Facebook seems to be slipping with their privacy issues again. Well, at least that is probably what the 100 million users whose personal information became public think. As far as Facebook goes, they are saying no private data was compromised – nothing new there.

So, how did this single file containing the personal information of 100 million users become available for download? We can thank Mr. Ron Bowes for that.

Ron Bowes is an online security consultant for the infamous torrent website Pirate Bay. He developed a code that scanned the 500 million facebook profiles for any information that was not hidden by security settings. The results of his code presented 171 million names with 100 million of them being unique.

The 100 million names and private information were then compiled into a file, which is now available for download on Pirate Bay – go figure. As of this morning the file has already been downloaded several thousand times.

How does this affect Facebook users?

• Anyone whose name is on that list that decides to now change their information from public to private, Bowes and those who have downloaded the file will still be able to access the information that was public when the file was compiled.

• Anyone whose set their privacy setting so their name would not show up in Facebook’s search results can now be found if they had connections with users whose name was searchable.

Who should get the blame on this one?

It’s easy to point your finger at Mr. Bowes and call him the bad guy, but did he really do anything wrong? I mean, essentially he just collected a vast amount of information that was made public on a public domain. Sure, this could be questioned as ethical, but as we all know ethical behavior on the internet is a gray area.

According to MSNBC, in a statement e-mailed to them, Facebook concurred that the information on that list was already available online.

I am sure that is exactly the kind of reassurance 500 million Facebook users were looking for. The problem I have here is that Facebook has made their privacy issues so complicated that a lot of the users (we know now at least 20%) do not understand how to adjust their privacy settings.

Let’s get real for one second. Facebook, a company that has the brain and man power to predict and prevent an attack like this did nothing. Once again, this further reinforces Facebook’s negligence when it comes to their users.

If you still have that finger pointing at Mr. Bowes, think about Facebook’s responsibility with this issue. Maybe then you will lower your finger and raise one aimed at Facebook, and if it’s a different finger, I don’t blame you.

ESPN decided to join in on the fun and help Facebook with the celebration. It’s not so much of a secret that the world of sports plays a large role in society. Still, the sports world and the internet have a relatively young relationship. Their relationship continues to grow with a big thanks to internet trends and social media. For instance, athletic franchises and their athletes alike are building websites, joining social networks, running online contests, promoting online, and etcetera. With that being said, there is an obvious connection between sports fans and the digital world.

Recognizing this, along with Facebook’s achievement of reaching 500 million users, ESPN gave fans a chance to share their stories through Facebook. They did this by launching a Stories tab on their Facebook fan page.

What a great idea! Let’s tap a network that consists of 500 million people and get them talking about sports, a topic that is always prevalent in society. It’s working too; people from all over the world are sharing their stories about sports and Facebook on ESPN’s fan page Stories tab.

The connection between sports and the internet is great for the fan. It develops a transparent world and allows us to see, read, and communicate with our favorite teams and players in ways that can only be done through the internet.

What are some of your thoughts on ESPN connecting with Facebook for users to share their stories? Also, how do you feel about the sports world and its use of the internet?

It is important for small business owners to build up as much of an internet exposure as they can. One way, and it is a simple way, to do this is to use is to include your geographic location in the keywords and descriptions of your website.

In the below video I will explain why geographical keywords are important for local businesses. We will take a look at the meta data of two comparable websites, both in the same industry. One of the sites will be an example of good local keyword usage and the other will show where opportunity is missed.

Figure 1: Meta Data for D’amato’s

<meta name="keywords" content="D’Amato’s, michigan contemporary italian fare, detroit contemporary italian restaurant, Royal Oak Dining, detroit european restaurant, detroit wine dining, royal oak jazz martini, detroit jazz martini, michigan scotch tasting, detroit dining, quality appetizers detroit, italian dining, modern italian flare, michigan italian dining, quality royal oak dining, italian food oakland county, detroit italian modern food, modern italian food mi, modern italian food michigan, goodnite gracie, live at pj’s, d’amato’s michigan, damatos, d’amatos, first thursdays, d’amato’s faq, vegetarian dishes mi, michigan italian restaurant"/>

<meta name="description" content="Located in downtown Royal Oak , D’Amato’s is known for contemporary Italian fare, its interesting and well priced wine list and impeccable service"/>

Figure 2: Meta Date for O’tooles

<meta name="keywords" content="otooles, o’tooles, O’Tooles, irish, irish american, bar, bars, grill, restaurant, restaurants, pub, pubs, appetizers, food, drinks, beer, cocktails, desserts, wings, ribs, famous, party, fun" />

<meta name="description" content="O’Tooles Irish American Bar &amp; Grill – Royal Oak, Waterford, Farmington Hills, &amp; Novi MI" />

Bing’s latest release of features focuses on entertainment and should keep their momentum moving forward. Bing plans on including music, TV, games, and movies all as a part of their entertainment feature.

