Twitter IS definitely censoring tweets and hashtags. This post includes proof.
I’ve been warning my readers that we must not be complacent and make the assumption that platforms we use online are unbiased.
We must pay attention to what happens when we invest our time on sites that are not under our own control.
Those who realize there is a great movement sweeping the world already know this:
Regardless of how many tweets are sent for hashtags related to
Occuppy Wall Street NONE of those hashtags ever trend
on Twitter locally – or nationally.
AND ESPECIALLY not in the CITY concerned!!!
But THAT is NOT ALL! >> Last week I noticed a new message on Twitter:
Your account may not be allowed to perform this action. Try logging out and in again.
If you hate to read or have little time: Read just the text in red. It contains the most important points for every person.
If you are involved in small business, marketing or social media, also read all the gold text in gold boxes.
If you’re like me and you want to really understand what is going on, you will want to read through this three times:
- Read just the red text.
- Read just the gold text in gold boxes.
- Read it all.
That is what you may see when your tweets are being censored: and here’s the proof:
- Tweet Twitter Would Not Post
When Twitter refused to accept that tweet, I removed the shortened link and did NOT get that message. So I did some further testing:
So I removed that link and sent EXACTLY the same tweet without the link and it went through:
I even briefly got the message “Your Tweet to @SEOCopy has been sent” but it didn’t stay long enough to be screen captured.
WHY KNOWING WE ARE BEING CENSORING IS IMPORTANT:
I have been warning this day was coming for a very long time now. Few see how dangerous this is to our ability to make a living or even retain our freedom.
This is so important
I implore you not to leave this post
without understanding WHY.
When people have the illusion of freedom
and feel they have a voice
they are content to move ever closer
to the total loss of both.
The masses will tweet and feel they have a voice –
but if those tweets go nowhere –
they don’t!
They only have the ILLUSION they have a voice.
When important issues are being discussed online, people spend their most valuable assets: their time and money, working to spread the word.
When what we share is being actively censored –
and most will NEVER KNOW when that is happening –
our time and money are being stolen from us!
Every social network can easily censor what we say and do
and make that VERY DIFFICULT to detect by letting
YOU see what you shared but not showing it to anyone else!
You don’t have to believe me. You CAN find out for yourself. Simply ask your friends and followers to tell you if they saw something important that you shared with them.
WHICH SOCIAL NETWORKS CAN WE TRUST?
So it all comes down to which social networks CAN we trust? There is a simple way to tell. If the major media touts them and links to them they can’t be trusted. If they don’t, they might be trustworthy.
Particularly suspect are:
- Google+
- MySpace
- FriendFeed
- StumbleUpon
- Who else? Tell me in the comments and I’ll add them here.
What we really need is an independent social network.
They will have GREAT DIFFICULTY gaining enough users to be financially viable so we MUST all get behind any that surface. I know of one being developed which I will share as soon as they’re ready.
If YOU know of any let me know in the comments or by contacting me.
This goes deeper than Freedom of Speech.
Our Freedom of CHOICE is also at risk.
When you automatically use Google
we, the people, will ONLY see those Google chooses to grant visibility.
Small businesses become invisible to us and will eventually fail – taking away ever more choices until all that is left are Big Box stores – maybe even Big Box STORE – ONE company store because at that point they won’t need multiple brands.
That limits our choices in EVERY WAY
from where we shop to what products and services
we know exist to what information we can find –And that information determines
WHAT WE BELIEVE IS TRUE.
Q: What do you do when one airline treats you horribly?
A: You switch airlines. Then when that one treats you horribly, you switch again. If the wealthy elite control each major airline they don’t care which one you use but you BELIEVE you have freedom to choose. DO YOU?
SUGGESTION: Switch to a regional airline.
Q: What do you do when your cell phone carrier does you wrong or is overcharging you?
A: You switch to another major cell phone carrier that is running a sale (oh – but you can only get that price if you accept a long term contract filled with tiny print you can’t understand. And when THEY do you wrong? You’re stuck with them for X amount of time until your contract runs out and then you can again jump out of one frying pan into another fire.
