Think Before You Post: Facebook, Chris Owens, and My Grandma

Chris Owens: from burlesque to the NFL.

I had an unexpected conversation with my Grandma on Christmas Day. You see, a while back my parents got her an iPad, and she uses it to get on Facebook pretty much every day. This has been a really great development for her, as it allows her to instantly see pictures of my cousins in Texas and keep up with family friends across the US.

Top 5 Things I Learned About Politics on Facebook

Obamaloney: 100 percent fact free! (Source: http://leevandenbrink.blogspot.com/)

At some point during the endless presidential election of 2012, you probably shared a political opinion on Facebook that you were wholly unqualified to advance. Facebook is one of those great and terrible places where totally uninformed people can share their feelings with everyone they know. There’s just no room for actual rational argument on Facebook — at least, that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned during this past election cycle.

Here are five other things I learned about politics from reading my Facebook feed:

Write It Like Letterman: Finding Your Voice by Copying Others

Graphic by Kate Voisin

So a couple of weeks ago we had a little thing called Hurricane Isaac roll through New Orleans. In preparation, we took a divide and conquer approach to all the work that still needed to be done regardless of the gale force winds howling down the deserted streets. On a regular day, we’re all comfortably seated relatively near one another in our spacious Oak Street office. For Isaac, we all went home to prepare for the hurricane and work until the lights went out and our laptop batteries died.

Write it Like You Own It: Defining Online Content Authority

Better do what he says, honey. He's got a badge.

As a writer, one of the first and most integral choices you have to make before you put one single word onto the page is disarmingly simple, and yet deceivingly complex: what authority, if any, do I have?

The answer to this one simple question will define the tone of whatever it is you are writing. It doesn’t matter if you are delicately constructing a poem, building a larger narrative one matchstick at a time, or sitting down to crank out 250 words for a roofing company’s website as a freelancer, you have to know where you stand, especially if you are using content to build online authority.

TV Ads vs. Facebook Ads: Targeting the Money

Go see this movie! ...we know you want to...

I came across a kind of shocking figure the other day while reading about the Facebook IPO. It appears Facebook ad sales generated $3 billion in revenue in 2011. That’s as much money as JP Morgan appears to have lost recently. Whoops.

But here’s an even more brain-wrinkling number: traditional television ads generated $68 billion in revenue last year. You know what you could buy with that extra $65 billion? Bill Gates.

Google Free Europe

LeGoogle

Google has landed in hot water in France after offering its Google Maps product for free in the country. America is known as the land of the free, and we all know big businesses get to do pretty much whatever they want. The idea of a government stepping in to say a business can’t give away a service for free strikes me as particularly French.

But while this move may not slow down the Google machine, it could open the door to similar lawsuits as Google sets its sights on new markets in previously un(Google)mapped countries. Could this be the beginning of a real life game of Risk that Google might not want to lose?

Interview with Cracked Columnist John Cheese

John Cheese talks SEO

Cracked columnist and longtime internet comedy writer John Cheese put out a call for interviews recently, and I jumped at the chance to talk to him. Out of all the writers on Cracked, a site I have been fairly addicted to since about 2007, John Cheese has probably spent the most time eloquently weaving his own life experiences into his always funny and often moving columns.

John ended up really driving home a rather simple yet all-encompassing idea that we have adopted as a mantra at Search Influence: fresh content is king. It really doesn’t matter whether you are advertising a novel, a list-based comedy site, or a small business anywhere in the world – if you can produce quality content that people find interesting on a regular basis, everything else will fall into place. It doesn’t hurt if you are as insightful, funny, and talented as John is either.

Take a look at the results of my email interview with John Cheese:

Google's "Search Plus Your World" Combines Social, Personal, and Personalized Algorithms

Google search results have been getting more and more personalized since the introduction of personal results in 2005, but the search engine giant’s newest feature takes on your entire world.

The new “Search Plus Your World” feature effectively erases the lines between standard search results, hits from social sites like Google+, search results that have been shaped by your personal search history, and results that are targeted at you personally.

Gmail Update: Hey, It Doesn't Suck!

I send and receive a lot of emails every day on my two constantly active Gmail accounts.

And if you include the number of individual chats I have going at any given minute, that “a lot” expands exponentially.

That’s why I was hesitant about switching to Google’s new Gmail layout when I first noticed the little blue box in the lower right hand corner of my inbox last week.

Maybe I’ve been burned one time too many by Mark Zuckerberg’s ongoing ADD-tinged quest to change every last pixel of Facebook in a kaleidoscopic onslaught of updates, but I really, really didn’t want to change my Gmail.

Search Influence Contract Writer FAQ

Are you now, or have you ever been a contract writer for Search Influence? If you answered yes, you’re in the right place, because this FAQ post can answer any and all questions you may have. If you said no, you can read all about our guidelines for freelance writers anyway. You just might learn something.

• When and how do writers get paid?
• How many articles should I ask for each week?
• How do I get new assignments?
• How important are deadlines?
• Why does Search Influence use Copyscape?
• What do I do if I’m going to miss a deadline?
• What happens if I end up on Search Influence probation?
• How do I get in touch with Search Influence?
• May I bring in help to get my articles done?
• I’ve got a serious case of writer’s block and I need some inspiration. What can I do?