Author: JD Rucker

Facebook and other social networks are employing keyword-sniffing programs that monitor our private communications such as chats and direct messages. When a potential criminal activity is found, the communication is presented to human auditors who determine whether or not to inform law enforcement. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? This was one of the most thought provoking questions I’ve ever explored before writing an editorial. The conspiracy-theory-loving, “leave my internet alone” part of me was absolutely outraged (albeit not a bit surprised) once I heard about this practice….

There hasn’t been a movie since The Sixth Sense that had more potential for disaster than Star Trek: Into Darkness. No, Spock doesn’t see dead people, but that doesn’t take away for the desperate need to avoid that annoying co-worker who loves to talk about the movie he watched this weekend. Kudos to J.J. Abrams for pulling off one of the hardest challenges in Hollywood – making a movie that appeases the long-time faithful while still offering a complete experience to those who aren’t as familiar with the source material. Rotten Tomatoes, the consolidated source of reputable reviews, gave the…

If there’s one major flaw with the way that many businesses use automation tools, it’s that they’re not able to properly control the flow of content from its longest form down to it’s shortest form. This is unfortunate because using RSS feeds to post to Facebook and Twitter from a blog, for example, doesn’t save much time at all but minimizes the effectiveness of the networks. It’s all about flow. It’s about taking advantage of the strengths of the various networks will not falling into the traps that each allows. Let’s take a look at an example of content flow. In this case, we’re going to work it down…

There are two stages to this gambit by Yahoo that must be accomplished. They have to beat out Facebook, Microsoft, and anybody else interested in the 10-digit price that Tumblr is likely to fetch in the coming days. Then, they have to let the site be as it is and make no changes at all to the platform. The Swisher/Kafka tandem over at AllThingsD have reported that the Yahoo board is going to meet this weekend to discuss buying the social blogging platform for a reported $1.1 billion in cash. Sources said that the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s CEO Marissa Mayer has decided that buying Tumblr was going…

There are two frames of mind amongst search marketing professionals when it comes to major updates such as the Google Penguin update last year and the upcoming Penguin 2.0 algorithm update. Some start to panic as they’ve seen these algorithm updates force companies to make major changes. In some cases, companies have had to close down because adjusting was just too much to bare. The other perspective is that these changes bring the game of optimization more in line with quality over quantity, strategy over brute force, and perhaps most importantly, art over science. That’s what’s expected with…

Google’s first big change from the Google I/O conference The new responsive design of Google+ has been rolled out to a limited set of users is image focused, multi-column, and loads more quickly than before. Here’s a screenshot of what the feed looks like: It seems to be a limited release. After checking with some friends, nobody else seems to have it available. Google is known to roll out changes to a small section of users from time to time. In this case, I like the change. It’s actually quite a bit like the old Facebook look but it definitely has a Pinterestesque feel to it. They’ve also added some nice…

Facebook has been a challenging venue for marketers and advertisers ever since it started really getting popular in 2009. At that time, it was clear that it was the social network to beat and the company started trying to cash in with different types of advertising options. Most of them failed miserably for the same reason that many marketers continue to fail today: people go to Facebook to be entertained, not to be the recipient of ads. Today, it’s getting easier. People are more accepting of ads. A lot of it can be attributed to the way that Facebook has handled their promoted posts. They have done…

As tensions continue to rise in the Middle East and particularly at the Syrian/Israeli border, the Iron Dome is back in the news. Israel has moved more batteries to the northern border in case Syria launches a counter-attack for recent attacks made on weapons intended for use by Hezbollah. How does this amazing technology work? The concept had been floated around since the 1990s and gained steam in 2004 with the installation of Brigadier General Daniel Gold as the head of the IDF’s research and development bureau. It was initiated by Israel in 2007 and funded by the United States. With the threat…

In the early days of search engine optimization, the pitch that many companies used was very appealing. “We’ll get you listed on thousands of search engines so that everyone can find you.” Today, this seems like a ludicrous statement. There’s only three real search engines that account for 97% of the search traffic and it’s been like that for some time, but back as recently as 2008, many companies were still pushing automated search engine submission as their primary selling point for search engine optimization. The same thing is happening today, only with social media. There are companies out…

There’s a rush going on in Washington DC right now. It has been going on for over 2 years now and will continue until they get something done. The topic – cybersecurity. The latest failed legislation – CISPA. US News is reporting that the US Senate will not take up the cybersecurity bill but will draft different legislation to go after cybersecurity – and some would say our privacy as well – in the coming months. Their biggest concern according to Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WVa) is that the bill’s “privacy protections are insufficient.” This echoes President Barack Obama’s sentiment and is the reason…