theEweekly Wrap: Power, speed and crashes

New Jobs?

Apple shareholders have refused to disclose whether they have a planned successor to CEO Steve Jobs. The 56-year-old founder has been on medical leave since January, and could not attend the annual shareholders meeting; second-in-command Tim Cook chaired it instead. There, shareholders voted not to reveal Apple's future king, after the Central Labourer's Pension Fund called for transparency. The impending launch of the iPad 2 will certainly be a little strange if Jobs is not present. Rumours that the launch would take place on March 2nd were confirmed yesterday as press invites were sent out, featuring the calendar date peeling back to reveal the corner of an iPad, and the message "Come see what 2011 will be the year of". TechRadar speculated that the location for the UK launch – the BBC in London – provides "a clue to some of the new functionality."

Rule Twitannia

Twitter is one step closer to opening its long-awaited European HQ, as job vacancies have been posted on their website. The five positions in sales and partnerships will be based in "our new office in London, England"; however, according to a tweet from head of international expansion Katie Jacobs Stanton, "location of our Euro HQ is still TBD." December 2010 saw David Cameron and Boris Johnson meet with Twitter executives at 10 Downing Street. According to The Telegraph, the PM "urged" the delegates to consider London as the home for their Euro HQ. Such a move would tie in nicely with Cameron's plans to create Tech City, a Silicon Valley-style hub in East London. The job description requires candidates to have "an unflagging enthusiasm for Twitter" and be willing to travel.

Streaming speed

We've been playing around with an interesting new YouTube tool: Video Speed History. This feature can be used by right-clicking on a video, and selecting 'take speed test'. The results show the average video speed in your location, city, state, country, and in the world, and can also be compared over time. In providing this tool, YouTube hopes to educate users on problems affecting video speed. For example, the comparison over time shows videos are much slower at the weekend. Meanwhile, the FAQ explains, "the Internet Service Provider you are using, the distance from your computer to Google servers, the computer you are using, [and] other devices in your network" are factors that could affect speeds. Of course, the most useful application of this tool for marketers is not yet available – monitoring speeds for different locations and ISPs, to inform video marketing strategies.

Breaking Windows

A Windows Phone 7 software update has been withdrawn after reports emerged of it breaking devices. A number of Samsung handsets including the Omnia 7 were rendered unusable, even after a hard reset. Microsoft said a new version would be released as soon as possible, but protested that just ten per cent of all users had experienced problems. A spokesperson explained to ZDNet: "Of the remaining 10 percent, the top two issues encountered are the result of customer Internet connectivity issues and inadequate storage space on the phone or PC. These account for over half of the reported issues with this update." Meanwhile, Google has begun rolling out the software update for Nexus S and Nexus One phones, known as Android Gingerbread 2.3.3. Features include fixes for rebooting issues, improved graphics, speech recognition interfaces and better support for Bluetooth and Near Field Communications. Users were warned that the roll-out could take several weeks.

Smartphone Market Share Q4 2010

Nokia records smartphone market share drop as Google claims top spot

The year 2010 ended with Google claiming the top spot in smartphone market share. The search engine behemoth has seen its Android operating system help power its smartphones to the market leader position.

During Q4 2010, 33.3 million smartphones shipped ran on Android, representing 32.9 per cent of the overall 101.2 million units sold. This marks an increase of 24.2 per cent on the 4.7 per cent share they enjoyed over the same period in 2009, and sees it leapfrog Apple and Nokia into first place. Google's gain in Q4 can be partly attributed to the release of the Nexus S on December 7th, a model which incorporated Gingerbread 2.3 – then the most up-to-date version of Android.

The Nexus S wasn't the year's only big release – and it certainly wasn't the most publicised. In June, Apple's iPhone 4 arrived in shops, greeted by eager customers queuing for hours to get their hands on the device. Over Q4 2010, Apple's smartphone share, driven primarily by iPhone sales, took 16 per cent of the market with 16.2 million Apple-branded units sold.

Nokia drop

Nokia recorded the biggest dip in sales. It has watched its share of the market dwindle since the release of the iPhone and Android-driven devices, and Q4 2010 was no exception. Over this period, 13.8 per cent fewer people opted for Nokia smartphones, with the firm selling eight million fewer handsets.

