Tag Archive for news

19 Jun 2009
social media

IReporting Is All The Rage


I’m reading this article about Twitter and local news.

http://www.localseoguide.com/is-twitter-a-better-source-of-local-news-than-google/

I’m sure you’ve seen your local news station providing you with IReporting (essentially, news from everyday folks like you and me) sent to them via cell phones, video cams, twitter, facebook, etc.  It’s interesting that in today’s age of Reality TV where television seems to have been taken over by the general public looking for a way to get on tv – that the same thing seems to be happening in news media.

Not only is the public going to be just questioned about certain events by an attractive local reporter, it seems that the public will not be taking over the job of the reporter and just doing the reporting themselves.  Hmm – I haven’t decided if this is a good thing or not.

I mean, it’s great that people have the opportunity to show the world what’s happening around them (as in the case of Iran) but how do we know that the person doing the reporting doesn’t have a hidden agenda?  Of course, we don’t really know that about professional reporters either but the IDEA is that they’re supposed to be unbiased and non judgemental towards the news they report (Yeah right!) – anyway, I haven’t decided if it’s a good thing or not.

What do you think?


eckweb | No comments | Tags: , , ,
20 Mar 2009
social media

Twitter Has Become My Newspaper


So, who watches the news anymore?  I mean, what demographics?

Folks over 50?  Over 60?  Over 70?  I’m just guessing here.

I’m 50 and I rarely watch tv news anymore.  It doesn’t matter if it’s local or national or international.  I’m tired of wasting my time listening to what the news department at that particular news station thinks is important.  I just don’t have the time to listen to their opinions and “experts”, etc.

But, I am a bit of a news hound.  I want to know what’s happening, around the corner and around the globe.  So, recently, I’ve been using Twitter and it has become my very own personal newspaper.  It’s really quite cool.  Here are the Twitter tools that I use and how I use them.

http://www.breakingtweets.com/

http://search.twitter.com/

1) I go to http://www.breakingtweets.com/
This is a great website to get news worldwide that’s being spoken about, shared, and announced via Twitter.
They have it broken down into topics and regions so you can pick and choose the areas you’re interested in.

2) If you find a news item that I want to know more about, I then go to http://search.twitter.com/ and type in the main phrase of the story.  This then gives me even more news.

Yes, there are comments in these Tweets, no doubt.  But more important, there are MANY links to stories, articles, journals, etc. that I would have never seen or known about.  I find that I get a more “rounded” view of the story vs. the one sided view of the TV newscasters.

So, should TV news be worried?  YES.  If a TV addict like myself can actually stop watching them, my guess is that many, many more will as well.

So, tell me what you think.  Give this method a try.  Or maybe you know other Twitter tools that can do the same.  Let me know!


eckweb | No comments | Tags: , , ,
17 Oct 2008
internet marketing • seo • small business

Keeping Up On All The News


One of my favourite little tools to use to keep up with “news” is Google Alerts.

If you haven’t used it yet, I don’t know what you are waiting for. It’s one of the best ways to stay ahead and on top of anything that you are interested in.

I find the best way to use it is to type in my subject in quotes. That way Google only alerts me when any news comes up just for that particular phrase. Otherwise, I would get alerts for any news that comes up with any of the words in my phrase.

Anyway, the reason I’m even mentioning Google Alerts is because I have been receiving TONS of new information lately, it seems every hour I get more Alerts and this tells me two things.

1) There are many new websites coming onto the Internet (that’s nothing new)
2) Many more websites are continuously adding information!

AND that tells me that everything that I’m reading about Search Engine Optimization is true!

What I’m reading is that CONTENT truly is KING. All content, new content, continuously fresh content, data, data, data!!!!

Basically, the more information (relevant information of course) you have on your website, the higher your rankings will be, the more audience you’ll be attracting, the more sales you’ll receive, the more exposure you’ll get and the more links you’ll have.

Think about it, part of getting UP on the search engines is getting other websites to link TO you. That’s easy enough to do with search engines and directories. But it’s a bit harder to get other regular websites to link to you. So, many people participate in a link exchange type of program.
That’s good, but what’s even better is having other websites link to you because you have something GOOD to say! These are ONE WAY links, in other words you don’t have to reciprocate the link! These ONE WAY links score more points (to search engines).

I know I’ve been harping on this for a long time and I’ve opened many blogs for my clients and I give all my monthly marketing clients a new keyword phrase every month to help inspire them to write an article (about that keyword phrase) in their blogs and maybe even their websites.

But, I have to admit, it’s a losing battle. I wish I could sit and write articles for every one of my clients every week! I KNOW that would bring in more customers, more revenue, more, more, more!!
I KNOW because I’ve done it on my own website and it absolutely, 100% works, without a doubt.

I recently have had a few customers call and ask me “What else can I do?” — “I’ll spend more money but what can I do?” — my reply to them is WRITE!!!! If you can’t write an article, hire someone to write an article (my friend and article contributor Joel
Kweskin can help you). But however you do it, just do it!!


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