CDPUG BlogSphere

And some ways to avoid linking up with scam artists

By Dan Yurman djysrv@gmail.com
Dan is CDPUG’s Blogmiester. The views expressed here are his own.

According to Forbes, Linkedin is disrupting the corporate recruiting model with over 150 million members and estimated revenues of over $800 million. That’s a huge online presence so it should come as no surprise that scam artists of all kinds will try to leverage it for their own purposes.

Linkedin is an especially useful platform for independent practitioners, such as freelance graphic artists, writers, and web developers. A free membership on Linkedin can bring the benefits of posting a resume, getting endorsements and recommendations from customers and colleagues, and, most importantly, being visible to potential clients.

All this openness comes with some risks and some of them are faked Linkedin profiles. Why do people post fake profiles? Here are a few reasons.

· To bolster an otherwise weak resume. This practice isn’t confined to low life losers. Yahoo CEO Scott Thomopson paid a huge price moneywise in May 2012 when he was fired from his job after falsely claiming academic credentials he did not earn.

· To inflate or promote the political resume of a candidate for public office. Fact checking journalists usually uncover these falsehoods rather quickly.

· To make a company look bigger than it really is in order to promote questionable or illegal business practices or to puff up its credibility to gain more sales.

· To inflate link building and SEO results for a client, to promote events, drive traffic to a web site or service, and generate sales leads.

· To test the waters for available talent by a proposal team, company HR department, or the competition to your company.

· To engage in phishing scams by getting people to give up personal information to be used in identity theft.

· To redirect a user to a malicious site resulting in the download of software that takes control of the PC.

How to spot a fake profile

Use the principle of “it just doesn’t look right.” One of the classic scams is to fake the name of an important personal in business or government and use it to approach people. The rule of thumb about things “being too good to be true” applies here. If you are not in Warren Buffet’s online network, trust me, he is not going to approach your with a Linkedin invitation.

The same principle can be applied to local industries. The head of a large advertising agency is not going to directly approach a freelance graphics artist with a request for proposal. The CEO has people who do that for the company.

That’s why Linkedin identifies people sending you invitations are being in the second or third tier your network or not in it at all. The rule of thumb is to treat online networking as a mirror of your personal networks.

Deal only with people you know or can verify regarding their identity, business affiliation, and online presence outside of Linkedin. A quick check on Google will establish whether someone wanting to be your next best professional network link is real or not.

How to spot a fake profile on Linkedin

These are some of the ways to check if a profile is real. You don’t have to be an online detective to use these methods. If enough question marks remain after asking these questions, consider not replying to a sketchy request for a Linkedin connection.

· Is the name plausible? While John Smith is a common name, hiding behind one is a first resort for fake profiles. Names that sound good, e.g., Jimmy Johnson or Darlene Darling, etc., and others with easy on the brain alliteration, are frequently used by scammers. You need other confirming information to accept it as real.

· What about a picture? Head shots, as they are called in the trade, are important, but if the one you see looks like a “too good to be true” stock photo, keep the question open about whether the profile is real or not. The absence of a profile photo is not an automatic indicator of a fake profile. Some people seeking to avoid racial or age discrimination don’t post one.

· Does the profile make sense? Fake profiles often list degrees from top colleges, but a tip-off is they don’t list a year of graduation or a major field of study. Another tip off is that the job information is sparse, has major gaps, but the profile has memberships in lots of groups. If there is no industry or geographic pattern to the group profiles, that can be a red flag.

· Names of employers can’t be verified in Google. First, check Google to see if the company names are real and have a real web site. Second, anyone who has been working for a while will have a trail of online bread crumbs in Google from accomplishments on the job, trade press and industry conferences, or even mainstream media reports. If these types of “hits” in a Google search are missing, keep the question mark front and center. A corresponding Facebook page is not evidence of a true profile on Linkedin.

· Are there any connections in common? Most people who contact you will have a connection or a group in common. The first type of link is more easily verified. Contact your connection in common and ask about the new contact. The second isn’t as strong because any fake profile can show up in any open group. A key question to ask is where is the person from? If they are from the greater Cleveland area, verification should be possible, but if they are from an overseas location, watch out.

· Lastly, does the profile have any recommendations and from who? Again, names of people who can be verified in the recommendations are a plus. The recommendations should tie back to the work history. If they don’t, or are generalized platitudes without reference to specifics, that could be a sign of a fake profile.

What to do if you decide a profile is a fake?

First, and foremost, do not confront the sender of a connection request directly with a message your think they are a fake. Do not reply to it. Second, if you think the fake profile has malicious intent, Linkedin has a mechanism for reporting fake profiles.

