Image by alancleaver_2000 via Flickr

If you have ever wondered how “public” to be online and what’s safe when it comes to your security and privacy, I thought this article was well worth being aware of.  Very creepy stuff indeed going on.  I’ve reprinted the following article with Paul’s permission.  You can subscribe to his newsletter (which I highly recommend) here:
http://www.yisel.net/talkbiz

And if you found this article useful, please take a moment to post a comment and share with your network and pass it on!

“The Portable Voyeur”
===================

In the last issue, I put out the idea of looking at your
online networks and niches as “virtual neighborhoods.” Nothing
especially new in that concept, except that almost no-one in
the marketing field talks about them that way. That discussion
is mostly left to forum operators and social networking geeks.

In this issue, I want to talk about something closer to home.
Literally IN your home.

People spying on you using your own electronics.

Let’s start with the least intrusive, and work up to stuff you
may not believe is happening.

The last few are downright creepy.

….

There’s a thing called “IP geolocation,” which uses a database
of IPs (numbers locating your computer on the network) and
physical areas to show where a computer is located. There are a
bunch of these, and the accuracy can be anything from very
close to wildly off the mark. The good ones can narrow it down
to a few blocks, in most cases. Sometimes to a specific
building.

You can see this most often when you notice an ad on a site
that’s used by people all over the world, but mentions your
city by name. “[YourCity] mom discovers…” or “Man in
[Hometown] loses 47 pounds using…” That’s IP geolocation in
its mildest form.

Twitter has offered the option for a while to attach your IP
address  to a tweet, basically trying to tell people where you
are. You have to opt into that, though. It’s turned off by
default.

Facebook’s new “Places” settings options enable a more
advanced function by default. The idea is to make it easy for
your friends to know where you are. Unfortunately, it also
makes it easy for people you might not want to share your
location with to find you. Or know when you’re not home…

It’s easy to disable this option, if you know it’s there and
what it’s called. John Williams sent me a link to the
instructions. You can read those here:

http://lifehacker.com/5616395/how-to-disable-facebook-places

Why would this matter?

Well, maybe you don’t want your friends to know where you are
every minute that you’re online. Or maybe you don’t want
world+dog knowing when you’re not home. Or maybe you don’t want
your employer knowing you’re logging onto Facebook from work.
Or from the park when you called in sick.

Just how much info should be distributed about you
automatically?

But wait… There’s more!

….

There are applications on some portable devices and phones that
can transmit the data from a GPS system to other sites. This
can be used to pinpoint your exact address, and your location
to within a few feet.

That’s how the “Places” function on Facebook works. And, with
the default settings, your Facebook “friends” can “check you
in” if they’re with you. Handy, if you’re careful about who
your “friends” are, and who you allow to share the info. Given
the default settings, though, it’s an announcement to the world
every time you log in from a mobile device.

That can get into the realm of the dangerous. With it set to
“Friends of friends” able to view the info, you could be
broadcasting your location to burglars, stalkers, ex-
employees, your employer, or even just that annoying person
you’d rather not see right now.

Given recent comments from CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook -
“Privacy is dead”) and Eric Schmidt (Google – “If you have
something that you don´t want anyone to know, maybe you
shouldn’t be doing it in the first place”), there is every
reason to believe these services will be used as aggressively
as possible.

Both companies have said the comments were taken out of
context. That could be easily believed of Zuckerberg’s remark.
Schmidt’s is a bit less dismissable. None of that matters,
though, when you look at the way their firms actually treat
their users’ private data. Facebook set this option to “On” by
default. Google initially opted every Gmail user into their
social networking platform, Buzz, and created significant and
foreseeable problems for some users.

I’m pretty sure I don’t want those sorts of decisions made for
me without my knowledge or consent. How about you?

And it gets (potentially) much, much worse.

….

Apple has applied for a patent that has some deeply disturbing
implications: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/24-0

The summary: They want a patent on software that, in mobile
devices, would let them listen to your conversations and/or
take pictures of you or your surroundings, without any way for
you to know it’s happening. Just remotely activate those
functions, at their own discretion.

It would also let them monitor biometric data and all of your
online activities while using their devices.

