Webmaster

We at the Times-News are having our annual Baby of the Year Contest. We are accepting entries for babies born in 2010. Take a look at the contest by clicking on the link below. If you don’t have a baby to submit, browse and vote if you like. Votes are 50¢ – all proceeds from votes go to support education in Alamance County. So, by purchasing votes you are helping our area classrooms.

Go to the contest

Roger Creasy is Director of Interactive Operations for the Times-News. Roger can be e-mailed at rcreasy@thetimesnews.com. His personal web site is at RogerCreasy.com

When I first signed up for a Facebook account, I joined as a way to share information with people whom I chose. And,that is the way Facebook worked. Facebook kept my information protected. Now, however, much of your information, posts, comments, etc. is made available by default to anyone. Yes, anyone. Here is a quote from the Facebook Privacy Policy:

When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you. The term General Information includes your and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting. We may also make information about the location of your computer or access device and your age available to applications and websites in order to help them implement appropriate security measures and control the distribution of age-appropriate content. If the application or website wants to access any other data, it will have to ask for your permission.

The above is frightening. But, you do have some control. That control is not easy to find or understand. This post is part of a series with some instructions on gaining control over what is shared. I will also offer some suggestions and warnings.

Facebook privacy settings default to ‘Everyone’. So, unless you have explicitly made changes to your privacy settings, much of your information is available to the world. Because I feel they are the most dangerous, I am going to start with gaining control over applications. Applications are those games, icons, anything that is posting to your news feed or wall on behalf of you or your friends. If you have your privacy settings set to the default, you are giving these applications more info than you should.

To gain control over what you give to applications log in to your Facebook account. Next, in the top-right corner of a Facebook page, click on ‘Account’. You will be given a drop-down menu with several options, choose ‘Application Settings’. Then, you are taken to a page with your recently used applications. Near the top of the page, next to the word ‘Show’ there is a drop-down menu. Change this menu to ‘Authorized’. The next page shows all of the applications you have authorized to access your info. I bet you don’t remember a lot of them.

My first recommendation is to delete any application you do not use. To delete an application, click on the ‘x’ to the far right on the line with the application name. Facebook will try to talk you out of deleting it. If you are sure you do not want the application, click on remove.

For the applications you do want, you need to take control over what information you share. To take control, to the right of an application name click on ‘Edit Settings’. You will be given a dialog box with options for settings. These options vary by application. If the application you are adjusting shares info with others, you can control with whom it shares your information. Next to ‘Privacy’ there is a drop-down menu with several choices. Your choices are ‘Everyone’(the world), ‘Friends and Networks’ (your friends and all members of any networks to which you belong), ‘Friends of Friends’ (your friends and their friends), ‘Only Friends’ (Only people you have approved as friends), and ‘Customize’ (you can choose specifically who can see info from the app). I set most of mine to ‘Friends’. You may want to consider the other options in some situations.

The above can be seen as a complex string of instructions. Don’t be overwhelmed. It is important that you control the sharing of your private information. Please open a second window with your Facebook account open. Follow the instructions one-by-one, and you will be successful.

In the comments below, please post questions, success stories, or ideas for further instructions. My next post will be about protecting your images and information from showing up in ads. Yes, Facebook allows advertisers’ ads to include information you share.

Roger Creasy is Director of Interactive Operations for the Times-News. Roger can be e-mailed at rcreasy@thetimesnews.com. His personal web site is at RogerCreasy.com

According to a Wall Street Journal article, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites have been sending personal information, as well as information making their users identifiable, to advertisers. Advertisers are receiving IDs or usernames, which allow them to gather information the users of the social media sites have shared with the site.

The Journal article states that “Facebook went further than other sites”. Facebook has recently been on stage over their privacy policies, with good reason. With over 400 million users, according to a Facebook press page, the social media site has a tremendous web presence. When a user signs up for an account, the default privacy settings allow Facebook to share almost all information entered.

