Grow My Company

Facebook compromised your privacy this week, and you probably didn't even notice it

In the way of a great illusionist, this week Facebook got so many users worked up about the loss of easy access to recent posts that they were able to slide in much more significant changes that altered the privacy control that every Facebook user had over his own information. 

Yes, you can establish the privacy of photos and status updates on the fly now, but if your friends choose to share your information on their own profiles, your friends' friends and the apps they use have access to it.

See here:

In the past, your privacy settings controlled who could see your posts, but the above statement leads me to wonder if that remains the case if friends can freely share your updates, photos and information with their friends.

However, you can still stop apps from accessing your info. So it is more important than ever to restrict which of your personal information your friends' apps can access. See here:

If any of the above boxes are checked, your friends are sharing that information with the apps they use. And yes, they are checked by default. Pretty slick, don't you think? 

Access this screen here:

Home > Privacy > Apps and Websites > How people bring your info to apps they use.

Keep in mind that Facebook makes money from those apps, and those apps are only free because they benefit from collecting users' information.

So, did Facebook deliberately compromise user experience to take attention off a significant and deliberate privacy reduction? We'll never know for sure. But users world-wide sure took their eye off the ball and focused on usability instead of privacy issues this week. 

Few users realize that Facebook doesn't give a hoot about our privacy, despite their claims to the contrary. Facebook is in business to make money. If they're not charging you to use the service, the money has to come from somewhere. Bottom line: the more info Facebook can get you to provide, the more valuable its database is to advertisers and apps. Remember, you are a user; advertisers and app developers are its customers. That's a very important distinction.

- Christine Pilch

How to secure your Facebook Photos from strangers and specific friends

 

 

Are you aware that Facebook's default setting for all your photos is Everyone? This means that everybody on Facebook can see them. If you want to restrict who can see your photos, this video will walk you through the process step by step. Christine Pilch, Grow My Company, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyCo.com

© 2011, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

LinkedIn privacy threat and Facebook notifications: changes you should make

 

 

LinkedIn recently opted you into letting them use your name and photo in advertising, but you can change that. This video will show you how. In addition, Facebook recently changed their account settings infrastructure. In this video you'll hear a few tips about key settings you should pay attention to. Christine Pilch, Grow My Company, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyCo.com

© 2011, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

 

How to create Facebook Friend Lists and use them for privacy

 

 

By popular demand, here's an update on how to create Facebook Friend Lists. This video takes you through the process and explains why this is important. Christine Pilch, Christine@GrowMyCo.com 413.537.2474

© 2011, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

 

HTTPS & Remote Logoff - Hidden Facebook Privacy Settings

 

 

Facebook's default connection allows malicious hackers to access your account, but here you'll learn how one simple change can log you in through an encrypted connection. You'll also learn how to be notified whenever someone accesses your account, how to monitor computers currently accessing your account, and how to log out of Facebook remotely. Keep yourself safe. Christine Pilch, 413.537.2474, Christine@GrowMyCo.com

© 2011, Christine Pilch, Grow My Company. This video is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Does your employer own your LinkedIn connections?

One of the things I teach in my LinkedIn training sessions is to be sure that your primary LinkedIn contact email is one that you own personally rather than your professional email at your employer's domain. Think about this. If you abruptly left your employment, you would lose that primary pipe through which LinkedIn contacts you. 

Also consider the breach of privacy and the loss of potentially years worth of connections if your employer took over your LinkedIn account. You wouldn't even be able to login to your own account.

A recent blog post by Robin Hensley made me pause, however. She cites an article by a British solicitor that states, "English courts, ... have ruled in the past that information in Outlook address books amount to information databases and do indeed belong to employers. Since LinkedIn is essentially a web-based database, he believes it is likely that courts may rule on that in a similar fashion." If this happens in England, can the US be far behind?

Robin's blog post goes on to state, "Many companies are currently scrambling to include LinkedIn policies in their employee handbooks. Employees who have built extensive LinkedIn connections would be wise (but may not know) to consider negotiating terms relating to their online network before accepting employment."

This new information sure does add more credence to my training advice to make your primary LinkedIn email a personal one. Until legal precedent is established in the US stating that LinkedIn networks are employer property, I say safeguard your LinkedIn connections as precious resources. 