If you in good faith believe that content listed in the body of a member’s profile is inaccurate or unlawful, then you may complete the Notice of False Profile form.

Bear in mind that Linkedin is also wary of false reports about fake profiles so be really sure you have the necessary information to back up your claim.

In the end, false profiles are Linkedin’s problem, not yours. The easiest and safest response is to just walk away by deleting the offending connection request. Treat is as spam and move on.

If you get tangled up in a dispute over one, it can become a significant distraction from your business. If you, or your business, has been harmed by someone using a fake profile on Linkedin, your next step should be to consult an attorney for legal advice.

What about Facebook?

Linkedin isn’t the online online service to have a problem with fake profiles. According to an August 2012 report on CNN, Facebook said in a regulatory filing that it estimates it had at the time about 83 million fake profiles worldwide.

According to CNN, Facebook is trying to weed out false profiles because advertisers do not want to spend their money presenting their brands to ghosts.

“On Facebook we have a really large commitment in general to finding and disabling false accounts,” Facebook’s chief security officer Joe Sullivan told CNN in a recent interview. “Our entire platform is based on people using their real identities.”

Just remember in your online travels the famous New Yorker (1993) cartoon by Peter Steiner. It has the tag line, “On the Internet, no one knows you are a dog.” (Wikipedia link).

# # #

Providing updates on technical user group meetings and some entrepreneurial networking events in the greater Cleveland area, Stuart Smith is a one man tour de force when it comes to promoting Cleveland’s burgeoning tech and social media.

Did you know? Stuart O. Smith, Jr., is the Website Director at Notre Dame College and holds a Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) degree from Case Western Reserve University. He has also been co-leader of the Web Special Interest Group Cleveland for six years.

Tweeting under the ID of @sos_jr , Stuart has created a comprehensive website that perfectly compliments his posts on Twitter. Visit: sosAssociates.com

: ) Henry Lee, CDPUG eZine Editor/@nativeArtzCLE

“Take Control of Safari 6″ reveals Safari’s finer details

Sure, nearly anyone can get around well enough on the Web in Safari. But Apple has been improving Safari for years, and it has a treasure trove of features that most people never notice. No one ferrets out those features – and their shortcuts, where available – better than Sharon Zardetto, and she’s back with “Take Control of Safari 6″ to make sure you can use Safari faster, smarter, and better than ever before. (Because, to draw an analogy, wouldn’t you rather confidently stalk the Serengeti’s big game with your long lens than be a bumbling tourist in a jouncing Land Rover?)

You’ll start your advanced Safari education by customizing your environment, especially its toolbar, bookmarks, and top sites. Then you’ll explore key browsing techniques, including how to access sites you’ve visited in the past quickly, load multiple Web pages at once, and sync open tabs among your Apple devices. You’ll also find advice on how to go beyond the basics for searching both the Web in general and any page you’re viewing, fill out forms – like your contact information in the Take Control cart! – automatically, manage stored passwords, keep pages around to read later, and discover the most worthwhile extensions that expand Safari’s feature set. It’s 143 pages of detailed research and testing for only $10 – or $7 after the 30% MUG discount – click this link to get started:

http://tid.bl.it/tco-safari-6-mug-discount

(Note that Safari 6 runs in 10.7 Lion and 10.8 Mountain Lion, but its feature set is slightly restricted in Lion, and Sharon points out the differences. If you prefer 10.6 Snow Leopard or 10.5 Leopard, “Take Control of Safari 5″ is still available at http://tid.bl.it/tco-safari-5 )

Specifically, in “Take Control of Safari 6,” you’ll learn how to:

* Load any link into a new tab or window, or into your Reading List.
* Organize your enormous bookmark collection.
* Unearth a page in your history, even it’s not bookmarked or in your Reading List.
* Read a multi-page, ad-ridden article in a reader-friendly layout.
* Prevent snoops from tracking where you’ve been on the Web.
* Update a password that Safari has stored.
* Learn how to make Safari fill in most forms for you.
* Expand too-small text fields for easier typing and editing.
* Add pages to your Reading List for later perusal, whether online or offline, and even on a separate device.
* Block ads, zoom images, show passwords as you type, and more with helpful Safari extensions.

Thanks for your support, and for your questions and constructive comments. We couldn’t do it without you!

cheers… -Adam & Tonya Engst, Take Control publishers

Facebook and the other social media platforms are a great way to raise your social capital. But leveraging the full power of these platforms can involve going beyond what the regular user is willing to do. If you want your business to get the most out of Facebook you need to be a power user! Facebook apps are a great tool for the business owner or marketer. You can use an app to embed polls, ebooks, email signup forms, portfolios, product showcases, and even other web applications (such as pages created by WordPress).

