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Tell Congress: Don’t Censor The Web. Oppose PIPA and SOPA!

Allen Mireles — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:15:33 +0000

Don’t censor the web. Please.

On January 24th, the Senate will begin voting on the Protect IP Act (PIPA), which is opposed by millions of Americans. While the stated intent of the Protect IP Act is to fight online piracy, the net effect will be censorship of the web. There are other and more effective ways to fight piracy. If PIPA is voted in, as well as its companion House bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)–currently on hold but likely to be revisited, reworked and reintroduced somehow, the results could be devastating to the millions of citizens who rely on the web for work, research, study and entertainment.

Take a moment to sign this petition. I did. Tell Congress: don’t censor the web. Oppose PIPA and SOPA!

And now for a humorous look at the situation: thank you Andrew Fowler for this fabulous cartoon.

Social media marketing is more than Facebook and Twitter.

Guest — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:15:00 +0000

This guest post is written by Michael Dolen, founder and CEO of the popular online forum, CreditCardFroum.com.

What’s social media? Most of us think of Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even LinkedIn. However there’s something else that falls into this category: forums/message boards. Because they’ve been around since the dawn of the internet, they’re not nearly as hyped… but that doesn’t mean you should completely ignore them.

My background

My occupation actually revolves around forums; I founded one where consumers write credit card reviews. Since its launch in 2008, it has grown to become the #1 on the net for credit cards. If you search for terms like “credit card forum” or “credit card message board” it will usually show up at the top. So how does a forum like this fit into PR? Well, here’s the biggest reason why…

Forum posts might be seen for years to come

What’s so great about Twitter and Facebook is that they allow you to interact with customers. Not to mention, they can be a powerful way to spread news of sales and coupon codes. In short, these services are essential for doing business in the present.

But what about the past? A tweet or Facebook wall post probably won’t be seen again after time has passed and it gets buried in the archives. However a post on a forum might show up in the search results for months or even years to come.

For example, I originally wrote this American Express Platinum review in 2009 and it still tends to rank well in the search results, even in 2012. Now of course, I am constantly updating this review every few months since the benefits on the American Express Platinum change periodically, but my point is that it still gets a lot of eyeballs. The same holds true for this conversation about Walmart’s card.

While my review of the AmEx Platinum is positive, the one for the Walmart credit card is not (due to its high interest rates, lackluster rewards program, etc). If you look at Walmart’s Facebook and Twitter they seem to be pretty active on them. Doesn’t it seem like it would also be wise for their social media crew to at least spend a few minutes responding to concerns on my forum and elsewhere? I notice they seem to stay on top of negative FB wall posts by replying quickly, so why completely ignore forum posts like this one?

What can and cannot be done?

Regardless of your business, there will inevitably be those whom are unhappy with your products/services. You can’t please everyone and you certainly can’t stop people from expressing their opinions.

However what you can do is try and give your side of the story, when you see a forum post that isn’t too flattering. Take the Walmart example- If they were to email me and say “we saw the post, do you mind if we share our side of the story?” If I received an offer like that, I definitely would consider including a paragraph or two from them into my credit card review, so the reader could hear both sides. Furthermore, Walmart could also signup on the forum and reply to that post quite easily if they wanted to… but they apparently don’t.

My closing thoughts

Do I think businesses should focus heavily on forum PR? Nope, not at all. I think dealing with the present (i.e. Twitter and Facebook) is far more important than old forum conversations. But regardless, I still think businesses should spend at least a fraction of their time keeping tabs on the message boards and replying to conversations about them, if need be.

In short, it’s important to take a balanced approach rather than only focusing on one or two facets of social media and completely ignoring everything else.

About The Author: Michael is founder and CEO of the web’s leading credit card message board. CreditCardForum.com’s reviews and offers, which are written by both consumers as well as himself, have been cited in a number of major news publications and websites including the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money Magazine, Yahoo Finance, and others. You can catch him blogging almost daily on his site about everything from customer service to cash back on credit cards.

What Do You do If (When) Your Facebook is Hacked?

Allen Mireles — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:37:51 +0000

I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed last night when I saw an update from B.L. Ochman, a social media friend and colleague whose account had just been hacked. She clicked on a link, which unleashed the Trojan Ramnit on her Facebook account. While this worm has created untold headaches for the Facebook account holders whose data has been stolen, to date, the social network has not addressed the situation with its users. According to PC World, Facebook says it is bolstering its antivirus protection and reminds users to “protect themselves by never clicking on strange links and reporting any suspicious activity they encounter…”

Practical advice but not always easy to remember as we fly through updates and videos posted by friends we trust. In this case, Ochman’s friend’s account had been hacked first and neither was aware of it.