What makes this significant is that these features are all designed so that the user doesn’t need to leave the Bing site. The user will be able to search and view content right through Bing, instead of having to search on another site.

To get a better understand of what exactly Bing is offering; let’s take a closer look at each of the four features.

Music

Microsoft will now also be pushing the Zune through Bing. Bing will feature the Zune’s entire catalog of five-million plus songs for free streaming. Search song by artist, album, or title, and you will be able to stream it for free right there in the browser.

This is not a music free-for-all however. You can only listen to the song once and then it is reduced to a 30 second snippet, but Bing will give you the option to buy the song from Zune, iTunes, or Amazon.

Bing even goes further with more additions, including lyrics, photos, and tour dates for any artist that is searched. Users will be able to find this information all right there on Bing instead of having to go from website to website.

TV

Bing makes it so you don’t have to go everywhere to watch your favorite television episodes. They have indexed the most popular online TV streaming services for searching that will allow you to play the show right there in the search engine.

Also, there is more to come. Bing is planning on including schedules and information from the user’s TV provider to let them know more about when their favorite shows are going to be playing.

Games

Microsoft has a lot of experience when it comes to gaming and they are looking to transfer that over to Bing. The game section has something to offer for both the hardcore and casual fans. The hardcore fans will especially enjoy the cheats, walkthroughs, and reviews for over 35,000 games.

For the less intense gamers, Bing will provide 100 classic casual games that can be played right there on the browser. Also, there are added social features that will allow users to invite their friends from social networks.

Movies

Bing makes sure that all the information you needed for a movie that you might leave Bing to find is all available right there. For movies, you can find local theatres and show times, reviews, user feedback from Facebook and Twitter, nearby business and restaurants, and parking locations.

I can see this being an amazing feature for Bing, if they can provide these resources just as good as the specific websites aimed at music, TV, games, and movies services. In other words, Bing is going have to provide the features effectively so that a user is willing to stay there instead of going to a different source. Do you think Bing can pull this off and if so what are some other potential features or benefits Bing could use?

Now I understand that most small and local businesses may not have the resources to create an overwhelming internet presence. Still it is essential to at least establish and maintain a website for your business. If done correctly this could be the only internet involvement your business needs to be successful.

While there are a lot of aspects that go into building a website, but your content reigns over them all. See content is king when it comes to increasing traffic and keeping visitors on your website. It is important enough that I recommend developing an entire strategy around your content.

Essentially content is anything on your website that is going to engage the user. But what makes for a good content strategy? Well if you focus on the following three aspects of content strategy your web presence will increase.

Content as a resource:

• Have content that will teach your visitors something about the industry you are in.
• Use educational videos and info-graphics to help explain why they need your services.
• Write content that thoroughly explains your services to prove your business is an authority in that industry.

Content as information:

• Write content that allows the visitor to learn more about your business and the people who work their.
• Make sure your content provides all the information that will answer potential costumer’s questions.
• Use your content to enlighten and entice the visitor to stay on your site and click through the other pages.

Content as entertainment:

• Have fun with your content; have fun, post funny pictures/videos, provide an emotion.
• Add some personality to your content. Don’t always be technical it is ok to be add your sense of humor. Visitors will like this and come back to see what else you have to say.
• Providing content that is entertaining will give the visitor a reason to remember your website and business.

When you are creating a content strategy for your business do your best to include these aspects. Your visitors will appreciate and recognized your website as a resourceful, informational, and entertaining platform to learn about your business.

For the past few weeks, not a day has gone by without a new post or article criticizing the way Facebook is handling user’s privacy. The New York Times published an info-graphic that can help explain why Facebook’s privacy evolution might be an issue with their users. I am almost reluctant to write a post even containing the word Facebook, but I guess it is too late for that…

Oh Facebook, what have you done to yourself? We use to trust you with everything personal to us. We use to tell you things we wouldn’t dare tell anyone else. Now you are telling everyone all of our personal information. We ask why and the answer you give us is if we “aren’t comfortable sharing, don’t.”? Come on, you were our friend, but now I know what is meant by the saying, ’secrets don’t make friends’. Maybe it is time we all make a new friend, one that we can trust.