There are tools on the web that allow you to see just how much of your information is made available. I’ll talk you through using one. For those of you with a Facebook account, go to your profile. In the URL (in the address bar at the top of the page) you will find either your username, or your user ID (the user id will follow ‘id=’); make a note of the information. Whichever is there is what is sent to advertisers. Go to http://zesty.ca/facebook/ and enter your username or id, and hit ‘Go’. What you are returned is just the tip of what is made available to the world.

Over the next few posts, I plan to give some info on how to better control your privacy on Facebook. Be sure to check back and learn how to protect your, and your friends’ information.

Roger Creasy is Director of Interactive Operations for the Times-News. Roger can be e-mailed at rcreasy@thetimesnews.com. His personal web site is at RogerCreasy.com

The roots of the Times-News as Alamance County’s newspaper date back to 1887.

That is a long time.

TheTimesNews.com hasn’t been serving the area for even close to that long, over a decade to give you a ballpark figure, but its audience now stretches far outside the walls of Alamance County.

I want to share some interesting facts about TheTimesNews.com that even I didn’t know about until recently.

For instance, did you know that at least nine people from every state in the U.S. have visited our Web site this month? North Carolina, of course, is the leading state with over 50,000 visitors so far in May. Next comes Georgia, California and Virginia with around 2,000 each.

Visitors at TheTimesNews.com also span 117 countries. Obviously, the United States tops all countries with over 72,000 visitors this month. Next comes our neighbor to the north, Canada, followed by the United Kingdom and India. I don’t know why seven people from Nigeria and Costa Rica and 12 from Egypt logged on to TheTimesNews.com, but they did.

We monitor our Web site traffic through a company called Omniture. What Omniture does is track when, where and how many times people visited our Web site. It also tells us what people are clicking so that we can see what people are interested in. Through Omniture data we are able to see that crime stories and stories about pets and animals are much more popular to online readers than most feature stories.

With our data we can see how many people and page views we receive from cities around the world. It’s pretty amazing. For example, who would have known that of our Canadian visitors, the majority live in Ontario? That is such a random statistic, but I think it’s pretty interesting.

Most of the visits from other states and countries can be credited to Google searches, which bring people to our Web site through searching for a topic or name rather than typing in our specific Web address. Other visits could come from people who used to live in Alamance County but have moved. Our Web site allows them to stay current with Alamance County news from anywhere in the world.

Another explanation for visits outside of North Carolina could be from e-mailing links to stories on our site. Oftentimes a controversial or interesting story is forwarded to friends. I do this all the time. If something is interesting I might pass it along to friends and family if I think they might enjoy it. We like when people do this. Feel free to share links to our content all the time.

Do these statistics mean anything? Right now, not really, but they will. We are continuously trying to expand our audience and grow. We haven’t put much effort into growing globally or even regionally, but expanding in Alamance County and North Carolina have become high priorities. For now, we’ll leave the rest of the world to the big guys like CNN and FOX News.

Online editor Alex Kreitman can be reached at alex_kreitman@link.freedom.com. You can also read his sports blog at alexkreitman.freedomblogging.com.

I wrote a research paper in college on the future of newspapers. I’d guess that I wrote it about five years ago. In that paper I said that newspapers would evolve into digital form within the next 10 years. Today, we’re getting close.

When I wrote “digital form” I didn’t mean have Web sites, because newspapers already had Web sites then, they weren’t good ones, but they had them. What I meant was that instead of getting the newspaper delivered to your house everyday, it would be delivered to a digital device. That device would update every day with fresh news.

Five years ago doesn’t seem like that long ago, but it was before mobile phones became addictive. It was before the iPhone was invented and before Blackberry took over Corporate America.

When I wrote “digital device” I was thinking more along the lines of a thin paper-like device about the size of a newspaper front that you can hold and read. Instead, news is being sent digitally to mobile phone screens around the world. I like that idea better.

For those that have smart phones, Blackberries and iPhones, you know what I am talking about. But for those who don’t have Internet access on your phones, you probably don’t.

