Good Monday morning. It’s May 18th. Next Monday is Memorial Day. We’ll take the long weekend off and be back in your email on June 1st.

We’ve created new pricing during this crisis for nonprofits and small businesses that need help maintaining their online presence on websites, email, and social media. 

Today’s Spotlight is 1,253 words, about a 4 1/2 minute read.

1. News to Know Now

a. Twitter is cracking down on misinformation and deliberate disinformation. The company says it will remove tweets that are deliberately misleading and that have a severe propensity for harm even if that content is sent by the president. The company released this graphic to explain how it would act in the future. (Twitter announcement)

b. A Google Chrome update launching this week will feature the ability to create tab groups. The feature will let you color-code and name groups of tabs by project or task. Here’s how they work. (Google announcement)

c. Facebook has settled a suit on behalf of the contractors who moderate extreme content posted to the site. That content includes graphic videos of suicide, violence, sexual abuse, and more. The company is establishing a fund that provides $1,000 for all moderators to seek mental health services and more if someone is diagnosed with PTSD or another mental health condition. The Verge has broken all the news on this story from the beginning so here’s their coverage of the suit being settled.

2. COVID-19 Online Resources and News

Trackers

Covidly — my go-to
Our World in Data — Oxford nonprofit — also excellent
Hardest Hit ZIP codes in 5 Metro Areas with Analysis

Contact Tracing & Data

Icelanders are using a Covid App & It Hasn’t Helped Much
Health Officials: Apple-Google Virus Tracking System Will Be Worthless
India’s Contact Tracing App Tops 100 Million Users in 41 Days

Tech News

Amazon Calls for Federal Price Gouging Law
LinkedIn Pages Can Now Host Virtual Live Events
The Real Bailout is on GoFundMe
Twitter Says Staff Can Continue Working From Home Permanently

That Amazon story isn’t counterintuitive. Here is a real screenshot from Amazon I made while looking for an out-of-stock breakfast cereal. Honeycomb might be tasty, but I can’t think of a breakfast cereal worth 80 cents an ounce.

COVID-19 Creates New Transportation Opportunities

Concerns about COVID-19 are moving us faster to drone delivery, remote operated trucks and local robots like the ones we’ve shown you at George Mason University. Here is a special section of stories to catch you up.

Ann Arbor Robots Delivering Four Times As Many Food Orders
EverDrone Delivers Defibrillators in Sweden
Food, Grocery Delivery Robots Slated to Launch Soon
Medical Cargo Flying on Passenger Aircraft
Truck Drivers at Home to Pilot Driverless Vehicles
Uber Mandates Masks for Drivers and Passengers

3. Search Engine Optimization News

Google has begun testing drop shadows to visually separate search results. The subtle graphic functions like a box around one search result to separate it from the next. There are multiple examples on Twitter via Search Engine Journal.

Google may be facing antitrust lawsuits from the Justice Department and state attorneys general, according to reporting from The Washington Post. Justice officials have broadened their original investigation of advertising practices to also include the search engine portion of the business. The federal case could come as early as this summer, according to the report.

4. Also in the Spotlight — Interactive Facebook Tools Launch

Facebook and its subsidiaries are in the midst of a user boom. Traffic driven by the COVID-19 novel coronavirus is largely responsible for ten percent user growth and significantly increased engagement.

Consider: there are 2.6 billion Facebook accounts logged into at least monthly. There are only 7.6 billion people on the planet, so no, your two accounts don’t drive the company’s usage up. Engagement is also up, especially in hard-hit places like the U.S. and Italy.

That’s why you’re now seeing interactive Facebook tools regularly popping up. In only several weeks, we’ve seen the introduction of Facebook Messenger video chats for groups, the rollout this weekend of personal cartoon avatars, and the announcement that Facebook has bought Giphy, the largest of the short looping video repositories. 

Facebook is acting as nimble as a startup in some ways, but also flashing cash as evidenced by the $400 million it paid for Giphy. Facebook is also capitalizing on ideas created by others, something that Snapchat often accuses Instagram of doing.

Snap originally bought Bitstrips for $114 million to incorporate the company’s famous cartoon avatars. After evangelizing the marketplace, Facebook launched a competitor just as it copied Zoom with its new Messenger group chats.

These interactive Facebook tools also have an escapism component. You don’t have to meet people in person when you can video chat groups, you don’t have to post a picture of yourself or reply to others using those, whaddyacallem, words. And if you really want to invoke a feeling, you can now use one of Facebook’s library of millions of pop culture videos.

