A while back, I went to a Distilled meetup here in NYC. SEER Interactive’s Mark Lavoritano did some cool slides on the seasonality of keywords. Basically, his presentation made the point that you should not only think about which keywords you want to rank for but also WHEN they are most valuable.

This made me think…we have a lot of moving parts to our marketing efforts. Emails with interchangeable modules, a homepage with rotating links, and other dynamic elements for which we have to decide which themes we want to market for the week. Babies or Bikes? Kitchen Gadgets or Gifts for Geeks? As opposed to a site like jellybelly.com, which sells only one item (jelly beans), we sell a ton of products which fall into many different categories. In choosing which categories to promote, it could be very useful to time these campaigns with peak traffic.

Google Insights for Search is a great tool which allows you to look at keyword traffic year over year. For instance, check out this graph of the last five years of traffic for “Anniversary Gifts”:

As you can see, this keyword has fairly predictable traffic seasonality. It consistently peaks in mid-summer. However, take a closer look at 2008. It seems to have peaked a bit later that year.

Here’s another chart. Same time period, but this one represents traffic for “Home Decor”:

This one is a bit harder to analyze. Traffic does not consistently peak the same time every year.

How can we account for the late peak for “Anniversary Gifts” in 2008 and find the underlying trends in the shifty “Home Decor” traffic? If I could see all five years of traffic overlaid on top of each other, that would help visualize it, but it would be too much to process, especially when trying to choose the best keyword categories from a long list of options. I needed something more clean and succinct.

If realized that if I could map five years of keyword data to a single row in a spreadsheet and then use conditional formatting to create a colorscale, I could create a sweet forecasting calendar with several keywords and use this to choose the best timing for various marketing campaigns. I could have done this in Excel, but I’ve been wanting to try out Python for a while now so I decided this was a great time to do it. After some research, I figured out how to import a CSV file into Python and the rest was done with for loops and lists, which is fairly basic Python.

In a nutshell, the program runs through all five years of traffic data and increments a count in a list whenever it sees a peak (according to a threshold variable called “peakInterestValue” that you can change in the code). The output of the program is an excel sheet with a row of 52 numbers [0-5] (representing 52 weeks over five years). If the value of a number in the list is a 5, it means that all five years showed a peak in traffic at that week. If it’s a 4, then four (out of five) years showed a peak that week, etc…you can then copy/paste this list of numbers to a row in an excel sheet, run the same program for other keywords, paste those rows in, and then apply a color scale with conditional formatting. Now you’ve got a forecasting calendar to help you plan out and schedule your various marketing campaigns. Here’s a screenshot from the one that I created:

As an example, I’ve focused on the week starting May 20th, 2012. By sorting for this week, the calendar tells me that based on the last five years of data, Bike and Garden interest are most likely peaking this week, so we should be promoting those categories in our prime marketing spots. Wedding Gift interest is picking up but we’ll get the most bang for the buck if we wait a few weeks on that. Other campaigns like Kitchen Tools and Jewelry are better placed at a different time of year.

This calendar could also be used to time your linkbuilding campaigns / anchor text strategy. Most SEOs operate with limited linkbuilding resources so priorities are key. Ranking #1 for Stocking Stuffers on Dec 27th is useless. This calendar can help you schedule out your efforts and set deadlines for yourself.

Again, you can build this calendar in Excel, but i suggest you give Python a shot. Once you learn Python you can use it for more advanced numerical analysis. It can do things that excel cannot. To get started, you’ll need to install Python: http://www.python.org has installation info and great tutorials as well.

Once Python is installed, go into Google insights, pick your keyword, and export the traffic for each year (2007-2012) from Google Insights. This should give you five files. Name the five files to match the open( ) function calls in the top lines of the code below and drop the files into the same folder Python is pointing to (probably C:Python32). This code works on the exact file that Google insights exports so you don’t need to format it at all. It’s ready to rock.

 

I’ve pasted the code I used at the bottom of this post. You can copy/paste it into a .py file, save it and run it off a cmd prompt like this (I called it insights.py):

Hope you guys get some use out of this…please let me know if you have any questions!

