In today’s Quick Hits, we explore shifting trends in social media, offer advice on avoiding clickjacking attacks, and hear from a doctor about the importance of online reputation management for medical professionals.

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Forrester Study: Decrease in Content Creators on Social Media

A new Forrester Study shows a decrease in the number of people who are content “creators” on social media websites. Creators are social media users who “have a blog, upload videos and music and write articles.” There was also a decrease in the number of “critics,” or users who “who rate and review products, post comments on others’ blogs, participate in discussion forums and collaborate on wikis,” as well as a decrease in the number of “collectors,” or users who “subscribe to syndicated feeds, tag Web pages and photos and in general organize content for the benefit of other users.”

The majority of users in these categories represent early adopters of social media technology who are becoming less active over time. For social media to continue to grow, new social media users, called “joiners” by Forrester, must continue to evolve as users. The number of “joiners” on social media websites increased from 51% to 59%.

New Social Networking Website Namesake Aims to Connect Users with Professional “Opportunities”

Namesake, a new social networking venture that was formally announced at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference, hopes to become the preferred network for entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals to connect with one another and share job opportunities through mutual social connections. Co-founder Brian Norgard said the site would be “the next evolution” from professional social networking websites like LinkedIn, because it would focus on building out “the expertise graph” of its users.

PCMag: Advice on Avoiding Clickjacking Attacks

Clickjacking has become a popular method for attacking Facebook, because it preys on a user’s instincts for clicking provocative content and it uses their social network to spread the message further. In this informative article, PCMag talks about ways to avoid clickjacking attacks, which can severely tarnish a victim’s reputation.

Twitter Earthquake Hoax Frightens Californians

News spreads fast on Twitter, but so do hoaxes (just ask any of the celebrities who have been pronounced dead on the website). Recently, a hoax spread across Twitter claiming that a massive earthquake was going to strike Southern California. Amazingly, even though earthquakes can’t be predicted with any certainty, people begin retweeting the message hundreds of times over causing a mild panic among some less-discerning Twitter users.

Physicians Have Trouble Fighting Back Against Online Attacks

This well-written article by Dr. David Goldberg talks about the importance of online reputation management for medical professionals and how doctor review websites and social networking websites have become tools for angry patients (or competitors) to launch biased and defamatory attacks against doctors. Dr. Goldberg’s analysis is right on the money and a clear reminder that doctors are some of the people who need proactive online reputation management services the most.