When I have been surfing the internet for the latest SEO news, I came across this unique list on how to rank in Twitter for a keyword entitled “5 Steps to Ranking #1 on Twitter“. But I’m wondering what does the author mean for ranking #1. Rank where? The Twitter directory? The search engine? or the top Twitter user list?

The author of the said article indicated five ways on how to ‘increase the ranking’ of a person. He cited the name, username, bio, account activity and number of followers. I agree with him that to be able to achieve maximum potential in Twitter, one must optimize a keyword in all these areas. But what he failed to point out is the different forms of search on Twitter.

Search on Twitter is not one-dimensional. It is not as direct as search engines. Twitter can be searched in various areas such as trends, hash tags, and directories. I think the author failed to point out in the area on which his tips will be more useful.

I also tried the effectiveness of Twitter in ranking in search engines. I have found out how personalities such as Britney Spears, TechCrunch and Kevin Rose have their Twitter profiles in the top 10 rankings when their name is searched.

I have also tried it on myself and yielded the same rankings.

With this, we can say that Twitter can contribute to ranking for certain brands. But how about keywords? I think this can be effective if you put keywords in your username or bio. With hashtag search, you will be associated with a particular term and you may build your credibility on a certain topic based on Twitter conversations. However, I have only tested the search engines on brand search and not on direct keyword search. As for directories, people can control the niche they are associated with because they can freely choose which categories should they belong to.

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Kevin Rose is at it again. Some people have claimed that Twitter have beaten Digg to the ground. It was just this January when Matt Churchill said in his post “Twitter vs. Digg: Measuring Success” that Twitter has equaled Digg in popularity because of a whopping 974% surge in its users thiss year. This was further exemplified with Joe Wallace’s post “Twitter vs. Digg: Social Media Wars” that indicated Twitter had really topped Digg. But what did Kevin Rose do? Whine? Complain? Create another website that will beat Twitter? Hell no. But he did create a website that will help Twitter.

A common error among internet marketers is the search to break new grounds. If you are as lucky as the founder of Twitter or Google, then you may find yourself successful. But then, helping or contributing to what is already out there is a rather wise option to make. That is why we have to commend Kevin Rose for his efforts on this new targeted Twitter directory called WeFollow.

Unlike other directories, WeFollow has this unique feature of getting updated easily. Each entry along with categories are ranked based on the number of followers. All one needs to do is reply to WeFollow on Twitter with the following format:

@wefollow #category1 #category2 #category3

WeFollow have also limited the number of categories you can sign yourself into. I think this is to make sure that the people in each category are somehow targeted. Because anyone can sign themselves to a particular category, there is the danger of irrelevant sign-ups that only solicits followers. If you want to try signing to more than three categories like what @mattcutts did, you will find that only the last three categories were credited.

I think WeFollow is a nice directory especially for those who are starting out on Twitter. Let us face it. All of us want to follow people who are relevant in our field. For example, if you are a designer, wouldn’t you find it more interesting to carry a conversation with a fellow designer than a programmer? Of course, there will still be a connection but not as intense as that of the same niche. Also, this will also be useful for customer targetting. If people are sorted into categories of interests, then targeting them for marketing would be more worthwhile because of better conversions.

In the end, we have to thank Kevin Rose for WeFollow. As Danny Sullivan said in his discussion of WeFollow,

It’s not perfect, but it’s a great start and well worth visiting.

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With the use of social bookmarking sites as a means of promotion, Delicious have been facing a lot of spam problem lately. Their goal of a community sharing the best websites on the internet turned to spamville overnight. People have been submitting links expecting the popular link juice.

With this, Joshua Schachter, the founder of Delicious, announced last 2007 in the SMX Conference that they are going to implement in the nofollow tag. This is to prevent people from submitting irrelevant links just for link juice. This may have stopped some from submitting spam links but it did not stopped all.

