#TARGETED WEB TRAFFIC

[isubhamdas]

Multilingual vs Multinational SEO-Decode Global Reach

Discover the key differences between multinational and multilingual SEO, and learn how to optimize your online presence for international success. [Continue reading for more] Multinational SEO: Targeting Customers WorldwideMultilingual SEO: Optimizing for Multiple LanguagesCombining Multinational and Multilingual SEOExpert Tip: Leverage Transcreation for Multilingual SEOSuggestion: Conduct…

[hellpupp]

y'all would Not believe the amount of drama a silly lil pet site can generate

[cynosuredesigns]

Content marketing includes the creation and publishing of articles, videos, content banks, advertising campaigns, case studies, infographics, and blogs. It is a helpful marketing strategy to create brand awareness, attract the audience and generate revenues.

[feathersofwares]

5G Security Challenges

5G technology introduces significant security challenges like an expanded attack surface, complex network architecture, supply chain vulnerabilities, and data privacy concerns. Mitigation strategies include Zero Trust architecture, enhanced endpoint security, AI-based threat detection, secure supply chains, data encryption, security audits, and employee training.

Feather Academy offers hands-on internships and courses in web development, app development, digital marketing, UI/UX design, and more. Transform to digital advertising with Feather Softwares’ Google Ads Services. Our outstanding services are d esigned to maximize your online visibility, drive targeted traffic, and boost your business growth through strategic and customized campaigns. Partner with Feather Softwares to boost your business growth.

For Business Enquiries- https://formfacade.com/sm/xvjfh3dkM For Course Enquiries - https://formfacade.com/sm/RD0FNS_ut

[thepowerofrecognition]

How to drive traffic from social media to your website

Social Media to Website: The Traffic Generation Gateway

Social media isn't only for sharing cute cat clips or staying updated with far-off family. It's also a strong tool for promoting your business and bringing visitors to your website. But how can you change those likes and shares into people visiting your site and buying things? This blog post will give you tips and methods to make your social media work better at bringing people to your website.

Building a Strong Foundation: Profiles and Optimization

Before making content, ensure your social media pages are set up to bring people to your site. Great Bio: Write a short and simple bio that shows what your brand is about and has a message telling people to visit your website. Good Photos: Use clear and nice-looking profile and cover pictures that are the same across all your social media accounts. Website Link: Include a clickable link to your website in your bio and relevant posts.

Content is King (and Queen): Crafting Compelling Posts

To do well on social media, you need interesting content. Here's how to make posts that make people want to visit your website:

Understand Who You're Talking To: Make your content content match your audience's likes and needs. Find out what they enjoy and change your plan based on that.

Change It Up: Use different content such as photos, videos, graphs, and live streams to keep your audience engaged.

Useful and Entertaining: Provide content that educates, entertains, or assists your audience. Share unique ideas, advice, or exclusive content that they can't find easily elsewhere.

Share Stories: Add stories to your posts. People like stories, so use them to show what your brand is and stands for.

Give Simple Directions: Tell your audience exactly what you want them to do. Put easy-to-follow steps in your posts, like telling them to go to your website for more details or to get something to download.

Optimizing for Engagement: The Social Butterfly Effect

Engagement helps your content reach more people. Here are a few ways to start talks and get people involved:

Ask Questions: Ask questions that make people want to talk and think.

Have Contests and Give Free Stuff: Everyone loves a fun contest. Give away things that your audience likes and ask them to visit your website to enter.

Answer Comments: Show your audience you're listening by quickly answering their comments and messages. This makes people feel like they're part of a group and keeps them interested.

Collaborations: Work with popular people or other businesses in your interest. This helps more people see your content and can bring more visitors to your website.

Join Trending Conversations: Take part in popular discussions and topics to make your brand more visible.

Utilizing Social Media Features:

Every platform has special features that can help bring more visitors. Here are some ways to use them:

Facebook Groups: Join or start groups related to your business and share helpful content that makes people want to check out your website for more details.