Nokia's downturn in fortunes has perhaps been summed up best by the memo issued to staff by CEO Stephen Elop. It read: "[We] are standing on a 'burning platform', and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour. We have more than one explosion – we have multiple points of scorching heat that are fuelling a blazing fire around us."

Nokia may see something of a revival in the next few months, following its announcement that it will be primarily incorporating Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7 as its smartphone platform. The two firms will be hoping to build on the combined 33.4 per cent market share they hold – 1.2 per cent bigger than Google.

theEweekly Wrap: Child labour, Google penalties and homeless tweeters

Jobs for juniors

Apple has conducted its annual investigation into its suppliers, with shocking results. The responsibility report found that 91 children were working for Apple suppliers in 2010, compared to just 11 discovered in 2009. Children were working at ten of the 127 audited establishments, with the worst offender – employing 42 children – being fired. The other employers were ordered to pay the children's education costs. The investigation also found that only a third of suppliers are complying with maximum working time regulations, while 57 per cent has sufficient health and safety measures. The report marks the first time that Apple has admitted that 137 workers in China were poisoned by n-hexane, a chemical used to produce the iPhone touch screens.

JC Penney's big black hat

The SEO world has been dominated by one story this week: the revelation that US department store chain JC Penney has been involved in black hat tactics. The New York Times reported that JCPenney.com was appearing at the top of Google search results for countless generic terms, ranging from 'dresses' to 'furniture'. The paper asked a search expert to investigate, and discovered that most of the links into JCPenney.com were on seemingly unrelated and unmaintained sites; leading to the conclusion that these were paid links. The company's reaction was to fire its SEO agency and deny that they ever authorised, or were ever aware of, the black hat strategies. JC Penney will not be removed from search results, but have faced what Google's Matt Cutts called "strong corrective action".

Google wrath

The corrective action in question was detailed by Matt Cutts on Wednesday in a YouTube video, without reference to any specific offenders. Apparently, Google can punish websites in two ways: manually, or with algorithmic penalties. Manual penalties occur when reports are submitted to Google, and depending on how serious the transgression was, will expire after a certain amount of time. Sites can also request reconsideration of a manual penalty. However, algorithmic penalties are a little more serious. According to Search Engine Land, "content spam, keyword stuffing, cloaking, sneaky Javascript redirects and so on" can be combated with classifiers in the Google algorithm. These cannot be removed or reconsidered – to climb back up the search results, webmasters will have to change their sites and change their ways.

Tweets from the streets

Advertising interns in New York are hoping to give homeless people a voice through Twitter. Rosemary Melchior, Robert Weeks and Willy Wang were interns at BBH ad agency, and were challenged to "do something good... famously". By "pairing social media and social advocacy", Underheard in New York was born. Four homeless men - @putodanny, @awitness2011, @albert814 and @jessie550 – were provided with lessons in social media use, Twitter accounts, basic mobile phones, and unlimited text messaging for a month. The creators hope that the tweets will raise awareness of the plight and humanity of homeless people; be they discussing their daily lives, the impossibility of preparing for a job interview or paying a fine, or simply wishing followers a pleasant day.

The growth of long tail and Google Instant

• More people are searching for long tails


• Long tails are less competitive and more likely to convert


• Google Instant has actually encouraged use of long tails

People are entering more words into the search box on Google. A study from digital trend tracker Hitwise has found that the number of searches featuring four, five and even six words is on the rise, while the number of queries using shorter keyword phrases is shrinking. We are witnessing the growth of long tail.

Long tail versus short tail

For those of you who don't know already, the term 'long tail' refers to searches that contain a large number of words, and is the opposite of 'short tail'. 'SEO Manchester and online marketing specialists' is a good example of a long tail, while 'SEO' is a classic short tail. Exactly how many words are required to qualify as a long tail is debatable, but four or more is the generally accepted figure.

Many SEO consultants, and by extension their clients, have an overriding focus on short tail. It is obviously fantastic news if you rank number one for a term like 'SEO'. However, there can be an extraordinary level of competition for generic terms like this, and chances are that you'll be going head to head against rivals with far more in the way of time, money and manpower. Frankly, the odds are stacked against you.