SUGGESTION: Switch to a smaller carrier. While they, too, are most likely RESELLING those same brands you are trying to escape, at least they MIGHT have customer service that MIGHT care about you. (Know of a small cell phone company you can recommend? Tell us in the comments – links to their Web site are OK.)
I included these two examples to open more eyes to the truth:
WE, the people, have never had many OBVIOUS real choices.
We have only been given the ILLUSION of choice!We DO have CHOICES though
When we SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSESOur money recirculates in our communities
creating jobs and raising our standard of living.By buying local WE can take control back.
Where you spend your money MATTERS.
Before the Internet, the wealthy few controlled everything we saw through their ownership of the major media, movie studios, newspapers, magazines.
Since the Internet, people like me and legions more can share what we’ve learned over a lifetime, and anyone can tune in and figure out what works for them.
The wealthy elite want their control back and they are doing everything they can to get it from imposing National ID systems to tracking devices to censorship.
WE are handing them that control
when we automatically believe that
ONLY what THEY HYPE is THE BEST
STOP giving them your time, money and attention.
CONNECT THE DOTS:
You MUST understand why all of this is important.
Your financial survival depends on it
So do your freedoms of choice, speech, travel, religious choice,
and even your freedom to not be imprisoned
even though you have done nothing wrong.
Think it can’t happen to YOU? You’re wrong! Our prisons are full of innocent people!
Most use Google so they only see what Google shows them.
How many businesses already don’t show up in search?
How much information is already difficult to find?
Will YOU notice when posts and stores disappear?
It is only a matter of time before search results are sanitized for our “protection”. [Read: cleared of people like me and any businesses that dared to compete with Google or their favored big brands.]
Google is already churning results. If you have access to any analytics, simply compare the keywords sending you traffic from Google prior to July 28, 2011 to the keywords sending you traffic since July 28, 2011.
Also compare your bounce rates before and after that date. Most will think “great, Google is still sending me traffic” and not realize that – just as they do with Distribution Fraud in AdWords – traffic that isn’t your target audience consumes resources and provides no benefits.
It HIDES the fact that even if your traffic stays the same you can no longer reach your target audience!
Churned results means you can NOT consistently get
targeted traffic from Google to your small business or blog.
The Google Panda updates that continue to be rolled out have already cost many businesses 1/3 to 1/2 of their traffic and incomes so far. As long as the customers they want to reach automatically use Google they’re toast. (Definition: “We’re toast” – slang expression meaning we’re getting burnt; we don’t have a chance.)
WHAT WE CAN DO:
- Use alternative search engines. I will put together a group to research and publish our options.
- Communicate DIRECTLY over the phone or through Skype or Instant Messenger (IM) chat. If you get a yellow triangle icon with an exclamation point (!) in it on Skype the other person DID NOT receive that message. Yahoo IM is more reliable and you can leave messages when someone is not online that they SHOULD receive later. DO NOT assume they received them though – see point 4 below.
- Assume that ALL COMMUNICATIONS are being recorded including email, phone, and chat.
- NEVER assume what you sent was seen or received UNTIL IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED. That goes double for email. See Closed Loop Communications for details.
- Save URLs to sites you visit that are important to you somewhere they can not be changed without your knowledge. I use Tomboy Notes and there are multiple backups of everything on this blog, but even those COULD be hacked.
- Seek out other bloggers like you and exchange direct contact information including phone numbers, email addresses, and social networks where they’re active.
- Be part of the solution. If you do nothing you are part of the problem and pretending it doesn’t exist will not change what happens to you if we don’t PROTEST CORRUPTION!
If people are ever going to wake up, they must do it NOW!
Stop being naive and believing media spin.
Do not let only what they tell you be what you believe is true!
The best way to connect with other bloggers is to install either
the free CommentLuv plugin or CommentLuv Premium.
Search for blogs in your niche and physical location, and GO COMMENT IN THOSE BLOGS. Follow the CommentLuv links from blog to blog. (Right click and choose open in new tab to open those you want to go visit.)
Communities of bloggers can be the solution to
how we find each other and stay in touch.
We MUST seek out and create LOCAL BLOGGING COMMUNITIES.
It is CRITICAL that we find each other NOW
Because it will become harder to use Social Networks
and Search Engines to find each other later!
