Posts Tagged Twitter
Why phishers love Facebook (and Twitter)
By Bob Sullivan, The Red Tape Chronicles
Facebook is the new playground for phishers. Why? The social networking site has made things relatively easy for computer criminals. So far, the consequences have been relatively mild — mostly, some annoying emails. But if Facebook and other social networking sites don’t get a handle on security issues soon, a serious outbreak could occur.
Behind every successful criminal computer hack a simple two-step process: gain trust, then exploit that trust with an attack. Computer criminals will tell you that gaining trust is the hard part. Consider a real-world parallel: Breaking into a bank is difficult. But if you befriend a guard, he’ll eventually let you walk right in through the front door.
That’s why Facebook attacks are so easy, says Mary Landesman, senior researcher at computer security firm ScanSafe.
“Facebook users assume a level of trust they just should not assume when using the site,” she said.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Facebook, Social Media, Twitter on June 2nd, 2009
The problem with planning social media (no problem)
By Cory Treffiletti
If you were engaged with digital media planning early in the continuum, say from 1995-2000, you regularly heard the phrase, “building the plane while flying it.” That cliché was used commonly to describe the exhilaration and similarly the frustration of media planning in an environment that was un-tested, un-standardized and extremely fluid when compared to its traditional brethren.
The same thing can be said for social media planning right now, because social media is somewhat tested, infinitely un-standardized and extremely fluid. What adds even more difficulty is, it is more about the platform than any of the individual players — which adds a level of complexity that can easily overwhelm an unseasoned planner.
When planning display in digital media, it’s easy to focus on the publisher as the location for placement, and each publisher has a forecasted, finite volume of inventory that can be planned. In social media, publishers are increasingly shifting their focus away from their sites and more to a distributed model that relies on third-party programmer development to create access points.
In a recent article in the Sunday New York Times, Facebook proclaimed its desire for a third party to developers to create new interfaces for accessing the social network rather than driving users to the host .com site. They are not as concerned with site traffic as they are with accessibility to the platform. Twitter is leaps and bounds ahead of the pack when it comes to this concept, with most people accessing Twitter through mobile apps such as Twitterific or desktop apps like TweetDeck.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter on May 22nd, 2009
Social Networking generates leads, closes sales for marketers
By Tom Polanski, EVP, eBrand Media and eBrand Interactive
According to a social media study by Michael Stelzner for the Social Media Success Summit 2009, 88% of marketers in a recent survey say they are now using some form of social media to market their business, though 72% of those using it say they have only been at it a few months or less. Marketer’s Use of Social Media Tools
Social Media – % Respondents Using
* Twitter – 86%
* Blogs – 79%
* Linkedin – 78%
* Facebook – 77%
* YouTube or other video – 41%
* Social bookmark sites – 38%
* Forums – 38%
* StumbleUpon – 28%
* Digg, Reddit or similar – 26%
* FriendFeed – 18%
Source: Social Media Marketing Industry Report, March 2009
Key survey findings about specific application show that:
Posted by Tom Polanski in Marketing, Trend Tracker on April 24th, 2009
Will extreme narcissism eventually kill the best of Twitter?
By Helen A.S. Popkin
Micro-famous art blogger Paddy Johnson recently hepped her readers to a social networking application that actually makes Twitter seem relevant and interesting — at least to me. It’s Cursebird, a “real-time feed of people swearing on Twitter,” and it is awesome.
Not only does it relay (or “retweet” as the kids say) profane Twitter posts, the Cursebird home page features the top five bad words currently ranking on the social network along with percentage points, the cursing stats of random foul-fingered tweeters, and a search feature to check just how nasty your Twitter pals can be.
Beyond this and a couple of other independently developed Twitter apps that cater to my outer juvenile, I don’t much care for Twitter. Also, I’m really sick of hearing about it. Suddenly Twitter is the Snuggie of social networking. Everyone’s yammering about it endlessly and busting out his or her own Twitter feed as awkwardly as wearing a blanket with sleeves.
Seriously. If you’re not Shaq, I don’t want to read it. Alas, I am forced to acknowledge the “perfect storm” (two more words I’d greatly appreciate never hearing again) that led to Twitter’s current critical mass, as well as its myriad usefulness — even if most people haven’t yet figured out how to use it right.
In 2007 I wrote about Twitter in a column titled “Twitter Nation: Nobody cares what you’re doing.” Since then, a plethora of events helped reveal the microblogging site as a powerful tool, though its full potential is yet to be harnessed.
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Twitter on April 16th, 2009
Is Twitter evil?
By Alan Boyle
Researchers probing the workings of the brain have found that it takes longer for feelings of social compassion and admiration to register on our neural circuits – and they worry that the rapid-fire effect of texting and tweeting could have “potentially negative consequences” for our moral fiber.
The findings serve as fresh fuel for the debate over social networking’s effect on the human psyche: Just this month, we’ve seen how social-network surfers can improve their office productivity, help catch criminals or head off a potential suicide (with an assist from celebrity Demi Moore!). We’ve also heard about Twitter torments, Facebook failures and social-network stress.
The brain-scan study, conducted by scientists at the University of Southern California and due for publication online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, takes a different perspective.
Rather than looking at the effects of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., the researchers studied how the some of the noblest emotions we can summon – admiration for the virtues of others, and compassion for others’ distress – are processed. The potential connection to the pace of online social networking and other digital media emerged as a follow-up observation.
Here’s how the experiment was done: Thirteen interview subjects were told five kinds of stories about anonymous men and women:
Posted by Tom Polanski in Advertising, Twitter on April 14th, 2009