When it comes to online reviews, business owners take the good with the bad. Reviews can be highly influential. On the upside, positive reviews highlight things such as terrific customer service, stellar products, delicious food and the like. There is a local Facebook group for Kansas City foodies, and a positive review of a new restaurant can be a major boon to a new local eatery.

On the flip side, even the most customer-focused and conscientious of businesses will eventually get a less than favorable review. It’s simply the law of averages. Reviewers definitely do not lack places to post their comments: Traditional review sites like Yelp are always in play, but people also take to Twitter and Facebook to air grievances.

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When you first launch News, it seems like you can only go through and pick Apple-approved sites and topics. But you can actually customize it however you want in one of two ways:

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Whether you are constantly searching your own name online (you know who you are) or there is a topic you want to follow closely, Google Alerts lets you know when new pages hit the web that match your query — and you can convert these results into an RSS feed (or something else) to make them easier to manage.

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RSS, also known as Really Simple Syndication, provides a great way to keep up with your favorite websites and skim through the headlines to find the articles. Safari makes it really simple to subscribe to a websites RSS feed in just a few clicks.

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If a blogger falls in a forest, and there’s no one around to see it…will Google still pick up the feed?

Ha! I crack myself up.

For those of us who spend time blogging, one of the more critical questions is: “How do I get people to read my blog?” After all, if we’re out there hustling to write content for the blogosphere, how valuable is it if no one reads it?

Have no fear. Here are eight great ways to get (and keep) blog readers:

1. Identify your audience. What are you blogging about, and what kinds of people would benefit from reading it?

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Social media is not always an online distraction or procrastination platform. While some may be addicted to their social media networks, it is one of the best ways to stay informed. Major news outlets, corporations and persons of interest use social media to deliver messages to the masses. With items posting immediately, the public stays informed. Some issues cause controversy, but social media does more good than harm in retrospect.

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After you have you social media profiles up and running, you may forget to pay attention to your profiles. It is easy to do as you are focused on posting, tweeting, and uploading videos. However, in order to maintain a positive image on social media networks a bit of maintenance is required. You need to make sure that you keep your social media profiles up to date at all times.

The social media profile is extremely important, so here are some things that you can do to make sure that you are getting the most out of your profile.

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The background: chatting to colleagues at Oxfam, I am always surprised how few of them use RSS software to keep abreast of their fields.

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The more time young adults spend using popular social media, the greater the link to depression, new research suggests.

The finding stems from research—which involved nearly 1,800 men and women between the ages of 19 and 32—that tried to get a handle on how depression and social media habits may interact.

But does greater involvement with social media actually promote depression? Or, are people who are already depressed simply more likely to gravitate to social media? The jury, according to the study authors, is still out.

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Social media is the primary battleground for the most controversial presidential campaign in modern history. Here is what real-time data says about each campaign.

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I previously analyzed their 2013 report and their 2014 report and came to the same conclusion each year. Most companies still do not get social media as a customer service channel.

Six years ago, I did my own tiny social media study. That is back when the Starbucks Twitter profile said that some guy named Brad did the tweeting. Things are pretty much the same as even back then. (Except for Brad. I am not sure what happened to him.)

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Social media is a blessing for small business entrepreneurs to spread the word about their business without spending a huge amount of advertising dollars. Nevertheless, a majority of small businesses are not able to capitalize on this opportunity.

A recent ProOpinion poll found that many small business professionals don’t use social media or a social media calendar on a regular basis. Only 31 percent post frequently on social media, and whats even worse, just 15 percent interact with their audience.

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One click on social media can reach hundreds of people. But the wrong post could reach your boss and cost you your job.

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Social media is a double-edged sword, providing both benefits and drawbacks.

In order to stay connected, many of us are becoming captivated by these pervasive tools. A social media report by Sensis in 2015 reported that nearly half of all Australians access one or more social networking sites every day.

The report also found that Australians now spend an average of 8.5 hours a week on Facebook alone, with 24% checking social media more than five times a day. Seven in ten people used a smartphone to access their accounts.