This is where a long-tail strategy really comes into its own. The amount of competition for lengthy phrases is much lower, simply because there are more variations to target and most people are focused on the short tail. It is much easier to top Google for long-tail terms, and so generate a greater volume of clicks. Importantly, the conversion rate on these phrases is also much higher.

The logic of long tail

It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Somebody typing in 'SEO' might want a Manchester SEO specialist, or they might want an expert based closer to home, or they might simply be trying to find out what the letters stand for:


By contrast, somebody typing in 'SEO Manchester and online marketing specialists' is clearly on the lookout for a Manchester SEO and online marketing specialist and is much more likely to convert:


Google Instant and the impact on long tail

There are many reasons why people are typing more words into search boxes. For instance, everyone is getting better at devising searches that return the information they need, and search boxes are gradually getting larger. But perhaps one of the big drivers is the arrival of Google Instant, which delivers fresh search engine results pages in real time as new letters are typed in.

Last autumn, when Google Instant launched, many commentators speculated that it signalled the death knell for long tail. Why would people finish typing in 6-word queries when they are presented with results after just a few letters?

The truth is somewhat different. With Google Instant, users are realising that long-tail queries deliver better results than their short-tail counterparts. They are finding as they type that a search for 'SEO' doesn't help them find a Manchester SEO specialist, but that 'SEO Manchester' has a relatively high success rate and 'SEO Manchester and online marketing specialists' offers exactly the results they are looking for. Next time they search, they will remember to be more precise.

Google Instant is one of the biggest things to happen to SEO in recent years. It has changed many aspects of search. But far from killing off lengthy searches, Google Instant has actually driven the growth of long tail.

Richard Frost

WWE and The Rock get cooking on social media

Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson made a surprise appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship broadcast Monday Night Raw this week – sparking a social media frenzy in the process.

The 38-year-old's announcement that he will be the guest host of WWE's main yearly show Wrestlemania, made live on the programme, prompted Twitter to go over-capacity on Monday, something Mobile Marketing Watch credited to the way in which Johnson and WWE used social media promotion during the actual broadcast.

"Johnson himself was largely responsible for whipping up the social media frenzy. For the first time in WWE programming history, a superstar’s personal Facebook page was promoted live during the broadcast. For Johnson, the social media plug brought his WWE return full circle," the website said.

Follow The Rock

Launched to coincide with his return to WWE programming, Johnson's Twitter account has subsequently generated over 100,000 followers since its inception. And, as of 09:00 on Wednesday February 16th 2011, 'Dwayne Johnson' is on page two of Twitter's @trendingtopics account, having spent a healthy 24 hours on page one.

The successful launch of Dwayne Johnson's social media accounts can be attributed to two main factors: WWE and television in general. Since his return, both Johnson's Twitter and Facebook accounts have been heavily advertised on the WWE website. Secondly, the vast majority of tweets on Johnson on Monday night were made while Monday Night Raw was still on-the-air, suggesting that real-time social might just have replaced the telephone when it comes to telling friends - and strangers - to change the channel to something they just have to see.

(And for those wondering: as of right now, The Rock follows no-one.)

Wrestling with Social Media

The return of The Rock isn't the first time WWE has jumped into the ring with social media. A recent report from Mashable examined the company's online strategy, and interviewed WWE executive vice president of digital media Brian Kalinowski, who revealed they intended to target popular websites where its fans are "nesting" rather than draw them to the WWE.com homepage.

He said: "People are spending somewhere between 60-70 per cent of their time on no more than three or four sites. The rest of the time, they’re going off, finding and discovering, but then they’re going back to those sites."

It was on Facebook, one of WWE's targeted "nests", that word of The Rock's return on Monday night spread. The message, posted on Johnson's fan page just hours before Monday Night Raw, was simply: "...FINALLY...Get ready... DJ". When he did finally appear to close the programme, viewership had increased by almost one million in anticipation.

