Deleting your Google search history and starting fresh

AS from 1 March 2012, it will be easier than ever for online advertisers to target web users, thanks to Google. Apart from debates about privacy, the simple fact is that the majority of Internet users are not experienced webmasters who know how to control and customise their privacy options.

For those rare occasions when we don't just want to buy random crap off the Internet (sarcasm), it becomes really irritating and intrusive to be constantly bombarded by adverts. I spent a couple of hours going through all my Google accounts and finding information from my teenaged years and experimental student days. Any “likes” or “interests” that you may have added somewhere in the webesphere could soon be used to load the cannons of consumerism and bombard you.

If you use Google, you may want to read this is a good article to read (published at The Age dot com) if you haven't a clue what this is all about. But what follows are a few useful places to start if you wish to clean out some of your data and baggage before Google gets a firmer hold on it.

Clearing your Google Search History:
(the info below also appears on The Age dot com):

• Go to the Google History page and sign in.
• Click “Remove All Web History” then “Okay” to confirm.
• Your Google Search History should be turned on by default. You can always click "Resume" if you decide to turn this feature back on.

For more control over your various Google accounts that you may or may not have, try these:

• Google Dashboard: Here you can control the data associated with your Google Account.
• Ads Preferences Manager: Here you can make changes to the ads you see, including blocking specific advertisers or opting-out of seeing personalised ads completely.
• Eject button: If you decide you want to opt out altogether, Google provides a one stop shop to opt out of everything and take your "data dandruff" with you completely.

For blocking ads, there is also a useful plugin for Firefox and Chrome called Adblock Plus, which does as the name suggests: blocks ads.

A final website I came across almost by accident is the Network Advertising Initiative. An article on here called Opt Out of Behavioral Advertising gives a status on which advertising groups you have received cookies from over the years. There is a really useful "Opt-out from all" option here, which lets you remove most (if not all) of these.

And before any of you haters start bashing out comments, understand that this is not about "having something to hide"; it's a much more complicated issue around privacy, freedom of information, and how we are treated as Internet users.

Peace out.

SOCIAL MEDIA: And how it is transforming business in South Africa

Fuseware is a Cape Town based social media research company that is currently creating a free social media research survey about the business case for social media in South Africa. They are asking the top influencers in the media and marketing industry for their views regarding this and aggregating all the information into a 100% free Fuseware report.

I was asked to participate in the Fuseware survey but wanted to open it to everyone to participate and offer further suggestions. The six most poignant questions follow with my own responses, but please feel free to contribute and get your chance to be heard! I will pass all comments on to the researcher that contacted me.

1. Fuseware: How is social media changing the business landscape, specifically for South Africa?

In the media industry, social media is the next phase of journalism. Media industries that do not adopt and embrace social media and networking into their production cycles will surely wither and die in the future. Situations where news rooms fight social media to get "the scoop" will never win by virtual of the speed and spread that is offered by services such as Twitter, Blogs and even Facebook. Media organisations need to learn how to use social media themselves in unique ways if they wish to remain a viable source of information.

2. Fuseware: What is the most difficult challenge of social media use in business in South Africa?

I would argue that the biggest challenge for businesses in SA is finding unique ways to make effective use of social media without harassing and bomb-barding social networkers with corporate spam. Simply posting links to any business website on every social media platform, for example, is not effective use of social media and will only irritate people and possibly taint the name of that business or brand.

3. Fuseware: What is your ultimate example of business success in social media?

News websites that have developed social media extensions for their product are proving to be very successful in SA. News24, The Dispatch and The Times are three examples of businesses that have made effective use of social media by offering something of interest and value that was not possible with their print products. Interactivity, commenting platforms, reader feedback, creating web-presence and the use of multimedia are all effective forms of optimising such a business.

4. Fuseware: Which companies in South Africa do you think are doing social media the right way?

The three news corps. mentioned: News24, The Times and The Dispatch. Also gaming and IT websites are showing huge growth in SA - e.g. Take2, and of course the blogging community and more specifically blog aggregators - i.e. Afrigator and MyScoop are making great and effective use of social media in SA. These will continue to grow for a good while yet.

5. Fuseware: How can businesses in SA measure the effectiveness of their social media campaigns?

It depends on the campaign really. Following trends would be a good start, but most social media campaigns can be measured by number of followers / subscribers and the growth of these. Keeping track of website statistics and engaging with their audience(s) is also of utmost importance.

