Erik Qualman's Blog, page 538

Duolingo raises $45 million, now valued at nearly half a billion dollars

MASHABLE - Duolingo, the company known for its popular language-learning app, has raised another $45 million in funding.

The latest round, lead by Google Capital, brings Duolingo’s total funding up to $83 million, following a $20 million Series C last year.

The language startup says this latest investment, which comes at a $470 million valuation, will “enable the Duolingo team to make the platform even more adaptive, personalized and effective, and to expand the platform’s presence in schools across the globe.”

Google’s involvement in the investment is particularly interesting, given Duolingo’s recent focus on schools. The startup rolled out Duolingo of Schools, a specialized version of its app meant to be used in classrooms, earlier this year. It provides teachers with tools to track their students’ progress, and also enables them to offer extra credit, and assign homework through the app.

Like the consumer version of Duolingo on iOS and Android, Duolingo for Schools is free for both students and teachers.

 

Image from Duolingo

Google, already known for its efforts to make technology and science programs available to kids (such as its annual science fair and summer camp) has ramped up its involvement in classrooms. Schools are among the largest consumers of Chromebooks, and the company recently rolled out a new Expeditions program that will allow teachers to take their students on virtual reality “field trips” via its Cardboard VR platform.

“Duolingo’s mobile ­first, adaptive, and gamified platform is changing the way people are learning languages across the globe,” Google Capital partner, Laela Sturdy, said in a statement . “We were blown away by Duolingo’s growth and engagement numbers, and we’re thrilled to partner with them as they shape the future of education.”

Article by Karissa Bell for Mashable

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How Can Businesses Use Events To Bridge Online and Offline Marketing?

Living in the digital age the marketing industry now relies on social media more than ever before to create exposure for businesses. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any other online platform; it is essential than any business has some kind of online presence.

According to Hubspot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media marketing was important for their business, with 80% claiming that their efforts increased traffic to their website. This is also backed up statistics researched by Social Media Examiner, who found that 97% of marketers are currently participating in social media, but 85% aren’t sure what social media tools to use.

There is no doubt that online marketing can hugely benefit not only your online presence in becoming an industry leader, but the potential for generating an increase in sales.

Some of the benefits of increasing brand awareness include:

Increase in word-of-mouth marketing
Ensuring that your brand is competitive amongst similar businesses
Increase in customer loyalty
Increase in sales and a positive ROI from your marketing efforts

It can be argued that the increase in online marketing has led to a decrease in face-to-face marketing. Traditional advertising can now be combined with your online efforts to generate an interest to a wider audience.

Events are becoming an increasingly important method of blending together offline and online marketing strategies. This may be a careers fair, knowledge workshops, blogger events, business exhibitions or even sponsoring a charity event.

UK footwear chain Wynsors World of Shoes were invited down to a multi-brand event in London held by marketing firm Search Laboratory. Wynsors held their own stall amongst many other fashion brands and some of the UK’s best fashion bloggers were invited to talk part in a social event, including competitions and giveaways.

Social media was a big factor in the success of the event, in which each invited blogger publicised the #SLBloggerBash hashtag. This opened the opportunity for interaction with bloggers, as well as a wider audience.

Another great example is the Lumiere Festival, in which hundreds of local businesses in the North East of England sponsored the event. Although this is very different from the blogger event, it highlights how offline and online marketing strategies can be combined.

This type of event encompasses the benefits of newspaper coverage, website coverage as well as creating potential sales opportunities for the future. It is more indirect and less face-to-face than a blogger event, but it is essential to make your participation memorable by using more creative methods. Attendees can witness the product in action

The businesses can then use the event to generate content in the run-up, during the event and after. According to statistics in the annual social media report by Social Media Examiner, marketers explained that there digital marketing strategies are constantly evolving. It was found that they plan on increasing their use of blogging by 68%, YouTube (67%), Twitter (67%) and Facebook (64%).

