Yesterday, Twitter announced that it has refined the technology enough to censor tweets in specific areas of the world.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. We all have this knee-jerk reaction to instantly hate anything that even questions our freedom of speech concepts, but before you get mad at Twitter, think about what this could mean for us as content creators and social media users.

Misplaced Anger

I think it’s important to start by understanding that Twitter isn’t going to just start wiping out your tweets willy-nilly. What they’re talking about is being able to block tweets on a country-by-country basis in order to comply with that country’s laws. Currently, Twitter already does censor some tweets that break United States laws – in most cases, that boils down to removing tweets that contain links to child pornography sites.

Some countries have very strict laws about what you can and cannot say publicly. Freedom of speech is not a world-wide civil liberty, unfortunately. Twitter isn’t creating these laws; governments are. I think public anger is a bit misplaced. We should be angry that governments are censoring their people, not angry that Twitter is abiding by these laws.

Some Access is Better than No Access

I won’t argue that censorship is a good thing, but I will argue that Twitter’s new ability to censor on a country-by-country basis is a good thing. Let’s use China as an example, since this is a country where Twitter is currently blocked. If Twitter wants to provide access in China, the company has two options:

• Censor everything any user from any country says to meet China’s policies.
• Censor some tweets in China to adhere to policies while leaving these tweets untouched in other parts of the world.

The second option is much better! Could you imagine if everything we said on Twitter was censored by the Chinese government? The third choice, of course, is to simple continue denying access to China so that no one’s tweets were censored to any follower, but I think some access is better than none at all. Even if my followers in China only were able to reader one out of every hundred tweets, that’s better than the situation now. I’d love to connect to new people, even if it was in a very small way.

Now, Twitter is unlikely to actually pursue Chinese operations at the moment, given the country’s fiasco with Google a few years ago, but this is just an extreme example of how it could work in countries with different laws. And a launch in China is certainly not out of the question.

A Commitment to Human Rights

One could argue that Twitter should not censor tweets at all, that they should simply refuse to provide services in any country with strict laws that don’t provide for freedom of speech. I argue that this approach is cutting off the nose to spite the face.

First of all, I don’t think any company that provides non-essential services is going to change the mind of a government power that restricts Internet use. Government in North Korea, for example, has shown the world that it can and will isolate its people. They don’t really given a you-know-what if their people have access to Twitter or not. So by refusing to enter these countries, Twitter isn’t really doing any good in my opinion.

Second, I believe it is important to support the people of a country. They don’t always agree with government policies. Heck, I don’t always agree with my government policies (who does?), but that doesn’t mean moving to another country is a better choice – and some people don’t have this option.

Third, this isn’t always a matter of black and white. For example, I think we can all agree here that spreading links to child pornography should not be protected under “freedom of speech,” and I’m glad Twitter removes those tweets. But from there, you can slope down to lesser and lesser “evils.” Where is the line drawn? Just because something is allowed by law in the United States doesn’t mean that other governments and cultures should have to conform to our standards. For example, pornography is illegal in many countries. Should Twitter boycott these countries the same as they boycott a country that censors tweets with negative opinions about the government?

Censorship for Positive Change?

Many major online companies, including Google, already censor their content in other countries to abide by laws, so this is nothing new. Twitter is just being extremely transparent about things, which I think is commendable. They plan to release information about who and where tweet censorship is being requested.

That could actually be a really positive thing for change in the world. It brings freedom issues to the forefront in people’s minds, both in the country being censored and in countries where people have more liberty to say whatever they want. So, censorship is bad…but Twitter’s move into countries where this is an issue could be good for raising awareness.

Not Without Problems

The concept of semi-censoring tweets is not without its problems.

Will Twitter simply listen to what a government official says, or will it allow tweets that aren’t breaking the law, even if a take-down is ordered? For example, what if the U.S. government decided to censor all the SOPA tweets earlier this month? Those tweets should be protected under the constitution, but if a take-down was ordered, would Twitter simply comply? Given the fast-paced nature of Twitter, the amount of time it would take for a tweeter to challenge something like that would make it a moot point. If tweets about SOPA were reinstated after the bill became a law, for example, it wouldn’t really matter.