Sure, we can go on and on about why this is bad for Facebook and their users, but what does this mean for social media as a whole? It looks like months of sitting in the social media throne; Facebook is going have to start defending that position. For me, all this means is that Facebook is perhaps more vulnerable now than ever. Danny Sullivan wrote a very informational post focused on users deactivating their Facebook accounts. If this is true, then won’t these ex-Facebook users be looking somewhere else to go?

Now I am not saying all 400 million users are jumping the Facebook ship. Some may not care and will remain loyal to the brand. While others have had enough with the uncertainty aren’t staying around any longer and even have a set day to quit.

What I am saying is that this opens up an opportunity for other social media platforms to swoop in. One that has caught the attention of many is Diaspora, the anti-Facebook. Diaspora has coined itself the privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network. Maybe this isn’t the ideal alternative people will be looking for, but it’s a start. I mean, wasn’t Facebook once an alternative to Myspace?

The negative attention swarming Facebook isn’t going to go away. And based on what history we know of Facebook, it may just get worse. Still, there is a positive side to all of this. For Facebook? No not at all, but instead for social media as a whole. Facebook pushed the limits and now it is known what happens when you go too far. Social media sites will be able to learn from Facebook’s mistakes and create new, better protected social environments.

We’re sorry Facebook, but you did this to yourself. We just can’t “like” you as much as we once did!

Small business owners aren’t aware of exactly how useful the internet can be when it comes to their success. Perhaps traditional marketing techniques and word of mouth may still be enough to get them by.

The problem here is, traditional marketing is sitting in the backseat and online marketing is behind the wheel. And considering the many facets of social media, if word of mouth is happening anywhere it is on the social media networks.

In a time where the mom and pops of the country are struggling to compete with the major brands, it would only make sense for these small businesses to establish and build their online presence. The wonder of it all, which may be overlooked, is that small businesses can easily improve their online presence – you don’t need internet superpowers!

Here are several tips small businesses can use to help increase their presence online!

Small businesses need to…

Get Listed

• SEO: Optimize your website to make sure it is getting listed and ranking on SERPs.
• Find directories relevant to your business and make sure your business is listed. If it is listed, make sure you claim that listing as your business.

Get Social

• Create a Facebook or Twitter account. These are free! And you will be in front and center of your audience (customers).
• Actively participate – Give users a reason to recognize your business. Become a resource for users to find information relevant to your industry.
• Install a blog to your website. Search engines love fresh, new content and your blog will give users a reoccurring reason to come back and visit your site.

Get Competitive

• Figure out who your local competitors are. Find out what they are and aren’t doing online to increase their visibility.
• Highlight your services through business listings and social media. Make sure people know why they should choose your business over the competitor’s. Make them believe your business is the right choice for them to pick.

Now I am not suggesting all small business throw out their business plans and focus entirely on their online presence. Still, building an online presence for your small business is something that needs to be considered. If you want to reach your costumers it is important to be where they are at – on the internet.

If you are a small business and would like help developing an online presence feel free to contact TM, we would be happy to help.

This is why it is so important that your design and content are in a stable relationship. One without the other is just not going to cut it. Sure, if you have a knockout design a user is more likely to find they are interested in the content. However, if the content is flat and boring no one is going to waste their time reading it. Same can be said about phenomenal content. If your design can’t reel in anyone in long enough to read any of the content, then it goes wasted.

Speaking across the spectrum, design doesn’t just include your website layout, logo, theme it also includes the design of your content. This includes the structure and presentation of your content in a visually appealing design. Like all relationships, the one between content and design may experience some bumps in the road. Here are some signals that your content and design are on the verge of a break up and how you can put the spark back into the relationship.

Their Relationship Doesn’t Make Sense

• It is important that your audience understands your design and what you are writing about.
• Try to speak to a specific person in that audience. It is easier to write for your audience when you are aiming it to a singular person besides a large crowd.
• Do your best to keep it short and straight to the point. You don’t want readers to get lost in your words or design.

Spending Too Much Time Together

• Large blocks of text can discourage your readers. No one is coming to your site or blog to read a book, breaking up text and using bulleted lists help your readers flow through and understand your content.
• Use a type that compliments both your design and content. Make sure the font stands out and is big enough to read. Make it easy for your visitors to read.
• Use a typeface that compliments your design. Have some variation, but don’t over do it.

Things Are Just Boring Between the Two

• Make your website or blog standout to attract people to your content. Work on writing attention grabbing headlines to encourage the person to read the rest of your content.
• Use a visual contrasting design to attract the reader to your headline.
• Work on including subheads that grab further grab the reader. Most people are just skimming through content, give them a reason to stop and read it.