6. Fuseware: How do you envision the usage of social media in SA in 2-3 years?

The internet today is defined as "web 2.0" - i.e. the "social web". The proliferation of social media websites and services will continue to grow in the next few years and more businesses are likely to adopt social networking into their business models. It's almost becoming a case of "do-or-die" meaning that if businesses do not create a web-presence within the next 2-3 years while their competitors do, they will risk losing a huge number of customers / clients / readers.

• If you would like any of your own input sent to the Fuseware team before they put together their social media report, please add it as a comment below.

** More Web Developments & Absurdities **

Well I’ll tell you what’s in mine ...

IT'S that time of year once again to do my bit to promote some of the other great blogs out there. These are essentially the ones in my blogroll, which you should be familiar with by now, but for any new-comers (welcome) these are what you may be missing out on:

• Gottaquirk operates in the realm if eMarketing and is an online child of Quirk – Africa’s largest eMarketing agency. Published upon their great wooden desk design are posts relating to everything from online reputation management and SEM to web development.

• Justin Hartman is one of SA’s great and fearless online leaders. He is the MD and co-founder of Afrigator - Africa's largest social media aggregator, which spawned several Gator offspring, such as Adgator and Gatorpeeps. Justin has a knack at explaining complex online strategies to entrepreneurial and eager young minds in easily-absorbable ways. He often shares his well-illustrated presentations on his blog.

I’m confident that 2oceansvibe needs no introduction. Winner of the 2009 SA Blog Awards, 20ceansvive has reached the top of the charts on SA’s blog aggregators, and deservedly so too. It’s updated several times a day with sexy photos, videos and really entertaining pieces. It’s creator is local celeb and all-round nice guy Seth Rotherham, who lives by his motto, “Work is a sideline, live the holiday”. You may want to increase your cap before visiting Seth’s site as you’re likely to spend a few hours perusing his content.

• SA Rocks. There’s no doubt about that. How great to create a blog about all the positively South African people, places and events that make South Africa rock. Nic Haralambos has done just that by punting positive action on his blog SA Rocks, which will always leave you feeling proud to be associated with SA.

• Shaun Oakes is quite a character. One can never be sure where he is or what he’s going to blog about next, but with his cheeky and sarcastic sense of humour, he can make anything sound entertaining. He is an inspiring novelist who has conjured up convincing characters such as The Girlfriend and Some Other Guy. A little grotesk at times, shaunoakes.com is not recommended for sensitive viewers or alien life-forms.

Cape Town is home to the most popular bloggers in SA and Cape Town happenings is often what’s hot in the blogosphere. Cape Town Alive brings you all the events going on in the mother city in a witty, entertaining way. It is also the domain of one of my favouritly-humoured blog writers Kyle Stroebel (a.k.a. stroob).

• The Art of Manliness offers something completely different on the blogosphere - a blog dedicated to uncovering the lost art of being a man. It may sound a little silly at first, but the husband and wife team behind this tasteful creation have done a fantastic job. They delve deep into the history of manliness and research the lives of great men to offer articles on helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men.

• The Art of non-conformity is my best find on the blogosphere to date. Its founder is Chris Guillebeau – role-model to the world. Chris has travelled the globe, done volunteer work, published books and is on a mission to help people live unconventional lives, make their own choices, and change the world. Chris’ selfless, bi-weekly blog chronicles his writing on how to change the world by achieving significant, personal goals in the field of work, life and travel all while helping others at the same time.

If you’re a whizz in the kitchen and are keen on learning some new recipes, you need look no further than Cookbook.co.za. It is by far the best cooking blog I’ve come across that is extensive, user-friendly and 100% free. It has recipes for baked goods, chicken treats, Chinese cuisine, yummy desserts, drinks hot & cold, fish, meat dishes, pasta, salads, sauces and soups.

• Web AddiCT(s) offers a daily dose of tech – more specifically posts on web and cellphone applications. Quite technical by nature, don’t feel bad if a lot of the content offered here goes over your head - you're bound to find something to pique your interest. The site recently underwent a re-design and is looking pretty sweet.

• The above are some of the top blogs (and bloggers) in the South African blogosphere according to our great aggregators. All are listed in my blogroll to your right.

** More Cool Websites & Resources **