And I also worry about misinformation. When someone is only seeing part of the story, ideas and facts can get dangerously warped very quickly. If someone is only see some of my tweets, they might form a very wrong opinion of me. Worse, it allows a government to have a lot of control on the message. If 99% of tweets about your leader are positive, is it because 99% of people actually like this person or because almost all negative tweets were caught and removed by censorship filters.

Thinking About Our Content Differently

I think, as content creators, we should be excited about Twitter’s plans to expand into new countries, even if tweets will be censored. It means new followers, new connections, and new readers/viewers. However, it does mean that we have to think about our content a little differently.

With Twitter’s new ability to censor tweets in specific countries, our messages aren’t going to be seen in the same way by every follower. If you want to reach this new audience, it’s important to make sure that you’re tweeting in a way that allows your messages to be seen, and that might require a little research to learn about laws in other countries.

Let’s Keep Our Eyes on Things

This new power for Twitter does not come without responsibility. Whether we realize it or not, censorship on Twitter has already been happening, but now that it is easier to wipe out tweets in specific countries, I think all of us users need to band together and just…well…keep an eye on things. It’s now much easier for a government – even the United States government – for for Twitter itself to abuse these powers. It’s up to us to ask questions and keep those in charge accountable for the decisions they make.

Here are a few more posts with information and opinions on this topic, which I’ve quickly collected with the help of one of my favorite plugins of all time, Zemanta. Weigh in with your opinion or a link to your post about the topic by leaving comment below.

• Twitter Will Censor Your Tweets If a Country Tells It To (gizmodo.com)
• Thoughts on Twitter’s Latest Move (jilliancyork.com)
• Twitter Changes The “Contours” Of Censorship With Country-By-Country Blocking (techcrunch.com)
• Twitter caves on censorship overseas (piedtype.com)
• Twitter to Censor Content in Certain Countries (mashable.com)
• Twitter Censored and DOMA (theintrepids.wordpress.com)
• This Tweet Is Available In The Following Countries: (pandodaily.com)
• Twitter will censor tweets, but will try really hard not to (gigaom.com)

Today, Google announced that they’d now be allowing both nicknames and pseudonyms on Google+. This makes it much easier for anonymous bloggers to use the network, which will definitely be an advantage for Google as it continue to try to attract more users. But is it doing any favors for the Internet as a whole? Will this encourage the use of pseydonyms – and is that a good thing?

Critics had told me that they feel my pen name allows a certain level of dishonesty. Because I’m not writing under my real name, I’m not as accountable for what I write on my blog, and it also makes it easier for me to deceive people.

These things are true. Blogging under a pen name is powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility.

But I would argue that, online, it’s possible to deceive people whether you use your real name or not. I don’t believe that anonymous blogging makes a blogger more likely to be dishonest, but I do believe that some people find it easier to create better content if they are able to use a pen name – and that’s a good thing for our community of content creators.

Having more opinions or ideas is rarely a bad thing, but if people aren’t allowed to anonymously express those opinions or share those ideas, they’ll often remain silent. Depending on the topic, blogging can jeopardize your job or reflect poorly on your family and friends. A pen name allows your to write without the worry that you’ll be judged. This freedom can be liberating.

Some people abuse this power and use a pseudonym to be nasty to others, share confidential information, or do other unsavory things. Don’t allow these people to form your opinion of anonymous bloggers. There are bad apples in every bunch. Most of the bloggers who write under names other than their real ones simply don’t want to be defined by a single piece of content during their daily lives. The freedom of being able to use a pen name allows us to create better content on Google+ and in general.

I believe that Google+’s decision to allow nicknames and pseudonyms is good for the online community. What do you think?

Yesterday, sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, and Craigslist blacked out in protest of SOPA and PIPA, two anti-piracy bills that would cause tons of Internet censorship. Countless blogs also joined the protest, and major sites like Google and Pinterest put up notices about the bills, even though they didn’t shut down completely.

