Internet Marketing Blog

True Cybercrimes

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As social media gains popularity in our common lives, protection of our identity becomes paramount.  One who is more of a dilettante to viral socializing may just decide to deactivate themselves, which is fine.  Others who value social media as a portal to entertainment and interaction plan to investigate their privacy rights according to the website policy, seeking loopholes in data accessibility in order to close them.  

The advancement of smartphone technology will only intensify the sharing of personal information across hardware and channels, so diligence need apply.  We are already seeing this with the development of geolocation, a practice where one can update their point on Earth in real time.  Security concerns have been shared on this space and the cyberworld, so delving in farther is unnecessary.

Despite all of this emerging concern with the increase of channel platforms to transfer data between your laptop, mobile phone, video game console, and the like, the public remains concerned about traditional cybercrimes such as identity theft.  Banks remain the least trusted business, according to recent survey done by Kindsight.  I have heard stories about security fraud in the past and present, as banks would infiltrate their customers with phishing messages while touting the finest security emblems on their webpage.  Credit histories are at stake when e-commerce transactions go haywire. When it comes to banking, however, many people have lifestyles today that do not permit the time to wait in a teller line for routine transactions. Larger firms, in light of the financial settlement passed by Congress, have taken steps to mitigate this personal service by assessing fees.  It will affect several demographics, namely senior citizens who are not technologically efficient.  This situation deserves monitoring by all, as the restrictive legal elements have yet to make a measurable impact.

Millennial who are savvy with their hardware and software easily make the adjustments necessary to protect their personal identity online.  Others struggle with the societal shift to online distribution of personal data, and whether they become successful remains to be seen.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Blog Marketing, Click Fraud, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Social Media Marketing, World, blog, eCommerce | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, Click Fraud, click fraud security, identity theft, kindsight, preventing click fraud, Social Media Marketing

Target Stays On Point With and Without Gilt

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In today’s news, Target will enter a partnership with Gilt Groupe to do an exclusive flash-sale of its fall collection.  It’s a deft move for brands to leverage two popular consumer bases and improve their online advertising metrics.  Target, for years, has cemented their reach as a haute purveyor with thrifty price points through esteemed labels such as Isaac Mizrahi and Alexander McQueen.  This experiment with Gilt Groupe takes their interactive marketing reach to a higher level, but one must wonder the inverse effect for Gilt?  This is the second premiere retailer they are working with on an exclusive sale campaign.  They initially ran a Rewards Program Sale with Starbucks earlier this month.  Are they trying to sell out for mainstream fervor?  The economic downturn has been a blessing for this online apparel retailer, which gained popularity through exclusive membership offers that allow entrants to purchase quality products at a reasonable price within a certain amount of time.  Their e-commerce model is sound, and the navigable, metallic website creates an aura of mystique.  Why the rush to outreach?

Brands that emerge from obscurity often face a crossroads from an equity standpoint and must decide on whether to branch far beyond their niche on a broad level or make incremental growth strategies.  Some have the product that stands the test of durability and competition, allowing profitability to flow from above.  The other side of that coin are those that do not have the vision to see pitfalls in the marketplace nor make the necessary adjustments to keep the brand afloat.

The partnership of these two firms is interesting in that their approach mirrors the scenario explained in the prior paragraph.  Target has clear advantages in their retail market strategy with a wider level of products and stores to maintain fixed cash flow, such as personal care items.  Their marketing team can afford to create niche strategies, while giving them the resources to develop their own unique consumer base.  

Gilt Groupe, as a novice e-commerce retailer, doesn’t have this same flexibility in terms of risk.  They could be compromising the integrity of their mission, for all we know.  It will be interesting to see if they maintain this aggressive outreach into mainstream brand partnerships.  The sale starts at high noon Eastern Time on Friday, at Gilt.com.  Your fingers and debit card should be ready.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Small Business, World, blog | 1 Comment »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner Marketing, gilt groupe, internet marketing agency ny, new york interactive marketing agency, new york web design agency, search marketing agency ny, target fashion labels, target mashable

Weekly Blueliner Newsminer

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Hello, readers.  This week has been an interesting one in the world of interactive marketing.  Let’s start analyzing the storylines.

