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Failed Social Media Sites,Google products graveyard.

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Graveyard of failed social media, blogging, and online interactive communities.

I have been online since 1998.  I have watched many sites come and go often leaving their users stranded and in distress.
Today when they announced Yahoo bought Tumblr, I wondered, will Yahoo be one in a long list of big companies who ruin a good thing once they buy it? Often times when these companies get sold and eaten up by the big guys, they die a quick death later. Here is my list for the graveyard of closed and failed social media, blogging, interactive sites in the last 10 years. Let’s take a look.

Failed Social Media and online sites and products

Vox- a blogging website community.
Vox was an Internet blogging service run by Six Apart. The site ran from October 26, 2006 to September 30, 2010. Vox was a blogging site that was very loved and closed.
Clients came to me needinga website as soon as they announced the shutdown.

MobileMe-Apple offered people a place to build and run a free website. (formerly .Mac and iTools) , MobileMe: July 9, 2008 – June 30, 2012, was a subscription-based collection of online services and software offered by Apple Inc. All services were being gradually transitioned and replaced by iCloud . The service ceased as of June 30, 2012, with transfers to iCloud available until July 31, 2012. Afterwards, all data was deleted, and the email addresses of accounts not transferred to iCloud were marked as unused.
I had clients in a panic who needed a website after this shut them down. 

Sites that are still up but basically dying or dead and might as well be in the Graveyard.

Bebo:  AOL bought Bebo from it’s founders in 2008 for 850 million.  This was later considered one of the worst deals ever. AOL announced plans shut down or sell Bebo  on June 16, 2010. The property was sold to Criterion Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $10 million. (Ouch!) In December 2010, AIM eliminated access to AOL chat rooms noting a marked decline of patronage in recent months.
Bebo today: In May 2013, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. I would have to say, if you are a Bebo user, it may be time to plan your exit.

Del.icio.us: Delicious (formerly del.icio.us) is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. By the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs.The site was sold to AVOS Systems on April 27, 2011 and relaunched in a “back to beta” state on September 27 that year.
Recently they did another redesign and launch in Jan 2013, with more of a facebook type interface, but it would appear to little to late.  Core users are fed up and you can find many negative comments about how cumbersome and bloated this bookmarking service is now.

itunes ping by apple
eons, social media site for older people
diasporia-app based social media network
Orkut-social media-still technically alive, yet dead.
Xanga-social media
Friendster-before Facebook
Digg-failing now
myspace-lost to facebook and lost it’s base. Too many ads , spam and clutter. 
mylife-dead
Yahoo! Buzz
iYomu based in New Zealand 

 

Dead google products, failed social media productsGoogle really owns it’s own private graveyard.

Let’s envision the google car driving and filming these departed ideas and some near death now, as we visit the Google Graveyard.

igoogle, will be closed in Nov 2013. So many people use this as their start/homepage including me and there is really nothing else like it.
I will be doing some research and trying to find a replacement and will be blogging about it before the Nov 2013 closure.
Google Reader* If you are actively using Feedburner, I think it’s time to start taking full possession of your feeds again (which isn’t easy). RSS may still be the plumbing that makes a lot of applications tick, but don’t look for Google to provide a platform for RSS much longer. Read more from this article on techcrunch here and for another good article on this situation click here:
Adsense for feeds
Google Video
Piknic, the popular photo editing service that it purchased in 2010.
Buzz
Google Labs
Google Health

Google Power Meter
 Knol, the company’s attempt to recreate Wikipedia in its own ad-supported image.
Aardvark
Desktop
Fast Flip
Maps API for Flash
Google Pack 
Google Web Security
Image Labeler
Notebook
Sidewik
Subscribed Links
Google Code Search
Jaiku
University Research Program for Google Search 
Slide
a social software company acquired for $228 million in August, 2010.
Google Bookmarks Lists,
Google Friend Connect
Google Gears
Google Search Timeline
Google Wave
Google Listen
Google Lively
Google Postini Services, (omg, lol, I forgot all about postini!)
Google Fastflip

Google also abandoned the Google Toolbar for Firefox, after unceremoniously discontinuing several APIs the previous month, including APIs for Code Search, Diacritize, Feedburner, Finance, PowerMeter, Sidewiki, and Wave. In addition, the company discontinued its 13-year-old Google Friends newsletter and Google Directory in July 2011.