Today, the Internet is, for the most part, back to normal. I’m still seeing a few tweets here and there about SOPA and PIPA,and a few sites are still alerting users/readers, but it’s back to business as usual for most people.

I have to be honest. That scares me.

SOPA and PIPA protests are more important today than they were yesterday. I saw many reports (mostly in mainstream media, like on the news) saying that the SOPA/PIPA protest yesterday was a giant failure. While I don’t believe that’s true, I do think that getting angry on Twitter and Facebook for a day doesn’t really matter. What matters is the follow through.

BlogWorld Expo is a conference for content creators. Last night, we held a Twitter chat to talk about SOPA and PIPA and one of the points brought up by Curtis Silver is that it is our responsibility, as content creators, to make sure this issue continues to stay on people’s minds. Others made similar points and they’re absolutely right – yesterday, several members of Senate pulled their support, but PIPA could still pass next week and SOPA could as well next month. We need to continue to voice our opinions against these bills.

Have you called your state’s elected officials? Tell them that you will not vote for anyone supporting SOPA or PIPA. Even an email or hand-written letter helps get your voice heard. Believe it or not, these politicians do listen to the people they represent because – surprise surprise – they want to get reelected. By saying you won’t vote for them, you’re threatening their jobs.

If you’re a content creator online, don’t let your readers/listeners/viewers forget how important SOPA and PIPA are. And no matter who you are, continue sharing this information on social media. Yesterday was only a battle. Let’s make it our goal to win the war.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pass the video on to all of your friends so we can fight SOPA/PIPA together! Even if you aren’t from the United States, these potential laws affect you; they affect every Internet user.

Please head to http://www.blogworld.com/SOPA to find out more about how you can join the fight against SOPA/PIPA and join us on Twitter this Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 at 9 PM EST for #bwechat, where we’ll be talking about these bills and what they mean to you.

Prediction posts are fun to read. It’s exciting to start a new year and think of all the possibilities we have in front of us. But what’s also fun and interesting is to look back at the year before and see who got it right and who didn’t. Some bloggers and new media enthusiasts even go back to their own predictions from the following year and post about whether they were dead on or dead wrong.

What a great idea right? How about we take a stroll down memory lane, a look back at a few of the New Media predictions that were made for 2011, to see who was spot on and who possibly missed the mark.

It’s All In Good Fun

Before I go on, let me clarify that making predictions takes guts in the first place. So, even if their prediction didn’t come true, it in no way means they’re not worthy of our attention. I’ll keep reading their blogs, following them on Twitter and shaking their hands at events. If all of us could predict with precision what the next year would hold, then that would mean there would be nothing to take us by surprise. I don’t know about you, but I love surprises. For example, who could have predicted the Netflix blunder (Qwikster anyone?) or the Kindle Fire or Google Plus? I’m getting ahead of myself here.

Three of the Best Predictions About 2011

Prediction: Journalists and news organizations will rely more on social media to get the story – by Mashable

“What we’ve known as the role of the foreign correspondent will largely cease to exist in 2011. In 2011, we’ll see more news organizations relying heavily on stringers and, in many cases, social content uploaded by the citizenry.”

While I wouldn’t necessarily say foreign correspondents are completely dead and not needed, I would say Mashable got it right when it comes to their statement regarding news agencies relying heavily on uploaded social content.

Back in June I wrote an article about how social media was quickly becoming the leading way to communicate during a national disaster. It also seems it’s become a go-to source for journalists looking for information when disaster strikes. We see Twitter, Facebook and YouTube used on national news broadcasts on at least a weekly basis.

Prediction: Marketers embrace the idea of customers telling the stories – Lisa Petrelli

“I think 2011 will be the year that brand marketers – and C-Suites for that matter – will begin to finally ‘get,’ and ultimately embrace, the idea that it is much better for their customers to tell their stories and share their stories than for them to continue to try to control the entire message.”