Keeping the story going on screen and off

With WWE being, in a sense, fantasy storytelling, social media offers distinct advantages as a promotional tool to keep people involved when the cameras stop rolling. Mr Kalinowski comments that the company uses social streams to "augment our storylines...we can continue the story that ended on Monday night and carry it through to the next Monday night".

It makes perfect sense. Wrestlers' accounts aren't the same as a spoof account for, say, Don Draper from Mad Men. WWE doesn't operate under the same dynamics as television drama and cannot be afforded the same narrative luxuries. But it is scripted entertainment, just in real time, and it is completely understandable that the moment the television is turned off on a Monday night fans wonder what these characters are up to at that moment. After all, if wrestling and its larger-than-life characters are to be presented as 'real', surely its stars should be accessible 24 hours a day just like the rest of us?

Twitter and Facebook give WWE a way of plugging storytelling gaps and maintaining interest during its 'off-time'. This is why wrestling promotion has so much potential teaming up with social media.

theEweekly Wrap: Nokia, Singapore and M&S

Nokia burning issue praised

Brother Sales & Marketing Director Phil Jones has complimented Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's memo to employees within the Finnish mobile firm. Elop sent a note to staff this week in which he compared the company's current position to that of a man on an oil platform "surrounded by flames". Jones applauded the move on his blog, praising the CEO for his honest approach. Jones said: "I thought the metaphor wholly appropriate and the tone just right. He uses powerful and evocative language and is brutally honest about the position of the company ... You’re left in no doubt as to what the leader is thinking and expects." On his Twitter account (@philjones40), Jones added that the memo is a "great bit of writing", adding Elop has given the company "a good shake".

Social media in Singapore

Singapore is one of the most evolved social media markets in the world, according to new research from Firefly Millward Brown (FMB). Their survey discovered that shopping – a national pastime in the country – has influenced the way people in Singapore have embraced the medium. Its citizens are brand-savvy and its shops are bridging the gap between digital and physical stores, said (FMB) regional director of digital strategy Chris Madison. "The things that they do in [Singapore's shopping strip] Orchard Road, can be very similar to what they are doing online, such as to find out more about discounts and events offered by the popular brands," he added. Research results singled out Thailand and Indonesia as countries where the association between shopping and social media was less obvious.

M&S poaches Tesco golden egg

Marks & Spencer has appointed former Tesco executive Laura Wade-Gery to head its online business division. The move has been described as a real coup within the retail industry, with some predicting Wade-Gery to go on to big things within the company. Shares in Marks & Spencer rose by 13.5p to 373.3p since the 'poach' was announced, while shares in Tesco dropped 6.1p to 396p. An analyst at Seymour Pierce said: "Ms Wade-Gery was seen as a rising star at Tesco and potentially a future candidate for CEO, so this is a real blow and will heighten the debate over whether cracks are appearing in its UK business." In November 2010, Marks and Spencer announced that it intended to at least double sales online and via mobile and landlines from £400m by 2014.

iPlayer app sparks fury

Official BBC iPlayer apps will begin life only on the iPad and Android phones, leaving iPhone viewers fuming in the shade. News of the move leaked on Twitter on Tuesday ahead of BBC Head of Future Media Erik Hugger's press conference, leading to the event being called off. The BBC iPlayer app will only be available to iPad and Android users, and they will only be able to access on a Wi-Fi connection. The shunning of the iPhone comes despite numerous unofficial iPlayer apps showing the medium's capability to run the catch-up service. Nick Reynolds, editor of the BBC's Internet Blog, has defended the move. He claims that choosing to opt for the two devices ahead of the iPhone saves the corporation for having to install new servers. A further explanatory post on the matter is expected in the next few days.

Fun with passwords

Matthew Pettitt is an expert in computer security issues. He was recently placed in the top 12 of the UK Cyber Security Challenge entrants, having competed against 4000 others for this distinction.

Most people nowadays have dozens of accounts for different online sites and services. Every site you visit seems to demand another account, and for each account you need a password. Surely it can't hurt to reuse a password?

Wrong!

For example, Andrew has accounts with his online banking service (userid ANDY897829), a popular microblogging service (@andrew), a small forum site for collectors of vintage coffee grinders (username CoffeeAndy), and an online bookstore (username Andrew). He's also got an online email service, where he has the email address andrew@example.com.