“”"this is the beginning of the program”"”

 

Article source: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/how-to-forecast-seasonal-keyword-traffic-with-google-insights-python-scripts

Posted by admin on February 24, 2012 at 1:39 am under Games.
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This story originally appeared here in the February issue of Business Review Australia magazine.

Story by Ash Aryal, Co-Founder and Head of Consulting at QuantumLinx

Several companies have rushed out to spend money on search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns to help them secure rankings on the coveted first page of Google, but many are still in the dark about how to make this strategy work effectively for them.

For some, Google is their main source of business, while others still can’t seem to generate any meaningful amount of business from the search engine despite securing top first page rankings.

So, why does SEO work for some businesses and not others? 

The difference comes down to a thoughtful keyword strategy.

Surprisingly, most companies spend a majority of their time focused on optimisation techniques while thinking very little about narrowing down the keywords for their bottom line. In effect, they are ignoring a meaningful amount of keyword analysis and further ignoring the psychology of prospective clients while they are searching online, which often leads to failed campaigns and wasted money.

The truth is, the keyword choice going in will have more of an impact on the effectiveness of a search marketing campaign to the bottom line than anything else, provided you have the means to achieve and maintain first page Google rankings.

CHOOSING KEYWORDS

Commercial value keywords are those keywords that attract searchers looking for a solution to their problems –a solution that you, hopefully, can provide. Ignoring commercial value keywords stems from the underlying presupposition that keyword quality doesn’t count; that only traffic volume (i.e. how many times that particular keyword is searched on average every month) is important in the search. Although this is a necessary criterion, it is not sufficient.

When you select your keywords, you are really selecting the stage of the conversation you wish to engage in with your prospective customer. Each keyphrase used in the search engine is the output of a conversation going on in a person’s mind.

For example, if you run a legal practice specialising in personal injury compensation with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, your company’s name may pop up with any of these three searches:

‘Lawyer’ vs

‘compensation lawyer’ vs

‘compensation lawyer sydney’

According to Google, the most general keyword – ‘lawyer’ – has 60 times more searchers than ‘compensation lawyer sydney’, while ‘compensation lawyer’ has about five times more searches.

Therefore, most businesses will automatically focus their efforts on trying to gain rank for the word ‘lawyer’ due to the sheer volume of traffic this term attracts without knowing if the searcher is a high school student doing research on the legal profession for a project, or someone else looking to learn more about it as a line of work. The likeliness of a business prospect typing any of these keywords in is slim.

HANDLING COMPETITION

The trick is narrowing down your optimisation campaign to key phrases being searched, as this will give you the greatest probability of generating an enquiry.

Research shows that people may search up to five variations of a phrase using other descriptive keyphrases associated with their original, more general search phrase before they decide to submit an enquiry.

As further evidence, a recent Hitwise article found that 45 per cent of people that type in 1-2 general keyphrases do not even click on a website. Instead, they type in a more specific variation of their search to narrow down their search criteria.

In reference to the previous example, although the term ‘lawyer’ may drive a lot of people to search that phrase, it is highly unlikely that they will be a prospect of a legal practice. Those who type in ‘compensation lawyer’ are likely a better target to optimise, and further, the competition for this search phrase will be lower.

Not only will you attract better quality prospects, this approach will be less costly and it will take less time to gain SEO rank, helping your business attract a better quality prospect. 

UTILISING GEOGRAPHY

The geographic qualifier, such as typing in ‘sydney compensation lawyer,’ indicates the searcher is looking for a solution in that location now. Numerous studies have shown that those searching with terms with a geographical qualifier have a high commercial intent when they are searching.

They are not necessarily looking for information – they are looking for solutions and are willing to pay for it. While these types of terms bring in far lower amounts of traffic, they have a much higher conversion rate from searcher to enquiry.

Not only will you be targeting your best prospects by getting ranked for a more specific keyphrase, but you will have the added advantage of competing with less websites and will achieve faster page one rankings for more of your keywords.