We saw this everywhere in 2011, from TV commercials (Ford) to companies hiring bloggers as brand ambassadors. Bloggers traveled the globe, were spotlighted in commercials, hosted Twitter chats and went to events sponsored by a company. As she said in her prediction, customers would rather see a real person’s enthusiasm for a certain product than its features and benefits. As some have predicted for 2012, I believe the concept of a brand ambassador will continue to grow in popularity with companies of all shapes and sizes.

Prediction: Bloggers will need agents –  Jennifer James

“As brand/blogger relationships grow I also see more mom bloggers needing agents to act on their behalf to negotiate contracts for spokesperson and brand ambassador opportunities.”

We saw this several times in 2011 and I believe we’ll see it more and more in 2012. As she pointed out in her “Gearing Up for 2012 Mom Blog Predictions”, the sway group was formed in 2011. It’s an exclusive agency who works with bloggers, connecting them with brands. She also mentioned this NYTimes article about a fashion blogger who hired a New York agency to handle all of her negotiations.

Three of the Worst Predictions About 2011

Prediction: The newness of social media will wear off – As seen on Junta42.com

“The novelty of social media will begin to melt away and with it the undue animosity hurled at it on a daily basis.”

You might disagree with me on this one, but I don’t think the novelty of, nor the animosity towards, social media wore off in 2011. A “novelty” is something new and unusual. Companies are still learning how to embrace social media and finally started realizing they needed a social media budget.

This post also predicted that social media would be viewed “less as a ‘game-changer’ and more as an obvious channel.” It seems an obvious channel to those of us who are in the trenches of social media every day, but not to the general public. And of course, Google+ entered the picture, which means another new social media network for everyone to learn and embrace – and inevitably decide if we love it or love to hate it.

I’ve actually read several 2012 predictions that basically say this same thing: more companies will invest in social media, social media will become mainstream, people will stop referring to it as new media, etc. We shall see, right?

Prediction: Quora is the future of blogging – Shervin Pishevar

“@Scobleizer I believe @quora is the future of blogging.”

Unfortunately for some, Quora was not the next big thing. It was being hailed as more useful and elegant than Twitter and Facebook. Even big names like Robert Scoble (he later trashed Quora, which is a whole other story) and VC Mark Suster were excited and on board. I remember being excited about Quora for about a week, and then I stopped using it. Why didn’t it become the next big thing? Some say it had design flaws, was confusing to use and was up against some major competition such as Yahoo Answers.

Prediction: 2011 is the Year of the QR code – Way too many people predicted this to even list their names

I put this QR code prediction under the “worst” category for two reasons: 1) Many people still have no idea what they’re for, and (2) For those of us who do know what they’re for, we don’t use them. At least that’s the case for me and several of my geeky friends. I can’t even get the code to work half the time on my Android smart phone. (No comments from the iPhone peanut gallery, okay?)

Yes, we did see a ton, and I mean a ton, of QR codes appear on packages, online (why?) and on print mail in 2011. But I wouldn’t call 2011 a successful year for QR codes.

Allison recently wrote a post titled “Are QR Codes Dead?” I agree with her that they’re not completely dead yet, but they will be if companies don’t start getting a little more creative with them.

Your Thoughts on 2011

Do you recall any predictions that were made for 2011 that were either right on the money or missed the boat completely? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Looking Ahead to 2012

With 2011 behind us, we can now look to 2012. Deb asked the BlogWorld community on the BlogWorld & New Media Facebook page what some of their predictions for 2012 were. I also asked our team to chime in with their predictions. Here’s a list of New Media predictions for 2012:

“ The majority of people will happily stay with Facebook — they’ll SAY they’re unhappy, but they won’t leave — and Google Plus will be used by a few specific groups of people (just as MySpace was used by bands long after the general public was tired of it.)” – AFMarCom

“More interest in Pinterest!” – AFMarCom

“I think self publishing is going to be big this year” – Ainslie Hunter

“Pinterest and Google + will both go mainstream in 2012.” – Rick Calvert, BlogWorld & New Media Expo Founder

“I also think that Pinterest will go mainstream this year and be a big deal – maybe even growing to overshadow Facebook eventually. I also think that we’ll continue to see more and more people in the general public understand that not all blogs are online journals and people will start holding bloggers to higher standards, the same way they’d treat a newspaper or magazine. Lastly, especially with Google owning their own social network now, I think we’ll continue to see deeper integration of search and social, so you can’t just be an SEO or an original content creator – you have to be both.” – Allison Boyer, Feature Editor for the BlogWorld blog

What are YOUR predictions for 2012?