1. A Jet Blue Afternoon Steve Slater appears to be the missile that will send JetBlue spiraling down to the graveyard of aviation next to Pan Am and TWA.  His story has become a sensation on interactive media waves, through a new PayPal fund, a Facebook fan page, and endless Tweet streams. Jet Blue has been lauded for their social media initiatives, which has allowed it to offer exclusive deals and interact transparently with customers.  Their comments have been mitigated due to the legal investigation, aside from a self-effacing blog post.  Media pundits worry about JetBlue’s ability to respond, but I feel that the airline will pass unscathed.  I have flown with them on several occasions and had positive experiences each trip.  This incident does not reflect a trend of airline insecurity, and the FAA needs to be privy about this fact.  JetBlue’s digital communication  has set a benchmark for an industry criticized for poor management.  Federal regulators also need to be privy with another industry on the mainland.

2. Google and Verizon Challenge Net Neutrality I discussed this story briefly on Tuesday, and both sides have taken a viral lashing. Google’s misstep in this case was to deny the existence of a discussion to synthesize mobile airwaves with broadband, then admit it.  I also think to simply say that the FCC is now the arbiter sets a dangerous precedent as well.  Their previous forays into communicative regulation  were a disaster.  According to media sources, Google sees Congress making the first move on settling the issue.  Protection of internet vitality is tantamount, but should the private sector set the rules for a public domain? The strands are still bound, and need time to be pulled for this story to clarify itself to understand its impact on advertising.

3. Public Trading, By Skype As customers of Skype, Blueliner values the internet phone server for providing digital communication on several platforms since our business overlaps two distant time zones.  This week, they announced a strategy to trade publicly on the NASDAQ.  The venture carries a lot of risks with a low customer-paying base and the presence of Google carrying similar services hedged with search advertising revenue.  They need to leverage that loyal customer base into one that will pay for exclusive content, something that Hulu is attempting with the Plus membership.  One writer believes that they must maintain control over the voice internet protocol market in order to have a shot.  I think they should aim higher into the clouds.  An alliance with a veteran telecom can do that.

4. Capital T for Tweet Twitter officially launched a new Tweet button in partnership with the British start-up TweeetMeMe yesterday.  The venture gives Twitter the flexibility to develop new programs with the expected jump in advertising revenue from using TweetMe’s data source.  At the moment, TweetMeMe is not interested in a sales transaction.  The Tweet button is simply more than a response to Facebook.  It is an attempt to truly streamline content for search indexes where news feeds reach the top.  It could be even more revolutionary for newswires.

5. Oracle Stonewalls Google At the Mobile Border This storyline is fresh from the Thursday night wire, but it has legitimate legs for the open source of Android.  Oracle is seeing telecom firms assert their financial girth in the broadband industry, and is looking to do the same with their Java application in the mobile race.  The suit, filed in the U.S. District court of Northern California, accuses Google of copyright infringement over the use of Java in the Android smartphone platform. As Financial Times notes,  if Google has to compensate for Java development, the Android could be greatly compromised.  The ongoing hegemony between digital heavyweights for the mobile space could really stifle creativity, but the inverse is also possible.  Mobile technology remains young, and physics prohibit security from being absolute.  Data can be intercepted through shaky cell towers, Bluetooth devices, and faulty infrared technology.  In my mind, this suit development is also worthy of your attention.

That’s the Blue news this week.  Until next time.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Blog Marketing, Business News, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, World, blog | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, internet marketing ny, jet blue, new york seo media agency, weekly blueliner newsminer

Google and Verizon Draw A Traffic Blueprint

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The rumor mill had been churning that Google and Verizon were discussing a partnership to influence internet traffic.  Many had cried foul, saying that net neutrality is the wave of the present and future, especially for small businesses that want to branch into online advertising.  Large corporations can use their resources and eliminate those without the funds for smooth traffic delivery.  Broadband providers, seeing that mobile applications are being synchronized between desktop applications, want to ensure revenue gains for capital reinvestment into networks.  The security issues between Blackberry and emerging markets is another piece of this scramble.  

