Blogs_Školkay,Zankova_NewMediaLit, Bratislava_Slovakia
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Blogs_Školkay,Zankova_NewMediaLit, Bratislava_Slovakia
- 1. BLOGS Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Dr. Andrej Školkay Dr. Bissera Zankova
- 2. Microblogging by Countries Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 3. TECHNOLOGICAL IMPACT Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Microblogging on Twitter and Facebook has contributed to a decline in traditional blogs
- 4. Types of Blogs Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship SOURCE GENRE SIZE MEDIA TYPE Typology of Bloggs
- 5. Blog Platform Comparison Chart
- 8. All Equal? Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Should all bloggers be protected like journalists? YES! NO!
- 9. Blogs and Content Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Key issues: - content regulation - how much, if any, interaction should be allowed to readers - protection of personal rights - crime and violence - hidden advertising and flogs - quality of a discussion - copyright
- 10. Early Political Impact Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship The “Trent Lott” case and other cases but data does not provide strong support for the claims of the significant new media impact on the Arab Spring political protests
- 11. The blogosphere in Bulgaria: blogs, politics and protests Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 12. Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship The “Bivol” (Buffalo) site in Bulgaria and its experience in investigative journalism The blogosphere in Bulgaria: blogs, politics and protests
- 13. Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship The blogosphere in Bulgaria: blogs, politics and protests
- 14. The blogosphere in Slovakia: blogs, politics and journalism Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 15. The blogosphere in Slovakia: blogs, politics and journalism
- 16. The blogosphere in Slovakia: blogs, politics and journalism Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 17. The blogosphere in Slovakia: blogs, politics and journalism Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 18. Riadok 1 Riadok 2 Riadok 3 Riadok 4 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Stĺpec 1 Stĺpec 2 Stĺpec 3 The blogosphere in Slovakia: blogs, politics and journalism
- 27. Defamation and Liability Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship International Cases
- 28. Regulation of User’s Comments Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship No comments Moderated comments Registered users only Staff patrolled User-patrolled comments
- 29. Liability for Third Party Comments Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Delfi AS v. Estonia
- 30. Self-Regulation Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Tim O´Reilly (2007) "Blogger's Code of Conduct
- 31. The Case of Trolls Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 32. Quality of Discussion Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Factors: protected anonymity no sense of place no or little time left for serious thinking
- 33. Self-Regulation and Freedom of Expression Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Code of Ethics for Bloggers, Social Media and Content Creators Media and Content Creators - Norway
- 34. Code of Ethics for Bloggers, Social Media and Content Creators” in Norway Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship opinion your opinionyour It is your right to voice your opinion. Be critical of everything, even your self. Use your power to protect. Tell the truth at all times. Present your opinion as your opinion. State your allegiances to stay independent. Reveal your sources unless doing so can harm your sources. Be critical of your sources and seek independent verification. Always give credit where credit is due. Always preserve the intended meaning of a given statement. Give your opponent a chance to respond. Admit and correct your mistakes immediately.
- 35. Advertizing, Hidden Advertising and Flogs Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Cases: Vichy/ L'Oreal Microsoft Wallmarting Across America Sony
- 36. Find your niche Keep it simple Keep it short Be provocative, personal, and preemptive How To Write a Blogg? Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship
- 37. How To Write a Blog? Leonardo da Vinci Project 2012-2014: New Media Literacy for Media Professionals Partners: SKAMBA (SK), Media21Foundation (BG), FOPSIM (MT) and Videovest (RO). This presentation was prepared by Media 21 and SKAMBA and is free to use under condition of acknowledging authorship Write irresistible headlines Write with rhythm Offer evidence Stress action Strive for clarity
Editor's Notes
- The definition of blog comes from a weblog which means – a “log on the web” or an “Internet diary”. This is the initial function of blogs - to allow individuals to share opinions and comments via the new information technologies combining personal experience with the power of technology. One can conclude that blogs are creations of the Inetrnet.. With respect to freedom of expression blogs can be considered important instruments for free expression, for broader communication and for greater involvement in the democratic processes. Blogs can also serve for mobilization and protest of citizens. Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject. More recently "multi-author blogs" (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, interest groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal newstreams. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users. (Previously, a knowledge of such technologies as HTML and FTP had been required to publish content on the Web.) The majority are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking service. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs, but also build social relations with their readers and other bloggers. There are high-readership blogs which do not allow comments, such as Daring Fireball. Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries; others can be considered online brand advertising of a particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blogs), photographs (photoblogs), videos (video blogs or "vlogs"), music (MP3 blogs), and audio (podcasts). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources. These blogs are referred to as edublogs. On 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence. On 13 October 2012, there were around 77 million Tumblr and 56.6 million WordPress blogs in existence worldwide. According to critics and other bloggers, Blogger is the most popular blogging service used today. With the proliferation of blogs they have become the basis of the so called “blog culture” – allowing individuals to communicate and share information and opinions through blogs thus boosting their activity on the web. Blogs when connected comprise a network – the blogosphere – which operates like a social network. Blogs can also become centers of virtual communities. An important function of blogs is that they can channel media content but they could also create new original content that can be used and processed by the media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
- Use of micro-blogs is somewhat more widespread. This year the proportion of journalists worldwide who say they use Twitter has reached 59 per cent. Usage of Twitter is highest in the UK, France, Spain, Canada, Australia and the US – and it is hardly surprising to see the Anglophone countries are such keen adopters. It is interesting, however, to note blogging is far more commonplace among journalists in India (64 per cent), while in some countries, notably Germany, social media are still very much a minority pursuit: barely a third of German journalists say they have personal Twitter accounts. Source: ORIELLA PR NETWORK GLOBAL DIGITAL JOURNALISM STUDY 2013
- The boom in social-networking sites and microblogging, which attracted many people are dooming blogging to its final end in the time of high-speed communication Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/blogs-twitter-facebook-palestine.html#ixzz2j6Dk5v7X
- There are many types of blogs, differing not only by content, but also by the way that content is delivered or written. Blogs can represent personal diaries, thematic diaries, commentary or political blogs. There are also niche blogs. Blogs may belong to media professionals, non-professionals or public figures – politicians normally use blogs to raise their popularity and increase the number of supporters. These subjects apparently pursue different aims through their blogs. Bloggers as a distinguished group on the web can comprise bloggers that act as journalists and free bloggers. Personal blogs A personal blog is an ongoing diary or commentary written by an individual. Thus individuals share their experiences and observations. Microblogging Microblogging is the practice of posting small pieces of digital content—which could be text, pictures, links, short videos, or other media—on the Internet. Microblogging offers a portable communication mode that feels organic and spontaneous to many and has captured public imagination. Friends use it to keep in touch, business associates use it to coordinate meetings or share useful resources, and celebrities and politicians (or their publicists) microblog about concert dates, lectures, book releases, or tour schedules. A wide and growing range of add-on tools enables sophisticated updates and interaction with other applications, and the resulting profusion of functionality is helping to define new possibilities for this type of communication. Examples of these include Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Corporate and organizational blogs A blog can be private, as in most cases, or it can be for business purposes. Blogs used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs. Similar blogs for clubs and societies are called club blogs, group blogs, or by similar names; typical use is to inform members and other interested parties of club and member activities. By genre Some blogs focus on a particular subject, such as political blogs, health blogs, travel blogs (also known as travelogs), gardening blogs, house blogs, fashion blogs, project blogs, education blogs, niche blogs, classical music blogs, quizzing blogs and legal blogs (often referred to as a blawgs) or dreamlogs. Two common types of genre blogs are art blogs and music blogs. A blog featuring discussions especially about home and family is not uncommonly called a mom blog and one made popular is by Erica Diamond who created Womenonthefence.com which is syndicated to over two million readers monthly. While not a legitimate type of blog, one used for the sole purpose of spamming is known as a Splog. By media type A blog comprising videos is called a vlog, one comprising links is called a linklog, a site containing a portfolio of sketches is called a sketchblog or one comprising photos is called a photoblog. Blogs with shorter posts and mixed media types are called tumblelogs. Blogs that are written on typewriters and then scanned are called typecast or typecast blogs; see typecasting (blogging). A rare type of blog hosted on the Gopher Protocol is known as a Phlog. By device Blogs can also be defined by which type of device is used to compose it. A blog written by a mobile device like a mobile phone or PDA could be called a moblog. One early blog was Wearable Wireless Webcam, an online shared diary of a person's personal life combining text, video, and pictures transmitted live from a wearable computer and EyeTap device to a web site. This practice of semi-automated blogging with live video together with text was referred to as sousveillance. Such journals have been used as evidence in legal matters.[citation needed] Reverse blog A Reverse Blog is composed by its users rather than a single blogger. This system has the characteristics of a blog, and the writing of several authors. These can be written by several contributing authors on a topic, or opened up for anyone to write. There is typically some limit to the number of entries to keep it from operating like a Web Forum.
