Recently in Social Media Category

Yesterday we crafted a new Yahoo! Backlinks uploader. We did this on behalf of an agency that plans to use the Client Center to monitor a large number of addresses, as many as 750,000. The file that we used to import contained over a million addresses because of duplications. It was over 70 megabytes of plain text.

We worked over the data, adding the necessary whitespace delimiters (tabs) and text (including URI escape chars) to model the file after a Yahoo! Site Explorer backlinks TSV export. That was necessary for it to work with our uploader. The new worked-over file ended up being over 90 megabytes.

Our original code for the uploader was built for Yahoo! exclusively, although we could format files and use it. That was moving too slow for us for this bigger file. So we set about the job of upgrading the parser and data extraction routine for addresses. The new extraction routine will simplify the rules for many more file format.

We now have a version operating at lightning speed. All users should notice a speed difference immediately. If you experience any problems at anytime, for any matter relating to the Client Center, please notify us by one of many means by which you can reach us. Free support is available through Twitter. We'll make another announcement when new file formats are supported.

Stay tuned.

Powerful words must be in your copy. Make it real copy. Use subject matter that you get to write about authoritatively. Speaking of subject matter and good writing, one fascinating thing about how we grow as people living the cultural life, wherever we are, is that our use of language shapes the very essence of our being. Words are that important.

Language affects the attributes of our life skills. Choose good words. This should come as no real surprise. That is why there is no glory in being proud that one can't write or spell correctly. It amazes me that that has any cache, especially in an industry that is so strongly tied to business success as online writing and marketing. It's the very unruly nature of the Web that allows for this.

The power of the medium actually allows people with little to no writing skill to write and appear authentic or smart, no matter if they really are. Don't get caught in the trap of playing along, silly. It's short lived success with a glass ceiling at best.  Be authentic without showing off any inability to spell correctly, not without true wit. It does not come across well to the right sort who can see through it.

Words are seriously powerful. They can affect how you live your life. Words have already probably shaped how you are. In a Newsweek article, I read about evidence that our language has an influence on our very abilities, our skills with living in this world. That means the higher the language abilities that you can attain, the better odds you have for achieving greatness.

Don't shy away from learning to write better. Read from those whose prose speaks to you. It'll help define you and your style. If your style is about celebrating the heights that you can reach, versus cashing in on darkness and deceit (as search marketing is so often accused of doing), then you can operate on higher levels and succeed while enjoying the good life.

Stay tuned.

It's been a while since I last optimized my Tweets. It was back in February when I needed some fast rankings for Disa Johnson. I recall looking at the current rankings for my name, noticed rankings appearing quickly for a negative blog posting about me, I immediately commenced my reputation management campaign using Twitter.

It only took hours for Twitter to rank above the blog post that attacked me. Not bad at all. I recorded everything from then on to document the entire process. The thing I didn't like was my Tweets weren't all that natural anymore. I wanted to stop tweaking them for my name. Above all, you have to be authentic in Twitter.

In an interview I gave last Friday, I stressed the authenticity factor for success with Twitter above all others as the most important thing. Sure, there are ways to get your message in. It falls on deaf ears though, unless your Tweets are natural and authentic. Then you can succeed, like I am succeeding.

After I got top rankings by changing my name at my company site Search Return LLC, and I got this 'Disa Johnson' blog started, (started unexpectedly for Reputation Management needs, can you believe it?), then I started another personal blog and a Disa Johnson Bio site. I populated every profile that was ranking in the top 30.

It all worked perfectly. I no longer had to juice my Twitter profile with Disa Johnson. I was ranking perfectly well and basically legally flooding Google, which was the only place the negative post appeared top 10. It's still in the top 10 results but is now slipping again with Twitter. The more the guy writes about me anymore using nasty headlines the more a fight will continue.

Luckily for me, it would now be a fight where the purpose has been successfully usurped by me. The more attention the matter gets from now on, the more my real story gets out in the face of his false facts and hate speech. As long as there is no fight, then I get to make it just a sidebar issue in my life, and simply refer to it for fun every now and again.

