Vayu Media is the Atlanta Internet Marketing Company for professional search engine optimization, search engine submission services, pay per click management services, press release distribution services and custom internet marketing solutions. Vayu Media offers Websites that grow your business through its Atlanta Professional Web Design Company. The Atlanta SEO Company experience in local search engine optimization, search engine friendly website design, ecommerce website design, seo web design, corporate website design and a strategic approach to delivering custom internet marketing solutions will deliver results and support your company's growth objectives.
• Search Engine Optimization and Submission Services
• Guaranteed Search Engine Optimization Services
• Local Search Engine Optimization
• Professional Web Design Company
• Strategic Planning & Brand Identity Development
• Press Release Distribution Services
• Pay Per Click Management Services
• Internet Marketing Solutions
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is limited to the first 30 people, so register early to guarantee a seat.
About the presenters:
Jennifer
Dunphy has provided marketing and public relations expertise to the business community
since 2005. She currently manages marketing, public relations and oversees the South
American operations of Vayu Media, an interactive marketing agency. Jennifer
has extensive experience in public speaking and is often engaged to speak at
seminars related to public relations, marketing, social media, SEO, and sales.
Prior to joining Vayu Media www.VayuMedia.com as the VP of Sales & Marketing, she
was a corporate sales trainer, and ad account executive for an international
publishing company. Jennifer was nominated as one of the Metro Atlanta's
Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the year in 2009 & again in
2010. She is a Google AdWords authorized professional, as well as a
SEMPO-certified Professional.
Dorothy
(Dotty) M. Pritchett has 15 years of sales experience and more than 7 years of
coaching experience. Dotty founded Andrew Grace Associates in 2002, a
consulting company that focuses on career development (http://www.andrewgraceassociates.com). Clients appreciate her creative guidance
and value her coaching as a positive catalyst for change in their lives.
Her Legal Goddess Network (http://www.legalgoddessnetwork) is a unique community for women lawyers to collaborate in
business development. She was the Managing Partner of a division within one of
the nation's largest executive search firms.
Dotty graduated with honors from the
University of Maryland. In addition to her membership in the
International Coach Federation, Dotty is a member of the Georgia Coaches
Association, International Storytelling Network, the Storytelling in
Organizations and a coach with ProWin, a professional organization of business
women.
If you were tasked with finding a high-quality search engine
optimization (SEO) partner, either consultant, agency, contractor, or some mix
thereof, where would you start?
Finding SEO services that
1) don't suck, and 2) don't put your job (because of a poor
decision) or your site (because of risky tactics) in jeopardy isn't a trivial
exercise.
Beyond these essentials, what about retaining SEO services
that are truly a cut above the norm, that are performed by a savvy and
high-quality partner that is someone you can trust?
Scammers Abound
It must be stated that SEO is riddled with fakers,
low-quality service providers, and outright scammers. As an open industry (on
the open Web, no less) SEO is literally part of the Wild West. There are no sanctioning
bodies, no third-party entities that can truly vet all SEO services. Because
anyone can sell SEO without a license (or sadly, without any knowledge), the
industry is rife with, frankly, crap.
Coupled with this reality is the fact that SEO is a combination
of art and science. This lends its practitioners to a sort of hard-to-define
artful and intuitive understanding of search engines, combined with the hard
data of metrics and analytics, log file parsers, and semantic markup.
SEO is based on data, on delving through technical issues
and problem solving. But its greatest opportunities come from combining the
analytical side with an artful understanding of users and search engines, and
using experienced hunches to gain a competitive edge.
SEO is in High Demand
High-quality SEO is in high demand indeed. There's a lot of
money at stake, too. Traffic and ranking improvements can mean millions of
dollars for a company's bottom-line revenues.
This has created a market with service providers who are
adept at selling SEO services, but less skilled at carrying them out. Sadly,
many SEO services do little to move a company's bottom line.
How to Find a Quality SEO Partner?
But it's not as bad as it may seem. There are some bright
spots out there. Here's how to find a quality SEO partner:
Define what you need. In everything, there are specialists
and particular talents, and SEO is really no different. If your site is a
publisher needing traffic increases for CPMs, you'll have much different requirements
than an e-commerce site looking for product-level conversions. Are you looking
for link building emphasis, technical expertise, a strategic partner for growth
in SEO? Defining what it is your site(s) need is the first step toward finding
a quality SEO partner.
Ask around. Chances are someone you know already has an
opinion or two about a SEO consultant or agency. Ask them. Use your social
connections on LinkedIn and elsewhere (such as Twitter) to leverage your
trusted network, too. Some of the best leads will be word-of-mouth referrals
from people you trust.
Read trade pubs. Sites such as this one, ClickZ, Search
Engine Land, SEOmoz, SEOBook, and others are a great place to get familiar with
the faces and personalities of SEO. By reading industry sites you'll get to
know what each of the contributors are like, what their particular style and
strengths are, and what their personality is like. It's important when choosing
a SEO partner that you not only look at particular competencies and experiences,
but also what the personality fit is with your own company. Remember, you're
looking for a partner, and it helps to be someone you'll enjoy working with.
Attend conferences. Conferences such as SES are probably the
single best way to vet potential SEO partners. There are many advantages to
being in person with these people, and it will give you the greatest ability to
really "get" the particular skills and areas of focus a SEO can
provide. It doesn't hurt that there are often many networking opportunities
with ample alcoholic beverages, which always help to loosen lips and ease
inhibitions; a great time to ask some pointed (and friendly) questions.
Dip a toe in the water. Don't be afraid to ask for a test or
pilot, a three- to four-month trial, or specific SEO project. This gives you
time to see what level of SEO the partner can bring to the table, and frees you
up from committing to anything long term while you're still unsure.
What Warning Signs Should You Look For?
Now that you know how to go about looking for SEO services,
here are a few things you should beware of -- things that should throw up red
flags.
Watch out for SEOs that can't answer questions confidently.
No one knows everything. In SEO, you can't expect someone to answer every question
you pose with a perfect answer, but you can expect them to answer honestly and
confidently. You're really just looking for confidence, generally: how
competent and composed is the SEO you're dealing with? Do they know how to
answer questions logically and reasonably, or do they get flustered and
defensive by pointed questions?
Beware of odd pricing packages (agencies that optimize
"by the page"). The days of optimizing 10, 20, or 100 URLs and
calling that "SEO" are over. SEO isn't about a page or two, it's
about a strategic approach that leverages a site's unique offerings, whatever
they are. You can't do that by picking out a selection of pages and calling
that "good." Companies that price by the page are using a
short-sighted approach that more than likely doesn't have your best interests
in line with their own.
Beware of packages, period. SEO is organic. Selling SEO by
the package is just plain wrong, too. Why? Because SEO cannot be packaged. It
is by nature an organic discipline that requires innovation, creativity,
analysis and the willingness to try "out of the box" things.
"SEO Package #1, 2, and 3" will stifle your SEO opportunity by
limiting the universe of potential work that might need to happen to a set list
of pre-defined criteria that a SEO company has placed within scope. This can
impose restrictions on your SEO campaign, which you absolutely don't want.
Beware of SEOs using techniques that put you at risk. This
includes buying links, cloaking with an intent to deceive users and/or search
engines, stealing content, etc. Find out and be assured that the partner you
choose doesn't mess around with any tricks that could harm your company.
Beware of restrictive contracts. Watch out for contracts
that require a 90-day out, or that lock you into long-term commitments. No SEO
contract should ask for more than a 60-day out, and a 30-day out is probably
all that's required.
Strategic, quality SEO is something nearly every site must
be aware of (even Google needs SEO). But it's not easy to find. Best of luck in
your search!
Vayu Media is a top ranked Atlanta SEO Company and believes
in full transparency.Call us to discuss
your internet marketing strategy.
