Protect your Social Media accounts from phishing.

Posted by wsewell on Feb 24th, 2010 | no comments

This article from Mashable discusses the newest phishing attack making the rounds on Twitter.

With metric tools and applications that require logging in to connect with Twitter, it’s increasingly difficult to judge which links are beneficial and which are hacks.  A couple of things to keep in mind:

1.  If it doesn’t specifically tell you the purpose of the link, don’t click it.

Vague descriptions like “Is this you?” or “Have you seen this picture” or “Have you tried this?” are meant to stir up curiousity and entice you to click.  Resist the urge.

2.  If you can’t verify the sender, don’t click.

This is a personal rule of mine.  I realize this is controversial as many auto-messages send you to Facebook, blogs, or other interesting websites.  If you do click a link from one of these, you shouldn’t have to re-enter your Twitter account information, so don’t do it.

3.  If you didn’t seek it out, don’t enter your information.

If you’re setting up an account on Hootsuite or attempting to measure some Twitter metrics with one of the many free programs out there, you will need to enter your Twitter account information.  However, you usually seek out these types of programs.  If you didn’t seek out a program that pops up or sends you a DM wanting your account information, don’t give it to them.

This You????: Yet Another Phishing Attack

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In the last couple of weeks, Twitter users have been the target of several large-scale phishing attacks, and according to security experts over at Sophos, the latest one is no different.

The attack spreads via messages with the text “This you????” followed by a link that sends the user to a fake Twitter () login page. Don’t fall for the trick. If you enter your credentials there, you’re not actually logging into Twitter, you’re just sending your username and password to the attacker.

If you suspect you’ve fallen victim of this attack, you should change your Twitter password immediately. Check out a video demonstration of the attack (created by Sophos) below.

My first 15 minutes with the new Facebook

Posted by wsewell on Feb 9th, 2010 | no comments

I was pretty excited to finally see the newest Facebook layout appear on my homepage this afternoon. Here’s a step by step of how it went for me.

Minute 1: “Hooray, it’s here!”

Emphasized search, specific dashboards, categorized sections – so far so good. But wait, what’s this? I can’t set my news feed to “Status Updates” anymore. That’s unfortunate.

Minute 2: “I sure hope there’s a better way to do this.”

As the status update viewing option is gone, I clicked the “Most Recent” news feed, and realized that I’ll now have to manually hide all the application updates. It’s not such a problem during the day, but somewhere around 8 p.m. they get so popular, I can’t see anyone’s personal updates.

Minute 5: “No one’s posted anything in that last 5 minutes? That’s really strange.”

About this time, I notice my typically constantly-updating news feed is stagnant. I’m a little disappointed that I now have to refresh the page instead of just leaving the window open. It’s not too big of a deal, but why the change?

Minute 6: “Wait… I’m being ambushed!”

I refresh the screen to see I have 2 event invitations that have come through in the last 5 minutes. Ahh, that’s more like it. But then I realize I’m still looking at them on the right side of the screen. I could have sworn they were on the left side now. So I look, and there they are… again. I think, “Maybe the one on the left is for events I’m actually attending,” but then I look back to my right, and there are events for a third time! Then, I notice chat is on both the bottom and on the left.

I am now thinking the new Facebook is quite redundant.

Minute 10: “Now this I’m going to like.”

A few more refreshes, and I have messages. I click the little icon and instead of taking me to a new screen, the messages pop down. I’m a big fan of this new feature.

Minute 15: “It really seems like more people play Farmville than that.”

After a couple more minutes of making sure the new search bar didn’t change the search and that the Social Media Solutions LLC Page was still fully functional (both work just the same), I decided to check out the new games dashboard I’ve heard so much about. Your games are now organized by the ones you play, the ones your friends have recently played, and the ones your specific friends are playing.

Overall: The look is a little different. Things have moved sideways or up or have doubled themselves. Some minor features are gone while others have debuted. But overall, it’s really not that different. Remember when news feed first became available? Now that was a big deal.

Social Media Guide for Politicians

Posted by LaurenCandito on Oct 27th, 2009 | no comments

Social Media is an evolutionary development that has transformed the way that individuals, organizations and political campaigns are able to communicate. The 2008 US elections were a defining moment for the use of social media in politics. As opposed to previous decades where the primary methods of human contact included in-person dialogue, phone calls, and (in recent years) email, individuals are now able to connect with one another in a viral way. untitled1The world has seen a U.S. President underdog nominee overtake the competition and ultimately win the Presidency by utilizing these new media channels, and now everybody wants to learn how to use social media to boost the success of their campaign.

What must be remembered, however, is that candidates need platforms, personalities, financing, timing, and hard work to pull off a successful run, and in the end, a campaign is a campaign, and new media tools are just that – tools. Tools that if used properly, can provide a candidate with a formidable weapon in their arsenal, but if used incorrectly, they can create a crisis for a candidate’s campaign within minutes of posting.

Fail or succeed, the choice belongs to the campaign teams who are devising their candidate’s strategy. With proper planning & education, social media can be one of the most powerful campaign tools a candidate has. What will your choice be?

If you would like our free guide to integrating social media into your political campaign, please click the icon below.

Click Here

Social Media Metrics: A Master List

Posted by LaurenCandito on Aug 25th, 2009 | no comments

Hard Metrics vs Soft Metrics

Posted by LaurenCandito on Aug 24th, 2009 | no comments

Business Metrics: Hard Metrics vs Soft Metrics

Marketing Prof’s recently posted an article from Ardath Albee discusses an ongoing debate between “Hard” and “Soft” marketing proponents on the best way to measure ROI.

The Hard Marketing Camp, she says, “wants to tie everything to sales metrics saying anything that doesn’t result in a revenue measurement doesn’t count.”
The Soft Marketing Camp, on the other hand, “is focused on initiatives that drive engagement, conversations, interactions, awareness and brand.”

Albee argues that you need both. “In [any sale] you can’t get to revenue without Soft Camp initiatives,” she says. “In fact, the more ’social’ marketing becomes, the higher a degree of Soft will be needed to generate Hard results.”

The trick is using hard evidence to demonstrate its importance. “With marketing measurement becoming more sophisticated,” she continues, “imagine the ability for marketers to know the factors that cause buyers in specific segments to become sales ready.” She envisions, for example, the ability to show that Persona A has a 70% probability of making a purchase if their history includes these actions:

• Downloading a whitepaper.
• Engaging in three personal interactions—for instance, a comment left at a blog or a Twitter exchange.
• Opting into an email program, and having a click-through rate of 60% or more.
• Viewing an on-demand video for their vertical.

“What [marketers] ultimately [need] are progressive metrics that help them prove Soft initiatives drive Hard results,” says Albee. “That’s what creates solid ROI.”

Source: Marketing Interactions. Click here for the full post.