So now Delicious have resorted to another way of solving the problem and that is through silent bans. For those people who do not know what ’silent bans’ mean, it is a way of banning by not notifying the person and rendering that person’s activity irrelevant to the system. This is what Brent Csutoras experienced which he shared on his blog on a post entitled “When Did Delicious Starts Silent Bans?“. According to his post, he saw his past bookmarks disappearing from the system as his new bookmarks are rejected. Here is how he relays his story.

Last week while I was attempting to bookmark a page, I noticed that my saved page did not show up in Delicious, outside of my personal bookmarks page. So if you were to look at the bookmark through Delicious, you would not see that I had saved it at all.

I have no idea how long this has been going on, as it appears that once you’re ’silent banned’ it removes all your previous activities from the system.

Brent Csutoras claimed that this is a rather familiar situation. It was not so long ago when Reddit did the same thing. A person who is silent banned submit a particular story to the websites but then the website does not react. It will not submit the story rendering the account of the person useless.

But one question comes to mind with all these things happening. Why do social bookmarking websites such as Reddit and Delicious have to resort to these informal ways of banning? Why do they keep the account but leave the user useless to the community?

Also, as Brent Csutoras wondered, what triggers the penalty? How can he, who rarely use his Delicious account get banned by Delicious?

I guess these are some questions that Delicious must answer in the next conference they are going to attend.

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You may have been seeing a lot of Google vs. Twitter articles on the internet. There are these predictions that Twitter may overpower Google in the near future. And what better way for Twitter to up the game than by incorporating trends and search.

However, this seems to be just on testing stage. It was just recently when the Twitter Blog has announced that they will be incorporating search and trends. Twitter search is not really integrated in the website before. I guess they will be transferring the search feature from the subdomain search.twitter.com to the main website. But users have been seeing this trends tab appearing on the top bar. It seems that they are going to implement it.

But what does this have to say in the SEO world? Well, Twitter have always been associated with search. There is always the Google vs. Twitter wars. Some have been claiming that Twitter is slowly overpowering Google.

One instance is when Dave Winer did an experiment in his post entitled “Twitter *kills* Google in Real Time Search“. He tracks the news and he found out how quick Twitter updates compared to Twitter. The upper hand of Twitter, according to him, is the power of real time conversations. For example, in news, it will reach the Twitter community as soon as people talk about it. With Google, on the other hand, they need to wait for someone to write about it. Of course talking about a particular issue with your followers come first before crafting an article. And with the huge brands now having Twitter accounts, one can now count on the tweets for the latest news. As Patricia Skinner said in her article “The Changing Face of Search: Is Google Losing It’s Grip?”, Google may not be the best on the internet anymore. People do not need to depend on it anymore to get updates. They can go to social media websites and follow the experts and get the right information directly.

I think that this evolution comes from the increase use of the internet. People search but they also like to hang out at particular websites like forums. With the emergence of social media, people now have a place to talk about the things that are happening to them. They can also connect with brands and get the news directly. They get the links to the stories that matter most.

However, the only downside I find in this theory is the failure of consideration of countries who do not have constant internet access. Social media only work if you’re always online. This is the problem of Twitter. Here is how Dave Winer described it:

the Twitter result is scattered and disorganized. If you weren’t watching the event unfold in realtime you would not be able to piece together the story

With this, it is hard for non-constant internet users to use social media to track stories. They are not even as knowledgeable to use it because they hardly use the internet. And with that they can only depend on good old Google search.

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A recent announcement in Adweek indicates a launch of a new Twitter directory with a twist – Tracking Twitter. It is a directory specializing on tracking different brands on the internet. Some brands such as Starbucks, Zappos and Jetblue sprung up their page. With the algorithm shift of Google from keywords to branding, I believed this directory will help people in more ways than one not only for the established brands but also for those planning to build one.

Electric Artist is a digital brand management firm and they created this website with the goal of providing a list of brand that people (especially their clients) can keep track of. The problem they have faced in the past is that their clients looking to build brand on Twitter does not know who to follow or who Twitter the most. This tool will help them there.