What
happens when a small business owner gets on Google's bad side? In Ryan
Abood's case, the answer is, "your business gets crushed and you spend
a year and a half in internet Siberia." Do not trifle with The Google.
Abood kind of had it coming. The proprietor of
GourmetGiftBaskets.com had been indirectly buying links to boost his
position in Google search results, a big no no in the Google rulebook, he writes in Inc. magazine.
But the rulebreaking was inadvertent; Abood said he had paid for
ethical search engine optimization only, and one of the two companies
(!) he hired to boost his search ranking broke with that policy. The
entrepreneur was hardly a Google-gaming pro, in fact he had only
thought to dabble in what's known as "SEO" after noticing that his
parents' flower shop had done a tidy gift basket business thanks to its
organic Google rank.
Crossing Google's guidelines got Abood effectively ejected from
search results right before the 2008 holiday season, when he lost close
to $2 million in business. He lost another $2 million or so in 2009 and
didn't get back atop the search results until June, after Google
revamped its search results. Google's Matt Cutts has confirmed the businessman's story via Twitter and added the warning, "our guidelines are clear on this topic." Translation: Let Ryan Abood be a lesson to the rest of you about how Google can bring the pain. Chilling.
There are two different outcomes that many websites or businesses strive for when they market themselves online but which is more important: achieving higher search engine rankings or really building out your business brand in the online space? Both are important and crucial for success online but which do you prefer?
Since the spawn of the search engines many people's mindset has always been to be on page 1. Everything they did online revolved around being on page 1 and we grew with the search engines thinking that the only way a website can succeed is to have high search rankings for their targeted keywords. As a website owner it is important to understand that things have changed, they are changing and they will change even more so it is important to be diverse. For some reason most people are in the mindset of approaching the search engine ranking ranking game with a short term marketing mindset (example: need high rankings by next week). Why is that? Do you plan on keeping your business around for just a short while? Building a brand around your business online will not only help your rankings but it helps you sustain your business well into the future. What is going to happen to your business if you spend all your time simply focused on rankings and all of a sudden Google makes a change where your rankings dip? If you have been simultaneously building your brand online you can weather that storm and keep bringing in new business but if you have been centered on just rankings than you could find yourself knee deep in mud with nowhere to go.
Search engine rankings and brand building should go hand in hand when venturing into the online marketing space. It doesn't matter what your business is building a brand has become even more important than ever before. Things like social media and the recent economic decline have caused businesses to really strengthen their online image. Purchasing behavior has changed and if you have a hard time acknowledging that you might find your business drying up quickly. Don't spend all your time on short term efforts because the long term marketing and branding efforts are just as important.
Improving Your Smile Made Easier With Advancements DunsonDental.com Uses Latest Technology For Dental Implants in Centre Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia -- Experienced cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernee Dunson, is finding new and innovative ways to improve his client's smiles through the latest and most advanced technology available in the dental industry.
Dr. Dunson takes pride in honing his skills as a cosmetic dentist, and his full-service practice and committed team of dental specialists offer quality cosmetic and family dental care in a convenient, state-of-the-art facility in Atlanta, Georgia. As a Georgia cosmetic dentist, Dr. Dunson works to correct both minor and major dental imperfections. Due to the fact that Dunson Dental Design takes advantage of the latest technological advances, dramatic improvements can be made in just a few visits.
"My team and I try to see everything from the patients' perspective," said Dr. Dunson, and everything in their modern and spacious office is a nod to that statement. From the first free consultation, it would be hard to not notice the attention to detail in the 2,500 square foot office space. Those seeking dental implants in Atlanta will be treated to the best dental equipment available including the best quality chairs and dental imagine equipment.
Not simply a dental implantcenter in Georgia, Dunson Dental Design is also one of the most highly respected sedation dentists in the Atlanta area. Providing this additional service further demonstrates the care and consideration provided to their clients - affording a comfortable and relaxing dental experience to those who may be anxious about the procedures.
