Musa Aykac|November 29, 2010|15
jaamit

Goodbye to My Good Friend Jaamit Durrani

This is one post that I never though in a million years I would be writing. One of my good friends and work colleagues Jaamit Durrani passed away on Thursday 25th November, in a Tube incident on the London underground.

I am not going to write a huge post about his life, because it just will not do justice for the guy. He was an absolute diamond.. Not only was he clever, ambitious and an SEO genious, but he also was a caring human being, which is very rare to find these days.

Whenever I was going through crappy times, the first thing Jaamit would ask when we met or spoke would always be how I was feeling. He always put other people infront of his own needs.

I therefore created RememberJaamit.com, the main reason I created this site was so that we could all have a place to go when we are missing Jaamit to see how much support he had and how much he was loved. So please feel free to leave flowers, gifts or anything else you think Jaamit would have liked.

There is also a donation section, where all donated money will go to Jaamit’s family. RIP my friend

Posted in News, SEO Knowledge |
Anthony Carter|November 19, 2010|27

Social Media Outcry in US Over Naked Scans in Airports

If you are looking for reasons not to visit the United States then the possibility of appearing naked in a YouTube video might work. It seems that not only do these scans show what you look like without clothes on, but there has also been a leakage of these videos into the social media world. This has caused a huge outcry with many claiming that these scans are a gross invasion of privacy. Some people don’t feel comfortable getting undressed in front of their spouse yet now they will be expected to risk having their bodies ridiculed by millions of people online – the stuff of people’s nightmares.

When people first heard about these scans arriving in airports most probably took it as just a sign of our modern times – something that is a necessary evil. Actually seeing the images produced by these scans though has caused concern to hit boiling point. People don’t want strangers being able to look at their naked bodies. There are also many queries now about the actual effectiveness of such a system – is it really necessary?

It looks like these scanners are here to stay and the outrage in the social media world is unlikely to make a difference. You don’t spend millions of dollars on this type of machinery and not use it. Hopefully the leakage of the images from these scans will eventually stopped and we won’t have to worry so much about becoming a porn star just because we visited the US. It will be interesting to see how those religious folk who are quite modest in their dress and cover every part of their body will adjust to this intrusion. Likely it will be something that we all just get used to -  unfortunately.

Posted in Social News | , , |
Doug Banks|November 18, 2010|17

American Preacher Tells Christians to Give Up FaceBook if They Want to Save Their Marriages

A preacher in the States is warning his parishioners about the dangers of FaceBook. He is making this move after he claimed that 20 couples in his congregation have developed marital problems due to using this social media website. Rev. Cedric Miller from New Jersey is warning couples that continued use of FaceBook is putting their marriages at risk. The preacher is worried that this social media website is causing people to hook up with old flames and sin in other ways too. In the past he told his parishioners to share their passwords with their spouse so there could be no secrets – he now believes though that this doesn’t go far enough. Some of his followers have reacted badly to this announcement while others have already abandoned the website.

There are now over half a billion people using FaceBook and it has become an important part of our world. A few decades ago this same preacher would have been telling people to turn off their TVs, and before that to turn off their radios – go back a few hundred years and this type of preacher was likely warning people of the dangers of reading. Some people find it easier to blame the modern world rather then consider personal responsibility. If married people are going online to get back together with old romantic interests then there is something a lot more going on than just FaceBook. Perhaps this cleric just has a habit of attracting parishioners who just have loose morals – he wouldn’t be the first. Rather than blaming something like FaceBook he might want to consider his own failures at helping his parishioners work at their marriage. Of course this is unlikely to happen as it is much easier to blame social media.

Posted in Facebook | , , |
Anthony Carter|November 17, 2010|9

Dewsbury Man Gets 15 Months in Prison for Using YouTube to Promote Racial Hatred

A Dewsbury man is about to start a long holiday in prison after he used his YouTube account to promote racial hatred. Gareth Hemingway pleaded guilty to the charges and will now be paying the price for his social media activities. Hemingway had hoped that his videos would increase tensions with the ethnic minorities living in Dewsbury – it seems that it was this group in particular that he was targeting (one of the videos was called, ‘Dewsbury needs help). He wanted to instigate a racial war and showed support for other hate groups such as Combat 18.