Image: SXC

Sad panda picture Leo posted on his blog after being denied access to The Digital Experience at CES 2012.

In a quick audio clip, Leo says that he was denied access because they didn’t have credentials – proof that he qualifies as press in the tech field. I don’t know if that was a mistake on Leo’s end by not sending in paperwork or a mistake on Pepcom’s end by misplacing the paperwork. My attempts to contact Pepcom have gone unanswered.

Because Pepcom is being tight-lipped about what happened at The Digital Experience door, I’ll be clear about one thing: I don’t think an a-lister in any industry has the right to demand, “DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!?!” when they haven’t followed the registration process for an event. It’s rude, and more importantly, event staffers need the numbers ahead of time to make sure there’s enough food and they’re following fire code laws. That said, I really doubt that this is what happened. This isn’t Leo’s first time at a major event, and he’s not known for being a diva. I think this was simply a case of crossed wires (appropriate for a tech event, right?). I think there was a mix-up with the registration and Leo was mistakenly left off the list.

No matter who was to blame, though, what really matters is that Pepcom staffers – those at the door representing the company – should have without question allowed him access.

See, if you’re a business owner, especially a PR agency, you’re responsible for knowing who the content creators are in your industry. Access for Leo would have meant a ton of additional press for their event, and for all of the companies at their event. Word on the street is that the companies involved paid $15,000 to have a booth at The Digital Experience, and when you’re shelling out that kind of dough, you want access to the best media personalities and analysts in the industry. The fact that Leo instead went somewhere else that evening was a huge blow to those companies.

It can be difficult to know everyone in your industry, especially when you’re new. I’ll never forget the look of shock and horror on a friend’s face when I asked, “Who is Chris Brogan?” several years ago. As a relatively new blogger, I legitimately didn’t know. So I don’t really blame the people working the door for not knowing.

The first person I blame is the person who put together the list. If the people working the door were newbies, they should have had a group of people under the header, “These people didn’t complete the registration process correctly, but they need to be allowed access anyway because they’re a-listers and we want them at our event.” Okay, maybe the header needs a little work, but you get the idea.

At the very least, there should have been protocol – someone at Pepcom who well acquainted with people in the tech industry should have been on call to give approval (or not) if someone arrive who wasn’t on the list. Especially when they arrived with a camera crew who was on the list. It was obviously a mistake.

The second person (or team of people) I blame is whoever was running Pepcom’s social media accounts.

It’s bad enough that this was exploding on Twitter and Pepcom didn’t respond. After Leo’s initial tweet, tons of his fans tweeted about it. When looking to see if Pepcom responded…I couldn’t even find a valid Twitter account for them. Their site says @PepcomEvents, but there’s no profile under that name, and @Pepcom is a egg profile with no tweets. Maybe I’m missing something? How are you a PR events company without a Twitter account?

Update: I’ve been told be a few people that @PepcomEvents was their Twitter handle, but when they started getting all sorts of negative attention over the Leo incident, they changed it so people couldn’t find them and eventually just completely disappeared. I can’t confirm this because, once again, Pepcom ignored my emails and phone call…but…WOW. There are no other words. Just wow.

What they do definitely have is a Facebook page…which says nothing about the Leo Laporte incident. in fact, they very quickly deleted every post mentioning it as it was uploaded to their page. You can see now that their wall is squeaky clean with no negative posts at all.

But this is the Internet. Once something is posted, it doesn’t just disappear. Facebook user Adam J. Kragt was smart enough to start taking screenshots as posts were being deleted. Pepcom took that post off their wall of course, but you can still see the images here.