- http://startbloggingonline.com/blog-platform-comparison-chart/ The most popular blog platforms in 2014 see on https://medium.com/blogging-and-seo-tips/d62682d9b0aa and also Blog Platform Comparison Chart Click on the picture to enlarge
- Blogging and the eCommunication paradigms: 10 principles of the new media scenario* Jose Luis Orihuela**
- Ukážka, ako sa manipuluje s fotkami vojakov 15. 5. 2014 o 13:05 ( upravené 15. 5. 2014 o 14:40 ) | Karma článku: 10.46 | Prečítané 61637-krát V súvislosti s nejasnosťami ohľadom prítomnosti americkej súkromnej bezpečnostnej firmy na Ukrajine sa objavila upravená fotografia vojakov. Elitné komando bolo vytvorené jednoducho - na fotke ostali vojaci, ktorí pomáhali pri hurikáne, zmenili sa ale nášivky a nápisy. Na ukážkový príklad ako sa manipuluje v spravodajstve poukázal český internetový publicista Daniel Dočekal. „To sa vezme fotka americkej Národnej gardy z New Orleans v roku 2010 v dobe, keď tam pomáhali pri hurikáne. A pekne sa vymažú nápisy a naopak primaľujú sa nejaké tie insignie. A už to ide,“ napísal Dočekal na svojom verejnom profile na Facebooku. Pridal pôvodnú fotografiu z roku 2010 a upravenú verziu na ruskom webe v roku 2014. Pôvodná fotografia vyšla na blogu agentúry Reuters v roku 2010. Fotografia sa v marci 2014 objavila na webe ruskline.ru pri článku, v ktorom sa píše, že v oblasti Juliana a Borispol sa objavili vojaci, ktorí sú zamestnaní v „Private Military Company Greystone Limited." Spoločnosť sa spája s bývalou elitnou jednotkou Blackwater v USA, ktorá bola v minulosti kritizovaná za operácie v Iraku. http://omediach.blog.sme.sk/c/356066/ukazka-ako-sa-manipuluje-s-fotkami-vojakov.html*
- About The Bobs The Bobs awards honor websites and projects in 14 languages that champion the open exchange of ideas and freedom of expression. When the annual awards launched in 2004, blogs were just beginning to establish themselves as a new type of media and The Bobs aimed to show that this new form of communication was worthy of being taken seriously and to point to the excellent example of work being done online to foster dialogue across language barriers. The Bobs represent one of Deutsche Welle’s ongoing efforts to contribute to promoting freedom of expression and the upholding of human rights on the Internet and around the world. http://thebobs.com/english/about/about-2/
- Categories There are 20 categories in a total of 14 languages in The Bobs. Submissions can be in the any of the following languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Of the 20 categories in The Bobs, six are multilingual and 14 are language-specific. That means the six main categories will contain projects, sites and campaigns nominated any of The Bobs languages and will be evaluated in relation to the category’s other nominees. The language-specific categories will be reserved to a single language. One Jury Award and one People’s Choice Award will be awarded in each of the six multilingual categories – both awards can go to the same blog. Only the People’s Choice Awards, decided by online voting, will be awarded in the language-specific categories. The six main, multilingual categories (Jury & People’s Choice Awards) Best Blog This is the place for the blogs whose content and design do an exemplary job of promoting and protecting human rights as well as initiating and fostering open discussion of topics that are of social and public importance. Best Innovation In the Best Innovation category, the search is on for software solutions, applications or Internet platforms that dedicate themselves to providing the technology that enables people to improve society and democratic social integration. Best Social Activism The winner here will be an initiative that makes exemplary use of social media, networks and other forms of digital communication to bolster democracy, freedom and human rights. Advertising and marketing campaigns run by companies or organizations are excluded from this category. Reporters Without Borders Award In cooperation with Reporters Without Borders, this special award honors blogs that take a strong stance for freedom of information and expression around the world. It also honors bloggers who dare to spread information under daunting circumstances. Global Media Forum Award The focus for the 2014 Global Media Forum Award will be sites that examine how interconnectedness, interactivity and participation influence and spur on the democratic process. “From information to participation – challenges for the media” is the focus of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, which runs from June 30 to July 2 in Bonn, Germany. Most Creative and Original This is the category for sites that take a creative and entertaining approach to serious topics. The focus here is on the innovative and surprising way socially relevant topics are handled and presented. Special attention will also be given to the visual and artistic presentation.
- Blogs definitely have impact over contemporary life. We can say that this impact is multifarious. There are very influential blogs in politics – either as a tool of political leaders to gain support and appreciation or as an instrument of scrutiny and criticism. A great number of political leaders use blogs to promote their political ideas and to become more popular among voters. Blogs expand freedom of expression and freedom of communication by securing a forum to alternative voices including alternative views to those espoused by traditional media. They lend a new dimension to the right to protest and may serve investigative journalism. Blogs can be a source of independent research, they can also support historical surveys and can be the basis for the creation of books. The optimistic view about blogs is that blogs and social networks contribute to democracy by giving greater visibility to civil society and its claims opposite to traditional media and help broader in scope freedom of expression to be implemented. The pessimistic view (watch Evgeni Morozov “The Internet in Society, Empowering or Censoring?” on YouTube) is that the new types of communications serve repressive political regimes and censorship through tracking and surveillance on the web and abuse of the right to privacy more particularly the right of personal data. We should not be deluded by the cyber utopia some scholars used to say. Human rights activists should not necessarily grab the new information technologies to bring their causes to completion. Authoritarian regimes use the Internet for propaganda, generate and exchange useful information to stabilize their regimes and try to erode civic engagement among young people. Evgeni Morozov who represents the Internet sceptics derives his conclusions from the understanding that problems are social and technology cannot settle them properly. Following such trend of reasoning some blogs can appear as creations of official propaganda and not of free opposition minds. Instead of censoring governments they implement spinning and authoritarian deliberation. Kremlin for instance, has launched the project Liberty.ru However, blogs can be provocative, they could generate scandals by publishing unexpected and unknown information, they can succeed in mobilizing public opinion and put pressure on politicians. Blogs can be a source of information for the media and the news agencies but publications have to be corroborated through the journalistic means of verification.
- Bloggers should be protected by the international human rights law. Bloggers should never be required to obtain a licence to blog. Bloggers should never be required to register with the government or other official bodies. Accreditation schemes must meet international freedom of expression. To the extent that they are engaged in journalistic activity, bloggers should be able to rely on the right to protect their sources. As a general rule, bloggers should not be held liable for comments made by third parties on their blogs in circumstances where they have not intervened or modified those comments standards. Bloggers should not be forced to abide by the ethical codes or codes of conduct developed by traditional media and should not be coerced or given an incentive to join self-regulatory bodies for traditional media. See more in The Right to Blog by Article 19 http://www.article19.org/data/files/medialibrary/3733/Right-to-Blog-EN-WEB.pdf
- In the case of blogs as in the case of websites and all forms of expression on the web all rules for respectful, non-libelous and decent communication are implemented – what is relevant off-line is applicable online as well. One of the most difficult decisions is to decide how much, if any, interaction should be allowed to readers. On the one hand, the ability to leave comments rates articles or photos and communicating with authors or other visitors encourages readers to return to the site and provides them with a sense of community. On the other hand, uncontrolled content carries with it a set of dangers and concerns including copyright, libel and hate speech issues. More and more it seems clear that there is not and that there should not be from regulatory point of view totally free area of anonymous communication, especially in the case of anonymous commentaries. There are increasingly serious problems with violence promoted by words, i.e. promotion of extreme ethnic, gender and racial hatred, pathological and religious passions as well as problems with personal honour and dignity due to pornography including child pornography. Many observers have also recently noted increasingly low quality of public discourse on the Internet and in some cases also in the blogosphere. It seems necessary, or at least worthy, to have serious discussion about possible methods of introduction of rules that should aim at protecting human dignity on the Internet and particularly the physical, mental and moral development of minors. Blogosphere creates new conditions for various offences in the extreme cases crime and violence (not only by words) to thrive on the net and hate speech including political hate speech to be wide-spread due to the new intensive communication on line. Blogosphere brings currently following “traditional” major issues in communications: dangers of promotion of crime and violence (f.i. pedophilia), hate speech (f.i. racist contents and comments), hidden advertising and flogs (the use of ‘personal blogs’ for unfair commercial and political purposes), quality of a discussion (the abundance of emotionally laden discourses), copyright rights and political marketing through blogs, including use of fake politicians´ blogs. For example, the Finish court punished a 15 years old boy with almost 1,000 euros fine for slander of his teacher. The boy put on YouTube video of his teacher. This video was shot at one of school´s celebrations. The student titled the video as "Karaoke at Psychiatry" (sita, 28. 8. 2007, http://pocitace.sme.sk/clanok.asp?cl=3459926). One may object that this video is not blog, but in fact the consequences say that it is absolutely not different from personal slander in written form. There is research that suggests that violence in words is not, potentially, without consequences. There is now strong evidence that suggests that "mirror neurons" activate in the same way when we are watching someone else do something as they do when we are doing it ourselves. We learn from imitating (mirroring) others. The potential problem is that these neurons imitate others without our conscious intention. The behavior of others we are around is nearly irresistible. Neurologist Richard Restak even argues that negative emotions exert a more powerful effect in social situations than positive ones, thanks to the phenomena of emotional contagion (Angry/negative..., 2007). Marsden (1998) argues that scientific research has largely confirmed the thesis that affect, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour can indeed spread through populations as if they were somehow infectious. Simple exposure sometimes appears to be a sufficient condition for social transmission to occur. a current neurological research proves that negative emotions generated by hate speech exert a more powerful effect on human behavior than is the case of positive emotions. There was case of a U.S. primary school student, Ryan Halligan, who was for a couple of months subject to derision. Some of his schoolmates disseminated via Internet that he is homosexual. Another teenager, Canadian Ghyslain Raza, forgot his own video in school in 2002. His fellow-students put this video on Internet as a joke. Student Raza ended up at psychiatry (Aj Internet,...2007).. These examples show that the usage of personal images in the blackmailing and similar negative practices is far from uncommon among teenagers. Therefore, we have to deal seriously with the protection of human rights of others on the Internet. A very important focal point is media and ethical education for healthy communication on the web. However, freedom of expression should not fall victim of hate or irresponsible speech and behaviour and most severe sanctions should be imposed as a last resort. In this respect the European Court of Human Rights’ seminal phrase from Handyside v United Kingdom (5493/72) that "Freedom of expression...is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population" (Para. 49 of the judgment) remains pertinent in the new media environment as well. Regulation should be carefully tailored subject to the provision of art.10 para 1 and 2 ECHR and complemented by self- and co-regulation with an emphasis put on self-regulation and wide media education. Many bloggers, particularly those engaged in participatory journalism, differentiate themselves from the mainstream media, while others are members of that media working through a different channel. Some institutions see blogging as a means of "getting around the filter" and pushing messages directly to the public. Some critics worry that bloggers respect neither copyright nor the role of the mass media in presenting society with credible news. Bloggers and other contributors to user-generated content are behind Time magazine naming their 2006 person of the year as "You“ Blogs in the ideal case should serve freedom of expression and democracy and should give impetus to quality discourse. However, it is not always the case. The law regulation in Bulgaria does not take into consideration the blogs as media. Some Bulgarian media experts consider blogging different from journalism and consequently the rules it is governed by different from the rules and ethics of professional journalism (Teodora Petrova in “Digital Media. Dictionary of Basic Notions”, 2012 – in Bulgarian). According to her and other media specialists there is no editorial responsibility with respect to blogs and blogs being personal comments do not presuppose abiding by the principles of ethical journalism such as objectivity, impartiality, accuracy, balancing of viewpoints and complying with ethical codes.Here the rule of clear distinction between fact and opinion is relevant. According to the media law expert Nelly Ognyanova there are concerns for the blog freedom in case the blogs receive the status of media. Petar Stoykov, one of the recognizable Bulgarian bloggers (http://kaka-cuuka.com) states that the blog society should insists that the media are not blogs not because they are not media but because they should stay out of the scope of the law. However, Ognyanova points out that the blogs are already in the scope of the law. The constitution and the common communication rights law do not differentiate offline and online content. Bulgaria sticks to the same regulations in the EU according to which for example on the base of a new concept audiovisual media services the regulation of the classic television has grown into a regulation of “online television”. According to media law experts aclear definition of the concept for “blog” and “online content” is needed before taking further steps to apply regulation. However, international organizations discuss the status of bloggers in the new media environment and if it is agreed that they have to be protected like journalists then they will enjoy the same rights but also responsibilities for their publications. Bloggers are not simple ISPs to escape responsibility for their publications – they are authors, publishers and disseminators. Their work should be based on some fundamental principles and values respecting public interest and the rights of others. Firstly, the problem with the quality of bloggers’ and blogs’ content is the problem of any user generated content on the web. It is an issue that touches by and large on accountability and civility online. Secondly, if blogs are one of the new media subjects and not merely usersa then their responsibility is higher as they impact public attitudes, beliefs and notions and by and large form public opinion. With regard to this there should be ethical rules for bloggers. Ethical codes announced to the public via the Internet and online forums for discussion of the quality of publications can be good solutions in this respect.