To me? That's perfect Reputation Management. I sustained the onslaught of personal attack by a blogger and his fans. I survived intact, lived to tell the tale and at my own pace. Is there a negative ranking? Yes. It's slipping away into the past. Maybe soon it will only surface top 10 using advanced search.

Who knows? Who really wants to promote falsehoods? I'll just point it out where people do, including the original post itself without promoting it in search engines. I think it's become a nasty little liability for the author, not me. That suits me fine. What was strange for me today, was noticing the Twitter ranking is number one again, just like before I changed my name at my company site. Twitter is beating us all on my name even after I started flooding.

I'm not the only one who noticed this new Twitter ranking power. I thought it was just me yesterday when I recorded the ranking change for my own purposes. Then I noticed this Tweet from @ogletree and realized that it isn't just me. That's an interesting development, but not one of great consequence (except a positive thing for my little campaign). It's great for me.

Stay tuned.

 Coffee post for the day!



So, reading my Sunday copy of NYT, I was informed as a 'discerning reader' that my rate for home delivery is going up. Fine. Damn. So, how do I really feel? I'm much better thanks. You can expect a few more blog posts as I return from being sick with the flu. Not *that* flu, mind you. By the way, that coffee was taken to go, and back on the 18th. I have some catching up to do! Do you like my orange thongs?

The flu. Mexico City must be commended for alleviating what could have been a much worse and far wider flu epidemic. I'm sure people are tired of hearing news about it, and some actually think the whole issue was overblown. It makes me upset that people think the news was overblown, that it was too much. It really got the attention it should have gotten, that's the underlying truth on the matter, regardless what less scientifically inclined people think.

You know what I think? The increased access to sources of information has created an atmosphere of information overload more now than ever before. People used to wonder about the Internet causing information overload, and that was long before now. The people that were noisy about it in the past, have since been silenced because of search engines. Search engines were to find the needles in haystacks of information glut, and served to shut them up.

Now the noise has has reached a fairly serious fever-pitch level today. I'm not on an anti-freedom rant here, but I think it's too much nonsense. Don't mistake what I'm saying. Information overload is a well-known way to obfuscate actionable information. I continue to subscribe to my physical copy of The New York Times because the information in it does not need to reach me at the speed of light.

The journalism in physical papers tends to be superior than anything the Internet can produce, unless a valid journalist produces it. If I go looking for some special piece of information, the Internet usually is a great source for that, for it is incredibly vast. The news? Other than for stupid pet tricks. I don't need the Internet for news other than anything big and quick breaking and serious all at once, like some new freaky storm about to blow my house down. Global warming will kill us all in the end.

The Internet is great for fast breaking news. It's the news in the middle where the Internet leaves me wanting. The middle is where I can read about who President Obama nominates for the next supreme court justice. I'm not in politics (yet), so I don't really need to know the very second he makes a choice like that. I want to read about what people think after Obama makes his choices.

People write utter nonsense and speculation on the Web (like what produced my recent Reputation Management crisis), it pollutes the world with misinformation and utter nonsense. Some people spam dating sites with posts and one liners in order to find a wife. I see that junk all the time. I'm amazed how gullible and naive people are. Has everyone given up? I think all this has corroded the Web and blithe bloggers with little to no HTML skill are largely to blame for wrecking it. Thanks.

I'm not going to trust any blogger on the Internet to tell me what to personally think (I'm amazed how many do). I'm going to make sure I get my view from the thoughts of people that I trust to give me a perspective that I can believe in. As for Obama's supreme court justice choice? I'm going to see it, hear it and read about it in my sources of information (radio, print, TV *and* Web).

It's the thought provoking analysis that beats the immediacy of the Web in my opinion. The Web is great for stupid pet tricks and entertainment news. It sometimes breaks newsworthy events that are then properly supplemented by traditional media perspective shortly afterwards. I view it all. That's me, in a nutshell. I'm a savvy information consumer with today's news sources (worried about the future of newspapers).

Stay tuned.