"It is extremely wonderful to feel valued and informed," are just some of many words of high praise from Dr. Dunsons' clients. Providing Atlanta, Georgia dental implants services in such a relaxing environment while using the most sophisticated equipment, is no doubt what gives keeps people coming back. Dr. Dunson continues to blend the most advanced technology, a continuing education, and years of hands-on experience, and this allows him to deliver the most comfortable and professional dental experience for each and every patient.
For more information about cosmetic dentistry in Atlanta, services offered, or to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Dunson, visit: www.dunsondental.com or contact Dr. Dunson by email at: hdunson@dunsondental.com , or by phone at: (404) 418-8626.
About Dunson Dental Design:
Dunson Dental Design makes it easy to achieve that perfect smile. Dr. Bernee Dunson and our dental design team offer a wide range of popular services. Dunson Dental is conveniently situated in Midtown Atlanta to serve our patients in the metropolitan area as throughout all Georgia.
Atlanta, GA - A local Atlanta cosmetic dentist has spoken out regarding the use of dental implants for patients who suffer from missing, broken or cracked teeth.
Amid questions regarding the safety of titanium dental implants used to anchor replacement teeth to the jaw, Dunson Dental Designs has asserted that these implants "replicate the entire structure of a tooth from root to crown," enabling them to function as if they were the patient's original root.
Dr. Bernee Dunson, a noted cosmetic dentist in Georgia, has been re-creating patient's teeth for over a decade, and has seen a great deal of change in the area of dental implant technology.
One concern that has been raised by many individuals seeking a tooth repair or implant solution is that the implants may become cracked or deformed over time. By "tailoring the design of crowns, bridges, and dentures to the unique shape of each patient's mouth," Dunson Dental Design is able to ensure that the crafted replacement teeth match the originals in strength and longevity.
Safety concerns have also been noted about the use of dental implants, even those done by skilled specialists. Due to the nature of the implant, which gradually adheres itself to the jawbone over time, it is the healing ability of each patient that most significantly impacts the safety of the procedure.
For that reason, Atlanta cosmetic dentist firms such as Dunson Dental Design conduct a thorough examination of each patient, their medical history, and the current condition of their teeth and gums, in order to determine if they are an ideal candidate. If so, a personalized treatment plan can be created.
With some of the best cosmetic specialists in the state of Georgia, Dunson Dental Design is committed to monitoring the entire procedure - from the sedated titanium root surgery to the implant affixing itself - in order to ensure the highest standards of safety are maintained.
In recent years, the demand for functional and attractive dental implants has risen dramatically, and according to Dunson Dental Design, these implants are absolutely safe when installed properly.
For more information about cosmetic dentistry in Atlanta, services offered, or to schedule a free consultation with Dr. Dunson, visit: www.dunsondental.com or contact Dr. Dunson by email at: hdunson@dunsondental.com , or by phone at: (404) 418-8626.
About Dunson Dental Design:
Dunson Dental Design makes it easy to achieve that perfect smile. Dr. Bernee Dunson and our dental design team offer a wide range of popular services. Dunson Dental is conveniently situated in Midtown Atlanta to serve our patients in the metropolitan area as throughout all Georgia.
Atlanta- August 2th, 2010TAG
Education Collaborative (TAG-ED) has announced the launch of their new
website at http://www.tagedonline.org.The user-friendly site offers information about the organization's
operation, programs, events, as well as resource information and news.
"This site is an effort to provide TAG-ED
with a platform to create more community awareness about the importance of
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and its role
in the development of the next generation of innovation.", said John Hurlbut,
Executive Director of TAG-ED. "We wanted a clean and navigable website that our
stakeholders will find appealing and informative."
Visitors to this site can read about the organization's
history and services, as well as the profile of each member of the TAG-ED Board
of Directors.
The new tagedonline.org site was built by Glick
Interactive to be a destination for visitors to learn about TAG-ED news as well as education news
around the country while giving TAG-ED sponsors a way to advertise and promote
messaging towards the TAG-ED constituency. "We built the TAG-ED site on
the Drupal platform to give the TAG ED administrators the power of a content
management system (CMS) to manage the site content, events, and
sponsorships", stated Abhi Goel, President of Glick. The website is
hosted at Colocube (www.colocube.com), a TAG-ED sponsor.
