The Digest: SEO, sitemaps, newspaper industry, attention in the digital age, Wikipedia, headline writing, Boris and French House – as saved to Pocket

How to Use XML Sitemaps to Boost SEO

How to Use XML Sitemaps to Boost SEO

As the web evolves, so too does Google and SEO. This means what is considered best practice is often in flux. What may have been good counsel yesterday, is not so today. Tags: seo, xml via Pocket http://j.mp/2zJ130e October 01, 2018 at 01:26PM October 01, 2018 at 01:30PM via Pocket https://www.searchenginejournal.com/xml-sitemaps-seo/266907/

Romesh Ranganathan: ‘I’ll stop talking about race when I stop experiencing racism’ Romesh Ranganathan: ‘I’ll stop talking about race when I stop experiencing racism’

My first ever gig was at a Pontins holiday camp when I was nine. It had a talent competition and I decided to enter as a standup, with a book of jokes from which I took all of my material. A lot of the jokes seemed to have no problem playing with the stereotype of Irish people being stupid. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2xRqUBZ October 01, 2018 at 03:05PM October 01, 2018 at 03:05PM via Pocket https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/sep/29/romesh-ranganathan-talking-about-race-experiencing-racism

Dynamic XML sitemaps Dynamic XML sitemaps

I’ve seen a number of clients see ranking improvements across the board by cleaning up their XML sitemaps and noindexing their utility pages: Now you’re thinking, “OK, great, Michael. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2y2VB6E October 01, 2018 at 03:18PM October 01, 2018 at 03:25PM via Pocket https://moz.com/blog/xml-sitemaps

What will happen when newspapers kill print and go online-only? Most of that print audience will just…disappear What will happen when newspapers kill print and go online-only? Most of that print audience will just…disappear

For American daily newspapers, the story of the last decade-plus hasn’t been about mass closures — it’s been about mass shrinkage. The pace at which newspapers are shutting down isn’t much different from what it was in the late 20th century. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2NaT6o5 October 01, 2018 at 03:36PM October 01, 2018 at 03:45PM via Pocket http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/09/what-will-happen-when-newspapers-kill-print-and-go-online-only-most-of-that-print-audience-will-just-disappear/

French touch – 10 of the best French touch – 10 of the best

Daft Punk, St Germain et al reinvented French music in the mid 90s, when they married old disco loops to house beats and made something beautiful. Here are the tracks with the most magical touch Tags: music via Pocket http://j.mp/2Nh3b3b October 01, 2018 at 04:12PM October 01, 2018 at 04:15PM via Pocket http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/nov/18/10-best-french-touch-daft-punk-st-germain-motorbass

It’d be a lot harder for foreign governments to hack Wikipedia than you think It’d be a lot harder for foreign governments to hack Wikipedia than you think

Get the New Statesman’s Morning Call email. Carl Miller of the think tank Demos wrote for the New Statesman in August suggesting that a concerted Russian effort to subvert and bias Wikipedia is a real possibility that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Tags: wikipedia via Pocket http://j.mp/2zJznZ6 October 01, 2018 at 08:10PM October 01, 2018 at 08:20PM via Pocket https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2018/10/it-d-be-lot-harder-foreign-governments-hack-wikipedia-you-think

What happened when this tech company stopped using Slack on Fridays What happened when this tech company stopped using Slack on Fridays

Slack is a ubiquitous part of so many workplaces. The real-time messaging and communication app has become the go-to for so many remote workplaces, distributed teams, and offices–including at our company. Tags: slack via Pocket http://j.mp/2Iv17DQ October 02, 2018 at 03:43AM October 02, 2018 at 03:50AM via Pocket https://www.fastcompany.com/90244091/what-happened-when-buffer-tried-turning-off-slack-on-fridays

Here’s Why Public Wi-Fi is a Public Health Hazard Here’s Why Public Wifi is a Public Health Hazard

Tags: security, wifi via Pocket http://j.mp/2NgI3Ki October 02, 2018 at 09:44AM October 02, 2018 at 09:45AM via Pocket https://medium.com/matter/heres-why-public-wifi-is-a-public-health-hazard-dd5b8dcb55e6

County cricket 2018 awards: the Spin’s final word on the season County cricket 2018 awards: the Spin’s final word on the season

And so, with a last splendid hurrah, the doors have closed on another county season. Tags: cricket via Pocket http://j.mp/2NUrHfv October 02, 2018 at 11:11AM October 02, 2018 at 11:15AM via Pocket https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/oct/02/the-spin-county-cricket-awards-2018

We Analyzed 100 Million Headlines. Here’s What We Learned (New Research) We Analyzed 100 Million Headlines. Here’s What We Learned (New Research)

It is difficult to overstate the importance of headlines. A good headline can entice and engage your audience to click, to read, and to share your content. In many cases headlines are the thing that is shared rather than the article. So you knew that. Tags: headlines, writing for web via Pocket http://j.mp/2y7VFSA October 02, 2018 at 12:10PM October 02, 2018 at 12:15PM via Pocket https://buzzsumo.com/blog/most-shared-headlines-study/

Sir Tim Berners Lee is building a ‘new internet’ where you control your own data Sir Tim Berners Lee is building a ‘new internet’ where you control your own data

Sir Tim Berners Lee is building a new version of the world wide web, designed to take power away from tech corporations including Facebook and Google and restore it to the individual. Tags: internet, tim berners-lee via Pocket http://j.mp/2xTvMGF October 02, 2018 at 03:30PM October 02, 2018 at 03:35PM via Pocket https://inews.co.uk/news/technology/sir-tim-berners-lee-is-building-a-new-internet-where-you-control-your-own-data/

Boris does his best Boris tribute act for Tory conference Boris does his best Boris tribute act for Tory conference

Say what you like about Boris Johnson, he delivers a second-rate speech better than most other second-rate politicians, many of whom have been on show at the Tory party conference in Birmingham this week. But the bottom line is that Boris is essentially still second rate. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2y7t1B5 October 03, 2018 at 12:10AM October 03, 2018 at 12:25AM via Pocket https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/oct/02/boris-does-his-best-boris-tribute-act-tory-conference

Apple opposing Australian encryption law which could set a precedent for the USA Apple opposing Australian encryption law which could set a precedent for the USA

Apple is one of four tech giants to come out in opposition to a proposed new law in Australia which would force companies to provide access to encrypted user data. Tags: data, encryption, law via Pocket http://j.mp/2NnwhOp October 03, 2018 at 10:51PM October 03, 2018 at 11:04PM via Pocket https://9to5mac.com/2018/10/03/apple-australia-encryption-law-2/

5 easy-to-use tools for creating infographics 5 easy-to-use tools for creating infographics

Infographic building is a skill that some of us just don’t have. If you have the time, you could learn to use Adobe After Effects or, if you have the budget, hire someone who is a pro. Tags: infographics, tools via Pocket http://j.mp/2IAuLHB October 04, 2018 at 02:10AM October 04, 2018 at 02:19AM via Pocket https://ijnet.org/en/blog/5-easy-use-tools-creating-infographics

David Attenborough: US attitude to Paris Agreement is ‘outdated’ and ‘will be overcome’ David Attenborough: US attitude to Paris Agreement is ‘outdated’ and ‘will be overcome’

David Attenborough ridiculed Donald Trump‘s withdrawal from the Paris climate change accords saying the US’s ‘outdated’ position would be ‘overcome’ eventually as there is a groundswell of support for action across the world. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2y1n8G8 October 04, 2018 at 11:07AM October 04, 2018 at 11:09AM via Pocket https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/david-attenborough-paris-agreement-climate-change-bbc-newsnight-interview-video/

Google is building a search engine for fact checks Google is building a search engine for fact checks

Google wants to make it easier for people to find fact checks. To do that, the company is building another version of what it’s most known for: a search engine. On Tuesday, the Google News Initiative launched the beta version of a tool that’s specifically for fact-checking content. Tags: factchecking, journalism via Pocket http://j.mp/2IB6mlf October 04, 2018 at 12:28PM October 04, 2018 at 12:29PM via Pocket https://www.poynter.org/news/google-building-search-engine-fact-checks

The Basics of Digital Journalism: Attention and Atomisation The Basics of Digital Journalism: Attention and Atomisation

I’m starting my seventh (!) year teaching students on the Interactive Journalism MA at City, University of London. Inspired by my colleague Sarah Marshall, I’m going to try to write up some of the core elements of the lectures as blog posts over the next 10 weeks. Tags: attention, digital journalism via Pocket http://j.mp/2RsyQ4C October 04, 2018 at 12:37PM October 04, 2018 at 12:39PM via Pocket https://onemanandhisblog.com/2018/10/the-basics-of-digital-journalism-attention-and-atomisation/

News brand attribution in distributed environments: Do people know where they get their news? News brand attribution in distributed environments: Do people know where they get their news?

