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Senators seek probe of employers seeking Facebook info

"You'd be appalled if your employer insisted on opening up your postal mail to see if there was anything of interest inside. It's equally out of bounds for an employer to go on a fishing expedition through a person's private social media account," she added.
Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin , or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com .
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Finding the Perfect Name

"I like the phone book analogy," said Claude, "but this system seems more complicated." "Not really," I said. "Have you tried getting a new phone number recently?" "Yes," Claude answered, "I got a new phone number when I signed up for my residential Internet-based phone service-the voice-over-IP stuff I was talking about earlier."

How Domain Names Work

 

"Is that hard to do?" Anita asked. "The buying is easy, actually," I replied. "The hard part is finding the domain name in the first place. A few years ago, domain names were hot properties that sometimes sold for astronomical amounts. In 1999, for example, the business.com domain sold for $7.5 million, a huge price by any measure."

It's All About Control

"I have a question," Claude began. "Why can't I just use the free Web space my Internet service provider gives me? They claim it's all that most people need, and they even give me unlimited storage for pictures. Or couldn't I set up a Web server on my own computer, the way Stef has?"

Getting Ready to Say It,Chapter four.

 

Getting Ready to Say It,Chapter four. > Stef: I need to move my blog. A friend set it up for me as a         favor, but I can't always access it when I want to and         sometimes the system goes down.

Digesting It All

Digesting It All

Our coffee cups were empty again. Anita had a few more questions about copyrights, but after answering them I indicated it was time to wrap things up.

Creating the Content

Creating the Content After spending a good half-hour looking up keyword values, it was time to refill our coffees and talk about some other things. While Claude went to get our order, I asked Anita if she was still happy with her topic selection.

Finding the Right Topic

Finding the Right Topic Claude objected to my characterizations. "You make it sound like I'm only in it for the money," he said, "and that Stef just wants to be famous. And she's not even here to defend herself! Anita's the only one who looks good."

Why Publish on the Web?

 

Why Publish on the Web? We all sipped our coffees while the two of them considered my question. Anita was the first to answer. "They want to help others?" she asked. "Good answer!" I said, smiling. "The Internet connects computers together, but the Web connects people together. Remember, the Web started as a way for researchers to help one another by sharing information. Individuals have always played an important part in making the Web what it is today. "Think of all the Web sites built by individuals or small groups," I continued. "There are many examples: Fans build sites devoted to favorite musicians or celebrities; proud parents post family pictures; the sick create support communities for their illnesses and conditions. Most of these sites aren't money-making ventures, but their creators devote substantial time to their upkeep." "And don't forget blogs," said Anita. "Blogs are a great example of how individuals affect the Web," I agreed, "because they're so tied to a person or a small group of people. But all a blog does is make it easy to publish on the Web. We still need an answer to why people create sites and blogs."

Finding Something to Say.Chapter three.

 Finding Something to Say.Chapter three.

> Eric: Today, we're going to decide what your sites are going
        to be about.


             > Anita: Aren't we doing this backwards? Shouldn't we learn how
                      to build a Web site first and then decide what our
                      topic should be?


> Eric: You could do it that way, but having a firm idea of what
        the site's going to be about makes the concepts easier
        to grasp. Besides, I'm sure you'd rather know sooner
        than later how much money you can make from a given
        topic.

I met Claude and Anita a few days later at a coffee shop near my house. I brought along my notebook computer to show them a few things via the coffee shop's wireless hotspot. After we ordered our coffees, I got right down to business.

"Today," I started, "we're going to decide what your sites are going to be about."

"I have a question," Anita said. "Aren't we doing this backwards? Shouldn't we learn how to build a Web site first and then decide what our topic should be?"

The Next Challenge

The Next Challenge

We were all feeling pretty tired at this point, and it was late, so it was time to wrap up our session.

"I hope you understand the AdSense program now," I said to the other three.

Anita was tired, but enthusiastic. "It does sound pretty simple," she agreed. "If I had a Web site, I'd be going online right now to join the program!"

"Yeah, that's the problem," Claude said, "you need a site. That's where it gets complicated, I guess."

"No," I disagreed, "building a site isn't that complicated once you get started. We'll get to that later. But first we need to talk about topic selection, how to figure out what your site should be about."

"To maximize the money you'll make?" Anita asked.

"Not just that," I said, "but that's certainly an obvious reason. We'll save it for a separate session, though." I turned to Stef. "You probably don't need to come to the next one because you already have a blog running."

"Yeah," she agreed, "but I don't like the way it looks. I wish I had more control over it."

"We'll get to that, too," I reassured her, "but first I'll need a session with your dad and your sister to talk about possible topics." I turned to the other two. "That is, if you're interested in proceeding?"

"Absolutely," said Claude.

"You bet!" said Anita.

It would take a while for the three of them to digest what they'd just heard, so we set the next meeting time and parted company.

Joining AdSense

Joining AdSense "All right," Claude said, "you've sold me. How do I join AdSense? Do I have to sign away the rights to my firstborn?" Anita rolled her eyes, clearly unimpressed.

AdSense for Search

AdSense for Search There was one more AdSense feature I needed to discuss. "Everything we've discussed so far about AdSense has been about placing ads on third-party Web pages," I said. "Google refers to this as AdSense for content, because it's all about Web-page content. This is the main AdSense program, the one that everyone uses." The three of them nodded their understanding.

AdSense Highlights

Stef was impressed by what she heard. "My friend John, the guy who set up my blog for me, is always raving about Google and the cool things they do. I guess this is one of them!"

AdSense in a Nutshell

 

AdSense in a Nutshell Claude took a lot of notes during my lecture on Web advertising, but his daughters seemed content just to listen. After taking a short break, we resumed our discussion.

Web Advertising

Web Advertising At this point, I think all three of them understood how important advertising is to the Web. Stef had actually taken an advertising course at college, so it wasn't news to her. "We spent a couple of classes discussing online advertising," she said, "but it's a pretty broad topic and we didn't have time to cover it all. There were a lot of details, though, a lot of terms to understand and memorize."