the interwebz

7 posts

Facebook’s New Organic Reach is Screwing Nonprofits, What are the Options for Digital Activists?

egypt emailcrop

Recently Facebook has radically altered the way that organization pages reach their followers. This is big trouble for nonprofits and activist groups that rely on the platform to reach supporters and organize action campaigns.

This isn’t news for folks who run activist or nonprofit pages, the changes have been rolling out for a while. However, in the last few weeks post reach has been reduced dramatically, creating a crisis for many organizations that have spent a lot of time, effort, and yes, money, building big communities on Facebook. What the hell is going on? Continue reading →

Horrible Bosses: Marissa Mayer’s Ban on Telecommuting at Yahoo Won’t Work

Certainly, not-so-new Yahoo! chief Marissa Mayer is no stranger to popping up in the headlines. She made a name for herself in the tech world as Employee #20 at Google, then grabbed a lot of attention for her Killers-headlined wedding.

The move Mayer, who has been CEO at Yahoo! for less than a year now, made Friday to ban telecommuting at the old (in Internet years) web giant is the latest attention getter for the first-time CEO. And it’s a move that seems likely to ultimately backfire.  Continue reading →

eBaying at the Moon: Taking Care of Business

The first time I purchased something on eBay was 1999—a gently used Nintendo64 from some guy in Kansas I think. It was remarkably pain-free, as far as buying something off the internet from a stranger goes. Over the years, I’ve made a number of varied purchases via the world’s biggest auction site. As the site has grown into the billion dollar behemoth it is today, so has the range of items you can purchase, which is both amazing and a little frightening. Continue reading →

DRM Only Hurts Legitimate Paying Customers

I’m sure most people are familiar with the ubiquitous set top box lounging around or near their television eating around 19 volts and putting off quite a bit of heat. Most people probably figure these are just part of the package with having cable service. A necessity that we’ve all come to terms with. Well not me. I stood up and challenged the system. I wanted something better for my house. Will no one rid me of these turbulent devices? Continue reading →

Facebook Spam Filter Blocks Legitimate Web Sites (Including This One)

In a story probably familiar to the readers of this blog, Facebook has confirmed that its spam filters are responsible for the suspension of several accounts and pages run by environmental activists. Facebook denies that the bans were related to the content of the posts; instead blaming the automated algorithms that control it’s spam filter. Continue reading →