Formerly the TAG
Foundation, the TAG Education Collaborative is a 501c3 non-profit organization
which was formed by the Technology Association of Georgia in 1999. In 2009, the
organization's name was changed to the TAG Education Collaborative (TAG-ED) to
facilitate a re-branding that would enable it to be a catalyst for Georgia's
K-12 education system to become a leader and innovator for STEM related
education. TAG-ED's efforts in this area are vital to the development of the
talent that will be required to fill the growing demand for qualified staff for
careers in information technology, science and engineering.
Glick Interactive as an Atlanta
based, full-service web development and design firm with international offices
in Moscow and New Delhi. Glick leverages the latest
Internet and interactive technologies to make its clients successful. Glick
takes pride in its work and constantly strives for excellence.
About The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)
TAG is a leading technology industry association
dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology
industry. TAG provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of
policy, capital, education and giving, and also brings the technology community
together through events, initiative programs and networking opportunities. TAG
serves as an umbrella organization for 27 special interest groups, or
Societies, including Women in Technology (WIT). Additionally, TAG's charitable
arm, the TAG Education Collaborative, is focused on helping science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) education initiatives thrive. For more
information visit the TAG website at http://www.tagonline.org or TAG's
community website at http://www.TAGthink.com.
Luxury firms are digital laggards, but some are catching up
Jul 22nd 2010 | berlin and paris
WHEN Oscar de la Renta, an American fashion house, launched a
transactional website some years ago, it expected people to buy mostly
smaller items such as belts and perfume. The firm was stunned when it
received an online order last spring for an $80,000 sable coat from a
new customer in New Hampshire. He couldn't get to New York, apparently.
Online customers have been snapping up the firm's core product: $4,000
cocktail dresses. "We could not have been more wrong in our
expectations of the internet," says Alex Bolen, the firm's chief
executive. Online purchases are still a small proportion of total
sales, but growing rapidly.
Most luxury-goods firms are less open-minded. Many scorn the
internet as a plaything for plebs. A product sold online, wrote
Jean-Noël Kapferer, a French branding guru, in "The Luxury Strategy",
published last year, ceases to be a luxury item. In early 2008, of 178
luxury firms around the world surveyed by Forrester Research, only a
third sold their products on the internet. That figure has risen, but
still about half of firms don't sell online at all, estimates Federico
Marchetti, the founder of Yoox Group, owner of Yoox.com, a luxury-goods
website.
Prada, an Italian design house, had no website until 2007. It did
not start selling products online until last year. Several American
companies, such as Tiffany & Co, have thriving web businesses, but
European firms, especially the old French houses, such as Chanel and
Hermès, are still afraid of mice.
Luxury executives explain
that the internet is too impersonal for their products, which need the
human touch. Allowing anyone to buy online can mean a loss of cachet.
Luxury firms like to dazzle customers with plush stores and sleek ads,
so that they think only about beauty and not at all about price. The
web, by contrast, shines a clear light on price. "That's the last thing
I want people to think about," wails an executive from the watch
industry.
It is largely the industry's own fault that the internet is
associated with lower prices for its products. For years, firms
discreetly disposed of end-of-season stock at deep discounts via
websites such as Yoox.com. Some fashion houses make clothing
exclusively for Yoox.com as a way to use up left-over fabric. Also, by
shunning the internet in its early days, legitimate firms helped to
create a vacuum that counterfeiters were happy to fill, says Uché
Okonkwo, the author of "Luxury Online".
There is every sign, however, that buyers of full-price luxury goods
crave the convenience of online shopping, so companies are being forced
to adapt. In April Richemont, a Swiss luxury-goods giant, bought
Net-a-Porter, a specialist fashion online retailer founded in 2000, in
a deal valuing it at £350m ($535m).