These statistics highlight an increasing trend in blending together online and offline marketing practices in an attempt to maximise coverage. Whilst digital is the number one priority, it is essential that you maintain a face-to-face presence with your audience and customers.

Have you been involved in any events for marketing? Comment and tell us about how you combined social media with an event!

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Entering a New World of Office Computing

Whenever we talk about the worlds of commerce and business in 2015, one of the central points for discussion is innovation. This occasionally has a generic value, however, as it is sometimes applied to a specific market or sector where the level of technological advancement has remained relatively staid. Take the typical workplace, for example, which continues to resemble that same format that it had two long decades ago. While more traditional desktops may have been replaced by Apple Macs or laptops in some instances, the layout and structure remains largely unchanged.

While this may seem insignificant, it needs to be placed in context alongside the level of innovation in other sectors. Take the gambling market, for example, where enthusiasts can now play roulette online or through a wireless, mobile platform. This represents a huge change that has taken place over the course of a decade, while the typical office space has struggled to evolve since 1985. This places the nature of change in context, and suggests that the workspace still has a long way to go to maximize its potential in the modern age.clo

This may be about to change, however, especially when you consider advancements such as the Cloud and the fact individuals now tend to own superior devices to those at work. These factors serve as the inspiration behind Microsoft’s new office platform, which is referred to casually as the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ Windows and is designed to interface with tablets, smartphones and other hardware. This could be the first step in trulyrevolutionising the traditional office, while it would arguably trigger a series of further innovations in the future.

So what else may change beyond proprietary hardware? The end of email may arrive sooner than you think, with its overly formal and occasionally spammy nature becoming increasingly outdated. We may instead see Cloud-based communication services such as Facebook, which can also serve as a seamless platform for collaboration and partnership.

In terms of storage, the Cloud has already had a huge impact in driving change and reducing the burden carried by hardware. It is likely that this will take over completely in the next five years, however, as companies store their data remotely rather than consuming considerable space across their hard drives.

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5 Tips For Creating Your Own Professional Looking Website

The best way to get a professional looking website is to hire a professional. If you want to do it yourself, the best way is to go to school for four years and major in web design. If neither of those options suit you, here are five more tips that will help you get to the head of the class:

Image via wikipedia.org

Use the Right Font for the Job

Did you know that Comic Sans was not the right font for every job. In fact, many would say it is not the right font for any job. There was a time when it was alright for limited uses. Then, it became somewhat overused, then, totally played, then universally reviled. To use it now would instantly marginalize your efforts.

This is especially true if you used the wrong font for something critical like a logo. In such a case, you have to select fonts that are legible, scalable, and conform to your brand image. Anything less is design suicide.

Clear Your Cache When Editing Your Site

The FatCow blog offers some of the most practical advice for creating your site. It is simple yet profound. When you are making edits to your site, clear your browser’s cache so that you can see your changes. Or to put it in their words:

“When you’re building a website, it can be a pain. For example, you see an error in your draft website while you’re working. You head into your Site Editor of choice and make the correction. Then, you revisit your website to make sure the correction has been made…”

Anyway, the browser loads your website from the cache, probably using a version of the site it saved before you made the change. This means that you’ll still see an uncorrected version of the site. This can be confusing and lead to an exasperated loop of revise-check-revise-check. The answer is to clear that cache.

If you don’t clear your cache, you won’t see your changes. And you will never know how your site really looks to visitors.

Use Professional Templates and Themes

If you want your website to look like it was designed by a professional, use templates and themes that were designed by professionals. The overall look and feel of your site is the first thing visitors will notice. That is the time to make a positive impression. While there are plenty of free themes to go around, it is worth paying a few dollars for a truly professional look and feel. It is the next best thing to hiring your own web designer.

Keep It Simple

Many people confuse professional with complexity. This is a huge mistake. Most of the time, exactly the opposite is true. Amateurs try to make up for their lack of professionalism by adding unnecessary complexity.