Your work email should definitely be connected to your LinkedIn account so people can find you, but change your primary email to a personal one. Please do it now, before you forget. Also, in light of Robin's above suggestion to consider negotiating terms relating to online networks, it seems prudent to be aware of your employer's stance on ownership of social networks.

- Christine Pilch

 Image Credit: Microsoft

Hazards of Social Media, Part 2: Online reputation management - protecting yourself when someone puts you in a awkward position

You have likely worked hard your whole life to be perceived a certain way, and this has likely transferred from your offline to online life. You're probably careful about how you speak to people and the things that you say, so they are not misconstrued. You likely have your own personally acceptable code of conduct.

But what if somebody else threatens the reputation that you so carefully guard? What if someone asks you to do something that makes you uncomfortable and could possibly threaten your reputation?

I recently encountered a situation on LinkedIn where a connection of mine wanted to be connected to an author who was connected to someone that I am connected to. So the request had to follow this track:

My friend > Me > My connection > His connection

This is a relatively common request on LinkedIn, and in the spirit of the community, I didn't think twice about forwarding it to my connection, who was a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker.) Such people connect to as many people as possible on LinkedIn for the purported reason of being a resource to the LinkedIn community.

But it quickly became clear to me that this particular LION wasn't interested in doing a good deed without payment. He asked that I write a recommendation on his LinkedIn profile commending his willingness to forward the introduction request.

Huh? This guy wanted me to commend him for doing something that probably happens 10s of thousands of times daily on LinkedIn by people who are just acting in a decent human fashion, doing a favor? After all, this only requires the click of a button, not much effort.

I was uncomfortable with this request because if I recommend someone who treats others this way, then my reputation is tarnished by association.

I tweeted about his request, and once reinforced that indeed, this was an unreasonable request, I messaged him via the LinkedIn network that I only recommend people that I have worked with extensively and know well. But he wouldn't let go without two return emails.

In the first he mentioned that he has 2,500 recommendations from people like me that he has helped. And he's very busy running his own business, yet he still makes time to help others. "Okay," I'm thinking, "Just like all the rest of the LinkedIn community." And I didn't bother to respond.

A couple days went by, and a received a follow up email from him, stating that I must have misunderstood his request. "I was not asking you to recommend me as a person you know or trust, but "my service" as pay-it-forward advocate who helps others."

I still didn't respond. He apparently has a different view of courtesy than I do, and there was noting to be gained by pointing that out.

In another circumstance, one of my clients had one of his LinkedIn connections request that he pass along a introduction to one of my client's connections. His connection was in the professional services field and he wanted to position himself as a resource. The problem was that my client didn't think very highly of this person's skills, and he didn't want to forward the introduction, thereby associating himself as an inferred reference. I told my client that his instincts were probably right, and he should trust them.

In both of these scenarios above, requests were made that could have potentially damaged someone's reputation simply by association. The people making the requests didn't seem to have a problem doing so, and they obviously had the confidence to do so, but they had not successfully impressed those to whom they made their requests.

The message here is to not allow anyone to bully you into doing something that makes you uncomfortable online any more than you would allow it to happen face-to-face. Like it or not, your reputation is affected by those you associate with, and a false recommendation can certainly come back to bite you.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
On LinkedIn
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 Image Credit: Microsoft

Recession marketing – your online reputation is more important than ever

I recently stumbled upon a very good article about marketing during a recession. It was published in eMarketing and Commerce magazine, but the principles are so sound that they relate to service professionals as well.

The first several points the author makes regard consumer behavior. In a nutshell, when gas gets more expensive, people stay home more and do their homework upfront before shopping for anything. This includes professional services.

Since your online presence is more important than ever, what is your online brand? What impression do people get when they Google you? Are you portrayed in a positive and professional fashion? Are your online bios sufficiently packed with information so that prospects get a feel for who you are before they call?

Take a look at your website bio, blog bio and LinkedIn profile. Are they complete? When a prospect compares yours with a competitor's, is one full of helpful information and the other sadly lacking anything but bare minimum facts and obviously not important to the author? What message does that send to a prospect?

Can any service professional afford to drop their guard and allow a competitor to get an appointment because their online brand is stronger?


by: Christine Pilch

Image Credit: Microsoft