The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been a hot topic of discussion over the previous couple of weeks. Hundreds of websites have voiced their disapproval of the legislation, while many media outlets and American politicians have stressed the need for tighter controls over internet piracy. The main argument against the legislative bill is that it endangers freedom of speech and will harm well-meaning websites more than those actively distributing illegal content. But what exactly does the bill propose, and what are the implications of such changes?

The History of the Bill So Far

The bill was first introduced to the House of Representatives on the 26th of October 2011, by Texas Governor Lamar Smith. While the bill, if passed, would be an American law, it would have wider implications for other parts of the world, due to the global nature of the internet.

The bill would allow copyright holders and the US Department of Justice to inflict much more serious penalties on websites hosting and distributing copyrighted material. The new law would potentially force search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, to stop linking to these sites, as well as forcing online advertisers to remove any content from the websites.

On the 18th January 2011, the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, the blogging platform WordPress, and hundreds of other websites staged a 24-hour blackout in protest of the bill, which they hoped would help represent the implications that the bill may have on these websites.

Support for the Bill

Support for the bill outside of the House of Representatives has primarily come from large companies who have suffered from websites using their copyrighted content without their permission. These businesses include NBC, Nike, Ford, McMillan Publishers and more. These companies have argued that online piracy is putting jobs at stake, because of the loss of income that is seen as a result of this piracy.

Media outlets and production companies have been the most vocal in their support for the bill, because online piracy has a direct impact on their business. Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, has been particularly vocal about the bill, expressing his support over Twitter.

Opposition of the Bill

Opposition has been widespread, because many feel that the bill has potential for a much more widespread impact. Google and Yahoo are two of the biggest companies opposed to the legislation. This is because part of the bill says that search engines must not link to any illegal or pirated content. Google and Yahoo have argued that, with the sheer volume of links, it would be impossible to enforce this.

This was supported by Edward J. Black, who argued in an article for the Huffington Post that it is too easy for those distributing material to change domains. He said: “Ironically, it would do little to stop actual pirate websites, which could simply reappear hours later under a different name, if their numeric web addresses aren’t public even sooner. Anyone who knows or has that web address would still be able to reach the offending website.”

The Obama administration and the White House have also come out in opposition of the bill. A response from the White House stated that it “would not support legislation with provisions that could lead to Internet censorship, squelching of innovation, or reduced Internet security.” However, it did stress that it encourages all sides to work together to create a legislation that helps to stop piracy.

What Happens Now?

In recent days, support from the bill has waned considerably, and the bill was shelved on 20th of January to allow for a rethink. While this is good news for many opponents of the bill, there will very likely be a redraft. File-sharing website Mega Upload was shut down on the 19th of January by the FBI for illegal activities, which is a sign that the idea of copyright protection and privacy prevention is far from over.

The major concerns of the bill have been centered around the potential for putting a stop to the creativity and innovation on the internet, through fear of reprisals if a company falls foul of any potential bill. However, while opposition of SOPA is fierce, most of these organisations and individuals agree there is a need for clamping down on internet piracy, but stress that SOPA is not the way forward.

Search giant Google has yet again taken a controversial step with the introduction of ‘Search plus your World’, a new feature that integrates search results with Google+ social networking. This new feature has highlighted the progression of the internet as it gives a search engine the ability to combine social elements with everyday search, theoretically providing search results that are tailored to fit your interests and needs. Google is importing content from its six month old Plus service into its regular searches, a clear shot across the broadsides of Facebook and Twitter.

The Good
Features of the approach include recommending additional companies and people to follow on Plus, based on your search results. It will bring up the profiles of other Google+ users and celebrity Google+ accounts depending on your interests, according to Google. This will make searching much more efficient for many users who want to find relevant information quickly and Google can almost guess what their customers are looking for, bringing up the most useful information. This is taking searching to a whole new level on the internet by providing an integrated service. However in the world of social networking and search giants; we can always find flaws …

The Bad
Many internet users may enjoy having a broad access to the internet, for purposes of work and research they may not want their search engine to define their searches to bring up things that they are only interested in. If they want to search across their interests they may already be signed up to other browser add-ons such as StumbleUpon which does exactly that. However Google has responded to this possibility and you can turn off the new feature by adjusting your search settings. The search engine will also not present results from rival social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, therefore creating controversy and possibly unfair competition by leveraging their separate search facilities to boost the decidedly unpopular Plus.