Net-a-Porter's appeal is not price, says Danny Rimer of Index
Ventures, a venture-capital fund which backed the firm, but the
convenience of getting items delivered to your door before they sell
out. Executives are now watching to see whether Richemont will allow
Net-a-Porter to sell its many other brands, including Cartier watches.
Most luxury-watch firms, such as Hublot, do not sell online. This seems
perverse: watches fit easily and buyers are usually collectors who know
the models well. The main problem, explains Jean-Claude Biver, chief
executive of Hublot, is that watch firms have long-standing agreements
with independent retailers, and selling online would disrupt the
system.
Another sign of change is a new venture by a former Richemont
executive, Mark Dunhill, to revive Fabergé, a jewellery-maker (one of
whose baubles is pictured above), using the internet as its chief
global distribution channel. Fabergé, owned by Pallinghurst Resources,
a mining firm, launched last September with a single shop in Geneva and
a sophisticated, interactive website. The industry is watching the
experiment closely. If a luxury brand can thrive without a vast
investment in retail space, says Luca Solca of Bernstein Research,
barriers to entry will fall.
A person close to Fabergé says it has reached its nine-month target
of hooking 50 new clients, each spending on average $100,000. Even
Prada now says that within five years, some 40% of its revenues in
America will come from the internet. Observers, however, doubt that
such an aggressive target is realistic, noting that Prada currently
sells only bags, wallets and other accessories online, not its main
clothing and footwear collections.
Luxury firms may at last be waking up to the internet, but they have
a long way to catch up. Carmakers have been innovating online for
nearly a decade, observes Ms Okonkwo. With exceptions, luxury websites
tend to be showy but unoriginal, since firms often use the same web
designers. Few are properly interactive: customers usually cannot view
products from different angles, or try on clothes virtually.
The most innovative online luxury firms are typically small
start-ups, such as Net-a-Porter, Yoox (which went public late last
year) or Gilt Groupe, a website which runs exclusive sales for members.
All these companies have built successful new business models. The
industry's ageing giants have been caught with their elegant trousers
down.
Louis Vuitton, a maker of leather goods and clothes, is one of the
few luxury brands to have prospered online. Unlike many of its peers,
it offers nearly all its products on the web. The internet brings in as
much money as one of its biggest bricks-and-mortar shops, says Antoine
Arnault, the firm's communications director. But Louis Vuitton's
parent, LVMH, was last year forced to shut down eLuxury, a website
founded in 2000 which sold a wide variety of luxury brands, because it
lost money by the suitcasefull. According to insiders, it failed mainly
because it lacked focus: it sold expensive products alongside
relatively cheap ones. It is odd that an industry that would not be
seen dead in last season's colour is wedded to the last century's
technology. Divorce beckons.
Despite its giant population, Facebook is not quite a sovereign state--but it is beginning to look and act like one
Jul 22nd 2010 | berlin and san francisco
A COUPLE of months or so after becoming Britain's prime minister,
David Cameron wanted a few tips from somebody who could tell him how it
felt to be responsible for, and accountable to, many millions of
people: people who expected things from him, even though in most cases
he would never shake their hands.
He turned not to a fellow head of government but to...Mark
Zuckerberg, the founder and boss of Facebook, the phenomenally
successful social network. (It announced on July 21st that it had 500m
users, up from 150m at the start of 2009.) In a well-publicised online
video chat this month, the two men swapped ideas about ways for
networks to help governments. Was this just a political leader seeking
a spot of help from the private sector--or was it more like diplomacy, a
comparison of notes between the masters of two great nations?
In some ways, it might seem absurd to call Facebook a state and Mr
Zuckerberg its governor. It has no land to defend; no police to enforce
law and order; it does not have subjects, bound by a clear cluster of
rights, obligations and cultural signals. Compared with citizenship of
a country, membership is easy to acquire and renounce. Nor do
Facebook's boss and his executives depend directly on the assent of an
"electorate" that can unseat them. Technically, the only people they
report to are the shareholders.
