Surviving a Breakup on Facebook

It is hard enough to go through a breakup. And, now add social media to the mix...the whole world knows your relationship status. I recently got a call from a friend that wanted to change her relationship status on Facebook but didn't want to deal with potential comments on the fact that she was getting divorced. Helping her adjust her privacy settings made me think more people might want to know how to do this. So, here is a quick tip to ensure that your breakup isn't blasted for all the world to see:

• Before you change your relationship status, go to your privacy settings
• Click on "Customize Settings"
• Under "Things I share" click on the drop down tab for "Relationships" and choose "Custom"
• On the "Make this visible to" drop down choose "Only Me"
• Now click "Save Setting" - don't forget this part!
• It should say "Only Me" now for "Relationships"
• You can now make the change to your relationship status

It will seem to post on your profile, but don't worry only you can see it...but go ahead and delete the post if it makes you feel better. I would wait a couple of days before you change the settings back from "Only Me" to be safe.

Facebook Places: Another Adventure in Privacy (Repost)

Originally posted on the KW Blog when I was their PR & Social Media Manager

Already a big fan of location-based applications like Foursquare and Gowalla, I was pretty excited to try out Facebook Places.

In short, Facebook Places lets you and your friends check into a location. Once checked in, you can see who else out of your friends is at that location or one nearby. Cool right? But, as with any Facebook update, the addition of Places brings a whole new slew of privacy updates to your Profile that you must know about. So, here are a few things to make note of to ensure that you are comfortable with your settings and what you are sharing on Facebook.

1. Opt out of friends checking YOU in. With Facebook Places, the setting is automatically defaulted to “Enabled,” allowing friends to check you in on your behalf. As I wrote this post I was able to check-in at Starbucks on my iPhone from my desk at work (across the freeway from Starbucks) and tag a friend as being there with me. At first, both of us showed up on my Facebook Profile page as being checked in. Then Facebook Places sent an email letting my friend know I was trying to check her in. Once she approved it, a post showed up on her Facebook Profile page.

If you’re comfortable giving friends’ control over your location, then the default option is for you. If you prefer to keep that information in your hands only, you can “Disable” the setting on the “Privacy Settings” tab under Account, by choosing “Customize Settings.”

But it is also important to note that I was able to post that I was somewhere with my friend that I really wasn’t, so keep that in the back of your mind when making your decision.

2. Public opt in options. If you check in, people who aren’t your “Friends” have the potential to see where you are (see image below). Luckily, Facebook guards your privacy for this setting by giving you the ability to opt in.

I’m a regular user of other location-based applications such as Foursquare, but for safety reasons I tend to check in only when I am with friends or when I am leaving a place. And, I have a rule that I must actually know you to share my location information with you on Foursquare; which is private unless I feed it to Twitter. Personally, I haven’t decided yet if I will change this to the public setting, but if you’re comfortable allowing others to see your current location, click “Enable” where it says “Include me in “People Here Now” after I check in.”

Additionally, remember that Facebook Places or locations added are public. So, to the people who check in to your house…you are sharing your address for the world to see!

3. Adjust your Friends lists. More than likely you’ve set up friends lists that modify what each sees of your profile. As a Facebook user, you would think those same lists would apply to the new Facebook Place application.

Well, not so fast. The default setting for Facebook Places is that all of your Friends can see where you check in. So, to keep this private you will need to adjust the settings under “Places I check in to.”

These tips aren’t meant to scare you away from Facebook Places or other location-based applications. Just be aware before diving in, and as always, think before you post, tweet or update.

Don't Be a Social Media Statistic (Repost)

Originally posted on the KW Blog when I was their PR & Social Media Manager

"I make money with google. i learned how here: ____.” If you were on Twitter last week, you probably saw that message, during another round of phishing scams. This time, the scam spread through DMs and tweets alike. “Phishing” occurs when a fraudulent operation poses as a legitimate Website or service to steal your personal information.

Everyone needs to be aware of what phishing is and what to expect. It can happen on any social networking site, which was proven last month on Facebook when viruses spread across the site like wild fire. In that scam, users were urged to update their information by clicking on a provided link which took them to a fake Facebook login page. Once they entered in their information, it was stolen and their accounts were hacked, spreading the virus even further.

A hacked account on Twitter or even Facebook can lead to account suspensions, or worse, you can be shut out of your account altogether. By falling victim to the scams, you can also unwillingly impact accounts of your friends, family or even your clients!

And, these attacks are increasing. According to Fortinet, a firewall systems provider, June 2009 had the “highest rate of phishing attacks to date” on the Web. It will be interesting to see what these rates look like at the end of year with the rise in social media use.

Here are some tips to stay safe in the new social media world:

• Just because you get a Direct Message (or DM) on Twitter saying “Check out this cool Website” doesn’t mean you should. In fact, Twitter recently alerted its users that they had uncovered a phishing scam, where a link to a fake Twitter login page was sent through the direct message feature. The purpose of the scam was to steal user login and passwords.

• Be wary of sites outside of Twitter that ask for your Twitter username and password. Although we all want to know our Twitter rank or might want to take a Twitter quiz, many people have had their accounts compromised by these sites.

• Be aware of generic posts or messages similar to this: “Hey, did you read what this blog says about you? I think you should read it.” Or, “I saw your profile picture on this Website, you look great! Check it out.” These are sample messages which also included a link with a virus. DON’T CLICK!

• Remember that third-party applications and quizzes are just that, third party. Most were not created by Facebook. Always read the fine print before adding them to your page or profile.

• Use a different password for each site you use. This will save you a lot of trouble if one of your accounts is compromised.

• When a link takes you to sign-in on a familiar site, always look at the URL to make sure that the site is legitimate and not a phishing clone. Phishers count on us not to double check links from our trusted friends, sources and sites.