This image courtesy of Disa Johnson's fun at Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago! What's true is, so much has gone on since this was taken, including the Bing launch, that a whole series of upcoming blog posts are due. That will include some photos from Chicago festivals, as well as thoughts on the new Bing search engine from Microsoft.

Last night I had the chance to hit the Chicago Tribune CLTV's 'The Cheesburger Show' Tweetup with @cshel and @daver. The sliders were good, or so I hear (since I had eaten and didn't try them). The drinks were good and I can attest to that one or two times. It looks like I'll probably head out of town tomorrow and up to Schaumburg to hang out again over drinks and food.

We stayed out late and got ourselves a meal after midnight. It was three in the morning by the time I made it home. So, getting up for my color and cut at Maxine's wasn't the easiest thing for me to do. I knew it was going to be another incredible moment where I would be transformed and so I was excited enough that lagging from the late evening didn't really slow me down.

What can I say? Patricia and Jasen at Maxine Salon are simply amazing. A huge part of what I'm able to accomplish is because I have gotten such quality help from consummate professionals. Jasen has maintained my hair the perfect color since January. Patricia was my original starting point for transformation last year She is the well from which all this springs, and Patricia is just such a great personality that I have to have her on the air with me after we launch AirDisa radio.

I've known Daron Babin of Webmaster Radio for over a decade. I've had the pleasure of being on many shows from hosting the Daily SearchCast (when Danny was unable to make it), to various SEO RockStars shows and appearing on the original RainMaker - (the very first show).

It's usually the case that I'll get a call from Daron or one of the fine WMR folks (Brandy, Brasco or Eddie), and jump on air with them live totally impromptu. I love supporting my friends, and they fully support me back. It's great to have such awesome confirmation.

When I made my announcement about Disa Johnson (Detlev 301 redirects to Disa Johnson) it caught many by surprise (including Daron). He sat for a minute or two and then came back immediately with the most awesome, the warmest welcome I could imagine. Special thanks to Oilman. I come on air 45 minutes into that show. Brandy also rang me up and she is just really fabulous for it. Thank you!

For all this time, since that original RainMaker episode, Daron and I have talked about doing a show. I was hesitant for reasons that the whole '301 redirect thing' was personal, and there's no need to drag my friends through it in a more involved way than it needed to be before now.

So, now that I'm Disa Johnson - @AirDisa - on yesterday's SEO RockStars about a major Pagerank update, Daron and I got all fired up and raring to go. I have worked incredibly hard on my transformation, looking after my reputation along the way and at the same time delivering those important results for clients. All this while I've been confirming really exciting guests for the new show.

We have a serious line up that includes the best names in search and beyond. Operative word: Beyond. In fact, last night I was so excited and happy about the Chicago scene, music, art and online, that after I got home from the office, I took a picture of the Chicago night sky to commemorate the feeling I had after confirming a special guest (that I can't wait to announce).

It's going to be fun, really fun.



It's exciting. Seriously. Want to be on air with me? Get in touch. If you pitch something interesting, you could be featured on an episode and or extended versions of the audio tracks. If you like just lurking, then listen in live and use chat with us when we're on the air. Or just lurk completely and have fun in your own way! I have other announcements regarding what the show will include - coming soon :)

Stay tuned.

While riding the El train over the river (Green Line) on my way home from Oak Park this morning, I decided to take a picture of the Chicago Sun-Times building. Apart from resembling river scenes in the latest Batman film, (I live in Gotham city), the picture also captures a newspaper in bankruptcy. We've got villains and superheros here. Blago was indicted today.

What got me thinking, was that I learned about the bankruptcy filings from Twitter where Jessie Stricchiola (@Itstricchi) announced it. I like to read physical newspapers. And Jessie was just faster for me. I can get her Tweets to my mobile while riding the El train. When I arrive home, I can open the paper. I like access to both sources of information.

The information that can be found in a paper is more verbose than available with Twitter's 140 char limit. The journalists that write professionally are better than a large fraction of the blogging public. They have to blog now themselves, these journalists. Sign of the times, the Sun-Times is, amid abounding bankruptcy.