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Syndication is conceptually simple. It allows publishers to distribute content that can be displayed in another location or context. Using RSS, publishers are able to easily create and disseminate content feeds that include news headlines, blog summaries and related links. RSS is the defined syndication standard that has become mainstream. All types of information are now available in a syndicated format.

Promote a Blog

Displaying your social media network activity on your website can have tremendous advantages. It shows your readers that you’re an active participant in your niche and helps you establish yourself as a thought leader. The best part is that displaying your activity is fast and easy in WordPress.

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Since starting the Johnny Bullet comic strip, I’ve begun reading many more web comics than before to the extent that I read more of them than print or digital comics. It has been an interesting transition from one of those comic book store devotee to getting most of my comics from individual creators online. One technology has helped make this transition possible. It is the RSS feed.

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Do keep in mind, though, that not every website keeps an updated RSS feed anymore. Here are the best RSS reader apps for Android!

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~ Over 70% of teens have smart phones which means they have access to the internet which in turn means they have easy access to pornography.
~ Most teens are on their phones all the time - in school, in bed at night, when they go to the bathroom, while you are trying to talk to them, and while they are trying to do their homework.
~ They are in instant access with each other all the time - living in a perpetual state of staccato interruptions.

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The most fervent political supporters think only their candidate can possibly win. Bloomberg View columnist Megan McArdle blames these beliefs on the echo chambers found on our social media feeds.

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Whether you are constantly searching your own name online (you know who you are) or theres a topic you want to follow closely, Google Alerts lets you know when new pages hit the web that match your query—and you can convert these results into an RSS feed (or something else) to make them easier to manage.

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We are a great believer in achieving the widest possible distribution as possible. RSS feeds allow that because they can be easily consumed in many places. RSS was one of the principle ways in which the early bloggers were able to syndicate their content and achieve large scale distribution. To this day, RSS remains one of the best ways to get content onto many people’s screens in as friction free a way as possible.

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John Mueller was asked about RSS feeds in the latest Google Webmaster Hangout, specifically whether there are any SEO benefits to having an RSS feed on the site.

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It is difficult to get real-time alerts about articles with specific headlines on specific subjects from specific websites.

News reader applications like Feedly or Flipboard are great for browsing and even searching through news items, but they lack the ability to send notifications proactively.  Emails from Google Alerts can be tardy, and at other times, articles can slip by completely.

Never fear!  Used together, two web applications, IFTTT and Feed Rinse,  solve this problem easily.

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We live in an age of information overload. With all the stories from news, blogs, social media, and other sources, the amount of information about any given subject can be overwhelming. It is hard enough to keep up when you are just a consumer of information, but what about when you need to curate content for a target audience?

Thankfully, there are tools that can collect and organize information from a large number of sources, making that task easier. One such tool is the PressForward plugin for WordPress.

PressForward is a multi-user, collaborative RSS feed reader that integrates with WordPress' publication work-flow and provides users with the ability to curate content for a target audience.

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Get the most out of Facebooks Fan Pages despite Facebook doing its best to limit what posts you see on your timeline
            
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Are you tired of Facebooks trending section in your News Feed? Celebrity news getting annoying? Would you rather have legitimate news? Introducing Fluffblocker.

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You turn to RSS. That is right, we are going old school. For those who don't know, RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. It's a very easy protocol that allows feeds to be pulled from websites to serve up a collection of story summations that the reader can then click on and enjoy the full read.

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Many investment professionals are naturally competitive people, myself included. Accustomed to being benchmarked and trained to quantify impact, we run an unusual risk of thinking that social media is a contest.

But applying that perspective is counterproductive. It is a bit like going to a dinner party and trying to keep score. People might be into it if you have strange friends, but there’s a better chance that you will alienate everyone there.

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Although consumers want brands to use social media as a two-way communication channel, the vast majority of businesses are not adhering to those desires, according to a study from social media management software provider Sprout Social. On average, businesses send out 23 promotional messages for every one consumer response.

