Threatened Bloggers: This is a User's Guide

Photos

e-Freedom Fighters User's Guide, Illustration

see larger image

uploaded by Ahmadsherif

Version 6 - updated at 22h01 GMT. I'll constantly be updating this Guide especially dedicated to all of you out there fighting injustice, Internet Censorship and ruthless dictators of all kinds. Updated sections will be in bold from now on. There will be no blah, blah. Just bullet points of my experience. Why did I choose Nowpublic.com? It's because it's definitely part of the shout-out loop. It's also one of the best places to reach focused readers and great editors who are doing their job like no media repository on the Web. Please send your comments and ideas.

Version 6

1. You have a message. Each word and tag you use must correspond to what people are looking for.

Bad Example: "President Mubarak, I hate you". Good Example: "Egypt: Emad Kabeer Torture Case".

Always think "Bottom-Up": think of what users want to find. The narrower the topic, the better you reach your "niche" public. Don't aim for "the world".

2. Your goal is to be visible in search engines such as Google.

3. To be visible, you must generate traffic and a growing amount of people linking to your message or blog or posts or videos etc. To do so, you must ***multiply*** the sources of your message:

Open a gmail account

You'll need it if you wish to send e-mails with no IP number attached to it (this could be subject to change. Check regularly). IP is a computer number that tells people where you are, who your Internet Service Provider is etc. In Dictatorships, this means secret service can ask your ISP for your name and address and... Go to jail. Otherwise, Gmail will also let you monitor the visibility of your message, through Google Alerts and other interesting analytics (no, I'm not paid by Google). Monitoring is important, it will let you fine tune your tags, your titles etc.

Multiplying the source of your message

Things you can do:

Open a Youtube channel: make simple and effective videos (even scrolling texts can be effective)

Start a blog: (Recommended: Wordpress.com, Blogger.com)

Post as many posts as you can on targeted blogs. Find them in http://blogsearch.google.com. ***BUT*** be aware that each time you post a comment on a Blog, you're sending your IP number.

Tag your message(s) and content at Technorati.com and other similar services. Embed Technorati's code in your blog. You'll find all the explanations at Technorati. It's easy.

Post pictures and media on flickr. Tag them well.

Tag your message and content at del.icio.us (download/install the "TAG" button onto your browser's button bar). Tagging will take you seconds.

Create a community around you thanks to your Youtube Channel, your blog, your friends and emails you will find on blogs you would have researched. Always be sure to protect the identity and IP of people who dont wish to share such information.

*** Do not Spam*** blindly. The backlash can be highly destructive and, even if there were no backlash, spamming wouldn't lead you anywhere. Just don't. Always cherry pick.

- ***Always Remember***: anything you write on the Web is there and visible, almost, for ever. Check your comments, don't write foolish things you'll regret a second later. My recommendation regarding the wording of your thoughts is always to be "correct". This doesn't mean "politically correct". I would advise you not to say "President X is a f******* murderer". Just say President X is a murderer, and give proof. Just like professional reporters would do. Check your facts. In countries such as Egypt where "insulting" the President is worth 1 year in prison, I advise you to erase the "insults" and emotions, and just keep the truth.

Your Privacy and your friends' privacy:

- *** Always Remember***: when you make a post on a blog or anywhere else: your IP number is sent automatically (and having a Gmail account won't change anything). This IP Number is sent even when you send an "Anonymous Post". To avoid computer traceabily: be sure to choose the place in which you're posting your comments. For example: if you're 100% under cover, do not post anything from your own home or office in countries known for Internet Control and Censorship (Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Egypt...). Internet Cafe's are also under observation in these country (a Blogger has been arrested in Egypt, in an Internet Cafe).

Titling and Tagging

- *** Titling and Tagging***: bad titles + bad tags + fake tags = you don't exist and, I if you do because you cheated with "sexy tags", you'll be flagged in about 0,24 seconds.

This takes us back to point 1: Learn it by heart and repeat it to yourself each time you're tagging one of your messages or media.

Publishing a backround article on Nowpublic.com

- Each time you have a message, a video, an audio file, an article: ***** publish an article on www.nowpublic.com. ***** Do not self promote *****. This isn't about: "Hey guys, come blow-up my view counts on Youtube or my blog stats". Get it? Your article has to be... an article. Your work can of course be related media, when relevant. Either you upload it, locally, on Nowpublic.com (recommended). Either you link to it, using the linking feature in the "write your story" interface. Nowpublic articles have an amazing visibility on the Internet and in Search engines.

Stats and feedbacks

- Stats and feedback in : Wordpress, Blogger, Google, Youtube, NowPublic, Google Alerts, Google Blog Search: Read them daily to understand what you're doing right or wrong. Look for the people linking to you. See if the words people have used to find you are those *you* chose in your tag line. For example: your name is Mickey, and you realize that someone has been searching for your name under "Miky's blog". Run to your blog's tag line and add "Miky's blog". Why? Because that means that **many** other people are doing the same mistake and that only one guy was patient enough to reach page 112 of Google results.

Building and maintaining your community:

• Communicate: All the interfaces we listed above (youtube, blog etc) let people comment, write, send you emails etc. If your getting human feedback this is great and precious. Always write back, respond. I recommend not to hate or to bully the "haters". Why? because they are ***precisely*** those whose mentalities need to be changed. Talk to them, with respect and humanity. If you can turn a hater into something else then... hey, the world should be grateful.

• Share, share and share: Always link to people, share your traffic. Add the blogs of other people in your "blogroll" (your list of favorite blogs" -- and don't wait for others to blogroll you... before you blogroll them): *** the more you give, the more you get***. In Youtube, be as open as possible, enable comments, video responses, etc. (I left everything "open". I just disabled the "ratings" because this isn't a game, and because if someone has something to say he/she can post a detailed comment).

***********************

Ahmad Sherif / ahmadsherif