Sharing Personal Information Online – How Safe Is It?

To share or not to share; that is the question. Making a reference to Hamlet, the question isn’t as severe a decision as his. There is the possibility that you may lose your life by someone stealing your identity. Today’s Internet conforms to you and your needs/wants. Most online marketers identify with what people are asking for and then directing ads in that direction. “Without ever having to type a word, Pandora knew what music you liked and played it on your computer. This is exactly what Facebook’s new “instant personalization” feature does.” (Dave Paresh 2010) How great it is when all your devices sync and everything is catered to your likes and dislikes.

The question still remains though because of the lack of privacy when multiple platforms, apps and devices are all sharing your personal information. Perhaps, I shouldn’t share anything online. I could choose to never shop online. I would just like to say that if bad guys want your stuff they would get it. “Locks only keep out honest people” (Paul F Roy Sr spoken 1998) Internet security is the same as locks. You can lock your windows at home, lock the door and set the alarm. Online you can restrict what information is shared. There are security measures on all sites that are trusted with credit card information. There are many ways to lock the windows and doors on the web, but if a bad guy really wants what you have they will find a way.

Personally, I lock windows and monitor what doors I have open online. I restrict much of my Facebook to friends only, and sometimes I restrict to only friends and sharing to friends of friends is not allowed. I take precautions to deter any criminals, but I know if they want something from me they could take it. I choose not to have any type of anti-virus protection on my computers. I oppose that type of program. That is just my opinion. There are Pro’s and Con’s for everything. Be cautious, don’t open strange emails and set online security to suit your comfort level. Like it or not the world is going completely online. Just monitor your use and information given out.

Dave Paresh. April 25,2010. Online information sharing has its benefits. Daily Trojan. March 6, 2012. http://dailytrojan.com/2010/04/25/online-information-sharing-has-its-benefits/

Veterans and Military Supporters – Be sure to check out www.vetawarenesscoalition.org

Noticing limitations of WordPress blogging

I’m sitting here watching Sweeny Todd and thinking in my SEO/marketing mind about the reasons this new blog of mine only has 97 hits. I know there are so many ways to get a blog noticed, and I have often twittered/tweeted and Re-Tweeted about ways to have a blog ready for the “big time”.

Posting from T-mobile tablet

Hello, and good evening.  I just got a tablet from t-mobile and so I felt obligated to post. I was debating between a tablet and a netbook, but with 14 days to try it out I figured why not?

I’d like to ask you all what you think of the mobile tablets.  If you have used a netbook, a tablet or an ipad please post your  comments below.

Facebook Users Lend Profile Photos To Reveal Ad Agency’s New Name [PIC]

Mashable (a favorite of mine) posted this article today with 1200 people tweeting it.  That’s some buzz right?  I had to post a reply to the solo comment.

Please read the article by Todd Wasserman on Mashable, but I will give a brief synopsis for you as well.  These two guys named Stockholm were merging and coming out with a new name.  To market their newly formed company they decided to use social media.  They encouraged people to visit their site and use Facebook to login and thus surrender their profile photo to partially reveal the new company name.  “2,890 fans’ photos composed the full name, Ingo, over a four hour period.” (Todd Wasserman Mashable.com)

So, now you know the story, and I hope you read the whole thing.  The single comment that was posted stated that this was great, but would only work for large companies.  Of course, I put my two cents in.  Social media marketing is a skill that takes a lot of creativity to constantly come up with something no one else has done yet (Not easy).  Once you have that idea it’s just a matter of tapping into the world and creating a buzz about what you are doing.  Social media will do the rest for you.  Therefore, I say this technique in particular is not something for “large companies” only.

Social media is free, and it’s social.  Be social.  I believe that any company; I’ll say it again – any company, can use social media marketing like Ingo did to create a flurry of people logging in their Facebook pages to see what you just named your new company.  I say well done boys, and as Todd said in his article Mashable is “planning to … {create} the world’s largest real-life Facebook wall.” (Todd Wasserman Mashable.com)

 

 

Thanks for the great article Todd.

Moral of the story?  Don’t be afraid of the size of your company vs the size of others.  Be SOCIAL!

How to Make Sure Your Social Media Monitoring Is Up to Date | B2C Marketing Insider

 

 

How to Make Sure Your Social Media Monitoring Is Up to Date | B2C Marketing Insider.

I found this article courtesy of twitter, and I thought I would post it for you to see.  It seems to be a common misconception that social media marketing is as simple as a few tweets and making a Facebook fan page.  If you will belive this; I actually read a post in a group forum on LinkedIn asking if social media marketing was worth it, because the guy had tweeted a couple times and had no results.

Social media is all about being SOCIAL people!  The best things you can do is set aside some time to be social and interact with people talking about relevant topics to you and your business.  Social media changes so fast that a couple tweets here and there won’t get you anything, because you aren’t putting anything worth reading out there.  Get involved and stay current.

5 Best social news sites to watch

I saw someone tweet that there were 45 great social news sites to watch, and I was really dissapointed when I clicked the link and saw garbage.  It’s so important to tweet quality links and avoid wasting people’s time.  I figured that since this was obviously something people wanted to know; I needed to set the record straight and post a QUALITY top five.

#1 – Mashable

Mashable is a leader in all the top news, current trends and everything that anyone who cares about technology, social media, business, marketing and so much more.  Follow Mashable, follow their writers and stay in the know.

#2 – oneforty

oneforty is a great resource for news, trends, the greatest free toolkits around, free webinars and so much more.  If you haven’t checked out this site; you are missing out.

#3 – SEOmoz

SEOmoz has some great current news relating to SEO and social media as well as invaluable SEO tools.  This is a key site anyone in SEO or Social Media Marketing should have bookmarked.

#4 – Inkling Media

Inkling Media is a personal favorite.  Ken is always putting new relative information and news up for us all to read.  Great place for increasing your knowledge of social media.

#5- Sphinn

Simply put: exactly what the site says “Internet Marketing News and Discussion Forums”  This is the place to go for all things relating to internet marketing, therefore rounding off the top five.

I hope this proves helpful when it comes to where you seek to find your current information.  I think that sites like delicious, digg and reddit are great, but not quite what it takes to be a top social media news source.  What do you think?

But What Should I Blog About?? | Share on LinkedIn

But What Should I Blog About?? | Share on LinkedIn.

Inkling Media is a favorite source of mine for creative thoughts.  Ken may over-post his links, but they provide some great information.  If you are considering blogging for your company or interests; give this a read before you start.

The Social Sales Funnel by Janet Aronica (@JanetAronica) – oneforty

The Social Sales Funnel by Janet Aronica (@JanetAronica) – oneforty.

This is a great resource for anyone in marketing.  Thank you oneforty for making such a great toolkit!