Often, amateur writers use sesquipedalian words to mask their lack of skill. Poor artists might use too many colors and shapes to hide the fact that they can’t draw a straight line. Bad web designers throw every Web 2.0 element they can at a website, simultaneously proving their technical prowess, and their lack of design sensibilities.

Romance the White Space

Forget about how much text is on the page. In order for you to be able to read the text, about 85% of the page needs to be nothing but white space. Otherwise, the text becomes cluttered and hard to read. Just check out these page coverage examples to see what it looks like on a printed page.

White space is not just another opportunity to put another element on a page. It is a precious resource that has to be protected. Make your point. Then let the white space make your point stand out.

At the end of the day, will these 5 tips guarantee that you will have a professionally looking website? Well, actually… Yes. So have at it.

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Apple unveiling streaming music, improvements to iPhones, Watch software

The Washington Post – Apple unveiled Monday a new music service simply called Apple Music that will compete with Spotify and other streaming competitors, as the consumer electronics giants seek to catch up with rivals which are quickly redefining how consumers buy and listen to music.

The service offers curated streaming song lists — suggested by algorithms and what Apple said would be music experts — that will pull from songs that were purchased by consumers as well as the entire library on the iTunes store. Apple Music will also offer a live 24-hour radio station called Beats One and ways to connect artists and fans through social media.

The announcement came at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The conference, which lasts a week, kicks off with a keynote from Apple chief executive Tim Cook and other top Apple officials and usually offers less flashy updates than its product releases in the fall and winter.

In the early part of the keynote address, Apple executives mainly focused on updates to its operating systems for its iPhones and iPads as well as its Mac computers.

The next version of iOS, Apple’s mobile software, will make the devices’ voice assistant known as Siri a little smarter. Siri will now predict how people use their phones and offer appropriate suggestions. It will learn musical preferences and offer appropriate songs, for instance. Siri can also track your calendar and suggest the right time to leave so that you won’t be late.

The new iOS has the ability to automatically add events to your calendar from your e-mail inbox. The program has also improved its search functions, so that users can look for specific things such as “show me my photos from Utah last August.”

Users will see about an hour or so more of battery life. Apple is also introducing a low-power mode, which turns off phone features to give users an extra three hours.

Similar features have already been offered on smartphones using Google’s Android software system. But Apple is attempting to distinguish itself from its chief rival by emphasizing privacy. Craig Federighi, vice president of software engineering, emphasized that all of this data analysis is done on the device, not stored on Apple’s servers. Chief executive Tim Cook made waves last week when he emphasized in a speech that Apple’s not in the data collection business, something underscored on stage Monday.

Apple said it would soon release the next software version for its Apple Watch, which itself was released just two months ago. The next operating system will allow for expanded friends list, the ability to reply to e-mail and to use the watch to start a workout or control lights, appliances and other smart-home devices. Apple also highlighted a new feature called “Time Travel,” which allows users to rotate the crown of the watch and scroll through a person’s schedule throughout the day.

Apple also provided brief updates on its CarPlay HealthKit and HomeKit apps. For example, users will be able to connect their phones to their cars without even taking the mobile device out of a pocket. Apple is also adding new features to the health program, so that users can measure metrics such as UV exposure.

Apple Maps got some improvements, too. Entrances and exits for subway stations and trains were added to help users figure out more accurate commute times – a feature that has long been part of Google Maps. The transit directions will be available in major cities in the United States and China, Apple said.

Apple also introduced a Flipboard-like app, News, to replace its Newsstand app. The company has partnered with organizations such as Conde Nast and The New York Times, both of which are providing a certain amount of free content for those who sign up for the service.

Cook has also noted before the event that Apple fans will see something unusual on stage: female presenters. Indeed, within the first hour of the keynote address, Jennifer Bailey, an Apple Pay executive, came on stage to talk about new partnerships with a variety of companies such as Pinterest and Square to expand Apple Pay’s reach.

Federighi also showed off new features for the its newest iPad models that should make it more appealing for users who want to use the tablet for work. Users will now be able to use two apps at once and also view video while doing other tasks, such as e-mailing.