Telecommunication firms are seeing the value in securing their broadband capabilities and putting the issue in the hands of the Federal Communication Commission.  In 2002, the agency deregulated lines for more investment.  Now that the money has expanded into different platforms like 3D and gaming in such a short amount of time, the dust is rising.  The FCC has yet to take a stand on the issue, but one will have to be made, for the benefit of advertisers and venture capitalists.  A larger budget may be necessary if a smaller firm looks to make a splash on an exclusive cable network.  Otherwise, they will have to toil in the farm leagues of slower internet traffic networks.  I find that level of risk unconscionable today, since small businesses are the growth of innovation, digital and tangible.  We’ll be following this story closely.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, google verizon traffic plan

The Viral Redemption of Shirley Sherrod

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For those who follow political news online, this week has been a tornado of epic proportions for digital media.  Shirley Sherrod, an official with the United States Department of Agriculture, was ignominiously dropped on Monday from her longstanding post after a controversial video circulated through popular social media channels. A snippet in Sherrod’s speech allegedly had her admitting that race was a factor in a decision to providing services for a white farmer in her native Georgia.  Deputy Secretary Sheryl Cook harassed Sherrod, who was on the road, into a resignation over her Blackberry.  The NAACP denounced Sherrod and backed the DofAgriculture, but retracted the sentiment after the full context of her speech had been opened to discussion. Sherrod was seeking reconciliation rather than disassociation.  

The report first surfaced on a conservative political website called BigGovernment, then was broadcast on Fox News.  Media figures on both sides of the party ledger distilled information, supported with fervent discussion.  Online users called for Sherrod to be reinstated by the end of business on Monday.  Tuesday, Roger Spooner, the 87-year old farmer from Albany, Georgia, and his wife Eloise, spoke with CNN to heap praise on Sherrod.  The Huffington Post chronicled her lengthy contributions to the Civil Rights movement.  On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Tom Vilsack, the Agriculture Head, issued formal letters of apology. Vilsack offered a new position to Sherrod, and at press time today, she remained undecided.

The most striking thing to me about the whole controversy is the immediacy of its timeline.  I found a short article touching the front section of today’s Wall Street Journal, and it has a benign tone, which truly belies the power of digital media. Or does it? The fire burned online through various sources, yet was quietly put out by live figures.  Honestly, I had never heard of Shirley Sherrod before the controversy surfaced on Monday, and it’s arguable, despite the presence of social media integration, if many more know her name today. Beltway politics continue to remain an insiders’ forum despite the growing accessibility of online media and Obama’s legendary campaign of 2007-8.  Race is even more taboo than with prior administrations on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days.  America’s longstanding wooden dialogue on race continues, with little more engagement to promise education. I guess that even on a viral scale, controversy starts and ends with a click.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Interactive Marketing, Social Media Marketing, World, blog | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner Marketing, digital media agency, Huffington Post, internet marketing agency, new york social media agency, political controversy, shirley sherrod huffington post, shirley sherrod usda, wall street journal, white house politics

David Houle Deals With Digital Immediacy and Future Overload

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This here is the latest from David Houle, Futurist Contributor, on Oprah.com, who discusses how to handle information from all our sources, be they analog or digital.  He also draws a timeline of how fast we’ve transcended space and time in terms of human communication in less than two centuries. In his mind, the speed of technological development has outpaced human physiological development so much that we are struggling to keep up.  For those who want knowledge of our transient times, please click on the photo for more.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, World, blog | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, contributor, David Houle, future, futurist, Houle, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah.com

China Wants Personal Browsers

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With the Google standoff drawing to a halt for now, the Beijing regulators turn towards a different, but possibly more divergent task.  According to a newswire from the Associated Press, China now seeks to reduce anonymity in their cyberspace domain.  One of the steps is to require citizens to give their real name when buying mobile technology or entering a browser.

