Google My Business: first-hand reports suggest it’s a terrible idea

One more Google My Business post for now, since no one has commented on my earlier post.    As suspected, there are no safeguards for piling: We had a 20 year old girl post a lengthy negative review on our Google Business Page because we wouldn’t ship her a replacement product for free. As a […]

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I want to remove a My Business location, but Google won’t let me

I really should not have wasted my time with Google, as My Business (see yesterday’s post) reminded me just why I don’t use the site—it’s not only the privacy issues, but the fact that things don’t work as advertised, which has always been the case with Google.    You’ve already seen that it’s impossible for […]

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Has Google My Business ever given you business?

I had a call from a nice gentleman working for Google called Shabhaz today. No, he wasn’t about to tell me that I wasn’t on the ‘first page of Google’: he worked for Google My Business, where they want to verify businesses and suck them into the ecosystem, complete with dashboard and social features.   […]

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When you let amateurs like Rees-Mogg write style guides

I thought I could be archaic on a few things—I still use diphthongs in text in our publications (æsthetic, Cæsar), the trio of inst., ult. and prox. in written correspondence, and even fuel economy occasionally in mpg (Imperial) because I am useless at ℓ/100 km and too few countries use km/ℓ. However, even I had […]

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Facebook is getting away with it again—even though it knew about Cambridge Analytica

Thanks to my friend Bill Shepherd, I’ve now subscribed to The Ad Contrarian newsletter. Bob Hoffman is one of the few who gets it when it comes to how insignificant the FTC’s Facebook fine is.    Five (American) billion (American) dollars sounds like a lot to you and me, but considering Facebook’s stock rose on […]

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‘If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?’

I didn’t read this thinking of Trump, which is what the Tweeter intended. I read it thinking of New Zealand. Heard the ‘If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?’ bullshit a lot—I dare say every immigrant to this nation has. English-born American columnist Sydney J. Harris, in 1969, answered it better than […]

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Surely, it can’t be this hard

Is it just me, or are companies getting more stupid by the day? July 25, 2019 Marshall Freeman Collections (NZ) Ltd. PO Box 302-218 NHPC Auckland Ladies and Gentlemen: I am in receipt of your letter dated the 19th inst.    If you are indeed an extension of Plumbquick’s credit control department, you should check […]

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In my experience, the only browser that works with Jetstar’s website is Safari for Mac

I’ve found some forum entries about this, but they date back to the beginning of the decade. I alerted Jetstar to this in March, and the problem has worsened since then.    Basically, I can’t book online, and I don’t know why. Consequently, I booked one flight with Air New Zealand and only managed, after […]

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Verizon’s continued hypocrisy borne of pettiness

Remember Tumblr, the platform owned by Verizon that I left?    I left because of Verizon’s policies, of placing their corporate agenda ahead of the users.    I went to NewTumbl instead—a site that Tumblr users might not know about, since Verizon has ensured that searches for its competitor come up empty.    I was […]

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My social media engagement is dropping and I do not care

  In the last month, maybe the last few weeks, my likes on Instagram have halved. Interestingly, Lucire’s Instagram visits have increased markedly. But as I use my own account more than a work one, I can see the trend there a bit more clearly.    It’s not unlike Facebook, which, of course, owns Instagram. […]

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