The seemingly never ending battle between Google china and the Chinese government is centered or focused on one issue and that is censorship. The Chinese government had implemented several censorship conditions in Google china’s search results page which have given additional burden for Google as it had to filter relevant search results that may be deemed by the Chinese government as information that is detrimental to the Chinese government and its citisens. However, due to the fact that Google china’s gmail accounts were compromised in a hacking incident which was traced as Chinese in origin, Google hopes to go back to the negotiating table with China in terms or renegotiating talks about cyber-security and censorship. However, recent reports shows that there are no formal negotiations being done as China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Yizhong did not confirm directly that his office is negotiating with Google. It is to be remembered that Google China have taken thirty percent 30% of China’s internet users share and that because of such incidents that happened that Google threatened to pull out their investments in China.
China’s Minister for Industry and Information technology however stated that Google must respect Chinese laws and that if a company or even an individual becomes irresponsible, unfriendly and violates the law corresponding consequences will be implemented, this statement came after the Minister was asked about his course of action once Google stops filtering its search results in Google China. The Minister further stated that the decision whether or not Google would stay in China would be dependent on the search engine giant, with the growth that Google China has posted in its three years of stay in China the Minister said the Google is very much welcome to expand its market in China.
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Microblogging site such as Twitter has become popular because of the fact that it delivers real time information about a group, an entity or an individual who is a member of the microblogging site. Sending short messages through tweets have become very popular and it became so popular that search engine giants like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo decided to forge an agreement where these search engine giants will be utilising the tweets as part of their real-time search. This integration of Twitter with search engines means that there is another strategy that SEO companies and SEO consultants could add to their list. Twitters’ basic question when utilising their service is “What are you doing?” this pertains to the current activities being done by the user. The tweets would thus mean the current activities being done by the user and this could be anything that user is doing at that current period of time. However, because of the increase clamour for added information such as the current location of the user, Twitter have now included another question and that is “ Where are you doing it?”. This means that Twitter is now capable of displaying the geo-location of a user sending the tweets.
With regards to privacy concerns, because of the fact that some users might not want their location to be displayed Twitter gave a solution to the problem by simply making the geo-location to be turned off by default. This means therefore that before the user can use the geo-location feature the user must first activate it. This would mean that users will not be automatically be enrolled or be using the geo-location feature, the choice on whether to turn such feature on or off depends on the user himself or herself.
In terms of search engine users’ share Google is considered to be a giant industry because of the fact that around 60-70 percent of the search engine users share have been taken by Google. Second placer, Yahoo is very far at around 14 percent of the search engine users’ share and Microsoft Bing’s share of around 9%. It is clear with these results from the online survey site Hitwise and comScore that Google is the widely used search engine world wide to date. Being the most commonly use search engine does it mean also however that it is also the most visited website?
According to the survey website company Hitwise, the answer is no. In terms of traffic Google was toppled from the number one spot by an unlikely competitor, which is not even classified under search engine. Facebook, a social media network, toppled Google from its number one spot in terms of traffic or the most visited website. This feat was done by Facebook based on the number of users in the United states and this was recorded by Hitwise the online measurement service. According to Hitwise, Facebook have gathered around 7.07 percent of all web traffic as of March 13 as compared with Google’s 7.03 percent. This can be considered as a milestone for Facebook achieving a feat that no other legitimate competitors of Google have ever done.
For search engine optimisation consultants and companies this would therefore mean that the areas of social networks can be considered as a viable avenue to increase web traffic and ultimately increase sales. This means therefore that SEO consultants and SEO companies have to take serious consideration about the use of social media in promoting or optimising their target websites and using the social media networks such as Facebook to build a clients’ base.
The recent problems and controversies surrounding the Google-China battle is not considered as a threat for investors to enter the Chinese Market. Google may have been battling the Chinese government on issues of censorship but what remains to be true is that the Chinese market is a flourishing economy and establishing a business in China would help increase the company’s revenue. It is accepted that the Chinese Market is a large or huge market that is why even though Google only controls thirty percent of the internet users’ population in China it is already considered to be a very big return of investment for the search engine giant.