The Ugly
The question on many critics’ lips was whether Google are unfairly exploiting their online dominance of internet searches to promote their own social network. They are prioritising Google+ data and the social network is having a very easy ride on the back of the dominant search engine. It can be understood from Twitter’s point of view when they lashed out against the new feature, arguing that it is going to be harder to use Google to find Twitter posts about breaking news, like protesters writing tweets from countries like Syria and Egypt. Facebook has not yet responded to the recent announcement by Google, but as they have had a recent privacy deal, Facebook could not let Google index all of their information which users think is going to stay private not really giving them an argument against the Google giants.

In regards to Google’s defence it seems that any company should have the right to push its own products before anyone else’s and in fact use their success to promote its other features. Facebook is now coming up to its 8th birthday and has over 800 million active users; in reality would it really affect them a great deal if Google were to push Google+? Although it does rival Facebook and Twitter, social networking is one of the biggest growing ways of communication, and the landscape is expected to shift over time. Overall the success of the new Google feature is yet to be seen, and with the Twitter backlash and Facebook yet to speak up, anything could happen as the social networking titans collide; watch this space.

Just a quick note to say that we’ll be closed for the festive period from Wednesday 21st December, returning Tuesday 3rd January.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and sincere thanks to all of the clients that we worked with throughout 2011.

Social networking sites and in particular Facebook has become a part of our society that we struggle to live without, it gives you the ability to find out the very basic information about someone’s life and sometimes even the most complex issues that they are thinking about. With likes, comments and statuses, Facebook represents the very opinion of the public and with over 800 million users worldwide it gives one of the most reliable sources of public attitudes and behaviours and their opinions on, well … just about anything, it gives an accurate measure of the most popular topics, subjects, products and services voted by the public and especially internet users.

This week Facebook have announced the use of ‘Memology 2011’ showing the most popular “memes” which includes behaviours, styles and trends of Facebook users over the last year. As well as being important for businesses and understanding search engine behaviour it also plays an imperative part in SEO. With the increasing amount of users signing up to social media sites and with it becoming one of the most used sites on the internet, SEO needs to fully engage with social media.

Memology allows you to see 2011 through the eyes of status updates. You can view the ten most popular global topics for 2011 based on what people were writing about in their status updates, which are:
1. Death of Osama bin Laden
2. Packers win the Super Bowl
3. Casey Anthony found not guilty
4. Charlie Sheen
5. Death of Steve Jobs
6. The Royal Wedding
7. Death of Amy Winehouse
8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
9. Military Operations Begin in Libya
10. Hurricane Irene

When Hurricane Irene hit many turned to Facebook for the most recent updates and to check if loved ones where safe. Memology was also used to look further and discover the top trending phenomenon’s on the internet for 2011, judging by Facebook status updates the most popular terms that emerged were ‘planking’ where people are supposed to lie face down in strange locations and take photographs, hit a record high in May after Max Key, the son of New Zealand Prime Minister, posted a Facebook photo of himself planking in the family lounge with his father in the background. The second most trended status was ‘lms for a tbh’ after lms (like my status) and tbh (to be honest) both individually hit record heights.

The results have had a great use in society showing the fastest growing fan pages based on ‘likes’ across the industries of Music, Entertainment, News and Sports. The discussed topics were from all walks of life, but what remained consistent was the active participation generated from Facebook users. The site has benefited from a diverse global audience coming together in one place and starting a valuable discussion about what matters most to them, giving an accurate portrayal of the public’s views over the most important topics and keeping Facebook as one of the most dominating factors in today’s society.

Google has fought back yet again as it enters another battle with the undefeated technology giant, Apple. Many have entered the selection of markets that are now under Apple’s dominance, aiming to knock them clean off the top spot, but have left with little success. However Google are refusing to give up and have set their sights on a new industry currently dominated by Apple, the online music sharing market. The aim is to steal Apple’s crown in audio entertainment distribution and Google is pulling out all of the stops to try and play catch—up with its formidable rivals. The main players in this market that all have different levels of integrated music are Facebook, Amazon, Spotify and of course Apples iTunes store.

Google Music is a new store within the Android market and is currently only available in the US, it will be getting released to Europe soon, however there are currently no confirmed dates. Google automatically syncs the entirety of your music library up with all of your devices. There are more than 13 million tracks available to the users, from artists from Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, EMI and the global independent rights agency Merlin and over 1000 independent labels. However for any Prince and Led Zeppelin fans there is some bad news, Warner are not backing Google in this launch and therefore they cannot get any artists tracks under this label. It is the same purchasing system as Apple operates on iTunes, where you can purchase it straight from your phone or computer on to your Google music library. Google+ then gives you the availability to share your music with friends. It is around the same price as iTunes as they are not using this to compete; the ease of sharing music via your personal social network account is going to be the main pull for customers.