POTENTIAL BIG PROBLEM:
WordPress is controlled by Automattic and part of ‘The Borg’
(The Borg is how I refer to all things controlled by the Wealthy Elite)
What that means is they COULD censor our blogs
even if they are on our own domains!
If you know others locally, if Internet access if interrupted for any reason you know people you can connect with physically. All it takes is one blogger willing to lead a collaboration of local bloggers to effect change in your community.
Through supporting local businesses you also position yourselves to earn an income to support your blogging efforts. I personally mentor bloggers and am seeking Bloggers willing to Lead Blog Collaborations.
Together we can ensure that our freedoms are not taken from us!
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE FEELING OVERWHELMED:
Many will read this post and be totally overwhelmed.
RESIST the compulsion to just leave.
For your sake and the sake of every person on the planet, do one thing for me:
Go back to the top of this post and just read the red text and nothing else. That will give you the main points everyone needs to get.
If you’re up to it or you have a business or are involved in marketing or social media: go back to the top again and read just the gold text in gold boxes. That will give you additional MUST KNOW information.
Be CREATIVE.
If a social network censors tweets or shares
worded a particular way or that include a
specific URL, change the wording or the URL.
If you have questions, don’t be afraid. Just comment here – or if you don’t want to comment publicly, contact me.
Gail Gardner
didn’t realize that you already write about this case in 2011. on recent development, twitter have done a lot of censorship. when a company no longer private, their main objective are to please its share holders, this is what happened with twitter.
Hi Johny,
Part of it is hitting Twitter limits, but they do block some tweets just as Facebook censors what can be shared there.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Twitter Best Practices: How to Use Twitter Effectively ~ Make Twitter Work for YOU
Hello admin
Sorry I forgot what i was searching & now i remembered. I was looking for a page that can assists me how to add an animated avatar for profile picture of Twitter. I have searched a lot but it is very complicated process. it shows that first make a small video of Maximum of 8 secs. and then make the desired changes. Again it is not working. So can you tell me what i actually should for this? please reply as soon as possible. I am waiting
Thanks regards
Sanjeev Singh
Hello admin
You have asked that which social network is good? Well you have mentioned almost all networks. but you have missed 2 networks which are Tumblr and Pinterest. I am using both of them and I found Pinterest more addicted.
Thanks regards
Sanjeev Singh
We can´t allow this, I mean is supposed we like twitter because is our freedom and a place where we can talk, what the hell do the companies here? they have nothing to do with us, I sometimes hate how this world, money can break all.
By the way you can click here and take a look at my blog.
I will try to tweet this article but it may be censored. I’m black and whenever I post anything true instead of the pastuerized mess we’ve been fed I get censored. Have been watching this on Twitter since 2010. I started my first account in 2007. Deleted it in 2009. Began another 2010 that was not about the run of the mill topics and I’ve been having problems ever since. I suspected it was censorship from the jump. Now I know. Today I was about to retweet a link where a photographer was arrested for taking pictures on a public street while police were present and Twitter would not allow my account to perform that action. First time they blatantly admitted it. Before this they would not allow me to access Twitter from the Web. I had to access from my blog. When I tried to access from the Web (Which I’ve been doing since 2007), suddenly in 2011 and 2012 I would sign in from the Web and get a blank page or sidebar or no box to write my tweets in. I still can’t access Twitter from the Web.
Twitter is Google’s cousin. I know people think keywords were created to assist them in getting about their business online. That is naive. They were created for the purpose of censorship. Certain words, phrases used in blogs, videos, search engines, Facebook. Twitter, etc. are censored. Now they are getting very bold. Don’t care if you know it or not. The illusion of freedom in this country is finally clear for all to see. I will still try to tweet this article. Lots of naive people out here.
Well it is absolutely definite that Facebook censors stuff. If I try to send a link to a torrent to thepiratebay.org in the chat, the following message will pop up:
“The content you’re trying to share includes a link that’s been blocked for being spammy or unsafe: thepiratebay.org/torrent
For more information, visit the Help Center. If you think you’re seeing this by mistake, please let us know.”
I really don’t see why Facebook wants to protect people from viewing a website, most browsers have a mechanism that will warn a user upon entering a dangerous website. Also, I don’t see how thepiratebay.org is unsafe or spammy, but that’s another discussion.