The new version of OS X will be called “El Capitan,” said Federighi, continuing Apple’s latest naming scheme to name its systems after California landmarks. Some new features of this system include small updates such as the ability to manage your mail by swiping across the trackpad, or pinning tabs in its Safari browser. Improvements have also been made to up the system’s speed and improvements to its Spotlight search program. The system is available to developers Monday, and will be in a public beta this July. It will be available to all consumers this Fall.

Apple is widely expected to expand its push into media with the announcement Monday of a music service that builds on the iTunes store and Beats Music — a music service that the company picked up when it bought Beats for $3 billion last year.

Reports indicate that Apple’s new music service will compete with Spotify and Pandora, and users will be able to listen to tracks both on demand and by tuning in to digital radio stations. Beats Music’s claim to fame is that it features playlists curated by famous artists and music lovers — its tagline is “a music service with heart” — rather than purely by algorithm. Given the high-placed connections of Beats executives, such as co-founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, many expect that Apple will be able to generate some significant star power for its music service, which is expected to cost about $10 per month.

Apple is not expected to launch a much-anticipated video service, however, as negotiations with content providers didn’t come together in time for the big show.

In an interview with San Francisco’s ABC7 local news channel, Cook said Apple has invested $50 million toward scholarships that encourage women and minorities to get into programming. He framed it as a smart approach to making better products for everyone: “The more people you get thinking about something that come at things from a different point of view, you wind up with a much better product that way.”

Article by Hayley Tsukayama for The Washington Post

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Why Are Topics the Future of SEO?

One Google update after another caused search engine optimization best practices to change over time. A few years ago, keyword optimization was one of the most important SEO strategies, but as we moved forward into the future of SEO, keywords have been gradually losing ground in favor of topics.

What this means is that while keywords are still an important part of the optimization process, topics should be webmasters’ primary focus. That’s because topics provide a wider view of different subject matters as compared to keywords, which are usually very limiting, especially when very specific. By focusing on topics, website owners can create resourceful, informative and accurate content that responds to the latest SEO trends.

Let’s take a look at the reasons that make topics more important than keywords for effective SEO.

Why Topics?

Google’s newest algorithm – Hummingbird – has been specifically implemented to cater to users’ needs and provide better search results. Based on what users find to be the most useful to them, the main objective of the Google Hummingbird algorithm is providing the best online experience in the most effective way.

To rank higher in SERPs, website owners must create high-quality content that largely satisfies users’ needs and offers the information that they’re looking for. Understanding their mindset and writing content based on what they’re seeking helps drive more traffic, which is absolutely critical to your search engine ranking.

Theme-Based SEO: What Is It?

Theme-based SEO refers to creating “themes” that are optimized for but not entirely focused on specific keywords. In other words, theme-based SEO is the process of creating content that focuses on a broader theme/topic (e.g. “home remedies for migraines”) instead of specific keywords (e.g. “lavender oil for migraines”). Usually, specific keywords can appear in the content in one or two instances, but they aren’t the main focus.

For example, an article focusing on “best home remedies for migraines” could also include a section about how lavender oil can be used for this specific purpose, integrating the phrase “lavender oil for migraines” somewhere in that section. That would make the content more relevant for the topic, delivering quality information while also helping your website rank higher.

Understand What Your Audience Wants

There is a big difference between what your target audience wants and what they’re actually searching for. Sometimes, search terms may get really confusing, although their intent remains just as clear. Users can be searching for “SEO services London free consultation,” with the clear intent of finding a reliable London-based SEO company that offers a free initial consultation.

Know what your audience is interested in helps reveal the topics that you should also write about on your website to satisfy their needs and create highly relevant and compelling content. If you focus on keywords instead of topics, you may find yourself trying to create content around phrases that may restrict the amount of information you can deliver. To be of interest for Internet users, content should be inviting, educational and informative, which can rarely be achieved through keyword-based SEO.

