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Good information about getting your video in the top listings on Google. http://www.slideshare.net/davewoodson/

B.C. Court of Appeal judges says search giant must comply with court order

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The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a decision ordering Google to remove a company’s website from its search engine results worldwide.

• Google ordered by B.C. judge to block website from search results

The court order made in June 2014 was part of a battle between Equustek, a Burnaby, B.C., technology company that manufactures networking devices for industrial equipment, and its rival Datalink.   

Equustek alleged Datalink conspired with a former Equustek engineer to steal its product design and then sell it on the internet.

Equustek had already obtained court orders requiring Google to remove Datalink websites from its Canadian search results, but argued they are virtually useless because of the global nature of web sales.

Setting a precedent

Internet law specialist Roger McConchie believes the case sets a precedent for issues of defamatory content on the internet. 

“What this decision does is it takes that step forward,” says McConchie. “It  gives people who obtain libel verdicts a way of effectively enforcing that injunction within Canadian borders.” 

McConchie says he thinks the case will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.      

Google appeal based on jurisdiction       

​Google’s lawyers responded that the B.C. court did not have the jurisdiction over it because the company’s operations are not in B.C., and because such an order would be unenforceable and it would infringe on its lawful business. 

But Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon, who presided on the B.C. Supreme Court case, decided she did have jurisdiction. She based her decision on the fact that Equustek is in B.C., and despite being headquartered in the U.S., Google clearly does business in the province as well, by selling ads and providing search results.

On Thursday, Justice S. David Frankel, Justice Harvey Groberman and Justice David Harris at the B.C. Court of Appeal agreed with that decision.

“I am of the view that the order that was granted was one that was within the competence (i.e., jurisdiction) of the Supreme Court of British Columbia,” wrote Justice Groberman. 

The case has the potential to be precedent-setting, because while other courts have ordered Google to act on a country-by-country basis, there is no known case of a worldwide court order.

Michael Patterson
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We talk about hashtags a lot, but we haven’t stepped back to consider the basics in a while. Hashtags are a way for social media users to tag their posts with keywords, which in turn make them easier for social networks to organize and users to search — we all know that.

But where do hashtags came from? How can you use them for your business? Who decided to put a pound symbol in front of a word to start tracking trends across social networks?  And maybe the most important question of all: Are hashtags going to stick around for years to come, or are they something that we’ll regret when VH1 takes a look at the 2010s?

Hashtags have become such a common practice these days that people have started using them outside of their intended purpose. People use them in text messages, chats, songs, and advertisements.

What Are Hashtags?

hash·tag: A word or phrase preceded by a hash mark (#), used within a message to identify a keyword or topic of interest and facilitate a search for it.

So whenever a user adds a hashtag to their post, it is immediately indexed by the social network and searchable by other users. Once someone clicks on that hashtag, they’ll be brought to a page that aggregates all of the posts with the same hashtagged keyword in real-time. Once a keyword picks up enough momentum it becomes known as “trending.” Trending isn’t simply a matter of becoming the most popular hashtag on the networks. Each users’ trending topics is different based on their location and social connections.

Where Did Hashtags Come From?

It may be pretty surprising to hear, but the first use of a hashtag in social media can actually be traced back to one man. Chris Messina, a former Google employee who worked in developer relations and as a designer on Google+, Tweeted the first ever hashtag. This Tweet took place all the way back in 2007, so it took quite a bit to catch on, but when it did, it did in a big way.

How to Use Hashtags

Using a hashtag in a social post is as simple as adding the ‘#’ sign before a single word or phrase without spaces or punctuation (numbers are okay).  

• Don’t string too many words together with a single hashtag.
• If you tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your tweet.
• Don’t #spam #with #hashtags. Don’t over-tag a single tweet.
• Use hashtags only on tweets relevant to the topic.

Though it’s easy to quickly create and send out a post with a hashtag in it, there is some basic etiquette when it comes to using them. We’ll cover some of the advanced ways to use hashtags, but first lets take a step back and look at what Mediabistro put together outlining some of the basic rules for creating a tweet with hashtags. Though it’s easy to create a hashtag, it’s not quite as easy to do it in a correct or relevant way. 