Instagram Features and Stories: Make intriguing Instagram stories to flaunt your items and administrations, add connections to your site, and give a background check of your business. Arrange your best stories into bunches of given subjects so it's simpler for individuals to find what they're searching for.

Twitter Polls and Chats: Conduct polls on Twitter to learn about your audience's preferences and initiate conversations. Participate in Twitter chats to connect with industry experts and expand your reach.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms: Employ LinkedIn's forms to direct users to your website directly from the platform, helping you generate leads.

The Power of Paid Advertising:

Getting your posts seen by many people on social media can be tough. It might be a good idea to spend some money on ads. Here's how you can use paid ads on social media to bring more people to your website:

Choose Your Audience: Social media lets you pick who sees your ads.

As they are more likely to visit your website, make sure individuals who could be interested in what you're selling notice your advertisements.

Obtain Clicks: The goal of any advertising campaign is to encourage individuals to visit your website by clicking on the advertisements. Make your ads interesting so that people will want to click on them.

Remind Previous Visitors: Show adverts to people who have already visited your website but haven't bought anything. This could help visitors remember your brand and entice them to visit your website again.

Tracking and Analytics: Measuring Your Success

To do well on social media, you need to keep checking your progress and make changes as needed. Use the tools provided by each platform to see how many people see your posts, how much they interact with them, and if they visit your website. Look at which posts do the best and adjust your plan based on that.

Post Regularly: Keep posting on a set schedule to keep your followers interested and wanting more.

Use Hashtags Wisely: Find hashtags that fit your posts but don't use too many. Mix in some popular and some less common ones to reach more people.

Use Content from Your Audience: Get your followers to share their stories about your brand by having contests or asking them to use a special hashtag. Share their posts to show that your brand is real and to build trust with your audience.

Post at the Right Time: Share your content when the people you want to reach are using social media the most. Use tools that let you plan and post regularly all week.

Tell People About Your Profiles: Let people know about your social media pages on your website and in your emails. Demand that the individuals who as of now follow you on one virtual entertainment site follow you on the others.

Integrate Enrapturing Pictures and Recordings: Individuals love pictures. Utilize excellent pictures and recordings in your postings to improve them and draw in perusers.

Utilize Social Commerce Features: Shoppable posts and item labels are two instances of the shopping highlights tracked down on numerous informal communication stages. Utilize these to smooth out the buying system for your crowd.

Integrate Social Media with Other Marketing Channels: Sync your email crusades, online entertainment posts, and other showcasing methodologies to make a firm arrangement.

Advanced Strategies for Social Media-Savvy Users

Social Tuning: Utilize social listening apparatuses to follow brand specifies, industry patterns, and contender movement. This important data can assist you with fitting your substance procedure and recognizing undiscovered open doors.

Local area Building: Encourage areas of strength for a local area around your image. Energize conversations, answer questions speedily and recognize important commitments from your crowd. This reliable local area can turn into a strong wellspring of informal promoting and site traffic.

Powerhouse Showcasing: Join forces with important powerhouses in your specialty to advance your image and contact a more extensive crowd. Notwithstanding, guarantee the powerhouse lines up with your image esteem and reverberates with your interest group for the greatest effect.

Final Thoughts: Creating a Constant Flow of Visitors from Social Media

Getting visitors from social media to your website is an ongoing task. By using the strategies we discussed earlier, you can establish a consistent flow of visitors that supports your website's growth and success in marketing. Always keep in mind the importance of consistency, engaging with your audience, and providing valuable content.

Social media is constantly evolving and can vary frequently. Stay updated with the latest trends, adjust your strategies as necessary, and experiment with various approaches to find what works best for your business and your target audience. With effort and informed decision-making, you can transform your social media presence into a powerful tool for attracting more visitors.