Social media is now the No. 1 way consumers interact with businesses. The research revealed that 34.5 percent of consumers turn to social media first when they have a problem, compared with just 16 percent who call and 5 percent who visit a store in person.

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Not so long ago, customers were isolated. Their ability to voice their dissatisfaction with the service they received from business was severely limited.

The once feared television show Fair Go was just about their only option.

Today they can air their gripes instantly on Facebook, Twitter or other social platforms and build alliances with similarly disgruntled customers. They can take pictures wherever they go and record or even film their interactions.

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The federal government has confirmed that it will start targeting social media posts by prospective employees as part of its review process for security clearance.

The new policy, which will allow investigators to scan an applicant’s history on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other similar sites, will be adopted soon, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The guidelines make clear that agencies can target publicly available social media posts, if they deem it necessary, but cannot force individuals to hand over their passwords for private accounts, or provide pseudonyms for any profiles.

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BlogTalk Radio Says -

We have good news about your RSS feed! Now, ownership in your RSS feed, iTunes, Stitcher, and anywhere else we distribute your content, lists you as the copyright holder.

Hosts reported they wanted to see their names as the author of their content and also want the copyright notice to include their names in their RSS feeds. This was not possible owing to a database restriction that we took a long time to remove.

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I was interviewing Antonio Lucio, the CMO for HP, for my CMO Insight series (see article here), when we started talking about social media. For perspective, Lucio has over 33,000 Twitter followers, has a 62 Klout score, and is the 4th most influential CMO on Twitter (see list here). I asked him why he is so personally involved in Twitter. Very few CMOs tweet and of those who have a lot of followers, few tweet themselves, instead delegating the task to somebody on their marketing team. His response to my question was fascinating, and an important one for any CMO or aspiring CMO to hear.

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I remember a time before Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, emojis, instant messaging and memes. I remember when my friends used to ride their bikes passed my home to see if I was there -- now, we always know where everyone is. Sometimes because it is self-reported (on a social media platform) but also because we can send them a quick text.

So the term digital native is a little too loose for me, the date range is too baggy around the sides.

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New-age publishers are toying with innovative content models that offer more value to end users and set their cash registers ringing. It does not come as a surprise, when content is evolving as a major source of income for them. By offering high-value content and a trove of inbound links, digital publishers can maximise the profitability of their websites.

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Health is definitely one of those things we do not notice till it starts to ebb away. Isn’t it also true that medical news is the last thing you like to read or see in newspapers and television? That is, if you do not have any illness in the family. I pray you do not, but if you do then the web has always been a secondary source of some great information. The first source should always be your general practitioner and physician.

There is no harm in arming yourself with information when you need to talk to a doctor. A better informed patient (or a patients guardian) makes for a wiser decision maker. We are living on the cutting edge of great medical leaps. Medical news and alerts help us to keep pace with these leaps. Let’s look at some top websites for RSS medical news feeds and stay alert with the help of their feeds.

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For news, sports, entertainment, online publications and blogs, the benefits of implementing an RSS feed is obvious: Deliver information to your visitors even when they are not actively surfing your site, and they will be sure to come back when an item piques their interest. For other types of businesses, an RSS feed can keep you top-of-mind with your past customers.

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Twitter has eradicated RSS feeds from its web interface once and for all, following an update to the sites search page today.

When Twitter launched its redesign late last year it subtly removed RSS feeds for users tweets. And while RSS feeds are still available, you have to be willing to jump through some extra hoops to access them.

Of course, there was some suggestion that their removal was accidental, but some 10 months  later this seems not to be the case.

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Influencer Marketing

According to the latest Nielson study, over 90% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family. We have slapped a fancy name on it, but at the end of the day, this is what influencer marketing really is: getting products into the hands of people whom others trust. Peer recommendations have the power to sway buyers and inspire purchase decisions, not because they have a zillion followers or have perfect lips, but because they are reliable, personable sources we believe.

