When he tried to connect with Facebook and defend himself, he found that the company does not have any customer support. He believes this is a very big problem for a company of Facebook’s magnitude, especially given the fact that its users range from all ages.

“This is a problem that, if it’s ignored, it’s not going to get better; it’s going to get worse,” he said.

As a result, Fagin has filed a lawsuit against Facebook for $1. Since the value is so low, it’s obvious that the principle of the matter is his bigger objective. He told WebProNews that he would like to raise enough awareness to ensure that the government would somehow require Facebook to incorporate customer support.

For anyone that has had a similar experience on Facebook, Fagin asks that they email him.

Update: Fagin has also created a Facebook group as part of his initiative.

Blekko and DuckDuckGo have actually banned Demand Media‘s network of sites, including eHow and Answerbag, from their search results. Google has also taken action and released a Chrome extension that blocks content farms from its search results.

DuckDuckGo also recently promoted wikiHow‘s content to its Zero-Click Info box, which is displayed above the first search result. While this move from DuckDuckGo may seem like a step backward to some, Jack Herrick, the founder of wikiHow, explained to WebProNews why it is not. According to him, wikiHow and eHow are two very different services.

He tells WPN that wikiHow’s content is user-generated and is very much like Wikipedia‘s content model. eHow, on the other hand, is based on a paid model in which freelance writers are paid to write articles.

“When you get… maybe a dozen or two dozen people who have edited an article, each person passionate about the topic [and] contributing their knowledge, you end up with a very, very different product than if you pay a freelancer a few dollars to write an article,” he said.

Interestingly enough, Herrick actually ran eHow before it sold to Demand Media in 2006. Although the model is slightly different now, he said that eHow still has the paid model that it had while he was there. He also pointed out that he was faced with the situation of either producing a lot of very low quality articles or producing very few high quality articles. Because he wasn’t pleased with either of those options, he based wikiHow on an entirely different model.

“My goal for wikiHow, and what I’ve been trying to do for several years now, is build a how-to manual with every single topic and have every topic be the best possible page it can be – the single highest quality resource on the Internet for that how-to topic,” he added.

Herrick also spoke about the AOL/Huffington Post deal and the hype that it has been receiving in regards to paid content vs. free content. Although he doesn’t believe that one is necessarily better than the other, he does say that free content is often of higher quality than paid content is.

“Sites like ours go the extra mile… you start with that $15 level and start adding volunteer contributions on top of it… adding a video, adding step-by-step images, adding tips that they’ve learned over years of doing this. It really can bring the quality level a notch higher, and I think that’s where wiki content can do something that other sites just can’t do,” he said.

Going forward, the mission for wikiHow is the same: to create the highest quality content for any topic on the Web in multiple languages. Currently, the site has just under 100,000 articles and has over 30 million unique visitors.

Gabriel Weinberg is the only employee and is also the founder of the engine. As he explained to WebProNews, the search engine is a general engine just like Google or Bing but is different in three ways.

The first way it’s different is in its Zero-Click Info feature. This feature consists of a box at the top of the results page that provides instant answers to queries. As a result, users may find what they need without even clicking on a link.

The second area that sets DuckDuckGO apart is its stand on spam. Referring to it as “the way Google used to be,” Weinberg said DuckDuckGo does not tolerate spam, or “useless sites.” Last year, it actually removed all Demand Media‘s content and marked it as spam.

“There’s so much out on the Internet now that when you block something like eHow, users don’t even notice. All they notice is that you’ve got better results,” said Weinberg.

Although he believes this action needed, he also added that it is “much easier for a startup to do it, like us, than it is for Google.”

Thirdly, DuckDuckGo has a very strong privacy policy that is very different from the other search engines. In fact, this year, it launched an ad campaign with this slogan: “Google tracks you. We don’t.” Weinberg is quick to point out that he is not “anti-Google,” but he does believe that the search giant is doing some things that aren’t really necessary.

For instance, Google tracks a user’s search history. Also, when a user clicks on a link in Google, his search terms are set to the site he clicks on, which is information that is often aggregated by ad networks and sold to third parties. Google justifies its actions by saying that it returns more relevant and personalized results. DuckDuckGo, on the other hand, doesn’t track this information but argues that its results are just as relevant as Google’s results.

“The proof is in the results,” said Weinberg.

