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Google has agreed to fund a project to develop automated fact checking tools amid anger over the prevalent of fake news websites during the US presidential election.
UK fact checking organisation, FullFact, has announced it has been awarded €50,000 (£43,000) by the tech giant’s Digital News Initiative to build the first “fully automated end-to-end fact checking system”.
In a statement, FullFact explained that the system will have two main features.
One will inform readers if something reported as fact has already been proven inaccurate.
The other mode will fact check claims automatically using Natural Language Processing and statistical analysis in real-time – something FullFact said has never been done before – by highlighting the text and having a factbox appear when the user hovers over it....
Writing isn’t a talent—it’s a skill. A skill you can develop, refine, and improve.
Becoming a great copywriter isn’t easy, but if you consistently work on your writing, your writing will get better and better.
Here are 33 (count them!) writing tweaks that will propel you to copywriting mastery....
The last thing you expect from the Rock is long-windedness. But Dwayne Johnson is a veritable novelist on Instagram, where he documents his days, which are composed chiefly of pumping iron at the gym, playing with his dogs, and eating snacks on private jets. Take, for example, this post from Labor Day, in which Johnson tells the gripping story of jumping into his pool with two baby French bulldogs in no less than 240 words. Spoiler: The dogs almost drown, but the Rock saves them.
Instagram, a minimalist, mobile-focused app for sharing photos, might seem like a strange place to keep a public diary. Facebook, which aggressively positions itself as an ongoing digital record of your life, comes across as a more natural place to share updates and idle musings. But the Rock’s not alone: People are increasingly turning toward Instagram not just as a place to post filtered photos, but to spill their lives and thoughts into the captions as well.
Why is this happening? For one thing, if you’re already posting pretentious, evocative images, you’re more likely to be in an artsy-musings state of mind. But it’s more than that: Facebook, at 1.5 billion users, has felt cacophonous and impersonal for a while. Many of us use it as an address book more than a means of communication; with its sheer density of information, writing a sincere post there feels a little like shouting on the streets of Manhattan. Instagram might eventually grow as large as Facebook, but its uncomplicated design and tightly curated feed make it more than just a photo app — it’s also one of the more potent blogging spaces around....
An expert roundup is a collection of quotes or interviews by influential people in your niche. Each participant should be someone with some authority in your field and that has something to contribute to your readers. The most effective roundups pose a very specific question that the experts can easily respond to. It should be a question that people care about the answer to.Here are a few great example roundups....
Content creation is one of the most vital aspects of digital marketing – posting content that will inform, interest and amuse your online audience so that you’re one of the first places they turn to when they go online. This means creating content of a consistently good quality on a continual basis. That's a pretty tall order, even for the most imaginative of digital marketers. The biggest challenge faced by B2B content marketers is producing enough content, closely followed by producing the type of content that engages the target audience.
I listed 25 content creation ideas that business bloggers can use when they run out of ideas for attention-grabbing new content. But besides ideas you need more to create content better.
Most professionals use a toolkit of some type or another and that’s just as true for content creators. Today we’re looking at some of the most useful content creation tools that you could add to your content creation toolkit, including some tools that will help you to post some great visual content – we all know that images, GIFs and videos pack a powerful punch when it comes to getting the marketing message across....
The main problem of most writers, including your humble narrator, is verbal intelligence. Grammar, punctuation, and stylistic mistakes can kill your content despite its awesomeness. Trust me, I know what I am talking about: Editors don’t give a damn about your copy because, you see, they find typos (well, yes, s**t happens), awkward grammar constructions (hey, and what if it’s my awesome writing style?), poor punctuation (oh, really? does anybody still care about Oxford commas? I LOVE them, by the way), and so on.And the only thought that comes to your mind after yet another knockback. What an embarrassing fail! With that in mind, you don’t stop improving your writing and editing skills, and looking for blogging tools to help you become a better content creator and get more clients. To help you out, here are 10 of the best blogging tools....
More than 64 million new blog posts are published on WordPress blogs every month. Which means if you’re new to blogging, or thinking about starting a new blog from scratch, competing against the already established players can be a daunting task. There’s already so much competition that I won’t blame you if you give up after publishing 1 or 2 posts.However, if you’re smarter than the average blogger, there are still ways you can make a name for yourself, and a lot of money, in almost any niche. In fact, if you look closely, you only need to do a few things well on a consistent basis to generate regular traffic to your blog, build a loyal readership and open up possibilities of monetization.Let me explain them one by one....
If you attempt to use these tips with the “Oh my GOD I need traffic quickly because I’m scared or worried or impatient or anxious!”, it’s like handing a blow torch to a 5 year old. Somebody’s getting burned, at best. Some 5 year old is gonna burn down the house, at worst. When your energy is off you will mis-use these tools. But if you hand the 5 year old a blow torch and a package of raw hot dogs, with the proper instructions, he can enjoy flame-roasted wieners instead of burning down the house. So get rid of that desperate, destructive urge to NEED THINGS QUICKLY and follow these tips....
