Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 16, 2013

16

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

 Mountain Views News Saturday, February 16, 2013 

BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques


FOREVER

By La Quetta M. Shamblee, MBA

 Can one remove all traces of one’s self from the Internet? It seems that once something has found 
its way online, it’s pretty much there forever. This seems to be the hard lesson that many are finding 
out through social media gaffes that enable personal messages and photos finding their way to places 
where the original owners never intended them to be. 

 This is the side effect of our living in an increasingly connected world where our digital identities 
are replicated and spread over thousands of online services and tens of thousands of servers located 
all over the world. For the most part this isn’t too bad of a thing, as our favorite sites keep track of 
our preferences but, in truth, the high price we pay is none other than our surrendered privacy and 
personal information. 

 Once our personal data is the hands of these online companies, they may then use our data 
as they see fit. Some of the more reputable companies often use our preferences to target us with 
directed advertising, but some of the less scrupulous companies often sell our details to the highest 
bidders. When this consumer behavior is viewed in the short term, it might not seem like that big of 
a deal since most people are at least somewhat careful with the information that they let out about 
themselves. But when viewed over a longer period of time, such as 10 years or so, who can really 
remember all the online sites and services one may have joined? Do you remember what you posted 
on a music forum in 2004? Or which services you tried for free email before Gmail? 

 We’re only human, so it’s only natural that we sometimes forget these services as we move on 
to newer and better ones. The problem is that these services don’t forget us. Tracking down these 
no longer wanted services can sometimes be tricky and tedious. Online Reputation Management 
services offer an array of products that claim to be able to give one a proverbial “digital clean slate” 
for a pretty penny. Sometimes one finds oneself in a case of “the-horse-having-already-left-the-barn” 
and what’s done can’t possible be changed. 

 What one can do going forward is take certain steps to protect one’s digital footprint going forward. 
Users are warned to be aware of the elements that make up your digital identity (PIN’s, IP Addresses, 
email addresses, names, avatars, photos, blog entries, etc) and to note that the concept of “managing 
one’s digital identity” means monitoring the use of these elements.

 When creating a user profile for a new site, always use an alias and do not post any personal 
information about yourself on the internet. Keep in mind that once an element of your digital identity 
has been posted on the internet you effectively lose control of that data.

WHAT HAPPENED TO COMMERCIAL-FREE 
CABLE TV?

If you’ve looked at your cable bill lately and 
experienced a slight rise in blood pressure 
when looking at the monthly cost, you are not 
alone. I seem to recall that “commercial-free” 
programming was one of the main reasons it 
made sense to pay for cable. After all, it seemed 
to make perfect sense for subscribers to pay some 
type of fee, especially since the cable networks 
wouldn’t be earning any money for airing 
commercials from corporate America. That 
didn’t last long. 

We should have known that something was amiss 
when “pay-per-view” reared its head to latch on 
to popular sports events that had previously been 
available on the free airwaves to be enjoyed by 
anyone who had a working television. It was one 
of the first indications of our collective cultural 
addiction to watching others act out our hopes, 
dreams, fantasies and fears. Not only had the 
cable companies convinced us to accept “pay-per-
view” as the status quo for certain programming, 
but they also eventually groomed subscribers to 
sit through an increasing barrage of commercials, 
without demanding any corresponding decrease 
in our cable bills.

Cable subscribers are paying hefty monthly fees to 
watch stations that have up to 40% of the airtime 
dominated by some form of paid advertising. 
Of course we don’t have to be bothered with the 
disruptive stream of commercials if we choose 
to pay to watch a movie of some other special 
broadcast. Still, we’ll be subjected to the select 
group of advertisers who pay for advertising and 
product placement to reach our target audience 
for those particular broadcasts.

These deep-pocket-diving-for-profit maneuvers 
by cable providers are very frustrating. Unless 
we choose to eliminate television from our lives, 
we are currently left with few alternatives. The 
multinational corporate telecommunications 
providers have done an outstanding job of 
growing their profits and shareholder value on 
the backs of staggering fees paid by subscribers 
who just want to watch TV.