News is frequently discovered on social media, away from publishers’ own platforms. Tags: attribution, social media via Pocket http://j.mp/2OCydal October 04, 2018 at 09:43PM October 04, 2018 at 09:54PM via Pocket http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/news-brand-attribution-distributed-environments-do-people-know-where-they-get-their

A really simple guide to the US mid-term elections A really simple guide to the US mid-term elections

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election. If the Democrats want to take control of the House by having the most seats, they’re going to have to claim at least 23 from the Republicans. Tags: explainer, politics, usa via Pocket http://j.mp/2O71V80 October 04, 2018 at 10:05PM October 04, 2018 at 10:09PM via Pocket https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-c2d5bac7-3827-44d1-b5a0-8e6c637736b2

How news organizations can guide through the “information jungle” How news organizations can guide through the “information jungle”

So that’s one way that journalists can approach their role. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2pAZf3x October 05, 2018 at 12:08PM October 05, 2018 at 12:09PM via Pocket http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/10/how-news-organizations-can-guide-through-the-information-jungle/

More research suggests that Twitter’s fake news “strategy” is either ineffective or non-existent More research suggests that Twitter’s fake news “strategy” is either ineffective or non-existent

Enough with the “whack-a-mole” claims that as soon as you ban one fake news site, another one pops up: A report released by Knight on Thursday finds that most of the accounts spreading fake news on Twitter during the election are still active today — and that “these top fake and conspirac Tags: fake news, twitter via Pocket http://j.mp/2PdH1jO October 05, 2018 at 12:08PM October 05, 2018 at 12:09PM via Pocket http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/10/more-research-suggests-that-twitters-fake-news-strategy-is-either-ineffective-or-nonexistent/

The 10 Best Free Udemy Courses The 10 Best Free Udemy Courses

How do you pick the best free Udemy classes when there are more than 80,000 online courses to choose from? Well, here are a few steps if you are only interested in the free courses: Tags: courses, learning via Pocket http://j.mp/2PfzX6i October 05, 2018 at 04:19PM October 05, 2018 at 04:24PM via Pocket https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-free-udemy-courses/

Viral publisher Unilad blames arch-rival LadBible for collapse Viral publisher Unilad blames arch-rival LadBible for collapse

The money has run out for Unilad and so has the banter, with staff at the viral Facebook publisher which has collapsed into administration partly blaming the nifty financial footwork of its arch-rival, LadBible, for leaving hundreds of jobs on the line. Tags: via Pocket http://j.mp/2pB4dxk October 05, 2018 at 05:06PM October 05, 2018 at 05:09PM via Pocket https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/oct/05/viral-publisher-unilad-blames-arch-rival-ladbible-for-collapse

Pinterest Adds New Discovery Option to Highlight Pins Similar to Your Interests Pinterest Adds New Discovery Option to Highlight Pins Similar to Your Interests

Pinterest is looking to boost content discovery with the addition of a new ‘more ideas’ tab which will highlight Pins similar to the content that you’ve previously saved on the platform.

Tags: pinterest

via Pocket http://j.mp/2Peyn4Q

October 07, 2018 at 03:41AM October 07, 2018 at 03:42AM

via Pocket https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/pinterest-adds-new-discovery-option-to-highlight-pins-similar-to-your-inter/538850/

Filtering trending tweets

A Twitter search filtering tip.

You can filter tweets with a specific hashtag to find any from people or organisations you follow, potentially more relevant.

For example, today: #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek, this URL shows you tweets including that hashtag from people you follow only:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/childrensmentalhealthweek?s=follows&vertical=news

Facebook’s News Feed changes leave publishers with strategies to rethink and a tougher battle against fake news

Facebook changes have left publishers with an unexpected challenge to start 2018

Publishers have been dealt a head-scratching start to 2018, following confirmation of Facebook’s previously tested News Feed changes, shifting directly posted news out of the main News Feed, leaving many strategies with an unexpected hole to plug (‘translated’ here for in layman’s terms by Adam Tinworth).

Essentially it boils down to this, from  Facebook’s own post ‘News Feed FYI: Bringing People Closer Together’, the killer blow in bold:

Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we’ll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses.