Remember the time when you or a friend wanted to start a blog back in high school? Blogs had only hit the internet back when I was in high school and everyone, writer or not, suddenly seemed to have an opinion on sports, fashion, food, life, and what not! The best way to make those opinions known to a wider audience was blogs. Everyone wanted to have one!
Thanks to WordPress, everyone got their fair share of blogging. No kidding. WordPress started in 2003 and took blogging to a whole new level of awesomeness. Everyone back in the day was totally flattered by WordPress’ default blog themes and the customization they allowed.
WordPress has done it, yet again. This time for websites! Designing a website has never been easier. Branding Agency, Dubai based e-shops, professional web development service providers, and many more businesses turn to WordPress to get an online presence and market their products. WordPress is by far the smoothest of all content management systems. It has upheld its good name all these years. Here’s how they are pulling it off....
Some content pieces had what it took to become viral way before the internet era. We called that phenomenon “word of mouth” and it helped products and ideas to spread around with the speed of light. In today’s world, with so many communication means available, it should be easy enough for anyone to create a viral piece and unleash it into the world. Unfortunately, not everything online goes viral. Some pieces attract millions of eyeballs while others get their fair number of shares without entering the VIP club. Why?...
Via massimo facchinetti
Writing a blog post is like making a sandwich – anybody can throw together a simple one, but if you really want it to be memorable, you’ve gotta show a little initiative. (The use of a panini press is only advisable for one of these situations, though. See if you can guess which!) Because while all you really need for a blog post is a bunch of words, you might be leaving out the ingredients that give it flavor. Adding a few quick steps before you hit that publish button can help your posts get more clicks, more shares, and more comments – and that makes actually writing them a whole heck of a lot more rewarding. What are the must-haves that your blog posts might be missing? Here are a few things you definitely don’t want to leave out!...
Say buddy, can you spare some time? Excuse me Miss, can you spare a minute?
We live in the age of distraction and, as Wayne Friedman writes in MediaPost, a recent CRE/Nielsen study highlights the issue for advertisers, marketers, PR pros and social marketers:
“Beyond noticing TV ads, the CRE says viewing, defined as total time in “fixation” using eye-tracking, is a more stringent measure. Results here are that solo viewers spent 58% of time in “fixation,” which dropped to 43% when including co-viewers.
Access to second screens dipped these results even lower for solo viewers: 34% in fixation time. Adding co-viewers with a second screen drops the number to 25%.”
Attention to TV ads dropped 75% with a second screen the study reported....
Headline Analyzer is a free web app which allows you to test the quality of any headline based on its emotional qualities and on its overall structure, grammar, readability, use of words, sentiment and length. 100% free. My comment: Useful tool to benchmark and test the quality of any title, helps you see with more perspective and objectivity the strengths and weaknesses of your online subject lines....
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In 1977, according to the AP style guide I still occasionally refer to, using the acronym “TV” as a noun when writing about television was not advised.
“Acceptable as an adjective or in such constructions as cable TV [italics theirs]. But do not normally use as a noun unless part of a quotation,” counsels the item on “TV” in the 1977 edition of the AP Stylebook -- formerly titled “The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.”
Today we use “TV” and “television” more or less interchangeably as nouns, although the former is probably used more now than the latter. One thing the 1977 Stylebook reveals, however, is that “media” -- whether electronic or otherwise -- was not nearly the obsession for news organizations that it is today.
Part of the reason was that the world at large was not nearly as obsessed with media and technology -- and the companies responsible for them -- as we are now. There was so much less of it then too, obviously....
Relatively long and fairly complex—though not overly difficult—blog posts by brands garner the most social shares, according to recent research from TrackMaven. The report was based on data from more than 65,000 blog posts published on company websites between September 2015 and August 2016, as well as data from more than 20 million shares of those blog posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Blog posts that are fairly long, between 1,200 and 1,400 words, receive the most social shares (428) per post, on average, the analysis found....
If you live in America, chances are you've heard (or used) the phrase "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
Most of us know it means, essentially, that you shouldn't make all your plans based on one possible thing happening. But it's kind of a weird phrase, right? Have you ever stopped to wonder where it originated?
Its use in print has been traced to the novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes in the early 1600s, although it possibly was mistranslated to an inexact English idiom from the original and may have other roots in Italian phrases.
Different cultures around the world all have their own similar sayings — proverbs, if you will — that make sense to those who've grown up speaking the language but sound downright odd to anyone who hasn't.
James Chapman is fascinated by these sayings and how they translate across languages and cultures....