Today, even at TheTimesNews.com, you can receive news on your phone. Whether it’s browsing Web pages, or receiving text messages or e-mail alerts, you can get all the latest news from that little device you keep in your pocket.

I use my Blackberry Curve every day to read news, get sports scores and even update TheTimesNews.com. Our system is set up so that I can edit stories or move stories around on our Web site right from my phone.

I also frequent ESPN’s mobile site to check sports scores. I probably use Google the most and here’s why. You know when you’re having a conversation and one person thinks the answer is one thing and you think it’s something else? That happens to me all the time. Instead of debating it for another 20 minutes, I just Google it. I simply type it into my phone or say it using Google’s voice activation capabilities, and I get my answer.

The mobile Web site for the Times-News is m.TheTimesNews.com. On our mobile site you can view top stories and any photos that are associated with those stories. The mobile site is simple and eliminates our navigation and advertisements. It is very easy to navigate. If your phone has Internet access, go ahead and check it out.

We are finishing up tests on our new e-mail and text message alert system, so look for that in the next few weeks. We will be asking readers to sign up to receive breaking news and other news alert e-mails.

The future is already here when it comes to digital news distribution. I read every month about another newspaper going online only and ending its print service. Fortunately, here in Alamance County the Times-News is here to stay, but some markets aren’t so lucky.

The bottom line, though, is that we are going to continue to provide you with news as fast as we can. And because the Internet is taking over we want to make sure we stay current with industry practices and right now the new wave of news distribution is through mobile devices. So, get out your phone and see what it’s all about.

Online editor Alex Kreitman can be reached at alex_kreitman@link.freedom.com. You can also read his sports blog at alexkreitman.freedomblogging.com.

We are constantly adding new features to TheTimesNews.com. We want to stay sharp and provide our users with more items so that they can stay engaged and interested when visiting our Web site.

Last month we started a weekly feature called “Top Shots of the Week.”

This slideshow consists of the top 25 photos of the week, in no particular order, provided by The Associated Press. Photos cover all topics and come from all places. In the four slideshows we have done so far, you will see top news, sports and entertainment photos. Some notable photos include celebration shots from North Carolina’s NCAA Tournament championship a few weeks ago.

The Associated Press takes some great photos, but unfortunately the photos don’t always go with stories that we run in our newspaper. Space also limits us as to what stories we can run in the newspaper and we are handcuffed even more when it comes to photos. Often we can only run one photo with a story even though there might be two, three and even more available.

With this new weekly slideshow of top photos you can see those outstanding shots that didn’t make it in print. There were several incredible photos in last week’s slideshow from the wildfires in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The one that stands out in my mind is of a couple sitting on their front porch staring into a massive smoke cloud as the flames draw closer to their home.

The “Top Shots of the Week” come out every Friday afternoon. We usually put the slideshow in the top spot on our Web site for a few hours Friday, but if you happen to miss it, don’t sweat it. You can find the top shots slideshow and others by scrolling down the middle of our homepage. Underneath our video player you will see six thumbnail photos. The first row of three images lists our local photo galleries featuring pictures that can be purchased. The bottom row lists our most recent slideshows, including the top shots of the week.

Click “Top Shots of the Week” or the photo associated with the title and it will take you to the slideshow. From there you can either browse through the 25 photos by clicking “next” or you can click play and it will automatically rotate through the entire gallery. Caption information is listed below along with a box that says “close” in case you would like to minimize the captions. The slideshow also lists thumbnail images below so that you can browse more than one photo at a time. If you find one you like simply click it to make it larger.

The slideshows have been popular so far with several positive comments from online readers. I hope this idea eventually develops into a daily slideshow and then we could even display a slideshow of top local photos.

Online readers love to look at photos and we want to keep providing new photos in the most presentable format available. I hope you enjoy this new feature.

Online editor Alex Kreitman can be reached at alex_kreitman@link.freedom.com. You can also read his sports blog at alexkreitman.freedomblogging.com.