But many web-watchers do
detect country-like features in Facebook. "[It] is a device that allows
people to get together and control their own destiny, much like a
nation-state," says David Post, a law professor at Temple University.
If that sounds like a flattering description of Facebook's "groups"
(often rallying people with whimsical fads and aversions), then it is
worth recalling a classic definition of the modern nation-state. As
Benedict Anderson, a political scientist, put it, such polities are
"imagined communities" in which each person feels a bond with millions
of anonymous fellow-citizens. In centuries past, people looked up to
kings or bishops; but in an age of mass literacy and printing in
vernacular languages, so Mr Anderson argued, horizontal ties matter
more.
So if newspapers and tatty paperbacks can create new social and
political units, for which people toil and die, perhaps the latest
forms of communication can do likewise. In his 2006 book "Code: Version
2.0", a legal scholar, Lawrence Lessig noted that online communities
were transcending the limits of conventional states--and predicted that
members of these communities would find it "difficult to stand neutral
in this international space".
To many, that forecast still smacks of cyber-fantasy. But the rise
of Facebook at least gives pause for thought. If it were a physical
nation, it would now be the third most populous on earth. Mr Zuckerberg
is confident there will be a billion users in a few years. Facebook is
unprecedented not only in its scale but also in its ability to blur
boundaries between the real and virtual worlds. A few years ago, online
communities evoked fantasy games played by small, geeky groups. But as
technology made possible large virtual arenas like Second Life or World
of Warcraft, an online game with millions of players, so the overlap
between cyberspace and real human existence began to grow.
From the users' viewpoint, Facebook can feel a bit like a liberal
polity: a space in which people air opinions, rally support and right
wrongs. What about the view from the top? Is Facebook a place that
needs governing, just as a country does? Brad Burnham of Union Square
Ventures, a venture-capital firm, has argued that the answer is yes. In
the spirit of liberal politics, he thinks the job of Facebook's
managers is to create a space in which citizens and firms feel
comfortable investing their time and money to create things.
Facebook has certainly tried to guide the development of its online
economy, almost in the way that governments seek to influence economic
activity in the real world, through fiscal and monetary policy. Earlier
this year the firm said it wanted applications running on its platform
to accept its virtual currency, known as Facebook Credits. It argued
that this was in the interests of Facebook users, who would no longer
have to use different online currencies for different applications. But
this infuriated some developers, who resent the fact that Facebook
takes a 30% cut on every transaction involving credits.
Like any ruling elite that knows it relies on the consent from the
ruled, Facebook seeks advice from its members on questions of
governance. It allows users to vote on proposed changes to its terms of
service, and it holds online forums to solicit views on future
policies. And like any well-intentioned politico, Facebook makes
blunders: its members were infuriated earlier this year by changes to
its policy that made public some previously private information. If Mr
Zuckerberg achieves his goal of creating the world's favourite "social
utility", he may need to give users a more formal say--a bit like a
constitution.
Experience shows that networks which neglect governance pay a
price. Take MySpace, which was once much bigger than Facebook: its
growth stalled a couple of years ago when its managers let the site
become too disorderly. There is a thin line, it seems, between the
freedom that spurs creativity and a free-for-all.
For now at least, real governments still have some aces; they can
simply pull the plug on the service. Facebook is blocked in China, and
in May it was temporarily cut off in Pakistan, under a court ruling
about a page that advertised a contest to draw the Prophet Muhammad.
Perhaps Facebook is less a nation than a giant transnational
movement--comparable to the Red Cross or the Catholic church--which has
an overarching aim and can speak to governments on something like equal
terms.
As Facebook's masters present it, their mission is just to make the
world more open and connected--and bring closer the "global village"
predicted in the 1960s by Marshall McLuhan, a futurologist they love.
Their claim to be accelerators has some force. Facebook's success
"raises a lot of issues that we thought were a generation away," says
Edward Castronova, a professor at Indiana University. One of them is
how much impact virtual economies and currencies will have on real
world ones. The Chinese government has repeatedly curbed virtual
currencies. Last year it banned their use to buy real-world goods and
services, in part because of concerns about the impact on the yuan.
