Buzzing The Buzz

Google's Buzz service is clearly hyped to counter the dominance of Facebook in the realm of the Social Web. Their site's main page states "Go beyond status messages" -- an obvious reference to the once obscure social networking website, which is now the top Internet phenomenon ranking a threatening second to Google's number one spot.

While competition usually breeds good things for the rest of the population one can't help but wonder whether all these buzzing (intended or not, the pun is there; deal with it) would actually amount to anything beneficial. What is buried under the trillions of posted messages is the online advertising dollars at stake. Clearly, economic advantage is what these networks are fighting tooth and nail over.

Quick to the draw are the privacy groups crying foul to the launch of Google Buzz. Previously the default settings on Buzz was too revealing for most people's need for privacy. Every Gmail contact signing up to Buzz were automatically set to follow and was available for the rest of the world to see. While Google has since made changes to Buzz's default setting to incorporate such privacy concerns, many are still wary that the latest social networking service is just too square a peg to fit in a round hole.

Personally, I signed up for Gmail for the email service and I simply love it. And if it weren't for the ease of keeping in touch with my football team I wouldn't even have the need to sign up for Facebook. My first impression of Buzz is that Google's attempts at making an email service look and act like a social networking service is just too darn clumsy. I didn't know what to make of it other than being an aggregator. Buzz's claim of going beyond status messages by posting photos and links and what-nots... well, you can do that in Facebook already.

If there's anything that can be learned in favor of Buzz at this point in time it's this; I realized that the people I email are not necessarily the same people I want to constantly keep in touch with. One cannot simply override the differentiation of social circles -- families, close friends, acquaintances, business contacts -- by simply trying to integrate one technology platform with another.

What Me Splog?!?

IN A RATHER LAUGHABLE TURN of events, Blogger's anti-spam technology recently (not to mention mistakenly) identified Daily Dotventures as a splog.

A few days ago I noticed that I was prompted for word verification whenever I made a post to my blog. And here I was thinking all along that I was simply experiencing improved security measures, what with the previous Blogger trojan spam storms.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on that small orange circle "thingy" with a question mark in the middle. I was expecting to see a message heralding the remarkable Blogger security standards but to my bewilderment, I was led to a page stating that my blog was identified by Bloggers' spam prevention measures to be a spam blog.

It was like downing a half-gallon of espresso at 2AM!

Your Ad Here

Personally, I think that word verification or "CAPTCHA" features should be made mandatory across all current social platforms especially blogs. Today's Web - 2.0 and beyond - is all about interactivity and user contribution. So why not implement a challenge-response mechanism to ensure that the contributor is indeed human and not a program? He or she should've been typing away at a computer for several minutes already; why would it be such a bother to exert a couple of more keystrokes?

Security and laziness do not mingle in the same circle of friends. You don't want word verification? You might as well send your email address to spam central.

Unfortunately, Blogger thinks word verification should be the exception and not the rule. So despite my unwillingness, I requested for "unlocking" of my account since I do not want to be identified as a splogger. Thus, I received the following in my email this morning:

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that
it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and
sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your
patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

Well, obviously them spambots are posting "as normal" evidenced by the proliferation of spam blogs within the Blogger community. That there is the greater inconvenience.

To the Blogger Team, apology accepted but really, you won't have to apologize and look like schmucks if only the measure was in place prior and not after the act.

There must be a reason you guys call it spam "PREVENTION". Right?

Flag the Splogs! Flog the Sploggers!

I am referencing this blog post from "The Real Blogger Status" which is very timely especially for Blogger accounts and the emerging Storm Worm issue.

I've always advocated flagging of spam blogs. Not that its a sure way to push Google/Blogger to take down the offending blog. In fact, some Blogger users complain that Blogger seldom, if at all, act on flags and reports.

Still, I believe that with enough flags, Blogger would take notice and act accordingly. Otherwise, they may as well just run a splog farm themselves while real bloggers migrate to a better blogging platform that cares. So I say, when you encounter a spam blog go ahead and flag it!

How do you know its a spam blog?
Most spam blogs resemble spam email. The title and text body is just gibberish. Many times the text is empty or contains wide spaces that lead to, are sandwiched, or that trails from unintelligible text. These spaces actually contain scripts which can automatically trigger a popup, a redirect or a download. Worst, it can be a harvesting script that can recover sensitive data already on the browser and even your entire PC.

The FLAG BLOG button is on the Blogger Navbar (located on top of Blogger blog sites). When you find a splog, just click the button ONCE. Then alert your blogging circle to do the same. The more flags the better the chances Blogger would actually do something about it. When you can't find a Navbar follow the directions on the link of the Full Post below.

PRECAUTIONS
1. When blog surfing, use Firefox and enable the built-in popup blocker. Otherwise, install a reputable popup blocker.
2. Ensure your system has adequate security - anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit and formidable firewall are essential.

As for flogging the sploggers, maybe that's a bit medieval. But with the way splogs are taking over the blogosphere it may not be long before we do get thrown back to the dark ages.

Read the Full Post:
The Real Blogger Status: Get To The Root Of The Problem - Blame The Spammers

Also check out the following:
Storm Worm Hits Blogger
Warnings Active

Blogger.com Targeted by Trojan Spam

This report got my attention, being a Blogger.com user. Its such a pity since Blogger is quite an excellent blogging platform. Unfortunately the feature-filled and user-friendly facilities of Blogger has become the workshop, or perhaps even a playground, for malicious hackers out to leverage the rich information resources provided by the exponential growth of the global blogging community.

It is said that the main point of delivery for these trojan splogs exists with Bloggers' Mail-to-Blogger feature allowing users to e-mail their posts without having the need to log into the Blogger Dashboard.

Therefore, it would be advisable for Blogger.com users to disable this feature in their respective accounts. Otherwise remove the supplied email address from the address books of email clients (e.g. Outlook Express) so that trojan infected PCs will not inadvertently send a virus-laden spam message and post it onto your Blogger account.

As "webizens", it is our responsibilty to protect the integrity of our respective blogs and the blogosphere as a whole. Some measures we can take to safeguard the blogging experience include:

1. Reporting/Flagging errant blogs.
2. Ensure that links and scripts pasted on your blog come from reputable sites and organizations.
3. Regularly inform your audience to take security measures when going online.

Share your experience and tips on safe blogging. What other ways can we contribute to a safer cyberspace?