ASK BRETT: ANSWERING VIEWER SOCIAL MEDIA QUESTIONS
Reagean asks: “With all the Twitter hacks we’ve seen this week, seems like everyone, but particularly businesses, celebs, is getting their Twitter account hacked. So, what should we all know BEFORE it happens to us?”
The targets of these big hacks were professional accounts like the AP or 60 Minutes. They are targets because they are the big Twitter accounts.
The average user is not the kind of target that these guys are. Now for the average user;what you need to watch out for are those random tweets that say things like “hey, you didn’t see them take your picture” or “hey, someone posted a nasty photo of you” these kinds of comments are then often followed by links. Do not fall for these. Anytime someone tweets to you a message like this it’s 90% of the time a trick. You click the link and now it’s your account spamming others. Just ignore tweets like that.
Diana is asking about a new social network called Ripp-Ln. She asks… What do you know about RippLn?
I hadn’t heard anything about it until she wrote in. So I did some research. Basically they pitch this idea that when you suggest mobile games or other web services to your friends on social media, that you should get a cut of the profits from the maker. After a good amount of research, I have found a common theme that many other folks in the tech world are cautioning people about this serivce. Some go as far as calling it a fancy online Pyramid scheme. Even when I look at their financial plan, which is vauge at best, a user would only make a few dollars a month if it’s legit. My advice would be to avoid this service right now until more is know about it.
More on RippLn:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/22/what-not-to-do-in-your-startup-promo-video/
http://inventorspot.com/articles/caveat_emptor_when_rippln_comes_rippln
http://www.sv411.com/index.php/2013/04/rippln-new-app-platform-goes-viral/
Switching to Facebook now, Lori asks: ”
If we “like” nothing, and “Share” nothing, can we avoid sites like Facebook from violating our personal information and targeting us with advertising? Or is it all just an act of futility to expect any privacy when we are on a social site?
Honestly, it’s very hard to keep anything private when it comes to social media — Let’s start with advertising; Facebook needs to make money off their service since it’s free. Advertising is the way they do that. They use even your most basic information to do that — are you a man or a woman. There are sections in your preferences that allow you to to opt out of some advertising, but over all you can’t hide from all of it. But yes, to Lori’s credit, it does limit the amount of ads if you don’t “like” any business pages.
Why does facebook sometimes ask me to pay if I want to send someone I don’t know a private message?
It’s just another way that Facebook is trying to make a little extra money. If you try to message someone you don’t know, Facebook will give you the option to pay one dollar for the message to land in that persons inbox OR you can continue the free route and it will land in that persons “other” box. Just do the other box. While most of us forget to look, they should still see a notification though its subtle.
On Facebook, how do I stop receiving posts from certain people that come in every day. The old method of editing or shutting down these notifications seems to have changed.
Originally posted here: http://www.wcsh6.com/life/programming/local/207/article/241322/50/Ask-Brett-Answering-social-media-questions