It's interesting to note that after I Tweeted about taking the photo and my intention to post it, I sent the image from my phone to myself and set about starting this entry. As I went to open the image I saw the following email and quickly Tweeted: "And just like that, Chicago Sun-Times follows me." Take a look at the Gmail (from me) with the attachment of the picture above, and the Twitter email that immediately follows it. Click to enlarge.



I have friends in journalism, and at least one close friend with the journalism background but who found writing about search worked better for him over a decade ago. He's wildly successful today. The fact is the chairman of Sun-Times warns that the announcements are "likely to generate considerable attention from the media," he said just media. Minimalist language, or avoidance of a painful thought? I noticed through social media first.

Perhaps it's another zeitgeist that I'm blogging about it, and with a photograph too. I'm not a journalist. I don't pretend to be. I know a little about it, and a little about journalistic principles that especially include getting proper facts before going to print with a story. It's all too fair that bloggers don't have to hold such principles for Freedom of Speech. Even newspapers don't really. They do it out of a proud sense for tradition.

I know social media extremely well, yet I don't too often label myself a social media expert. I had to Tweet reply to @fantomaster (to his RT of @tremendousnews) that I smirked and spilled coffee on my copy of the Tribune reading the blog entry above. The title: 3 Ways of Knowing You're Talking to a Social Media Expert is a title replete with cunning sarcasm: that it's meant for Digging. Brilliant.

Any valid Social Media 'expert' will likely catch on to that one. People can always FAIL in comprehension though. They focus too much on trying to make a title themselves to repeat the exercise, or borrow from it in essence with a listing headline. Notice anything unusual? People are so easily impressed. Even clever people can be impressed. Just don't spill oil and wreck the environment for the rest of us, please.

A practical joke-like post, intended to illicit grins and Diggs and votes on Sphinn, is sometimes (unlike Chicago Sun-Times), ethically bankrupt and can be just plain wrong. And bad information can be popular as social media popcorn too often is. It's often fluff, and it's killing paper news. Chicago Sun-Times is actually bankrupt. People are hurting in a very real sense here. It's a sign of the times, the Chicago Sun-Times.

That's what I've found distasteful about my experiences watching the social media world explode. I have watched it explode, kinda late for me, actually. From 1999, when I started my LinkedIn profile, and the headlines about the Information Superhighway which *was* still a word used to describe the Internet(s), to when I thought blogging was going to be a hit in 2002. I jumped on it quickly back then. Heather and I created SEO2Go fully 7 years ago. We lost interest in blogging after 18-months when no one else seemed to get it.

Sometimes, I think it's the story of my life. Perhaps now you can understand why in that post about ways to know you're talking to a social media expert, that despite at least one off-putting word, the entry had me smirking and spilling coffee on my newspaper. If you believe all this is utter nonsense, think again. These mental images I'm painting are a sign of the times. This is the zeitgeist. Heather is blogging again. I'm blogging again. I can't believe it.

The once proud Chicago Sun-Times and all the newspapers in retreat, and much like the record labels before them, have thought in the past that there's no way this Internet(s) thing would undermine their profitability so badly. Don't epically FAIL to comprehend this lesson if you are riding high today. Sheer hubris can always make one blind to the danger of an upstart.

Be nimble, be good, be good at what you do and write from the core. Do not write things based on conjecture and speculation that you begin to believe yourself, whether about social media or whatever you want to announce that you're an expert in. For believing anything false in this regard can later return at your ruin when you least expect it. A lot of reckoning is going on. A lot of reconciling with bankruptcy protection.

I wonder where one goes to file for ethical bankruptcy protection? Nowhere.

Stay tuned.

My Twitter theme song is: Follow You Follow Me.

I do my level best to follow around as many people in terms of sheer numbers, as follow me. It's a relatively normal balance which promotes increasing your followers and keeping in the loop. Once I passed following more than just a few people, I had to move to using the Web instead of just the phone. Once I moved past following a few hundred people, I had to move to using an app.