- See http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/resources/PW80.pdf An early milestone in the rise in importance of blogs came in 2002, when many bloggers focused on comments by the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Senator Lott, at a party honoring U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, praised Senator Thurmond by suggesting that the United States would have been better off had Thurmond been elected president. Lott's critics saw these comments as a tacit approval of racial segregation, a policy advocated by Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign. This view was reinforced by documents and recorded interviews dug up by bloggers. (See Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo.) Though Lott's comments were made at a public event attended by the media, no major media organizations reported on his controversial comments until after blogs broke the story. Blogging helped to create a political crisis that forced Lott to step down as majority leader.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog Similarly, blogs were among the driving forces behind the "Rathergate" scandal. To wit: (television journalist) Dan Rather presented documents (on the CBS show 60 Minutes) that conflicted with accepted accounts of President Bush's military service record. Bloggers declared the documents to be forgeries and presented evidence and arguments in support of that view. Consequently, CBS apologized for what it said were inadequate reporting techniques (see Little Green Footballs). Many bloggers view this scandal as the advent of blogs' acceptance by the mass media, both as a news source and opinion and as means of applying political pressure.[original research?] The impact of these stories gave greater credibility to blogs as a medium of news dissemination. Though often seen as partisan gossips,[citation needed] bloggers sometimes lead the way in bringing key information to public light, with mainstream media having to follow their lead. More often, however, news blogs tend to react to material already published by the mainstream media. Meanwhile, an increasing number of experts blogged, making blogs a source of in-depth analysis.[original research?] In Russia, some political bloggers have started to challenge the dominance of official, overwhelmingly pro-government media. Bloggers such as Rustem Adagamov and Alexei Navalny have many followers and the latter's nickname for the ruling United Russia party as the "party of crooks and thieves" and been adopted by anti-regime protesters. This led to the Wall Street Journal calling Navalny "the man Vladimir Putin fears most" in March 2012.
- Ivan Bedrov http://ivanbedrov.com/?p=3616 is a Bulgarian journalist who is also working for Deutsche Welle. He has worked in ‘Free Europe’ radio and other popular media. Since July 2012 Bedrov is a freelance journalist. His blog is known for its wise political comments. In 2013 Bedrov and his colleague Amy Barouh were dismissed by Deutsche Welle after a letter by an influential Bulgarian bank the executive director of which was accused of being behind media oligopolies and mafia in Bulgaria. The official reason stated was that the sacking was a result of breaking journalistic rules of impartiality and objectivity. Later, due to the large public discontent and a popular post in Bedrov’s blog they were invited by the media to continue their contribution. In a blog post titled “About the Success Reached and the Possible (Eventual) Victory of the Protests”, Professor Nikolay Slatinsky http://nslatinski.org/?q=bg/node/545 wrote: “Many observers and bloggers in Bulgaria reflect on whether the energy expressed on online networks is a reason for social developments, such as the recent protests (namely protests in Bulgaria in July - September last year – B.Z.), or a consequence”. Slatinsky adds: ”One should view and think about the protests a bit differently (because we are not in the 20th century but in the networked society of the 21st century)[...] And this is a time of network structures, not of the hierarchal ones (like those belonging to the parties); of social horizontal mobilizations and not vertical ones; of spontaneously born communities; of authentic eruptions of social energy”. Bulgarian journalist and blogger Ruslan Jordanov http://ruslan-yordanov.blogspot.com/?view=classic writes on his blog about the phenomenon of the power of social mobilization on online networks: “The first steps of the citizen opposition show something very important -everyone is media, everyone is a journalist and something (or much) depends on everyone”. Ivo Indzhev is a Bulgarian journalist and blogger http://ivo.bg/. In 1983-1987, during socialism, Indzhev was a correspondent of the Bulgarian News Agency in Beirut. After the Communist regime fell he became a director of the agency, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Democracy”, correspondent to “Free Europe” Radio (1995-2000). He was also a famous television host of analytic broadcast (2000-2006). The last broadcast is on the 8th of October 2006 when Indzhev asked his studio guests a question in relation to the information about a real estate of the now former Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov. Few days later the broadcast is being stopped and Indzhev - sacked. In 2008 Indzhev started his own blog devoted to politics. In the summer of 2013 the blog has a content of approximately 3000 posts and about 14 millions of visit. It is one of influential blogs in Bulgaria and information on it is cited by world media and news agencies.
- Journalist Asen Yordanov, owner and director of the site Bivol, is the only Bulgarian in the ranking of "Reporters Without Borders" - "100 Information Heroes," published earlier in May 2014. The list of profiles is released for the first time ever in the history of the organization on the occasion of May 3 - World Press Freedom Day. “Through their courageous work or activism, these “100 heroes” help to promote the freedom enshrined in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the freedom “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” They put their ideals in the service of the common good. They serve as examples,” is written in the press release and the presentation of the initiative. The news website Bivol.bg (Buffalo) which he “founded with Atanas Chobanov (Tchobanov) in October 2010 quickly made a name for itself with exclusives about corruption, flaws in the judicial system and collusion between politicians and organized crime in Bulgaria. A few months later, it became the official WikiLeaks partner for the publication of leaked US diplomatic cables about Bulgaria and its Balkan neighbours.” Bivol is organizing courses for local journalists on protecting communications against the phone tapping and hacking that is often practiced by the Bulgarian authorities. “The site survives thanks to the enthusiasm of its journalists and to fundraising initiatives. Advertisers obviously steer clear of it because they fear upsetting the powerful people targeted by its investigative reporting, “Reporters Without Borders” write. In the beginning of 2013 a publication by the website contributed to the public speculation on the supposedly controversial past of the former prime-minister Boyko Borisov and sparked a debate on the issues. https://www.bivol.bg/don-buddah-leak.pdf Bivol published a document that allegedly revealed that Borisov had been under police investigation in the 1990s. After the supposed revelation was published Borisov made a controversial public comment to media representatives saying he “could make so that trials to be formed against all the journalists”. That happened only for days after Borisov announced on the Bulgarian National Television that he wasn’t controlling the media in the country. One of the recent investigations done by Bivol is about the violations of “mutras” or thugs in the natural reserve zones. Bulgaria - the European reserve of the mutras (thugs) The Regional Governor of Burgas refused to order the eviction of people from the former powerful organized crime group VIS from the natural reserve "Ropotamo" 06 May 2014 However, not all revelations done by Bivol acquire great prominence and find a large public response.
- in Bulgaria the blog State Security http://desebg.com/ is an independent specialized site which is a long term project aiming at providing handy and easily accessible reference, historical and analytic information and knowledge about the functioning of the former State Security/DESE and its repressive activities as a body of the Bulgarian Communist Party. It deals also with analyzing and documenting its role in communist state and during the transition from communism to democracy. Founder of the blog is the investigative journalist and researcher Hristo Hristov who wrote a book about the murder of the Bulgarian writer and dissident Georgi Markov who was murdered in London by Bulgarian DESE or KGB by a poisonous umbrella – the so called “umbrella killing case”.
