In an interesting discussion at the SearchEngineWatch forums, Your Competition CAN Hurt Your Rankings In Google, member shazbot describes how his site tanked after he purchased some site-wide links from well-ranked sites. Of course, anecdotal evidence doesn’t mean much with search engine rankings – there are many things that could cause a rankings drop, such as an algorithm change that occurred around the time of the link addition.
Jul 282005
An editorial at WSJ.com – The Doctor’s Office – notes that just about every medical condition has its own web community. The author, Benjamin Brewer, is a physician who finds that a portion of his patients go too far with their web research. These patients look up symptoms, read about rare conditions, and then demand experimental or incorrect medications.
Jul 222005
A BBC article says that ten people were arrested in Brazil after they were found to be using Orkut, Google’s online community and social networking site, to put together drug deals.
Jul 212005
Today, just about every software manufacturer has a discussion forum attached to their website. These forums create an easily searchable knowledgebase of real questions and solutions, and can reduce the load on tech support staff. Sometimes, knowledgeable users often respond to the inquiries of other users, in essence providing free support.
According to a Microsoft press release, the Xbox online gaming community doubled in size in the last twelve months, and is adding a new member every 30 seconds.
Jul 202005
When you talk to web community people, that is, operators of discussion forums, social networking sites, and the like, the most common lament is the difficulty of monetizing these efforts. Social sites tend to be technology intensive, demand continuous moderation, and have a voracious appetite for bandwidth.
Jul 202005
PhillyBurbs.com, in Supervisor praises Web site town meeting, reports that the use of an online discussion forum has helped Solebury, PA, residents provide input on town business and recently brought rapid action on a swimming pool project.
Jul 192005
At a time when many large companies are finally getting interest in building web communities, Dell eliminated their Customer Care Forum with a simple post.
Jul 182005
An Associated Press story, picked up by major outlets like USATODAY.com, highlights what savvy webmasters have known for years – Google knows a lot about its users.
Jul 152005
The Wall Street Journal, in Using Fiction to Sell Fiction, notes that publishers are exploiting online communities to sell books. They describe a couple of approaches, including setting up a blog written by a fictional character as well as other phony websites.