Being more precise

Last night I spoke to two friends, in both conversations we talked about the crazy cold weather and multitudes of snowstorms in the Northeast so far this year. Both of them made the comment that ‘they should really call it Climate Change rather than Global Warming. By calling it Global Warming when you mean Climate Change you are probably not being precise enough. Since words influence the way we think about things – it’s really important to be precise and not to miss out important details – even when they seem obvious.

It struck me that western societies place a lot of emphasis on the importance of democracy. In the west it’s clear that democracy – the ability of the people to choose their leaders and to have a say in how their country is ruled – is something that all countries need and deserve. But democracy alone is not a value. In recent years we have seen Gaza’s citizens vote in a terrorist government, the Hamas, while Lebanon has chosen the Hezbollah to make up part of it’s government.

Democracy makes sense only when utilized by peace-loving people who want their own welfare. Democratically elected terrorists are still terrorists.

Now Egypt looks like it is headed on the same path. Assuming President Mubarak is removed, (this week?) we may well see new elections where the Muslim Brotherhood takes a major role.

So, to be precise, I am in favor of democracy by a peace-loving non-terrorist society that is educated enough to choose good leaders.
Perhaps easier said than done….

Sphinncon Jerusalem, Israel – 2011

Sphinconn SMX 2011 - Inbal Hotel Jerusalem
Yesterday we attended Sphinncon 2011 at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. I spoke on a panel about Reputation Management.

This was the best SEO/Internet Marketing event I had been to in Israel. Thanks Barry Schwartz and your team of organizers (RankAbove, TENS, etc)! While I have enjoyed the various other conferences in Israel, I have a feeling that there is now a critical mass of people doing SEO, PPC etc. here in Israel. The level of the discussions was similar to what I have heard at SES shows in the US. Unlike previous conferences, I took at least some notes during several of the lectures and panels.

A few notes I made for myself:

1) Think about utilizing various methods (caching plugins? W3 Total Cache?) to speed up page loads for sites running on Homegrown PHP CMS’s and WordPress.
2) Learn more about Microformats and how these could help us define metadata that could be helpful for identifying our posts, sites, etc. with our clients, their geolocation etc. Especially look into how we can do this for our cell phone websites – tagging pictures of phones, prices, etc.
3) Consider optimizing the intermediate terms in Instant Search – this can be a value add for Rep Management clients
4) There is a way to tag our pages so that when shared on Facebook the right blurb etc. will be pulled.
5) Optimizing and tagging video on our own sites (microformats again) could be a shortcut to better rankings – especially where there is already a video result and we can be the second in a double result.

And now for the important parts…

It was great seeing friends, clients, and colleagues – we should see each other more often!

The food was good! Note for next event: would be a very good idea to serve fruits and vegetables in the afternoon. The cakes and cookies, while tasty caused many to be tired in the late afternoon.
Oh, and while I brought my own wireless router and charged people to use it, it would be good to have Wifi working next time.

Your Reputation is…

This is what Google returns when you type “your reputation is”

the one that really sums it up for me is the last one “Your reputation is what Google says it is.”

I was speaking with a journalist yesterday who confirmed what I believed was true. If a Google search brings up some issue, it is difficult if not impossible to completely ignore it when you write an article about a given topic.

Food for thought!

Five Blocks Briefs Reputation Management Clients regarding WikiLeaks Release

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) November 30, 2010

Five Blocks Inc. a leading US-based Online Reputation Management company reported today that it has briefed clients and business partners regarding the release of classified WikiLeaks materials some of which may pertain directly or indirectly to its clients.

Specifically, Five Blocks urged affected clients to analyze the unfolding situation and take the following into consideration:

1) The greatest issue raised in the various WikiLeaks has to do with countries being private rather than public about their intentions, their plans and their beliefs. The countries that came out looking worst were ones whose public face does not match what they are saying behind closed doors. The solution is to be more direct.
2) Embrace the fact that Google and Social Media have changed the world – diplomacy is now intertwined with reputation and the resultant public discourse.
3) Be a part of that discourse in positive constructive and substantive ways.
4) Generate as much positive and especially unexpected press as possible – It may for example be a perfect time to release prisoners who shouldn’t be in prison anyway.
5) While the world is focused on your issues – it may be the perfect time to show a human face, which does not mean you have to address head-on the specific issues.

CEO, Sam Michelson stated., “While some government and political clients are clearly in crisis mode, we are working to turn this situation into an opportunity for them.”