So how do you go about building an app for Facebook? It’s really not that difficult–even if you are not a web developer.

The home of Facebook app development is the Facebook Developer website located at developers.facebook.com. This documentation will get you started if you are already familiar with web development, and can also help you get started with the Facebook Graph API (which isn’t even necessary to use for simple apps like contact forms).

Static HTML: iframe tabs

If you are not that keen on web deveopment but still want to take advantage the power of apps for your business page, consider checking out the Static HTML app. This app will let you add a new tab to your page, and supports optional fan only content. In other words: “Like us to download our exclusive ebook” etc..

Other resources

• See Appleseed Permaculture and Jack Spirko for more on social capital.
• Facebook Graph API documentation
• Static HTML app
• Getting started with the Facebook Javascript SDK

If you have any questions about Facebook apps feel free to post a comment below.

Blogging isn’t going away, but new channels open new opportunities for customer engagement

USA Today reports that a survey conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth found that top ranked corporations are replacing their blogs with more nuanced and targeted social media investments in specific channels including Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.  In a survey conducted in 2011 of Fortune 500 firms, the percentage of companies using blogs fell from 50% in 2010 to 37% in 2011.

Interest in blogging has fallen for several reasons.  The first is that companies think blogs take too much work. Second, the explosive growth of Facebook has convinced firms to follow their customers. Third, some companies in highly regulated industries, like financial services and pharmaceuticals, got tired of having their lawyers pick over every word before it could be published to avoid trouble with the government.

Some firms complained in the survey that their blogs didn’t produce results, but it isn’t always clear that these firms made the effort to achieve their intended outcomes.

Many corporate blogs failed to attracted readers because  they were just a rehash of marketing pitches with no interactive mechanisms to engage with customers.

While Facebook, Twitter, and micro blogging sites like Tumblr require less work, the level of engagement with customers turns out to be more shallow.  Experts in social media say the trade-off for firms in terms of “buzz” is how well social media contributes to the overall customer experience.

What’s up in Cleveland?

John Ettore, a Cleveland writer, told the Web Association on April 23 that companies need to provide thought leadership through content marketing, which includes blogs.

“You need to tell stories. Focus on the narrative and remove the marketing crap from your social media channels.  Good content leads to inbound opportunities.”

This means firms must know and own their own stories.

“Social media must provide an authentic form of differentiation or you are wasting your time and money. “

Also, there are pot holes along the way and one of them is going over the top in terms of social media marketing.

Etorre tells the story about how J.C. Penny came to grief by abusing the rules of the road in search engine optimization.  In a February 2011 report, the New York Times Magazine uses the firm’s practices to shed light “on the subterranean world of black hat optimization, the dark art of raising the profile of a Web site with methods that Google considers tantamount to cheating.”

The search engine giant told the newspaper the retailer violated its policies and it took “corrective action.”  When Google does this, it can banish a firm’s appearance in search results to the back end of pages that come up with its primary search terms in it. This can makes the firm more or less invisible and has a definite effect on sales.

Authentic content sells

Joe Pulizzi, of the Content Marketing Institute, told the audience that the virtuous circle of social media involves social media channels linked to search engine optimization (SEO) linked to lead generation.  Good story telling about how customers can and do engage with the firm’s products and services ties it all together.

What Pulizzi sees is a different kind of shift in social media than just from blogging to Facebook.  He claims that content marketing as a percentage of the total advertising spend is on the rise.

“The challenge is to create content that engages customers.  You have to grab them by their pain points. To do that you have to share some of the secret sauce of why they should buy from you compared to anyone else.”

The investments a firm makes in reaching customers now involves a mix of social media, traditional public relations, old fashioned marketing, email, mobile apps, and search. There are a lot of paths for customers to take to find a firm’s product offerings. Social media channels offer new opportunities to guide prospects to become booked sales.  It’s called conversion and measuring it is the holy grail of search engine optimization.

“One way or another the customer has to find you,” Pulizzi said.

Another thing that firms often neglect is to make it easy for current and potential customers  to share content.  Twitter and Facebook buttons are a must and so is sharing via email and other social media channels.  A company that locks up its content without mechanisms to share content is essentially sending its future sales to other firms.

Finally, and this gets back to owning your story and your content, Pulizzi says that a firm must be a student of its niche in the industry and for each product and product line.

“You must have a passion for what you do and the essence of it must come through each social media channel or customers will reject you because they will perceive you are not authentic.”

A look at the future

It is unlikely that the use of social media tools is going to drop off.  According to the University of Massachusetts survey, social media tools are seen as important for company goals.