Providers have increasing their efficiencies with 
investments in new technology and equipment 
that requires fewer staff to maintain. Some have 
also reduced expenses by outsourcing online and 
call-in customer service functions to low-cost, 
offshore operations. So let’s look at this picture – 
they lower costs, but the price to subscribers has 
continued to climb? It clear there is no thought of 
passing any cost reductions along to subscribers. 
What about those great specials they advertise? 
Read the fine print and calculate the total amount 
we’ll need to fork over after the time period for 
the special price has run its course. Also pay 
attention to the early cancellation fee, which 
is nothing more than a penalty for refusing to 
continue the insanity of paying an outrageous 
monthly fee.

We accept the fact that the good ole days of free 
television are history, but we don’t have to accept 
the blatant pocket gouging by the cable industry. 
It’s time to take a lesson from the providers and 
do a better job of reducing our cable expenses by 
finding the most affordable option. A growing 
number of friends who have unplugged from 
cable completely seem to be doing just fine. 
They can still enjoy broadcasts of major sporting 
events at a sports bar or viewing parties of friends 
and family, and for everything else – well there’s 
the internet and DVD’s. 

ASSEMBLYMEMBER HOLDEN APPOINTED TO

SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS CONSERVANCY 
BOARD

Sacramento - Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena) has been appointed to the Governing 
Board of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The announcement was made by Assembly 
Speaker John Perez.

“The Conservancy has helped preserve urban parks and wilderness access throughout Southern California 
and especially in the foothills region of the 41st Assembly District,” said Assemblymember 
Holden. “I look forward to working in partnership with local governments and private landowners 
to protect and preserve the natural treasures of the San Gabriel foothills.”

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy was established by the State Legislature in 1980.

Since that time, it has helped to preserve over 69,000 acres of parkland in both wilderness

and urban settings.


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PAGE POST TARGETING ON FACEBOOK

If you have a Facebook page for your business, you can now target distinct groups 
of people who like your page… by gender, relationship status, educational status, age, location and 
language. 

For example, if you have an English and Spanish speaking audience, you could post in Spanish and 
set the target for just those who speak Spanish. 

You could target by location. We recently helped The Shabby Dog (a local Sierra Madre business) 
build more likes on their Facebook page. They are very “likeable” and people from all over the United 
States gave them the thumbs up. They have two audiences they need to talk to, a national audience 
and a local audience. They have a variety of dog products they can market across the United States. 
They also have services like grooming, doggy day care and their new Shabby Cab that serve locals.

Page post targeting will allow them to promote their local services and events to a local audience. 

Page post targeting can be a powerful marketing tool especially if you have a large, diverse audience. 

You can start to speak the language of your different types of fans. Maybe you target by age and talk 
to your younger fans in OMGs and LMAOs. 

To get started, you have to go through a few hoops in order to add the audience selector to your 
page’s publisher. Here is what you need to do once you are on your Facebook business page:

• Select “Edit Page” in your Admin Panel
• Choose “Update Info”
• Select “Manage Permissions” in left column
• Look for “Post privacy gating” and check the box next to “Allow me to control the privacy of 
new posts I make on my Page.
• Save Changes


After you have added the audience selector, it will add a little target image into your publisher. As you 
post you have the option to select your audience. 

About MJ: MJ and her brother David own HUTdogs, a creative services business that specializes in 
Internet Marketing strategies and Social Media. They offer social media management services and help 
their clients build a strong on-line presence. “Like” them on Facebook for trending news in social media, 
internet marketing and other helpful tips, www.facebook.com/hutdogs.

Sign up for their upcoming classes and presentations at: www.hutdogs.com/workshops/schedule 

SIERRA MADRE 
LAW CLINIC

 The free Sierra Madre Law Clinic will be 
open on February 20 and February 23, 2013, 
from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at 19 Suffolk 
Avenue, Suite A, Sierra Madre, CA 91024.

 Local attorney, Noah Green, will be available during clinic 
hours for legal consultations on many areas of the law, including the 
following:

 . Real estate contracts or disputes, including mortgages

 and leases

 . Business disputes

 . Employment law, including hiring/firing, harassment,

 and wage & hour issues

 . Debt workouts or bankruptcy reorganization/liquidation

 . Forming or dissolving a corporation or LLC

 . Estate and/or business succession plans

 . Work-related injuries or premises-related injuries.

 If you have any questions regarding the clinic, please call Noah 
Green at (626) 568-8808, or by e-mail at ngreen@ryanattorneys.com.