In summary, start your SEO campaign by first ordering the most commercially valuable keywords from most important to least important, keeping in mind the psychology of your prospects. The more specific you get, the better quality prospects you attract and the higher the probability of conversion from a prospect to a sale.

Only then should you use freely available tools to determine the traffic volume for each of those keywords.  Delete any keywords with search volumes less than 200 and you’ll have a keyword targeting strategy that trumps most of your competitors that are also optimising.

Starting an SEO campaign with this thought process in mind has a much greater chance of yielding a ROI in the shortest period of time for your business. 

Article source: http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/technology/making-keywords-work-for-your-business

Posted by admin on February 24, 2012 at 1:39 am under Games.
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Article source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/11431143/1/cramer-my-top-three-discount-retailers.html?cm_ven=RSSFeed

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 7:39 pm under Discount UK.
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Today we’re going back to basics! And nothing is more basically important to a site than properly written title tags. You know the ones that used to appear in the little blue bars in your browsers. Most modern browsers try to hide these, though that doesn’t stop them being helpful!

So what is a title tag? Why is it important to SEO, and how do you write the darn things?

Meta Tags

First let’s talk about meta tags. Meta elements are HTML or XHTML elements used to provide information about a web page for the search engines and website users.

Such elements must be placed as tags in the head section of a HTML document. These elements are the:

  • Title Tag
  • Description
  • Keywords (No one uses these anymore and you can get spam “points” for overuse on Bing, so just forget them. If you have keyword stuffed “spammy” ones, you probably want to fix those.)

What is a Title Tag?

Title tags are part of the meta tags that appear at the top of your HTML inside the head area. Think of title tags like the title of the chapter of a book. It tells people and search engines what your page is about.

Title tags are also part of what makes people decide whether to visit your site when it shows up in the search results. The title tag should contain important keywords to help the search engine determine what the page is about.

Write title tags for humans; format them for search engines.

NOTE: Every experienced SEO has their own unique methods to doing this, so I’m going to give you best practices along with some of my methods. However, there are a million ways to write a title tag.

What Does the Title Tag Look Like?

The title tag looks like this in your HTML code:

titleImportant Words Go Here/title

Here is how title tags appear in a browser that uses the bar to display title tags (other browsers might only use the tab space or not show them at all):

Title Tag in Browser Bar Las Vegas Review-Journal

Finally, here’s where Google shows the title tag:

Title Tag in Google SERPS

REMEMBER: A title tag is THE MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE TAG in your page. It tells the search engines what your page is about. It is still vitally important to your SEO strategy.

Quick Checklist

When you’re writing your title tag what do you need to know? Here’s a quick checklist with some tips on how to write optimized title tags:

  • Length: Title tags should be a maximum of 70 characters long, including spaces.
  • Keyword Placement: Your most important words (keywords) need to be first in your title tag, with your least important words being last in the title tag (most to least). However, if you’re working in a language that reads right-to-left, then it is reversed, and it would be least important to most important.
  • Keyword Separation: Use pipes | to separate important (keyword) phrases (no commas, underscores, dashes or any other punctuation unless the keyword is written that way).
  • Wording: Keep your important phrases short and simple. Leave out words that would make it read like a sentence. (e.g., and, if, but, then, etc.)
  • Company Name: If your company name is not part of the important (keyword) phrases, put it at the end of the title tag; if it is part of your important words, put it as the first words in the title tag. Some SEOs will tell you to leave it out. You can leave it in for branding purposes – so people will see the brand and click. This isn’t valid for all sites.
  • DON’T DUPLICATE Title Tags: They must be written differently for every page. Don’t mass replicate your title tags.
  • Make It Relevant: Title tags must be written to be descriptive of the content on the page. (e.g., the About Page would be:

About | Important Keywords | Company Name

or

Important Keywords | About Us | Company Name.

Google Title Tags

Sometimes Google doesn’t like your title tag. In fact, sometimes Google thinks it can pick a better one, so it will rewrite the tag for you. There are several places it might get this information, most of them you won’t prefer to one you crafted yourself.