People were mad. In his audio clip, Leo sounded more disappointed than angry, but in any case, this was a huge Pepcom mistake, and they didn’t do anything to correct it. Social media gives us the awesome ability to screw up in public…but it also gives us the chance to easily and publicly apologize and make things right. As soon as he was denied access, Pepcom should have reached out to him on Twitter or Facebook and corrected the problem. Somebody was obviously monitoring their social media accounts (at least, on Facebook), so why didn’t anyone try to fix the mistake? Why did they instead try to hide it by deleting negative posts?

Will this blow over? Yes. I’m sure an equally big scandal will rock the Internet soon (if it hasn’t already during the writing of this post). People will be saying, “Pepcom who?”

But what really matters to Pepcom, to any business, is the button line – the money. And if I was a company involved with their event or thinking about getting involved with it, I wouldn’t be so quick to jump on board next year. I would be more inclined to spend my sponsorship budget on other events where major players in the industry aren’t turned away at the door. Leo has said that he won’t be going back to their events and I’d be worried, as a sponsor, that others would follow in his footsteps. So while the general public will probably easily forget, the people who write the checks won’t…and when they search for press about The Digital Experience, this post is what they’ll find.

** Update by Rick**

When I read Alli’s post, I pretty much agreed with her entire Post. One thing that struck me is that Leo’s TWiT is one of the most high profile press entities at CES. He has one of only two networks I am aware of that have a booth at the front of the show. The other is CNET.

I had our Deb go take a couple photos of Leo’s booth. Here is the TWiT booth at the very front of the South Hall at CES.

Pretty hard for any attendee at CES including the PR flacks to miss.

By taking one quick look at the conference schedule, you’ll see there are some fantastic speakers, tracks and sessions. Trade show attendees will hear from speakers at Microsoft, Intel, Ford, Verizon and Facebook – just to name a few.

If you check your twitter stream for #CES or #CES2012, you’ll see there are many content creators attending the event who are giving us a great look into the show. It’s easy to get lost in CES twitter hash tag land, which might leave you wondering, “Whose tweets should I follow?”

Who To Follow

Here’s an alphabetical list of who to follow, who is covering it well and who is there in the trenches of CES. The list includes several of our speakers from BlogWorld L.A. 2011, as well as a few members from the BlogWorld team.

(Side note: I’ll be adding to this list throughout today and Wednesday.)

Beth Blecherman – @TechMama, Technologist- CoolMomTech.com, Founder- Techmamas.com

Bryan Rhoads – @bryanrhoads, global social media @Intel

Cali Lewis – @CaliLewis, Host of GeekBeat.TV. Tech correspondent for CNN, FOX and Sirius 101′s GeekTime

Calvin Lee – @mayhemstudios, Blogs at Method to Mayhem

Cathy Brooks – @CathyBrooks, Raconteur and genetically inclined connector. Evangelist & Head of Strategic Relationships for mobile search

Dave Delaney – @DaveDelaney, Founder of Geek Breakfast & Nashcocktail. Co-founder of BarCamp & PodCamp Nashville

Dave Taylor – @DaveTaylor, Blogger, entrepreneur, public speaker, dad from AskDaveTaylor.com

Deb Ng – @debng and @blogworldexpo, Social media enthusiast, oversharer, and Conference Director for BlogWorld. Author of Online Community Management for Dummies.

Heather Solos – @HeatherSolos, Blogs at Home-Ec101.com

Jennifer James – @MomBloggersClub, Founder of Mom Bloggers Club

Jen Wojcik – @TheJenATX, Biz Dev for BlogWorld & New Media Expo, Co-Founder PinqSheets.com

John Pozadides – @JohnPoz, Co-host of GeekBeat.TV and blogs at www.onemansblog.com

Kelby Carr – @TypeAMom, Founder of Type A Parent conference

Kristi Trimmer – @dragonflytweet, Social Media, Design and Editing

Leo Laporte - @leolaporte and @TWiT, Podcaster, broadcaster and tech pundit. The Tech Guy on the Premiere Radio Networks. Live at live.twit.tv

Mike Schneider – @schneidermike, Blogs about social media and technology at www.schneidermike.com

