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U.S. tourists arrested for baring their butts outside a Thai temple for Instagram

11/30/2017

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U.S. tourists arrested for baring their butts outside a Thai temple for Instagram

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U.S. tourists arrested for baring their butts outside a Thai temple for Instagram

The Wat Arun Temple in Bangkok, site of the mooning.
The Wat Arun Temple in Bangkok, site of the mooning.

Image: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

2016%2f09%2f16%2f56%2fhttpsd2mhye01h4nj2n.cloudfront.netmediazgkymde2lzax.6d630By Nicole Gallucci2017-11-30 22:35:03 UTC

It's all fun and games on Instagram until you post a partially naked photo of yourself in front of a sacred Thai temple and get arrested.

That's how the saying goes, at least for U.S. tourists and Instagram stars Joseph and Travis Dasilva, who were arrested in Thailand on Tuesday and charged with public indecency after snapping a photo of their bare bums in front of Bangkok's famous Wat Arun temple.

As The Bangkok Post noted, immigration police apprehended the 38-year-old U.S. citizens at Don Mueang airport on warrants pertaining to the revealing pictures on their Instagram account, "Traveling Butts," which soon went viral after being posted.

The Dasilva's use the Instagram account to document their rear ends as they travel the world, their housesitter, Nyx Blue, told NBC 7, explaining that the men were in Thailand to celebrate their first year of marriage. They figured they'd celebrate the occasion with another post, but their placement was a huge mistake. 

The Wat Arun, or Temple of Dawn, is one of Bangkok's most famous temples and a central place for Buddhists to worship. The Bangkok Post details strict etiquette to follow when visiting, including removing your shoes, hats, or sunglasses, dressing modestly, which means no sleeveless tops, and never turning your back to the Buddha statue.

Despite the popularity of the landmark, Blue told NBC 7 the men were unaware they were causing any harm or disrespect. "They didn't know it was a temple. It's just like a building."

Thai Immigration Police with the two US citizens arrested for public indecency.

Thai Immigration Police with the two US citizens arrested for public indecency.

Image: THAI IMMIGRATION POLICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Thai Immigration Police pictured with the two US tourists who were arrested.

Thai Immigration Police pictured with the two US tourists who were arrested.

Image: THAI IMMIGRATION POLICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Though the Instagram account has reportedly been deleted, the damage was already done in the eyes of Bangkok officials. 

"Once they are through with the charges, the Thai immigration police will revoke their visas and push for deportation," Col. Choengron Rimpadee, deputy spokesman of the Thai immigration police, told the BBC. "They will also be blacklisted from coming back to Thailand."

While the charges of public nudity come with a $150 fine for each of the men, Colonel Jarupat Thongkomol told the Straits Times, "We are now seeking court approval to prosecute them on Computer Crime Act for uploading pornographic pictures."

If those charges were to stick the men could be in far more serious trouble, however, San Diego City Commissioner Nicole Murray Ramirez told the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News he's trying to help them avoid serious punishment.

"Though I am very disappointed in their actions, I am talking to U.S. government officials to see what assistance we can give them,” Murray Ramirez said, explaining the men had reached out for assistance after their arrest.

If you learn anything from this tale: always be sure to do your research before traveling. And remember, sometimes the Instagram is really not worth the trouble.





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November 30, 2017 at 04:47PM
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Here's a $30 tool that uses competitor data to improve your social media game

11/30/2017

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Here's a $30 tool that uses competitor data to improve your social media game

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Here's a $30 tool that uses competitor data to improve your social media game

Conquer social media.
Conquer social media.

Image: Pexels

By Team CommerceMashable Deals2017-11-30 21:15:08 UTC

Social media is an integral component to any marketing strategy. Or it should be. Knowing your way around Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms isn’t just a perk anymore — it’s a must. And to be at the top of your game, you need to know what your competitors are up to.

Enter Social Insider, a tool used by more than 4,000 companies, including Blitzmetrics, Skyscanner, and Vice. Social Insider lets you see your competitors' posts, content performance, engagement metrics, audience growth, boosted posts, hashtags, and more — making it easier for you to see what works and what doesn’t.

The cool thing is that you don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting. Social Insider will create in-depth reports and stats for you, which you can then modify, opting to omit certain reports and add your own logo and design before passing them along to your clients or boss. 

Add it to your own arsenal when you pick up a lifetime subscription in The Mashable Shop for just $29.99. That's a huge reduction from the more than $3,000 list price.





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November 30, 2017 at 03:20PM
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How to Optimize a YouTube Channel and Videos for Better Visibility

11/30/2017

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How to Optimize a YouTube Channel and Videos for Better Visibility

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social media how toWant more views for your YouTube content?

Wondering how to show up in YouTube’s search and suggested videos?

An optimized YouTube channel delivers a rewarding viewing experience and works with the YouTube algorithm to boost your visibility.

In this article, you’ll learn how to set up and optimize your YouTube channel and videos for more exposure.

How to Optimize a YouTube Channel and Videos for Better Visibility by Jeremy Vest on Social Media Examiner.

How to Optimize a YouTube Channel and Videos for Better Visibility by Jeremy Vest on Social Media Examiner.

#1: Design a Compelling YouTube Channel Home Page

Your YouTube channel home page is the first thing people see, so it needs to make a good impression. Take time to build a professional home page that encapsulates what your channel is about.

YouTube channel home page

Choose a Profile Picture

Your profile picture is like your channel’s icon and appears anywhere you comment or show up on YouTube so it can be a potent ad for your business.

Pick a clean, easily identifiable image. You want to avoid too much clutter in the image because your profile picture appears very small on the screen. Also, if you can, choose a profile picture with a face because our brains pick out faces faster than logos.

YouTube channel channel icon with face

To add or change your profile pic, click your profile photo on the YouTube home page and select My Channel from the drop-down menu.

alt

On the next page, click Customize Channel.

alt

Next, hover over your profile photo, click the pencil icon, and click Edit in the box that appears.

alt

Adding or changing your profile pic can be a little confusing because it’s tied to your Google account. When you click to edit your profile picture, it takes you to your Google profile where you upload the new picture.

Upload Channel Art

At the top of your channel home page is the header image. Add your channel schedule and personalities to the artwork.

If you’re uploading channel art for the first time, go to your YouTube channel page (click your profile photo on the YouTube home page, select My Channel, and click Customize Channel).

Then click Add Channel Art, and drag and drop or navigate to the image you want to upload.

YouTube upload channel art

If you want to change existing channel art, hover over the header image, click the pencil icon in the upper right, and upload a new image. Make sure you test the new image on mobile and TV.

Select a Channel Trailer

The trailer, which autoplays when someone visits your channel, is your channel’s elevator pitch and could be your only chance to gain or lose a subscriber. Aim for a 1- or 2-minute video that tells people what your channel is about and make the trailer content fun and interesting.

A good channel trailer example is Grant Thompson’s The King of Random:

VIDEO

To add or change your channel trailer, go to your YouTube channel page (click your profile photo on the home page, select My Channel, and click Customize Channel) and click the For New Visitors tab.

If you haven’t added a trailer previously, click Channel Trailer and select the video you want to use.

YouTube channel select trailer

If you want to change an existing trailer, hover over the trailer. When the pencil icon appears in the upper right, click the icon and choose a video for the trailer.