While there isn’t any assurance your title tag won’t be replaced, make sure you write a title tag that is page related, content descriptive, short and sweet, and not keyword stuffed. This is your one defense.

Keyword Stuffed Title Tags

You’ve probably come across badly written title tags that try to rank for everything or repeat a word over and over. Keyword stuffing is the worst offense when it comes to title tags.

Say your site is trying to rank for Blue Bells and Yellow Bells. Many times you will see the main keyword repeated multiple times across the title tag. It might appear like this:

Blue Bells, Yellow Bells, All Types of Bells | Bells Bells and More | Doors.com

This is bad title tag writing. You don’t need to repeatedly write the keyword. Google especially can pick up the keywords like your eyes can read them, so you would best to rewrite this as

Blue Yellow Bells | Doorbells | Doors.com

We removed the extra words, combined the products (if possible you would split these products to separate pages, a blue and a yellow, but this isn’t always feasible or desirable) and added a category keyword which would appear in the middle of the title tag on all doorbell related page titles, then end it with the domain name (again this is for branding purposes – there are also good reasons to not do this, it depends on the SEO).

Now our title tag is short, sweet, simple, and to the point. We have also categorized it and added in branding for good measure.

We also took out the word “and” and replaced it with an ampersand () so that you don’t accidentally relate the two items and make Google think you want people who are looking for Blue AND Yellow Bells.

And there you go, a basic lesson in title tag writing. This can be the most challenging and fun part of any SEO’s work! Or should that be “Inbound Marketer’s” work?

Some Title Tag Writing Examples

Let’s look at a few examples of writing title tags with actual examples.

If your important words (keywords) were “Charlie Sheen” and ”Winning” your title tag would be written in that order:

Charlie Sheen Winning

Charlie Sheen would be the first words in the tag.

Now what if we had more than one set of words? What if my keywords were “Charlie Sheen Winning” and ”Tiger’s Blood”? Your title tag would still be written with “Charlie Sheen Winning” as the first words in the tag. Then you would add a pipe | and “Tiger’s Blood” as the second phrase:

Charlie Sheen Winning | Tiger’s Blood

Don’t use hyphens, underscores, commas or any other type of character – just pipes.

Now what if we had more than one set of words and a company name we were not worried about optimizing for (the company name was not part of the reputation issue). If my words were “Charlie Sheen Winning” and ”Tiger’s Blood” and ”CBS”, you would separate these three phrases with pipes, with CBS last and farthest from the beginning, which Google sees as the least important phrase:

Charlie Sheen Winning | Tiger’s Blood | CBS

The company name can be repeated in every title tag as long as it as not part of the important words and appears at the far right end of the title tag.

What about sentences? Couldn’t you just write a sentence such as ”Charlie Sheen Says Winning And Tiger’s Blood And Gets CBS Riled Up”? You could, but those extra words like “says”, “and”, and “riled”, dilute your important words and make them less important to content, so best to keep it short, simple, and clear. Leave out the extra words.

Title Tag Writing Pop Quiz!

When using strict SEO principles. Which are the BEST title tags for the important (keywords): (pick 2) “Charlie Sheen” “Winning” “Howard Stern Show” when optimizing (trying to rank for) the words “Charlie Sheen (1) Winning (2)”

  1. Charlie Sheen Winning on the Howard Stern Show
  2. Howard Stern Show Charlie Sheen | Winning
  3. Charlie Sheen is Winning Points on the Howard Stern Show
  4. Charlie Sheen | Winning | Howard Stern Show
  5. Charlie Sheen and Howard Stern Winning the Show
  6. Winning | Charlie Sheen on the Howard Stern Show
  7. Charlie Sheen Winning | Howard Stern Show
  8. Doesn’t matter as long as the words are all there

If I were writing this, the correct answer would be No. 4.

Save up to $400! Register now for SES New York 2012, the leading search social marketing event, taking place March 19-23. Google’s Digital Marketing Evangelist Avinash Kaushik will keynote. Early bird rate expires March 2.