A Natural Approach to Topic-Based Content

Stuffing pages of content with keywords will make information look unnatural to users, increasing the risk of getting your website penalized by Google. On the other hand, publishing high-quality content that delivers a great amount of information that responds to users’ specific needs and has a few keywords sprinkled throughout can really make a difference in how you do in SERPs.

For your approach to be as natural as possible, it’s recommended that you consider the following essential points:

1. Research Your Niche

Identifying themes that your target audience may be interested in requires keyword research. There can be 2-3 or even 30-50 distinct keywords that identify with the same theme, which you can sprinkle throughout large pieces of content to deliver the best online experience to users. Google’s Keyword Tool offers insight on popular keywords for free, but you may want to check out some paid options as well if you want to avoid proprietors that try selling you search advertising.

2. Optimize for Core Keywords

Once you identify important and commonly used keywords, the next step is optimizing your content for them. Use variations of these keywords throughout your content, and make sure that they are as naturally occurring as possible. Keywords shouldn’t match perfectly – instead, they should be as close as possible to the core keywords, and look as they are a natural part of your articles. For example, you will want to write “SEO services in London” instead of “SEO services London,” which doesn’t make as much sense.

3. Edit Ruthlessly

Before you publish your articles, consider reviewing them for keyword repetition and possible grammar, spelling, punctuation or capitalization errors. It’s a good idea to read content out loud, as this will make it easier to identify parts that don’t sound very natural and then edit them.

4. Optimize On-Page Elements

The last part of the publication process is optimizing on-page elements, usually heading tags, meta tags (meta keywords and meta description), alt texts and title tags. These elements are all important to SEO, ensuring that your website will be more relevant to users’ search inquiries.

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Tim Cook promises we’ll see a female speaker at Apple’s big keynote

Business Insider - Apple’s biggest event of the year, WWDC, starts Monday.

The Worldwide Developers Conference is Apple’s annual gathering of developers. It’s where Apple lays out the roadmap for its iPhone, Mac, and, now, Watch software.

On Sunday, CEO Tim Cook has spoke out strongly on diversity issues, labelling them central to “the future of our company.”

This is a bit rich coming from Cook, considering that in the last seven media events, Apple has never had a female executive on stage. But that could finally change Monday. In an interview, Cook teased that we will finally see a woman on stage. If true, this would be a big, welcome change for Apple.

In an interview with Mashable, the 54-year-old CEO discussed the ongoing struggle to attract women and minority ethnic groups to the tech industry.

Big tech companies including Google and Twitter — and Apple — have begun publishing diversity reports, outlining the make-up of the companies and their efforts to expand this.

Apple’s 2014 report — its first — revealed 70% of global employees are male, and 55% of its workers (in the US) are white. (These figures, as Re/code noted at the time, include Apple’s retail presence — unlike most other tech companies’ reports.)

Cook told Mashable’s Christina Warren that the company is determined to make headway on this. “I think it’s our fault — ‘our’ meaning the whole tech community … I think in general we haven’t done enough to reach out and show young women that it’s cool to do it and how much fun it can be.”

But Cook also frames the need for diversity in economic terms, arguing it will help Apple’s succeed as a business. “I think the most diverse group will produce the best product, I firmly believe that.”

He goes on: “Diversity leads to better products, and we’re all about making products that enrich peoples’ lives, then you obviously put a ton of energy behind diversity the same way you would put a ton of energy behind anything else that is truly important.”

Speaking on the need for stronger role models to encourage women in tech, Cook strongly suggests there will be at least one woman talking during Apple’s keynote. “You’ll see a change tomorrow,” he said. The obvious choice here is Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s retail chief who has been instrumental in the roll-out of the Apple Watch.

But another possibility is Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environmental initiatives. Apple has doubled-down on its environmental commitments over the past year, announcing new European data centres in Ireland and Denmark powered entirely by renewable energy, as well as a massive solar plant in China.