- http://holinova.blog.sme.sk/c/354845/Nemame-kauzu-Tak-si-ju-ukradneme.html Nemáme kauzu? Tak si ju ukradneme Po telefonáte, že na portáli topky visí môj zmrzačený text, som sa vydesila, že bulvár rozdupe prípad na atómy. Obete sú krehké už z princípu a obete inštitúcií dvojnásobne. Linkovať to nemienim, vybrané ukážky samostatnej kreativity som zavesila zvlášť sem. Že tam spočiatku svietilo v červenom rámčeku slovo EXKLUZÍVNE, pokladám len za také drobné božie opatrenia, aby mi bolo stále už len veselo. Niekedy majú celé odseky jedného autora, inokedy je to takýto mix textu odpísaného z denníka SME, z môjho blogu a ich textu: podčiarknuté pochádza zo SME, len prešlo topkárskou „redakčnou úpravou", svedčiacou často o nepochopení obsahu, kurzívne je z blogu a boldové patrí topkám. Podľa mamy Moniky v deň, keď synčeka zobrali do nemocnice na Kramáre jej zavolali okolo jedenástej a tento fakt jej oznámili s tým, že rodina má zákaz za Tomáškom prísť, či domáhať sa akýchkoľvek informácií. Nešťastná mama ostala v šoku, bez milovaného synčeka. Na tretí deň od podania telefonického podnetu učiteľky na ÚPSVaR, úrad požiadal bratislavský okresný súd o vyňatie dieťaťa z rodiny pre ohrozenie života a zdravia. Deň na to (22.11.) súd vydal predbežné opatrenie. Išlo o moment, keď sa z podozrenia stala papierovo istota. Na svete tak bolo týrané dieťa. V opatrení sa spomína vyjadrenie ženy, ktorá mala zlé správanie matky potvrdiť. Ženu však nikto nevidel a Tomáškovu rodinu nenavštívila, iba škôlku. Chlapčeka však po tom, čo súd vydal predbežné opatrenie, umiestnili do detského domova. Autorkou paškvilu je Miroslava Ščobíková. Publikovaný bol asi hodinu, keď som zavolala vedúcemu spravodajstva topiek Branislavovi Karvašovi a požiadala ho, aby to stiahli, lebo článok je z veľkej časti okopírovaný a to, čo patrí topkám, je poriadne mimo. Za najhorší pokladám lynč učiteľky, ktorú diskusia chcela zabiť alebo zmlátiť ešte niekoľko dní, a preto je veľmi nešťastné to, ako topky prípad nechápu a nechcú chápať. Učiteľky síce pochybili, ale ich diel viny sa dá považovať za najmenší a nevidím tam verejný záujem na odhalení ich identity, ani keď sa rozkrájam. Navyše už dvadsaťkrát povedali, ako ich to veľmi mrzí. Pochybenie spočíva v tom, že počúvli úrad práce a dieťa odviezli do nemocnice bez akéhokoľvek zákonného podkladu. Topky sa síce odo mňa dozvedeli, že menujú nesprávnu učiteľku a dieťa odviezla iná, ktorej meno im nedám, ale nijako nezabránili tomu, že sa nesprávne meno rozširovalo ešte niekoľko dní a dav ju chcel rozdupať. Asi o ďalšiu hodinu prišlo mailom čosi očarujúce: veľmi zdvorilá prosba o kontakt na rodinu. To je mágia na úrovni advanced: najprv citovať dieťa, mamu aj starú mamu a potom si vypýtať kontakt na rodinu dieťaťa, o ktorom ste písali Vy aj my bodka smajlík. Neskôr popoludní topky pridali link, hoci nesprávny. Potom som Karvašovi aj Ščobíkovej poslala vybrané ukážky aj ukážky ich diskusie. Nič. Asi pred rokom, keď topky naleteli na kačicu, sa Karvaš vyjadril, že článok stiahli a ospravedlnili sa, pričom za (neúmyselné) chyby kritizoval aj iné noviny. Teraz sa nekonalo ani stiahnutie, ani ospravedlnenie, pričom tu by mohol hovoriť o neúmyselnej chybe len niekto veľmi nepríčetný. Ani sa nebavme o tom, že portál, ktorý má odvahu nazývať sa spravodajský, „napíše" kauzu, hoci nevidel aktérov, nečítal spis, ani jediný dokument, nezašiel na súd, neobehal škôlku, detský domov, pediatra, psychológov, slovom nič, len dostal jeden list a spýtal sa dvoch hovorcov. Ani sa nebavme o tom, koľko v tom mám roboty ja osobne, ale sadnúť si a napísať článok je až finále. Zisteného a nenapísaného je vždy oveľa väčší diel. Potrebovala som mať istotu, že tam týranie nebolo, a venujem sa len zákonnosti postupov. A bum ho, príde niekto, oproti komu je slon v porceláne Anna Pavlovová. Prežila by som, dokonca v úplnej pohode, samotný fakt ukradnutých textov. To je mi len smiešne. Znepokojuje ma však hrozivý potenciál takéhoto primitívneho prístupu. Prípad pochybného vyňatia z rodiny sa nedá písať bez elementárnej znalosti systému, lebo potom sa stane, že daný portál obkydá podstatne menších vinníkov a usporiada ich lynč, sociálke sa venuje málo, nemocnici či súdu vôbec a ľahko si nechá natárať akékoľvek hlúposti, pričom ako jediné médium, s ktorým ústredie vôbec prehovorilo, nebude vedieť ani položiť otázky. Preto som osobe z topiek ešte v piatok popoludní trpezlivo a úplne zbytočne vysvetľovala systém aj nejakú četbu k téme som jej poslala - keď je nešťastie už hotové, nech sa aspoň nezhoršuje. Takýto prípad však do bulváru vôbec nepatrí. Topkám ani na um nezíde, že keď zlynčovali učiteľku, môžu priamo spôsobiť poškodenie iného dieťaťa, lebo učitelia sa jednoducho budú báť nahlásiť skutočné týranie, aby si potom v diskusii, ktorú nikto nemaže, o sebe neprečítali, ako im treba rozflákať lebeňu, nožom na nich a podobne. Nezdá sa, že „autorka" článku šípi, aký je rozdiel medzi sociálnou kuratelou a sociálnoprávnou ochranou, medzi sociálnou sestrou a sociálnou pracovníčkou a podobne, dokonca zavádza nový pojem „kolízny pracovník", v čom oceňujem nechcený vtip a dobre pomenovanú realitu, keďže sociálni pracovníci naozaj často kolízne situácie vytvárajú. Práve tieto pojmy mi však zredigovala na svoj nevedomý obraz. Takýto ehm novinár píše potom o milovaných synčekoch, objímajúcich mamičkách a dušičke dieťatka, kým v skutočnosti šlo o opis právnej divočiny, ktorá je v tomto prípade pozoruhodná a iba tá je príčinou, prečo prípad patrí do novín. Nezákonnosť je to, čoho sa na Slovensku musia báť všetci, pripomeňme si len jednu občianku Maďarska. Dáma, samozrejme, nevie, že kolízny je opatrovník, čo je to opatrovník, že je to úrad práce, nie jedna pracovníčka, a zaujímavé na tom je, že dieťaťu ho súd pridelil až po dvoch mesiacoch. Dáma samostatne ani do smrti nezistí, čo to v skutočnosti znamená: že dieťa nemalo dva mesiace ochranu a svojho zástupcu v situácii, kde zákon predpokladá kolíziu medzi záujmami rodičov a dieťaťa. A z opačného konca: prečo sa úrad vyjadroval k odvolaniu a k vianočnému pobytu, keď ani nebol kolíznym opatrovníkom, ani sa toho dokonca nedomáhal? To sa mohol súdu rovno vyjadriť napríklad denník SME, o prípade podstatne lepšie informovaný a v tej chvíli z pohľadu zákona presne rovnaký účastník konania ako úrad práce, čiže žiadny, a to je zas informácia o súde. Aj preto je na Slovensku celý inštitút kolízneho opatrovníka na smiech, ale to už je iná téma. Pojmové a štylistické zmeny majú iste svoj zámer. Pre účely počítania, koľko textu patrí topkám a koľko mne, som si ich nevšímala. Môj podiel na topkárskom článku predstavuje zhruba dve tretiny. Mnoho topkárskeho sa opakuje do úmoru v rámci didaktických zásad, že učivo treba precvičiť, aby intelektuálna obec, čítajúca tieto skvosty, nezostala v zložitosti prípadu dezorientovaná. Potom pribudli uplakané mamičky aj nešťastní človiečikovia a napokon to, kvôli čomu očividne celá vec vznikla: odsek o učiteľke. Milovaný synček zrejme poslúžil len na to, aby si niekto vybavoval účty a sledujúc trochu stopu informácií už aj tuším, kto to bol. Urobila by som všetko pre to, aby dělníci bulváru nevstupovali do týchto prípadov. Aj terminológiu, gramatiku a čiarky by som ich naučila. A zadarmo. Neviem však, čo sa dá dosiahnuť pri takto ťažko neetickom postupe, aspoň kým ich obete nezačnú systematicky žalovať. Na záver udeľujem topkám súhlas s uverejnením celého tohto textu* a v prípade aj najmenšieho spracovania si vyhradzujem právo na autorský dohľad podľa § 17 ods. 1 Autorského zákona. :) * tohto textu - výlučne článok s názvom „Nemáme kauzu? Tak si ju ukradneme" Nataša Holinová, pondelok 28. apríla 2014 09:35 Čítajte viac: http://holinova.blog.sme.sk/c/354845/Nemame-kauzu-Tak-si-ju-ukradneme.html#ixzz31fueBClL
- http://www.zajtra.sk/rozhovory/69/peter-slosar-bloger-ktory-nakopol-profesionalnych-novinarov Ján Baláž 1.12.2010, článok je súčasťou seriálu 100 Slovákov A Slovak blogger who provided some tips for further investigation by journalists Peter Šlosar - bloger, ktorý nakopol profesionálnych novinárov Máloktorý bloger dokáže nakopnúť slovenských novinárov z veľkých médií. Peter Šlosar je jeden z mála tých, ktorým sa to podarilo. A tak takto svojou troškou zmenil slovenský internet.
- http://www.sme.sk/c/4959020/politologa-vinia-z-plagiatorstva.html One of the first cases in SK - 2009 - when information published first by a blogger was used as a source and inspiration for an article in quality daily in SK – however, withou any consequneces
- The most recent case in which a blogger, a university lecturer claims that there was recent informal investigation of bloggers´background who wrote critically about newly established political party.
- http://ekonomika.sme.sk/c/7040753/ukradnute-fotky-falosni-blogeri-obhajcovia-smeru-zacali-robit-chyby.html A group of fake bloggers defended a major political party in SK in 2013 http://mono.sk/ukradnute-fotky-falosni-blogeri-aj-takto-sa-robi-marketing-v-prospech-smeru/
- 1)http://brada.blog.sme.sk/c/268336/Ustavny-sud-rozhodol-v-kauze-Velky-Slavkov-II.html here is information that a local journalists found out and published on his blog in 2010 information that a judge in one very important case was possibly biased. The Constitutional court also on the basis of this blog ruled later that lower courts , must again rule on possible bias of judges at the lower court.