He also told us that DuckDuckGo will continue to focus on these three areas, and that he hopes other search engines will take a similar stand on these issues.

Rich Skrenta and the team at Blekko developed the search engine with the goal of eliminating spam in search. In addition, they launched the Spam Clock to help raise awareness of the growing problem. He told WebProNews that the amount of spam was “proliferating.”

“There are about 100 billion urls on the Web today, and we think that the majority are actually spam,” he said.

In talking about the impact of spam on the Internet, Skrenta pointed out that, today, most urls are not created by people. Instead, machines create them, which means the costs associated are slim to none. As a result, he said, “We’ve seen an erosion of quality on certain verticals.”

He compares the problems of today to email spam and said that the Web needs to apply a filtering model to remove it.

Interestingly, the clock’s release has sparked a great deal of discussion in the tech community regarding spam and its impact on the Web and search. Here are a few of the stories that have resulted:

Spam Clock Tallies Junk on the Internet

Blekko Launches Spam Clock To Keep Pressure On Google

Spam Clock Illustrates the Problem of Link Relevancy for Google, Bing, and Other Search Engines

Although some of the reports of late have attacked Google, Skrenta said that the search giant is not completely responsible for the problem. The real issue is that, as the Web grows, it gets worse. For this reason, he believes that Google’s approach of using algorithms to detect the bad content is losing its effectiveness. The rise of content farms has added to this issue and makes the search results inaccurate.

Skrenta and Blekko think it is easier to identify the good content and separate it into verticals such as health and finance. He said that they want to create thousands of categories in order to “clean up the entirety of the query stream.”

One reason for this is Blekko’s recent introduction of the Spam Clock, which tracks the number of new spam pages created since January 1.  As you might remember, Blekko is the search engine that launched last November with the intent of eliminating spam with its slashtag technology. It released the Spam Clock earlier this month in hopes of raising awareness about the growing dangers of spam.

WebProNews spoke with Rich Skrenta, the CEO of Blekko, who told us that there are entities that are producing hundreds of thousands of spam pages simply because they can attract search traffic and make money.

“What we’re finding with the Web is that the amount of spam is just proliferating… It’s gotten to the point where the amount of good content on the Web is a small fraction of the total,” he said.

As this information has surfaced, many reports have come out that indicate how much of a problem spam is for Google. Andrew Goodman of Page Zero Media, who also wrote about the issue, told WPN that Web spam is actually part of a much greater problem that involves society’s reliance on Google for search.

He explained that Google uses a comprehensive model for search that factors in the user’s keywords, intent, personalization, and more, which he believes is “too difficult a task.”

“Where we get, I think, tighter relevance, is in curated results, is in directories, is in finding that one step down where someone has made the universe smaller,” he said.

Goodman went on to say that if Google were truly an “unbiased participant in this effort to reach a relevant stage,” it would do a better job of incorporating the tools that do curate and mediate content.

So, as spam continues to grow, what impact will it have on the future of the Web? Is it taking over the Web and taking Google out on its way? Or, do search engines need to adjust their search model?

First of all, he suggests using Google’s Webmaster Tools to know for sure if you are banned. The dashboard offers very helpful information in this type of situation.

To make sure that your site doesn’t get banned, Stebbins tells WebProNews that you should think like a search engine. In other words, you have to realize that they are looking for genuine relevance and genuine popularity. If you try to fake either of these elements, Google will not want to partner with you.

Some people fake relevancy and popularity by linking to questionable websites, taking advantage of JavaScript redirects, and selling links. All these factors could result in Google banning your site.

To get re-included in Google’s index, Stebbins says you need to first decide if it is worth investing time in the re-inclusion process. There are some cases in which users commit so many “mortal sins” that is nearly impossible to rebuild a relevant and popular website.

At this point, he advises users to invest in another a site and apply a 301 redirect from the old site to the new one.  However, if you have not violated many of the guidelines, Stebbins says you could send a letter detailing what you did wrong and how you have fixed it. By doing this, it increases your chances of getting back into the index.

Are you taking preventative measures to make sure your site doesn’t get banned?

According to Patrick O’Keefe, the Founder of the iFroggy Network, “self-promotion done wrong is spam.” This type of self-promotion occurs when users do the opposite of what the community wants them to do. Unfortunately, this spam takes place all across the Web on forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Since respectable businesses obviously do not want to spam, how can they practice effective self-promotion? O’Keefe gives two helpful tips for doing it right. First of all, he suggests looking for people who are already doing it right and following their example.