Creating Your Own Hashtag

Creating your own hashtag can be a powerful thing. If you do it right, and have a lot of luck on your side, your hashtag will start trending among your circle of followers. Then, whenever someone sees that hashtag they’ll be reminded of your brand. However, there are tons of horror stories online of marketers failing when creating their own hashtag.

The key to to creating a hashtag that doesn’t leave you vulnerable is to write it free of ambiguity. It’s important to completely guide how you want the conversation to go, otherwise you’re at the mercy of the Internet. One example of a campaign that did extremely well — it was actually created for Audi by Sprout’s Andy White — was #WantAnR8. Twitter users would use that hashtag to tell Audi why they would want an R8 for the day, and then whoever submitted the best tweet won the opportunity.

                                    ————————————————————-

** I #WantAnR8 because it is the most perfectly engineered road slaying machine ever constructed by human hands!!! — Bran (@Brandon_theHero) October 19, 2012 **

                                    ———————————————————————–

Tweets like Bran’s exploded around Twitter, generating a huge buzz for Audi at an extremely low cost.

Advertising on Trending Hashtags

Instead of creating your own hashtags, you have the opportunity to craft Tweets based around trending hashtags in hopes of gaining visibility from users searching that trend. The absolute key thing to remember here is relevance. There are times when a brand attempts to force itself onto users through trending topics when it just doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make for a good experience to be seen as an irrelevant ad.

However, when done right, riding a trending hashtag’s coattails can lead to significant payouts. A few weeks ago, the San Diego Comic-Con was going on, and the @LEGOBatmanGame is taking full advantage of this by using the trending #SDCC hashtag to promote their brand, which is completely relevant to this audience.

Hashtag Tracking and Analytics

When you’re thinking of hashtags that you could use to engage with your audience, it’s also beneficial to look towards your audience. Find the keywords and hashtags that are already associated with your brand, and bolster the positive ones. With something like Sprout Social’s Trends report, it’s easy to find out exactly which terms are being associated with your brand most often.

Not only are tools like these good for finding new things to tweet about, they’re good for seeing how well your Tweets are performing in general. Easily track retweets, favorites, social reach, and more.

Which Networks Support Hashtags?

Most networks use hashtags in the same basic way; to organize data and make it easier for user consumption. However, each network has a different tweak on how they use them.

Twitter: The network that brought us the hashtag is the most popular site to use it on. Just scrolling through my own feed I see that more than half of the tweets contain a hashtag. You can find the trending topics on the left hand side of your Twitter stream.

Facebook: Clicking a hashtag on Facebook will bring you to a separate page with posts that are visible to you based on the various users’ privacy settings. You’ll also see the different trending topics in the top right hand corner of your News Feed.

Instagram: Hashtagging on Instagram is great if you want to see photos similar to the ones that you’ve taken. Simply hashtag the picture you took and it will create a link to a page with other pictures of the same subject.

Google+: Google+ uses hashtags similar to the other sites, but with one main difference. Google+ will add hashtags to content if they think that it is a relevant and popular keyword. You can always opt-out of this through Google+ if you’d like.

Tumblr: When you’re creating a post on your Tumblr page, you’ll see an area at the bottom asking you to add “tags.” When you start to type a tag for your post, Tumblr will automatically add a hashtag to the front of it.

Pinterest: The main thing that you need to bear in mind when creating hashtags on Pinterest is that they’re only clickable in a Pin description. Also, hashtags aren’t searchable on Pinterest, so you’ll need to just search the keyword to find the content.

YouTube: Hashtag use within YouTube is most prevalent in the comments section. Users can leave comments with hashtags, which will then click through to a page with videos that contain that hashtag in their title.

Kickstarter: On Kickstarter, sorting by different hashtags can make it easier for you to find projects you’d be interested in investing in.

Vine: As a company owned by the creators of the hashtag, you’d better believe that Vine has included the functionality. As with other sites, adding a link to your Vine’s description will bring you to a page with Vine’s on the same topic.

Other Networks that Support Hashtags:

• App.net
• Flickr
• FriendFeed
• GitHub
• Tout

Are Hashtags Here To Stay?

This all brings us back to the most important question: are hashtags here to stay? Seeing as how they’ve been integrated into most of the popular social media platforms, and social media has entered almost every facet of our lives, the answer is yes.