As we make these updates, Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease.

But amongst the issues and talking points, there could now be serious problems for official sources and publishers given a scenario where a person shares a post containing a bogus fact or fake news (whether intentional or not), appearing happily on any users News Feed, but a post from an official organisation or publisher responding, clarifying or verifying this incorrect post, would under the new logic, gain far less traction compared to the ‘popular’ post and have to work far harder to reach all those that would have seen the original. Thus reversing work done and and commitments to battle fake news by Facebook itself.

For example, the New York Times highlights:

“A bogus news story that spread in December illustrates the problem, Mr. Struharik said. The story claimed that a Muslim man had thanked a good Samaritan for returning his lost wallet, and had warned the Samaritan of a terrorist attack that was planned at a Christmas market.

The fabricated story circulated so widely that the local police issued a statement saying it wasn’t true. But when the police went to issue the warning on Facebook, they found that the message — unlike the fake news story they meant to combat — could no longer appear on News Feed because it came from an official account.”

As Frederic Filloux points out in his latest Monday Note post,”Facebook is done with quality journalism. Deal with it.” after all the troubles with ‘fake news and bad PR‘:

“Facebook has all the reasons in the world to get rid of journalism:

As acknowledged several times by Mark Zuckerberg, news doesn’t share well, compared to friends and family posts, while the entire Facebook model is based on the speed of sharing, multiplied by its two billion users, and coupled to an unparalleled knowledge of each one.”

Some interesting thoughts, amongst the various musings on ‘what do we do now’ posts from across media landscape, on amended strategies for publishers, from Lara O’Reilly at the WSJ (via Twitter), HT to Adam Tinworth – will be interesting to see how these might develop:

How publishers will react:

• Facebook Groups prioritised
• More journalists will be encouraged to have public profile pages
• “Tell us what you think in the comments!”

As Facebook outline:

Pages making posts that people generally don’t react to or comment on could see the biggest decreases in distribution. Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an effect.

Essentially, for publishers, these News Feed changes mean a renewed focus on making your own site’s content as engaging, shareable (in both a technical and emotive sense) and SEO-friendly.

Relying heavily on traffic from and an audience via Facebook was always going to be a gamble. ultimately they are a profit-driven business, so whatever changes they’ve made or concessions might have come along for public organisations, the bottom line will always be the bottom line.

The goal posts have shifted, as we always knew they would. Publishers’ must battle on.

Latest Facebook change to tackle ‘engagement bait’ – a warning to publishers

Another week, another Facebook change, but this “Page-level demotion” should be significant for publishers, as the battle against fake news rounds upon ‘engagment bait’.

Facebook will “…begin implementing stricter demotions for Pages that systematically and repeatedly use engagement bait to artificially gain reach in News Feed.”, with changes rolling out over the next few weeks.

So now is the time to adapt and “avoid inadvertently using engagement bait in their posts.”

Headline writing and related social posts just got harder for some publishers and some publishing strategies just took a hit.

Potential impact

Publishers using “engagement bait tactics in their posts should expect their reach on these posts to decrease.

“Pages that repeatedly share engagement bait posts will see more significant drops in reach.”

“Pages should avoid headlines that withhold information required to understand what the content of the article is and headlines that exaggerate the article to create misleading expectations.”

Facebook are directing publishers to “focus on posting relevant and meaningful stories that do not use engagement bait tactics.”

This is where it might get hazy, the line between one man’s ‘engagement tactic’ using an element of teasing the reader or highlighting a keyword or name to catch their eye amongst the unending stream of content, can be another’s murky and misleading clickbait.

One strategy, of withholding elements of a story in aheadline, might have to be rethought: “People expect the stories in their feed to be meaningful to them. When the headline of a story is missing information, people tend to find that misleading, sensational and spammy.”, although how Facebook will know if this has occured is an interesting point.