He uses the same password for the microblogging service, the forum and the bookstore, but decides to pick a completely different password for his banking and email services.

Everything seems fine, until one day he visits the forum to find a message saying that the user database has been stolen (these were nice hackers - generally, sites don't find out until their users start having problems), and that he should change his login password. It's a bit inconvenient, but he changes his password, and thinks nothing more of the incident.

Until his next bank statement arrives, anyway. At that point, Andrew notices a number of orders from the online bookstore which he doesn't remember making are listed on it.

What happened?

1. The forum's passwords weren't encrypted, or, just as good, from the hackers point of view, were encrypted with reversible encryption


2. The forum database contained his email address - this is fairly standard, and not a problem in itself, but meant that the hackers could do a search on the popular microblogging site for a user with that password, and link CoffeeAndy with @andrew


3. They then logged into his microblogging account, using the password from the forum database - at this point, the attack would have been stopped if he'd used different passwords for each account


4. At this point, they still don't know about his bookshop or banking accounts, so they looked through his direct messages. At some point in the past, just before Christmas, Andrew had sent a link to his wishlist on the online bookstore to a friend: http://bookshop.example.com/wishlist/Andrew


5. Now the hackers have his bookshop username. They log in, using the same password, and change the email address on the account, then start spending, using the "one click" purchase option - it asks for a password, but not for bank card details. They are careful only to order downloadable items - the one click option doesn't let them change the delivery address - but that includes music, ebooks, downloadable films, software, gift vouchers...


6. Once they're done, they change the email address back, so Andrew never knows that they've been into his account, until his bank statement arrives

The important thing to note with this is that the bank login details are never compromised. There is no benefit to the hackers to attempt getting into the online banking system, most of which are multi-factor protected anyway (so you need a password, and some other code, either based on a "secret phrase", or a code generator, which gives out codes based on the current time which are only valid for a short while).

It also doesn't matter that the accounts have different usernames, as most people connect accounts, either consciously ("Find friends on these services! Just enter your username now!") or through other means (such as posting links to your posts on a forum, posting the same status message to multiple services, sending links to one service using another).

The whole attack relied on a single password being used - it became the weak link in the chain. It didn't help that the forum used bad password storage, but given unique passwords for each service, it wouldn't have mattered.

How can you pick secure passwords?

• Use a short phrase you can remember, possibly related to the site. Andrew could use "arabica_is_number_1" for his coffee forum, "7_coffeetable_books" for his bookshop, "short_sweet_160" for his microblog. By chaining multiple words together, the attack area for brute force attacks is increased massively, and because the phrases relate to the sites, are easier to remember than random strings.


• Use a base password, and a way of adding site uniqueness to it that is secret. Andrew could use "c0ff33" as his base password, then create "cf0ofrfu3m3" by interleaving "forum" with it, "cb0ofofk3s3hop" by interleaving "bookshop" and "cm0ifcfr3o3blog" by interleaving "microblog". It would be even better to have a more complex base password, or a different interleave pattern, such as interleaving backwards, or putting pairs of letters together. The idea is that you only have to remember one password and one method, which is a lot easier than remembering lots of fully unique passwords.


• Use a password safe. Programs such as KeePass let you store passwords in a password protected file. You remember the password to the file, and can access all the other passwords, copy them to your clipboard, paste them into password fields, and never have to deal with them. They can also generate really complicated passwords (e.g. "TR%:,AJ?8a8-]S78h'*V") which are virtually impossible to brute force. They have the downside that you can't access your accounts if you don't have your password file and the software, or if you forget the master password, but if you pick your password safe software carefully, you should be able to find a single password file format that works on all your computers and on your mobile phone: keep one file in sync, and you can work anywhere.
  It's even safe to email this file, as long as the master password is kept secure, since it's encrypted - KeePass uses the AES cipher, which is certified for use for "Top Secret" information in the USA, for example.

theEweekly Wrap: Honeycomb, Egypt and the DEA

Hunting law breakers

The controversial Digital Economy Act (DEA) is to be reviewed by Ofcom almost a year after being rushed through parliament in the run-up to the election. The authority for media regulation has been asked by culture secretary Jeremy Hunt to assess the practicality of the act, namely the measures it outlines to deal with copyright infringement. Although Hunt once said "I have no problem with the principle of blocking access to websites used exclusively for facilitating illegal downloading of content", it remains to be seen whether ISPs will be able to block sites, or parts of sites, and indeed how much the move will cost.