[joyandella-123]

How an SEO Agency in San Diego Can Transform Your Online Presence

In today's digital landscape, establishing a strong online presence is no longer an option; it's a necessity. Whether you're a local business or a global brand, the digital arena offers a multitude of opportunities to connect with your target audience. However, navigating the complexities of web design, SEO, and digital marketing can be challenging. This is where a specialized agency like Mystic Web Design, based in San Diego, steps in as your one-stop-shop for all your online needs. Learn how partnering with Mystic Web Design can revolutionize your online presence and drive success.

Web Design that Captivates

A well-designed website is your virtual storefront and often the first point of contact between your business and potential customers. Mystic Web Design boasts a team of skilled web designers who create stunning, user-friendly websites tailored to your unique brand. These websites are not just visually appealing but also optimized for mobile devices, ensuring a seamless user experience.

SEO Expertise for Visibility

Achieving top rankings in search engine results is a fundamental component of online success. Mystic Web Design's SEO specialists employ industry best practices to optimize your website for search engines. This includes keyword research, on-page and off-page SEO, and technical SEO enhancements that boost your website's visibility, attracting organic traffic from users actively seeking your products or services.

Digital Marketing Strategies that Convert

An effective digital marketing strategy is key to turning website visitors into loyal customers. Mystic Web Design employs a comprehensive array of digital marketing techniques, including content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. These strategies are crafted to engage your target audience, generate leads, and drive conversions.

Local Focus for San Diego Businesses

For local businesses in the San Diego area, Mystic Web Design's localized SEO and digital marketing services can be a game-changer. They understand the unique dynamics of the local market and can optimize your online presence to capture the attention of your local audience.

Content that Connects

Compelling content is at the heart of any successful online strategy. Mystic Web Design's content creators are skilled at producing high-quality, relevant content that resonates with your audience. Whether it's blog posts, articles, or multimedia content, they ensure your message is clear and engaging.

Responsive and Client-Centric

What sets Mystic Web Design apart is their commitment to delivering results while prioritizing client satisfaction. Their responsive approach means they collaborate closely with you, listening to your goals and providing solutions tailored to your specific needs.

In the bustling digital landscape, partnering with a seasoned SEO agency like Mystic Web Design, based in San Diego, offers a multitude of benefits. From crafting visually captivating websites to optimizing for search engines and executing targeted digital marketing campaigns, Mystic Web Design truly is a one-stop-shop for all your online needs. With their expertise, you can confidently navigate the digital realm, enhance your online presence, and achieve the success your business deserves. Don't just compete; thrive in the online world with Mystic Web Design by your side. Contact us today!

[fastlivenostress]

Before You Write: Why Research is Crucial for Every Writer

Pixabay As a writer, you might have experienced the frustration of getting stuck while working on a piece. You sit down to write, and the words just don’t seem to flow. Or maybe you’ve published a piece only to find out that there are factual errors or other mistakes that could have easily been avoided. In situations like these, it’s important to remember the value of research. By taking the time…

[peachesofteal]

Light on - single mom/neighbor fic Simon Riley/female reader Prompt: Protective Simon. For the beautiful and talented @lethalchiralium

Simon’s phone is ringing. 

Price raises an eyebrow from the end of the table, pausing mid-sentence, confused. Simon’s phone never rings. It’s always on full volume, because he never gets phone calls, except for ones from the 141, and they’re all here. At this briefing.  

His fingers find the ringer, ready to silence what he’s sure is a nuisance call, some telemarketer or robot, when he reads your name across the screen. 

You’ve never called him before. Unease tightens across his chest, and without any explanation, he excuses himself from the room and the bewildered looks being cast his way. 

“Hey, you-“

“Simon?” You sound off. Like you’re trying to be calm, but there’s something lingering on the edge of your voice, something scared. His spine goes stiff. 

It’s enough to propel him into action, his fist thumping against the window of the brief room, jerking his head south. I’m leaving, the motion signifies. Emergency.

“What’s wrong?” 

“N-nothing. Just… there’s this guy that’s been like, half a block behind me since I got off the train.” He closes his eyes. The fucking train. He wants you to stop taking the train. He needs you to stop taking the train. 

“He followed you from the platform?” 