Secondly, he recommends abiding by the guidelines of the community. These guidelines or terms of service will let users know what is allowed and what isn’t allowed. If users follow these rules, they will gain respect from the community.

Self-promotion is, however, challenging since users do not want to come across as arrogant or cocky. To avoid this, O’Keefe advises users to tell their experience and then let the community determine its own perception. Users can say that they wrote a book without saying that they wrote the greatest book of all time.

He says, “It’s never for me to say whether or not I’m good; it’s always for someone else to say whether or not I’m good.”

In the end, shameless self-promotion is possible, if it is done right.

Risher starts out by saying, “Email is and remains [to be] the killer app for the Web.” As he explains, everyone uses email and need it since it is a prerequisite for many new services now offered on the Web, such as social networks.

Yahoo is trying to enhance the communication aspects of email in order to make it a definitive destination for users that promotes direct messaging. One of the recent ways the Sunnyvale-based company is doing this is through a Facebook Contacts Import feature. It allows users to pull all their Facebook friends/contacts into their email. Risher says the company has been working on social services for some time and that this is just the beginning of what’s to come.

As email continues to get so many social features, WPN asked Risher if email would eventually turn into a social network. Risher says a social network works well when users want to broadcast something out. Email, on the other hand, is more controlled, trusted, and direct. While Yahoo will continue to add social features to email when they are appropriate, Risher says it will not replace email with a social network.

In regards to spam, Yahoo’s mission is “for all users to receive all the mail that they want and none that they don’t.” Yahoo blocks over 1 trillion spam messages each year and in 2009, reduced spam that reaches people by 35 percent.

Recently, Yahoo Mail has added many new features that allow users to send money via PayPal from their inbox, schedule evites, and organize their messages into categories.  Risher says users could expect similar features in the future.

On the subject of Caffeine, Cutts says it is a very slow process because the search engine wants to make sure it has “high quality results.” Caffeine is live at one data center and will be rolled out at other data centers in the coming weeks and months. The software engineer speculates that the next data center will hit Europe.

After the news of Caffeine surfaced, many people within the industry believed site speed would play a large role in it for SEOs. However, Cutts points out that while site speed is an important signal for search engines, the Caffeine Update is completely independent of that fact. He specifically says, “We’re always going to care first and foremost about quality.”

He goes on to say, “If a site is twice as fast, it’s not going to rank twice as high.” Only in cases when there is primarily the same content on two pages will the one that is faster receive the higher ranking. Also, in regards to PageRank, Cutts told us that there are over 200 signals that Google uses and PR is not the only one that matters. He advises SEOs to pay attention to the other factors as well.

Google has also recently introduced the idea of pushing content to users as opposed to people having to pull to find it. This concept has been called Pubsubhubub, also known as PuSH. The basic gist is that it sends a ping to the “hub” once new content on a website is published. That “hub” will then notify all the subscribers to that site in real-time. Although developed by Google, PuSH is an open source platform.

When asked about Google Buzz, Cutts says he likes it very much but will not abandon Twitter as a result.

Lastly, the head of Google’s Webspam team told us that spam is always present. Although there are many new ways to spam, which ultimately makes his team work harder, Cutts considers it a win if it means the quality is better for users.

The first concern Hoffman noticed is a spam issue. Upon tweeting about Viagra, she found that her results were showing up in Google’s results. She was even able to drop links into her tweets that people could access directly from Google.

Secondly, Hoffman uncovered reputation management issues with Google’s new integration. An unhappy employee or competitor could easily damage a company’s reputation. During a session at SES Chicago, Dave Naylor even mentioned that he might have to clean up his Twitter stream over fear of losing business.

Thirdly and probably the most serious of the issues Hoffman revealed is the safety concerns for children online. Through a series of tests including the highest level of safe search, Hoffman was able to reach out to kids who searched for queries such as Sesame Street and Miley Cyrus. Unfortunately, sexual predators could easily do the same. Scary, huh?

There were actually even more discoveries Hoffman was able to uncover that she did not disclose.

Many people believe Google rushed its real-time integration to respond to the recent real-time efforts Bing has made. Hoffman predicts that Google will either have bad results for a while as they fix their problems, or admit they made a mistake and deal with a reputation management problem.