Just my two cents. 🙂
Jannich would love you to read ..Plastic surgery gone wrong
Note very pleasant but true. At lease we have ways to deal with the situation.
I found this article while researching censorship on twitter when I noticed that my tweets about Jesus Christ do not show up in search results unless I specifically search for “Jesus.” This makes me especially concerned due to the fact that twitter leads me to believe I have shared the tweet with the public while secretly denying other people the ability to come across it organically. I might not be anti-OWS anymore with this new feeling of mutual suppression.
Hi Daniel,
Few in the general public have any idea how appearances are being manipulated. When I recommended the movie The Case for Christ to someone on Google+ tonight I noticed that almost every review comment on the main page was negative and one star even though there are 495 positive reviews and 178 negative reviews.
When I voted yes or no to “was this review helpful” the site APPEARED to accept my vote but when I refreshed the page I could vote again which would imply that they actually did not register.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..SOPA Blackout Strike Already Started; Why Major Sites and Blogs Went Dark in Support
Last night, during ABC’s popular Modern Family, I tweeted about how bad the episode was and how the series has basically become really dumb.
Doing a search for Modern Family today does not show my tweet, though I see al the other Modern Family tweets that occured around the time I posted mine.
I then tweeted about how my Modern Family tweet was potentiall censored and that one also does not show up in the search.
(My tweets are still there, they just don’t show up in searches).
Hello,
Thank you for sharing further confirmation that major social media sites can and do censor what can be found as does Google. I have also seen the Livefyre sharing function APPEAR to work but if you check it did NOT share – in the instance I saw I was trying to share something about the Occupy Movement and nothing on that site about that topic could be shared.
Livefyre is – of course – denying it – as will Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc. What else would we expect them to say? “Sure, we censor you all the time – we didn’t think you’d mind.
I just checked on the Twitter Search App FeelTipTop and don’t any tweets similar to what you described there. Most likely if they don’t appear in Twitter searches they also do not appear in Twitter apps using their API.
Congratulations for being one of the few paying attention. The masses will be easily persuaded that no censorship exists no matter how much proof we can pile up but at least those like us will realize what is going on.
If you challenge the powers that be they will almost always claim it is just a “computer glitch” = the most convenient patsy ever.
growmap would love you to read ..What If There Was an Easy Way to Get Your Tweets Retweeted? There Is – And It is Fast and Free
If the major media touts them and links to them they can’t be trusted. If they don’t, they might be trustworthy.
Christopher would love you to read ..Featured Stores at CouponRefund.com
Definitely this is an effective way to tell.
hmmm i haven’t encounter such thing yet. this is interesting. i have to ask my friends.
I am not quick to jump on the oh-my-god-I-am-being-censored wagon, but declaring my views on Twitter (@How2Democracy) how to reform our limited US democracy (winner-takes-all) into Proportional Voting (easy and legal to implement at the local level, cities and counties), and — next — not seeing them show up except in my profile, makes me wonder if I am not being censored.
I was tweeting with Gail last night only to realise none of my tweets got to her. What’s that about?
So I guess we will be chatting over Skype.
A big eye-opener,
Nik
Nik would love you to read ..How To Become a Management Consultant
Hi Nik,
Since most people never confirm that what they sent arrives, few realize how unstable most of what we’re using to communicate is. Skype hangs and loses messages to, but at least there you can confirm someone saw what you sent.
I keep Skype and IM open whenever I am at the computer and confirm what I’m doing to make sure the other person received it. Many would be amazed how often they don’t.
Email is particularly problematic but most never think about how many messages go missing. It can be as high as 10-20+%. Few know that ISPs dump a lot of email directly into the trash without notifying the sender or the intended receiver because of spam filtering.
I wrote about the importance of closed loop communications and encourage everyone to clearly understand how important it is. Think of all the times people have felt snubbed or rejected when the other person never even saw what they sent!
Hi Gail, I got this message from Twitter today when Trying to leave a comment using their retweet button: “Oops! A URL in your tweet appears to link to a page that has spammy or unsafe content.”
