Facebook Facing Criticisms

With users in every part of the world numbering to over 900 million and still going up, Facebook is no doubt the largest social media network in the World Wide Web. Although it has set its age limit for users to 18 years old, it is said that even children maintain account by posting fake ages and personal information. And since there is no way for Facebook management group to find out the true personal data of these minor users, young members continue to increase. Although most of these juvenile members are said to be using the site mostly for games only, the risk of their being exposed to adult content and posts remains. Herein then lies one of the privacy issues of Facebook, which doomsayers believe will eventually cause the downfall of this social media site.

Recent Site Changes

Very prominent on Facebook these days are the recent site changes on its applications and functions. One controversial alteration introduced early this year is the use of timeline, which has become mandatory in most accounts. Numerous members have been complaining that the new timeline altered their old privacy settings that some posts, which were meant to be private, have now become public. If the user is not aware of such modification, he will be caught off guard because then he will not think of checking his privacy options as he believes it is still on the same locked state as it was before the new timeline was introduced. This failure on the part of Facebook has gained a lot of flak from members, some of whom have threatened to leave the site forever due to this delicate security issue.

More Complaints

Facebook may have meant well when it started to incorporate somewhat drastic changes on the site. However majority of the users do not appreciate the sudden transformations especially because they were implemented with not much option for the members. Wall photos have splashed the newsfeeds with rants from disgruntled users, egging others to put up protests against Facebook admin for seemingly screwing up the old settings. On the other hand though, there are also users who easily adapted to the new set up, though their compliance may not absolutely mean they have no qualms against Facebook’s shortcomings.

Nuisance Applications

Another prominent glitch on Facebook is the nuisance applications that are practically shoved to the members though they are not up to use these features. Among these apps are game invites, video and site links and most importantly, the spam links that clutter and infect members’ accounts. When infected with these spam posts, users are advised to change their privacy setting including their passwords. This may work for a while but it can reoccur at any time and for this, Facebook seems to be helpless.

Further criticisms surface everyday from irked Facebook users and yet the site remains to be a strong and stalwart social media network. Social media watchers believe that while it is true Facebook cannot completely solve the problems of the site that cause dissatisfaction among members, the site has become a sort of necessary tool to many. Many say that despite some malfunctions, Facebook is here to stay and people will continue to get drawn to it. 

Simulating Olympic Videos on YouTube

With the wonders of technology and the presence of so many talented techie people around, the creation and production of great videos on YouTube no longer comes as surprise. If you are a YouTube follower, you are well aware that the channel abounds with videos of all kind – great or otherwise, which are crafted by creative people using the digital technique called simulation. With simulation you will note that special effects can be achieved through photography tricks and the like.

Simulated Olympic Videos

Recently, the holding of the 2012 Olympics in London has encouraged more YouTube account holders to simulate the Olympics opening ceremonies and other succeeding events to come up with amazing videos. When viewing these types of videos, the impact of the simulation effects result to a different feel that usually heightens the viewing experience. However some YouTube followers have raised the question about the authenticity of the said Olympic videos. Because of the special effects employed in the simulation, they feel there is an element of deceit because the actual action is somewhat altered through the simulation method. There may not be a problem though with simulating the opening ceremonies of the games because the combined spectacle of musical numbers, choreographed dance and other stunning numbers in the ceremonies are ideal subjects for video simulation. In fact, with simulation, the pageant will even be highlighted for greater visual effects.

Videos of Actual Competitions

As already pointed out earlier, the video of the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics may be simulated for optimum visual results. However this may not apply to the main events such as swimming, gymnastics, track and field and others because the simulation method might jeopardize the conduct real event as it happened on its actual moment. Except perhaps when you want to achieve a special impact for, say, swimming, then you can, by all means put up a simulation video. This is usually done with archived games or those events, which have already concluded and ready to go to the files. YouTube users may want to work on the video and inject some artistic style on it by using slow motion, fast forward and stop motions, still photos and backdrop shots or whatever he wants to use to draw attention to the video.

Vimeo against YouTube

One fast rising Internet video channel aside from YouTube is Vimeo. If you browse on this site now you will notice that it has come up with simulation Olympics video. The videos are nice and cute and are good for entertainment and fun but they do not show the actual Olympics events as they actually happened. Anyhow, the purpose of the videos is not really to document the events but to present a fun alternative from the more serious video coverage on YouTube.

This year’s Olympics events are considered as the grandest games ever held since its founding in Greece many years ago. The grandeur of the events is even intensified with social media network coverage. YouTube is the best and most competent video channel that airs the events day by day. Whether or not the videos in this site are simulated, the channel still achieves its purpose of sharing with YouTube audience some quick snippets as well as completes visual accounts of the games. 

Most Tweeted London Olympics 2012 Event

As the 2012 Olympics event in London currently develops, reports on the ongoing events are posted live on social media networks especially Twitter. Those who seek updates on the latest results turn to Twitter to keep informed on the individual competitions. Because Twitter uses hashtags to categorize tweets according to topics and events, it is easy to get Twitter followers to keep track the outcome from various athletic matches in the Olympics.

Before the 2012 Olympics officially opened on July 27, 2012, announcements were focused on the ceremonies and general pre-assessments of the games. Now that the competitions are already transpiring, individual hashtags on each event have been put up. The number of followers and tweets on each event hashtag depends on the popularity of the respective games. It is common in every Olympic event that there are favorite key events and gymnastics and swimming competitions are among them.

On the first day of swimming competition itself, there were over one million tweets already and the figure is expected to go up to the last day of the event and even up to the time when medals will be awarded. These tweets however are collated all over the world, which means that every country has contributed to the total number of posts. From the charts published on the internet, it is apparent that United States Twitter users have posted the most updates in swimming events. This could be attributed to the fact that Michael Phelps, an American swimmer, figured as top contender in the last Olympics swimming events four years ago, hence most Americans are now all eyes on his performance in the 2012 competitions.