Article source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2154469/How-to-Write-Title-Tags-For-Search-Engine-Optimization

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 7:39 pm under Games.
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LONDON, February 23, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ –

Hydra, a provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) marketing technology, today announces that HSBChas selected Hydra’s One Platform to help it become more closely aligned to Greenlight, the agency HSBC uses for various elements of its search marketing activity. This recent development has provided the bank with a new level of strategic guidance and direction.

HSBC and Hydra have been working together to discover ways that the bank can increase the effectiveness of its Search Marketing activity.With the implementation of The One Platform from Hydra, the bank is able to easily and quickly source and define an enhanced keyword set extending its reach and enabling a more strategic approach.

By deploying Hydra’s One Platform, HSBC has been able to see its Search Marketing effort in a level of detail not previously possible. Hydra combined the Natural Search, Paid Search, discovered Keywords and Phrases from HSBC’s websitewith other sources to understand the opportunity currently available to HSBC.

TheOne Platform’s visualisation tools allow HSBC to see the sphere of opportunity from a 30,000 foot view which can then be drilled down into to assess trends and opportunities in performance at a keyword level.”Hydra is an innovative and powerful cloud-based search engine optimisation (SEO) tool for serious SEO Managers who rely on analysis to make informed strategic SEO decisions for their business websites. Its intuitive user interface, powerful visualisation tools and real-time data crunching is second to none,” said David Philip, Digital Customer Experience Sales Optimisation Manager for HSBC’s Commercial Bank division.

John Crossland, Digital Acquisition Manager at HSBC’s Retail Bank and Wealth Management Division adds, “For the first time ever, we’re able to see an unimaginable amount of vital performance and opportunity data in one, simple to digest platform. This insight, combined with Hydra’s optimisation tools, has radically changed the way we strategise and prioritise. The One Platform is now a key tool in our search marketing activity.”

Hydra’s One Platform combines insights from Natural Search, Paid Search and Social Media to uncover opportunities digital marketers can apply to achieve optimal performance for digital spend

Notes to Editors:

About HSBC:

HSBC is headquartered in London and is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. HSBS’s international network has around 7,500 offices in 87 countries and territories across Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, North, Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa.

About Hydra:

Hydra is a provider of SaaS tools established in 2011. The One Platform enables enterprise marketers to strategically and proactively monitor, report and participate in the conversation that existing and potential customers are having about their brand online. Gathering the collective requests and feedback of marketing executives, digital specialists, and agency professionals, One from Hydra is focused on driving revenue and return on investment (ROI) through integrated, efficient and optimised management and implementation of Phrase Marketing campaigns across online disciplines – Natural Search, Paid Search and Social Media.

To arrange an interview or for further information please contact:
Becky Hayward
T: +44(0)20-3326-1888
E: becky.hayward@onehydra.com

SOURCE Hydra

Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/23/4284980/hydra-affords-hsbc-a-more-strategic.html

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 7:39 pm under Games.
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SEBASTIAN — Only full-time city employees, golf course personnel, contractual golf maintenance employees and police volunteers will now get discounted rates at the Sebastian Municipal Golf Course.

City Manager Al Minner presented the new, written employee discount policy at the City Council meeting Wednesday that provides for rates of $5 for nine -holes and $10 for 18 holes of golf.

Council members, charter officers and members of city advisory boards will not be eligible for the discount, and will now pay the same rate as the public for either nine holes or 18 holes of golf, with or without a cart.

Minner said the policy is designed to support the golf course and the game of golf, and promote camaraderie and good will among employees.

“We have reviewed this in great detail,” said Minner. “The utilization of the discount will be subordinate to the general play at the Sebastian Municipal Golf Course.”

Mayor Jim Hill said the only problem he saw with the policy was that it does not extend the discounted rate to Minner, who is a full-time city employee, as well as a charter officer. But Hill said Minner had agreed to write himself out, even though his contract states he is entitled to city benefits.

Councilman Richard Gillmor said he is still concerned that part-time golf course employees will have to pay $10 to play 18 holes of golf, and they should be treated differently.

“If you’re a part-time employee making minimum wage, going from $5 to $10 is a lot,” said Gillmor.