YouTube channel change trailer

Create Playlists

On the home page, you can feature playlists of your best work and each playlist can appear in a different section, with up to 10 sections.

In the first section, you might feature content for new viewers.

YouTube channel playlist new subscribers

Also, feature playlists on popular topics for your channel and create series playlists because they’ll ensure a “lean back” experience that encourages viewers to binge-watch your content.

YouTube channel playlist series

To create a playlist, go to your channel (click your profile photo on the YouTube home page, select My Channel, and click Customize Channel) and click the Playlists tab. Then click the New Playlist button, enter a playlist title, and click Create.

YouTube channel create playlist

On the next page, click the Edit button.

youtube create new playlist

Then click Add Videos. On the Add Video to Playlist page, click the Your YouTube Videos tab and select the videos you want to add to your playlist. When you’re finished, click Add Videos.

YouTube channel add content to playlist

Tip: In your analytics, find the videos that best convert subscribers and include those in the playlist for new viewers. To identify these videos, open Creator Studio and click Analytics > Subscribers > YouTube Watch Page, which will reveal the videos from highest to lowest.

You’ll find out more about how to use playlists strategically later in this article.

Add Featured Channels

Featured channels appear on the right side of your channel home page. When you include friends’ channels and/or other channels you enjoy, the featured channels list will create a connection in people’s minds and in the algorithm between your channel and these featured channels.

YouTube featured channels

To add featured channels, go to your YouTube channel page (click your profile photo on the YouTube home page, select My Channel, and click Customize Channel). On the right side of the page, click the Add Channels button below Featured Channels.

YouTube add featured channels

Create an About Page

Your About page is accessible via a tab on your YouTube channel home page. On your About page, include a short, persuasive description of your channel and focus on the first few sentences.

YouTube channel about page

To add or change your About page, make sure you’re logged in and open your channel page (click your profile photo on the YouTube home page, select My Channel, and click Customize Channel). Then click the About tab on the far right.

If you’re adding an About page for the first time, add a channel description, links, and other pertinent details.

To edit an existing About page, click the pencil icon and update your channel description.

YouTube channel about page

#2: Research Keywords for Tags, Titles, and Descriptions

It’s no secret that YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world behind Google (which owns YouTube). So search is not only heavily featured as a benefit of YouTube, but is also one of the best ways to grow your channel, especially when you’re just starting out.

The YouTube algorithm uses dozens of metrics, but many of these kick in only after your channel has an audience of some sort. When you’re starting from zero, your best bet to gain new followers is through optimizing for search.

Valuable keywords and tags boost rankings for your videos, playlists, and entire channel, giving you extra search results, more suggested views, and better subscriber conversion over time. You use these keywords not only as tags on your video content and channel, but also in video titles.

How do you know what keywords to use? To begin, a few tools can help you research which keywords to use.

Get Keyword Suggestions From YouTube and Google Search

No, really. Just type a keyword that relates to your channel in the YouTube or Google search bar and check out the autofill drop-down results.

YouTube search for relevant keywords

The autofill results are the most searched phrases for that keyword. The search bars are especially good for finding long-tail keywords. After you find the right keywords, simply drop the terms into the keywords of your video.

Research Keywords With the Keyword Planner

Google AdWords Keyword Planner is the gold standard for keyword research. SEO experts use this tool to determine what keywords to focus on in an AdWords campaign.

With this tool, you can see both the number of searches for a particular keyword, as well as the competition. You want to look for keywords with high search volumes and low competition.

To use the Keyword Planner tool, you need an AdWords account. After you log into AdWords, click the wrench icon in the upper-right corner and click Keyword Planner on the menu that appears.

Once the Keyword Planner opens, click the option labeled Search for New Keywords Using a Phrase, Website, or Category.

Google Keyword Planner search for new keywords

To search for a new keyword, enter a general keyword in the Your Product or Service field and click Get Ideas.

Google Keyword Planner search for new keywords

The Find Keywords page shows variations of the keyword you entered and alternative ideas to consider. As you scroll through the options, look for keywords with high search volume and low competition. Make a list of the keywords that best fit those parameters.

Google Keywords Find Keywords page

Find Trending Topics With Google Trends

Google Trends is one of the best tools for finding not only great tags and keywords, but also topics for videos. Focusing on trending tags takes advantage of the natural flow of search intent that already exists. Instead of finding ways to entice people to come to your content, you create content that people are already looking for.

When you open Google Trends, the top trending topics of the day appear on the front page. Enter a search term at the top, and you see a graph of activity over time and a map of the top countries for that term.

Google Trends keyword research results

Google Trends is a powerful tool that allows you to filter by date and location down to the city level and gives you the ability to pinpoint your topics at the optimal time.

Assess Keyword Competition and Search Volume With Plugins

A handful of plugins like TubeBuddy and VidIQ integrate with YouTube and help you gauge competition, search volume, and recommended terms alongside your selected keywords. These plugins cost some money but can be very helpful.

For example, with these plugins, you can copy and paste keywords from videos that rank highly for those keywords to help you get suggested views.

Also, TubeBuddy has a suite of video SEO tools including Tag Explorer. With Tag Explorer, you can research tags in your browser while you’re watching or editing a video in YouTube, or viewing a search results page.

TubeBuddy Tag Explorer

As you research trending and popular tags related to the one that interests you, you can see whether a tag’s popularity is growing and find top videos using the tag.

#3: Add Keywords to Your Video Titles, Descriptions, and Tags

Now that you’ve researched relevant keywords, you’re ready to start working them into your video titles, descriptions, and tags.

YouTube video title description tags

Use an Algorithm-Friendly Pattern for Adding Tags

The way you tag videos can make a giant difference in your YouTube channel’s success. When you tag videos following a simple formula, your tags can help the YouTube algorithm sort your keywords, and consequently, your videos.

Although YouTube gives you 500 characters for tags, adding more than 15 tags can look like keyword stuffing. However, you still want to use as many tags as you can to rank for those search terms.

To balance these issues, aim for 10 to 15 tags for each video. You then order these tags following a specific formula.

Start with long-tail tags that are 3 to 5 words each and usually exact phrases that people might search for. Examples of specific long-tail tags are “How to Set Up Canon C100” and “Canon C100 Settings.” These tags might reflect keywords you found via a search engine’s autofilled drop-down list.

YouTube video tags long-tail keywords

Continue adding long-tail keywords for the next 5 to 10 tags. You also want to use medium-sized phrases of 2 to 3 words each. Use more general terms for these tags such as “Canon cameras” and “camera review.”

YouTube video tags medium-sized keywords

Next, separate long-tail keywords into one-word tags. Make sure some of these tags include the names of playlists in which the video appears. For the very last tag, use your brand name.

YouTube video tag playlist names

Include Core Keywords in the Title and Description

Overall, you want to create several points of connection among your video, other videos on your channel (including playlists), and other videos that rank for specific search terms. One way to do this is to include core keywords in your video’s title and description.

For example, if your YouTube channel is focused on camera reviews, your goal would be to work “camera review” into video titles and descriptions.

YouTube video title with keywords

At minimum, include at least one tag keyword that’s also used in the description. If the keyword is also included in the playlist title, that’s even better.

Think of these keywords as little dabs of glue that you’re peppering around your video. The more glue, the stickier your video will be in search.