Though they’ve become stigmatized in our culture, hashtags actually do play a vital role on social media when used within reason. Hashtags create incentives for people to categorize their posts, which in turn makes it easier for users looking for posts on the same topic to find content. It’s also an easy way to distribute popular news to groups of people who otherwise may not be actively searching for it.

Sproutsocial

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Mobile technology is quickly becoming the next frontier in real estate and 2015 is the perfect time to jump aboard the mobile wave. So power up your smartphone and download these must-have apps.
 
 
1 – Genius Scan
The Genius Scan app allows you to – you guessed it – scan documents using your smartphone. Not only does the app let you easily make a digital copy of the paperwork you carry around every day, but you can even edit the scanned PDF in the app.
 
2 – Dropbox
The Dropbox app syncs with the same software on your computer and/or tablet, making it easy to bring the office with you – whether or not that’s a good thing is for you to decide. Either way, you can share documents with clients and access all your digital files on your smartphone.
  
3 – DocuSign
DocuSign, the software that lets you and your clients fill out and sign all kinds of paperwork, is now available as a smartphone app. Now you can – legally! – collect signatures from several different parties without having to drive or courier a hardcopy of the document to them.
  
4 – YouTube Capture
Of course, nothing will beat a professional videographer, but this app is pretty nifty when you’re strapped for time. YouTube Capture allows you to record, edit and post a video to YouTube – all within the app.
  
5 – Hootsuite
Hootsuite collects your social media activities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare in one place. You can schedule messages and manage your networks, all in-app.
  
6 – Listings+
This app might be the most useful for real estate agents. It lets you log and track all your listing activity in one place. Hosting an open house? Scheduling a showing? Got some feedback? It’s all in the app.
 
7 – Evernote
Evernote is like a virtual assistant. The app lets you make lists, organize receipts, update expenses, take notes, and bookmark and collect web articles, to name a few features.
 
8 – Caller Notes
This app is perfect for agents who still prefer a good ol’ fashioned phone call. Caller Notes lets you set reminders to follow up with potential clients, and make notes to remind you what you’re following up about.
 
Copyright © 2015 Key Media Pty Ltd

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Working directly with a Y Combinator Silicon Valley start-up, Real Estate Channel has adopted the state of the art technology that creates immersive experiences of interior spaces using a 3D scanner and proprietary software.  In addition, Real Estate Channel now offers HD photography and video service accessible & affordable for industry professionals.

Website: http://clients.realestatechannel.ca/services/

SOURCE Real Estate Channel

Video with caption: “Video: Real Estate Channel Breaks New Ground in Industry With 3D Scanning Technology”. Video available at: http://stream1.newswire.ca/cgi-bin/playback.cgi?file=20140731_C2290_VIDEO_EN_4570.mp4&poster=http%3A%2F%2Fphotos.newswire.ca%2Fimages%2F20140731_C2290_VIDEO_EN_4570.jpg&order=1&jdd=20140731&cnum=C2290

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Maggie Hall
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During the past 25 years, we’ve seen technology grow from typewriters and pagers to tablets and smartphones. We pick up the phone or meet friends for coffee far less often now that we text, tweet or message through Facebook. Technology has connected the world, not just socially but for everything from business to travel to real estate.

The availability of information has changed the way society functions. We’ve seen there truly is no limit to technology. The question is, where will it lead us in the next 25 years?

“Technology was very much in its infancy in 1989,” says Lorne Wallace, CEO of Lone Wolf Real Estate Technologies. “An IBM Selectric typewriter was the state-of-the-art technology at that point. Very few people had PCs or anything like that.”

Des O’Kelly, president of Lone Wolf, says, “Agents had just started dabbling in computers. Maybe two per cent of them had PCs. Now, you can’t find a real estate agent without at least a laptop, let alone a smartphone and a tablet too.”

At the time, O’Kelly was running his own brokerage and was one of Lone Wolf’s first clients. “The software developed for my office was way ahead of its time. Every agent had a computer on their desk, every agent had access to look up listings from their computer and they could print offers. Back then this was unheard of.”

Fast forward to 2014 and the real estate industry has completely changed again. Agents once had to go into the office just to see which listings were new to the market and which were sold. Now they can go weeks without stepping foot inside their office doors.