One of the reasons I do not recommend people get a blog on “blogger, blogspot or google blogs, I am not not sure what the official name is now.  I feel like many of their other products, they can just shut this down one day when it makes sense for them to shut it down. Now I do not think that will actually happen because Google is trying to integrate blogger with all your google products. They want Google Plus and everything in one place and to all be connected. To me no professional runs their site on a free blog service. There are many limitations with a free blog. I highly recommend people start one for practice and learning purposes, but once you are ready to really launch your books, products, or professional website, you should have a professionally set up website.  For me that means a well done customized WordPress premium theme with all the back end stuff you need done right.
I have converted many blogger sites to WordPress. It is a little tricky but if you know what you are doing you can make it work.
They do have a feature you can find to export your posts. 

If you have some other companies I missed, please leave those for me in the comment section. I am sure I missed some good ones. 

Do you think Yahoo will ruin Tumblr?

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Filed Under: Ask Linda Lee, Internet Questions Answered, Modern Times, Social Media, Social Media Networking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

San Francisco Writers Conference Linda Lee- Post Conference Master Classes- Sign up now!

February 13, 2012 By 5 Comments

Wordpress Bootcamp 101 Linda Lee Master ClassI am very pleased to be presenting two classes on Monday Feb 20th as part of the San Francisco Writers Conference  post conference “Master Classes”.
In my first class, “Author Marketing with Social Media”,  9-12 we will go over the basics in helpful detail. This class is a smaller group so I will be able to work personally with each attendee. Bring your questions, your laptop or ipad and lets work! We will target the best ideas and choices for you as an author, and I have a few unexpected places and sources to share with you, where you can optimize your social media time and efforts. I like to simplfy and show you how to get the most out of the time you do have to promote yourself.

Sign up and pay here: www.SFWriters.org

Build Your Blog and They Will Come:
Step-by-Step Creation of a WordPress Author Blog!

Bring your laptops and if you need a WordPress blog/website, you will have one by the time you leave. If you already have a
WordPress site we will look at it and work on it and improve it. Once again this will be very hands on. I will be helping each attendee with their own site or getting a new site up. We will discuss plugins, basic seach engine optimization, and also I will be going over the 8 elements every author must have on their website to succeed. Bring your questions and what you need help with and leave with a new website or a better one!

Sign up and pay here:www.SFWriters.org

SAN FRANCISCO WRITERS UNIVERSITY PRESENTS:
THE 2012 SFWC
MASTER WRITING CLASSES
Pay for the classes here:
www.SFWriters.org

Author Marketing with Social Media:
An introduction to online promotion
Monday Morning, February 20, 2012
9 a.m. to noon Cost: $129
Social Media Guru Linda Lee will introduce
you to all types of social media from Twitter to
Facebook to Google+ and show writers how to
use one or more of these tools most effectively
to market their writing.
Build Your Blog and They Will Come:
Step-by-Step Creation of a WordPress Author Blog!
Monday Afternoon, February 20th – 2 -5 p.m. – Cost: $129
Linda Lee not only teaches you the ins and outs of the most
popular free blogging platform on the planet, she will lead you
in a hands-on application of your newfound skills to create your
very own author blog. She’ll even give you tips on content!
You must bring your wifi-enabled laptop because you’ll be
creating your blog LIVE!
These classes will be held at the Mark Hopkins Hotel
999 California St., San Francisco
For registration and more information:
www.SFWriters.org
Writing Your First Bestseller (Introduction)
NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Dugoni
Monday, February 20, 2012
9 a.m. to noon – Cost: $129
New York Times bestseller author
Robert Dugoni is also a master
teacher in the art of writing a bestselling
novel. This class teaches an
introduction to writing techniques
and shows writers how to create
compelling, deep characters, a plot
that works, the basics of grammar,
pacing, conflict, and much more.
Writing Your First Bestseller (Advanced)
Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 – 2p.m. to 5p.m. – Cost: $129
Bob will share more advanced writing techniques in this
afternoon class so it is perfect for self-published and traditionally-
published midlist authors who want to take
their writing to another, bestseller level.
GET PAID TO WRITE YOUR BOOK:
How to Write an Irresistible Book Proposal, Sell It Fast for Top
Dollar, and Create a Career Out of It;
with Literary Agents Michael Larsen and Jody Rein
Monday Morning, Feb. 20th – 9 a.m. to noon – Cost: $129
This class gives you a blueprint for writing the proposal you need
to get the best editor, publisher and deal for your book. Bring a
sample of your writing and get feedback on it. Larsen is author of
the fourth edition of How to Write a Book Proposal.

