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.

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]]> http://allenmireles.com/blog/what-do-you-do-if-when-your-facebook-is-hacked/feed/ 9 http://allenmireles.com/blog/dellcap-review-wowed-by-dells-social-media-listening/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dellcap-review-wowed-by-dells-social-media-listening http://allenmireles.com/blog/dellcap-review-wowed-by-dells-social-media-listening/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:09:06 +0000 Allen Mireles http://allenmireles.com/?p=728

#DellCAP Group Photo courtesy of Dell

Last week Dell brought members of its inaugural Consumer Advisory Panel back to Austin to showcase the progress they had made over the past year. Dell formed its Consumer Advisory Panel (DellCAP) last year in response to customer complaints about issues ranging from product quality to customer support–and everything in between. The company hosted 30 Dell customers in Austin for two days. 15 who were unhappy with their Dell experience and 15 who were Dell evangelists. Dell executives met separately with both groups for long days; days filled with complaints, observations and suggestions for improvements.

When Dell approached me about taking part in their first Customer Advisory Panel I almost declined. I had been a Dell evangelist for many years but had had a frustrating experience with an XPS laptop that soured me on the brand. And yet…being able to share my frustrations with Dell directly was compelling. I accepted. So I was flown in to be part of the first group–those with negative Dell experiences.

The meetings could have been rancorous. Ugly even. As it was, it was hard. Hard to see people who obviously cared so much about the Dell brand hearing firsthand from the really frustrated customers. At times the tension mounted. And yet, before long, we had settled into a pattern of give and take. As unhappy as many of us had been before the meeting, as the day wore on we  began to work together–offering ideas about how to make things better. At the end of our sessions we felt drained but many of us felt very hopeful. We had met with people who were dedicated and invested in improving the quality of the Dell customer experience. We weren’t certain that Dell would implement the suggestions we made and we weren’t sure that Michael Dell would really support his company’s efforts to rebuild, but we were very encouraged. I was impressed with Dell’s willingness to listen to our complaints and to our suggestions.

Fast forward to last week’s event. Dell flew 13 of last year’s 30 DellCAP participants and three new attendees to Austin and put us up at the Westin hotel. We were greeted with whimsical hats and treated to a smörgåsbord of lovely foods and beverage. (Note: fresh mango mojitos are delicious. Who knew?) Mack Collier, able moderator of last year’s DellCAP days, led us in a live version of #blogchat, a form of discussion typically reserved for Twitter. We were joined by members of the Austin Social Media Club and I was delighted to meet a longtime Twitter, friend, Connie Reece, face to face for the first time. The #blogchat conversation was energetic and at times, passionate, which kept it interesting and entertaining.

DellCAP participants Ed Tittel, Claire Celsi, Allen Mireles and Michelle Brigman., courtesy of Dell

The following day’s session was a combination of discussion and show-and-tell from Dell executives. The entire day was video taped and streamed live online. We were encouraged from the outset to be candid and to share with our networks, using the #DellCAP hashtag. As the day wore on it became clear that not only had Dell been listening, they had implemented many of the suggestions made by DellCAP members the year before.

It was so exciting.

A year ago Dell had a social media team of only ten people. Today, the Dell Social Outreach Services (SOS) team numbers 70 and monitors conversations in eleven languages. The team works out of the Social Media Listening Center, which features a customized Radian6 monitoring system with six different large displays showing global mentions of the Dell brand in real time. I was entranced. It was like seeing into the future.

Dell Social Media Center, courtesy of Marketing Eggspert, Susan Payton

The Dell social media team monitors more than 25 thousand mentions of the brand name each day and directs issues to specific departments or experts as each require. One of the challenges of social media is finding the technology and people to scale effectively and it appears that Dell is doing this successfully now. As my new friend Ed Tittel wrote in his post for ReadWriteWeb, social media messages that request or merit a Dell response receive an acknowledgement or answer of some kind in no more than 24 hours. During the time we spent at the Social Media Center, several groups of executives toured the facility. Judging from their rapt expressions they had reactions not unlike mine. I had trouble concentrating after seeing the Social Media Listening Center and wanted desperately to get closer to the monitoring system and play with it.

We were joined by Michael Dell for 30 minutes of Q and A, which was also videotaped and has been shared online. Michael Dell seemed relaxed and welcoming and gave  thoughtful answers to the questions we peppered him with. It became very clear that he not only gets social media, he embraces it and has empowered his executives to act on the company’s behalf in their social networks.

