In today’s Quick Hits, we learn all about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, how anonymity and cybercrime are linked, and a survey showing IT workers’ thoughts on online reputation management.
Mark Zuckerberg, the notoriously private CEO of Facebook, opened up in a big way for a special feature in The New Yorker writer. Not only did Zuckerberg give journalist Jose Antonio Vargas access to his Facebook account, but he brought him into his home, introduced him to his girlfriend, and talked to him about his life up to this point. The New Yorker profile comes out in anticipation of the October 1st release of The Social Network, a new movie by David Fincher that offers a semi-fictionalized account of Facebook’s origins. Allegedly, Zuckerberg is very frustrated with how he is portrayed in the film and this deeply detailed profile may be his way of showing the world what he’s really like.
Norton Internet Security recently released a new report suggesting that many Internet users don’t tell the truth about who they are online. According to the report, “24% of people lie about their name, 17% lie about their age, and 9% lie about their financial status.” Anonymity online is also linked to Internet crime, because many cybercriminals use anonymous identities to trick users into disclosing personal information.
In a survey by Technisource, “Half of IT workers said they might (22%) or would (28%) modify or delete content on a social media site if they knew a prospective employer was going to review their page as part of the interview process. The other 50% said they wouldn’t alter any content under those circumstances.” IT professionals are naturally tech-savvy, so I would expect them to be the most acutely aware of the importance of maintaining a strong online reputation. If 50% of IT professionals won’t modify social media content for employers, what does that say about professionals who don’t use the Internet frequently?
AP reporter Christy Lemire was recently the victim of a Twitter hijacking. For a few minutes, she lost control of her Twitter account while a spammer flooded her contacts with “gibberish about drug charges, sex, the Galaxy Tab and Stephen Hawking.” Lemire described the attack further saying there was”some profanity, some weird trending topics. Lots of links, none of which I clicked on. It felt as if someone had broken in and rummaged through my stuff with their grubby little cyber paws.” In her article, Lemire explains how she may have been compromised.
California officials are considering passing a law that would make it illegal to impersonate someone else online. In this BBC report, Maggie Shiels talks to Carl Guardino, who helped inspire the law, and State Senator Joe Simitian, who drafted the legislation. Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik is also featured in the piece, commenting on the dangers of e-impersonation and the importance of proactive online reputation management.
Check out the BBC segment below. Click here for the accompanying print article to the video piece.
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a gang of social media-savvy burglars, a new clickjacking attack on Facebook, and how a newspaper editor was suspended for his Facebook comments.
A burglary ring in New Hampshire stole more than $100,000 worth of property in a rash of home break-ins. The ring used Facebook to scout their victims. Whenever a target would post that they were away from their home on their Facebook profile, the criminals would rob the house. Similar instances of home break-ins have been tied to Facebook, Twitter, and location-based social sites like Foursquare, but this burglary ring is one of the biggest and most organized efforts to use social media for identifying targets.
Clickjacking, a cybercrime involving tricking Web users into clicking unsafe web pages, is a growing problem on Facebook. Recently, the site was hit by a clickjacking attack in which users were encouraged to “like” a page promising “cheerleaders gone wild.” Once users clicked on the page, “the account also invisibly indicated that it ‘likes’ two other Facebook pages, ‘Funniest Videos on the Web’ and ‘Free ringtones every day.’”
According to the Daily Nation, “an Australian newspaper editor was suspended Friday for reportedly saying the killing of a policeman would lift circulation, writing on his Facebook site he would ‘make the most’ of the tragedy.” The insensitive remarks quickly caught the attention of newspaper executives, leading to the 23-year-old editor’s suspension.
NetChoice, a trade group representing the e-commerce industry, claims that several proposed Internet privacy laws, including privacy legislation from Rep. Bobby Rush and Reps. Rick Boucher and Cliff Stearns, would “cripple the online advertising and publishing industries.” Since the issue of Internet privacy was brought before Congress, industry trade groups and privacy rights organizations have traded blows over the merits of new privacy legislation.
New data from comScore suggests that Internet users spend more time on Facebook and Yahoo than they do on Google. In a way, this is not surprising news. Facebook users spend a considerable amount of time on the website, surfing friends’ profiles and leaving comments, while Yahoo boasts a variety of news content, as well as games and other features. Google, on the other hand, is mainly a search engine. One caveat to the comScore research is that it tracked all Google sites, including Google-owned YouTube.
In today’s Quick Hits, we see how a professional athlete ruined her reputation on Facebook, why Twitter might not live up to its hype, and how BP tried to control Google results for information about the company’s devastating oil spill.
Lisa De Vanna, a striker on the Australian Matildas soccer team, has been forced to remove sexually suggestive photos from her Facebook profile after the mother of a 13-year-old fan complained to the Football Federation Australia. One image from the 25-year-old soccer player’s profile “showed friends of the soccer star posing jokingly with a large blow-up penis.” The 13-year-old fan found the images through a basic Internet search.
This article from Business Insider touches on Twitter’s slowly dwindling influence. Citing decreasing investments into “pure play” Twitter start-ups, the author speculates that unless Twitter starts making money “hand-over-fist” like Facebook, it will become the major player in social media that everyone expected.
The Dubuque police have a doppelganger on their hands. According to a department spokesperson, someone has created a Facebook fan page pretending to be the Dubuque police department. Currently, the department does not have an official Facebook page. They are warning citizens to avoid giving donations to the imposters and to report any issues they have with a false profile to Facebook.
This report describes how bill collectors are increasingly using social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to track down debtors. Some debtors even go as far as to use fake names on social networking websites to trick debtors into accepting their friendship. Because many social media users don’t carefully track who they accept as friends, it is easy for someone to slip in undetected.
Proving how important Google is to reputation management, a new report reveals that British Petroleum spent $3.6 million in Google advertising during the month of June to guarantee that its ads would appear whenever users searched for the terms ”oil spill,” “leak,” “top kill,” and “live feed.” According to the internal Google data, “BP was Google’s sixth-biggest buyer of search ads in June.” Previously, BP was not a large buyer of Google advertising.
Google has set a new bar in web search with the introduction of Google Instant, a new version of Google that updates a user’s search results as they type.
When you use Google Instant, search results begin to appear after the user types in one letter. As the user completes their search query, Google predicts the most likely search item and changes the results accordingly.
In a press conference announcing Google Instant, Google VP of search and user experience, Marissa Mayer, said that it takes approximately 25 seconds for a user to complete a Google search query (nine seconds to enter the query, 1 second for Google to process it, and 15 seconds for the user to select their result). With Google Instant, Meyer claims that user’s will cut two to five seconds off of their search times.
Google Instant has already rolled out across the United States today and is accessible on all major browsers. International users will see the feature in the next week. Google Instant is currently not available for mobile devices, but will roll out shortly.
Steve Rubel, noted marketing expert and SVP and Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, has already written that “Google Instant Makes SEO Irrelevant” because “no two people will see the same web.”
From an online reputation management perspective, Google Instant means that it is even easier for people to search for information about you or your business online, so you need to invest even more time and effort into proactively building a positive digital identity.
Check out this video to see Google Instant in action (or head over to Google to try it out for yourself right now).
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