Social Media Slant: Comparing Polls to Web 2.0 Coverage
Editors Note: Before looking at the numbers, it is important to understand that the uniqueness of Obama’s and Kucinich’s last names, and commonality of Clinton’s and Edwards’s, could skew the results even more. In all likelihood, both Clinton’s and Edward’s coverage differentials are even lower, but appear more reasonable because other individuals with the name Edwards or Clinton make the social media sites. Digg Reddit Delicious Propeller Polling Verdict Obama +4.6% -3.2% +10.9% +6.1% 30.3% +4.6% Clinton -12.8% -3.6% +0.2% +14.9 36.6% -.3% Edwards -9.4% -6.9% -1.6% -8.3% 17.9% -6.5% Kucinich +30.9% +26.6% +7% — 2.6% +15.9% Analysis & Implications The clear loser is John Edwards. Despite the fact that he has polled...
The Problem with Personal Search
The hypothesis of personal search is that by looking at a users history, we can better predict, filter, and present search results. It is this thesis that has driven major search engines Google, Yahoo, and MSN to push the boundaries of privacy concerns to tailor their search results to each individual. I believe there are some inherent problems with Personal Search – not in it’s execution, but in the very premise upon which it is based, that people want personalized search results. Consistency Breeds Trust: The most obvious shortcoming of personal search is that it delivers different search results to different people. As a search engine marketer, I have dealt for years with clients who are befuddled that different Google datacenters could cause their...
Digg Breaks Cardinal Advertising Rule
Of the many rules of online advertising, perhaps the most obvious is not to auto-play sound. Years ago these forms of advertising were tossed aside with popups and popunders on legitimate, reputable sites. Apparently digg forgot and let me know this morning, 3 times, that I had won 2 Ipod Nanos! Come on Digg, this is ridiculous. No tags for this post.
Stumbleupon Cross-Site Scripting Vulnerability
While I have previously identified XSS and/or CSRF vulnerabilities in both Digg and Reddit, Stumbleupon has largely remained innocuous to these types of attacks for multiple reasons. First, the primary method of user-login and authentication is through the toolbar, which makes it substantially harder for malicious javascript intercept. Furthermore, because many of the many valuable user functions are triggered through the individual’s personal subdomain (user.stumbleupon.com) and www.stumbleupon.com, it becomes quite difficult to execute complex functions such as auto-voting or friend-adding. That being said, there are still work arounds that exist. In the proof of concept I was able to execute, the vector of attack was the invitefriends.php file which does...
A Web Programmer’s Resolutions
Turn on memcached Finish upgrading everything to PHP5. (avoid quotes like, “Jesus, are you kidding?”) Stop hating rails Better commenting <!– added 01/02/2007 by Russ Jones –> Practice Start using an RSS Reader Thank my programmers: Ian, Christin and Greg Thank my wife: Morgan, who puts up with my geeky anecdotes… “So, on XKCD today… sigh …” Uninstall stuff. No tags for this post.
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