Optimize Your Video Titles for People

Many people think optimizing for search simply means stuffing their titles full of keywords to get the video to rank. However, you also have to optimize for people. Nonsensical or boring titles stuffed with keywords don’t get many people excited about clicking and watching your video.

The art of YouTube video titling for search is to generate titles that are simultaneously intriguing and keyword-rich but don’t sound keyword-rich.

Following a formula can help you write keyword-rich titles that people still want to click. The formula uses the pattern shown in this video by Gillette. Start the title with a broad category (How to Shave). Then add your main keyword with a compelling reason to click (Shaving Tips for Men). If your video is for a brand, add the brand name at the end (Gillette).

YouTube video title nested

This formula ensures that your video will rank for the specific search term and also a broader category.

Tip: Make the broad category of the formula the same as a playlist in which a video appears. Doing this ties the video in with the videos in the playlist and uses their search ranking to boost the ranking of this video.

To write a title that viewers will want to click but doesn’t sound like clickbait, try setting up a story. People are hard-wired for stories. Titles that set up a story get clicks because people want to hear what happens.

YouTube video title story

Similar to teasing a story, set up a conflict or challenge to entice viewers to watch. Also, use a “pick your side” scenario to activate our natural tribalism.

What is it about list videos that make them so popular? The world may never know. If your video shares a list, highlight that in your title.

YouTube video title list

Keep in mind that the title is only half of the reason people click. The other half is the video thumbnail, so make sure the title and thumbnail work together to be as compelling as possible. A title that contradicts the thumbnail sets up a question in the viewers’ minds and makes them want to investigate further.

YouTube video title contradiction

Use Caution When Changing Established Video Titles

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If a YouTube video is established and performing fine, changing the title can sink it in the search algorithm. Leave those titles alone.

Underperforming videos are fine to tweak, but don’t change a whole bunch at once. Spread out the changes over time so they don’t confuse the algorithm.

Having said that, YouTube does seem to provide a two-day grace period for making changes to a video title after you post the video. During this time, making changes doesn’t seem to significantly impact views, so feel free to test a couple of titles on a brand-new video. But after the first couple of days, you might want to leave it alone.

#4: Add Keywords to Your Channel

In addition to adding tags and keywords to videos, don’t forget about channel keywords. Channel keywords are crucial to YouTube discovery. They help the algorithm determine which other channels and videos to use for recommending your videos.

To assign channel keywords, open Creator Studio (click your profile photo and select Creator Studio). In the left sidebar, click Channel > Advanced, and then enter your channel keywords in the field provided.

YouTube add channel keywords

#5: Use Playlists to Develop a Cohesive and Organized Channel

Most creators and brands on YouTube just use playlists as an organizational tool and put them on the channel home page as a way to categorize their videos for new viewers to browse. Those are good practices. There’s nothing wrong with that, but playlists are capable of so much more.

Playlists allow you to treat your YouTube channel more like a TV network. Shonduras offers playlists with cool themes and popular videos that keep people watching. With playlists, you can develop a content strategy that leads viewers from one video to another for hours of watch time instead of a few minutes.

YouTube channel playlist Shonduras

Playlists also serve a strong SEO function. By connecting videos with similar tags and keywords to playlists with the same tags and keywords, you’re attaching those videos in the algorithm, which leads to more suggested views.

When you begin seriously incorporating playlists into your channel strategy, you start thinking much bigger than the individual videos you’re creating. This bigger-picture thinking leads to a more cohesive and organized channel, which pays dividends not only in the user experience, but in the algorithm as well.

Optimize Playlist Titles and Descriptions for Search

To give your playlist a boost in the algorithm, choose a title that has high search intent. You can use the same keyword research you used for tags to determine search intent for your playlist.

To change the title of the playlist, open Creator Studio and click Video Manager > Playlists.

YouTube playlist create rule

Click the playlist you want to edit and then click the Edit button on the next page.

On the playlist edit page, hover over the title and click the pencil icon that appears on the right. After you choose a highly searched playlist title, be sure to add that title to the tags in all of the videos in the playlist so the algorithm sticks the videos together.

YouTube edit playlist title

You also want to add a two- or three-sentence description for the playlist. YouTube does look at descriptions for some SEO data. In the description text, use the playlist name and any other tags you can use conversationally.

You can add the titles of some of the playlist videos in the playlist, but don’t keyword-stuff. Keyword stuffing can count against you in the algorithm.

YouTube edit playlist description

Rearrange Videos in a Playlist

You can choose the order in which videos appear in a playlist. Always add the newest video first for episodic content so you can help with organic playlist views. Older content will naturally be more popular based on lifetime views.

For content that is based purely on search, allow your playlists to sort videos by most popular because the popular videos appear more in search results naturally.

To rearrange videos in a playlist, navigate to the edit playlist page in Creator Studio (open the playlist you want to edit and click Edit). Then grab the left edge of a video (as shown below) and drag it up or down to move it to the desired order.

YouTube playlist edit order

Choose a Playlist Thumbnail From a Top-Performing Video

Many people don’t realize that you can choose a thumbnail image for your playlists. Playlist thumbnails are just as important as video thumbnails for enticing viewers to click and watch your playlist.

Luckily, you don’t have to build an entirely new thumbnail. Instead, pick a thumbnail from a video in your playlist. Preferably, use a thumbnail from a video that performs really well.

To find out which video in your playlist performs best, open Creator Studio and click Analytics > Traffic Sources. Scroll down and click Suggested Videos. From there, find the top-performing video in your playlist.

YouTube analytics suggested videos

To set that video’s thumbnail as the playlist thumbnail, navigate to the edit playlist page in Creator Studio. Hover over the video whose thumbnail you want to use and a More button will pop up on the right side. Select Set as Playlist Thumbnail from the drop-down menu. That’s it!

YouTube playlist select thumbnail

Package a Video Series

If your video is part of a series, add “Episode 1,” “Episode 2,” and so on to the video title to help connect those videos in the algorithm. Titles that include an episode number also tell a viewer that more videos like this one are available and encourage the viewer to watch the next episode.

YouTube series title with episode number

To package a series, you should also add the next video as an end card and include all of the videos in the series in a playlist. If you have a verified account, you can even use a series playlist, which is a type of playlist specifically designed for a video series.

YouTube series playlist

If a video is in a series playlist, YouTube automatically plays the next video in the playlist if the viewer is watching on autoplay, even if they weren’t watching the playlist itself. A series playlist is an easy way to ensure that the viewer will at least see one video of yours in the suggested videos sidebar.

Add New Playlists Frequently

Ideally, add at least two new playlists to your channel every week. On average, include 3 to 10 videos in each playlist.

A few tips can help you keep up with this pace:

  • After you have around 10 videos, look for a tag that all of these videos have in common and create a new playlist based on that tag. This tactic will help your channel divide and conquer over time.
  • Add new videos to at least three playlists to create the most opportunity for binge-viewing.

YouTube add new video to multiple playlists

Set Up Rules to Automatically Add Videos to Playlists

You can set up rules to add videos to playlists based on either titles or tags. These rules offer a good way to automate your workflow after your channel has over 20 playlists. However, you should still review your playlists every few weeks to make sure videos weren’t placed in the wrong playlists.

To create rules that automate playlist additions, open Creator Studio and click Video Manager > Playlists.

YouTube playlist create rule

Next, pull up the playlist you want to automate and click the Edit button.