“Well, he could be walking this way too…” 

“Where are you?” His keys are already in his hand, and he’s running down the hallway, past bewildered administrative staff and everyone else, bursting through the back door and into the truck. His phone chimes with multiple text messages, Price, Johnny, Gaz. All wondering where the hell he ran off to. Only Johnny’s text scratches the surface: Is it your neighbor? He waits another second in silence, hoping you’re trying to get your bearings. “Sweetheart?” 

“I’m… I think we’re coming up on seventh and Warsail. ‘m not too sure. I’ve kind been walking in a roundabout way.” We’re coming up on seventh… we. 

The baby is with you. 

His foot slams the accelerator onto the floor, counting his breaths as he maneuvers each turn in the road. Do you have the stroller? Are you carrying her? Did this guy peg you as an easy target because he knows what Simon knows, that women are more likely to go along with instruction if their child is threatened? That you’d never leave Emmaline behind? That you’d do anything to protect her? 

He feels sick. 

“Are there other people around?” He’s calm on the phone, trying to visualize the street, the buildings, the alleys. Easy spots where cars could reach the highway in seconds, and then be gone. Cramped alleys that connect to others like tangled webs, able to swallow a human being easy, disappear them into the darkness. It makes his stomach turn over. His fingers tighten around the steering wheel so hard; it hurts.

“Yeah, it’s close to the end of the day, so-“ 

“Stay where others can see you. Are you sure you’re on seventh and Warsail?” 

“Yeah. We’re in that park. I-I… wanted to take Emma to see the ducks.” Your voice wavers. “Simon he’s still behind us.” He’s turning the corner now, a block from your cross streets, and instead of yielding for oncoming traffic like he should, he floors it through an intersection, abandoning the truck still on, half parked in an empty street spot.  “Stay where you are, sweetheart. Okay? I’m coming.” 

“You… wait, what? You’re what?” He doesn’t hang up, but keeps the phone against his ear, and takes off down the street in a sprint, fully subscribed to the worst-case scenarios that have been building in his mind, images of you and Emmaline bloody and bruised, or worse. He gets them confused for a moment, memories mixing with the present, two things swirling together until they become indistinguishable, noise and panic roaring too loudly in his head. 

It all comes screeching to a stop. 

He spots you in the park. You do have the stroller, and you’re by the little pond, headphones in, Emmaline in your arms, her little beanie pulled down over her ears. You’re glancing around, nervous, saying his name into the mic. He scans the rest of the faces, passing over anyone who doesn’t strike him as a creepy git, until he finds his target: a skinny, younger guy lurking on the edge of the fence line, watching you. He hangs up the phone and moves across the park involuntarily, rolling his shoulders, and he vaguely sees you from the corner of his eye, mouth dropped open in shock, faintly calling his name. 

“Hey, mate. C’mere.” He shouts, half the people in the vicinity startling in his direction. Everyone seems to move away, like a magnetic force, pulsing outwards as he overtakes the guy with an easy grab to his upper arm. “You like stalking women with babies?” He hisses in his ear, voice low with barely contained rage. The guy is younger than him, but rail thin, and coked out. Probably looking for money. Simon jerks him closer, and he actually yells for help, like he’s a victim. It’s enough to ground the situation, making Simon realize he has an audience, and he grits out a final warning before shoving him away. “I ever see you around my girls again… I’ll fuckin’ kill you. Piss off.” 

“What did he say?” You’re frantic, rubbing Emmaline’s back in a circular pattern, over and over like you’re trying to calm her, even though she’s perfectly content. It’s you who needs soothing, he realizes, and he takes your hand without questioning it, letting his instincts guide him in regard to you without overthinking it. 

“He was high, love. Looking for money.” He doesn’t want to scare you but… he doesn’t despise the idea of instilling some hypervigilance. Maybe this will convince you not to take the train. 

“Oh my god.” 