5. Following Up: Plandemic Disinformation Video

We told you last week about the “plandemic” video filled with disinformation that was debunked by multiple fact-checking companies. Since then we’ve learned that an ex-Google employee and conspiracy theorist helped direct the marketing plan to get the video the widest possible audience.

Read Vice’s expose about Zach Vorhies

6. Debugging: The CARES Act

Multiple people, including business leaders and professionals, messaged me last week about another video making the rounds. 

This video claimed that the CARES Act was introduced to Congress on January 24, 2019 — more than one year before COVID-19 was news in the U.S. They thought that was proof that the entire pandemic was either staged or exaggerated.

The short version of this fact check is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used existing legislation that was tabled but already in the system for this bill. Congress then amended the existing bill with the CARES Act legislation.

Read about the sausage making at the Annenberg Public Policy Center

7. ProTip: Add a Facebook Avatar

You were probably running or baking bread or doing something super meaningful this weekend instead of building in nuances to your Facebook avatar. 

Here’s a how-to with pictures if you’re ready to make yours

8. Great Data: Zoom Worth More Than 7 Airlines

Ted Leonsis famously said that AOL’s biggest competition wasn’t another service but a sunny day at a nearby park. That’s the way to understand your true competitors. 

And while Zoom may not seem like an airline competitor, its ability to permanently disrupt business air travel for much less expensive video conferencing is something the airlines understand well.

Lufthansa Created The Data, Visual Capitalist Made It Stand Out

Screening Room: Dominos & Safety

10. Coffee Break:  The Goats Have Arrived

Forget the canals of Venice. My uplifting nature story this week features the Goats of San Jose.

Check out these 200 kids and their parents in suburbia

Here are three ways that we can help you:

1. Get a free SEO audit on our website.

2  Have a simple, fact-based question about digital marketing? Reply & ask George for free.

3. If your organization needs help with search, social media, or advertising, have a look at what we do.

See you in two weeks.

Good Monday morning. It’s May 11th. The House of Representatives returns to Washington this week, all three federal government branches are in session. They appear to be hypervigilant about perception and behaving accordingly. Don’t let your workplace be like that. Consider the White House, where key leaders are said to be self-isolating amid daily testing. Your employees, partners, and customers will remember how you behaved during this crisis.

Reach out to George if you need to brainstorm about your organization updating its presence online. Now more than ever, we need to all work together and support each other.

We’ve also created new pricing for small businesses who need help maintaining their online presence on websites, email, and social media.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,387 words, about a 5 minute read.

1. News to Know Now

a. Pinterest grew revenue 35% and its user base 26%, but missed its earnings-per-share by 11% and Wall Street hammered the stock. That’s the business headline but pay attention to the number of monthly active users (MAU). The social media company is up to 367 million monthly users. They are an attractive advertising mix of higher income women who skew younger than Facebook and wealthier than Instagram.

b. Pinterest was one of the companies with an app that stopped working last week. An error in the login code software used by many iOS apps and published by Facebook caused Pinterest, Spotify, TikTok, and others to stop working. The problem developed early Wednesday evening and affected the end of the business day in western states.

c. Automaker Tesla is facing questions about privacy this week after a self-described tinkerer bought used video displays from the company and was able to retrieve private information from them. The units were apparently sold after being removed at a Tesla service center and included synced contact lists, calendars, and passwords. Read the story at Ars Technica.

2. COVID-19 Online Resources and News

Trackers

Covidly — my go-to
Our World in Data — Oxford nonprofit — also excellent
Corona Shutdown — animated map showing stats by county
Covid Trends — interactive charts 

Tech News

UPS & CVS expanding drone delivery in Florida
Airbnb has new cleaning protocols & 24 hour buffer time
Refugees at camp in Jordan built delivery robot from Lego kit
Snapchat users and engagement increase
Help Main Street Web App shows 120K local businesses to support

3. Search Engine Optimization News

Google is now showing search suggestions that are increasingly more reliant on what it calls searcher intent. One prevalent example involves combining a prior search with a current search so that they’re both presented as a form of narrowing your request. Here’s that flow:

1. A user searches for streaming services.
2. A user searches for Disney.
3. Google suggests “based on your recent activity” that you try searching for “Disney streaming”

It’s nuanced and possibly something that improves website engagement. Search Engine Land has screenshots and more information.

Google also announced a new variant of its Google Trends data called Rising Retail Categories. It’s a spectacular look at weekly, monthly, or yearly data broken down by country. Users see the increase in the top trending categories, state-by-state comparisons, and the top searches in each. 