YouTube playlist create rule

In the playlist window, click Playlist Settings and then click Auto Add. As you create the rules, determine if YouTube should add a video to the playlist based on a word in the title, tag, or description.

YouTube playlist create rule

Conclusion

Channel optimization is an overlooked topic because most people focus on getting the most views for individual videos. But optimizing your entire channel spreads the YouTube love much further, resulting in more views for more videos and higher conversion rates. After all, people subscribe to your channel, not your video.

For the high points on channel optimization, check out this video:

VIDEO

Channel optimization, much like video optimization, means optimizing for the algorithm and the audience. You need to use keywords, metadata, and other best practices to perform better in search and suggested videos. You also need to create a viewing experience that rewards continued viewing and makes the channel appealing to the viewer right off the bat.

What do you think? What ideas in this article might help grow your YouTube channel? Do you have any experiences with these tactics that you can add? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Learn how to set up and optimize your YouTube channel and videos for more exposure in search and suggested videos.





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November 30, 2017 at 05:01AM
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China is deleting posts about a kindergarten allegedly abusing its toddlers

11/30/2017

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China is deleting posts about a kindergarten allegedly abusing its toddlers

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As anger swells around a Chinese kindergarten accused of abusing its toddlers, online discussion about the topic has been systematically deleted.

Earlier this week, the RYB Education New World kindergarten in Beijing was accused of feeding drugs to toddlers, and injecting them with unknown substances.

Outside of Beijing, the group runs over 500 kindergartens in China. 

Parents have started protesting and circulating alleged photos of abuse online.

But comments and posts about the topic are disappearing on Chinese social media, which the state monitors and scrubs of objectionable content regularly.

A search for "RYB kindergarten," which in Chinese is known as "红黄蓝 (Red Yellow Blue)", showed that people were actively sharing and clicking on posts about the kindergarten, yet the comment sections were curiously silent — a sign that comments had been deleted.

In the Weibo post below by the Beijing News, it's clear the post has been liked almost 29,000 times and shared 2,620. Yet there are only four innocuous comments left behind.  

Image: beijing news/weibo

Similarly, this post by Sina, the parent company of Weibo, shows a discussion about the kindergarten yielded 2846 likes, 1314 shares and just 13 comments. 

Image: sina guangdong/weibo

Outside Weibo's social media platform, news aggregator Toutiao's post yielded over 2000 comments, 900 shares, and just 59 comments.

And even though this Sina post has a pretty high number of comments coming in at 730, it's still pretty disproportionate to the 154,876 comments and over 18,000 shares it received.

Image: sina finance/weibo

A quick search on Weiboscope, a University of Hong Kong project that tracks censorship on Weibo revealed that there was a spike in the number of censored posts on Nov. 27. 

The main words that were being censored on that day were "kindergarten" and "Beijing."

According to Weiboscope, some 27.7 of 10,000 posts were deleted on that day. That might not sound like much, but considering posts on Weibo can go well into the millions in just one day, that could be 2,770 posts of every one million posts being deleted.

Posts on Weibo get deleted by the government's censorship board, which deletes posts both automatically by offending keyword, and manually with an army of workers.

According to Weiboscope, the website on average censors about 7 of 10,000 posts — significantly lower than the 27.7 messages of every 10,000 that were deleted on Nov 27. 

This could indicate the scale of censorship for this kindergarten saga has been massively ramped up. 

An average of around 7 of 10,000 posts are deleted according to Weiboscope

An average of around 7 of 10,000 posts are deleted according to Weiboscope

Image: weiboscope/screenshot

The kindergarten case has set off mass outrage. Parents have claimed that some of their children had been fed unidentified tablets in school, and some been subjected to "medical check-ups" by a naked adult male. 

Police have since announced that some of these claims were fabricated, but noted that a teacher suspected of using knitting needles to prick and discipline children has been detained on criminal charges.

RYB has also fired the headmaster of its Beijing kindergarten.

China's education ministry has launched an investigation into kindergartens nationwide, with Beijing authorities saying they would send permanent inspectors to nurseries across the city.





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November 30, 2017 at 03:57AM
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Man who deactivated Trump's Twitter account thought it wouldn't actually work

11/29/2017

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Man who deactivated Trump's Twitter account thought it wouldn't actually work

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Man who deactivated Trump's Twitter account thought it wouldn't actually work

The Twitter employee says it was a "mistake."
The Twitter employee says it was a "mistake."

Image: Richard Drew/AP/REX/Shutterstock

2016%2f09%2f16%2f8f%2fhttpsd2mhye01h4nj2n.cloudfront.netmediazgkymde1lza3.c1888By Karissa Bell2017-11-30 00:52:58 UTC

The identity of the Twitter employee who briefly deactivated Donald Trump's Twitter account is no longer a secret.

The former Twitter employee has finally come forward to share his perspective on what happened that day. Speaking to TechCrunch, Bahtiyar Duysak, who worked as a contractor at Twitter's San Francisco HQ, says he now thinks his actions were a "mistake." 

More surprising, though, he says he didn't think his actions would actually result in Trump's account being deactivated.

While Duysak, a German national, doesn't offer much explanation about why he chose to remove the account in the final minutes of his job at Twitter, he apparently thought Trump's twitter was "was essentially protected from being deactivated over Terms of Service violations."

Here's how he described that day, according to TechCrunch:

Someone reported Trump’s account on Duysak’s last day; as a final, throwaway gesture, he put the wheels in motion to deactivate it. Then he closed his computer and left the building.

Duysak describes the event as a “mistake.” Specifically, he told us, he never thought the account would actually get deactivated.

In fact, it appeared that Trump’s account was essentially protected from being deactivated over Terms of Service violations. 

After the incident, which Twitter initially said was the "inadvertent" result of an employee's "human error," Twitter updated its Terms of Service to specifically reflect why it won't ban Trump.

Even though Trump has violated the company's policies in the past, Twitter's updated rules state that "there may be the rare occasion when we allow controversial content or behavior which may otherwise violate our Rules to remain on our service because we believe there is a legitimate public interest in its availability."

On his part, Duysak, who has returned to Germany, says he's been overwhelmed by media attention following his actions. He says journalists and other continue to "stalk" his social media accounts.

And while he says he now regrets his actions, he doesn't believe he did anything wrong.

"I didn't hack anyone, I didn't do anything that I was not authorized to do."





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November 29, 2017 at 06:55PM
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Meet the man who deactivated Trumps Twitter account

11/29/2017

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Meet the man who deactivated Trump’s Twitter account

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A

s Twitter tries to figure out how to lock down the parts of its platform that enable harassment, as well as the spread of misleading information and illicit content, there have been a number of moments that highlight how the service, and its levers of control, are far from perfect. One such moment took place earlier this month, when the very active, very watched Twitter account of President Donald Trump was

abruptly deactivated

for 11 minutes.

U.S. President Donald Trump long ago realized that you can use Twitter as an effective mouthpiece without all the pain and price of dealing with the media. Trump’s Twitter account (36.5K tweets and counting) has become one of the most popular ones out there today, with 43.5 million followers and growing by several hundred thousand a week. It’s also one of the most notorious, because of his flippant jokes, insults, rants and controversial retweets.

So for those who haven’t been happy with Trump — and judging by the popular vote results from the 2016 election, that accounted for a majority of voters in the U.S. — those deactivated 11 minutes became a burst of unexpected joy.