The Relationship Just Isn’t Believable

• It is important that your readers trust and believe you. Stay consistent with your design and tone. Decide on a single look and stick with it.
• Keep your design under control. Don’t try too hard, overdoing it will upset your content and make it hard to read.
• Remember content wears the pants in this relationship. Don’t let your design take away from your content. Create a design that is focused on getting someone to read your content.

Like all relationships the one between your content and design is going to take hard work and dedication if it is going to last. If you notice any of these problems occurring on your site or blog, don’t worry the relationship isn’t doomed. Try to mess around with some of the tips provided and find that happy medium between the two. Once you find out where that is your content and design may take their relationship to the next level.

The internet is a marketplace filled with an array of possibilities to potentially make money. Although finding these possibilities and turning them into a successful career is easier said than done. Don’t worry though our most recent guest on the TM Web Radio Show, John Chow, has some helpful tips when it comes to making money online. In fact, he literally makes money online by telling other people how to make money online.

This gentleman has been making his income online since 1998. John Chow is an online internet entrepreneur turned mogul, best known for his blog at JohnChow.com. His blog was first designed for personal use, but it soon turned into a case study to prove you can make a full-time income off a part-time blog. The proof is in the pudding, considering Chow’s blog now generates upwards to $40,000 a month. Chow is a forefather when it comes to monetizing a blog making him very knowledgeable in many areas of internet marketing and advertising. We were lucky enough to sit down with this internet mogul to offer you, our listeners and readers, some very valuable and beneficial information straight from the expert.

“I started the blog because I thought blogging was starting to take traction and starting to take off. I figured, the best way to learn it is just simply, by doing it.”

Chow purchased the domain JohnChow.com in 1998 and prior to it becoming a blog it was mainly used as a starting page. As blogging began to become a popular trend for the internet he then decided to turn JohnChow.com into a personal blog. The main purpose was just to talk about his life. Using it to updates his friends and family members with what he was doing, like many personal blogs out there at this time.

This wasn’t Chow’s first experiment with the internet. He was actually monetizing his content sites, like The TechZone, back in 1998. “Back then, we were monetizing using affiliated marketing. We were promoting, an example would be promoting an Amazon affiliate program,” says Chow. According to Chow, Amazon had the first affiliated program out. Utilizing the affiliate program and advertising networks allowed his site to grow and obtain a monetary value.

“It’s so much easier to get into marketing today than it was when I started because back then, everything we had to do we had to code ourselves.”

Back then there was not any software or advertising plug-ins to help develop a site that could be monetized. An understanding of how to integrate all the components of a website to make them work well was a must back then. Present day, there is no better time than now to really get involved and monetize in different ways because it is so easy to publish. As easy as it is to publish that does not mean you are going to be successful. There are certain elements that you have to consider before you decide to make a career jump into the blogosphere. “My number one piece of advice would be to treat it like a business. Most people don’t take blogging seriously simply because it is so inexpensive to get in,” says Chow. Your attitude towards your blog is going to have an impact on the success of your blog. It becomes a cloudy area because it is so inexpensive to create a blog and get it on the internet. “The easy cost of entry is considered a major advantage for many people. It’s a major disadvantage in the fact that, because it’s so cheap to get in, you don’t take it seriously,” explained Chow. Just because there is not a lot of value or investment dollars into the project doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously.

When considering a blog it is imperative you pick a subject that you are passionate about. As Chow says, “If you’re doing it just because this is the hot topic of today or hot topic of the month, but you’re not really interested in it, you’re not going to be able to stick with it long enough to see any traction.” Being passionate and interested in the topic you write about will show through to your readers and increase your credibility. It takes most blogs a year or two before they really start to see some results. If don’t focus on a topic that you are passionate about chances have it you won’t stay around long enough to see any results.

Once you have your topic establish and you are start to build a following and the traffic is coming in your blog will become more established. Okay so it is time to turn this blog into a money generating machine, right? Well, truth be told, a lot of bloggers aren’t exactly sure how to monetize their blog. Chow believes, “The most common way when bloggers first start is just to use a third party network to handle and sell advertising for their blog.” A lot of bloggers use Google AdSense when they are first starting out. However as a beginning blogger it is important to focus on your content. Your content is what is driving the traffic and bringing people back for more. Focus on your content and let someone else handle the ad sales. Google AdSense is the most common, but there are hundreds of other ad networks out there that can be used to help you out. “They take a cut, they handle the ad sales for you, they pay you, and you just concentrate on writing. That’s how most bloggers start or get started,” stated Chow.

