Canadian software company, Netsweep Inc., has added itself to a surprisingly long list of western software developers who are more than happy to sacrifice basic human rights in favour of a buck. According to Ron Diebert, director of the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs,Netsweep has had a hand in limiting the access of Arab Internet users.
The Canadian company has sold its software to Middle Eastern governments who are struggling to keep a lid on protests in their cities, and Netsweeper makes no effort to hide that fact. The company is unapologetic about their software, as well as how and where it is used.
In a document freely available for download on their website, they state that the software can be used to “block inappropriate content using [a] pre-established list of 90+ categories to meet government rules and regulations – based on social, religious or political ideals.” The same document lists Qatar, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates, along with Canada and India as countries where the software has been implemented.
Not only does Netsweeper have no qualms about how the software is used, they can also be faulted for an extremely conservative, and highly subjective, view of what sites are used for. Tumblr is listed both as a blogging platform as well as being flagged for pornographic content.
Consequently, there were reports that Tumblr was blocked in Qatar, UAE, Yemen, and Kuwait, due to Netsweeper’s classification. So rather than just pull the plug entirely, when things are going really bad for them, some governments are attempting to take the more subtle route of blocking certain content. With the United Nations declaring Internet access a human right, Netsweeper is in clear violation of this.
Tumblr is now reported to be working in the four Arab countries, despite the fact that it is still clasified on Netsweeper’s site as pornography.
The move might have even acted as intentional marketing stunt for the blogging platform, with Qatar based magazine, Qatar Today running their very own Tumblr account now.
The Tumblr incident aside, Internet usage of residents of these four Middle Eastern countries lies at the mercy of both their governments, and a security company which is not only in collusion with these governments, but is also prone to clerical errors that can lead to an entire network becoming off-limits.
While Netsweeper is being championed at home for keeping families safe online, it could just as easily be putting other people in danger if their clients choose to block social networks that play a key role in violent crackdowns on protests.
What do you have to say to your customers and what do they have to say about you? You don’t need social media to reach out to your customers and clients but it doesn’t hurt to stretch your brand in a way others in your field can clearly see. Social media is about more than just marketing though. It’s about learning from those you engage with. Here are some ideas to help your business use social media more effectively in the future.
Getting Started.
Blogs are still tops. Think Facebook and Twitter are sexier than your run of the mill old business blog? Well maybe they are, but the fact remains that blogs remain important and an imparative in any good social media marketing campaign. Not only are blogs and other social media compatible, but here are some things your Facebook account cannot do that your blog certainly can. smallbiztechnology.com
Does every small business really need social media? Though the post is framed as a series of “social media myths,” Mueller stops short of suggesting you don’t use Facebook and Twitter at all for your small business. Bottom line: there are no magic bullets that guarantee success and social media can certainly be hyped sometimes by those who promote it. Like eveything else, use common sense. You’re the Boss
Extending your brand with social media tools. Perhaps the biggest problem small businesses and entrepreneurs of all sizes run into with social media is having unrealistic expectations. Perhaps the second biggest problem comes from this first one, a tendency to use social media in the wrong way. Fox Small Business Center
Tools
Don’t let Twitter ruin your life. You’ve got to tweet for business. We get that. But being tied to a laptop, tablet or even smartphone every hour of the day is just no fun. Schedule your tweets, already! This post gives you a wide variety of tools to help you do it. Small Business Trends
Delegating your social media campaign. One of the facts about social media is that it takes time to do effectively. The result of this simple fact has already led to an increase in the numbers of businesses that delegate this important function to a full-time or part-time social media manager. But what qualifications make someone an effective social media manager and how do you know you’ve chosen to delegate to the right employee? Karriann Graf
Is video part of your social media mix? It should be, says blogger Billy Strawter Jr. With the increasing amount of video on the Internet and the increasing number of viewers watching it, using video for online video marketing seems a no-brainer. But social video sharing sites like YouTube et al make it a very social activity as well. Consider the possibilities. Envicare Consulting
Tech
Social media meets business intelligence. If you’d like to track what’s most important in your small business social media results and analyze those results away from the clutter, welcome to Trackur, very likely the future in social media intelligence. Read the full product overview here to see whether this tool could work for you. Small Business Trends
Resources
25 awesome social media blogs. We mentioned near the top that blogs remain an important part of social media. We’ll mention now that they also are a great place to learn more about it. Check out this list of the very best in social media coverage no matter what you’d like to learn. Enjoy. Flowtown
Tactics
A needle in a haystack. Social media represents an unprecedented amount of information probably never available before all in one place. Leveraging this information in addition to sharing content of your own is what makes social media such an awesome tool. But there’s a lot of din out there too. So how do you get to the good stuff? Bloggertone
What are they saying about you? Writer and blogger Cendrine Marrouat suggests a list of 10 tools that can be extremely useful in monitoring what others have to say about you and your brand. You’ve leveraged social media for marketing and gaining information. Now, use it to listen to what others have to say about you. examiner.com
From Small Business TrendsNews About Your Small Business Social Media
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