About Five Blocks: Founded in 2007, Five Blocks is a leading Online Reputation Management company. Incorporated in Nevada and maintaining an office in Los Angeles California and a development center in Israel, Five Blocks helps individuals, organizations, politicians, and governmental agencies take control of their online reputation, especially the search results seen in Google. Five Blocks utilizes proprietary analytics technology as well as search marketing and social media best practices to create and strengthen positive online content. This allows Five Blocks to provide best-in-class Reputation Management to leading organizations in the US and internationally.

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Just got a letter from the FBI! (How did they know my email! Amazing…)

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Dept: Anti-Terrorist & Monetary Crimes Division
Office: Washington, D.C. Headquarters
Address: J. Edgar Hoover Building 93 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
E-mail: robertmueller_fbi-washington-dept.org@mail.mn

Attention: BENEFICIARY,

This is to officially inform you that a Citibank of London have transferred funds worth $4.6 Millions of United States Dollars with your name as the beneficiary.
This Citibank knows that they do not have enough facilities to effect this payment from their location to your account and therefore they used what is known as
Secret Transit Diplomatic Payment (S.T.D.P) to do this transfer and they are currently awaiting a confirmation from you for final crediting to your account.
Secret Transit Diplomatic Payments are not made unless the funds are related to terrorist activities, so if you are not intending to finance terrorism and your
transaction is legitimate, why then did you agree to receive these funds through this means that was used instead of a direct transfer to your account?

Our findings shows that this method of transfer was used in the past to finance terrorist acts, so there is need to correct this problem now to avoid you getting
into trouble when the funds reflects in your account. Under the United Nations monetary rules it is our duty as a worldwide commission to correct this little
problem before this fund will be credited into your personal account. Due to the increased difficulty and security measures set up by the United States for the
transfer of funds from foreign banks, the FBI foreign bank commission have stopped the transfer on its way to debit your reserve account and pay you through
a secured diplomatic transit account (S.D.T.T) we govern and oversee funds transfer for the World Bank and the rest of the world.

We have decided to contact you directly to acquire the proper reifications and prove from you in order to ensure that the money you are about to receive is
clean and legal. The funds are right here in United State in your name, but the bank has been instructed not to release the funds to anybody until we have
finalized our investigations. Note that the funds will not be credited into your personal account until the needed document is provided.

Your duty is to prove to us that the funds you are about to receive is a clean and the only way to prove that is by sending us this Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer
(DIST). You are to forward this document to us immediately if you have it in your possession, if you don’t have it let us know so that we will direct you where
you will obtain it so that your funds can be released. This document is to be issued to you from INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUNDS UNIT.

The Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) often referred to as a Criminal History Record or Rap Sheet, is a listing of certain information taken from
fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, naturalization, or military service.
This Condition is Valid until 5 days after which the funds shall be confiscated and legal action will be taken against you.

Guarantee: Funds will be released upon confirmation of the DIST document.

Final Instruction;

1. Credit payment instruction: irrevocable credit guarantee.

2. Beneficiary has full power when validation is cleared.

3. Beneficiaries bank in can only release funds.

4. Upon confirmation from the world bank / united nations.

5. Bearers must clear bank protocol and validation request.

We have confirmed that the amount required to procure your document which is called the Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) will cost you a
total of $550 USD only and the fee should be paid directly to the PAYMENT OFFICE IN UNITED STATE via Western Union Money transfer.
Once you have sent the required information to I.M.F Unit, they will contact you with instructions on how to make the payment of $550 USD only for the procurement
of your (DIST) DOCUMENT, to enable her expedite action on the processing and release of your payment without any further delay.

You have hereby been authorized /guaranteed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to commence towards completing this transaction, as there shall be
NO delay once payment for the (DIST) DOCUMENT has been made to the authorized agent.

NOTE: We have requested for the DIST document to make available the most complete and update records possible for the enhancement of public safety, welfare
and security of Society while recognizing the importance of individual privacy rights. If you fail to provide the Document to us, we will charge you with the
financial crimes. The United Nations Department of Justice Order 556-73 establishes rules and regulations for the subject of an FBI Identification Record to
obtain a copy of his or her own Record for review. The FBI Criminal Justice Information Service (CJIS) Division processes these requests to check illegal
activities and once you have completed payment of $550 to the agent in charge of this transaction, you’re advised to keep us posted to enable us follow up

with the release of your payment and Act fast.