The third and last female executive is Denise Young-Smith, vice president of worldwide human resources. Young-Smith has previously narrated a video released by Apple about diversity, so she could be addressing the issue at the conference directly.

Any of these are a possibility, given the CEO has previously spoken out about his desire to “rise the public profile” of members of the executive team in a way that didn’t happen under his predecessor Steve Jobs’ watch. But it is revealing of the work Apple still has to do on diversity that of its 15 top-tier executives, only three — Ahrendts, Jackson, and Young-Smith — are women.

Either way, it won’t be the first time ever that a woman has featured at an Apple keynote. As the Next Web points out, the company sometimes has female developers on-stage — “but not nearly as frequently as their male counterparts.”

The Apple CEO has discussed diversity, notably in a 2013 article for the Wall Street Journal. “Embracing people’s individuality is a matter of basic human dignity and civil rights,” he wrote. “It also turns out to be great for the creativity that drives our business.”

Cook, who is openly gay, has long been outspoken on social issues. He first addressed his sexuality publicly in an op-ed for Bloomberg, saying he is “proud to be gay” and wanted to speak out because of the “fear and abuse” others have faced because of their sexuality.

“We pave the sunlit path towards justice together, brick by brick,” Cook wrote. “This is my brick.”

 

Article by Rob Price for Business Insider

Thumbnail from Shutterstock

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Cash-in on a Reverse Mortgage via Social Media

With many consumers still struggling in today’s economy, it is important to remember that there are oftentimes financial options available to those who take the time to research them.

As more Americans have trouble putting money away for retirement and/or keeping up with financial responsibilities in their senior citizen years, it is critical that individuals not leave any stone unturned when it comes to finding the best financial means to enjoy their later years.

So, what are you doing to enjoy and prosper in life? Are you exhausting all your financial options so that you can live comfortably?

Value of Your Home

One area that consumers can oftentimes overlook when it comes to their financial needs is their home.

Face it; your home can serve you as a great financial tool. Along the way, social media is a great vehicle to drive you to more information on just how your residence can be your best friend.

One of those options not to overlook is how to qualify for a reverse mortgage.

With a reverse mortgage, consumers can turn home equity into money and skip the need to worry over payments. When an individual or couple takes out a reverse mortgage, they can remain in their residences payment-free up to the time they determine it is time to sell the home or they die.

That said it is important for consumers to note that reverse mortgages do require them to meet a number of qualifications.

Among them:

The individual and any co-borrowers have to be at minimum 62 years old;
The home is required to be one’s primary residence (not a residence they only live in from time to time, i.e. vacation home;
The home has to be owned outright or paid off to the level where the reverse mortgage may be used to take care of the current loan;
The home has to be in good repair and not require unlimited work;
The individual or couple must be void of any delinquent financial obligations. This can include one’s income taxes to federally-backed loans of other sorts.

Value of Social Media

While this may all sound good to you, there is likely the question of how one can go about getting more information regarding reverse mortgages.

Among the best ways to do this is of course doing some online research, notably using social media.

With reverse mortgages being a popular financial vehicle, many companies who specialize in such offers are becoming more and more prevalent on social networking sites.

If you are a tad uncertain of how to locate these companies on social media, be sure to look for:

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and other pages of reverse mortgage companies;
Look to see how often they post on their respective social pages. If they do it regularly, you can assume they are knowledgeable of the benefits of social media, including interacting with consumers (see more below). If they post infrequently, they may be a little slow too when it comes to customer service initiatives;
See how they interact with consumers. If they respond in a prompt manner, that is a good sign. Do they provide relevant information and/or respond to consumer questions or are they just trying to pitch you a sale? Hopefully it is the former;
Do they include videos with their social postings? Using videos is a great means to explain how reverse mortgages work, including the step-by-step process.

As more Americans deal with financial challenges and how to get the best quality of life at the right price, reverse mortgages can be a benefit to many.