- Here is a webpage and project of a highly controversial self-declared investigative reporter, Martin Dano. http://www.ginn.sk/ He has published many interesting revelations and provocations towards representatives of state institutions. Most recently, he plans to do interview with state authorities while visiting them unexpectedly or announced in advance and broadcast them live (via camera on his head)
- Tom Nicholson famous Slovakian- Canadian investigative journalist, who publishes online. The police questioned his right to be a journalist - asking him to submit any proof of that. His most recent blog was read by about 73,000 readers. http://nicholson.blog.sme.sk/c/353332/Obvineny-z-podvodu-na-DPH-ukazal-prstom-na-Buceka-Kubanka-Kopcika.html
- Several cases have been brought before the national courts against bloggers concerning issues of defamation or liability. U.S. payouts related to blogging totaled $17.4 million by 2009; in some cases these have been covered by umbrella insurance. The courts have returned with mixed verdicts. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), in general, are immune from liability for information that originates with third parties (U.S. Communications Decency Act and the EU Directive 2000/31/EC). In Doe v. Cahill, the Delaware Supreme Court held that stringent standards had to be met to unmask the anonymous bloggers, and also took the unusual step of dismissing the libel case itself (as unfounded under American libel law) rather than referring it back to the trial court for reconsideration. In a bizarre twist, the Cahills were able to obtain the identity of John Doe, who turned out to be the person they suspected: the town's mayor, Councilman Cahill's political rival. The Cahills amended their original complaint, and the mayor settled the case rather than going to trial. In January 2007, two prominent Malaysian political bloggers, Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan, were sued by a pro-government newspaper, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, Kalimullah bin Masheerul Hassan, Hishamuddin bin Aun and Brenden John a/l John Pereira over an alleged defamation. The plaintiff was supported by the Malaysian government. Following the suit, the Malaysian government proposed to "register" all bloggers in Malaysia in order to better control parties against their interest. This is the first such legal case against bloggers in the country. In the United States, blogger Aaron Wall was sued by Traffic Power for defamation and publication of trade secrets in 2005. According to Wired Magazine, Traffic Power had been "banned from Google for allegedly rigging search engine results." Wall and other "white hat" search engine optimization consultants had exposed Traffic Power in what they claim was an effort to protect the public. The case addressed the murky legal question of who is liable for comments posted on blogs. The case was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction, and Traffic Power failed to appeal within the allowed time. In 2009, a controversial and landmark decision by The Hon. Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of Richard Horton. Horton was a police officer in the United Kingdom who blogged about his job under the name "NightJack". In 2009, NDTV issued a legal notice to Indian blogger Kunte for a blog post criticizing their coverage of the Mumbai attacks. The blogger unconditionally withdrew his post, which resulted in several Indian bloggers criticizing NDTV for trying to silence critics.
- The problem of the elaboration of ethical codes for bloggers touches on democracy, quality discussion and public trust in the new media. For instance, in the case study report “Does media policy promote media freedom and independence? The case of Romania” (2011) within the Mediadem project Cristian Ghinea and Ioana Avădani report that new media as is the situation in Bulgaria is neither regulated, nor self-regulated in Romania. Any suggestion from outside the “blogosphere” to propose ethical codes for bloggers creates open and overwhelming hostility. But over the last years, as some of the “professional bloggers” established themselves as opinion makers, trendsetters and new media experts or reference point, the ethical conduct became a preoccupation for them. Eventually the most influential bloggers adopted a minimal set of rules of conduct that converge toward the accepted journalistic standards (decent language, no personal attacks, no hate speech, etc.). This issue can be considered also of importance for the impact bloggers exert on society and their popularity among population. In Norway “Code of Ethics for Bloggers, Social Media and Content Creators” http://mor10.com/code-of-ethics-for-bloggers-social-media-and-content-creators/ is published which stays close to the Code of Ethics for the Norwegian Press published by the Norwegian Press Association and adhered to by all members of the Norwegian press. On the one hand, the code unifies the rules for all types of user generated content and on the other, it establishes continuity with the traditional media self-regulatory instruments confirming some fundamental journalistic norms .“As an Online Content Creator – whether it be as a blogger, a video blogger, a podcaster, a microblogger or a general social media participant” the code starts, “ you are an important part of the wider public knowledge creation and discussion. This role carries with it a responsibility to be fair, honest and respectful not only toward your fellow members of society but also toward fact. The content you create today will more than likely outlast both the content’s relevance and your own lifetime and it is of vital importance that it be a truthful representation of the topic at hand not only for those who access it today but for those who access it in the distant future. Above all else your job as a Content Creator is to present fact as fact and opinion as opinion”.
- There are various ways of regulating users’ comments taken on board by blogs and websites. No comments: The simplest solution is to simply not accept any user feedback in a public forum. Users may not post anything on the site itself, but many sites encourage visitors to submit comments via email, often directly to the authors or reporters. Moderated comments: The second most restrictive solution is to allow comments, but to require that all comments be vetted by a staff member before they go public. Registered users only: One of the more popular systems to take the place of comment moderation is to only allow registered users to comment. This system works by requiring all new visitors to register for an account, which is usually free, before they can submit any comments. Staff patrolled: There are no barriers to submitting comments to a site. While this encourages the highest number of legitimate comments, it also encourages spammers to abuse the system. To combat this problem, many sites have staff members patrol the comments or review them via email after they are posted. This enables them to then remove any comments which violate the rules and potentially take action against the submitter. While this does not prevent unwanted comments from being published, it can keep a site relatively clean. This system is popular with blogs and message boards as well as many smaller news sites. User-patrolled comments: The other solution to patrolling an open site is to recruit visitors to help the author. In this system, users get the chance to rate comments. Comments that are voted down are hidden or removed from the site. The problem is that in order for the system to work, a handful of visitors have to see the comment or comments. It is possible to see co-regulation in blogosphere in cases when one would apply current legislation which deals with general issues of pornography, blasphemy, libel, etc. This is certainly already the case in most countries that deal with these issues.
- Delfi v. Estonia (no.64569/09) http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-126635#{%22itemid%22:[%22001-126635%22]} gained prominence with the controversial judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered in January 2013.It concerns the liability of a news portal, Delfi AS, for third-party comments made on its website. The Estonian courts found that Delfi AS had editorial control over the comments’ section on its news site and should have prevented clearly unlawful comments from being published, notwithstanding the fact that Delfi had taken down the offensive comments immediately upon being notified of them. The facts of the case provide details about one of the most popular Internet news site in Estonia, publishing up to 300 news articles a day. In January 2006, it published an article online concerning the controversial decision of a ferry company, known as ‘SLK’ to change its routes and the implications of that decision for ice roads between the Estonian mainland and various islands. The article attracted 185 comments, about 20 of which contained insulting and/or threatening language towards the majority shareholder of the ferry company, referred to in the judgment only as “L”. On 9 March 2006, L.’s lawyers requested Delfi to remove the offensive comments and claimed 500,000 kroons (approx. 32,000 euros) in damages. Delfi complied with the request on the same day but refused the claim for damages. In April 2006, L. brought civil proceedings against the applicant company. Although unsuccessful at first instance, he obtained judgment against Delfi in June 2008 and was awarded 5,000 kroons (approx. 320 euros). Judgment was confirmed by the Tallinn Court of Appeal and ultimately by the Supreme Court in June 2009. The Estonian courts found that the comments at issue were defamatory and/or insulting and as such could not be said to be protected by the right to freedom of expression. Importantly, they concluded that Delfi should be considered as a publisher of the comments because it had control over the comment section of the website. In particular, it had adopted house rules in relation to the comment section and removed comments that were found to be in breach of those rules. For this reason, the domestic courts rejected Delfi’s argument that it was immune from liability under the EU Directive 2000/31/EC as it could be not be said that Delfi was a purely technical, and therefore, passive intermediary. Another significant element in the domestic courts’ reasoning was that Delfi drew economic benefits from the comments that were made in the comment section of its website. Finally, the domestic courts considered that Delfi should have prevented clearly unlawful comments from being published and after their publication, should have taken them down of its own initiative. In a unanimous judgment, the First Section of the Strasbourg Court concluded that the domestic courts’ findings were a justified and proportionate restriction on Delfi’s right to freedom of expression. Influential commentators such as Gabrielle Guillemin, legal officer at ARTICLE 19, an international free speech organisation and a former lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights and Dirk Voorhoof, professor at Ghent University (Belgium) and lecturer in European Media Law at Copenhagen University (Denmark) consider the decision as a heavy blow on freedom of expression online. The Court’s judgment in Delfi is not only a serious blow to freedom of expression online but also displays a profound failure to understand the EU legal framework regulating intermediary liability as important gateways to free expression. Most controversial however is the Court’s acceptance the Estonian courts decision to treat Delfi as a content provider and not an intermediary internet service provider. Although there can indeed be no doubt that Delfi is a content provider and an editor of its own output as an online news portal, it is problematic to treat Delfi as an editor of the users’ comment. In addition, it ignores relevant international standards in the area of freedom of expression on the Internet. The decision is not final and is appealed to the Grand Chamber. Failing that, applicants could refer the case to the Court of Justice of European Union in Luxembourg to protect their right to freedom of expression online in future.
