it worth their while to visit your site where more information is available and give an incentive for referrals and of course, Likes at Facebook.

Get The Full Power of Online And Offline Marketing

The other end of the spectrum must also be considered. You want the visitor to your website to be able to take something from your website to your store. As such special vouchers should be available for printing allowing for discounts when taken in store. In addition you may want the customer to review your offline stores online and notify others through Facebook of amazing products. Get the perfect online and offline marketing mix through effective merging of the two worlds. Contact us to help you bring reality and virtual reality together for optimal exposure.