You might argue that I’m no better than Mike by filtering the stories I don’t like from sites I don’t agree with. The big difference, though, is that the only news I consume on Facebook is related to the babies, pets, and baby pets of my friends and family. If you want to discuss politics then you’ll have to buy me a drink first so we can talk face to face. See, Facebook doesn’t care about the veracity of the political news being shared just so long as people spend lots of time viewing ads while sharing it. That’s fine for cat videos, gadgets, and recipes, but surely political news requires a different set of personalization algorithms. Baseless conspiracy theories and outright lies should be downranked just as quickly as the clickbait articles Facebook demoted in August. If Google News can introduce a nonpartisan fact checking feature then surely Facebook could do the same. It would go a long way in helping Mike and I, and the nation, to become friends again....
From blog posts to landing pages to job postings, your website may be made up of tens, hundreds; even thousands of individual pages. But regardless how many pages you have on your site, you'll find that the vast majority of your traffic comes in to a few, very specific pages -- often your homepage, your "About" page, your "Contact Us" page, and maybe one or two of your most popular blog posts. And because so many people are landing on those four or five pages, it's very important that you take special care to optimizing those pages for conversions. Otherwise, you're leaving potentially massive lead and sales numbers on the table. Research shows that companies that take on a structured approach towards conversion optimization are 2X as likely to see a large increase in sales. Trust me: Optimizing these pages can pay off big time in the long run.So, how do you figure out which pages on your website get the most traffic? And once you've found that out, what are the best ways to optimize those pages for leads -- and which tools can help? Let's start with the first question....
What you need is some help from artists who’ve already blazed a trail and discovered what actually works. Because some of those ideas might work for you too. So check out the following list of excellent role models for tons of ideas. And don’t just stick to your own field – cross-pollinate and explore ideas from other disciplines....
Social media is an extremely valuable tool for promoting your marketing content. But with so many social networks providing their own individual content sharing and follow buttons, it's often difficult to know which social media button to use for what purpose. To address this, we've put together a comprehensive guide to help you understand the differences between the share and follow buttons for six of the biggest social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest), as well as how to implement them on your website, blog, and other content....
What’s the first thing a company should do before getting into content marketing? While opinions may vary, I’d say that analyzing other successful content marketers and their approach is a good start. Before Twitter shut off the API that allowed people to easily display tweet counts, I went on a data gathering spree… During the month of October 2015, I downloaded social share counts from top blogs. Here are a few things I learned when analyzing their most shared posts....
Gone are the days of blathering on ad nauseam about anything your heart desires. Content marketing via blogging is one of the best ways to increase the online visibility of a brand. These days, though, the posts you create must be engaging, informative, interesting, and generally high in quality to get you anywhere. Contrary to what you may have heard, quantity does not exceed quality here. Even so, coming up with fascinating topics for a blog is often difficult for business owners. Here are 20 topics and ideas to get you off to a great start....
Celebrities and gossip are one of the most talked about and sought after types of content on the internet. Many people will start their first website or blog as a celebrity fan site, then potentially turn it into much more over time. A great example of this would be Perez Hilton, who ended up turning his passion for celebrity gossip into a blog, which then transformed into a multi-million dollar business. So, now the question is… how can you start a celebrity fan site of your own?Good news! That’s exactly what we are going to be covering in this article today. By the time you finish reading through this simple five-step formula, you will have everything you need to go live with your first celebrity fan blog....
During a recent marketing conference, I had some great conversations about the state of blogging.
Everyone was talking about how comments are dead, no one shares anything anymore and readership continues to decline. We all need to reach new audiences, but there isn't a great way to do it.
Facebook sponsored posts work to some degree, as do other types of advertising, but what are we to do?
As it turns out, there is content you can create that will get lots of shares and comments.
Following is a list of 10 types of blog posts that still spark engagement...
Most brands have some form of newsletter to connect with customers. But for many brands, more emphasis is placed on getting people to sign up than on giving them a reason to sign up.
Last week David Hieatt, founder of Hiut Denim and the Do Lectures gave a workshop in London on the power of the humble email newsletter. I didn’t go to the workshop, but how he described it got me thinking about this often overlooked communication tool:
“In terms of using social media to grow your business, we are all looking for the next new platform or app. We want to find that magic ‘Multiplier’ that gets our story out to the world…
“A great newsletter can do that. And yet most people ignore it, dismiss it, or if they use it, use it poorly. Yet, this tool, in the right hands, is as powerful as they come…
“I am fascinated by the power of a simple newsletter to grow a business. I am also fascinated that most businesses don’t pay much attention to theirs. It’s an afterthought. A poor cousin.
“But when done right, they become something else. With a strategy, with a simple methodology, they become one of the most effective tools in your digital toolbox. They build community. They build your brand. And they relentlessly build long-term growth. They are pure and utter gold.”...
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We desperately need fact checking in this fake news, US post-election, political Twilight Zone. I'm not sure a bot can do it all but kudos to Google for trying and good luck to FullFact. What do you say Facebook?