Last week’s big searches had to do with surprisingly cold weather (landscape fabric) and Mother’s Day (candy, chocolate, flowers, and cupcakes). The biggest terms for the last month: golf push carts, sprinkler valves, and above ground pools. In fourth place was an entry I’ve never seen in this level of search data: sneeze guards for desks and counters.

Google reported last week that it has blocked “tens of millions of coronavirus-related adsover the past few months for policy violations.” Most of that work is done by automated systems, but Sue and I can assure you that ads and the content they appear with are also manually flagged.

Sometimes knowing the rules may not be enough. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land describes how LinkedIn mistakenly sent Google instructions to block its website. Being a part of Big Tech, LinkedIn was restored in Google after about ten hours. This search engine stuff is not for the faint of heart. Google’s John Mueller never referenced LinkedIn but alluded to the problem when giving the search world a PSA about what not to do.

4. Also in the Spotlight — Millions of School Kids Can’t Access Broadband

The world has done amazing work by sheltering in place, moving to teleworking and remote services, and even tried to scale K-12 distance learning.

Most educators I’ve spoken with knew that the process would be daunting. About one-third of Dallas families don’t have home Internet according to a recent Dallas Morning News article about the digital divide. Other reporting describes teachers who don’t have access parking outside businesses that do and using their broadband.

A 2018 Microsoft study estimates that more than 160 million Americans do not use the Internet at broadband speed. The study also links GDP and access to broadband. And Microsoft, which has oodles of actual user data, points out that government estimates used by schools may be wrong.

In rural Ferry County in Washington, the FCC reports that 100% of residents have access to broadband. County officials didn’t agree and said that individuals may have access through their workplace. When Microsoft looked at its data, they found that only 2% of the county was using broadband.

The COVID-19 crisis is shining a spotlight on data vagaries. With almost every state closing its schools, the crisis is real, and questions remain about how to ensure that all schoolchildren have the same opportunity to learn.

5. Following Up: Facebook’s Oversight Board

We’ve told you for months that Facebook wanted to create a content oversight board that would take the focus off its business executives when the company grapples with difficult problems surrounding the site’s content.

The board’s first 20 members have been announced and include a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, a former Danish prime minister, and a slew of professors, editors, and activists. 

There is a lot of hype around the statement that this soon-to-be 40 person board can overrule the business leaders on issues like hate speech. 

Politico has coverage.

6. Debugging: Plandemic Debunked

A controversial twenty-six minute video has been debunked by almost all fact check organizations and media companies ranging from Poynter, Snopes, and FactCheck to USA Today, The Washington Post, and Facebook.

Comments range from “filled with falsehoods” to “could lead to imminent harm.” 

Read Poynter’s debunking of the whole thing here.

6. Debugging: Plandemic Debunked

A controversial twenty-six minute video has been debunked by almost all fact check organizations and media companies ranging from Poynter, Snopes, and FactCheck to USA Today, The Washington Post, and Facebook.

Comments range from “filled with falsehoods” to “could lead to imminent harm.” 

Read Poynter’s debunking of the whole thing here.

7. ProTip: Control Who Sees Your Social Media

Take some of that commuting time that you’re hopefully saving and ensure that your social media privacy settings are configured the way that you want.

Here are 12 guidelines and links to everything that you need.

8. Great Data: Wealth Shown to Scale

We can appreciate great data storytelling without agreeing with the story. The Wealth Shown to Scale site helps create context around the vast differences between thousands, millions, billions, and trillions. Stick with it — not for the messaging but the way that data and visuals are combined in the story.

Swipe on phones and use a computer’s right cursor key.

9. Screening Room: Reddit

You can see this week’s video at Ad Age because it’s still prerelease. 

You know all those cute and crazy things you’ve seen online since the pandemic started? Reddit would like to remind you that’s their specialty.

Reddit thanks the Idiots and Heroes.

10. Coffee Break: Working from Home with Alexis

In 45 seconds, Alexis summarizes the memorable part of video conferences while working from home.

The video is on Twitter. Be sure to turn on your sound.

Here are three ways that we can help you:

1. Get a free SEO audit on our website.

2  Have a simple, fact-based question about digital marketing? Reply & ask George for free.

3. If your organization needs help with maintenance, search, social media, or advertising, have a look at what we do.

See you Monday.

Good Monday morning. It’s May 4th.  Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow and also falls on Taco Tuesday so enjoy your favorite tacos tomorrow as you plan for Mother’s Day, which is Sunday. This calendar brief intended for people who have forgotten the date, perhaps even the month.

Amanda Brinkman, host of Small Business Revolution on Hulu, said in a Wired interview this week, “The key to remaining viable is to be searchable and active online. People everywhere want to be supporting small businesses, but they need to be able to find them.”