Facebook may also influence how governments supply services, and
compete to provide them. For instance, the firm allows members to use
their Facebook profiles to log into other sites around the web,
creating a sort of passport. A similar facility could help people on
the move retain access to government services. And then there is the
question of how social networks will change politics. Clearly, they
help to stimulate discussion and marshal action, and they let
governments trawl for and test proposals. When Messrs Cameron and
Zuckerberg conferred, the main topic was how to get new ideas for
cutting public spending.
Like many diplomatic relationships, theirs was fickle. Days after
the chat, Facebook was rebuked by the British government for allowing
tributes to a murderer to be posted. The firm refused to remove the
offending page, which was later taken down by its creator. "Facebook is
a place where people can express their views and discuss things in an
open way, as they can and do in many other places," it said. Mr
Zuckerberg may not have any territory, but he was determined to stand
his ground.
ATLANTA -
July 12, 2010- The Technology
Association of Georgia (TAG), a leading technology industry association
dedicated to the advancement of the technology industry in Georgia, today
announced that John C. Yates, partner-in-charge of the Technology Practice at
Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP has been selected as the chair of the 2011 State of the Industry Report:
Technology in Georgia Task Force. In this role, Yates will help define the
annual mission and determine the contents, structure and dissemination of the
2011 report.
"I'm looking forward to supporting TAG as chair of the Industry Report task force,"
stated Yates. "I'm passionate about the Atlanta technology community and
ensuring that we thrive as a global technology hub. The State of the Industry
Report is one of the most critical deliverables for educating executives,
entrepreneurs and investors about the key benefits of Georgia's tech community. We will
use the data from the 2011 report to shape the technology strategy and policy
agenda for our State in this decade."
The State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report, which is
supported by the Georgia Economic and Community Development Department (GDEcD),
the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), and the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC),
provides an in-depth analysis of factors critical to the continued success and
growth of the Atlanta technology community. It will
be released at the 2011 Georgia Technology Summit and presented throughout the
year to strategic organizations.
"The State of the Industry report is a key component of TAG's
broadened mission to support the economic development community, and we're
excited to add new components this year," said TAG President Tino Mantella. "John has been a dedicated TAG Board Member and is a
highly respected leader in the community. His insight, particularly in relation
to key Atlanta
technology sectors and information that business leaders use in making key
strategic decisions, is exactly what's needed to take our economic development
efforts to the next level."
TAG is a leading technology industry association dedicated to the
promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology industry. TAG
provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital,
education and giving, and also brings the technology community together through
events, initiative programs and networking opportunities. TAG serves as an
umbrella organization for 27 special interest groups, or societies, including
Women in Technology (WIT). Additionally, TAG's charitable arm, the TAG
Education Collaborative, is focused on helping science, technology, engineering
and math (STEM) education initiatives thrive. For more information visit the
TAG website at http://www.tagonline.org or TAG's community website at http://www.TAGthink.com.
Media
Contact: Melanie Brandt
404-920-2037 Melanie@TAGonline.org
About Morris,
Manning & Martin, LLP
Morris, Manning & Martin (http://www.mmmlaw.com)
is a full-service law firm with national and international reach. We
dedicate ourselves to the constant pursuit of our clients' success. To
provide our clients with optimal value, we combine market-leading legal
services with a total understanding of their needs to maximize effectiveness,
efficiency and opportunity. MMM enjoys national prominence for its technology,
intellectual property, litigation, healthcare, capital markets, environmental,
green industry, insurance, real estate, mergers & acquisitions and
timberland & forest products practices. MMM has offices in Atlanta,
Raleigh-Durham, Savannah, Taipei, Beijing and Washington, D.C. and now an
alliance with FGCN in São Paulo, Brazil.
What
happens when a small business owner gets on Google's bad side? In Ryan
Abood's case, the answer is, "your business gets crushed and you spend
a year and a half in internet Siberia." Do not trifle with The Google.
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