Here’s the screen print:
http://hotblogtips.com/images/keithb.jpg
Brian D. Hawkins would love you to read ..Blogging Tip – Walk Away | Quick Blogging Tip Thursday
Hi Brian,
I haven’t seen that one yet but I suspect we’re going to be seeing it a lot. April Russo @app103 started a forum for sites that are being unfairly labeled as spammy or unsafe at False Positive Report.
You can imagine the impact on traffic and sales to any business that gets blocked in that manner. Did you let Keith know you’re getting that message on his site?
These huge companies have all the power because we give them the power, they give out a service that we need and we are definitely inclined to use it because it will help our business a lot. We almost have no choice right now but to use it.
Thanks for opening our eyes to things that we need to see. Because it’s the truth and we should be aware of it.
Hi Linda,
What we all need to be doing is using these major services to connect with each other and making sure we have multiple ways to contact as many people as possible.
Then as soon as one is ready we can all go interact at an independent alternative to what the wealthy elite control. There is a site working on an alternative to Twitter right now that I hope will be the solution we need.
If you want to encourage people to move from twitter, don’t just complain, present an alternative.
What about identi.ca? It’s an open-source, free software based microblogging platform that is much more transparent. It also features twitter integration so you can use it without losing any of your connections / contacts on twitter.
Alex Zorach would love you to read ..Cheap Tea: Loose-leaf Teas Offering Outstanding Value
Hi Alex,
I haven’t encouraged people to leave Twitter yet. I just want them to be aware that tweets are being censored. I will look into using identi.ca when time allows.
Funny how the west is always complaining that China censors, at least China doesn’t act like they don’t.
I can understand that a government sees that the voice of the people is becoming “too” strong and to keep the peace they would like to avoid people throwing oil on small fires, but sadly enough just as it would be great for me to not pay taxes, there are some things you can’t get away with.
How much they want to censor us, if they actually do this and keep doing this (it looks like it) then that will become a very big problem in the not so distant future.
Funny how we had that wikileaks stuff fighting for transparancy and now we go into even darker times.
*The word funny can be replaced to any word you see more fitting: Like sad, absurd, unacceptable etc.
Danny would love you to read ..Earthwise PS40008 8-inch Electric Pole Chain Saw
Hi Danny,
That wikileaks didn’t trend on Twitter during the time the major media was reporting on it is a pretty good indication that they DO censor trends.
The main thing I want to achieve by these types of posts is to get people to realize how much what they believe is controlled by their conditioning and how much what conditions us it controlled by a wealthy few with hidden agendas.
I am just thankful that because of Oath Keepers they haven’t imposed martial law and may not be able to any more.
These big companies have the power because we give them the power. We stop supporting local and regional businesses, then they get bought by the big corporations, lessening the competition and giving them more control. Support local, and the big companies can’t form or sustain themselves.
Hopefully it will stop soon before many individuals will get affected with this issue. Thank you for sharing this informative post.
I can understand censoring or removing racist or illicit content , but Twitter seems to be going several steps to far and when does it stop?!
Maybe the government can stop these guys.
I have never thought that Twitter can censor anything as there is so much to be censored so much. As for the censorships online I think that we should ahve some kind of it, but it should be limited and concerned the sites which are destructive and vulgar. But you never know in fact
Hi Anna,
I agree and that is why censorship can be so complicated. There are obscene and dangerous things we do not wish to see, but where to draw that line depends on the person.
I objected when a high quality business blog published a guest post with the f-word in the title and post content that was adult in nature. The readers of that blog thought I was crazy and the other people I know who are like me agree with me.
There is already a growing division between what people believe is acceptable and there will be blogging communities that are even more separate than they are now. I explain how I see the three decisions in the Blogging Ethics post I’ll put in CommentLuv in this reply.
growmap would love you to read ..Blogging Ethics: Time to Choose
How about using Diaspora*? http://blog.diasporafoundation.org/2011/10/15/diaspora-not-vaporware-not-a-nigerian-prince.html
I have been trying to text via my StraightTalk cell phone ows website and the live video feed. It will only let me send ONE message at a time. other wise it comes back with something like… “unable to send pu message at this time’ . the first group i sent message to, went through, however second link i tried to send failed.. and i tried again, same message.