But Councilwoman Andrea Coy said the new policy has to be applied evenly to all employees, whether they work at the golf course or not.

“It’s got to be the same policy for everybody,” said Coy. “If one gets it, they all get it.”

Article source: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/feb/23/sebastian-revises-golf-discount-policy-for/?partner=yahoo_feeds

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 1:39 pm under Discount UK.
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Some applications actually help kids do their homework rather than avoid it. Here are a few that put the  smart in a smartphone:

Math, from YourTeacher.com, is free for the first five lessons on an iPhone. To keep going, though, it requires a one-time $9.99 payment. The company makes instructional apps for Apple and Android.

From the opening screen in Math, type a keyword, such as “equations,” to see a list of lessons that include word problems and real-world uses for the knowledge, such as figuring sales taxes, discounts, and interest. Each lesson has examples, problems, and printable practice and review sheets.

Wolfram Algebra Course, by Wolfram Alpha L.L.C., is $1.99. Titles for calculus, music theory, and other subjects are also available at various prices for Android and Apple. The algebra course provides opportunities to view examples or to plug in an equation to examine its parts, calculate a solution, plot the results, and . . . do more math stuff than I was ready for.

The Wolfram courses are an extension of the brilliant “computational knowledge engine” at Wolframalpha.com, which handles a lot of the inquiries that iPhone4S users put to the “personal assistant” app, Siri.

HowStuffWorks, by HowStuffWorks.com, is a free, advertising-supported app version of the popular website, for Apple and Android. It has a search screen, podcasts such as “Stuff You Missed in History Class” and “Car Stuff,” and chat and tweet functions. Share or save your findings.

Homeworkhelp.com makes dozens of subject-specific apps for learning and review. They include instruction for SAT and ACT preparation. Titles in the App Store, some free, some not, include lessons in various levels of math, the state capitals, grammar, and vocabulary.

I looked at Homeworkhelp.com’s $2.99 Probability and Statistics app. Lessons begin simply by explaining the practical uses for knowing probability, and progress through frequency tables, exponential distributions, and linear regression. Some reviewers complain about there being no practice problems.

Encyclopaedia Britannica is $1.99 a month for iPhone. I grew up in a house with a sagging bookshelf of encyclopedia volumes, including the massive Britannica. It’s still authoritative, but now it fits in your pocket, has more features, and costs way less.

In an article, tap the “link map” icon to see a chart of related topics and articles for easy browsing. You can turn off your subscription renewals in iPhone settings.

Contact staff writer Reid Kanaley at rkanaley@phillynews.com, 215-854-5114, or @ReidKan on Twitter.

Article source: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/140090633.html

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 1:39 pm under Games.
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The manual, a 2011 reference guide for analysts working with the department’s Media Monitoring Capability program, raises questions about recent claims by Homeland Security officials who portrayed the program as limited to gathering information that would help gain operational awareness about attacks, disasters or other emerging problems.

Last month, a previous disclosure of documents related to the program showed that in 2009, when it was being designed, officials contemplated having reports produced about “public reaction to major governmental proposals with homeland security implications.”

But the department said it never put that category into practice when the program began in 2010. Officials repeated that portrayal in testimony last week before an oversight hearing by a House Homeland Security subcommittee.

“I am not aware of any information we have gathered on government proposals,” testified Richard Chavez, the director of the office that oversees the National Operations Center, which runs the program.

Still, the 2011 manual, which was disclosed this week as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, lists a series of categories that constitute an “item of interest” warranting a report. One category is discussion on social media networks of “policy directives, debates and implementations related to DHS.”

It is not clear whether the department has produced such reports. Matthew Chandler, a department spokesman, said Wednesday that in practice the program had been limited to “social media monitoring for situational awareness only.”

He also said the department would review the reference guide and related materials to make sure they “clearly and accurately convey the parameters and intention of the program.”

Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group that filed the lawsuit and obtained the document, argued that the manual shows that the monitoring may have gone beyond its limited portrayal by department officials.

