
In today’s Quick Hits, we explore some changes at Facebook and talk about the consequences of living in a “world of YouTube.”
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Google Rebrands Local Business Center
Google is pushing Google Places, a new name for what was formerly called Google Local Business Center. In a post for Small Biz Trends, Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media explains what Google Places and Google Place Pages means for small business owners in terms of marketing and local search.
What’s Coming Up at Facebook’s F8 Conference
Facebook’s annual f8 conference is in full swing and many tech pundits are wondering what Facebook has in store for today. CNN Tech offers a few possibilities, including the official announcement of a “universal like button,” the announcement of a “places” feature, and the announcement of more technologies that will compete directly with Google and other major technology companies.
While debate rages over what Facebook will be unveiling, CNET is reporting that Facebook Lite has been terminated. Facebook Lite, which was begun seven months ago as an alternative browsing experience for Facebook users, was not widely successful when it first came out and it’s unlikely that the service meshed well enough with Facebook’s strategic plans to keep working on it.
Google Calls Out Countries That Request Information Removal
In response to growing pressure to remove certain content from the company’s search results, Google has developed a tool that shows which government agencies from around the world are requesting information be censored. Google’s claim at the Official Google Blog is that this government request tracker will help bring transparency to the process, but that’s only partly true. A better bet is that Google hopes this technology will expose governments that they feel are too restrictive on information access, forcing them to back off a little bit and leave Google alone.
Teachers Fired Over YouTube Lapdance Video
Two teachers in Winnipeg have been fired from their jobs after they participated in a mock lap dance at a school pep rally. The incident was captured on cell phone cameras and quickly shared online. Within a few days, the video went viral earning over two million views.
While the teachers would have likely been reprimanded even if the video hadn’t gone viral, Jackie Sneesby, chairwoman of the Winnipeg School Division, captured the bigger issue when she said, “I think we live in a world of YouTube. Everywhere you go and whatever you do, whether you’re a celebrity or in this case even if you’re not a celebrity, anybody can have a camera at any time and take pictures and it’ll end up on YouTube. This is the 21st century and this is part of it, I guess.”
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