Next to swimming as favorite Olympics event is gymnastics. Men and women who vie for the medals in this event participate in various categories such as women’s vault, men’s vault, men’s horizontal bar, men and women’s all around tournament and the most popular category which is the free floor exercises. Another most watched event is track and field where European and American contenders usually come strongest.

With the days rolling by, the two-week 2012 Olympics in London will certainly enjoy more publicity through Twitter as medal count progresses among the top athletes. Currently, predictions on who shall dominate every event are already trending on the said social media network. Some people say these tweets are too early and preemptive of the actual results and they might influence judges’ decisions. However Olympics officials assure that no advance publicities on the results of the games will ever affect the decisions of the judges because there are technicalities to be followed.

Since Twitter often gets drawn into controversies with regard to baseless tweets from its users, such as Twitter follower rampage about NBC not showing a live coverage on the opening ceremony, the Olympics committee must have set strict guidelines on the judges and athletes. This could mean that they may have been disallowed to engage in social media interactions during the events. It can be considered a wise move, actually, and even if there is no such regulation set by the officials, every athlete and event judge must take it upon themselves to not mind media opinion on the events. As it should be, they must focus on the Olympic events while it is taking place to avoid unnecessary distractions. 

2012 Olympics: Greece’s Papachristou is Out

Twitter lets people say what’s on their mind quickly in 140 characters. There have been many times that controversial tweets were posted on the site that made some buzz online. Adding to the list is Voula Papachristou, a Greek triple jumper. The 23-year old athlete tweeted about the growing number of African immigrants in her country, which a lot of people found racist. Here’s what Papachristou posted on her Twitter account:

@papaxristoutj: With so many Africans in Greece … at least the West Nile mosquitos will eat homemade food!!!” Aside from this, she posted a comment made by Ilias Kasidiaris, a Greek politician, regarding the lenient policy of the country’s government when it comes to immigration.

Voula Papachristou

Reaction and Apologies

Papachristou’s post received comments and responses from several people who were offended by her tweet. She didn’t reply immediately to any of them until after a few days. She issued an apology on her account telling that she didn’t mean to offend anyone. Here’s the exact tweet she posted:

“I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights.”

The controversial post reached the Hellenic Olympic Committee, who deliberated the issue and even consulted with some of the members of the Parliament of their country.  The said committee is the Olympics Federation of Greece. The verdict, Papachristou was removed from Greece’s Olympic team. She was preparing in Athens to compete for the London Olympics 2012 and was about to go there in a week to represent the country when the decision to evict her from the team was made.

Reason for Removing Papachristou from the Team

Aside from the racial issues on the tweet, the committee didn’t want any problems with the anti-racism groups that may show their protests on the game, if Papachristou was still in their team. The sponsors for the country’s team for the Olympics may not like this and may cost them their support. Because of the financial challenges that the economy of the country had been facing, corporate sponsors made possible the funding for Greece’s Olympics team. According to the official statement released by the Committee, Papachristou was removed from the Olympics team of Greece because of her tweets, which opposed the Olympic movement’s ideas and values.

Papachristou may have been sorry for her remarks but it was too late. It already cost her the chance to join in the biggest sports competition of the year. The Olympics is considered the biggest event for athletes. This is what every sportsman dreams of as it serves as the pinnacle of their career. Joining the Olympics does not only give them the chance to be known in their field of sports, but most importantly, they will be able to represent their country and bring pride and glory to their nation. Words when written or spoken cannot be taken back. So everyone must be careful with what they say or write, especially on popular sites like Twitter, as this may backfire on them. 

Google Panda 3.9 Update Released, Are You Keeping Calm?

Here’s the sweetest breaking news today for webmasters and site owners out there:

Google is all set to open up the vaults again and install Panda 3.9 updates to the algorithm. The schedule says “later tonight”, the 24^th of July as revealed by an official tweet.  In this time of writing, the update is currently happening.

The Panda update was officially rolled out last in February of 2011 and Google has been incrementally refreshing its search algorithms as supplements to the initial update done last year. The SEO community has been counting tabs and now we’re on the 3.9 refresh.

Sentiments Vary

We’ve got our finger on the pulse of the web developers and the SEO community as a whole regarding this statement released by Google. 

New data refresh of Panda starts rolling out tonight. ~1% of search results change enough to notice. More context: goo.gl/huekf
— A Googler (@google) July 24, 2012

Tonight the web is silent. There’s nary a sound to be heard except for the occasional hush about the announcement which have already spread throughout the search communities and put everyone vigilant.

Many websites who have been hit by the previous Panda and Penguin algorithmic changes, who have suffered de-indexing and lower rankings as well as a deep dive of plunging traffic flow of website visitors. Businesses and livelihoods build for many years have been toppled over like a house of cards, completely demolished. Cries of foul rang all over the internet including the premise that Google is out to destroy the SEO industry.

History aside, many who’ve been hit decided to look for ways to build everything from the ground straight up of what’s left of their businesses and site rankings. Webmasters and site owners have done extensive research about the nature and the target to these lovable updates, adapting strategies and correcting previous mistakes they’ve deliberately or unknowingly did in the past.

So in this current snapshot, people are trying to get back their glory pre-update. Now, just a month after the last Panda update, not counting the Penguin updates, we’re in for another wave again. Will it crumple the efforts people have done like paper? Or will it prove to be a reinforcing encouragement that websites are finally cut and shaped the way the search God want it?

“There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne.” The words of Selena in the movie The Dark Knight Rises reminds me of the calm this evening. Is it the kind of calm at the beginning of a storm?