“The D.H.S. continues to monitor the Internet for criticism of the government,” she said. “This suspicionless, overbroad monitoring quells legitimate First Amendment activity and exceeds the agency’s legal authority.”

A federal statute cited by officials last week as the legal basis for the program gives the National Operations Center the authority “to provide situational awareness” for officials “in the event of a natural disaster, act of terrorism or other man-made disaster” and to “ensure that critical terrorism and disaster-related information reaches government decision makers.”

Officials have stressed that the program does not collect personally identifying information, like the names or Twitter account handles of the people making comments, and that it does not monitor, review or collect First Amendment-protected speech.

Still, the program also monitors articles and broadcasts by traditional media outlets. The 2011 manual says that analysts, in addition to flagging information related to matters like terrorism and natural disasters, should also identify “media reports that reflect adversely on D.H.S. and response activities” and collect “both positive and negative reports” on department components as well organizations outside of the department.

The manual includes keywords that analysts should search for. A list of agencies in the keyword section includes not only those in the department dealing with matters like immigration and emergency management, but also the Central Intelligence Agency, several law enforcement agencies in the Justice Department, the Red Cross and the United Nations.

At the hearing last week, lawmakers of both parties said it made sense for the department to use the Internet to gather information about emerging events, but they voiced concerns that if it went further than that, the program might chill people’s freedom of speech and willingness to express dissent online.

“Other private individuals reading your Facebook status updates is different than the Department of Homeland Security reading them, analyzing them and possibly disseminating and collecting them for future purposes,” said the chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania.

Mary Ellen Callahan, the department’s chief privacy director, testified that the program was interested only in events within the department’s mission — like disasters, attacks or continuing operational problems. As an example, she cited a situation in which people post to Twitter about an unusually long line at a particular airport checkpoint.

She also played down the use of keyword searches the program uses for articles and postings on social networks, portraying them as simply related to disasters — “you know, flood, tornado and things like that.”

The 2011 manual contains a fuller list. Many keywords are closely related to various disasters. But a handful are potentially more sweeping, like China, cops, hacking, illegal immigrants, Iran, Iraq, marijuana, organized crime, police, pork and radicals.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/us/house-questions-homeland-security-program-on-social-media.html

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 1:39 pm under Games.
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Despite the rise of e-commerce, many prefer to buy certain goods and services offline. But they are researching products on the internet as never before. According to a survey released this week by Google, 52 per cent of UAE residents use the internet to research financial products such as loans and credit cards. Mohamad Mourad, Google Gulf’s regional manager, explains this “research online, purchase offline” trend.

What were the main findings of Google’s UAE survey?

What surprised us positively is the amount of online activity that’s happening around finance and banking, despite the fact that most of the purchasing activities are happening offline … actually deciding on something and then going to the offline channel to transact. We refer to this concept as the “research online, purchase offline” phenomenon.

What other examples are there?

When people are searching for a car, it is very unlikely that people buy the car online. But what they do is go to the site, configure the car, pick a nice colour. Then they print their options, go to the showroom and buy the car.

How did the internet compare in the study with other means for researching financial products?

In finance specifically, the banks usually try multiple channels to reach out to the customers. Fifty-two per cent of the respondents used search to research finance products. [Search] is 10 times more effective than email, and 10 times more effective than social networking sites as well.

Does this mark an opportunity for the financial services industry?

Of course. This is a very competitive industry. And there is very low awareness of certain products that are usually highly profitable for banks. So if you’re a bank, and you want to increase awareness, you need to be there when people are searching for a mortgage.

Obviously Google has a vested interest in this, in terms of selling advertising alongside searches. What are Google rates for finance-related keyword advertising?

A: It’s an online auction, and banks usually bid for keywords based on the value of these keywords. In the UAE, since everyone is on Google to search for banks, banks really have to justify hard not to be on Google. If 50 per cent of the potential customers are searching for you online, you don’t want to not be there.

How is the total number of Google searches in the Middle East and North Africa changing?

It’s growing at around 25 per cent year on year, which is a significant increase. And this is driven by more people getting on the internet, as well as people doing more and more searches. That is clearly ahead if you compare it to developed markets.