While YouTube helps promote free speech it doesn’t mean that we can get away with saying whatever we like. If we decide to spread hatred on social media it seems that we are not immune even if we use an anonymous name – the police will try and track us down. This is what happened here and Hemingway is a good example of what we should avoid doing online. If we get too abusive the authorities not only can come after us but it seems they are more than willing to do this. Most of us feel fairly untouchable when we are posting online from the comfort of our homes – this is just an illusion though because what we say and do online can have huge consequences.

In the case of Hemingway his online identity didn’t protect him from the backlash. The local newspaper made an appeal and he was soon identified and brought to justice. Hopefully his example will put off other would be hate mongers, but probably not. It is likely that this type of hate video is one of the bad effects of social media that has come along with all the benefits.

Posted in Youtube | , |
Anthony Carter|November 15, 2010|12

Over 50,000 Hours of Video Loaded to YouTube Every Day

There really is no excuse for being bored these days; especially if you enjoy videos. YouTube has just hit a new landmark with over 50,000 hours worth of video being uploaded every day. This is an amazing amount of content when you think about it. In fact you should be able to use YouTube as your only source of entertainment and you would be always spoiled by choice. Just thing about it 50,000 hours of YouTube video is like having about 2,100 TV channels to choose from; each one putting out twenty four hours of content. No wonder there are now well over 2 billion videos being watched every day from this website.

While the idea of 50,000 hours of video per day is exciting, we also need to be realistic here. A lot of what is being put on there probably isn’t going to interest most of us. Still, it seems reasonable to expect that out of that amount there is sure to be about 24 hours worth of entertainment that we will enjoy; after all this is less than 0.05 %. The problem is finding the good stuff from the pure rubbish. We tend to rely a lot on popularity of videos to determine our choices; being a sheep doesn’t always ensure that we get the stuff that we would enjoy.

I think it is great that so much stuff is available on YouTube, but I wish there were new and better ways to filter this content. It is likely that a lot of good stuff is going unnoticed and as the site because even more popular it is going to become harder for the cream to rise. If you load a video you are going to be competing with at least a few hundred thousand other videos that day.

Posted in Youtube | , |
Ashley Freeman|November 12, 2010|3

£1000 Fine for Man Who Tweeted that He Wanted to Blow up an Airport

Many of us get a bit heated on social media websites – we can say things that we don’t really mean on the spur of the moment. We also might like to say the odd outrageous thing just to make our followers and social media pals chuckle. Well it seems that we might want to be a bit more careful about what we say. A South Yorkshire man has just been fined a grand for jokingly tweeting that he wanted to blow up a local airport. Authorities didn’t see the funny side though and Paul Chamber was convicted for menacing behaviour and was given a huge fine – he also has to pay legal costs. This is evidence once again that we need to be careful about what we say because people are watching.

Chambers was apparently annoyed when he made his tweet but he obviously meant it as a joke. He was snowed in at Robin Hood Airport in Sheffield and vented his frustrations by tweeting “Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high”. When he pressed the send button it is unlikely that he expected it to lead to a court appearance and a big fine. It did though and it could happen to any of us. While most would agree that the Tweet was in bad taste – it was directed at his followers. It is highly unlikely that any terrorist is going to give this type of notice.

It is hard not to feel a bit sorry for Chambers, but he has highlighted the importance of being careful when using social media. Anything we put on the web could come back to bite us if somebody takes offence.

Posted in Twitter | , , , |
Anthony Carter|November 11, 2010|1

Experts Predict that Social Media Will Become the Main Venue for Online Purchases

Experts are predicting that social media websites like FaceBook are set to become the main venue for shopping online. Indications are that by as early as next year there will be a huge shift in the way we conduce ecommerce. For a long time people wondered how these social media websites would become profitable but now it seems that they are going social network based shopping is set to be the next big thing. This is going to be a huge change in the way we do things and it has many of pondering about whether this is a good or bad thing. It gives even more power to the owners of these social media websites to influence our lives.

One of the most interesting ways that social media might take over online shopping is by combining it with TV. Over the next couple of years there is likely to be far more TV programmes where the social media world is part of the experience – this is due to the fact that the technology is now in place to hook TVs up to the internet and combine the two. So if you are watching your favourite show you will not only be able to talk about the action with friends but also be given the opportunity to purchase show related products. It is also only a matter of time before these social media sites start using your TV viewing habits to send you targeted advertising – similar to what Amazon does with books.