Sharing music is a great way to aim at a target audience, with everyone liking at least one genre of music and wanting to listen, learn and share with friends around the clock, this is the perfect way for Google to break in to the industry and become part of the true essence of social networking. Song choice creates friendships and social circles as it brings people together from the most varied origins and backgrounds. What social networking is always trying to achieve is the easiness of connecting people and staying in touch through finding a common interest, friendship or group that a selection of people can all appreciate and enjoy. Adding music in to the mix will create the perfect common grounds for the basis of those friendships and acquaintances and therefore the foundation of social networking.

Blackberry has always been a worrying competitor for Apple, especially in the smartphone industry, and so it was quite obvious that their big break into music would come soon enough and rest assured it has. BBM Music is expected to launch next week and again is trying to offer their current and potential customers much more for their money. BBM Music is giving its customers a choice of 50 tracks for just £4.99 a month, much cheaper than its rivals charging in the region of 45p to 99p per track! Apples iTunes is going to be a tough competitor to bring down as everybody associates this with music and it has become very well established very quickly, also they can offer every song imaginable. However if Google offers a more convenient way to share music with friends, all the music lovers will more than likely give it a try, Google need to impress first time as there is a strong alternative in iTunes, in this industry there is very little room for error.

Search engine optimisation has become essential for any business. Every single company out there now has a website and without improving its ranking on the major search engines it might as well not exist. Putting in keywords, linking to relevant sites and trying to be the logical option for crawlers is what everyone had to consider, again in the ever changing industry there is now another big player that demands consideration, social media. Social media networking sites have become the biggest deciders when it comes to the popularity of different brands, it needs to be a top priority that the companies keep in touch with their customer base via Facebook and Twitter and now Google+ in order to keep rapport going and as a way of feeding them information. It is a way of guaranteeing customers will see the content, unlike sending out millions of emails or flyers, it is a fact that the information is going to flash up on their news feeds or Twitter accounts and they are going to be interested because that individual has ‘liked’ or ‘followed’ that company or interest.

Search engines are indexing more and more social data every minute, they are considering all of that information while they are crawling making social media a very important factor within SEO. The search engines react to the most relevant signals and the next logical development in order to get the most accurate data to the user, and this is how they identify and rank content. Looking at social signals and the content that users discuss and share is a great way for the search engines to identify the relevance of the information. Therefore implementing social media activity in to SEO is a very valuable way of increasing the rankings. The way that social networking sites are used, with individuals tweeting, blogging and commenting all has an impact on the content that they are talking about, the sites are engaging with their customers, and potential clients and interacting with the public, social media is not just about links it is about trying to get valuable content which is appreciated by search engines.

It is important that you drive traffic to your website and get your brand image known; the more relevant links that point to your website and then interesting content, the more rankings will improve. With this valuable information potential customers then link to it and share it with friends and other internet users in order to gain those essential relevant links that help to improve rankings and that hold high value within SEO; this then means that links are created to your social networking site and therefore your original website. It is this kind of social media marketing that gets something out in to the world quickly and is now one of the main players in marketing your brand. It is important to integrate a social media campaign in to your SEO strategy and to seriously consider the importance of the social media sites.

Analysts, bloggers and reporters flocked from around the globe yesterday to attend Apple’s ‘Let’s Talk iPhone’ event where the speculation surrounding the new smartphone was finalised. The news that there will not be an iPhone 5 with a new design and 4G connectivity was hard to swallow for the many iPhone fans, who had eagerly anticipated the new phone they had all hyped up in their minds. Disappointment seems to be the general feeling after the intense build-up that has been circulating over the last few months. It is unfortunate that the public’s prediction of Apple’s next move was wrong and that the dissatisfaction may mean that people won’t be all rushing to the shops to trade in their iPhone 4 for the 4S.

The iPhone 4S does have some impressive additional features, and although it is not what most people expected the technology is pretty amazing. So let’s talk about what it does have rather than what it doesn’t and the reasons why Apple are still giants in the technology market …

Siri
Siri is a new feature exclusive to the iPhone 4S, it is designed to deliver information and follow commands that you give it. Siri provides a complete personal organisation system and comes in the form of a robotic female voice that you can change. You can use it for many things like checking the weather; asking for contacts addresses, asking irrelevant trivia, getting directions and setting reminders. The clever voice recognition system brings you your own personal assistant fully operational from your mobile phone. This technology is predicted to be the new sought after feature as Google are currently working on their version, watch the space on this one it looks like it could be the new function in the smartphone battlefield.

The Camera
The new 8 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus brings a new innovative way to take photos from your mobile. It is a whopping 33% faster than the iPhone 4 and you can snap away with the speedy “click” after each photo is taken. The Camera now also features 1080p video, image stabilisation and noise reduction.