Though agents spend less time in the office, tools such as virtual office programs are reinforcing the value of the broker by keeping the brokerage connected and information flowing 24/7.

The Internet and technology has played a huge role in the availability of information to home buyers and sellers as well. A study by the National Association of Realtors found that 90 per cent of consumers search for their dream home online. Twenty five years ago, listing information was only available if you called an agent and asked how much the property down the street was selling for.

Another study by Abacus Data, a public opinion and marketing research firm, found that in the last year only 28 per cent of Canadians attended open houses. This proves that consumers now spend more time searching online before making any commitment to viewing a property or working with an agent.

Consumers want more information at the tip of their fingers. They now have access to listing information on the spot through mobile websites and applications like mobile keywords. Not only are consumers more equipped but these tools are also enabling real estate agents to be more connected and provide immediate service to clients not available online, further increasing the value of the agent in a competitive marketplace.

“Voice technology is going to change everyone’s world entirely,” says Wallace. “Smart technology and smart systems in place will enable us to be more in control of our lives.”

It is the role of the real estate agent to stay one step ahead. Be aware of what is to come in the industry, continue to learn and implement tools and technology to provide clients with even more information to help in their decision-making process. This will truly differentiate the good from the great in a highly competitive industry, leading to further success in the next 25 years.

Copyright © REM 2014

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Jim Edwards
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Late this month, Google went “dark” in terms of providing publishers with one of its major sources of free information on which words led people searching in Google to click on their sites. The move came as Google seeks to reassure users following the NSA/PRISM domestic surveillance scandal.

Now, all Google search is securely encrypted, and web site owners can no longer look at Google Analytics to see exactly which words people use when searching Google to find their sites.

A lot of people who conduct marketing on the web are freaking out about it: Now, they complain they’re basically flying blind.

And they’re angry, because the data that has been switched off is the “organic” search data, not the paid search data generated when people click on search ads. In other words, the only data Google is now providing about exactly what words generate incoming traffic is for people who pay to advertise on Google.

As a replacement, Google is offering similar data in its Webmaster Tools product. However, many marketers complain that the difference between organic search data in Google Analytics and the data inside Webmaster Tools is that the latter is based on a sampling, or an average set of aggregated traffic. It’s not the full data set of terms that generate all Google visits to your web site. And it isn’t as accurate or useful, a source tells Business Insider, because search marketing is an extremely quant-oriented business where full, accurate datasets convey significant advantages.

Google told Business Insider:

Just as before, webmasters can access a rich set of search query data for their sites via Webmaster Tools. This includes viewing the top 2,000 daily search queries as well as impressions, clicks and click through rates for each query, and more. As always, we’ll keep looking for ways to improve how search query data is surfaced on Webmaster Tools.

In a blog post, Google says it did this to increase users’ privacy and security on the web. Now, almost all your search activity on Google will be completely anonymous. Your searches and clicks won’t generate lists of words that create traffic for site publishers. Those lists were anonymous anyway — but they did tell publishers how users were finding their sites through Google.

They’re calling it “the data apocalypse.” Ad Age says:

“It’s one of the most significant losses of data marketers have seen in half a decade,” said Conductor CEO Seth Besmertnik, who claimed that on average half of the traffic to the search-optimization vendor’s clients’ sites comes through organic search.

It’s a punch in the face for small businesses, according to Tony Verre, CEO of Silver Arc Search Marketing:

… those who used analytics just to surmise if people/consumers and how people/consumers found them for something other than BRAND terms, just got a punch in the face (read Mom and Pop shops who can’t afford online marketing services and help). The web might be a key component to survival for them, and taking away accurate data in the name of faux-privacy is a pretty big deal.

And people are mad because advertisers running search campaigns still get that keyword data for the ads that they ran, in Google Analytics. (In other words, when you click on a regular “organic” Google search result, it generates no data; when you click on an ad displayed alongside the organic search results, advertisers get to know which words generated that click.) It’s a contradiction, according to  Rishi Lakhani, a search consultant:

… their idea of privacy is ridiculous to say the least. You can’t offer privacy, but still SELL the data to AdWords advertisers. It’s the same user. It’s the same action.

Copyright © 2013 Business Insider, Inc.