Time To Abandon Social Sharing Icons?
After reading the following article, I realized that I too have witnessed social media sharing icons on many a website never gain any traction. It is as if they are completely ignored. I went on and removed them on this website moments ago.
Why I’m Done with Social Media Buttons
As someone mentions in the article’s comments section, there are certain instances where social sharing buttons are a good idea, and you should definitely make them look nice and work well when they are useful. However, sticking them at the end of every blog post just because some SEO-grading web tool says you should is not necessarily a good plan, based on the evidence.
Keep in mind, I’m referring to sharing icons, not follow-me icons (those which take visitors to your social media page).
Free Stock Photos: Many Resources
Thanks to a thread over on Reddit, I have discovered a world of free, use-for-anything stock photography resources. They range from websites where you can sign up for free photos to be delivered via email to those where you can search and browse, and they all tend to not be very crappy!
While I’m not a fan of smiling faces on websites because of the impersonal feeling, and the fact that Google might soon penalize you for using stock photography, I do like the idea of having free resources available which can be used for compiling visuals that help narrate a story on your website. The following links are full of such images, and much more.
Disclaimer: Always read the fine print, just in case, to make sure you are allowed to use the image you are downloading without attribution or payment! Whenever possible, it’s still a good gesture to give credit where credit is due, even if you don’t have to legally.
Google Image Search for Commercial Reuse
Contrary to popular belief, you cannot search Google Images and simply use any photo you find in your project. This specially crafted search, however, produces images that are OK for commercial use and modification:
Google commercial reuse image search
Note: It is possible for images found here to have been reposted by someone who copied it from the original source. Just because you find it on Google Image search for commercial use doesn’t mean it’s absolutely OK to use without proper credit/compensation.
Flickr
Similar to the above Google Images search, you can browse Flickr using a similar technique:
Flickr Creative Commons license photo search
IM Free
This site lets you search a collection of curated photos for commercial use:
http://imcreator.com/free
Gratis Photography
While not easily searchable, there are some great photos on this website.
http://www.gratisography.com/
Photo Pin
Here you can search for “free photos for bloggers and creatives”. Enough said.
http://photopin.com/
Creative Commons Search
“Find content that you can share, use and remix.” Just make sure you leave checked the checkboxes for ‘commercial purposes’ and ‘modify, adapt…’
http://search.creativecommons.org/
New Old Stock
Some amazing photos from times gone by, this site pulls from the public archives.
http://nos.twnsnd.co/
Pic Jumbo
Another site with free photos for you use.
http://picjumbo.com/
SplitShire
This fellow asks for attribution or a donation for coffee via his website if you want to use the photos he offers. He has some great images that would be well worth it.
http://splitshire.com/
Pixabay
A repository for free public domain images.
http://pixabay.com/
Little Visuals
You can sign up via email to get 7 free images delivered to your inbox so that you can start building your own library of stock photography.
http://littlevisuals.co/
Unsplash
Similar to Little Visuals, except that this site sends you 10 photos a day. They all tend to be on the awesome side of great.
http://unsplash.com/
Fin
Speaking of free coffee, if you enjoyed this blog post and would like to see more like it, send me a little donation!
I know this picture very, very well
Many hours of my childhood were spent staring at the back of a Star Wars figure package card, plotting my next acquisition and ultimate takeover of the known galaxy.
The Social Media Disappointment
I agree with Part 1 of this assessment. Can’t wait to read Part 2.
“The idea that consumers were enthusiastic about having conversations about brands online, and they would activate their network of friends and followers to share their enthusiasms and create a socially transmitted tsunami of sales has proven to be deeply fanciful.”
The Ad Contrarian: The Slow Painful Collapse Of The Social Media Fantasy (Part 1).
Facebook can now read your texts
Facebook can now read your texts. Why in the world do they need to do that?
This has been shown to be true of the Android version of Facebook since about December 20, 2013, according to this Reddit thread. You can’t tell if it’s true on the iPhone version, but it’s safe to assume they are doing it there too.
Another reason I am happy to have quit Facebook.
New Website for The Night Trotters
While laid up feeling ill this weekend I decided to whip out a new logo and website design for my band, The Night Trotters. There is still a wee bit of tweaking to do, but it’s close to being complete. Check it out!
Credit Card Hacking Goes Much Further Than Target
“The chances that we’ll see another big breach like this are probably 80 percent.”
This is why it is time for the United States to fix its weak payment security schema.
“U.S. credit and debit cards rely on an easy-to-copy magnetic strip on the back of the card, which stores account information using the same technology as cassette tapes.”
Remember cassette tapes?
3 Million Teens Leave Facebook In 3 Years
Things are looking very bad for Facebook based on the numbers from this report. Teenagers do not seem to like Facebook. If only they’d give Google+ a whirl. Well, if only anyone would give Google+ a whirl. It’s a much better platform that does much more than Facebook, but no one seems to realize that, sadly.
Here’s what is going on with Facebook:
1) Teens (13-17) on Facebook have declined -25.3% over the last 3 years.
2) Over the same period of time, 55+ (perhaps those teens’ parents and grandparents?) have exploded with +80.4% growth in the last 3 years.
3) Of the major metropolitan areas, San Francisco saw the highest growth with +148.6%, a stark contrast with Houston which saw +23.8% growth.
3 Million Teens Leave Facebook In 3 Years: The 2014 Facebook Demographic Report.
Net Neutrality Is Dead
US Appeals Court Kills Net Neutrality
There goes the Internet.
Your broadband provider can now decide to throttle Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube streaming into your house and leave unthrottled their own crappy on-demand service for which they charge you to watch movies. Let’s hope the Supreme Court gets to rule on this, and that they have the people in mind rather than the corporations.
A visual example of what your Internet service could soon look like:
