Hopefully tomorrow will see a return of my usual posts
Category Archives: Internet
If it’s on the net, it’s… on the net
Led Back To My Blog, or How I Did My Blog A Disservice
Image via CrunchBase
One of the nice features of WordPress.com is that it tracks the search terms that have led people to your blog. It will do this for the day, the week, the month, the quarter, the year, and all time. Using that, you can discover what people are looking for when their search led them to your blog.
Which is how I have done my own blog a disservice.
For anyone who has looked through my blog, they will have figured out that it is… eclectic at best. With the exception of Thursdays when I post my comic picks of the week, and Saturdays when I post a song that I like, the rest is a mish mash of quotes, lists and personal musings on whatever I feel like talking about.
In one such personal musing, I talked about the five famous people who would get me on a roller coaster (the list has since been modified and expanded… which makes me think I should post that again). A few other posts have dealt with the Facebook game Marvel Avengers Alliance, which I had played for a while but stopped… even before I cut down my Facebook time.
Now, the Facebook game posts are not really an issue, or at least not as bad of an issue as other posts. But, even today, a great number of search terms on my all time list have led people to my blog.
The problem lies not with those posts. The problem lies with the one post about the five women who could get me to ride a roller coaster. The post itself was an innocuous list of five celebrities, along with pictures of each one. There was nothing all that scandalous about it… unless you count the fact that Paris Hilton was on the list because she could pay me enough to ride a roller coaster (I really don’t like roller coasters).
At least the original post was not meant to be all that scandalous. But, given the number of search terms that WordPress.com has said have led to my blog, you would think otherwise. It was something I had noticed before, but came to my attention when I saw the search terms for Monday. From an innocent post listing actress Elisha Cuthbert as someone who could get me on a roller coaster spawned the top search term for that Monday. At least, it spawned part of it.
Naturally, when you see a search term like “elisha cuthbert hot nude” on your list (first no less), you get curious as to what else may have led to your blog. I was no different. So I checked the seven-day. There is was in the third position. Really, it was tied with three other search terms.
On to the 30 day, where I found that same search again, this time eighth and tied with a whole slew more search terms. The quarterly was rather tame, but the year was a bit more shocking. Out of the top ten search terms, three featured either the word “naked” or “nude.” The all-time was the same. But reading through the list were more items, “kim bauer nude,” “paris hilton playboy,” even an “amy lee bikini.”
At this point, there is not much I can do to change this trend, except maybe take down the original post. But then, why should I? There was nothing really bad about the original post. And, let’s face it, it does not hurt to have the extra traffic on my blog.
5 Reasons Why I’m Told I Still Need Facebook
Currently, I am on day 3 of a Facebook fast and really not having any issues avoiding it. But, I have been told that there are some circumstances where I might actually need to keep a Facebook account. So, to be fair, I am willing to list five possible reasons why I would have to keep Facebook (along with any commentary why I wouldn’t).
5 Reasons Why I Don’t Need Facebook
We are officially in Day 1 of a Facebook fast. No checking Facebook at home, at work, on the phone (even if my phone won’t let me delete it).
Naturally, I spent a moment reflecting on all the time I’ve wasted on Facebook and realized I really don’t need it for five very good reasons.
To Deactivate or Not To Deactivate
We’re down to this. Facebook links have been deleted, apps uninstalled, and homepages reset to not go to Facebook.
But should I just deactivate the account entirely, or keep it?
Finished with Facebook
Image via CrunchBase
I can’t say that I have not seen this happening for a while. My presence on Facebook has been pretty much shut down before today. Just about everything I have on their is only visible to me. I also turned off the search option, so my account is not searchable. If anything, my Facebook friends list has gone down, especially since I have not added anyone in months.
The latest has been my fight with Facebook over how I display my homepage. I prefer to read the most recent items first. Facebook, however, kept changing the list to top stories. I would set it to most recent, and Facebook would change it back.
It ended up being the last straw. I have not deactivated my account… yet. But I have deleted links and apps. At least most of them. It seems I cannot delete the Facebook app off my Android phone.
I might someday return to Facebook, though, I think that at this point, if I return, it will be to finally deactivate my account.
Related articles
- How to: Permanently Delete Your Facebook (askanerdynole.wordpress.com)
- Your phone number can be harvested and associated with account info on Facebook (yro.slashdot.org)
- Facebook lets you harvest account phone numbers (sott.net)
- What Facebook’s New Graph Search Means For Your Privacy (mashable.com)
2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.
Dec 21, 2012...
What could have happened...
What people on the Internet said happened...
What actually happened...
This pretty much tells it all.
Another Closed Down
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I closed my Google+ Profile today. When asked why I was doing so, I submitted the following answer:
I rarely use Google+ for anything. I know maybe three people on it, and they never use Google+. It does not connect to things like WordPress for it to be any use as a promotional vehicle. What little content that is on here is available through other sources (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.) that Google+ is redundant.
Related articles
- How to Delete Your Google+ Account (vikitech.com)
- Is Google Plus Dead On Arrival? (nowsourcing.com)
Unfriending and Deactivating
Image via CrunchBase
The other day, I had to unfriend someone on Facebook. For most people that happens all the time.
I’m not most people. Read the rest of this entry