PITCHCRAFT!
with NY literary agent Katharine Sands
Thursday, February 16, 2012.
6-8 p.m. at the Mark Hopkins Hotel
Cost: only $99!
This tutorial is a must for everyone looking
for a literary agent! Katharine Sands,
agent extraordinaire and editor of the book
Making the Perfect Pitch, will teach you
how to effectively pitch your book to agents and editors. In two
hours you will learn the components of a pitch, how to deliver
your pitch, and how to make pitch opportunities happen.
You’ll also create and hone the very pitch you’ll use for your
specific book. Guaranteed fun as well as educational.
SELF-PUBLISHING BOOT CAMP
MONDAY ALL-DAY CLASS
2/20/12 at the Mark Hopkins Hotel
9 a.m.-5 p.m. (lunch: noon to 2p.m.)
With Carla King, Laurie McLean, Brian Felsen,
Joel Friedlander & Carol LeVow
Cost: $249
Self-publishing is one of the most talked about areas of
book publishing today. Its transformative ebook technology
and disintermediation between author and
reader are turning traditional publishing on its ear and
opening up the market big
time for self-published
books. Where to begin?
Let the experts show you
every step of the process to
prepare, publish and promote
your work. You can decide
which path is best suited to you. Last year’s boot camp
was sold out, so reserve your space early! For more
details go to www.selfpubbootcamp.com.
WRITING A SUCCESSFUL MEMOIR
with author Catherine Friend
Monday, February 20th – 2p.m. to 5p.m. – Cost: $129
Catherine (Hit By A Farm, Sheepish) has written and taught
about memoir for many years. Discover the joy of
touching people’s lives with your own. Examine the
seemingly chaotic elements of your story. Learn what to
include…and leave out! Come with an idea; leave with
a plan for a compelling memoir of any kind.
These in-depth writing and publishing
classes are open to everyone!

Filed Under: Ask Linda Lee, SFWC Master Classes, Teaching and Classes Linda Lee, WordPress Bootcamp 101 Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

10 Ways to Make Your Website Sticky, CWC Berkeley Branch, May 15, 2011

May 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

May 15 2011
California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch

“10 Ways to Make Your Website Sticky”
How can you get readers to come back to your site again and again? How do you engage readers and encourage loyalty and comments?

So you have a website or a blog, now what? How can people find you? What are they looking for? How do you build up regular readers or followers? What are some good ideas to promote yourself online?

These are just a few of the topics Linda Lee will be discussing with us in her presentation. Discover some easy and fun ways that you can “build your tribe online” and keep your readers coming back for more.

Filed Under: Ask Linda Lee, Speaking|Events Tagged With: , , , ,

WordPress broke my site after I updated, why does it do that and what caused it?

April 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

Computer and WordPress help from Linda Lee

 

 

Dear Linda,

My website broke after I updated WordPress! Why does that happen? How annoying.  Why is WordPress such a fuss budget?  My friend was just telling me all her photos stopped working on one of her sites (she has something that switches them up) they simply disappeared and she had to reload them all.

Signed, Upset WordPress User

Dear Upset,

I am 95% sure it was not WordPress. It was one of your plugins.
Many people think WordPress “runs” everything you use when you are working in WordPress, but they don’t.
This can be confusing. Sometimes clients call me and say, ” I need to call WordPress, they need to fix this.”
There is really no where you can call, it does not work like that. Here is why.

