SEO Headlines 07/22/2008

Facebook Redesigns, Takes Focus Off Apps

Everyone’s talking about the new Facebook redesign and it’s not all good. It seems like Facebook has strayed away from what they originally promised and has instead taken on a new FriendFeed feel where all updates are combined into a single content stream. ReadWriteWeb seems to like it, personally, I don’t. Maybe it’s because I don’t use FriendFeed so it all looks quite foreign and odd to me. It’s also weird that they seem to be taking attention off the applications, hiding them behind an Applications tab. It will help make profiles less cluttered, but it seems like they’re cutting off the lifeblood of their site.

Facebook’s new design is slowly being rolled out to its 80 million users over the next few days. If you don’t have the new design and you want it, you can use www.new.facebook.com to check it out. If you see it and don’t like it, you may see a Back to Old Facebook link up top that will let you revert, at least for now.

Dealing With Blogger Bullies

In what could be seen as oddly timely, the Blog Herald had a post today about preparing yourself for blog bullies. If you find yourself among the group afraid to head to Sphinn in fear of what you may find lately, you may want to give it a read.

Blog Herald takes the stance that being mean is simply human nature and it’s something you need to prepare for. People are going to write nasty things about you because they want traffic and they’re not smart enough to get it on their own. Knowing this means you need to create a solid comment policy to block it out, realizing it’s a ploy, putting yourself in the right mindset to deal with it and finally, knowing when to take the situation offline.

Blog bullies have always been around but we’re definitely seeing more pointed, vicious attacks spur up lately in the SEO community. I don’t know what’s causing it, but it’s sad and it needs to stop. Donna Fontenot spoke out, so has a reluctant Barry from Search Engine Roundtable. I’m not going to add to the discussion, but as Blog Herald points out, let’s remember that we’re all human and treat each other with respect. Also remember that being mean is human nature, so prepare for it.

Fun Finds

Instead of asking if grammar matters, Performancing takes a different approach and asks if the quality of your content directly correlates to a blogger’s success. I think the answer here is absolutely yes, especially if you define “content quality” as readability, the ability to convey a message and to evoke a certain emotion. If you’re unable to express yourself and your message,

Li Evans jumps into the comments over at Sphinn to let us know that there WERE male speakers at BlogHer. Take that, Michael Gray. ;)

Hjortur Smarason picks out 6 Common Mistakes Companies Make In Social Media.

Lisa Barone is a writer, content marketer & VP of strategy at Overit Media. She's also a very active Twitterer, much to the dismay of the rest of the world.

See Lisa's author page for links to connect on social media.