“The other thing that I do is affiliate marketing and that’s where I would find companies that offer a product that’s related to what I blog about.”

With affiliate marketing, as a blogger you recommend products to your readers and in return you get a percentage of each sale. There is where Chow really rakes in the cash and for him it works better than advertising. “When done correctly, affiliate marketing is probably your number one income source,” said Chow. As a relevant persona in your niche having your endorsement can be worth a lot. In fact affiliate marketing is Chow’s number one source of income from his blog. Still, none of this is possible unless you have the traffic and following behind your blog.

Sure, SEO plays a role in bringing traffic to your blog, but Chow doesn’t feel it is that important. “Generally for searching optimization, the only thing I actually pay a lot of attention to is my title tag, the title of the blog post itself,” explained Chow. He feels if the information and content is good enough the search engines will find you. A lot of your traffic can come from promotions, value campaigns, and social media. Chow credits a lot of his traffic to come from Facebook and Twitter. Now with Facebook being the most visited site on the web and with 400 million, you can’t ignore the market potential.

“When someone comes to visit my blog, my number one goal is get them to opt into my email list. Generally everything my blog does is geared toward building my email list.”

Most people who visit your blog are there because they found you on Google or you were linked from another blog. They come to your blog, read a few posts, and then the click away from your page most likely not remembering who you are. By forming an e-mail list you establish a customer base and way to stay in contact with them. “When you have a base or email list, you don’t really need a lot of other promotions,” said Chow.

Chow has and is making a career of his blog and utilizing the internet. He calls it the “dot com lifestyle”, which has allowed him to achieve and obtain some great things. “Number one thing is time freedom. I don’t have to punch a time clock,” said Chow referring to what his job as allowed him to do. This gives him the ability to work when he wants to. He is able to spend time with his daughter at the park, while everyone else is at work. Also, Chow says, “There’s also location freedom in addition to time freedom. I can do this from anywhere in the world.” There are no limitations on location with this type of job. As long as you have access to a computer and the internet you are all set to go.

Trademark Productions would like to thank John Chow for sharing an abundance of valuable information with us to share with you. Please check out the TM Web Radio Show, featuring John Chow in it’s entirety to hear more valuable information.

Google could now be your next ISP after announcing last month a trial of its own high-speed internet service, which they plan offering to “at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.” What makes Google different than the other various ISP’s? Well how about the capabilities of delivery speeds more than 100x faster than the typical U.S. Internet connections with up to one gigabit per second. In order to decide which 50,000 to 500,000 people will participate in the Google Fiber trial, Google launched this website with a video introducing “Google Fiber for Communities”.

Now it has become an all out royal rumble as cities across the U.S. compete with each other to become the first official home of Google Fiber. You may be surprised by the lengths some cities are going to be the favorite for Google. For instance Topeka, KS is no longer known as Topeka, it is now known as Google, KS. Duluth, MN fired back with a promise to name the town’s first-born children after Google. While Greenville, SC launched the “We Are Feeling Lucky”, an entire social media campaign that includes a landing page, YouTube channel, Facebook events, and Twitter hashtag. These three are far from alone when it comes to the cities vying for Google Fiber.

Communities have until March 26^th, to exhibit their reasoning on why Google should pick them. While we will be waiting on Google to pick the winning city its one gigabit per second internet service will reside in, Google can already add another tally to their win column. The instant high demand for the Google Fiber service makes the desire people and communities have for a faster internet service. This proves that Google has the potential to offer something that is and will be a high-demand service.

Looking ahead, it still may be some time before we see Google Fiber on a nation-wide scale. Still we have to think, if Google is successful, what does this mean for the Internet as a whole? Considering Google’s launch of their own DNS and SPDY, which is an alternative to HTTP, is Google essentially building its own version of the internet?

Think back when Google built its own search engine. Now they are not only the dominate player in the search engine market, but various markets across the board as well. Is the same going to be said about the internet? If so, Google will not only know what we do on their services, which continue to grow, but also everything else we are doing on the internet. This is especially true if Google becomes our ISP. This is where I begin to see the answer to my initial question.

Whether or not Google will actually become the internet is still uncertain, but their current efforts tell me it is only a matter of time. Is controlling the internet too much power for one company? As Google continues to tighten its grasp on the Internet, will they ever stop? Should they stop? Let me know your thoughts through the comment section below.