No one likes to think theyre feeling paranoid. for the first time, i feel that way…and so stumbled upon your words and thought…. I thought so.
Hi Dawn,
I hope that what is happening will make more people aware that banking, multi-national Corporations, and the media are all controlled by the same wealthy elite.
That is why any or all of them will do what they can to try to minimize visibility – but they will do it in such a way that most will assume it is just a glitch and not by design.
If they censor everything or disconnect anything that is too obvious and people will notice. They could make 20, 50 or even 80-90% of messages and tweets disappear and how many would really notice?
How many Twitter users ever look for a tweet they sent? I do it all the time, but most people don’t so they would NEVER notice.
growmap would love you to read ..Why Small Business and Bloggers Can NOT Ignore Economic Decline and Occupy Wall Street
A friend of mine has already driven my attention to the censoring issues she is experiencing with twitter, but since I am not having a twitter account still, I didn’t know what and how to help her out with it. I can only say I will make sure she reads your posts and understands more about the question that was bothering her.
Kristina L. would love you to read ..Naneu Coupon Code
Hi Kristina,
You should be proud of your friend for noticing because most people will not. The problem we have is that it is nearly impossible to prove the censorship when it is intentionally unstable and erratic by design.
Have your friend read my post about Occupy Wall Street I’ll put in CommentLuv in this reply and both of you read my post probably on Wednesday that will be about food rights. It is VERY important.
growmap would love you to read ..Why Small Business and Bloggers Can NOT Ignore Economic Decline and Occupy Wall Street
Big Shocking, unexpected…..
Technology used to be exciting to me in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The last 5 to maybe even 8 years I don’t find it that appealing anymore. It freaks me out a lot more than it used to. Who knows what any website is up to or is doing, or big brother for that matter.
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I can’t believe that Twitter will be censoring our tweets. I do hope that it is not true. But I was alarmed by your tweet test. We can find out more about this sooner. I admire your courage to post this topic.
When 90% of your online interaction goes through the same three or four large corporations (Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo) there is always the potential for malfeasance. People are always worried about the government spying on them or infringing on their speech, but most of us will happily sign our private information away to for-profit corporations without giving it a second thought. Think about how many EULAs you clicked “I Agree” to when installing software without considering what exactly it is you agreed to.
Here’s a recent example of what I mean: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/21/onstar_ecall/
OnStar GPS units monitor and phones home information of your car unless you specifically opt out of the service, even if you are not an Onstar subscriber and just have the unit in your car. They’ve since changed that policy, but it’s amazing what these companies will do if they think they can get away with it.
Funny, I noticed that same exact thing when I tried to post a tweet last week. I don’t remember what the tweet was about, but I do remember it having a shortened URL… weird!
Bravo! For having the courage to write and post this article. Censorship is everywhere this days and the sad thing is it started on the internet also, a place where everybody should have freedom of speech. I first seen heavy censorship been applied a couple of years ago on youtube and its all down hill from there, now it spreads to social networks…
This is truly shocking if true. I suppose they have the right as a business, but it’s just not right.
Well, I hope you are wrong and there are other reasons that the link did not go through. It would seem to me that linking to controversial issues would be in Twitters best interests rather than against it.
(Staying relevant rather than becoming part of the system)
I really do not understand why they would intentionally block tweets. The upside for them is minimal and the downside utterly catastrophic.
I read something not too long ago about the way twitter deals with shortened links. Did you try taking the source of the link and converting it to t.co. My guess is that it is more of a case of technical details than them knowing or caring what the destination URL is
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Thank you for the post. I have never realised that Twitter actually censors the content that we tweet. I agree with you giving the power to these major social networks will work against us at some point of time. Instead encouraging the other small networks will be fruitful in the long run.
I really hope that’s not the case. Twitter would make a huge mistake if it censored tweets
Seems bit awkward but as you explained with prof i.e. totally undeniable proof.
Luckily, I haven’t experience this yet. But I am sure that this is true, because first were medias -TV, radio etc and there is for sure censorship. So I suppose that it is only a matter of time any of us to stumble over it. The sad is that instead of recognize the problem, all over the world “the freedom of speech” is proclaimed and people pretend that censorship problem doesn’t exist. That’s way a lot of us are still unfamiliar with it. But thanks to Internet there is a greater chance to open your eyes.