If you are a news junkie, you probably depend on various and sundry RSS feeds—so you most likely need a handy app to curate them into a single, easy-to-use location. Fortunately, plenty of Android apps are available to handle all your RSS needs.

What is RSS?
For those who are new to RSS, here's a quick overview. RSS stands for rich site summary (or really simple syndication). It enables sites to publish frequently updated information in a format that is easy to consume (by both apps and humans). The format of RSS tends to be a title and a one-sentence or one-paragraph blurb. Readers can click on the title, which will take them to the original piece.

Different apps offer different features for RSS feeds. I have found five apps in the Google Play Store that I believe represent the best features and the most user-friendly interfaces.

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One lesser known feature of Reddit is the ability to display all submissions that a domain or site received on Reddit.

I mentioned this option two years ago for the first time and don't want to rehash everything I said in the previous article.

You may have stumbled upon it accidentally by clicking on the domain link next to submissions that lead to external sites as it will display the feed of that domain directly.

The feature is quite useful for a number of reasons. As a webmaster for instance, it is easy enough to check all the direct mentions of your site on Reddit.

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Most people with a smartphone are constantly tapped into some form of social media. Sharing cute pictures of kids and pets is simply a routine part of life these days. Some people even use social media to vent frustrations or look for advice.

In a divorce case, however, shares on social media can create ample evidence that can be used against one or both parties to affect alimony, child support, child custody, and more.

Email and Text Messages
Email and text messages are admissible in court and can even be subpoenaed. If one party in the marriage reveals something about a new job or an upcoming bonus that has not been revealed in court, this can be used as evidence that the person is not being honest in his or her financial declarations.

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Mobile users spend little time viewing web content on their mobile browsers, preferring to read most of it through their social networks. As a result, publishers are losing control of their content, and users are overloaded with content sources.

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Trying to keep track of all your favorite RSS feeds can be a pain. Luckily there are a ton of options on the Google Play Store and we take a look at a few of the best.

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In what has become a heartbreaking routine—employed during the Paris attacks of 2015, as well as after recent terrorist attacks in such places as Belgium and Istanbul — people shared emotional memes in solidarity with the city of Nice, where 84 people were killed by a truck driver barrelling into the crowd on the Promenade des Anglais.

Using the hashtags #PrayForNice or #JeSuisNice, people expressed solidarity over the deaths of at least 84 people, which French President Francois Hollande says was caused by an act of terrorism.

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Facebook has 1.6 billion users. Inevitably, a sizable portion of those people pass away, leaving behind a number of inactive social media accounts.

Last year Facebook took a major step forward in how to deal with the 8000 plus deceased accounts that appear on the social network each day.

Its Legacy contact scheme helped make dealing with the death of a loved one easier on the world's largest social network.

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With Lines IPO, I thought this would be a good time to ask about the role that new social networks will play in the larger social network ecosystem. Will they cannibalize Facebook’s usage? Or can we expect to see the biggest players continue to be dominant in social networking?

For those of you who don’t know, social networking has a special place in my heart. In 1997, I launched the world’s first online social network called sixdegrees. And as part of that, we wrote a patent that defined a social network as the ability to index multiple relationships in a single database. It gives you the ability to see the people you don’t know through the people you do know.

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If my mother invented a social network it would be a lot like Pinterest. Thousands of pictures, tons of content, and everyone talking with everyone about everyone else’s favorite things. This social network would consist of people just like my mother, caring, hip, and quickest to the draw when the silence calls for a witty comment.

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Maintaining assets used to be considered a necessary evil, but manufacturers now see strategic asset management as an important way of delivering value and achieving competitive advantage.

With the emergence of sensors and novel data collection technologies, we can connect and monitor assets in a way that is light years from the old method of maintenance, which was essentially ‘wait until a machine fails and then fix it’.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled a new paradigm called e-maintenance where assets can be monitored remotely. This enables OEMs to provide innovative maintenance service solutions to their asset users.

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