Patti Hosking - @newmediapatti, Director of Business Development for BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Employee #1

Rick Calvert – @blogworld, BlogWorld & New Media Expo founder

Sarah Kimmel – @Tech4Moms, Blogs about technology for moms at www.tech4mommies.com

Syed Balkhi – @SyedBalkhi, Creator of WPBeginner.com

This Week’s Topic: SOPA

SOPA has been causing a stir in the new media industry since the day it was introduced. I’ve written about why SOPA scares me (and should scare you too), and thanks to domain name owners boycotting GoDaddy, we’ve already made a difference! The bill is still likely to pass, though, so we have more work to do. A group of major players online including Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and Google have said they’re considering a black out – that’s how big of a deal this is.

For today’s Brilliant Bloggers, I wanted to highlight posts from other bloggers who are also talking about SOPA. This is a super important issue, so if you aren’t familiar with what SOPA is and what it means to you (and to anyone who uses the Internet), take some time to check out these posts.

Advice from Brilliant Bloggers:

How SOPA/PIPA Can Affect You by Jamal Jackson from 1stwebdesigner

First things things first; before you can start reading all the brilliant opinions out there about SOPA, it’s important to understand exactly what SOPA and PIPA are and what they mean for you as a blogger, a social media profession, and even a consumer. This post by Jamal Jackson from 1stwebdesigner is a great place to start, since he breaks down the proposed laws into very easy-to-understand terms. It’s a long post, but trust me: it’s worth reading and understanding this. Everyone online, from those who use it for work every day to those who just log in to check their Facebook occasionally, is affected by SOPA and PIPA. It’s even important if you’re not from the United States. Writes Jamal,

The U.S. government officials and private corporations aren’t only concerned about how these bills will work out in America, they are hoping that they will have the influence to get other nations to follow suit with these acts passing. That means if these acts pass, then the next country this could be coming toward may be yours.

You can find more from Jamal at Five Alarm Interactive and follow him on Twitter @5alarmint.

SOPA, GoDaddy and the Bottom-Up Democracy (or Mob Rule) of the Web by John Paul Titlow at Read Write Web

Once you understand what SOPA is and how it can affect you, check out this post by John Paul Titlow on Read Write Web. He talks about the recent “mob” mentality that helped convince GoDaddy and other companies to stop supporting SOPA – and he takes a closer look as to whether or not this was a good thing. Undoubtedly, GoDaddy’s change of heart was good for those opposing SOPA, but is mob mentality on the Internet potentially harmful? He writes,

To be sure, some of what goes on amongst the Reddit is questionable and not every member of that particular community has their facts straight at all times. But they’re far from the only player in these scenarios, even if they do often provide a solid launch pad for digital protest campaigns. What’s more remarkable is what the architecture of the Web generally, as well as its social tools, are beginning – yes, only beginning – to enable.

Check out the full post on Read Write Web, and then follow John Paul on Twitter @johnpaul. You can also find out more about him at JohnPaulTitlow.com.

Preparedness In a Post-SOPA World by Chris Richardson at WebProNews

One of the most infuriating things about SOPA is that it isn’t going to actually cut down on piracy, which is the whole goal of the bill, according to those supporting it. People are already finding ways to work around the censorship, should the bill pass. In this post, which is one of many great SOPA posts on WebProNews, Chris Richardson posts an entire list of IP addresses that you can use to access some of your favorite sites in case the top-level domains aren’t working anymore. The list isn’t in and of itself as important as actually understanding why this kind of thing pretty much negates the entire point of SOPA and just makes things more difficult to everyone online, whether you’re a pirate or a legitimate business owner. Writes Chris,

Hopefully, the Louis Pasteur quote subtitling this article [ "Fortune favors a prepared mind"] motivates you enough to prepare yourself for a post-SOPA world, one where the Internet, as we know it, is rendered into a smoldering ruin that’s overtly governed by the copyright gatekeepers. Hyperbole? Perhaps, but then again, being prepared for a potentially real future could make the transition to a SOPA-controlled Internet much easier to navigate.

