Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Vic.
1. Kiwi’s get creative for a NYE seaside session
A lot of people will have been suffering on Monday this week (and beyond) thanks to a cheeky sesh on New Year’s Eve, where it is totally acceptable to get as annihilated as possible to celebrate making it through another year.
But in New Zealand, a group of friends living on the Tairua estuary in Coromandel were facing a sober NYE thanks to an alcohol ban in public places. I mean sure, they could have had a drink at home, or gone to a pub, but wanting to have their Kiwi knees up outside without being stung with a $250 fine, they decided to get creative.
On Sunday, they started constructing a sand ‘fort’ when the tide went out, and added a picnic table ready for the tide to come in, leaving them free to enjoy a beer on their island, which they claimed to be exempt from the ban due to them concluding that they were in international waters.
And the authorities didn’t seem to mind one bit. The mayor applauded them for their creativity, while the local police inspector said “if I had known that I probably would have joined them.”
2. Search has evolved… and so should your SEO strategy
The chaps and chapettes at Branded3 have been busy bees compiling and analysing a ton of data to put together a great study on ranking factors in 2018.
They’ve been kind enough to include some easy-peasy quick wins, and a nice rundown of the factors Google doesn’t give two plops about, too.
Links and keywords are still massively important, but providing a good mobile experience is crucial as well. So, if you haven’t got a mobile optimised site by now, good grief, sort it out.
3. Ding dong over Bell End
Living in Colchester, visitors often get a few LOLs about the name of a village 5.3 miles southeast from here. And I have to say, as far as I know, nobody has got upset enough about the place name to start a petition to change it.
This is not the case for the residents of Bell End.
There are plenty of other rude place names in the UK to take offence to if you are so inclined, but people living here are apparently worried that children living in Bell End may be subjected to bullying. Boo hoo.
4. Keeping it gangsta
I was watching University Challenge this week, and wasn’t the only person to notice Paxman handed out points for what was clearly an incorrect answer:
https://twitter.com/GoEmGo/status/948644054308413441
Bad Paxman.
Over in the US, there is a popular game show called “Jeopardy!” And they are not as lenient with the rules.
To be fair, yes, the correct answer to the question: “A song by Coolio from ‘Dangerous Minds’ goes back in time to become a 1667 John Milton classic.” would be ‘Gangsta’s Paradise Lost’. But you’d think they’d accept ‘Gangster’s Paradise Lost’, right?
Well. No they don’t, meaning poor old Nick lost thousands of dollars.
https://twitter.com/roywoodjr/status/948210103316025346
5. Threatening nuclear war is A-OK according to Twitter
Only five days into 2018, and it’s already been an interesting time across the pond politically.
Between slagging off Pakistan, Iran, and Palestine, his former aide Steve Bannon, the fake news media, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, the Democrats and The New York Times, while taking credit for companies paying Christmas bonuses, and planes not crashing during 2017, Trump also made time in his busy schedule of golfing and watching cable news to threaten North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018
Yikes.
Many reported the Tweet on the grounds that it is in violation of Twitter rules:
Twitter Rules: You may not make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people.
Rationale
We want Twitter to be a place where people feel safe to freely express themselves. Thus, we will not tolerate behavior that encourages or incites violence against a specific person or group of people. We also take action against content that glorifies acts of violence in a manner that may inspire others to replicate those violent acts and cause real offline danger, or where people were targeted because of their potential membership in a protected category.
When this applies
Tweets that violate this policy contain violent threats or glorify violence.
However, Trump is exempt from this rule due to new guidelines added by Twitter last month which effectively allows them to wash their hands of all responsibility should an inflammatory Tweet, you know, start a nuclear war or something.
There is an awesome article over on TechCrunch if you want to find out more.
Here’s hoping we make it through the year. Happy 2018 everyone!