FEDERAL BUREAU INVESTIGATION.

ROBERT S. MUELLER III,

DIRECTOR, FBI.

China has 280,000 people working on their online reputation, but they can still use some help.

I was reading yesterday about how China apparently has 280,000 people who work full-time on China’s online reputation – including lots of social media.
It’s what is often called astroturfing – making everything look nice even when the way you are doing it is fake. (Incidentally in our reputation management we don’t get involved in commenting or creating fake strings of conversations – we think there are better ways to work on your reputation.

This is an article about online Chinese Astroturfing.
Incredible! More than 1/4 of a million people doing Reputation Management! We have just 14 people and we manage to do a lot of nice things for clients…. Not sure what I would do with that many people, but probably I’d be making more money doing it than they are…

Anyway, so I decide to see how good a job they are doing for China.

I Google ‘China’ and I see this:

China defaced to chinkville?

A bigger view:

Needless to say, I was shocked! Someone defaced their Wikipedia page (they changed the word China with ‘Chinkville’ and then Google cached the defaced version!

So I checked the Wikipedia page and found that it had actually been defaced for only a minute (they must have people with fingers on the trigger 24/7!) by a guy called Canoftuna (who has been banned from Wikipedia for vandalizing webpages) and then someone with the handle “S h i v a (Visnu)” changed it back.

Wow! it was only there for less than a minute, but Google cached it during those few seconds?! How likely is that?

Actually it makes perfect sense. Google gets pinged by Wikipedia (or blogger or wordpress, etc.) when changes are made. When it’s a popular page on Wikipedia it gets cached right away. Changing it back also sends Google a Ping but how seriously will Google take 2 notifications within the same minute – not very.

So if I had 280,000 people working on this I would have, say 1, or maybe 1,000 of them do the following. When someone attacks your Wikipedia page, revert it back to how it was, then come back after an hour or more and make an additional but more significant change – like adding a paragraph etc. Google would then be more likely to return and re-cache it correctly.

Actually if you have 280,000 people working for you, you could have them test various scenarios and find the ideal amount of time to wait.

So my dear Chinese army of Rep Management workers… let me know if you need any help. I noticed that you have the New York Times result for China pretty high up. They tend to criticize your country a lot. That can be lowered, you know…. (wink, wink)

Healthy Office Food

I was recently speaking with a colleague who also runs a small office and we were talking about what food we provide for our staff.
He said his staff had been buying doughnuts and had now branched out into breakfast tacos!

Five Blocks provides a light lunch – or rather we have a fridge with various ingredients from which one can make their own lunch.

Over the past few weeks I am trying an experiment, purchasing somewhat healthier food to see how people like it.

We are now buying: Fruits, Vegetables, whole grain bread, tuna fish, frozen fish, low-fat yogurt, peanut butter, humus…
We have long been avoiding: Sugary drinks, Sugar-free drinks (we have a water cooler – so people can make their own tea, lemonade, etc.), pizza, hamburgers, doughnuts

Our Nespresso machine is still pumping out great coffee in various varieties including decaf…

Jury is still out on pretzels, tea biscuits, crackers…

Having an influence over what people eat ever day means the company could actually be a good influence on people’s health – we’ll see about that.
The changes we are trying are actually also being influenced by several people in the office who are making a serious effort to eat healthier foods, some avoiding meat, etc.
So far people seem to be happy. I will keep you posted….

Big Company – Small Company- Rep Management for Exxon Mobil

In our various businesses we work with various sized companies – some huge ones and others tiny.
As we have grown from 2 people to 12 over the past 5 years, I am constantly aware of the potential pitfalls of growing too big. At 2 people we could make any change to our websites or strategies immediately – at 12 people we need to talk to various people in the group to make sure our changes match their plans, don’t ruffle any feathers, etc.

Big companies take a lot longer to get things done. This is something we need to avoid in the Reputation Management business. Time is everything. But sometimes it’s just inexcusable. Exxon’s oil spill in Alaska happened in 1989 but yet when you Google “Exxon” you still see, prominently displayed, negative results!

I can’t believe Exxon doesn’t care. Either they don’t know that you can use Reputation Management to promote your online reputation and cause these results to drop lower – or they know this, but they can’t get their act together.

So, if you’re listening Exxon Mobil … contact us and we’ll do the first month free! What we charge is chump change for you anyway!