What is your response to Google’s real-time integration?

One area of controversy is in regards to Kawasaki sending out the same tweet multiple times, a practice some people refer to as spam. Secondly, he has been greatly criticized for the “ghosts,” or other people he has tweeting for him.

In spite of the scrutiny, Kawasaki defends his strategy on Twitter. In a Q & A post on his blog, he explained his reasoning for repeating his tweets. He said:

“I repeat a handful of my tweets because I don’t assume that all my followers are reading me 24 x 7 x 365. This is the same reason that ESPN and CNN repeat the same news stories (without updates, simply identical reports) throughout the day.”

In response to the opposition of his ghosts, Kawasaki told WebProNews:

“At the end of the day, the ultimate test is not who tweeted it, as much as, is it interesting.”

As a result of the controversy, his ghosts now identify when they are tweeting. Ironically, he said that one of his ghosts actually gets retweeted more than he does.

Although his usage of Twitter has been brought under attack numerous times, it doesn’t appear to be affecting his success on the service at all. Since Twitter is a free and open platform, is there really a wrong way to use it?

Bing sees blogs, forums, and social media/user generated content as the most problematic areas online. Parthasarathy says these areas have to be monitored closely. To secure your site, he suggests:

1.    Keeping all software up-to-date
2.    Maintaining strong passwords
3.    Checking plugins

He also recommends scanning your site with anti-malware tools or Spyware to further secure it.

Keeping your site protected is very important since it not only affects you and your business, but it also affects your customers. If you would like more information on security, check out this post from Bing’s Webmaster team for a more detailed explanation.

Traditionally, banks and financial institutions were the primary targets for hackers, but now brands are coming under attack. Part of this transition is due to the fact that consumers have grown smarter about giving out their private information on banking sites. However, many of those same consumers are not as cautious on e-commerce sites.

According to Ryan White of VeriSign, there are thousands of new fraudulent sites created each day. To help brands protect themselves and their consumers, VeriSign has a defensive feature to ensure that security. When businesses use Extended Validation SSL, the address bar turns green to show consumers that it is a safe site.

In addition, VeriSign has a Phish or No Phish program in which the company educates consumers on how to distinguish between a genuine site and fraudulent site.

Twitter uses Google’s Safe Browsing API as it checks for fraudulent links. When a user posts a malicious link, Twitter deletes the tweet and returns a message reading: “Oops! Your tweet contained a URL to a known malware site!”

At this point, the filter does not block malicious links that are put in url shorteners. However, some shorteners such as Bit.ly use their own spam filtering systems.

While security experts are pleased that Twitter is making an effort to improve its security, they also believe there is more work to be done. Nishant Jadhav, the Director of Product Management and Business Development at FaceTime, told WebProNews that Twitter’s tightened security could be a result of the U.S. Marine Corps’ move to ban social networking sites. He went on to say that the next step for Twitter and other social networking sites could be content-based filters.

Is Twitter doing enough to protect against malware? What other measures could they be taking?

TwitterHawk is a new tool for Twitter that is still in the developing stages. It is keyword-based and allows users to create a variety of reply phrases to respond to people with. TwitterHawk usage costs 5 cents per tweet (reply) but can be purchased in advance through a variety of packages.

In an effort to build up a client’s Twitter base, Jeff decided to use the tool for a DJ for iGlobal Radio. He used keywords such as Radiohead, alternative music, Indie-Music, etc. When someone tweeted one of those keywords, they were sent an automated response that said something similar to “If you like Radiohead, you’ll love iGlobal Radio…”

As a result, TwitterHawk helped Jeff’s client to receive many more Twitter followers and created more interactivity with his followers. On the negative side, there were a couple of people that accused Jeff’s client of spam. Jeff responded to one user and found that he didn’t like that fact that a robot was responding to him and that it was a paid service.

Jeff countered the argument by explaining that his client wrote his own copy for his responses. Also, his client’s actions were completely human but simply carried out in an automated fashion.

If users only use TwitterHawk and are not personally active on the service, then Jeff says those users could be classified as spammers. His client however, is active on Twitter and used TwitterHawk to better target his market.

What are your thoughts on TwitterHawk? Do you think it is pure marketing or does it cross the line and create a spam issue?