As Marc Shiller, the CEO, said,

“In doing that, we’re always asking the questions ‘Who has been using Twitter most effectively?’ and ‘Who’s feeds should I follow?’ and so we built a tool for our staff to follow Twitter feeds in different categories. So what we decided to do is just make it public because Twitter doesn’t really have a good directory.”

With Tracking Twitter now open to the public, related brand will not have to look far if they are looking for people to follow. The site contains all the names and stats they will need. However, the problem here is that the website is little in scope. It only covers particular brands in the media industry and not in others. I think this is needed if they’re looking to function as a full directory.

Also, it’s a bit self-indulgent. It’s all about what the Electric Artists know. It’s about the brands they are familiar with and they rank it according to what they think is best. It is not ranked based on what other people are thinking. It is ranked based on their own opinion. There are even some recommendations at the bottom of the page saying “Electric Artists Recommends”. Thing is, people in Twitter comes from all over the world. They are not focused only on a particular geographic location. Some brands may be familiar to some people while unknown to some.

But Electric Artists does have the authority in doing this so we cannot complain. But a diversification in its list will make this website better.

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With the emergence of social media, a lot of businesses are hopeful of taking themselves online. However, what they seem to forget is that social media users have a particular culture that they must get to know before they can fully penetrate it. This is the error Skittles committed as they tried to get people to talk about their website last Tuesday.

There is no argument about the influence of social media on the customer-business relationship. A lot of businesses have taken themselves online with high hopes of getting in touch with their customers. Customers, on the other hand, are very inquisitive. As the Church of Customer Blog have claimed, 60% of customers communicate with companies and 56% feel better service because of the open communication.

In fact, customers also want to get in touch with companies. According to the Church of Customer Blog, almost 85% prefer businesses to interact with them.

However, when this interaction turns sour, then we see the worst of the business-customer relationship. This is what happened to Skittles. They have not studied the market before diving. In effect, they received negative feedback. It’s inevitable considering that social media users are very critical having a wide selection of articles and websites to sift through everyday.

The things is, social media users are real people. They have a mind of their own and they are not robots who will follow any company’s command. You have to get their interest for them to talk about you. Forcing them will only result in negative comments as what Skittles experienced.

A notable statement that Brand Keys President Robert Passikoff made on Online Media Daily’s post entitled “Skittles Pulled Twitter Campaign” is that this event is a good example of customer power. No matter what the companies do, people still have the discretion on whether or not they will follow. Well I think this is already embedded in the system. The choice of whether or not to purchase a particular product lies on the person’s decision making process. No one can decide for him than himself.

As Gerry McGovern said in his post entitled “Customer Power Driven by the Web“, customers are more powerful today. Before, companies can arrange certain groups to promote their products. But today, people form groups on their own. The important thing here is that these people have their own united opinion and behavior which is something that companies must be concerned about.

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Just a day ago, we have posted a catchy headline on how Digg had admitted the existence of autobury in their website. However, as a lot of people have suspected, this is just a prank started by the nitmeh3, the concerned user who conducted the anti-Digg campaign.

We confirmed this when Jen Burton, the community manager of Digg.com replied to our post entitled “Autobury Exists” Digg Admits. Her comment goes as follows:

“Hey there. Just wanted to reach out directly and let you know that the supposed emails this user has written about do not exist. I have personally checked all our contact history with this person and while we do have emails back and forth with him, none of them indicate the existence of an auto bury list or his supposed place on it.” – Jen Burton

We would like to thank Jen for directly telling us what is happening. We are torn after all since the user who spread this news have no credibility to begin with. As we said in our past post,

“…the argument of the user here is somehow childish. He sent an image on the Digg website that degrades Digg itself and was surprised that it got autoburied. He then went to this anti-Digg campaign on his blog post which may also be biased.”

A lot of things have been clarified here. First, the emails spread by the user nitmeh3 are all fake. Second, Digg did not admit that they autobury posts or did they exchanged emails with this particular user. I think this should clear up the noise a little bit. However, we think that because of this commotion, a lot of people will still entertain the possibility of the existence of autobury. Not that it matters. A single user can only do so much.

