Keeping abreast of SEO news is just one of the many things we try to keep tabs on here at Focus Towers.  Mumblings and grumblings about Google's latest update - termed the "Dewey Update" after a blog post from Matt Cutts - have been growing over the past few weeks.

Has this affected your site rankings?

I'd be really interested to get any feedback from anyone affected by this latest change.

Links
Surviving the Dewey Update 
Dewey Discussion
Spanish SEO commentary
Useful tool comparing searches across disparate data centres

A hilarious plan to bring a herd of painted swine into Bath's city centre in the name of art has caused consternation among council officials.  Apparently it is felt by some that the pigs would be "inappropriate" and "damaging to the city's character".

The brightly coloured models have been designed to interest summer tourists, engage people with the history of Bath, and raise large sums of money for charity.  Over £20,000 has already been raised in sponsorship fees, which will have to be returned if the conservative elements of the council have their way.

I was lucky enough to see one of the pigs close-up at a BBWA networking event last week.  Beautifully decorated by one of the members, it will certainly stand out against the backdrop of Bath stone-clad town houses.  Joined by a herd of similarly decorated brethren, the sight may turn out to be in turns comical, bizarre and possibly pointless.  The idea gets my thumbs up though!

Source: Bath Chronicle

Picture Source: EcoSherpa

Read more about King Bladud

A new report published this week by Forrester estimates that over $5 billion will be spent on social networks by 2013 in North America and Europe alone.

Coming above six other Web 2.0 categories - mashups, widgets, wikis, blogs, podcasting and RSS - social networks have been clearly identified as this years' must-have inclusion in any large companies' online budget.

Although this research hardly comes as a surprise, it will be interesting to see what will supersede the current trend.  Attendees of this week's "Geek Conference" in San Francisco will most likely get a taste for what's ahead on the new technology event horizon.

Source:  BBC Technology

Following on from Lisa's last post, I came across an article that really brought home the scale of online sexual abuse.

According to Tom Lloyd at Youth Work News, "the number of people arrested for child sex offences has tripled in the last year.

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a full days' training on e-safety and child protection in relation to online chat facilities and forums. The session was hosted by Tony Domaille of David Niven Associates and the session was not only interesting and useful but also quite an eye-opener.

Tony worked as a police officer for over 30 years as a Detective Sergeant for the Child Protection Department and the last four years working on the Dangerous Offenders Unit concentrating on sexual exploitation of children through the Internet, so he's more than used to dealing with the issue of paedophilia. I was, on the other hand, very naive and completely unaware of the lengths these people will go to in order to carry out their fantasies and that they are generally very respected and trusted members of our community.

We're working with 3 local authorities on web sites which publicise positive activities for young people and include interactive chat facilities. Bath and North East Somerset council (B&NES) have enlisted the help of Tony to ensure that the moderators of the site are fully trained to recognise any misuse of the site. This includes not only being aware of sexual predators and how to deal with them, but also online bullying, cries for help in relation to issues such as suicide or anorexia, and discrimination against others in terms of things like racism or sexuality.

The actual website has also been enhanced by a number of e-safety features to ensure it's as easy as possible for users to report anything that they're concerned about as well as to deter potential predators. Some of the enhancements are:

• Link to Think U Know, which informs on how to have fun, stay in control and how to report online abuse. 
• Link to the Virtual Global Task Force, which includes information on how to report abuse and provides a template for reporting. The reports reach appropriate authorities via the Child Exploitation On-line Protection Centre (CEOP) who disseminate reports/referrals. 
• Link to directly contact site moderators. 
• Inclusion of House rules for use of the site and forum. 
• Internet Protocol (I.P) address to be captured at the point of registration. 
• The email address provided on registration will be verified before the user is able to use the site.  

The new website - B-Active - is due to go live at the end of April.