How long can this growth in search continue? Surely the time will come when it slows to zero?

We don’t believe that. Search is becoming more and more important. One reason is because of the increase in information on the internet. The other thing is that search is becoming better and more intelligent.

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Article source: http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/industry-insights/the-life/google-searches-out-a-web-trend-in-uae

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 7:39 am under Games.
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The manual, a 2011 reference guide for analysts working with the department’s Media Monitoring Capability program, raises questions about recent claims by Homeland Security officials who portrayed the program as limited to gathering information that would help gain operational awareness about attacks, disasters or other emerging problems.

Last month, a previous disclosure of documents related to the program showed that in 2009, when it was being designed, officials contemplated having reports produced about “public reaction to major governmental proposals with homeland security implications.”

But the department said it never put that category into practice when the program began in 2010. Officials repeated that portrayal in testimony last week before an oversight hearing by a a House Homeland Security subcommittee.

“I am not aware of any information we have gathered on government proposals,” testified Richard Chavez, the director of the office that oversees the National Operations Center, which runs the program.

Still, the 2011 manual, which was disclosed this week as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, lists a series of categories that constitute an “item of interest” warranting a report. One category is discussion on social media networks of “policy directives, debates and implementations related to DHS.”

It is not clear whether the department has produced such reports. Matthew Chandler, a department spokesman, said Wednesday that in practice the program had been limited to “social media monitoring for situational awareness only.”

He also said the department would review the reference guide and related materials to make sure they “clearly and accurately convey the parameters and intention of the program.”

Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group that filed the lawsuit and obtained the document, argued that the manual shows that the monitoring may have gone beyond its limited portrayal by department officials.

“The D.H.S. continues to monitor the Internet for criticism of the government,” she said. “This suspicionless, overbroad monitoring quells legitimate First Amendment activity and exceeds the agency’s legal authority.”

A federal statute cited by officials last week as the legal basis for the program gives the National Operations Center the authority “to provide situational awareness” for officials “in the event of a natural disaster, act of terrorism or other man-made disaster” and to “ensure that critical terrorism and disaster-related information reaches government decision makers.”

Officials have stressed that the program does not collect personally identifying information, like the names or Twitter account handles of the people making comments, and that it does not monitor, review or collect First Amendment-protected speech.

Still, the program also monitors articles and broadcasts by traditional media outlets. The 2011 manual says that analysts, in addition to flagging information related to matters like terrorism and natural disasters, should also identify “media reports that reflect adversely on D.H.S. and response activities” and collect “both positive and negative reports” on department components as well organizations outside of the department.

The manual includes keywords that analysts should search for. A list of agencies in the keyword section includes not only those in the department dealing with matters like immigration and emergency management, but also the Central Intelligence Agency, several law enforcement agencies in the Justice Department, the Red Cross and the United Nations.

At the hearing last week, lawmakers of both parties said it made sense for the department to use the Internet to gather information about emerging events, but they voiced concerns that if it went further than that, the program might chill people’s freedom of speech and willingness to express dissent online.

“Other private individuals reading your Facebook status updates is different than the Department of Homeland Security reading them, analyzing them and possibly disseminating and collecting them for future purposes,” said the chairman of the subcommittee, Representative Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania.

Mary Ellen Callahan, the department’s chief privacy director, testified that the program was interested only in events within the department’s mission — like disasters, attacks or continuing operational problems. As an example, she cited a situation in which people post to Twitter about an unusually long line at a particular airport checkpoint.

She also played down the use of keyword searches the program uses for articles and postings on social networks, portraying them as simply related to disasters — “you know, flood, tornado and things like that.”

The 2011 manual contains a fuller list. Many keywords are closely related to various disasters. But a handful are potentially more sweeping, like China, cops, hacking, illegal immigrants, Iran, Iraq, marijuana, organized crime, police, pork and radicals.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/us/house-questions-homeland-security-program-on-social-media.html

Posted by admin on February 23, 2012 at 7:39 am under Games.
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