- In the most widely discussed case, a well-known Internet "guru" Tim O´Reilly (2007) with some of his colleagues outlined („a work in progress“) "Blogger's Code of Conduct". This was published on March 31, 2007, in response to the firestorm that has arisen as a result of his friend who was targeted by a series of increasingly violent and disturbing anonymous comments on her blog. Significantly, the first rule of this code of conduct urges to „take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.“ In his commentary O´Reilly wrote that we now have one more clear object-lesson on what we get when we start a site that not only tolerates but encourages mean comments: there's a quick race to the bottom. O´Reilly believes that there's a big difference between censorship and encouraging and tolerating abuse. Not only there is pressure for user-generated content on the Internet to be self-regulated, by also some media content providers agreed on self-regulation with approval by regulatory body. Thus, the UK’s major broadcasters and media content providers have agreed in early 2008 to abide by a new set of good practice principles covering the audio visual content people access from the internet and mobile phones. The guidelines do not cover user-generated content. The idea is to give people easily understandable information so they can make informed choices about the content they are about to view, which could be unsuitable for children or offensive to some people. The guidelines are backed by the UK regulator Ofcom. The Blogger's Code of Conduct is a proposal by Tim O'Reilly for bloggers to enforce civility on their blogs by being civil themselves and moderating comments on their blog. The code was proposed in 2007 due to threats made to blogger Kathy Sierra. The idea of the code was first reported by BBC News, who quoted O'Reilly saying, "I do think we need some code of conduct around what is acceptable behaviour, I would hope that it doesn't come through any kind of regulation it would come through self-regulation." O'Reilly and others came up with a list of seven proposed ideas: Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments. Consider eliminating anonymous comments. Ignore the trolls. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.
- In the most widely discussed case, a well-known Internet "guru" Tim O´Reilly (2007) with some of his colleagues outlined („a work in progress“) "Blogger's Code of Conduct". This was published on March 31, 2007, in response to the firestorm that has arisen as a result of his friend who was targeted by a series of increasingly violent and disturbing anonymous comments on her blog. Significantly, the first rule of this code of conduct urges to „take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.“ Not only there is pressure for user-generated content on the Internet to be self-regulated, by also some media content providers agreed on self-regulation with approval by regulatory body. Thus, the UK’s major broadcasters and media content providers have agreed in early 2008 to abide by a new set of good practice principles covering the audio visual content people access from the internet and mobile phones. The guidelines do not cover user-generated content. The idea is to give people easily understandable information so they can make informed choices about the content they are about to view, which could be unsuitable for children or offensive to some people.
- New Study: Internet Trolls Are Often Machiavellian Sadists —By Chris Mooney | Fri Feb. 14, 2014 3http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/02/internet-trolls-sadists-psychopaths-lulz In the past few years, the science of Internet trollology has made some strides. Last year, for instance, we learned that by hurling insults and inciting discord in online comment sections, so-called Internet "trolls" (who are frequently anonymous) have a polarizing effect on audiences, leading to politicization, rather than deeper understanding of scientific topics. That's bad, but it's nothing compared with what a new psychology paper has to say about the personalities of so-called trolls themselves. The research, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called "Dark Tetrad": Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others). It is hard to underplay the results: The study found correlations, sometimes quite significant, between these traits and trolling behavior. What's more, it also found a relationship between all Dark Tetrad traits (except for narcissism) and the overall time that an individual spent, per day, commenting on the Internet. In the study, trolls were identified in a variety of ways. One was by simply asking survey participants what they "enjoyed doing most" when on online comment sites, offering five options: "debating issues that are important to you," "chatting with others," "making new friends," "trolling others," and "other." Here's how different responses about these Internet commenting preferences matched up with responses to questions designed to identify "Dark Tetrad" traits:E.E. Buckels et al, "Trolls just want to have fun," Personality and Individual Differences, 2014. To be sure, only 5.6 percent of survey respondents actually specified that they enjoy "trolling." By contrast, 41.3 percent of Internet users were "non-commenters," meaning they didn't like engaging online at all. So trolls are, as has often been suspected, a minority of online commenters, and an even smaller minority of overall Internet users. The researchers conducted multiple studies, using samples from Amazon's Mechanical Turk but also of college students, to try to understand why the act of trolling seems to attract this type of personality. They even constructed their own survey instrument, which they dubbed the "Global Assessment of Internet Trolling" or GAIT, comprised of the following items: I have sent people to shock websites for the lulz. I like to troll people in forums or the comments section of websites. I enjoy griefing other players in multiplayer games. The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt. Yes, some people actually say they agree with such statements. And again, doing so was correlated with sadism in its various forms, with psychopathy, and with Machiavellianism. Overall, the authors found that the relationship between sadism and trolling was the strongest, and that indeed, sadists appear to troll because they find it pleasurable. "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others," they wrote. "Sadists just want to have fun...and the Internet is their playground!" The study comes as websites, particularly at major media outlets, are increasingly weighing steps to rein in trollish behavior. Last year Popular Science did away with its comments sections completely, citing research on the deleterious effects of trolling, and YouTube also took measures to rein in trolling. But Erin Buckles of the University of Manitoba, the study's first author, actually isn't sure that fix is a realistic one. "Because the behaviors are intrinsically motivating for sadists, comment moderators will likely have a difficult time curbing trolling with punishments (e.g., banning users)," she commented by email. "Ultimately, the allure of trolling may be too strong for sadists, who presumably have limited opportunities to express their sadistic interests in a socially-desirable manner."
- The idea of protected anonymity is wide spread. Many bloggers and almost all participants in follow-up discussions protect their true identity. In the Mediadem case study report Does media policy promote media freedom and independence? The case of Greece (2011) Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, Dia Anagnostou and Anna Kandyla present the situation in Greece with regard to anonymity of bloggres. A major stumbling bloc to controlling ‘journalism blogs’ for content that is arguably insulting, libelous, or violating other rights, whether through existing or new legislation they claim to be the anonymity of the blogger. While not all journalists possessing blogs are anonymous, not few are those who retain their anonymity on grounds that it allows a less restrained freedom of expression and ability to criticise. This anonymity renders it difficult or impossible to identify who is responsible for content that violates other rights, and it is protected by existing legislation on private data (Art. 9A of the Constitution) and on the confidentiality of communications (Art.19 of the Constitution). It is now generally accepted that responsible for content in blogs is not and cannot be the Internet service provider, but those who must be held accountable are the owner of the blog and/or the author of a text (if s/he is different from the owner). In either case, as it stands now, it is difficult or even impossible to identify persons who publish content on the Internet. However, there has been a great deal of controversy in Greece as to whether bloggers should be allowed to retain their anonymity and to what extent. Taking into account the view prevailing in other countries (i.e. the UK) that blogs are not protected by anonymity because the communication taking place through them is of public rather than private nature (The Guardian, 2009), this understanding has gained gounds in Greece. One issue that has been raised in earlier attempts to legislate on issues related to blogs is whether a distinction should be drawn between information and news blogs (those that publish political, economic or other news and current affairs) and other blogs. In such a distinction, news blogs would be obliged to identify the name of a person who would be responsible for the content. Recently, the government has created a working group that has as its mission to formulate some proposals on regulatory intervention on the Internet. Secondly, there is a factor of no sense of place. Put it simply, one does not behave the same way when s/he is confronted face to face with a neighbour. But there is neither distance nor anonymity in the Internet. Moreover, one does not behave the same way when s/he is confronted face to face with a stranger on the street. There is anonymity in conversation with a stranger on the street, but only for limited time. And certainly, there is no real distance. Thirdly, there is no - or little - time left for serious thinking. Reactions /comments can be fast due to technological conditions and above mentioned anonymity seemingly (almost) without responsibility. However, to produce high quality ideas, including high quality evaluation of ideas of others, this needs time. Therefore, there seems to be in the blogosphere - from a civil point of view - a lethal combination of protected anonymity and distance which encourages all types of bizzare people to express their deepest – sometimes pathological - emotions, including death threats. This kind of "tabloid conversation" or „trash conversation“ is indeed becoming a widespread hot issue. In addition to "hard" issues of censorship and pornography on the Internet, there are also "softer" issues of decency, libel and civility in blogosphere. These issues can be illustrated at a former frequent Slovak blogger (Čuláková 2006) negative experiences with blogging in Slovakia. Čuláková´s experience can be thus seen as truly generalized first-hand relatively long-term experience with blogosphere. Firstly, in her opinion, there are problems with giving preference to some contributions (so called „karma“ system, based on feelings of readers, then there is evaluation system based on readership frequency and finally there is also„selection“ of articles based on editorial decision) and later giving automatic preference to some bloggers (so called „VIP“ system). The logic of this system leads to scandalous writing, especially of headlines, argues Čuláková. The karma system is perhaps closest to the quality goal because it negates frequency as well as scandalous headlines and underlines interesting content of blogs. Secondly, and paradoxically, the author (Čuláková) did not wish that her writings would appear in printed form on the pages of a newspaper. However, this sometimes happened and caused her some conflicts with her colleagues – local politicians. It is questionable whether in the future one should worry more about printed version of his or her writings than about electronic version of his or her writings. It seems logical that electronic versions of publications will soon come in balance with printed versions, at least as far as their potential social or political impact is concerned. Thirdly, Čuláková did not like follow-up discussions to her articles. These were, in her opinion, inefficient and mostly highly emotionally laden. Interestingly, she compared the Czech and Slovak blogosphere and suggested that discussions in the Czech blogosphere were much less emotional. Some other authors suggested that discussion fora in Slovakia are often overloaded with personal offences and communication garbage (Garaj 2007a, Glevická 2007). In Slovakia, some online portals "are unable to delete sufficiently quickly racists or religious remarks"by anonymous commentators. Significantly, the articles which raise socially and politically important issues of the day usually do not cause such lengthy discussions (Nicholsonová 2006). Fourthly, Čuláková did not like that - for some time at least - a pedophile was given voice in this blogosphere, but not the Jehova´s Witnesses. In protest, there emerged initiative against a blogger-pedophile in the daily Sme blogosphere in Slovakia in early 2006. Initially, the administrator tolerated opinions of a pedophile expressed in his blog. The main argument against unrestricted freedom of speech of the blogger-pedophile was, that even if such extremist opinions are allowed to be published, they should be unambiguosly marked as "sick" and must be commented by a specialist. Therefore, the authors of the petition asked the administrator either to delete "articles romantizicing pedophily" or to add to them commentary by a specialist. After this public pressure, the pedophile announced temporary pause in his writing. This example shows that ethical as well as legal considerations must be carefully and swiftly considered when dealing with blogosphere. Finally, Čuláková did not like that her writings and ideas were commercially used by the daily SME (the host of her blog). This means that some of her papers were published in printed version of the paper for honorarium. In short, the media create risks for the recipients and the Internet and novel communications augment them due to technological, psychological and last but not least - legal reasons – because the new situation in regulation leads to shifts in the regulatory paradigm and requires its reconsideration and the elaboration of novel approaches.