No joke, the internet has nominated the Twitter employee who shut down Trump's account for a Nobel Peace Prize

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) November 6, 2017

Just gonna say it, the employee at Twitter who shut off Trump's account for 11 mins could become a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

— David Jolly (@DavidJollyFL) November 3, 2017

how do i tell my parents im marrying the twitter employee?

— Sarah Hagi (@geekylonglegs) November 3, 2017

Twitter, in its turn for more transparency, quickly announced that the account’s shutdown was accidental. Moments later, it followed up with more information: a contractor, on his last day of work, was responsible.

The story could have ended there, but it didn’t.

Reporters started immediately trying to find the now-former Twitter contractor to try to figure out what happened. If it was an accident, how could it happen? If it was intentional, why did it happen?

We were among those looking for the contractor, and through a string of events found out his name, Bahtiyar Duysak, and got him to agree to talk to us in a cold and gray town in Germany.

Duysak, a twenty-something with Turkish roots who was born and raised in Germany, was working as a contractor for a fixed term for the last part of his stay in the U.S. under a work and study visa. In addition to his role at Twitter with Pro Unlimited, other assignments had included stints in monetization at Google and YouTube via another contractor, Vaco.

Many have wondered on Twitter why Trump’s account has never been shut down for violating Twitter’s terms (among the reasons people have given is that he has threatened North Korea with nuclear violence) while others have been calling for people to report him using Twitter’s reporting tools for offensive tweets.

At Twitter, Duysak had been assigned to customer support as part of the Trust and Safety division. This team receives alerts when users report bad behavior, including offensive or illegal tweets, harassment, someone impersonating another person, and so on. The team performs triage on complaints to determine what further steps, if any, should be taken.

 

D

uysak, medium in stature and wearing a black and gray cardigan with a pattern of the American flag across it (not something he planned, laughing a little in surprise when he made the connection between it and the story), is a personable guy. He’s quick to smile; he’s close to his family and has a big network of friends; and he speaks with a certain kind of indeterminate European accent — the kind you ofter hear from people who have travelled, lived and studied across different countries. He’s more Euro than bro.

His last day at Twitter was mostly uneventful, he says. There were many goodbyes, and he worked up until the last hour before his computer access was to be shut off. Near the end of his shift, the fateful alert came in.

This is where Trump’s behavior intersects with Duysak’s work life. Someone reported Trump’s account on Duysak’s last day; as a final, throwaway gesture, he put the wheels in motion to deactivate it. Then he closed his computer and left the building.

Several hours later, the panic began. Duysak tells us that it started when he was approached by a woman whom he didn’t know very well. According to Duysak, the woman said that she had been contacted by someone asking about Duysak in connection with Trump’s Twitter account. After a moment of disbelief, he said he then looked at the news and realized what had happened.

Duysak describes the event as a “mistake.” Specifically, he told us, he never thought the account would actually get deactivated.

In fact, it appeared that Trump’s account was essentially protected from being deactivated over Terms of Service violations. In June, Twitter explained why: Some tweets that seemingly violate its terms of service are nevertheless “newsworthy” and therefore in the public interest to keep up.

One takeaway from Twitter’s exemption for newsworthy tweets is that news and information trump judgment calls on the relative toxicity of the content, which is probably apt in our age of toxicity dressed up as “news.”

Trump’s election has signaled a high water mark for how people with opposing views on politics and other flashpoint subjects interact. Perhaps more than ever, people spin stories in ways that fit their own agendas.

Although Duysak was hailed as a hero by some, he says he hasn’t felt like one at all.

He’s been pursued by media, which have been aggressive in contacting family and friends. The woman who first alerted him is a typical example (we asked, and he would not provide her details to us, probably to protect her). Duysak said she had liked some of his posts, and someone — already with a lead on Duysak — had spotted this and tracked her down.

But he is not concerned about what happens next if there is further investigation of the incident. He hasn’t broken any laws.

“I didn’t hack anyone. I didn’t do anything that I was not authorized to do,” he told us when we met in Germany. “I didn’t go to any site I was not supposed to go to. I didn’t break any rules.”

For now, it appears that the media has actually been more aggressive than the authorities. We asked and have confirmed with Duysak’s legal representative that the FBI is not investigating him at the moment, although Twitter has apparently attempted to get more information from him. Duysak has chosen not to reply.

At Twitter — which declined to provide any details to confirm Duysak’s identity to us — the event has hastened efforts to change things at the company.

The day after the deactivation, Twitter said it was conducting a full internal review and implementing safeguards to prevent incidents like this in the future.

CEO Jack Dorsey also acknowledged in an interview shortly after the incident that there have been weaknesses and gaps, which it is also trying to address. He said that the clause about newsworthiness, which was not publicly known until Twitter made it so, was one of those gaps.

“We have implemented safeguards to prevent this from happening again,” Twitter tweeted from its Twitter Government account. “We won’t be able to share all details about our internal investigation or updates to our security measures, but we take this seriously and our teams are on it.”

There are some details that potentially complicate things, partly because of how charged the political climate has become in the U.S. Duysak is of Turkish origin, not from the U.S. While these facts have nothing to do with Trump’s account on Twitter getting deactivated, in the wrong hands they could be spun negatively, given Trump’s previous negative statements on immigration and people from predominantly Muslim countries.

Apart from inflaming those who don’t agree with him, and emboldening those who do, Trump has spelled out some specific opinions on how the U.S. sits in relation to the rest of the world. He wants to build a wall to keep out immigrants. He has targeted Muslims specifically as a group, a blanket policy he believes would help keep out extremists and terrorists. He has also proposed and signed orders to fill out those ambitions.

VIDEO

 

D

uysak, in one physical sense, is out of the picture where the U.S. is concerned: our interview took place in Germany, Duysak’s home country, where he returned at the end of his visa period.

He could have just lied low, but he hasn’t. So then why come forward? To try to clear the air, he said, get a new job, and not worry about how the story would come out, if it did, without his involvement.

“I want to continue an ordinary life. I don’t want to flee from the media,” he said. “I want to speak to my neighbors and friends. I had to delete hundreds of friends, so many pictures, because reporters are stalking me. I just want to continue an ordinary life.”

He said the pursuit has been relentless: journalists have contacted the university where he studied, his places of employment, his friends, and his family. His family has shut down various social accounts to avoid the contact.

He agreed to talk to us because he had a connection to a Muslim-focused community center (which has also had some persistent contact from reporters) in the Bay Area where a relative of Tito’s volunteers. That contributed to his trusting us.

“I didn’t do any crime or anything evil, but I feel like Pablo Escobar,” he said, “and slowly it’s getting really annoying.”

These days, Duysak said he isn’t likely to take another tech job anytime soon. More likely, he’ll be looking into finance or other related field. “But I love Twitter,” he said, “and I love America.”





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November 29, 2017 at 05:44PM
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Instagram is testing a bunch of new features including GIF search for Stories

11/29/2017

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Instagram is testing a bunch of new features, including GIF search for Stories

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Instagram is testing a bunch of new features, including GIF search for Stories

Image: Lili Sams / mashable

2016%2f09%2f16%2f8f%2fhttpsd2mhye01h4nj2n.cloudfront.netmediazgkymde1lza3.c1888By Karissa Bell2017-11-29 20:47:41 UTC

We may have just gotten an early look at a ton of new Instagram features.