The events that happened between China and Google have not affected the possibility of other companies entering the Chinese Market. In a conference in New York, Twitters’ CEO and creator Jack Dorsey was asked whether he has plans on creating a Chinese version for the microblogging site Twitter. Jack Dorsey answered that it is just a matter of time before Twitter will be serving the Chinese market. The entry of Twitter in the Chinese market would make the microblogging site to be a very important tool in effecting communications in a country where free flow of information is being limited. Currently, Twitter is only available to around fifty thousand participants and by default Twitter is being blocked along with YouTube and Facebook. The entry of Twitter would mean a lot for China and its’ citisens. For the government it is another investor that should conform to the censorship rules as set by the Chinese government and non-compliance may result to sanctions that may be implemented. As of present, twitter is developing its services to include different types of languages however several problems are yet to be fixed before a formal announcement.
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The playing field for the battle between two company giants is constantly changing, from the initial attack of Microsoft to Google’s domain in the search engine business via the merger done between Yahoo and Microsoft, to Google’s entry to the domain of Microsoft by developing an operating system that will be installed in netbooks and maybe to desktops and laptops in the near future. It seems that the playing field is all about the company that is able to develop a strategy to get ahead of the competition. Microsoft seems to be on the offensive by slowly gaining internet users’ share during the month of February but this increase is not enough to even scratch the armor of the search engine giant.
Google, with the aim of maintaining their position as the dominant force in the field of search engine and in the internet, have acquired DocVerse which is a small company that was founded or organized by former Microsoft employees. DocVerse was developed in order to allow users to collaborate their Microsoft Office files such as spreadsheets, word documents among others over the internet or the web. It is because of this main function of the DocVerse that Google became interested and have acquired the said small company. This means that Google will be able to give users the power to access full-featured MS Office files through the cloud or the web based environment even before Microsoft is able to acquire such capability.
In its initial plan, Google announced that the DocVerse feature will be distributed free through Google apps, however, regarding its availability date is yet to be announced. This move by Google only shows that the competition between the two companies is rapidly becoming stringent where now Google is not allowing any “breathing space” for Microsoft to work a counter to what the search engine giant dished out.
Every company in any field of business aims to improve their services as well as their products. This is for the sole purpose of giving the clients both what they want and what they need. Focusing on the client in developing a marketing strategy is important because of the fact he or she is the end user of the product and of course the he or she will be the person who will purchase the said product. Under this principle of giving convenience to clients that the Google product search was developed.
Google’s constant battle to maintain it’s lead over it competitors such as Microsoft developed a sense of urgency for the search engine company in creating applications and coming up with concepts and ideas that would help increase the internet users’ share of the said company. Google have recently released what is known as the Google product search, this new feature from Google aims to help users locate products and its availability at local stores. This will help users to easily check the availability of the product at certain stores saving much time from going to such store only to find out that the product that you are looking for is not in stock. The Google product search is available on phones that have integrated operating system such as Palm WebOS , Iphone and the Android. The application also has a feature that will allow you to make intelligent decision through its suggested stores, should there be no stock on your target store the Google product search will be able to detect nearby stores that have the product that you are searching for which would help you with planning your logistics in going to the nearest store making you save time, money and gas.
Google China have it’s share of challenges and compared with other Google branches worldwide it is the only one that suffered so much in terms of government relations and internet users relations. It is to be recalled that Google China was subjected by the Chinese government to a censorship process where it disallow Google to fully display its search results especially those search results that the Chinese government would be detrimental to its citisens and to the government itself. This censorship was viewed to be curtailing the right to expression and that it conflicted with the search engine algorithm of Google as a whole. Aside from that Google China was hacked and investigations showed that what was taken were the personal data of Gmail users who are considered to be activists against the Chinese government. Investigation further showed that the hacking source code was Chinese in origin thus adding to the already fiery relationship between the Chinese government and Google.
In a news report from Wall Street Journal it has been stated that the Chinese language site of the search engine giant is going to close down and this will be implemented in the following weeks. According to a reliable source the ongoing negotiations between the Chinese government and Google China seemed to be in a deadlock and no amiable resolution is seen to happen soon especially regarding the talks about the extent of the censorship of Google China’s search result. If such deadlock will push through and not one of the involved parties would be giving way for the other then it is expected that Google will pull the plug in its Chinese search engine. If this would push through Google will be the last biggest foreign investor in China who would leave the country and close down it’s business.