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All of us that have anything to do with the SEO business know how it works to earn money from directing public attention to something. Surely, Google and others simply have more power to do that.
Yes, it’s unbeliveable how many people will trust only in those things that are being served to them from their screen. But people have always been like that and they’ll always be. People hate to think. It’s a fact.
I love this post. Mostly cause i fell into your “trap” with the colors. Nice Trick. And the topic is quite interesting as well. Perhaps a little bit too pathetic, but alltogether pretty convincing and scary…
I don’t believe this happened to me yet, but if it’s true (and from what i see, it is) this is a sad day, censorship is not a good thing wherever it takes place, it strips us from our freedom.
>>Whether that specific URL is or isn’t blocked, researching this post I >>discovered that Twitter does indeed give brands the ability to moderate >>tweets and remove negative tweets at will. And if brands can do that so can >>Twitter and anyone else they choose to give that ability.
this is categorically untrue.
Why have to be blocked?if virus or malware are the issue i agreed but if for something else, we have to take a look at the issue first then we know what to do.
um. it’s a bug. not censorship. hopefully, it will be fixed very soon: https://twitter.com/#!/Support/status/124580215233060865
(I work for Twitter)
Hi Sean,
@Ed said it was a bug related to not having the http:// in the link.
Computers are such good scapegoats and have so many intermittent glitches that few will ever figure out the truth.
growmap would love you to read ..Why Small Business and Bloggers Can NOT Ignore Economic Decline and Occupy Wall Street
As much as I hate censorship (especially with the experience I have and where I come from), in cases like these, I really don;t think we can say much as these are privet businesses and no one is forcing us to use them. If they decide to censor things, you can’t do anything except show your disapproval by not using their service.
Hi Satrap,
What most people don’t realize is until the Internet most Americans did not have a voice unless they were one of the lucky few who had a Letter to the Editor published in the local paper or could afford to start their own.
It is nearly impossible to detect who can actually see your tweets or what results each individual sees when they search on Google. The problem is that even though they are private businesses they have a huge unfair advantage because they are being hyped to the major media.
The only reason Twitter, Facebook, Google, MySpace, Yahoo, etc. are so popular is that they are continually mentioned in movies, television, magazines, newspapers – EVERYWHERE.
The masses of people who never question their conditioning have no idea WHY they use Google – some even think Google is the ONLY search engine that ever was! (There are comments in this blog that actually say that.)
The money of the wealthy few that control the media and governments around the world made Google a monopoly with power to limit what we see and crush small businesses at their whim. No matter how much evil Google and other multi-national corporations do, without a free press the public quickly forgets and goes right back to sleep.
See my posts about Google for more details, especially Why Google is Evil and How Google Panda Limits Freedom of Choice.
growmap would love you to read ..CommentLuv Your Way to Business Prosperity
I agree with your points Gail. Unfortunately, its always been that way, a “lucky” few get to control everything and the rest have to just go with it.
I agree 100% about the roll of media and press and how they can make make something big out of nothing and make something big, nothing! You can see it all over and most recently in presidential race. The pastor who said “Mormonism is a cult and not a religion”. Now he is all over the news and is almost as famous as Pat Robertson!
By the way, it really is kind of funny (and I think sad at the same time) that there are still people who think Google is the only search engine!
Satrap would love you to read ..Earn Money Online Without Investment
I’m going to need to read through this a few times. A lot of good stuff here.
I think the thing everyone should realize is that these networks are tools to use. They aren’t owned by us and are always going to act in the best interest of the business, board, shareholders, etc.
They should never replace your own website but instead be a tool to drive people to your website.
Joe would love you to read ..Twitter Workflow Frequently Asked Questions
Can’t reproduce your test. Twitter doesn’t censor my tweets carrying your link:
https://twitter.com/#!/SebastianX/status/124546327060283393
Sebastian would love you to read ..Geo targeting without IP delivery is like throwing a perfectly grilled steak at a vegan
Hi Sebastian,
That is very interesting. That means one of three things I can think of right off:
1) There is a combination of the link and MY being the person tweeting it involved.
2) Whoever was blocking it unblocked it after I published this to disprove what I wrote.