ZDNet states that hackers have used a Ramnit worm variant to harvest 45,000 Facebook login credentials worldwide, purportedly mostly from users in the United Kingdom and France. According to a statement from the social network, more than half of the information stolen was from inactive accounts. However, as blogger Emil Protalinski points out, that still leaves about 20,000 people who, like Ochman, have had their accounts hacked. The possibility exists that infected Facebook account holders will find that the email accounts they have used to access Facebook have been infected as well.

So what do you do if, or more likely, when your account is hacked? First of all, do what I did right after reading my friend’s post. Change your password. Don’t use the same email you use for other accounts and make your password strong. Then change the password to the email account you use to access your Facebook account. And that’s just for starters. You may need to uninstall and reinstall your web browser. Monitor your account closely and close your account each time you leave the site. (Leaving your account open apparently leaves you more open to hackers.) Facebook encourages users to visit and “like” the Facebook Security page to receive updates about how to protect your information both on and off the social network. Yet the most recent post on the Facebook Security wall is from December 2011, with no mention of the Trojan Ramnit.

Finally, check your security settings again and check the applications you have allowed access to your account. Some of us have so many applications installed that checking all of them feels overwhelming. Knowing which applications have permission to access your social network account is critical. An easy way to address this is to use the tool mypermissions to quickly and easily check and edit the permissions you have given to applications across the web.

Facebook has, for better or worse, become part of our daily lives. According to a survey by comScore, released in December of 2011, one in every seven online minutes is spent on Facebook. Facebook’s active user base has grown to more 800 million and according to Facebook the typical user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events. Take a second close look at your passwords, permissions and security settings. Share this story with your networks and remind them to do the same.

According to Zone Alarm, more than 20% of Facebook newsfeed links currently open viruses and 7 Facebook logins are compromised every second each day. The odds are pretty good that you may have to deal with this–or will know someone who does.

Social Media: Leaving 2011 and Heading Into 2012

Allen Mireles — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:44:49 +0000

How will we remember 2011? A year filled with huge change on a global, local and personal level. Social media played an integral part and continues to impact our lives–in ways we don’t always stop to think about. Social media tools are developing and evolving at breakneck speed, presenting incredible opportunity and risk at the same time.

We have seen the rise and fall of social media personalities, the introduction of new platforms and myriad changes to the large and familiar networks like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn. We scramble to stay abreast of the advances and to understand how they will impact our clients’ efforts to build business. There are so many times when I sit back, frustrated, wondering why the world is moving so fast. And how we can ever keep up.

Social is everywhere.

Social media has played a huge part in the political uprisings across the globe and in our ability to observe and share the stories that resonate. Social tools enable businesses and organizations to market, promote, hire, learn and grow. Social media allows non-profits to communicate with supporters, raise funds and educate the public. Individuals are using social tools in just about every way imaginable and some in ways we might not have imagined.

In Northwest Ohio the use of social media continues to grow and to evolve. 2011 was the year we brought the first Exploring Social Media Business Summit to town, a high level social media and digital marketing training led by industry expert, Jason Falls. It was the year we had our first local TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, with the very successful introduction of TEDxBGSU. The University of Toledo’s Third Annual Internet Marketing Conference included national speakers and experts Christopher Penn and Joe Pulizzi.

In Northwest Ohio, non-profit organizations like Unison Behavioral Health Group, United Way and Food for Thought have incorporated social tactics into their public awareness and volunteer organizing campaigns. Our traditional electronic and print media have embraced Twitter and Facebook in their daily communications. Small businesses across Northwest Ohio have begun to experiment with social networking. New blogs have been introduced and forums created. This is encouraging news for a region that still has many businesses and organizations who lack a basic internet presence.

I love it. I love the ever changing nature of our online social world. I love the excitement of trying to stay abreast of the newest sites, the updates, changes and additions. I am endlessly fascinated by the growth and evolution of the space and the incredible knowledge I gain from the people I connect with in social media. I am equally fascinated and troubled by the dark side of social media and watch it closely as it too evolves and grows.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the number of social networks, blogs, monitoring tools and related technology. Learning to understand them, to use them effectively, to be able to explain them to clients and prospects feels like a full time job. Today, social media is just one aspect of our vibrant, growing and interconnected online world. Today’s marketing and PR professionals must be comfortable, if not proficient, in related specialties like search engine optimization, online ad placements in Google and Facebook, working within WordPress, editing video and so much more. New tools are introduced almost daily.

And yet. The world remains unchanged in its dependence on human relationships. On people connecting with other people and sharing the things that matter to them. Social media enhances this immutable fact. So, as we move through the last few hours of 2011, let’s celebrate the close of a turbulent year filled to overflowing with change and excitement. And, let’s look forward to growth we will all enjoy in 2012.

See you in the social space!