Popularity contest

Renowned ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi is using unconventional means to find graduates worthy of an internship. Between now and April, hopefuls will be set a series of challenges involving social media marketing. The first is a Twitter competition to see who can get the most followers and re-tweets. According to the IABUK's recent white paper on digital skills, the rise in tuition fees could see the creative industries suffer a lack of new talent, as the media is rarely seen as a 'safe' career choice. In another industry, social media has not been so kind to young people. A student in California was suspended after calling his teacher fat in his Facebook status update, while in early January a group of teenagers were arrested in Nevada for organising an event called 'attack a teacher day'.

Open for business

The BBC reported on Wednesday that normal internet services were coming back in Egypt, although political unrest continued on the streets. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook were blocked last week, amid fears that they were being used to coordinate the anti-government protests. During the Twitter block, Google launched a speak-to-tweet service which used voicemail instead of an internet connection, especially to help Egyptian tweeters stay in touch. Meanwhile, the hacking collective who took revenge on sites deemed to be against WikiLeaks has made the Egyptian government its new target. Anonymous claimed responsibility for the government website crashing on Wednesday afternoon.

Tablet buzz

This week saw the long-awaited launch event for Android 3.0, the OS designed specifically for tablets. Known as Honeycomb and featuring a new blue bee logo, it has been hailed as the only thing able to threaten the iPad's reign of the market. The 2011 CES last month saw the launch of several new tablets that would run optimally on Honeycomb, including the feted Motorola Xoom. Invited to the hands-on showcase, TechCrunch reported the OS features an Action Bar that "changes dynamically based on what you’re doing in an application", while the Chrome browser "kicks the pants off the iPad's browser". However, the event was somewhat overshadowed by an iPad2 being spotted at the launch of the News Corp Daily newspaper app; a Reuters eyewitness claimed to have seen the app on a working iPad with front- and rear-facing cameras.

Using social media for fundraising

This September, I will be trekking up the Inca trail in Peru to the lost city of Machu Picchu, through Global Adventure Challenges. They have been organising worldwide charity challenge events and adventure holidays since 2000; this has helped raise over £5 million for a variety of charities located throughout the UK and abroad.

I will be raising money for CLIC Sargent, which does a superb job of supporting children with cancer and Leukaemia. I have chosen this charity because I have been involved with them most of my life, often doing small fundraising events to help raise as much as possible.

Social media and fundraising

To help get my fundraising message out to friends, family and colleagues, I use a variety of social media channels.

1. Facebook: I have set up a group on Facebook, which I use like a blog and post messages and pictures of the fundraising challenges I have set myself. I've added links to my JustGiving page, but it also gives other people the chance to post comments and set further challenges for me to complete. Facebook's extensive social network gives me the opportunity to get my message out to a vast audience quickly and effectively. When my friends like the page, their own friends also see my group and can see the work I am doing.



2. Twitter: As I build up to the event itself, I will be tweeting about challenges I have done and the training I have to go through in order to make it to the top of Machu Picchu. Twitter is undoubtedly a great tool for getting my message out to a vast audience and with minimum effort. With a little help from my followers and colleagues – some of whom regularly use social media for marketing purposes – I can promote this great cause and the efforts taken to reach my sponsorship target.



3. LinkedIn: This is a brilliant resource for this kind of project, as it allows me to spread the word to people in my professional network, who may not be connected to me on Facebook. Using theEword group might also come in useful for keeping supporters of theEword up to date.

By using these social media resources, I'm hoping to reach as many people as possible. I'd like to inform them of CLIC Sargent and the great work they do for children; but also, I want to make them aware of all the hard work I will be doing over the next nine months to achieve my goal, and hopefully inspire them to give generously.

Click here to check out my Facebook group. Here you can find out all about the fundraising challenges I am doing.