WordPress is what is called an “Open Source Project“.

Everything you see from the documentation to the code itself, was created by and for the community.Which means there are hundreds of people all over the world working on it. (More than most commercial platforms.) It also means you are free to use it. As in the entire set up is completely FREE.  This also means the only customer support you will find is to do a search on one of the WordPress forums. For those who have their own hosting, you would go here:
http://wordpress.org/support/
For those on the free version who are hosting with WordPress.com
you would go here:
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/

Why does this matter?  Well since WordPress most likely did not break your site, the culprit most of the time is a  plugin you are using.
WordPress itself, the program, is usually pretty well tested and working when they release the new updates, but your plugins are a completely separate entity.These are created by what is called “third party developers”.  Plugins can be created by anyone and most of the plugins you will find and see out there are offered for free as well.

Plugin creators range from beginners to serious programmers who just want to help, to people who develop and sell their plugins.
There is no one checking these and regulating them, (other then the users themselves).

Many plugins I used over time have been abandoned by the person who created them because they did not have time to keep up with all the changes in WordPress, or they got a full time job, or they lost interest or they just burned out trying to help people for free, and trouble shooting websites all the time. What started as a fun hobby became too much work for no money.
( This is another good reason to donate a little cash to your favorite plugin developer, many of the plugins have donate buttons built in now.)

What is the solution when my WordPress site breaks after an update?

  • First make sure all your plugins are up to date.
    If that does not fix it you will need to-
  • Deactivate all your plugins and then reactivate them one by one until you find the one causing the problem.
    Sometimes just simply turning them “on and off” will fix the problem.
  • If you are still having problems, you can hire someone to figure it out and fix the site for you, or spend some time in the WordPress forums looking for some answers.
  • Finally if you are using a free WordPress theme, this is exactly the same set up as with the plugins so you may run into some problems with your theme, and you may need to buy a professional theme to avoid this kind of problem in the future.

I am available for hire if your site is broken and I also offer my clients monthly WordPress support for a small monthly charge.
Contact me here.
[Read more...]

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How to block a website in Google search results. How to exclude sites in google search.

April 1, 2011 By 25 Comments

How to exclude website google

How to exclude a sites in google search, or block a website, and sites in google search.

The site that forced me to finally figure out how to block or exclude sites in a google search was about.com.
It is frustrating to keep getting websites in google search you wish you could block or exclude!

I really hate about.com This is what made me finally figure out how to block or exclude website in google.
I hate all the old, old content they have, I hate that they come up as the first 1-5 search results no matter what I google. I cannot stand the look of the site and that they are stuffed with spammy ads.  I resent the fact that they  dominate the web search results by sheer numbers of articles and longevity of content, (they started up in 1997, which is a lifetime as in dog years for the Internet.)  I really resented them every time I did a search and there they popped up. When I was looking up their history, I discovered are now owned by the New York Times. Hmmm :(

One way to block/exclude results from a site you do not want is to add -about.com or -whateversite.com you do not like, so your search looks like this, “turkey recipe -about.com” .

This is what I used to do until I discovered this: http://www.google.com/reviews/t
(this will not work unless you are logged into your google account first).
If you don’t have one, sign up for one, they are free.

This allows you to permanently block or exclude websites you do not want in your search results.
If you change your mind, you can go back and edit your choices, so no worries there.
So block away and enjoy better results that YOU want in your searches.

Good luck with blocking sites you want to avoid.

Also please leave a comment and tell me what sites you were going crazy enough on to find this post.

This post is my highest traffic post! People from all over the world land here trying to block sites that they do not want to see in their results.

2013 update: Google has abandoned this set up.
Even though people have kicked and screamed about it, they turned this feature off and said it would be brought back and they never did.
I did find a very simple and very effective method using an extension you install on Chrome. You must use Chrome as your browser to use this system, but it works like a dream. I made a video to explain it step by step. I will say Chrome has replaced Firefox now as my primary browser. It has tons of great addons and extentions and it runs very fast.
If you have not tried it yet, give it a try. You can download it here.

Filed Under: Ask Linda Lee, Google Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,