“Ninety percent of responding executives report that social media tools are important for brand awareness and company reputation.  Eighty-eight percent see these tools as important for generating web traffic while 81% find them important for lead generation.  Seventy-three percent say that social media tools are important for customer support programs.”

It’s a growing market for anyone who wants to play in it.

# # #

Posted by: blog@cdpug.org

Story telling is an important part of blogging

By: Dan Yurman

This blog post contains the text of my presentation to the CDPUG monthly meeting held February 23, 2012.

Blogs tell stories

A good blog, indeed an extraordinary blog, must address the fundamental question of why the reader should spend time with its story. A good story, a satisfying story, must have a compelling start, a middle which lays out the struggle to resolve conflicts and contradictions, or which celebrates the triumph of hard work, dedication, innovation. Also, it captures the fortunate circumstances where just plain luck arrives and often when it is least expected.

Blogs tell stories, but there are dividing lines between ordinary blogs and those that tell the best stories. The best blogs are not just journalism. In some ways they hearken back to an oral tradition that is thousands of years old.

A blog has a voice

A blog must have a distinctive voice which, in its highs and lows, murmurs and shouts, conveys the personality of the blogger and what it’s publisher has to contribute to its readers’ knowledge of how the world works. A good blog is exuberant and conveys its enthusiasm for its subject matter to the reader. A good blog is also serious when it needs to be, and must display determination to pursue a topic to its logical conclusions.

A blog cannot be a mere curator of links, a collection of pointers to the work of others, or a mish mash of citations of media clips.

The voice of a blog must carry the reader to a new place, where there is better understanding of an issue, a topic, or an event, and must do so in a compelling manner that transports the reader to the conclusion of the blog post.

The blogger’s voice cannot falter or lay down false passages populated by the tics and foibles of personality. The voice of a good blog tells a compelling story which carries with it elements that border on obsession about its topic.

A blog is passionate about its subjects

A good blog takes the readers basic interest and captures their attention. Good blogs reflect commitment to an issue or cause, an industry, a person, product, or an idea. The stories told by a strong voice in a good blog overflow with a clear desire to satisfy curiosity about the subject matter. The reader must come away from reading such a blog knowing that the publisher never stops reading and learning about the blog’s focus.

A good blog has tenacious attention to detail without burying its readers in a mass of disorganized facts. A good blog encourages the reader to follow the evolution of the story, including the use of links to reinforce the authenticity of the facts of the tale.

Blog success is derived from dedication to a craft

No successful blog is the product of “add water and microwave.” Good blogs tells stories that reflect years of effort to refine the craft of written communication. Good blogs require dedication, hard work, and sometimes getting up at 2 AM to put an idea on the net so it will not be lost. Good blogs must be kept current with fresh, new stories.

Polite blogs do not make a difference

Good blogs must challenge their readers and take them out of their comfort zones. Good blogs are platforms for new core ideas that can create fundamental change. Blogs highlight divergent thinking that the mainstream media sometimes overlooks, and blogs may at times confound their readers with complex ideas out of the ordinary.

Even when a blog is an advocate for its subject, it cannot avoid the inevitable potholes in the road, and must write about them with equal attention to excellence. Blogs will also tell their readers when a story has no happy ending or where there is no prospect of closure.

Good blogs are persistent. They will repeatedly return to compelling subjects without taxing the patience of their readers because each new visit is a new perspective on the topic at hand. Good blogs are not boring, half-assed, or signals the publisher has run off a cliff with an idea.

Blogs put honor before elegance

Good blogs tell stories that explain the world from a unique perspective. They answer the “so what” questions. They do not waste your time, and when you finish reading the current day’s offering, you are ready for more. Good blogs explain thoroughly, analyze deeply,and illuminate their subjects using high beams. If they are really successful, they inspire readers to go out and slay dragons or at least not be afraid of things that go bump in the night.

Good blogs pick you up the way the sun evaporates water from the sea. They carry you across the skies, and release you like rainfall into a new land. That’s what blogs are or ought to be about.  # # #

___________________________________

Thanks to our hosts.  CDPUG appreciates the support of New Horizons Computer Learning Center which is where we hold our meetings.

For information on computer training and support, contact Janine Davis at 216-332-7962 or via email to: janine.davis@nhgreatlakes.com

The New Horizons training center is located just off Transportation Blvd and I-480 in Garfield Heights. (Google Map)  on the web at: http://www.nhgreatlakes.com

___________________

Posted by: blog@cdpug.org

Postscript:  Stargate First Activation a riveting story told in just 10 minutes!