Clearly, this will affect the celestial exchange of information that Google envisions to procreate between academic professionals and students discussing their scholastic journals combined with the expanding portfolio of media services.  Much of the publicity generated from this standoff can only serve to bring a stronger spotlight to security breaches.  Our federal government has taken steps to provide stronger protocols in the name of ecommerce transactions, but has largely laid off regulating public forums.  The roots of this different viewpoint of cyberspace regulation lie in geographical and cultural differences that have been probed with more depth on other information sources.

I will say that despite China’s antipathy towards viral expression, conversations are still being shared about censorship and geopolitics.  They can’t stop the legion of offshore development that transcends national boundaries, real or imagined.  As a growing economic power, China will be depended on as a conduit of digital development due to the growing educated populance.  Many engineers and software developers need to access information anonymously in order to conduct sensitive research.  They will be better off if they accept this position of responsibility rather than pretend that the secret society is still in play online.  Chairman Mao is not walking through the door.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, Click Fraud, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, World, blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, associated press china, Blueliner Marketing, click fraud security, google china controversy, internet privacy, new york click fraud agency

Google and China at High Noon Redux

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After a few months of impasse, Google and China are back at the table.  According to newswires, the Chinese government has rejected Google’s practice of automatically redirecting users in China to its Hong Kong site. They have threatened to not renew their ICP license, threatening the operation of Google.cn, which began redirecting in March.  The access to Google’s Hong Kong site had been patchy at best.  Chinese-language searches with certain characters has triggered browser errors.

Clearly, the Chinese government continues to mitigate SEO for Google’s advertising efforts.  It also speaks to a bigger issue of internet security, which I detailed in a previous blog post.  With this latest Google action, it’s clear that they were trying to poke through the firewall proxies and continue market penetration. Little progress in compromise was reached this spring. This means that security has a larger chance of breach by exterior parties, despite the Chinese monolith.

Google has resubmitted its license application for renewal based on this current market strategy.  It seems doubtful that either side is willing to budge, but in the shadowy game of negotiation, stranger things have happened.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, World | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner Marketing, financial times, google and china case, seo methodology

David Houle Discusses The Future of Shopping

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People like to shop. Americans like to shop. American women in particular like to shop. According to futurist David Houle, in the past 40 years, shopping went from something one did when something was needed to a leisure activity in and of itself. With changes in economics and technology, what will shopping look like in the next 10 years? Read more here.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
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Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, contributor, David Houle, future, futurist, Houle, Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah.com

Facebook Wipes Up BP

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The BP oil spill has been another controversy filling this calendar year, alongside earthquakes in Haiti and Japan.  Not unlike those disasters, social media marketing has been a tool for opening up dialogue on several levels.  Government officials have been monitoring Facebook, along with other sites, to spread public awareness about the federal position. Forum users have also debated the initiatives taken to mitigate the damage along the Gulf Coast.  According to a wire report on McClatchy, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr Jim Hoeft created an application on Facebook named the Deepwater Horizon Response Team.  The team’s mission is to coordinate the oil giant’s effort to stop and clean up the millions of gallons of crude oil that have killed 11 people up to date.  The response online has been strong, with 32,000 users liking the organization and over 2 million views on YouTube.  Users have also left comments on Facebook for the administration to respond with accurate feedback.  YouTube users were asked to upload their thoughts on the situation while providing solutions to clean up the spill.  Some have volunteered their services for a price in videos, while users have posted status updates with a hotline number for those wishing to assist with the disaster.

All of this again demonstrates the power of social media in terms of integrating discourse.  Solutions arise with the focus of a light beam, but conflicts can be taken to a whole other level that dissipates from the main objective.  Some dialogue in the Deepwater application veered into political discourse on fossil fuels and whether the administration should further their initiatives on discovering alternative energy sources.  A few users can’t imagine a world without fossil fuels, thinking that we will revert to the Mesozoic era without its presence.  Environmentalists say that the ice caps are evaporating from fossil fuels by the nanosecond, but the truth remains elusive.  The discussion spreads online, though, without an end in sight.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, World | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner Marketing, bp oil spill, bp oil spill 2010, british petroleum, deepwater horizon response team, disaster viral marketing, facebook, mc clatchy news, Social Media Marketing, you tube