3) Twitter has some kind of technical glitches that generate the message “Your account may not be allowed to perform this action. Try logging out and in again.”
I just retried and the exact tweet that Twitter blocked for me before went through this time. I used the same browser – even the same tab – and the exact wording. I have not closed that tab nor rebooted since repeatedly receiving that message earlier today.
I never publish anything until I test and retest and get the same results every time. I do wish in hindsight that I had asked others to try to tweet that same wording with that link and intended to, but got tied up writing and forgot to do so. That IS unfortunate because that would have made for much stronger proof.
It is extremely easy to discredit anything someone says that people do not want believed.
I once wrote that one of the most important posts I’ve published here showed ZERO backlinks from Google in spite of having links from major SEO related sites while AlltheWeb showed 349 and Yahoo showed I can’t remember how many – but it was a significant amount – and the very next day magically Google suddenly had backlinks to that post.
I consider that a highly unlikely coincidence. I’ll see if I can find where I commented about that and get the exact details.
Whether that specific URL is or isn’t blocked, researching this post I discovered that Twitter does indeed give brands the ability to moderate tweets and remove negative tweets at will. And if brands can do that so can Twitter and anyone else they choose to give that ability.
I don’t know about you, but that IS censorship. Even if some want to argue that brands should be allowed to protect themselves from tweets, at a minimum people using Twitter should be made aware that is happening.
Otherwise, the lack of negative tweets and lots of positive tweets would lead the average person – and even highly intelligent, logical people – to believe that brand could be trusted. That unfairly sways public opinion and misleads people when they are making buying decisions.
growmap would love you to read ..Why Small Business and Bloggers Can NOT Ignore Economic Decline and Occupy Wall Street
This post will generate some fantastic SEO for you, but considering the reality that your test couldn’t be reproduced by you or anyone else, the fact that a search on almost any brand on Twitter yields a slew of negative tweets, and the fact that it has been used to protest governments across the world successfully (and without mass deletions or burying conversations)… well, hope the SEO works out. 🙂
Ha! And the fact that my comment went immediately to moderation was a classic irony. 🙂
Comments go live for any commenter who has one approved post. New commenters first comments are moderated because if they weren’t all kinds of offensive words and links to adult content would go live.
Censorship is not a simple thing you can say “this is good” or “that is bad”. It is very complicated because we do not want to take away freedom of speech but at the same time we don’t want to be buried in smut – or at least I do not want to be buried in it.
I believe people should be allowed to express their opinions here and elsewhere whether I agree with them or not but that adult content and objectionable material, images, and topics unsuitable for what was once referred to as “polite company” or “mixed company” doesn’t belong here.
That said, I will defend their right to put that type of content up where others like them want to see it. Where the line for what I don’t want to see is drawn is far more restrictive than what is now socially acceptable.
We all should think about how far into the gutter society has already gone and give some thought about how much further it can go before people finally say, “no more!”.
My main reason for writing this post is to wake people up and get them to realize how easy it is to censor what we do on sites controlled by those who do not want us to have freedom of speech or even freedom of choice.
I don’t expect everyone to be able to understand where I’m coming from. I write my truth and leave it to the reader to decide what to do with it.
growmap would love you to read ..Blogging Ethics: Time to Choose
Hi Meg,
The reason so many are fooled for so long is that they are easily misdirected. It is up to each person who has the capability of critical thought to decide where the truth lies.
If you have an open mind, read this post on How the Corporate Powers Will Try to Crush Occupy Wall Street and follow along as that unfolds.
Maybe if you know what is going to happen BEFORE it happens you won’t be so quick to believe everything you read.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Why Your Geographic Location IS a Niche
I was impressed by all of what you have shouted in here. I definitely agree so far i have been using twitter and facebook and less of the other social sites and this two is really doing something that enables you to shut up! But then again somehow I understand as well that I was also given a freedom to use this sites and I am bound to the rules of their site so somehow even if I felt irritated I understand and followed.
And 9/11 was an inside job,
and we never really landed on the moon,
and…
Thank you Ed. I agree whole-heartedly.
Absolutely agree, @Ed. Could’ve been blocked because the link was marked as spam or malware.