WisTex

With so much competition out there and the issue of dealing with spammers and credit card fraud, is it worth being in the web hosting business? It does provide nice residual income and depending on how you structure it, it could be very profitable. What are your thoughts? Is this a good type of business to be in?

Most companies buy other companies for specific things, like a certain technology, certain employees, or other assets. Rarely are they really interested in the end product itself. So they often strip out the stuff they want, transfer it to something else they already have in the works, and dump the rest later. It's sad really. Some really cool websites and projects have been killed in that way.

No worries (at least from me). That's why the forum rules on my forums are 3 pages long! LOL http://www.completehostingguide.com/forum-rules

One thing that I have noticed on many forums, including ones that I have run myself, is the existence of serial posts. Serial posts are posts where there are hundreds of repetitive replies, such as posting different memes, or a word association game. They are typically used by members to increase their post count or to win contests, but they also can be a fun mindless game for members to participate in. They are both good and bad, from the perspective of a forum owner. Good Things Increases activity on the forums, making it more active than it otherwise would be. If it is structured as something people can reply to, it can increase replies by other users. If it is content people want to view, then it may increase readership and page views. Members feel as if they are contributing to the forum. Some serial posts can actually be fun to post to or read. Bad Things Unless separated from normal posts, it can be used to increase post counts and points for contests. People often post content they don't own, which may lead to copyright issues. It may lead to spammy posts. It can clutter up the activity feed for other users who are trying to read normal posts. Possible Tactics There are ways to deal with serial posts that maximize their benefits while minimizing the down side. Have a special forum area reserved for serial posts, and move any serial post started in another forum area to this forum area. Serial posts and their replies do not count in any contest or competition. If possible, replies to serial posts do not appear in activity feeds. People have to go to the serial posts section to participate in serial posts. Optionally disable increasing someone's post count based on replies in a serial post. Using these tactics will increase activity on the forum, while keeping contests fair, while not cluttering up the rest of the forum.

It also allows people to connect that otherwise would not connect, which is a good thing. I think social media just emphasizes and even exaggerates many existing social issues we face. There has always been different information distributed to different communities in order to sway their vote or influence their behavior. Instead of calling it "fake news" it used to be called "propaganda." And propaganda has been around for a very very long time. A lot of the propaganda techniques used today actually came from World War I & II eras and the National Socialists and Communists. So when you see people on both the left and right trying to influence people with fake news and by rewriting school textbooks, they are basically using the same tactics the Nazis and Communists used. With social media, it just made it easier for modern day propagandists to ply their trade. It also made it more obvious, which may be their eventual downfall. So it is bad that social media has been used to spread so much propaganda (aka fake news), but it is actually good that social media actually exposed a practice that has been going on a long time before social media even existed. And now people are more aware of the existence of propaganda, and that is a good thing.

Yeah, it was very poorly designed. I actually was really into promoting on social media when they first launched it, and I wanted so much to use Google+, but even though I was a fan, it felt fruitless to do so. Unless you were posting in a community, no one noticed any of your posts. Perhaps that is why the Communities took off, but individual profile posts did not. Google+ Communities was the only place people actually saw your content in sufficient numbers to make it worth it.

I also found it useful for business, especially if you had to make sales calls or were otherwise promoting your business. Even though you were connecting outside of LinkedIn (offline or on a different website), people would look you up to check your background, and sometimes even request to be connected on LinkedIn. Being on LinkedIn gives you credibility when making sales or promoting your business. LinkedIn is uses a lot by traditional business people, and not being on it actually can hurt you in some cases. It is also useful to see who is looking you up. LinkedIn actually tells you who looked at your profile, in most cases, and it is always interesting to see that someone you met at a networking event actually looked you up on LinkedIn by searching for your name. People look.

Click bait only works for so long though, especially for an email list where people can unsubscribe or filter you into the trash folder. For a mailing list, you do need good subject lines to get people to open the email, however, they should not be misleading or overpromise on what you intend on delivering.

I like that it is easy to share, and that I can instantly share the same image on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

Like most things, it is a tool. It can be used for good or evil.

Twitter purchased Vine, and then due to Vine not growing as expected due to competitors like Instagram adding video support, and Twitter having financial issues, Twitter decided to shut down Vine.

I have a Tumblr account but don't really use it. I used to have some of my blogs auto-post to Tumblr every time I posted on WordPress, but I've been blogging less these days. I probably should start again.

I suppose the biggest benefit would be for people with a Yahoo! account, since Flickr is integrated with Yahoo! Other than that, it seems like a normal photo sharing and storing solution.

In my opinion, they screwed up the interface and that is why it didn't take off. And earlier versions didn't load quickly. It just felt like a lot of posts and didn't really feel like a community. The profiles didn't seem that appealing in looks either. They didn't really integrate with their other services very well. It felt Google+ was just an addon. The only thing that really worked was the Google+ Communities. It felt as if they approached it as "we need to build a social network" instead of "what would users find useful." It wound up being a poorly executed mess.

I think, at the very least, you should be visible on this site by having a current profile. It gives you more credibility when people look you up (and they will). A LinkedIn Profile allows you to present a professional image that a Facebook or Twitter profile may not. Additionally, it may lead to opportunities and connections. So it's definitely worth setting up.