“Think I scared him off for good though.” He looks around, and then slips off his mask, wide thumb stroking a soft touch on Emma’s cheek before giving you a gentle squeeze. “It’s alright now.” You visibly relax, but don’t let go of his hand, tilting your face up to his, all bright and beautiful, still coming down from the adrenaline of your fear with a whisper on your lips, meant for only him to hear. 

“Our hero.”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Kickstarting “The Bezzle” audiobook, sequel to Red Team Blues

I'm heading to Berlin! On January 29, I'll be delivering Transmediale's Marshall McLuhan Lecture, and on January 30, I'll be at Otherland Books (tickets are limited! They'll have exclusive early access to the English edition of The Bezzle and the German edition of Red Team Blues!).

I'm kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to last year's Red Team Blues, featuring Marty Hench, a hard-charging, two-fisted forensic accountant who spent 40 years in Silicon Valley, busting every finance scam hatched by tech bros' feverish imaginations:

http://thebezzle.org

Marty Hench is a great character to write. His career in high-tech scambusting starts in the early 1980s with the first PCs and stretches all the way to the cryptocurrency era, the most target-rich environment for scamhunting tech has ever seen. Hench is the Zelig of tech scams, and I'm having so much fun using him to probe the seamy underbelly of the tech economy.

Enter The Bezzle, which will be published by Tor Books and Head of Zeus on Feb 20: this adventure finds Marty in the company of Scott Warms, one of the many bright technologists whose great startup was bought and destroyed by Yahoo! (yes, they really used that asinine exclamation mark). Scott is shackled to the Punctuation Factory by golden handcuffs, and he's determined to get fired without cause, so he can collect his shares and move onto the next thing.

That's how Scott and Marty find themselves on Catalina island, the redoubt of the Wrigley family, where bison roam the hills, yachts bob in the habor and fast food is banned. Scott invites Marty on a series of luxury vacations on Catalina, which end abruptly when they discover – and implode – a hamburger-related Ponzi scheme run by a real-estate millionaire who is destroying the personal finances of the Island's working-class townies out of sheer sadism.

Scott's victory is bittersweet: sure, he blew up the Ponzi scheme, but he's also made powerful enemies – the kinds of enemies who can pull strings with the notoriously corrupt LA County Sheriff's Deputies who are the only law on Catalina, and after taking a pair of felony plea deals, Scott gets the message and never visits Catalina Island again.

That could have been the end of it, but California's three-strikes law – since rescinded – means that when Scott picks up one more felony conviction for some drugs discovered during a traffic stop, he's facing life in prison.

That's where The Bezzle really gets into gear.

At its core, The Bezzle is a novel about the "shitty technology adoption curve": the idea that our worst technological schemes are sanded smooth on the bodies of prisoners, mental patients, kids and refugees before they work their way up the privilege gradient and are inflicted on all of us:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

America's prisons are vicious, brutal places, and technology has only made them worse. When Scott's prison swaps out in-person visits, the prison library, and phone calls for a "free" tablet that offers all these services as janky apps that cost ten times more than they would on the outside, the cruelty finds a business model.

Working inside and outside the prison Marty Hench and Scott Warms figure out the full nature of the scam that the captive audience of prisoners are involuntary beta-testers for, and they discover a sprawling web of real-estate fraud, tech scams, and offshore finance that is extracting fortunes from the hides of America's prisoners and their families. The criminals who run that kind of enterprise aren't shy about fighting for what they've got, and they're more than happy to cut some of LA County's notorious deputy gangs in for a cut in exchange for providing some kinetic support for the project.

The Bezzle is exactly the kind of book I was hoping I'd get to write when I kicked off the Hench series – one that decodes the scam economy, from music royalties to prison videoconferencing, real estate investment trusts to Big Four accounting firm bogus audits. It's both a fast-moving, two-fisted crime novel and a masterclass on how the rich and powerful get away with both literal and figurative murder.

It's getting a big push from both my publishers and I'll be touring western Canada and the US with it. The early reviews are spectacular. But despite all of this, I had to make my own audiobook for it, which I'm pre-selling on Kickstarter:

http://thebezzle.org

Why? Because Audible – Amazon's monopoly gatekeeper to the audiobook world, with more than 90% of the market – refuses to carry my work.