We learned about Dell’s social media training programs, designed to educate Dell team members on its overall social media strategy, governance and principles, according to program director, Amy Fowler-Tennison. I had a chance to watch one of my favorite Dell people, Lionel Menchaca work at his station and then to have a quiet one on one conversation about his love of the work he does for Dell. His comment that he is having more fun than now he has ever had in his career with Dell was echoed by several other Dell employees during the day.

Since the inaugural DellCAP days last year, Dell has hosted DellCAP events in both Germany and China. To its credit it continues to seek and act on customer input about its products and solutions.

We concluded the day with more updates from Dell, more brainstorming and animated conversation and, as another surprise, “elote” (grilled corn on the cob with Mexican seasoning) eaten on a stick. I remember tweeting that I had never eaten corn on the cob in a business meeting before and was hoping the video cameras weren’t recording my stealthy attempts to remove corn bits from my teeth as the discussions continued.

When Mack Collier signaled the end of the day we were all surprised and even disappointed. In contrast to last year’s event where we felt drained and tired, this year we weren’t ready to stop talking. We were energized and excited and having a grand old time.

Dinner that night was on Dell at a delightful Mexican restaurant whose name escapes me. We were joined by the Dell executives we had spent the day with and the conversations continued. At the end of the evening, we regretfully parted ways and headed back to our rooms to pack and get ready to head home the next day.

Mack Collier and me at the end of our DellCAP session last week

Mack Collier’s moderation of the event added just the right touch of friendly, relaxed yet business like direction to the free flowing conversations. Director of Dell’s Social Media Command Center, Michelle Brigman’s, introductions and closing statements hit home in their grace and warmth. I enjoyed reconnecting with friends from last years’ event and meeting new friends at this one. I am not alone in feeling that the DellCAP participants are eager to continue to help Dell share the information about its programs and technology solutions and I look forward with excitement to watching the innovation continue.

Dell did listen. Dell is listening. And taking action.

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]]> http://allenmireles.com/blog/dellcap-review-wowed-by-dells-social-media-listening/feed/ 4 http://allenmireles.com/blog/sharing-social-media/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sharing-social-media http://allenmireles.com/blog/sharing-social-media/#comments Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:59:43 +0000 Allen Mireles http://allenmireles.com/?p=567 As a social media consultant I have often cited Dell for its work in social media. Today I use Dell as an example of a corporation using social media to connect with customers; really listen to complaints and suggestions; and begin the work of making changes in its processes. Social media consultant, Mack Collier, predicts that this type of event “…is an example of the next evolution of social media for companies.”

This week, in the same week that Dell earned the prestigious “Voice of the Customer” award from Forrester Research, its social media team released “CAPtivating Conversation: Dell CAP Days Participants Speak Their Mind”; video of the participants in its inaugural Customer Advisory Panel. We were interviewed briefly before and after the panel discussions and the video captures our candid responses.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BkmmVrOXMs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The Forrester Research award recognized Dell and two other companies for “…initiatives that enable companies to dramatically improve how they collect, interpret, and react to customer feedback.” The Customer Advisory Panel while not called out in the Forrester press release, certainly falls within that category. In a post on the Direct2Dell.com blog, Gary Fox states that “we understand that our company’s continued success is based on a common theme—putting customers at the heart of everything we do. How customers use  their technology to grow and succeed is at the center of why we exist.” I’m glad they feel that way since it bodes well for the future.

As a participant in the panel I was flown in to Austin and treated with great hospitality. I enjoyed meeting members of the Dell social media team and other Dell panel members with shared concerns. Most of us left Austin feeling that the people working within Dell were committed to making changes. As importantly, we felt that they were really listening to us. An valuable trait in today’s marketplace.

That Dell has many issues to address in turning itself around is increasingly clear. That Dell recognizes this and is putting the pieces in place to makes changes now seems equally clear. The follow up from the initial meetings has been solid and the discussion continues on Twitter (#DellCAP) and in the Dell online community forums.

As Gary Fox states in his post, “The Forrester Research Voice of the Customer Award demonstrates that we’re headed in the right direction.” I concur. Congratulations on the award and good luck on the work ahead. We’ll be watching.

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