Instagram has been busy testing several new features, including a "close friends" feature, GIF search, and the ability to follow specific hashtags the way you'd follow an account, according to the tech site The Next Web.

One of the most interesting features the website found was something called "close friends," which will allow users to share posts with only a small group of their closest friends. This appears to be an extension of the "favorites" feature the app began testing earlier this year.

Originally created in response to the "finsta"phenomenon — users creating a separate stealth Instagram account for only close friends — favorites was billed as a way for people to maintain the ability to share with small groups of friends without having to juggle multiple accounts. 

An Instagram spokesperson who spoke to Mashable declined to comment.

Other notable features uncovered by TNW include:

  • GIF search (via Giphy) to add animated GIFS to Stories 

  • the ability to follow specific hashtags 

  • native sharing to WhatsApp

  • the ability to "archive" Stories

Additionally, the site found a new button on Instagram posts that they claim is a "regram" feature that will allow users to re-share posts from others. There's not a ton of information about this one, but according to TNW, it would replicate the functionality of third-party apps like Repost for Instagram. 

However, it's important to note that The Next Web did not test the feature. It appears that the site's editors are judging the button's functionality based on its appearance and resemblance to third-party tools. 

It's also important to remember Instagram, like Facebook, frequently tests new features in its app before deciding whether or not to launch them officially. 

Still, the experiments offer an interesting look at what types of features the company is thinking about and which areas they're looking to change.





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November 29, 2017 at 02:52PM
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How to Create Content More Efficiently with Curation Techniques

11/29/2017

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How to Create Content More Efficiently with Curation Techniques

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I’ve always said that every website should have a blog.

Think about how long you’re currently spending to write a blog post.

I’m willing to bet it takes you at least a few hours to create each.

Sometimes longer posts take up to six or even eight hours.

Where do you find the time to focus on other aspects of your business?

I struggled with this concept as well when I first started blogging.

It seemed like there weren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.

Then I realized that your content doesn’t always need to be created from scratch.

Think about it.

Chances are, your content isn’t some new or revolutionary breakthrough in the industry.

You’re writing about something that’s been discussed before.

Sure, you’ll put your unique spin, voice, and personal experiences in there, but ultimately there are plenty of similar topics on the web.

Spending your entire day writing blogs is not an efficient use of your time.

Instead, I’ll teach you some content curation skills that will help you write content faster.

David Kadavy from The Medium was able to learn different tricks to improve his productivity.

image1

Look at the impact this had on his published word count between 2015 and 2016.

If you follow my advice, your productivity will skyrocket as well.

Here’s how you can use content curation to effectively manage your content strategy.

Make sure you’re utilizing visuals

If you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know I’m a firm believer in using lots of pictures, screenshots, and other infographics to illustrate my points.

That’s no secret.

But there’s a reason behind this strategy.

Adding pictures to your blog posts makes it easier for people to read.

It breaks up the content and grabs the reader’s attention.

There are also plenty of great image resources on the Internet.

While creating a unique visual or infographic is great, it’s not necessary.

Instead, use someone else’s image, making sure to give credit to the original source.

This will save you a lot of time because you won’t have to create these images yourself.

Don’t be shy when you’re adding visuals to your content.

Images make it easier for readers to process your point.

image3 1

See what I mean?I

Fittingly, I’m using an image about the importance of visuals to prove my point.

But seriously, think about how easy it was for you to process and retain what you just saw.

Visuals also make it easier for you to put words on the page.

Here’s what I mean.

Once you insert an image in your post, it gives you something to talk about.

Explain the image to your readers.

It will guide you in the right direction instead of just coming up with content out of thin air.

You’re much less likely to suffer from writer’s block if you always have something to talk about.

Here are some additional tips about using images within your content:

  • Use high quality visuals that aren’t too cluttered.
  • Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
  • If the visual contains data, make sure it’s from a reputable source.
  • Always cite your sources.
  • Use lots of images.

All of these pointers will help you create content faster and more efficiently.

Start with an outline, and stick to your plan

Never start creating content from a blank page.

Psychologically, it’s intimidating.

But more importantly, it’s not an efficient use of your time.

Sure, as you start writing, you’ll need to do some research along the way.

But it helps significantly if you get some of that out of the way before you get started.

Here’s what you need to do.

For example, let’s say you are writing a post about the best ways to find a new job.

Start with a Google search.

image8

Now you can create a list of the 28 best ways to do this.

Keep in mind, there will likely be some overlap among the pages.

You’re not the only one using curation strategies to build content.

But when it’s all said and done, you should still be able to come up with at least 10, 15, or maybe even 20 different ways on your list.

The key is planning this out ahead of time.

Open all these pages in a new tab.

Each time you see something you want to include in your article, add it to the outline.

Quickly add a few notes to develop further when you get to that point of your writing process.

For example, you may talk about a specific job board site on your list.

So a note could be “insert statistic about the job placement success rates of this site.”

Then you can do that research when you get there.

This strategy also makes it really easy if you’re aiming for a certain word count per post.

Let’s say you want all of your posts to be roughly 2,500 words.

If you determine you’ll have 15 different sections based on your list, now you can aim for each section to be about 165 words.

It keeps you on track for your goal.

That way you’re not frantically trying to come up with a 500 word conclusion or end up reaching your desired word count after your second subheading.

Repurpose content on different channels

For the most part, I’ve been discussing these curation strategies as they relate to blogging, but let me clear the air.

Your content doesn’t stop with blogs and articles.

One of my favorite ways to repurpose content is through YouTube videos.

I’ll give you an example based on my own blog and YouTube channel.

image7 1

Here’s a post I wrote that was a big hit.

It’s got 137 comments (and counting) at the moment.

What did I do?

I repurposed some of the main points and made it into a YouTube tutorial.

Here’s the link to my YouTube video.

image6

You don’t always have to use content from other people for your curation strategy.

Instead, take your existing content.

You can also use this technique on social media platforms.

Think about Twitter.

You have only so many characters to use.

Rather than racking your brain to come up with the most clever tweet on the planet, refer to your posts that already have thousands of words.

Take lines directly from that content, and post them on social media.

It will save you a ton of time, and you’ll be able to focus on other aspects of social media management, like responding to customer comments.

That’s a much more efficient use of your time.

You don’t need to be the first person to break a story

How many times have you seen a breaking news story, only to discover that it’s inaccurate?

I see it all the time, so I’m sure you have as well.

That’s because all these news outlets want to be first.

But first isn’t always best.

You don’t want to develop a reputation for being an unreliable source.

Furthermore, the first person to break a story may not have a chance to include lots of relevant information.

Let’s use a hypothetical example of a local car accident.

The first person to break the story may just say, “car accident on X street at Y time.”

But they don’t have any other details to report.

So if you wait a little bit, you can newsjack the story.

image4 1

Wait for other sources to report new information.

Now you can write about other factors like the:

  • number of cars involved
  • types of cars in the crash
  • names of any victims
  • cause of the accident
  • road conditions at the time
  • quote from law enforcement

You can see where I’m going with this.

Being the first one to release new information doesn’t get you a gold star or sticker.

Instead, it limits your resources and the amount of information you can talk about.

Curate content from the comments section of your blog

You should always be checking the comments on your page.