I chose TweetDeck to start with. These applications can quickly run out of API calls and stop updating once you follow several hundred (or more) people and once you are followed by that many people as well. The more activity you see, the more these apps will stop updating. I currently use a combination of TweetDeck and the plain-Jane Twitter Web UI. I move to the mobile when I need all the noise to cease.

Therein lies the rub: Noise. Noise in the form of Blog RSS, and 15 headlines of essentially the same story is annoying enough. Tweets are nearly all original and they come at you fast, at a rapid-fire pace. So, I follow far fewer people to my mobile. I'm still alerted to the core small set I follow to the phone. The only recourse from being utterly distracted while you are engaging online, is trimming the people you follow for noise reduction.

Luckily, there are Twitter apps coming online pretty quickly to catch the wave of excitement. One I recently used thanks to  a Tweet tip from: @jeffbentley and @studawg is called Gives-a-Twit. I have a suggestion for them from my first use. The concept is straight forward: See who you follow that don't follow you back.

It's nice to see the collected avatars and their follow stats for judging what to do. It's a great noise reduction device, Twitter-style. That means, you can stop following those who don't follow back, have only a few followers themselves, or otherwise you don't recognize because they don't Tweet enough. What I found a really great relief is that using the service does *not* require the use of your Twitter password. It's just useful all its own.

Why clutter your Twitter stuff? If they happen to be someone you recognize as someone that Tweets fairly often, if their Tweets aren't really that impressive, that can help you reduce Twitter noise. Reducing noise helps reduce API calls with your favorite application, and really it helps you follow more interesting people with the extra mind space.

I love finding interesting new people and 'virtually' meeting them through Twitter. It's really fun, so it's a dangerous time suck if you don't reduce the noise. Get a handle on your Twitter. Here comes my tip for Gives-a-Twit: I recommend not setting up a Tweet ready to send that says in affect "I follow you, and you don't follow me."

That's not exactly a message that says anything but "I resent that I'm following you, and don't you have the common decency to..." Aw well. It wouldn't work anyway. And I would find it fairly annoying if I got a message like that myself. Instead, a simple link to the user profile allows me to do what I did with the service.

I determined whether the follow was worth it or not. There are many reasons I follow people that don't follow me back. Matt Cutts doesn't follow me. The thing is, he allowed me to follow him while he protected his feed. That's good enough reason for me, and his Tweets are worth it to boot (I mean: follow). I don't stop following people I solicited to follow in the first place. I follow people that are interesting.

What I was able to accomplish, was stop following 16 people that were just not doing it for me. As of this writing, I now follow 650 people (that's right, it previously added to 666). I have 739 who follow me. It's a good balance and I've been actively growing my base since last Valentine's Day. It will be interesting if I can keep up following as my follower numbers grow. It will be interesting to see what apps I think helps me sort it all out.

Stay tuned. Follow me @AirDisa today!

I was struck by reading in today's Chicago Tribune Business Section, the front page story about sponsored blogging. Popular bloggers can have a very real impact on sales and information. Their views are very often authentic. And when their views are not authentic, be aware that they may have incentive for that entry. Even if they are flown to a conference for coverage, that is a material gift that drives posts about the sponsor.

Bloggers who don't hold themselves accountable to their audience with respect to genuine views are becoming prevalent enough, that WOMMA has a code of ethics about bloggers accepting sponsorships. If that sponsored blogger doesn't write or doesn't write glowingly about the product, they risk losing the sponsorship in the next round of gifts or cash.

Ethics are left up to the lone discretion of each blogger in question That's true whether they choose to irresponsibly deceive their audience, and or they decide to post about something without disclosing the nature of a sponsored relationship with a vendor. They are still free to operate any which way they choose. That can include using their platform for personal reasons and financial gain.

The less authentic they are, the more they risk losing their most aware audience members. Genuine authenticity is only going to become increasingly important, because the more that is written for commercial purpose, and the lower quality of that writing, the immediate nature of the blog and the Tweet can turn into liability for the blogger. Be genuine. Take care to choose the support you get for your efforts wisely. Maintain a high degree of integrity.

Stay tuned.