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Image Submitted by nitmeh3 to Digg

Digg have admitted with an email with a user that the autobury function exists. The said user is named nitmeh3 and he has been recently banned for digging an image that degrades the Digg staff. Digg, in trying to protect their name, have somehow admitted they autobury particular posts which they deem as inappropriate to the community.

This admission, however, is not blatantly stated. It is merely used by Digg as a reason for taking action on the user’s post. As the user saw his post is being automatically buried, he sent the following email to the Digg staff:

Hello Digg ,
I am Mick (http://digg.com/users/nitmeh3) at Digg. I have recently noticed that all my stories are getting buried automatically . I havent submitted spam right ? I have been submitting quality stuff since beginning and most of them have been featured on the digg homepage has well. But since yesterday my stories have started getting buried automatically ? Even though i didnt shout them and didnt ask for votes on IM ( which i usually do ) because I sure that those would reach the FP without giving them a push.
Kindly give me clarifications for this.
Thanks.
Mick (nitmeh3).
Source: http://fuck-you-digg.blogspot.com/2009/02/screw-you-digg.html

In Digg’s reply, they stated that the autobury exist and is shown in the following statement:

We appreciate that you have submitted quality stuff on Digg.com but because we must be vigilant in protecting against activities that compromise the Digg community we were forced to bury your submissions.

This particular email have caused a lot of noise in the Digg community. This somehow denotes that Digg actually buries particular posts. Of course, Digg is entitled to its right to protect their name and their staff but can it really suppress the freedom of expression in their website? Is it good to be part of a social bookmarking website that has staff members that control the content being displayed?

The answer to this question is yes and no. Yes because this website can protect users from inappropriate content such as adult content. However, the answer is no if it suppresses the freedom of expression and limits the information its users will know. This is like modern day censorship. But it all boils down to the effects of this process.

In the end, Digg being a commercial private institution have the right to set up its own rules on how to implement its policies. It has as much power to protect their integrity as they have to protect their users. After all, the argument of the user here is somehow childish. He sent an image on the Digg website that degrades Digg itself and was surprised that it got autoburied. He then went to this anti-Digg campaign on his blog post which may also be biased. Tell me. Can we blame Digg for taking such actions?

What’s your take on this issue? Is the action that Digg took appropriate to the situation or is it a mere suppression of the freedom of expression? What will you do if you own Digg?

But I guess Digg should not have used the word “bury” in their email. This is where all the commotion have stemmed from.

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It was a surprise when we caught Google advertising on Craigslist. Apparently, they are looking for testers to try out their new application. Google is looking for Beta testers to try out their new software application called GSink. The advertisement go as follows:

“GSink is a software application designed to help share contacts between Google, Gmail Google applications users.

We are presently seeking beta testers to help us test this new software from home or work. If you’re interested in participating in our beta test, please send us an e-mail and we will share with you more details about the program.

Thank you for your interest in helping us make this a better software program” (Source: Craigslist Ad PostingID: 1036171786)

As indicated, you may simply contact Google if you want to help them out.

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Every internet user has concerns in one way or the other in disclosing the identity over the internet. They are otherwise scared about whether the search engines or the Internet service providers can actually track their identity by analysing internet habits, the sites they visit regularly etc. This is partially true, as a search engine could potentially identify the IP address of each computer machine and some other details. It is always a worry for everyone whether a dedicated computer savvy hacker can combine all these bits and pieces about your identity to actually identify you as a person.

Ixquick claims to be different from others. The search engine ixquick claim that they have developed mechanisms to protect the privacy of the browsers to some extent. It is sure that they are wisely playing on the concerns of all internet users, but they are doing it very well as well. If this venture of ixquick get clicked, it would prove to be a strong competitor with Google, and yes, competitions played n the concerns of common internet users will turn out to be good for the users. It is expected that ixquick will have different security mechanisms for different kinds of browsing purposes.

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