- In the already cited “Code of Ethics for Bloggers, Social Media and Content Creators” in Norway http://mor10.com/code-of-ethics-for-bloggers-social-media-and-content-creators rules are inspired by the central role freedom of expression plays in a democracy, i.e. by more general principles and values. It is a work in progress and submitted comments, questions, suggestions and edits in the comments are applied through time. There it is stated that “the ability to produce and distribute independent content is among the most important rights in a democratic society. Content creators have important functions in that they carry information, debate and critical commentary on current affairs. Content creators are particularly responsible for allowing different and independent views to be expressed.”
- In the Mediadem report about Romania from 2011 Ghinea and Avadani signal about blurring the boundaries between information and opinion content and advertizing on blogs. Some blogs became so influential that advertisers offer them lucrative contracts. The PR agencies develop special activities aimed at bloggers on behalf of their clients. Hidden advertising and product placement, prohibited by law or strictly regulated for the traditional media, are flourishing in the online environment, via blogs and social media accounts. It is probably interesting to note that the big PR and advertising companies are applying to the Internet products the same strategy they did with tabloid newspapers (large circulation, poor quality), thus furthering questionable techniques such as advertorials “masked” as real reporting, teasing campaign masked as real testimonials, etc. While such controversial practices could have been contained and sanctioned if they are related to traditional media, the individual nature of the blogs makes any regulation attempt futile and any expectation of self-regulation unrealistic. Further, this system can sometimes be abused for promotion of vested interests, including business interests. In 2007 Pastier wrote that there was a case of (as it turned out later, "fake blog" or flog) starting in 2005. A female blogger, Claire, was regularly writing about her "authentic" experiences with cosmetic products, and especially with a new moisture cream by Vichy/ L'Oreal . In fact, Claire was employee of PR agency Jean-Paul. After this scandal was revealed, the company established a new blog in which anyone could write about its products, positively, neutrally or critically. There is a well-known story about fake blog created by Microsoft (Javorský 2007). Another revealed case of fake blog comes again from the USA. Blog Wallmarting Across America was allegedly established by two travellers travelling accros the USA. These travellers often stopped-by in the Wall-Mart stores. As it later turned out, they were paid for their writings, of course – by Wall Mart. A PR company Zipatoni which established flog for Sony company did fatal mistake. The URL address was registered by the PR agency itself and some of published pictures presented Zipatoni´s marketing consultant. Officially, this was supposed to be blog run by two teenagers. There also are possibly much subtle ways of influencing bloggers´writngs. In 2006 Microsoft Company, working through their PR agency, Edelman, invited bloggers out to Seattle to meet Bill Gates, with all expenses paid. Towards the end of 2006 they send selected bloggers out a round of expensive laptops with Vista preinstalled as a gift. There is an open question whether even if no quid-pro-quo was formally required, the gift creates a social obligation of reciprocity. The result of all above mentioned fake blogs and PR blogs was that many corporations established their own ethical codes for blogging.
- 7 SEO Principles Bloggers Must Remember http://www.convinceandconvert.com/search-marketing-advice/7-seo-principles-bloggers-must-remember/ Writing solid content is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to marketing a successful blog. It’s important to advantage of search engines by building link equity, flattening your blog, and using other SEO tactics to make sure your content is getting the attention it deserves. These seven SEO tips can play a major role in pushing your blog up the search engine totem pole, allowing you to rank higher and therefore garner more visitors to your site. 1. Make sure your pages link to each other so your link equity is spread out If you have a blog article with 100 backlinks and another page with 3, the page with 3 backlinks is going to have a much harder time ranking on Google, unless those backlinks happen to be cnn.com, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. However, if your page with 100 backlinks links to the less popular page, it will share link equity, thereby helping it to rank better. Re-linking all your articles to one another can be a tedious process, but fortunately WordPress has plugins for automated internal linking, such as “SEO Auto Links & Related Posts”. Check it out. 2. Flatten your blog How information is organized into categories, pages, and subpages on a website, and how they link to each other is called site architecture or information architecture. Site architecture tends to fall into two modes: flat site architecture and deep site architecture. Deep sites tend to waste link equity, partly because the search engines see the higher level pages as more important. The graphic below demonstrates a deep site, with four layers. Google is going to assume the category pages are the most important, because from the home page, Google’s webcrawlers will encounter the category pages first. If the majority of your content is 3 or more clicks away from your home page, the search engines will see these “lower” pages as less important, and may not even index them. The flatter your site structure is, the better its opportunity to rank well, and it will insure your pages remain in the search engine’s index to be found by searchers. . Nofollow links to sites with which you don’t want/need to share link equity Large sites like Wikipedia don’t really get much of a search engine ranking boost when you link to them, so you may as well save your precious link equity by using a nofollow link, which tells the search engines not to follow the link (and therefore not to transfer any of your link equity to that page). Making a link nofollow is easy: you just add rel=”nofollow” inside that link’s HTML code, like this: <a href=”http://address.com” rel=”nofollow”>My Site</a>. If you’re using WordPress and would rather not deal with the code, check out the “Nofollow Link” plugin by Alex Jose, which makes the process a single button click. 4. Noindex pages that must be on your site, but do not need to rank Most bloggers want their articles to rank on Google, as well as their home page (especially when searching for their name), but probably don’t need “About Me” or “Contact Me” to rank. If you have Terms of Service or Privacy Policy pages, you definitely don’t want them to rank. You should noindex them (which tells search engines not to include them at all). There are several ways to noindex a page: modify your robots.txt file by adding Disallow: /example-directory/example-page.html, add <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”> to the page header, or use a WordPress plugin. Search for “noindex” in the plugin directory. You also may want to noindex your archives (which is a mirror image of your blog if you are the sole author) because Google penalizes sites for too much duplicate content. 5. Delete old articles that don’t rank If you have articles that are more than two years old, are seldom read, and have little link equity, delete them, unless you have some sort of sentimental attachment to them. In that case, noindex them so they don’t dilute the link equity of other, stronger articles. 6. Put your most valuable keyword as the beginning of your post title The title tag is the most important on-page element to keyword optimize, so your post has the best chance of ranking for a given keyword if that keyword appears at the beginning of the title tag (often the post headline). Also make sure other posts linking to this post use this keyword as their link text (what SEOs call “anchor text”). 7. Kill your reciprocal links Reciprocal links have zero net SEO value, because they return exactly as much link equity as they receive. If you have any, delete them unless they are there for goodwill’s sake. You could nofollow them, but then you’d be tricking the person you made the reciprocal link agreement with (which most people would agree is a “gray hat” move). Some of the best quality links you can get are run-of-site links like blogroll links (as long as the sites are relevant to your blog), so get those if you can. For more information about setting up your site architecture, check out my article Plan Your Site So It Ranks Online [Marketing Consulting Series] at Digital Marketing Blog. How many of these tactics are you using on your blog? (note from Jay: we’re doing 1, 2, 6 at Convince & Convert. We’re working on 5, and should tackle the rest, too).
- Blogging: Principles that Work Share on facebook,Share on twitter,Share on email, Share on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services12 http://philcooke.com/blogging_principles/ Yes, blogging is as popular as ever. In fact, many bloggers are not only positioning themselves to influence their industry, but making money to boot. So if you’re interested in blogging, here are some key principles that will help you find more readers and as a result, have more influence: 1) Find your niche – what area or issue can you write about that no one else is addressing? In the blogging world, the niche is the new big. Become an expert at a narrow niche. 2) Keep it simple – my blog was tested and is actually written at a 7th grade reading level. At first I was offended, but then I realized, it’s a diary, not a research paper. Write at a level that’s popular, not exclusive. 3) Keep it focused – your readers generally seek it out for one thing. What is your identity? What is your brand? What makes your blog different? Why should I hear from you? What makes you an expert? 4) Keep it short – I’ve discovered that crazy people write the longest responses. There’s a reason we call people on the web “surfers” and not “readers”. 5) Your personal perspective matters. Check out Dooce. A housewife simply writes about raising kids. And now she’s one of the top blogs in the country and makes about $40,000 a month in advertising. It’s all her personal perspective and people love it. 6) Three words: provocative, personal, and preemptive. Be controversial, intimate, and strike before anyone else. 7) Consider multiple writers. Study the Huffington Post, Church Marketing Sucks, Engadget, and others who have a team of writers, versus this blog that has just me. I love writing, but if you have difficulty doing it regularly, then you might consider getting help – just make sure they express your vision. 8) Are you a creative blog or a content blogs? I’m a creative blog. I write original stuff. But some of the most popular blogs aggregate content – as in the Drudge Report or Bully Pulpit. They don’t do anything but scour the web and bring all the articles on a particular issue into one place on a daily basis. 9) There’s always a debate about conflict. Although I wish my serious posts were the most read – sadly, my most popular posts are usually gossip related. If I write on the challenges of the new media world I get a few hundred readers. But if I write about some TV evangelist’s divorce or a fist-fight in a hotel parking lot between pastors, my readership spikes. Problem is, I don’t want to be the Tmz.com of religious media, so always think about balance. How you can attract readers and yet still be considered professional. Any other important insights you’ve encountered that can make a difference for a blogger?