Respond to these users.

It’s a great way to help with your search engine optimization, but it also keeps your readers actively engaged.

You may find some valuable information here as well.

People who comment on your page may be doing so to promote their own websites or blogs, but their points may be viable.

Take a look at what people have to say.

It might just be included in your next post.

Send a newsletter with a roundup of your weekly content

Again, you don’t always need to use someone else’s thoughts or ideas to generate new content.

Sometimes the best curation source is your own writing.

If you’ve got a weekly or monthly newsletter, it’s a great opportunity for you to promote content you’ve already published.

Moz does this with their monthly top 10 newsletters.

image2 1

Instead of coming up with something new or unique for their monthly newsletter, they just repurpose the hard work they’ve already done.

You can use this strategy as well.

Write a weekly roundup post that summarizes the content you’ve already covered during the week.

Work smarter, not harder.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m not saying to just copy and paste your existing content into a new article.

That’s a quick way to lose readers.

But you can just take something old and put a new spin on it.

Update new statistics.

Add personal stories or a learning experience you’ve come across since the content was originally posted.

This will make your life a lot easier, and you’ll spend less time trying to come up with new ideas.

Conclusion

Your time is valuable.

Instead of spending endless hours each day trying to come up with new content to write about, you can use curation strategies to be more efficient.

Remember, content curation doesn’t just apply to your blog.

You can also use these methods to help produce content on social media.

image5

Research showed that finding and posting content on social media was the most time consuming aspect of this process.

It doesn’t have to be.

Use lots of visuals in your content.

Rather than creating original infographics, use ones you find on the Internet.

Make sure you give credit to the source.

Images make it easier for readers to process and retain information as well.

Don’t start writing from scratch.

Build an outline using ideas you find from a Google search.

This will make things easier for you to write naturally and stick to a plan.

All of the curation doesn’t need to come from someone else’s pages or ideas.

Repurpose your existing content.

Take a top performing blog post and turn it into a YouTube tutorial.

Use phrases from articles on your site as social media posts.

Think twice before you try to be the first person to break a news story.

Instead, wait until all the information gets released.

You’ll have more reliable sources and information to use.

Refer to the comments section of your blog if you’re looking for new ideas.

Use recent posts to come up with a weekly newsletter or round up blog.

If you follow these strategies, you’ll spend less time creating content and more time focusing on other areas of your business.

What kind of content curation strategies have helped you spend less time writing blogs each day?





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November 29, 2017 at 10:13AM
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7 Mobile Apps for Editing and Enhancing Images

11/29/2017

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social media toolsDo you want to edit your social media images on the go?

Looking for easy-to-use smartphone apps to fine-tune your photos?

In this article, you’ll discover seven mobile apps for editing and enhancing your visuals.

7 Mobile Apps for Editing and Enhancing Images by Tabitha Carro on Social Media Examiner.

7 Mobile Apps for Editing and Enhancing Images by Tabitha Carro on Social Media Examiner.

#1: Make Your Photos Pop With A Color Story

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use photo editing app, A Color Story (available free for iOS and Android) has you covered. Choose from the app’s large selection of filters to make your photos stand out. This app is especially useful for enhancing product photos, as shown in the example below.

a color story app editing example

In the free Essentials filter pack, the first four filters (Pop, Everyday, Sharp, and Lite Bright) do a superb job of brightening and whitening dull photos.

a color story app essentials filters

Drag the slider to adjust a filter’s intensity. The app lets you apply multiple filters to a photo; just be careful not to lose the details along the way.

a color story adjust intensity of filter

If you want more editing control, tap the wrench icon in the bottom toolbar. Use the Adjust and Crop & Frame options to edit individual aspects of your photo, such as clarity, contrast, brightness, saturation, and exposure.

a color story app adjust options

One standout feature of the app is that it lets you save your editing steps to reuse for future edits, which will save time when batch-editing photos.

a color story app save series of edits

Tip: At the time of this writing, you can also edit video clips of up to 1 minute the same way you edit photos.

#2: Edit Specific Areas of Your Images With Snapseed

Want to brighten shadows or dark areas in your photo? Try the free Snapseed app (available for iOS and Android). Its Selective feature is exceptional for precise edits of individual areas of a photo. You can see the effect of this tool in these before and after images.

snapseed selective tool before and after

To use the Selective tool, tap Tools at the bottom of the screen and then tap Selective.

snapseed selective tool edit

Now tap on the area you want to edit. A circle with the letter B will appear. Swipe up or down anywhere on the screen to select one of the four editing options: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, and Structure. After you choose an option, swipe left or right to adjust the intensity of the edit.

If you want to edit multiple areas at once, tap the + sign at the bottom of the screen and then tap anywhere on the photo to add another adjustment point.

snapseed edit with selective tool

To change the size of the editing area, pinch the screen around the circle inward or outward with your index finger and thumb, as shown below.

snapseed selective tool adjust area

#3: Capture Vibrant Outdoor Photos With ProCamera

Travel and nature photos make excellent backgrounds for inspirational quotes. If you’re outdoors on a sunny day, use the ProCamera app (available for $4.99 for iOS) to take some snaps of the scenery.

The app’s HDR tool does a great job of balancing contrasts in light, as you can see in the right image below.

procamera HDR tool example

To select the HDR tool before you take a photo, tap the up and down arrows icon to the left of the shutter button.

procamera HDR tool select

Then swipe the slider left or right to adjust the exposure. When you tap the shutter button to take the picture, hold your smartphone as still as possible until the app finishes processing your photo. HDR photos will come out blurry if there is any movement from the camera or the objects in the scene.

procamera HDR tool adjustment

When the processing is complete, you can choose from four different filters: Dramatic, Natural, Vivid, and Black & White.

Tip: Use a simple text-on-photo app like Word Swag (available on iOS for $4.99 and Android for $3.99) to layer inspirational quotes on your eye-catching outdoor photos.

word swag text overlay example

#4: Blur Distracting Backgrounds With Pixomatic

Have a great photo but the background is distracting or messy? Use an app like Pixomatic ($4.99 for iOS, free with in-app purchases for Android) to blur the image’s background and give it that coveted DSLR look. The app lets you quickly outline your focal point so you can edit the background.

Blurring the background encourages the viewer to focus on the point of interest in the image.

pixomatic app blurred background example

To blur the background of a photo, tap the Cut tool. You can then increase or decrease the size of the brush you’ll use to outline your focal point.

pixomatic app blurred background tap cut

Trace around the focal point with your finger. It’s okay to go outside of the focal point’s outline if it’s not too much; the edge of the focal point needs to be covered.

pixomatic blurred background draw outline

After the outline of the object is completely closed, tap Next.

If your focal point contrasts well with the background, you may get a clean cut with no need for additional edits. However, sometimes you need to fill in and erase areas around the object, as shown below. This is necessary for creating a blurred effect that looks natural.

pixomatic app blurred background erase outline

Tap Preview to make sure your cut completely covers the focal point. This isolates the object so you can see if it needs more editing. When you’re finished, tap Apply.

pixomatic app blurred background preview

Next, tap Blur and choose from a number of filters to blur the background of your image. Swipe the screen left or right to adjust the intensity of the blur.

pixomatic app blurred background adjust blur intensity

Tip: When you save your image, also save the cut. The app will save the cut as a PNG file with a transparent background; you can find it in a folder on the search page of the app.

pixomatic app blurred background save cut

If you download this cut to your camera roll, you can layer it onto future image posts.