Antenna and Speed
Both have massive improvements on the iPhone 4S, with dual antennas data speed is increased, this is the first smartphone that will be able to switch between antennas to transmit and receive data, improving both speed and quality. The HSDPA speed rockets from 7.2 Mbps to 14.4 Mbps. The iPhone 4S has Apple’s A5 dual-core 1GHz processor along with a dual-core CPU; the chipset will make it twice as fast and offer better graphics performance.

Granted Apple have offered an advanced iPhone, but have they done enough to sway people to buy it? Are the new additions something that maybe people will agree are brilliant but never really need to use and would there be any point paying any more money for a phone that looks the same as the last one? There is talk of the iPhone 5 coming out in June next year where there may be a complete redesign and even more artificial intelligence. The excitement and high expectations that have been put in peoples minds about the new product have not done Apple any favours; it seems people were expecting more in the time that Apple took to get it here.

So is it worth the risk? June is a long time off and we cannot really rely on Apples schedule, so if you are interested in the new features you might as well take the chance because with the technology market today, there is always something bigger and better just around the corner.

With every version of a tablet falling at the heels of the iPad, Amazon is being brave to enter their tablet in to the competitive industry. Apple has completely annihilated every other effort by successful companies to introduce a new tablet but Amazon seems to think they have what it takes. Their success with the Kindle Reader gives them the confidence to battle against the iPad giant. The Kindle reader went head to head with Sony’s Librie, it had e-books available and a USB internet connection, the Kindle came up trumps with its wireless connection and 88,000 e-books available to download more than four times the amount of Sony’s e-book range, along with the back up of Amazons 65 million online shoppers it reduced Sony’s online store to a ghost town. With this said, maybe Amazon do have the potential to take on Apple, or are they seriously underestimating their competition? Although Amazon took on Sony and won hands down, Apple have taken on every technology giant in the business and have not yet been pushed of the number one spot. Customers like Apple, they believe in it, and they trust it, and above all it holds a stigma of style and luxury that Amazon needs to seriously consider.

The price is the outstanding factor in this recent battle; we may all look at the iPad and revel in its amazing features, fascinating technology and beautiful simplicity, however we can’t all afford to have such elite piece of arm candy. The iPad is very expensive bit of equipment; the prestige of having a tablet with Apples branding on the back does not come cheap, whereas the online shopping retailer can afford to reduce the prices making it more available for the consumers. This creates problems for Apple because they cannot compete with the price that Amazon are offering, selling it at half the price of the iPad, when you think about what the general public will use a tablet for, they will be more than happy with one from Amazon that they can get for a fraction of the price.

With all of its attributes, loyal kindle readers, a one-click access to buying music downloads, movies, e-books and its own Android app store, Amazon is going to be a formidable competitor in this fast moving market. They go into the industry with the same view that every company has, to dominate the tablet market, however they have also gone in with the same downfall that plagues every tablet in the business; they are simply not an iPad. However, it is now time to for Apple to really be tested and the loyalty of their customers to be scrutinised. The merging of the massive Amazon brand name, the success of the Kindle and the progress of the Android, all being moulded in to one product and put on the market at a very forgiving price, they may just be on the road to shaking Apples position and compromising the iPads dominance in the tablet market. Although Apple continues to fascinate with its constant product development and its effortless designs, there always seems to be this niggling feeling that we want someone else to come and interrupt their reigning success. Watch this space, they may not want to get too complacent with this one; Amazon is definitely ready for the war.

Last week saw the announcement of a whole host of new Facebook features, which will have a serious effect on the way we use the social networking site. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg personally delivered the keynote speech at the f8 conference in San Francisco. The conference is primarily aimed at developers and business partners, but the main announcements will have major implications on the way that the everyday user experiences Facebook. Zuckerberg announced changes relating to the look of the profile, social integration and a major new partnership with online music streaming service Spotify. All these changes are aimed at making Facebook an ‘entertainment hub’, where the sharing of music, film, books and games is taken to a whole new level.

Timeline – Your Personal Facebooking History

One of the biggest announcements at this year’s conference was the introduction of Timeline. Timeline is a new way of viewing one another’s profiles. It is essentially a plotted history of your time on Facebook, or, if you add more content from before you first used Facebook, a history of your life. A sample Timeline profile (available to view on the Facebook website) also shows the user’s recent music on Spotify, films on Netflix and Hulu, books read, pages liked, and more. While some of these individual elements are available to see on Facebook at the moment, but the new organisation is much more streamlined and integrated.