Audible uses Digital Rights Management to lock every audiobook they sell to their platform. Legally, only an Audible-authorized app can decrypt and play the audiobooks they sell you. Distributing a tool that removes Audible DRM is a felony under Section 1201 of the 1998 DMCA.

That means that if you break up with Audible – delete your Audible apps – you will lose your entire audiobook library. And the fact that you're Audible's hostage makes the writers you love into their hostages, too. Writers understand that if they leave the Audible platform, their audience will have to choose between following them, or losing all their audiobooks.

That's how Audible gets away with abusing its performers and writers, up to and including the $100m Audiblegate wage-theft scandal:

https://www.audiblegate.com/

Audible can steal $100m from its writers…and the writers still continue to sell on the platform, because leaving will cost them their audience.

This is canonical enshittification: lock in users, then screw suppliers. Lots of companies abuse DRM to do this, but none can hold a candle to Amazon, who understand that the DMCA is a copyright law that protects corporations at the expense of creators.

Under DMCA 1201 commercial distribution of a "circumvention device" carries a five-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine. That means that if I write a book, pay to have it recorded, and then sell it to you through Audible, I am criminally prohibited from giving you the tool to take it from Audible to another platform. Even though I hold the copyright to that work, I would face a harsher sentence than you would if you simply pirated the audiobook from some darknet site. Not only that: if you shoplifted the audiobook in CD form, you'd get a lighter sentence than I, the copyright holder, would receive for giving you a tool to unlock it from Amazon's platform! Hell, if you hijacked the truck that delivered the CD, you'd get off lighter than I would. This is a scam straight out of a Marty Hench novel.

This is batshit. I won't allow it. My books are licensed on the condition that they must not be sold with DRM. Which means that Audible won't sell my books, which means that my publishers are thoroughly disinterested in paying thousands of dollars to produce audiobooks of my titles. A book that isn't sold in the one store than accounts for 90% of all sales is unlikely to do well.

That's where you come in. Since 2020, I've used Kickstarter to pre-sell five of my audiobooks (I wrote nine books during lockdown!). All told, I've raised over $750,000 (gross! but still!) on these crowdfunders. More than 20,000 backers have pitched in! The last two of these books – The Internet Con and The Lost Cause – were national bestsellers.

This isn't just a way for me to pay off a lot of bills and put away something for retirement – it's proof that readers care about supporting writers and don't want to be locked in by a giant monopolist that depends on its drivers pissing in bottles to make quota.

It's a powerful message about the desire for something better than Amazon. It's part of the current that is driving the FTC to haul Amazon into court for being a monopolist, and also part of the inspiration for other authors to try treating Amazon as damage and routing around it, with spectacular results:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsteel/surprise-four-secret-novels-by-brandon-sanderson

And I'm doing it again. Last December, I went into Skyboat Media's studios where Gabrielle De Cuir directed @wilwheaton, who reprised his role as Marty Hench for the audiobook of The Bezzle. It came out amazing:

https://archive.org/details/bezzle-sample

Now I'm pre-selling this audiobook, as well as the ebook and hardcover for The Bezzle. I'm also offering bundles with the ebook and audiobook for Red Team Blues (naturally these are all DRM-free). You can get your books signed and personalized and shipped anywhere in the world, courtesy of Book Soup, and I've partnered with Libro.fm to deliver DRM-free audiobooks with an app for people who don't want to mess around with sideloading.

I've also got some spendy options for high rollers. There's three chances to name a character in the next Hench novel (Picks and Shovels, Feb 2025). There's also five chances to commission a Hench short story about your favorite tech scam, and get credited when the story is published.

