1. Good Monday Morning

It’s December 13th. WLKY in Kentucky has a constantly updating list of local and state charities that are helping victims of last Friday night’s tornadoes.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,205 words — about a 4 minute read.

2. News To Know Now

Quoted: “They’ve got to do more to police hatred, vitriol, bullying on the platform and we’re seeing that coming out in spades through all of these different revelations,” — Facebook Oversight Board member Suzanne Nossel to CNN. Nossel added that the company’s content moderation must be more transparent. 

a) Consumer advocates are criticizing Verizon after the company launched a new customer internet tracking program. The company renamed Verizon Selects tracking to Verizon Customer Experience Plus and then informed customers that opted out of the former that the opt-out didn’t count for the newly named program. Verizon customers will have to specifically contact the company to opt out of the new browser history tracking program. (Ars Technica)

b) Work from home will continue to be a Big Tech mainstay. Days after Google said that it would not reopen offices in January, Facebook announced that it would delay requiring a return to company offices for three to five months.

c) An Amazon Web Services crash took down some of the internet’s biggest services last week throughout the northeastern U.S. The outage was especially bad for streaming video. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Roku were all affected. 

3. Search Engine News — Multiple Email Errors & How Bold Text Helps

Breaking over the weekend was news that Google had mass emailed error notices advising of problems with website configurations. We received a dozen by noon Sunday, but quickly learned that even Google officials were unaware of a problem. As of Sunday evening, the issue remains unsolved, but those of us who have checked believe that the messages were sent in error.

Google also said that using a bold style in text can help its systems understand what the website team views as important. Google exec John Mueller told his weekly webinar that bolding text adds value because it is a clear sign about the page or paragraph’s main topics.

Now, we know search marketers and can promise you that someone is already devising a test to figure out the optimal percentage to use bold or italics within content. Please don’t listen to them when there is a news release in a month or two, continue using bold as you would naturally, and if you’re only using it for random title names or something similar, try to also emphasize the main topic.

Google also wants you to know that you are responsible for user comments posted on your website and warned that publishing comments contrary to Google policies could be problematic. Read the announcement and accompanying infographic.

4. Spotlight Explainer — Amazon Shopping War

Amazon’s outsize influence on the economy also creates scrutiny and regulatory issues related to its operations.

We’re seeing a lot of attention around Amazon’s internal advertising, the fees that it charges third party sellers, more regulatory fines, and the creation of multiple warehouses to cut delivery times.

Amazon fined again

This time the fine of more than $1 billion was assessed by Italian regulators who allege that Amazon shows favoritism to third party sellers that use the company’s warehouse and fulfillment services. That fine follows an EU fine of more than $880 million earlier this year regarding consumer privacy. 

Third party sellers are profitable for Amazon

A new report claims that third party seller fees of more than $120 billion this year allow Amazon to offset the losses incurred by operating Prime. The report also says that third party seller fee revenue has doubled in two years.

The ads third party sellers buy allegedly trick consumers

A coalition of labor unions filed an FTC complaint against Amazon last week saying that its product ads are indistinguishable from regular product listings. The complaint is reportedly based on an analysis of 130,000 search results on Amazon. The company claims it fully complies with all applicable laws and FTC regulations.

Consumer Reports says minority communities are being flooded with warehouses

A blockbuster new report by the organization and The Guardian says that nearly 70% of Amazon warehouses operate in communities with a higher percentage of nonwhites living within one mile. The report discusses economic disparities, increased pollution, and reduced quality of living standards in neighborhoods where these warehouses are located. Amazon opened nearly 300 new warehouses last year, more than in the preceding three years combined.

The new goal: 15 minute deliveries

So-called “dark stores” are former retail sites repurposed throughout an area as staging sites for delivery. After Amazon Prime initially disrupted delivery expectations with first two day and now one day delivery options, its competitors are fighting back. Startups like Jokr (which offers the service in select NY neighborhoods) and DoorDash are leading the way with live tests of 15 minute deliveries.

Yes, 15 minutes, or about the time that it takes me to find the dairy section.

5. Did That Really Happen? — What’s Up With ‘Birds Aren’t Real’?

The New York Times has a nice feature on Peter McIndoe, the 23-year-old creator of the Birds Aren’t Real protest social group. These birdbrains say that they’re fighting against the lunacy of misinformation that they’ve grown up with using some lunacy of their own. The parody is elaborate, and as one follower points out, anyone who believes them has bigger issues than birds.

6. Following Up — Amazon Care Signs Hilton

Remember when we told you about Amazon Care’s partnership with and subsequent corporate divorce from JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway? The companies all said that they wanted to pursue their own health program.

Since then, Amazon Pharmacy rolled out nationally and now the company is offering all insured Hilton employees Amazon Care text, video, and even house call visits. 

7. Protip — Reopen A Closed Google Chrome Tab

When you accidentally close a tab in Google Chrome, there’s a simple one click method to restore that tab. You can also do the same with a keyboard shortcut.

8. Screening Room – Lacta’s Riveting Long Form Commercial

9. Science Fiction World — Doodles converted to Realistic Images

Draw a doodle of a boulder at the edge of a beach with water around it, and this NVIDIA software will create a photo-realistic image.

10. Coffee Break — Excel as Esports

Not just any Excel, but financial modeling with Esports glitz. Y’all, I have found my people! They’re at the Financial Modeling World Cup. There are rankings of 128 participants from all across the globe. They even livestream the modeling although I’m disappointed that no one has dubbed this competition the Revenge of the Nerds.

Read PC World’s coverage and have a look at the video if you’re of a mind to do so. Protip from me: the first business case they have to solve starts at 10 minutes in the video.

