YouTube Archives - Monetization Magic

Are social networking being used for surveillance? In a word…yes. Is it legal? Yes it is. Anything that you put online is basically public information especially with Google! In the EULA for Google it very plainly states that it becomes the owner of that information.

In an article published today on MSNBC, it states that governments are pushing for the social networks to collect more information than they need for their own business purposes.

So what exactly can be collected? Any time to place data on the internet, your IP address and location can be obtained. The information that you place out there can be obtained along with the time that it was posted. According to a recent article in the Washington Post, Facebook’s new “Read” edge coupled with other technology gives the ability to see what you are doing online and serve up user specific information that it’s technology believes you would be most interested in. You don’t even have to click on a “like” button for this to take place. That sounds rather innocent on the surface doesn’t it. In order for this ability to take place, what you are doing has to be recorded in a database somewhere so that it can be queried to come up with future information to serve you. When you opt in to use the application, it begins to provide this individual content while collecting the data in order to provide the content.

While I believe that Google and Facebook are just attempting to provide a better quality experience for internet users, I also know that data can be used in many different ways. As it points out in the MSNBC article, many governments and law enforcement are obtaining the information for their own purposes. According to the article, “Soghoian estimates that U.S. Internet and telecoms companies may receive about 300,000 such requests in connection with law enforcement each year — but public information is scarce.” The influx of requests are so taxing that “Every decent-sized U.S. telecoms and Internet company has a team that does nothing but respond to requests for information,” Soghoian told Reuters in an interview.

What can you do about this? Basically, don’t post things on the internet that you wouldn’t be proud for your mom or grandmother to see. As you’re reading information, ensure that you are doing so responsibly. Most folks won’t have any issues with this; however, you need to be aware that where you go and what you do is being recorded in a database somewhere to be used at a later date. When you are opting into applications, make sure you are aware of how that information can be used. You don’t have to develop a phobia about it. Just be aware of what you are doing when logged into the internet. Ensure that others using your equipment are equally as responsible. The bottom line is to assume that what you put out on the internet is not private. After all, the internet is a public network.

I recently heard someone speaking about QR codes being the Mark of the Beast.

What are QR codes? In a nutshell, QR codes are paper based hyperlinks. Anyone in the blogging community knows that one of the keys to great search engine optimization is making sure you keep your website content updated, new and fresh.

Whether you do this with a blog, or you change your homepage with new offers, coupons or new products, it serves to show Google that your site is “alive.” Having a blog is an easy way to keep the site “alive” with new content and comments from your readers. That is one reason why Facebook has an Alexa score of 2 at the moment.

QR code for Monetization Magic

Small businesses sometimes struggle with this if they have the typical billboard type website. Once they upgrade their website to include a blog, that helps but what’s the next logical step? Have you heard of QR codes yet? Here is a quick introduction: What are QR codes? They look like this:

They come to us from Japan where they are very common. QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. The airlines have been using them as early as 2008. You may soon see QR Codes in a magazine advert, on a billboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Mari Smith gave me the idea of putting it on the back of her business card! That’s an excellent networking idea!

Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet. The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including url links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them. The full Wikipedia description is here.

How does the cell phone read the code? The cell phone needs a QR code reader. It takes literally 1 minute for someone with an iPhone or Android phone to find and install the reader.

How do you generate a code? You can easily generate a QR code using a site like Kaywa.com or you can use the Open Source code to generate codes for you if you have a smart developer on hand.

How can you use QR codes to benefit search marketing? Here are a few examples of how others are using them. How will Google see them? If you add them to your website, the search engines will see that your pages have changed, and that you are updating pages. The search engine will see a new image and index it accordingly. At some point soon, the search engines will likely recognize QR codes and possibly index the content in them.

Will your customers use them? Today, a few may use them, but those that do will certainly appreciate your tech knowledge, and those that don’t will certainly be inquisitive, which may open the door for conversation and a potential sale. Those that do use QR codes will definitely have a high tech know-how and may be more receptive to your presence on the web, your Twitter presence, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube etc.

How could you use a QR code? Your business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You could use them to direct your contacts to ever changing areas on your website. Prospective employees could use them to point to their resume online! The QR code is generated and the link to which the code points can be changed. I do see an issue there. You will want to use a very secure password to generate your QR code so that you can retain control over where it points.

I think it’s neat to be able to use them when I’m visiting new places of interest. I can see them being used to store video and audio of places of interest. I think they’ll be awesome for the education system! Perhaps this will help to usher in a mobile education system?

Need to know how to assemble something and you’re concerned about an issue with language translation? No problem! You’re instructions are now a video that is translated into your native language! How awesome is that?! Teachers could use these in their teaching plans to come up with all sorts of teaching tools to relate our history to our present day activities.

These codes are currently printed on paper. Could they be tattooed? They could but will the QR reader be able to read them? Have you ever seen someone who got a tattoo when they were in their 20’s that is now in their 50’s or 60’s? The tattoo becomes distorted over the years. The ink bleeds into the skin. If the person has gained and lost a lot of weight, again, there is more distortion. They are simply not practical for this application. The mark can be removed or re-pointed to a null pointer rendering it useless. So I don’t believe there is anything to be concerned about concerning QR codes in connection with the mark of the beast and end times predictions. You can breathe now!

UPDATE: Apparently some folks are actually getting these QR codes permanently tattooed on their skin! I knew it was just a matter of time; however, as I stated above, it’s only a matter of time before the tattoo will distort due to age. The tattoo in the video below is large. Never underestimate the power of marketing!

That being said, temporary tattoos might actually be a good thing for this band member. Bands evolve rather quickly and so a permanent tattoo is not a good idea. Even the Beatles split up after a while! A temporary tattoo could be sold to the fans of a band and that would further promote the band to others who would actually be interested in hearing the music thereby creating more fans and eventual ticket sales.

Although this tattoo parlor looks to be fairly legitimate, I would have preferred to see this tattoo artist counsel his patron on a better way to get the word out about his band. Indeed, the tattoo artist may have already done that, this is a short video and it just doesn’t show it.

Google has already moved on past QR codes in favor of NFC technology as of last December according to this article….rethinking that permanent tattoo yet?