We agree. Watch the rest of her interview on Facebook Live with Wired EIC Nicholas Thompson.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,186 words, about a 4 minute read.

1. News to Know Now

a. Amazon unlawfully increased prices on numerous consumer goods in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, in some cases by more than 500%, a new proposed class action suit in California federal court alleges according to reporting from Bloomberg Law. The Markup has wonderful reporting on Amazon pricing algorithms and how they create huge disparities for consumers and third-party sellers. Amazon beat Wall Street forecasts when it announced quarterly earnings last week. To put their growth in perspective, Amazon announced that it will spend up to $4 billion in worker overtime and personal protective equipment to meet COVID-19 demand.

b. LinkedIn is releasing new tools in response to all aspects of the job hunt going virtual due to COVID-19, including the job interview itself. The company released a test version of a new video introduction feature, as well as an AI-powered tool that gives feedback on peoples’ spoken word responses. Read more at Search Engine Journal

2. COVID-19 Online Resources and News

Trackers

Covidly — my go-to.
Our World in Data — Oxford nonprofit – corrected link
NY Times Maps & Data – free during the pandemic

Tech News

Apple-Google Contact Tracing Tool Gets Beta Release
Companies Equip AI Cameras to Track Social Distancing & Masks
Drones Spread Word About COVID-19 in Rural South Africa
Google Ads Releases Details on $340 Million in Small Business Ad Credits
YouTube to start posting links to COVID-19 Fact Checks

3. Search Engine Optimization News

Google executive Gary Illyes said last week that a website’s speed is a “teeny-tiny factor” regarding its overall ranking. Here is what that means because it’s important to understand:

When all other things are equal, website speed can differentiate the ranking success between two sites. More importantly, very slow websites do not rank well unless they are the sole repository of unique information. A government site, for example, will rank well regardless of its speed. Your restaurant, store, or nonprofit website will not rank well against competitors if it is slow. But there appears to be a diminishing return for site speed improvements that are barely discernible from their previous marks. For example, shaving one second off a website speed of three seconds may not be worth the effort or compromise.

Google also debunked a notion that a link’s value changes over time. After first commenting that the questioner might be focused too much on links, Google’s John Mueller observed that a link may decrease in value over time because the originating website content might not be as relevant in the future as it was when the link was created. There’s more about this at Search Engine Journal.

4. Also in the Spotlight — Tech Earnings Soar

We told you last week that the major tech companies were reporting earnings. It wasn’t hard to guess that Amazon is minting money, and most COVID-19 impacts were felt by companies two months into the quarter. 

All the major tech firms smashed through their forecasts. Microsoft was particularly noteworthy in posting $4 billion more in year-over-year revenue and a nearly 40% increase in net income. Even divisions like LinkedIn saw huge increases in revenue. 

Google, Facebook, and Twitter also reported very strong quarterly earnings although analysts are more interested in next quarter, the first full three month period with COVID-19 playing a major role.

5. Following Up: Dot Org Registry Domain Sales

We’ve told you for months about the ongoing concerns the nonprofit sector has expressed regarding the sale of the dot org domain registry to a venture capital firm. ICANN, the organization that oversees the domain name system, announced late Thursday that the separate domain registry could not be sold.

Read more at the Philadelphia Inquirer

6. Debugging: Nobel Prize Winner Refutes Claim

Nobel winner Dr. Tasuku Honjo did not say that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was “completely artificial” and is debunking internet memes circling around social media that claim otherwise.

Read the rest of Dr. Honjo’s story at the AP’s Not Real News.

7. ProTip: Best Hidden Mac Features

Did you know that your Mac’s wallpaper could rotate or that there is a secret dark mode?  How about using an iPad as a second display?

You can thank CNET later for their hidden tips and tricks.

8. Great Data: Visualizing Fine Print for 14 Apps

Great data doesn’t have to be in table, chart, or graph form. This amazing visualization made it into George’s personal swipe file. If you hear him speak in the future, expect him to show this to illustrate some point or another.

Congratulations, Instagram. Yes, Instagram

9.  Screening Room: Coors Light 

10. Coffee Break: Unnecessary Inventions

Are you secretly longing for Instructional Pants or Zoom video conferencing shutters? Vermont product designer Matt Benedetto has been creating “products that solve problems that don’t exist.”

There enough to chuckle over or to lose an entire day watching. 

Here are three ways that we can help you:

1. Get a free SEO audit on our website.

2  Have a simple, fact-based question about digital marketing? Reply & ask George for free.

3. If your organization needs help with search, social media, or advertising, have a look at what we do.

See you Monday.