The emergence of the Web 2.0 has created several new technologies that is going to revolutionise the SEO industry. Among these technologies are social networking such as facebook and myspace, microbloggings sites such as Twitter and social bookmarks. It is because of these new technologies that search engine optimisation is said to be transforming the SEO playing field from normal optimisation strategies to building virtual communities. It is seen that the trend seems to point to the efficient use of the different social media networks or the effective building of a network or a virtual community. Virtual communities are built through the social media networks such as facebook and microblogging sites such as Twitter. The latter however offers real time updates which are a feature that most search engines have recently acquired. It is thus fitting to know and to follow some guidelines, below are some of such guidelines:
- When starting a “Twitter Campaign” it would be prudent for you to first visit Twitter and search for the keywords that are related to the niche that you have or the demographics or audiences or internet users that you are targeting. Gathering data such as the most effective keyword that targets your desired demographics would help ease your Twitter campaign by focusing on large communities or number of people.
- Use the find people option of Twitter in order for you to locate the persons that you think would be worth following, this is because of the fact that the follow feature of the microblogging site allows you to be seen by such persons’ followers giving you the opportunity to expand your network.
- Once you have already had your Twitter account fully set-up you can now start updating your tweets, one main reminder with regards to this is that you have to have a system or sort of an organised way of updating your tweets and keeping them fresh because of the fact that twitter users are more interested in fresh and relevant tweets.
Google was underfire during the past month most specifically that of Google Buzz, it is because of the fact that the new application from Google has been displaying the profile and information of gmail users who are also users or members of any social media network sites. The profile of the gmail user in the social media network site is being shown on Google buzz thus allowing other gmail users to see such profiles. This was the very reason why a Harvard Law student has filed a lawsuit against the search engine company assailing that such application by Google intrudes the privacy of an individual, a personal suit that turned into a class suit due to the number of affected parties or individuals. Aside from that Google buzz is an opt-out feature which means you are automatically enrolled or registered to Google buzz and that you only can be delisted if you opt-out or request that you be delisted.
It is because of these problems that Google have developed several features that will help protect the privacy of its users. For instance, Google have made it easier for users to opt-out of the Google buzz feature by simply clicking on the settings link on the top right part of Gmail and clicking the buzz tab which will show the option show publicly or hide. This is unlike before where the opt-out feature comes in the form of a request.
Privacy control on Google buzz’ dashboard is also incorporated wherein users are given the opportunity to edit their profile and view the number of people and the people the user is interacting with. In the Edit your profile page the user will find options to change his or her profile as well as to restrict privacy through its privacy controls, help page and the privacy policy. Google has also provided a button that will allow users to delete Buzz profile and disconnect from the Google feature totally.
Google have always been underfire because of their business strategies, but nothing would compare to the experience that Google China had when it came underfire from the Chinese government. First, Google was asked by the Chinese government to censor the different search results where such censorship curtails the freedom of speech and that such censorship would be giving inaccurate results. Aside from this Google again came under fire within the past few weeks because of the fact that Google china’s Gmail service was hacked and several identities of people who are identified with going against the Chinese government were compromised.
These challenges or pressures being applied by the Chinese government on Google China led to the threat of Google having to pull-out entirely out of China. It is because of this that the Chinese government conducted an investigation regarding the hacking incident and its findings were the same as that of Google’s hired computer forensics that the virus is Chinese in origin. It is because of this action of the Chinese government that Google are now negotiating with the Chinese government having to settle everything.
One main issue that came out in the negotiations is Google’s request to return unfiltered results to Chinese users, which of course was the very first rule that Google must comply with, which is to censor or filter their results for the sake of their citizens. If Google would decide to push through with the request of removing filters in its search results this may mean that Google china have to shut down its China operation and just operate the search engine through Google’s mountain view headquarters.
Observers however see that if a pull-out is necessary, Google will not be pulling out of China at a 100% rate because of the fact that Google still have other interests in China such as research, sales among other operations.
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