The Kickstarter runs for the next three weeks, which should give me time to get the hardcopy books signed and shipped to arrive around the on-sale date. What's more, I've finally worked out all the post-Brexit kinks with shipping my UK publisher's books to EU backers. I'm working with Otherland Books to fulfill those EU orders, and it looks like I'm going to be able to sign a giant stack of those when I'm in Berlin later this month to give the annual Marshall McLuhan lecture at the Canadian embassy:

https://transmediale.de/en/2024/event/mcluhan-2024

Red Team Blues and its sequels are some of the most fun – and informative – work I've done in my quarter-century career. I love how they blend technical explanations of the scam economy with high-intensity technothrillers. That's the the same mix as my bestselling YA series Little Brother series – but these are firmly adult novels.

The Bezzle came out great. I hope you'll give it a try – and that you'll come out to see me in late February when I hit the road with the book! Here's that Kickstarter link again:

http://thebezzle.org

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/10/the-bezzle/#marty-hench

[pb-dot]

Some Thoughts on the Reddit Blackout

Like many new arrivals on Tumblr these days, I used to be a Redditor until recent developments encouraged me to take my business elsewhere, and I have been following the development of the story as thoroughly as I can without actually giving Reddit any more traffic. With the most recent development of the Reddit admin corps taking on a suite of strategies lifted straight from the depression-era railroad baron playbook, I figured the time has come to talk a little about the wider implications of this whole story.

The Tech sector is, to the best of my understanding, in a vulnerable place right now. After the Web 2.0 gold rush and years of consolidation and growth from the biggest actors, your Alphabets, Twitters, Metas, and so on, many of the larger sites and services are reaching the largest size they can expect to grow to. How, for instance, could Facebook or Twitter grow much more now that everyone and their mother is on Facebook and Twitter? Prior to the Musk buyout, Twitter seemingly settled on upping engagement, making sure people were on Twitter longer and invested more energy and emotion in the platform, usually by making damn sure the discourse zapping through that hellhole was as polarizing and hostile as possible. Meta, meanwhile, has been making bank on user data as advertisers, AI folks, and any number of other actors salivate over getting their hands on the self-updating contact and interest registry that is Facebook.

With the rise of what we apparently have decided to call AI, data is now more valuable than ever. I consider this to be yet another Tech Hype Bubble on the level of NFTs or Metaverses, but, like with the two above, I can imagine it's hard to explain that when you are a Tech CEO and your shareholders ask you "Hey, how do you plan on earning us money off of this AI/NFT/Metaverse thing?" This is not to say CEO Steve Huffman isn't handling this whole thing with the grace of a three-legged hippo, but merely to suggest that his less-than-laudable decisions and actions in this mess don't arise from his character alone but also is a result of wider systemic issues.

One of these issues is the complicated role user data plays in modern websites and -services. Since its inception as a publicly accessible space, the question of how to monetize the Internet has been a tricky one for site and service owners. Selling ad space on your website or service has long been the go-to, but this in itself presents its own issues, having to curate content that is considered ad-friendly, malicious or careless actors making using said service or website less attractive for customers, and finally how to convince your advertisers that they get what they pay for in the first place, ie. "how do I know people even look at our ads?" All of this is before you even stop to consider how ads massively favor large, established actors.

It's no small wonder, then, that several startups in the era of internet mass adoption chose to forgo ads, or at least massively deprioritize them and/or relaunch them as "promoted posts," in an attempt to escape the stigma around ads. Meta/Facebook is probably the biggest fish in this particular pond, but we also see other services such as Twitter and Reddit follow the same pattern.

What makes this work is that the data these platforms collect from their users isn't all that valuable on a person-to-person basis, knowing that so-and-so is 32 years old, lives in a traditionally conservative part of the city, goes to Starbucks a lot, and listens to Radiohead isn't particularly useful information for anyone but a dedicated but lazy stalker; When viewed as an aggregate, however, large collections of data on a large population becomes quite valuable. This is especially true if you're working with, say, targeted ads or political campaigns. Look no further than the Cambridge Analytica data scandal for an example.