Ticker – An Extra Feed for the Little Things

Ticker is a feature that many users will already have noticed on their main profile page. The ticker feed has been compared to Twitter. The main point of Ticker is to provide an extra feed, so your main news feed doesn’t get clogged up with information that is of no significant interest for you. For example if someone changes a profile picture, it is likely to go into the new Ticker, as it’s not something that most people would deem to be important enough to warrant a place in your main feed. Ticker allows your main news feed to be filled with more important and relevant posts and updates.

New and Improved Spotify Integration

There were numerous internet companies that were in attendance at the f8 conference, many announcing partnerships with Facebook, but the standout development is the further integration of Spotify and Facebook. The new changes will mean that a user’s activity on Spotify is more easily visible to Friends on Facebook, as well as recognising similarities in the music choice of their friends. However, it now also means that you must have a Facebook account to sign up with Spotify.

Initial Reactions

The reception of the new and soon to be implemented changes has been decidedly mixed. Many critics feel that Facebook is trying to spread itself too thinly, rather than focusing on what it is good at: being a place to communicate with friends. The recently introduced Ticker has received criticism for further changing the profile layout, in a similar way to that of the new chat box. However, it must be remembered that many Facebook changes have been criticised, primarily due to changing a layout that users are accustomed to, but these criticisms are often forgotten once users have familiarised themselves with the new features.

More positive comments have focused on the ability for Facebook to be a ‘distribution platform’. This means that it will be easier for you to discover things you like, and the ability to pass these interests on to friends. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made a point about how friends have a big influence on our choices. He told a story about how the Netflix algorithm always told him to watch the TV show Breaking Bad, which he constantly overlooked, but when told on the new Facebook platform by a Friend to watch it, he immediately decided to do so.

Be Prepared for Big Changes

Whether you appreciate the new Facebook changes or not, it is undoubtedly one of the biggest periods of transition that the company has gone through. It will be a little while before all of the changes are implemented, but will alter the way we connect socially. These changes will also have an impact on the way advertisers use the power of Facebook. As yet the full extent of this is not known, but will likely give companies an opportunity to interact with users in whole new ways.

Get ready for battle to commence in 2012 when the new Windows 8 explodes on to the tablet market. Apple has remained to stay on top despite the introduction of competitors like BlackBerry and Android introducing their versions of the tablet; no one has yet been successful in bringing down the technology giant as no other tablet has outdone the iPad. However there is speculation that the Windows 8 Tablet could finally erode their hold on the business market. The tablet has functions that may be more appealing to the business customers; it has the ability to connect to a keyboard and dual monitor, turning the tablet into an impromptu workstation, compatibility with existing Windows apps and connectivity with Windows. These features will appeal mainly to business users, who are Microsoft’s main demographic. This could be their immediate launch in to the tablet market, making them an instant threat to the well established iPads.

However, although Microsoft is offering the correct product and the correct hardware, many other companies have tried to take on Apple in the tablet war and have been unsuccessful. RIM is still trying to push the necessity for a BlackBerry Playbook, but everyone still wants the iPad. Somehow Apple have kept the novelty of this piece of technology and kept up momentum with the introduction of the iPad 2. There is a much higher status around the iPad and Apple cannot be faulted in this sense. They have successfully introduced a unique, compact and functional range of products that bring efficiency and fun into people’s lives.

The speed of this market can also not be underestimated. According to a forecast by HIS Inc, 60 million tablets will have been shipped by the end of 2011. By 2015, that number is expected to rise to 275.3 million mainly to global consumers. Considering that the tablet became a phenomenon in 2010 when Apple’s iPad was first launched, the market will get to a point of mass reach in 3-5 years. The market is therefore still extremely young; however it is maturing much quicker than any other market. Therefore if Microsoft delays, customers will have established their product and will be set in their ways by the time the Windows 8 is introduced. Apples products also tie in with each other so effortlessly, they have the laptop, the iPhone and then the tablet, which can all be linked with iTunes and the App Store, consumers have everything where they need it so why would they change?

The tablet wars are surely going to heat up when the Microsoft 8 is shipped next year, maybe Apple is working on something to up their game in the tablet market to make sure they are not outdone by their major rivals. However for years Microsoft has been relied on by many business users, and there are businesses and individuals in the world who have never switched from the trusted company. Now they are about to introduce the much awaited tablet that Microsoft users have craved it may be successful. Microsoft was going to have to jump on the tablet train at some point with the growing success of the market and shifting consumer needs. But the stakes are high for Windows, if they do not give their consumers what they want they could face an epic fail in the market they always used to dominate, however if this is a success for Microsoft, it will open lots of doors for massive potential and opportunity.