- The Principles of Irresistible Content by Barry October 22, 2013 at 8:00 AM http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/copywriting-101-content-principles-ht copywriting“I can’t write.” It’s the resignation declaration of the self-defeated. It’s also a fat slice of baloney. You won’t write? You don’t want to write? I’m willing to buy these statements. But “can’t?” Sorry friend, you can. You’ve been writing your whole life. You write now. You write emails, greeting cards, shopping lists, meeting notes, etc. In your school years, you wrote every day. When you graduated you wrote a resume. But now, a blank screen transforms you into an anxious, insecure mess. It’s time to face the fear. Look, the starter (or restarter) lesson I’m about to give you won’t magically transform you into a legendary writer. However, I believe if you take my advice and apply yourself a bit you can make meaningful copywriting contributions to your company’s inbound marketing efforts. Start with an attitude check. Write something for me. Jot down a positive thought about busting through your renewed dedication to writing. You can do it. Belief is the first thing you’ll need. Your lack of it traces to an unwarranted inferiority complex. You believe in order to call yourself a writer your work needs to measure up to the legends of language. It doesn’t. Remind yourself, every journey begins with the first step. Slop something down. I’m going to give you a ground rule now. Editing is out. Editing as you go is counterproductive. If you keep second guessing yourself and hitting the backspace key, the page could remain blank for a mighty long time. I often ask my gridlocked writing patients, “What is it you want to say?” Note: I didn’t ask how, just what. Perhaps you want to say “We’re hosting an event and would like you to attend,” or maybe, “We have added a series of features to our product.” These are perfectly good starting points. Type one. Now put the details down. Tell your reader why this stuff matters. Then, tell them what they should do. This isn’t so hard now, is it? Maybe you don't love what you wrote. Doesn’t matter. You haven’t published anything yet. You’ll edit later. To be prolific, or even productive, give yourself permission to write messy first drafts. The pros do. I promise. Talk to me. Does public speaking freak you out? You’ve probably heard the tip speaking phobes often get. Fix on one person in the audience. Find a friendly face and talk to him or her. The same concept applies to writing. A large part of the fright factor comes from worrying about addressing a large audience. Try a different approach. Imagine you’re writing to just one person, a good friend. Now, converse. Want to ask a question? Go for it. Want to prove you’ve been listening? Let the reader know you know why she’s there. Want to ignore the writing rules you learned in school? Do it. This ain’t school. Write as if you’re talking. If you can’t get that ball rolling, then don’t write. Get out a recorder and talk. Play it back and transcribe it. My hope is you’re gathering the crux of my lesson thus far. Writing’s only hard if you make it hard. Now for some tips and tricks of the trade. Understand the reader. Whether you’re performing the role of copywriter, in the classic sense, or creating content such as a blog post, your challenge is to persuade your reader. However, you don’t need to be a master of psychology to write persuasively. You need to understand you’re addressing an emotional being with wants and desires. Identify one (or more) and speak to it. Push an emotional button. People buy (or take action) to increase their pleasure or avoid pain. When you approach your writing this way you’ll be far more effective focusing on benefits instead of features. Features mostly have a rational appeal. Your job is to translate features into benefits that invoke an emotion. A teacher of mine once demonstrated this idea like so: Feature: McDonald’s has drive-up windows. Benefit: You can get a tasty, hot breakfast fast, on the way to work -- without getting out of your car. See how the feature was void of any emotion, while the benefit tapped into desires? Maybe the reader doesn’t want to make breakfast. Or maybe the time-saving element hit a hot button. It might have been the “tasty hot” part that appealed to the desire for comfort. Now this is not to say you don’t need to understand your product. You do. The process of selling requires overcoming objections, so your benefit statement will need support. As a copywriter, you’ll hold the aces when you know your product and customer and find where the two meet in the form of a human need. Strive for clarity. Your goal with every sentence you write is to get your reader to read the next one. A number of factors threaten to sabotage your efforts -- first and foremost, confusion. You can confuse readers a number of ways. A number of professionals in the online copywriting business will tell you to write at a fifth grade level, or eighth, or whatever. I reject this advice. I would only agree to write at a fifth grade level if you’re writing to fifth graders. A better rule of thumb is to simply assume your reader doesn’t know what you know. This is where the oft-cited and dangerous “curse of knowledge” comes into play. Writers make the mistake of skipping or glossing over explanations because they assume the reader has the same level of knowledge. Big mistake. Err on the side of caution taking care to explain your ideas. Avoid jargon. Back buttons tend to get clicked when you babble on with industry speak, buzzwords, and technical terms. If you have no choice but to get into bits per second and gigabytes, inform the reader what you’re talking about using simple terms. Stress action. Hit verbs hard. Notice my word choice? Hit. It’s action-oriented and dramatic. Focus on putting your ideas in motion and energizing your copy with verbs. Beginning copywriters overindulge with adjectives. The writing gets flowery. Slow. Abstract. I’m not saying don’t use adjectives. Use adjectives where they add color and intrigue. Avoid them when they simply take up space and mean little. An important part of your editing process will be to find and strike blasé words and phrases such as “mission critical” or “extremely.” When you nix the fluffy stuff you’ll find what remains is more on point. Your nemesis will always be boredom. You can’t bore people into buying your products or ideas. Inject all the action you can into your prose to keep your reader engaged start to finish. Offer evidence. An important principle of persuasion is something called “social proof.” The concept speaks to the consumer’s need for assurance. Think of how you respond emotionally when you peer in the window of a restaurant with nothing but empty tables. Contrast that to the cram-packed restaurant with a waiting list. Which eatery do you want to feed you? Social proof comes in many forms: testimonials, statistics, accolades, endorsements, customer lists or examples, reviews, and so forth. Weave social proof into your copy to build credibility. It need not be heavy handed or forced. Just play a card that works for your company and, of course, is true. It might be something like … “twenty of the Fortune 100 companies rely on …” or something less lofty such as … “… is enjoying a 20% annual growth rate.” Both approaches help overcome the reader’s fear of betting on an unknown commodity. Can you be specific? You can be and you should be. Look back at the previous paragraph where I chose to cite facts including a specific number of companies and a specific percentage. If I simply wrote about having Fortune 100 clients or experiencing growth, my copy would have been less credible. Specifics are more believable, easier to relate to, and more interesting. I could tell you I have kids. It’s true, but not all that conversational. Now, when I tell you I have twelve and fifteen year old daughters that both love to sing and dance, I suspect you’ll respond to that with a question or comment. That’s engagement, a good thing, and the result of me offering specific details. Write with rhythm. Readers are bound to get more engaged when your writing has a nice rhythm to it. You accomplish this mixing up the length of your sentences and paragraphs. Try to avoid long sentences. Or, when you write one, follow up with a short one. Short passages are more inviting. Short paragraphs are less taxing to read. Use punchy staccato phrases. Zingers. Tell your readers where to go. Are you familiar with the term “call-to-action?” It’s the written version of asking for the sale, a must in almost any form of marketing copy you’ll compose. The object is to get your reader to take action. Your success rate will increase when you tell the reader exactly what to do next, where to go, how to order, and when to act (which tends to be NOW!). I’ll offer some tips for your call-to-action. You won’t always be able to play these cards, but consider them when appropriate. Include urgency: Limited time frames, deadlines, reasons to be prompt. Make an offer: Discount, bonus, free information. Highlight value: Get your informative report, join our exclusive community. Overcome objections: Eliminate or reduce risks with free trials or money back guarantees. Write irresistible headlines. Shouldn’t this have been first? Obviously, your headline will be read first. And undoubtedly, it’s the most important line you’ll write because it’s the one you know will get read. Of course, it’s also the one that will (or won’t) inspire the reader to keep reading. I didn’t address the headline first because I didn’t want to spook you. This is a low-pressure lesson. The takeaway I’m aiming for is to get you started, to give copywriting a go. Sure, if you have a headline idea that inspires the rest of your copy, go for it. Put it down. I almost always do. However, you could just as easily write it last, after your piece takes shape. Your thesis, so to speak, might be clearer when you’re nearing completion. Many writers handle headlines this way. I confessed I start with the headline. I love writing headlines. But I’ll add another admission. I usually go back and change them. Writing headlines is a challenge you’ll want to take seriously. Your early attempts might not be perfect, but you’ll improve steadily with practice. I was once taught a handy little trick. Fill in the blank: How to _____________________ . There’s a headline. It might work great. Or you might try to improve it. Write variations. Before you call your headline done, ask yourself, would I read this? What might get you -- and your reader -- to answer “yes?” The list is long. A great study on headline writing is to look at the headline “teasers” on the covers of popular magazines. They are penned by expert writers and editors, and almost always have strong pulling power. A few great headline tactics include: The useful headline: Often a "how to." A curiosity builder: This tactic has a teaser element that capitalizes on suspense and mystery. (Read “How Do You Write the Powerful Headlines?”) The urgent headline: Why? Why not? Why now? The list headline: Proven winners such as (X) secrets, tips, ways, shortcuts, etc. The news hack: Attach your piece to something topical or someone famous. The contrarian: Mistakes, dangers, lies. I find negatives positively irresistible. Here’s some additional tips for great blog post titles. Write now. The way to become a writer is simply to write. Yes, it’s work. Yes, you’ll need to practice. You’ll want to try to find the flaws. Read your work aloud. Run it by someone for an opinion. Share it with an accomplished writer. But remember, if you think you can’t write, you’re wrong.
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- http://www.smoliak.sk/naj-slovenske-blogy/ Najzaujímavejšie slovenské blogy – Aktualizované http://www.toplist.sk/weblogy http://apoort.net/blogeri-osobne/ http://www.google.com/blogsearch http://thebobs.com/english/ Nebolo to tak dávno, keď som napísal článok, o prieskume medzi slovenskými blogermi. Krátko po zverejnení sa mi ozvalo zopár jednotlivcov, ktorí sa dožadovali zoznamu “najzaujímavejších blogov” zo Slovenska. Ono by to nebol až taký problém, keby sme si vopred stanovili definíciu, čo ten “zaujímavý blog” vlastne je. Našťastie, jednou z otázok v dotazníku bolo aj odporúčanie 3 slovenských autorov, hodných ďalšieho šírenia. V tomto okamihu sa nakoniec táto otázka javí ako kľúčová a tak nám vznikol “rebríček” najzaujímavjších blogov z pohľadu samotných blogerov. Dovolil som si vypísať len tie blogy, ktoré boli v prieskume spomenuté minimálne 5 krát, alebo mi boli zaslané návrhy na rozšírenie zoznamu od mojich čiteteľov. Posledná aktualizácia: 01. júla 2013 (zoradenie v tabuľke je náhodné):