Now, all this is to illustrate the strange position the user occupies in Web 2.0. We tend to think of ourselves as the customer of Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, and so on, but it isn't the case. After all, we don't pay for these services, and if we do it's to buy freedom from ads or other minor service modifications. It is more correct to say that we make up the product itself. This is true in two respects, first, an active social community is vital for social media to not be entirely pointless, and second, we generate the data that the platform holder seeks to monetize. This hybrid product/participant role doesn't map cleanly to traditional understandings of "worker," but I argue it is a closer fit than "customer."

All of this is to say that it is immensely gratifying to see the Reddit Blackout taking the shape of a strike rather than the more typical boycott model we've seen in the internet-based protests of yesteryear. Much of this, I think, we can thank the participating Reddit moderators. While the regular platform user can be *argued* to be a worker, the moderator inarguably is one, and the fact that they aren't paid for their efforts is more a credit to the prosocial nature of humans than to the corporate acumen of the platform holders. Either way, moderating a subreddit is work, if the subreddit is large, it's quite a lot of work, and moderators keeping malicious actors, scammers, and hatemongers out of everyone's hair is a must for any decently sized social space to not be an objectively terrible experience. So, if you were to, for example, withhold your labor (moderating for free) which you as a worker can do, it would be plain irresponsible to leave the place open for said bad apples to ruin everyone's bunches, thus the shutdowns.

I don't think it's a controversial take to claim that the Reddit admins also view this more as a strike than a boycott, given their use of scabs, intimidation, and other strikebreaking tactics in an attempt to break the thing up. This is nothing new, and the fact that Reddit admins are willing to stoop to these scumbag tactics tells us that their bluster about the shutdown not affecting their bottom line is nothing more than shareholder-placating hot air.

As this entire screed has perhaps demonstrated, I believe the Reddit Blackout is important. My stay at Tumblr so far has been excellent and will probably continue past this strike no matter what outcome it has, but for others in my situation, or perhaps entirely alien to the Reddit biome, I ask you to consider: If we do not stop this level of consumer and user-unfriendly bullshit Reddit have been pulling on the API change, where will it pop up next? Who's to say the next bright idea in corpo-hell isn't "Hey boss, how about we charge these nerd losers a dollar per reblog? And maybe a fiver for a Golden Reblog (TM)?"

This is perhaps getting into grandstanding, but I believe we are way past due for a renegotiation of what it means to be a platform holder and -user on this hot mess of an internet. If we as users do not take an active, strong stance on the matter, the Steve Huffmans, Elon Musks, and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world will decide without us. One does not have to be a fortune teller to see that the digital world this would create would not have our best interests in mind any more than the current one does.

So, in closing, I wish to extend my wholehearted support to the participating Moderators of Reddit and everyone who has decided to take their business elsewhere for the duration of the shutdown. Even without getting into the nitty-gritty of the API situation, this is a fight worth having, and may we through it make a world that's just a little bit less shitty.

Become Ungovernable

Become Unprofitable

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The "Essential" mod for Minecraft: Java Edition collects your personal data and shares it with advertisers

"We also work with (or may in the future work with) analytics service providers, advertisers and ad agencies, and other vendors to provide them with information regarding traffic on the Platform, including pages viewed, content interacted with, and actions taken by Users when visiting the Platform; to serve advertisements on other web sites, within mobile apps and elsewhere online; and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Platform and the effectiveness of our advertisements and other marketing campaigns. Our service providers may collect certain information about your visits to, and activity on, the Platform as well as other websites or services, they may set and access their own tracking technologies on your device (including Cookies and Web Beacons), and they may use that information to show you targeted advertisements. Some of these parties may collect Personal Information when you visit the Platform or other online websites and services. We may also share certain non-Personal Information with these parties, in connection with the services they provide to us."

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Beyond the Numbers: Reconsidering the Purpose of Writing and Social Media Goals

Pixabay In today’s social media-driven world, it’s easy to get caught up in the pursuit of likes, followers, and other metrics that supposedly measure our success online. Many aspiring writers, bloggers, and content creators set goals for themselves, whether it’s reaching 100 followers or gaining a certain number of likes on their posts. However, as we focus on these numbers, it’s important to…