11. Sign of The Times

1. Good Monday Morning

It’s December 6th. Friday is Human Rights Day. Check out the official UN site with archives, quizzes, and event calendars.

Today’s Spotlight is 1,198 words — about a 4 minute read.

2. News To Know Now

Quoted:“Social media can have catastrophic effects, even if the average user only experiences minimal consequences.” — The University of Washington’s Joseph Bak-Coleman discussing how averaging big numbers can distort the extent of the harm experienced by vulnerable people.

a) They may be your devices, but Peleton and NordicTrack customers reported being locked out of features on their connected exercise equipment. The NordicTrack customers were able to bypass the company’s exercise programs in favor of internet videos, including Netflix. Meanwhile, Peloton was criticized by customers who were told that they would have to purchase a subscription to internet workout programs to use their treadmills at all. The company reversed that decision, and there is PC Magazine coverage here.

b) Google has Pixel phone owners protected against non-smiling holiday photos. The company’s new feature allows customers to take a group photo only when everyone in the frame is smiling. Some people may be standing there for a long time based on the photos I see around the holidays.

c) Google also announced that it would delay its mandatory return to its office date past January 10. Despite delays from employees at big companies returning to their offices, we continue to see remote work companies experience financial downturns. The latest is DocuSign. The company’s stock fell 42% Friday after it issued an earnings warning. That loss represented more than $19 billion in market cap.

3. Search Engine News — AMP is Dead & So Are Dot Gov Links

Despite its seeming newness, the search engine optimization industry is well into its second generation. As with every discipline, there is a lot of information published online that is no longer true — or perhaps was never true.

Higher quality links — from universities and government agencies — were once thought to convey a ratings boost to the receiving site. Former Google executive Matt Cutts tried dispelling that notion in 2008, but less informed people continued selling projects based on that flawed theory.

John Mueller, who effectively does much of Cutts’ public facing work these days, tried the same 10 years later, and it still hasn’t fully taken hold. If you have someone insisting that you should create a project specifically for education and government links, we highly recommend Miranda Miller’s new analysis in Search Engine Journal.

Because of Google’s effect in the market, their words and actions are parsed, analyzed, and debated at length. Their code initiatives receive even more attention. Website teams have been known to rush those initiatives to their own websites the moment that they’re made live only to watch them diminish just as quickly.

The most recent initiative to have the rug pulled out from under it is the AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) framework. We never really saw small businesses embrace AMP and big brands already had brand traffic. Google told news publishers that they didn’t have to use AMP and everyone is jumping ship, including marketing sites and even Twitter.

Bottom line: you don’t need AMP or special high-powered links to rank your website high.

4. Spotlight Explainer — UK Big Tech Crackdown

Let’s start with the big news first. The UK Competition and Markets Authority announced last week that Facebook’s parent company Meta must divest itself of last year’s $400 million acquisition of GIPHY.

Those little videos without sound at the bottom of messages? What’s the big deal?

That’s the one. The official looking GIFs were creating revenue from brands and studios. And new films and shows were beginning to be advertised that way too.

So why is this a competitive threat?

The UK didn’t mention any platforms by name, but comments on Twitter and other social media platforms could use those GIFs too. And there’s that whole advertising element to say nothing of user generated GIFs that were copied without the copyright owner’s permission. It’s a real mess.

You said crackdown. What else?

Data company Clearview AI has been ordered to stop processing facial recognition data of people in the UK and to delete all data they’ve stored.

What if people consented?

The industry’s main players have joined regulators in their anger at Clearview after it improperly copied scads of data from Facebook, Google, and other platforms. 

So they copied the pictures without permission?

Yep. And that’s why the UK is ordering the photos to be deleted, as well as warning the company to expect a fine exceeding $20 million.

So the UK is undoing deals and fining miscreants. Anything else?

Oh yes. Here is the announcement of an algorithmic standard published by the Central Data Digital Office after government programs there experienced bias because of poorly defined algorithms. Now the UK government is testing algorithm transparency among some of its councils and agencies to determine how they can best be deployed in the future. 

5. Did That Really Happen? — USPS and Christmas Stamps

Hoaxes posted on social media falsely claimed that the U.S. Postal Service had not issued new stamps for Christmas, but had done so for multiple other non-Christian holidays. 

First, it’s not true. Second, who has this kind of time with the made up war on Christmas, and if you know who they are, please make them stop. Meanwhile, here is Snopes with the true story about all the holiday stamps for sale.

6. Following Up — AI Ethicists Start New Lab

A new AI lab led by Timnit Gebru is being formed as a nonprofit. Gebru led the AI ethics team and was controversially fired by Google last year, followed by the firing of a prominent colleague of hers, and the resignation of their manager.

A first research paper out from the new Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research lab uses aerial imagery of South Africa to show how the legacy of apartheid remains in land use.

7. Protip — Mac Shortcuts

After last week’s nifty iOS privacy primer, we’re back on the Apple side of things with time saving shortcuts to set up on your Mac.

8. Screening Room — VRBO & Your House After WFH

9. Science Fiction World — IBM Helping CVS Get Flu Shots to Hot Spots

Using anonymized data, IBM’s Watson Advertising (yes, advertising) is launching a mobile messaging campaign that projects flu outbreaks up to two weeks in advance.

The program uses weather forecasts, patient data, and search and social media feeds to create a model that then helps CVS push flu shots in a specific area all the way down to the ZIP code level.

10. Coffee Break — This Climate Does Not Exist

You remember those photos of big American cities shrouded in smog during the 1960s and 1970s? You can create a similar view on your street now or add floodwaters and wildfires. It’s not a fun coffee break, but it’s an important one with some sound information for you to explore. Have a look at This Climate Does Not Exist.

11. Sign of The Times