The worry with this change in our buying habits is that it could mean that we are going to be getting less choice – therefore there will be less chance of getting the best deal available.

Posted in Social News | , , , , , |
Anthony Carter|November 10, 2010|0

Now You Can Say What You Want on Facebook – At Least about Your Boss Anyway

An investigation in the United States has ruled that it was wrong to fire an employee because of what she wrote about her boss on Facebook. While this case took place in the States it will be interesting to see what implications it will have for us here in the UK. For Americans anyway it seems that freedom of speech allows them to say things about their boss on a social media website. It will be interesting to see if more people now take advantage of this privileged – before they get too carried away though they might want to look more closely at this case.

While this case found that the employee didn’t do anything wrong by complaining about her boss on Facebook – it doesn’t give everyone a carte blanche to say what they want about people. If they launched a personal attack against their boss this could still land people in trouble and maybe even cost someone their job. We also need to be realistic here, attacking your boss on a social media website is hardly going to get you a promotion. While this came might make it harder from American bosses to fire employees for what they say on Facebook; they will likely still get their revenge in other ways.

Personally I don’t understand why anyone would want to write stuff about their boss on a social media site – “what happens in fight club, stays in fight club’. It also seems a bit naïve to launch such an attack and possibly even a bit mean spirited. It seems though that these days most of us will post about anything that happens in our life. It is like if we haven’t tweeted about it or posted it to our wall it hasn’t really happened.

Posted in Facebook | , , |
Anthony Carter|November 9, 2010|2

Social Media Fans Claim New Michael Jackson Song is a Fake

This week there is a lot of controversy in the social media world about the new Michel Jackson song ‘Breaking News’ – many fans are claiming that it is a fake. This song is a first glimpse at a new album that is soon to be released featuring songs that were recorded before he died. It seems though that there is a lot of confusion about the exact origination of this song. Rumours and false allegations can spread easily on the web and it will be interesting to see if this is the case here.

It is difficult to determine where this news that ‘Breaking News’ is fake started from but it has hit the social media like wildfire. In the last twenty-four hours there has been a ton of tweets about this subject and the debate is moving into the blogosphere. Sony who is responsible for this recording are obviously feeling the pressure and have released a statement assuring fans that this is indeed the work of the late Michael Jackson. In fact his sister La Toya Jackson has also waded in to confirm that it is Michael singing. Despite these assertions there are still being doubts spread around the social media world. In reality, the fact that Sony and La Toya have issued statements might just be fanning the flames.

This is unlikely to be the type of response that Sony were hoping for when they released ‘Breaking News’ on the web. Mind you, there is the old saying that there is no such a thing as bad publicity – we may get to see the truth of this here. You could probably stick the Michael Jackson name on any music at the moment and you would get people willing to pay money for it.

Posted in Social News | , , , |
Anthony Carter|November 8, 2010|0

Now the British Monarchy Has a Facebook Page

Not just satisfied with having a Twitter account it seems that the Royal Family wants to broaden their social media influence with a Facebook page. The British monarchy has had to watch their power and influence slip away over the years, but just maybe they can regain some of this with the help of social media. After all, we have seen many ordinary people find international fame with their social media antics so why not the Royal Family?

There are currently half a billion people using Facebook and there is now doubting that it is an influential social media website. To make the most of it though users have to interact with the community and inject their personality into their page. The Royal Family’s Twitter account feels more like a spam account and there is no attempt at interaction – should we dare to hope that more is going to happen with this Facebook page. It would be nice to have a few interactions with Prince Charles and having the Queen comment on my holiday pics would be nice – it probably won’t happen though.

The power of social media is increasing all the time and it can no longer be ignored by anyone who wants to build a reputation. It is getting to the stage where failure to have a Facebook page makes you a bit irrelevant. It seems that somebody in the Royal Family’s publicity team has noticed this and had decided to remedy the situation. It will be interesting to see how they make use of this page; it could probably get a lot of followers if it was handled correctly. Maybe they could provide information and pictures that are not available elsewhere – at least give something of value to those who might join.

Posted in Facebook | , , , , |