You can find more from Chris by adding him to your circles on Google+.

BONUS BRILLIANT BLOGGER: It’s a very long and in-depth post, but if you have time to read it, Don’t Break the Internet at the Stanford Law Review is one of the best explanations of SOPA out there, in my opinion. Check it out!

Even More Brilliant Advice:

1. 25 Things You Need To Know About SOPA by David Pegg (@iamdpegg)
2. Boycotting SOPA Supporters is All or Nothing by Kelly Clay (@kellyhclay)
3. Coders are Already Finding Ways Around SOPA Censorship by Adam Clark Estes (@adamclarkestes)
4. Google’s SOPA press stunt: Can we truly hold them liable? by Charlie Osborne (@ZDNetCharlie)
5. Net Artists Warned Us About SOPA 15 Years Ago by Will Brand (@wrbrand)
6. No SOPA for You: This Chrome Extension Shows You Who Is Pro-SOPA as You Browse by Adrianne Jeffries (@adrjeffries)
7. Online Piracy and SOPA: Beware of Unintended Consequences by James Gattuso
8. Piracy is not a problem; SOPA is not a solution by Terry Hancock (@TerryHancock1)
9. Public Service Announcement: Writers, Censorship, and SOPA by Melissa Donovan (@melissadonovan)
10. SOPA: All Your Internets Belong to US by Michael Geist (@mgeist)
11. SOPA: An Unfair Advantage for GoDaddy, but Reddit and Facebook are Safe by Brad McCarty (@BradMcCarty)
12. SOPA, Freedom, and the Invisible War by John Biggs (@johnbiggs)
13. SOPA is the end of us, say bloggers by Tim Mak (@timkmak)
14. SOPA isn’t the Answer to Our Problems byDaniel Herzig (@techblitznews)
15. SOPA, Middlemen and Freedom of Art by Mark Birch (@marksbirch)
16. SOPA’s most frightening flaw is the future it predicts by Omar El Akkad
17. URGENT: SOPA will Kill Your Mom Blog and WAHM Business by Linsey Knerl (@lknerl)
18. What Journalists Need to Know about SOPA by Tracie Powell (@tmpowell)
19. Why is SOPA a big problem for everyone? Just ask DaJaz1.com by Ken Priore (@priorelaw)
20. Why We Must Stop SOPA by End of the American Dream
21. “Wow, I had no clue SOPA was such a bad idea…” by Rosie Siman (@rosiesiman)

Did I miss your post or a post by someone you know about SOPA? Unintentional! Help me out by leaving a comment below with the link!

Next Week’s Topic: Pinterest

I’d love to include a link to your post next week – and if you head to the Brilliant Bloggers Schedule, you can see even more upcoming posts. We all have something to learn from one another, so please don’t be shy! Head to the schedule today to learn how to submit your post so I won’t miss it.

Actually, I am a little surprised at the fact Yahoo! ranked number 3 for Top U.S. Web Brands. They beat out Microsoft, YouTube and AOL Media Network, to name a few.

Here are the Top 10 U.S. Social Networks & Blogs:

1. Facebook
2. Blogger
3. Twitter.com
4. WordPress.com
5. Myspace.com
6. LinkedIn
7. Tumblr
8. Google+
9. Yahoo! Pulse
10. Six Apart TypePad

What site(s) did you spend most of 2011 on? For me personally, I would have to say Facebook, YouTube and of course – all things Google related.

What if you just simply shared something of importance? No fancy equipment. No music. Just you and your message.

Texas teen Ben Breedlove sat silently in front of a camera, with some notecards he had written on and held them up for all to read. Nothing fancy. Just his words he needed and wanted to share.

This was a two-part video the 18 year old shared about the heart condition he’s been living with called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He shared how he’s cheated death 3 times and what he remembers from those moments. He ends the video with “Do you believe in angels or God? I do.”

Breedlove died on Christmas Day (December 25, 2011) and these videos titled “This is My Story” were uploaded just a few short days before he passed. His videos now have more than 2 million views.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Ben Breedlove.