Turning to social media to learn more about them and the companies who offer such products is definitely a win-win for provider and customer.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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U.S. government hacked; feds think China is the culprit

Washington (CNN) - Four million current and former federal employees, from nearly every government agency, might have had their personal information stolen by Chinese hackers, U.S. investigators said.

U.S. officials believe this could be the biggest breach ever of the government’s computer networks. China called the allegation irresponsible.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is conducting background checks, warned it was urging potential victims to monitor their financial statements and get new credit reports.

Some federal employees were angry.

“Unreal, I don’t have enough money as it is,” Facebook user Shari Saeler posted on the OPM’s page. “Now I have to worry about someone stealing it!”

Retiree Linda Eleanor Rigby Robbins posted she didn’t know if she was affected.

“I do not understand why I heard this on the news instead of via letter or email from OPM,” she wrote.

The breach was initially thought to have impacted the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Interior, But government officials said nearly every federal government agency was hit by the hackers.

An assessment continues, and it is possible millions more government employees may be affected.

U.S. investigators: We believe this was China’s work

U.S. investigators believe they can trace the breach to the Chinese government. Hackers working for the Chinese military are believed to be compiling a massive database of Americans, intelligence officials told CNN on Thursday night.

It is not clear what the purpose of the database is.

The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal first reported Thursday that Chinese hackers were responsible for the breach.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the hack, simply pointing out that it too has been a victim of cyberattacks in the past.

“China itself is also a victim of cyberattacks,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said Friday in Beijing. “China resolutely tackles cyberattack activities in all forms.”

Lei added that China would like to have more global cooperation “to build a peaceful and safe, open and collaborative cyberspace.”

And he also called on the United Staes not to make groundless accusations about China’s involvement, “but instead add more trust and cooperating in this field.”

A spokesman from the Chinese Embassy in Washington late Thursday objected to allegations that the Chinese government may be behind the massive hack.

“Cyberattacks conducted across countries are hard to track, and therefore the source of attacks is difficult to identify. Jumping to conclusions and making hypothetical accusation is not responsible and counterproductive,” said Zhu Haiquan.

EINSTEIN detection system

Employees of the legislative and judicial branches and uniformed military personnel were not affected.

There are 2.7 million federal executive branch employees. It’s unclear whether this affected all of them, along with former employees, or only a portion of them.

The federal personnel office learned of the data breach after it began to toughen its cybersecurity defense system. When it discovered malicious activity, authorities used a detection system called EINSTEIN to eventually unearth the information breach in April, the Department of Homeland Security said.

A month later, the federal agency learned sensitive data had been compromised.

The FBI is investigating what led to the breach.

“We take all potential threats to public and private sector systems seriously and will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,” the FBI said in a statement.

The federal personnel office said “personally identifiable information” had been breached, though the office didn’t name who might be responsible.

Senator: The breach is ‘disturbing’ 

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, called the breach “disturbing” and said the Office of Personnel Management needs to do a better job securing its information.

“It is disturbing to learn that hackers could have sensitive personal information on a huge number of current and former federal employees — and, if media reports are correct, that information could be in the hands of China,” Johnson said in a statement. “(The office) says it ‘has undertaken an aggressive effort to update its cybersecurity posture.’ Plainly, it must do a better job, especially given the sensitive nature of the information it holds.”

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said hackers are one of the “greatest challenges we face on a daily bases.”

“It’s clear that a substantial improvement in our cyber databases and defenses is perilously overdue,” Schiff said in a statement. “That’s why the House moved forward on cybersecurity legislation earlier this year, and it’s my hope that this latest incident will spur the Senate to action.”

Article by Kevin Liptak and Theodore Schleifer for CNN

Thumbnail from Shutterstock

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How These Brands Are Using Snapchat & Meerkat To Engage With Their Customers

It was Twitter’s Vine that revolutionized the way brands connect with their audiences. It gave them a new way to communicate via video that targeted the right audience in the right way. And it was here that brands learned how to get more creative with a much less generous allowance.