#5: Remove Unwanted Objects With TouchRetouch

How many times have you taken a great photo only to find an unwanted object in the background? Instead of trashing the photo or firing up Photoshop, use TouchRetouch (available for $1.99 for iOS and Android) to remove the object. For example, you might remove a distracting electrical outlet from the background, as shown below.

touchretouch remove unwanted object example

This video tutorial shows you how to use this app to remove objects cleanly without leaving behind traces of your edits.

VIDEO

Tip: If you’re familiar with cloning, this app also provides that capability.

#6: Create Transparent Background Images With Magic Eraser

Want to remove a background completely from your image? Try the Magic Eraser app (available for free for iOS). It’s a great way to remove backgrounds from logos and turn them into PNG files with transparent backgrounds.

magic eraser app transparent background example

After you import your image into the app, drag the white corner handles to adjust the crop so you can remove excess background you don’t want in the final edit. At the bottom of the screen, you can choose from specific aspect ratios. When you’re finished, tap Done in the top-right corner.

magic eraser app transparent background adjust crop

The magic wand icon in the bottom-left corner should already be selected. With this tool active, tap anywhere on the background that you want to remove. If your focal point contrasts well with the background, you’ll most likely get a clean cut.

Swipe the slider at the bottom of the screen to adjust the intensity of the background extraction. If you want to undo an edit, tap the Undo icon at the top of the screen.

magic eraser app select background

Tip: Tap the Preview icon in the bottom right to isolate your focal object to make it easier to detect edges you need to edit.

If you want to erase or fill parts of your focal point, use the tools at the bottom of the screen. Pinch with your fingers to zoom in and access more intricate details of the image.

magic eraser app transparent background erase tool

When you’re finished making adjustments, tap the download icon at the top right to save your image as a PNG with a transparent background. If you’re prompted to choose between low or high resolution, choose high.

magic eraser app save photo as

#7: Optimize Image Sizes With the Image Size App

Edited smartphone images can be very large. If you post them without reducing their size, they can slow page load times on your website and social channels. To optimize the size of your smartphone photos, try the Image Size app (available for free for iOS and Android).

At the top of the screen, choose from four different types of measurement units: pixels, inches, mm, or cm.

image size app select measurement

After you choose a measurement unit, you can check the top of the screen to see your photo’s original size.

image size app view original image size

Next, type in the desired width for your image. If you want to use the same proportions as the original image, select the link icon (it’s blue when active). If you need to resize your image to irregular dimensions, make sure the link icon is deselected.

image size app retain original proportions

Conclusion

As a busy marketer, finding easy ways to edit and produce quality images with your smartphone is a major timesaver. These seven apps provide unique features for enhancing your images on the go.

What do you think? Do you use any of these mobile apps to enhance your social media visuals? What must-have smartphone apps would you add to this list? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Discover seven mobile apps to edit, enhance, and fine-tune your visuals on the go.





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November 29, 2017 at 05:07AM
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FCCs Ajit Pai: When it comes to an open Internet Twitter is part of the problem

11/28/2017

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FCC’s Ajit Pai: ‘When it comes to an open Internet, Twitter is part of the problem’

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, as part of the plan to promote his plan to undo the country’s net neutrality rules, has thrown Twitter and other online services under the bus in order to show that it’s not just broadband providers that can exert control over internet content. “When it comes to an open Internet, Twitter is part of the problem,” he explained. “The company has a viewpoint and uses that viewpoint to discriminate.”

Pai’s remarks were made at an event hosted by the “free market think tank” R Street Institute and the “liberty”-focused Lincoln Network. Pai was joined by the other two Republican Commissioners, Brendan Carr and Mike O’Rielly, and FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen. Needless to say, none of them is a fan of the existing 2015 rules.

The Chairman’s speech, which you can watch here along with the rest, began with a brief history and justification of the rollback. He specified exactly two downsides to the present rules: it decreases investment and it stifles innovation.

Neither of these things is true: the investment story is at best a mix and the numbers, like all numbers, can and have been cherry-picked to show different things. And the innovation thing is the same single example Pai has trotted out over and over — Charter fretting over rolling out some out-of-home WiFi thing — and some vague obstacles faced by a number of smaller ISPs. (I actually contacted several of those ISPs earlier this year asking about how the 2015 order had affected them and none replied.)

Then Pai cited a few celebrity critics — Cher, Mark Ruffalo, Alyssa Milano — and dismissed their complaints. Notably he did not address any substantive criticisms, like the FCC’s incorrect interpretation of how the internet works, before turning his ire upon Silicon Valley.

He stated, as quoted above, that Twitter is “part of the problem.” After this followed some examples of platform partisanship:

Twitter blocked Representative Marsha Blackburn from advertising her Senate campaign launch video because it featured a pro-life message.  Before that, during the so-called Day of Action, Twitter warned users that a link to a statement by one company on the topic of Internet regulation “may be unsafe.”  And to say the least, the company appears to have a double standard when it comes to suspending or de-verifying conservative users’ accounts as opposed to those of liberal users.  This conduct is many things, but it isn’t fighting for an open Internet.

But it’s not the only one. “Despite all the talk about the fear that broadband providers could decide what Internet content consumers can see,” he said, “Recent experience shows that so-called edge providers are in fact deciding what content they see.  These providers routinely block or discriminate against content they don’t like.” (Emphasis Pai’s, in prepared remarks.)

Now, this is not an assertion that is without merit. The threat of large companies that touch a significant portion of content (such as Google and Cloudflare) having power over that content is a real one.

But he takes things a step too far:

In this way, edge providers are a much bigger actual threat to an open Internet than broadband providers, especially when it comes to discrimination on the basis of viewpoint… So let’s be clear. They might cloak their advocacy in the public interest, but the real interest of these Internet giants is in using the regulatory process to cement their dominance in the Internet economy.

There are a couple things to unpack from the sleight of hand here.

For one thing, it’s a disingenuous comparison, like saying bullets are more dangerous than guns. The job of ISPs is to perform data-agnostic packet transmission. Edge providers, on the other hand, are in the business of sorting, modifying, and presenting information to users according to various preferences, algorithms, and yes, ideologies. For many of them, “discrimination on the basis of viewpoint” is a feature, not a bug.

And even granting the comparison credence for a moment, it’s quite a stretch. Internet providers are in a position of incredible power as the main conduit for information to go from here to there. People are free to choose another search engine, quit Facebook and Twitter, or even start their own platforms, which indeed is how the present power structure was arrived at. But people (in the U.S. at least) are seldom free to easily change their internet provider, and of course that internet provider affects all their online activities, not just ones on a certain platform. So the idea that those reached through the internet are a greater threat than the ones who provide that reach is unconvincing.

But most importantly, the hypothetical bad behavior of another industry is not what should concern the FCC, and in fact is outside its jurisdiction; net neutrality is specifically about preventing the threat presented by broadband providers, keeping the pipe itself clear of blockage, throttling, fast lanes, and so on.

The entire finger-pointing exercise is a distraction, and a petty one. Like a thief who shakes your hand while picking your pocket, he puts the focus on anything but the crime.

Featured Image: TechFreedom




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November 28, 2017 at 05:07PM
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