Do’s and don’ts for Facebook posting

More detail from Facebook on how they suggest publishers approach posting on the platform – Facebook will begin implementing stricter demotions for Pages that systematically and repeatedly use engagement bait to artificially gain reach in News Feed – more from News Feed Guidelines:

DO’s of Facebook publishing:

Continue to publish your work to Facebook, personalising the message to your readers, creating engaging posts – ways to do this include:

• Ask a question about the subject matter of the story to encourage commenting
• Pick out a key quote from the body of the story that will compliment the headline
• Ensure your headline/post encourages readers to click rather than giving the full story – but DON’T stray into click-bait headlines (see below)
• Continue to publish posts that ask people for help, advice, or recommendations, such as circulating a missing child report, raising money for a cause, or asking for travel tips – these will not be adversely impacted by the Facebook update.
• Ask people to ‘Spread the word’ rather than share
• Remind people to ‘Tell a friend’ or ‘Warn a loved one’
• Ensure you upload an image to your Facebook post to ensure a widescreen preview rather than a thumbnail picture.

DON’TS of Facebook publishing:

• Publish headlines that withhold information intentionally leave out crucial details or mislead people, forcing them to click to find out the answer. For example, “When She Looked Under Her Couch Cushions And Saw THIS…”
• Publish headlines that exaggerate the details of a story with sensational language tend to make the story seem like a bigger deal than it really is. For example, “WOW! Ginger tea is the secret to everlasting youth. You’ve GOT to see this!
• Ask readers to ‘Tag a friend who would do this’ as Facebook see this as ‘Tag Baiting
• Ask readers to comment or react in a certain way – Facebook sees this as ‘Comment Baiting’ or ‘Vote Baiting’

Photos: the 2017 cricket season under changing skies

A photo story, from my Instagram feed, on playing cricket for Peterborough Town CC in England and the ‘beauty’ of our summer weather in 2017.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbC4W0hAugg/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbDggMEgJ6z/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY0fF9-Aoy1/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYA2FiTgDNH/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXv9boSARok/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXfjzR2Am_P/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXIXf9rgrll/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXIW00_AJHM/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BW2ezW9g67b/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVnWmeLlMh1/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUt83KfATpf/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUgqmgsgmKX/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUUdQw9g5uJ/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUH9c_JADt7/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTMD4VlgOnu/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BS1meEegwog/

Photo: Morning thoughts under the Guildhall, Peterborough

from Instagram: http://j.mp/2r4eHVv

newsrewired snapshots for digital journalists: fake news war, live video, data vis, and robots

⚡️ Journalists > @newsrewired snapshots: feat. fake news war, live video, data vis, & robots! https://t.co/gQg2lnj0R6 #newsrw

— Richard Kendall (@richardkendall) February 9, 2017

I wasn’t at the news:rewired digital news conference yesterday, 8 February, but the updates were so excellent, and adding to a timeline in Twitter Moments was surprisingly easy.

A January 2017 photo gallery: sunshine, roses, pine cones and artistic fly-tipping

Images from Instagram, January 2017, mostly involving sunrises, sunsets, roses, and things found lying on the ground. And you can decide whether there is one showing some attractively lit fly-tipping, or whether it is some clever postmodern art. 

All shot using my iPhone SE, normally the regular camera but occasionally Camera+, with editing, and in almost all cases some filters using the excellent Snapseed app.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BO4FC85FPcl/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP0ZAo6FelE/

Nice of the 🌤️ to make a reappearance…

from Instagram: http://j.mp/2jaXQjL

Roses filter experiment #1

from Instagram: http://j.mp/2jvQyFE

Roses are pink, erm, that’s not right

from Instagram: http://j.mp/2k8W7eg

Found in Orton Longueville Wood, Peterborough

from Instagram: http://j.mp/2jWNBOP

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPfnSInF_Vm/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPes16ClANm/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPOBfcjFH2v

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPHjHQAlCBb/

Facebook not a publisher, but with 1.8bn users comes responsibility

An introduction from a Business Insider article:

“Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner sat down with Andreas Dietrich of the Swiss publication Blick and discussed the issue of fake news and Facebook’s part in it.

“Döpfner believes Facebook should not have to sort out hoaxes from real news because it is a distributor of news — not a publisher.” Read more at uk.businessinsider.com

Facebook is indeed, not directly a news organisation, and clearly dealing with the sources of fake or ‘alternative’ news would be the ultimate solution.

But to ignore the amount of ‘news’ being posted, shared, and commented on by such a huge social network without acknowledging and taking some basic responsibility in blocking factually incorrect stories would be letting down it’s user base to say the least.

Photo: Who doesn’t love a bit of sunset car washing?

Sadly, after waiting all day, the realisation that no one else was going to clean the car…so.

From Instagram: http://j.mp/2k3SFiN