Since then however, a couple of new big shot social apps have entered the scene, namely disappearing picture and video messaging app, Snapchat and live video streaming app, Meerkat. Some businesses have embraced these apps but some are skeptical and probably a little nervous about them due to their raw and revealing nature. And they’ve every right to be, engaging via an app in which the content disappears in seconds and a live-streaming app that allows no hindsight is an intimidating prospect.

With both Snapchat and Meerkat there’s less room for error, as you can’t edit or clip your content like you did on Vine. However, if you take the risk and get it right it could prove a revolutionary new way of attracting and retaining customers that requires minimal expense on your part. It’s also less scary than you think, as the beauty of these apps is that the content you create is fleeting (is instant and/or gets deleted) and if your audience miss it or just don’t get it, it’s no big deal. It’s highly unlikely that it will come back to haunt you.

Let’s take a look at how some businesses are using Snapchat and Meerkat to engage with their customers.

Snapchat
Heineken

At last year’s Coachella festival, Heineken used Snapchat to give tip offs and clues about surprise gigs. Only people that followed Heineken on Snapchat could access this exclusive content which, of course, resulted in a lot of new followers.

The condition of receiving the clue was that users had to correctly identify the artist in the Snapchat picture. Those who guessed correctly then received a personal Snapchat telling them about the surprise gig. This was a great way to get closer to their followers and reward them with exclusive content.

 Free People

Another way to strengthen the bond between a brand and its fans is to give them sneak peeks, whether that’s behind the scenes or at new collections or previews. Clothing brand, Free People uses Snapchat to do just that.

They also use it just like any other user, by simply asking fans about their weekend plans and answering any questions they might have – simple engagement at its finest.

Grubhub

Sometimes, sheer simplicity works just as well as any other form of marketing. Grubhub uses the story feature of Snapchat to post funny photos that lead users to various promotional codes for their online delivery and take-out service. They also run competitions where users are required to snap certain foods or doodles.

The Snapchats posted by Grubhub are in no way masterpieces. But this easy-going, humorous way of using Snapchat makes the brand seem human and the user more likely to connect with it – again, a simple approach from Grubhub that just works.

Meerkat




Coastal luxury



One of the ways brands are using Meerkat is to show demonstrations of products or services or in real-estate agent, Coastal Luxury’s case, to give a tour of a mansion that was on sale.This is a great way to utilise the social app.  Even people who are not looking to buy would look at something like this. People love to dream.
On a smaller scale, it would be even easier to give demonstrations on the products or services you sell.

Red Bull

Some brands are quickly discovering the potential of using Meerkat to offer more access and transparency to their followers. Red Bull for example, sponsors of various sports events, decided to offer its followers live videos of snowboarding trials.

Streaming live events is not only a powerful marketing tool, but a great way to gain the attention and trust of your followers. Going live is much more trustworthy than a well-written, scripted promo.

Of course, streaming sports events is not going to be for everybody, but there’s nothing stopping companies from streaming product launches, insightful discussions or even interviews.

The Tonight Show, starring Jimmy Fallon

So it may not be a “business” in the traditional sense of the word, but it’s no secret that celebrities are using both Snapchat and Meerkat to gain exposure, and why not? They are perfect apps for connecting with fans. Jimmy Fallon’s ‘The Tonight Show’ uses Meerkat especially to provide a behind the scenes look at rehearsals, hair and makeup and audience reactions.

This behind the scenes feature adds a three dimensional affect to a fans experience, and makes them feel part of the show. In relation to a brand, it would make customers feel like a part of the company, and as someone that is valued. You would also establish a certain amount of trust and intimacy with your followers that is much harder to achieve by any other method.

Is it right for your business?

Before you make any brash decisions, it’s important to consider whether these forms of communication are right for your brand. Would your business actually benefit from using these, or are you just jumping on the bandwagon?

I think if your business is able to provide exclusive content; give sneak peeks; go behind the scenes; show demonstrations; stream live events; host an interview; run competitions; or give out promotional codes then you should definitely give it a go. Just try and make it fun or at least interesting.

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