Ostensibly, this would be developed for purposes of preventing
theft, or catching thieves. It’s even been suggested to me that
Apple may want the patent to keep the idea from being used by
others.

I don’t buy it. But that doesn’t really matter.

First, it’s nearly certain that, if this technology is
deployed and not made illegal for use by private citizens, it
will be abused. The theft-prevention rationale was offered, for
example, by the Lower Merion school district, in their program
giving laptops to every high-school student. “Only to enable
recovery in event of theft,” they said. That didn’t stop people
at the school from using it to spy on students in their homes.

Yeah. Really.

One kid was disciplined for “improper behavior” that occurred
at home, in his bedroom. The Vice-Principal used a photo taken
using the webcam in the laptop as his evidence. According to a
forensic analysis commissioned by the district, the school took
66,503 screenshots and photos using these systems. The school
admits these include pictures of the kids in their bedrooms.

If teachers will do that, what would a corporation do?

….

So, if you have one of these portable devices, where do you use
it? In what situations do you simply carry a cell phone, iPad
or other portable computing device? Do you want people able to
spy on you in all those places, at any time, without warning?

It’s been suggested to me that there is prior art that might
cause the USPTO to reject such a patent application, or be used
later to invalidate it if granted. That raises other
challenges. Specifically, anyone at all could include it in
their systems.

Google has a cell phone OS. Just how much do you want them to
add to their collection of data on you?

Then there’s the “social networking” phone, which is designed
specifically for use with Facebook and Twitter. Do you want
your kids to have one of those broadcasting their location to
the world at every moment the phone is on?

This isn’t science fiction, folks. We’re not getting into foil
fedora territory here. This stuff is real.

….

And then there are the outright criminals.

There is already malware code in the wild that lets remote
operators turn on the webcam on infected computers. That’s not
a big deal if you use a desktop machine and don’t keep one
connected, or disconnect it when you don’t intend to use it.

But what about the laptops and netbooks, and even some
monitors, that are sold with a camera and microphone installed
in the machine itself? The last two portables that I got have
them. Where do you, or your kids or employees, use laptops?

This isn’t especially difficult stuff to do. And the market
isn’t restricted to criminals. For instance, on the first
related search I did, I found someone asking how to remotely
activate the webcam on his wife’s laptop without her knowing.

Some of these devices come with GPS systems installed. Anyone
who can access those will know exactly where you are, what
you’re doing or discussing, and with whom.

Anyone want to market sound-proof phone carriers, with built-
in Faraday cages? A month ago, I would have considered that a
ridiculous idea. Now, I’m thinking it’s a niche.

….

Electronic security isn’t just about data protection any more,
folks. It’s gotten very personal, and it’s about to get more
so.

You can take steps to reduce your exposure to this kind of
invasion of privacy. First, make sure you have proper security
software on all your computers. That’s good policy anyway,
so that’s not too extreme.

With the social networking sites, it’s a matter of watching
your preferences. Also just common sense. And easy.

Don’t leave external webcams attached when they’re not in use,
if you have any objection to what you do in the same room with
them being seen by someone else. Using a USB hub makes
disconnecting them easy, and it’s a reasonable precaution, with
the amount of trojans running loose online.

With laptops and netbooks, just be aware that this stuff is
possible, and take whatever precautions you may feel are
appropriate. That might be nothing at all, for many of you. It
could mean turning the thing off when it’s not in active use.
Or putting tape over the camera lens. Or, if you have the need
or desire to be especially cautious, having a physical switch
installed to prevent remote activation of the camera or
microphone.

I can’t begin to guess what level of security will work for
you. Some people won’t consider it an issue at all, and they
may well be right. For them. For others, these are real
concerns. It’s getting very easy to install this kind of
monitoring code, and there are too many people with incentives
to do it. Employers, co-workers, competition, family members,
and various less savory types. Brings new meaning to the word
“spyware,” yes?

Make sure your kids are aware of the potential issues, too.

….

I’m told that law enforcement agencies have had the ability to
turn on cell phones remotely as listening devices for a while
now, with a proper warrant. I consider that a very different
thing than random strangers being able to access these kinds of
info at will.

As of this moment, I am not aware of this being a problem for
cell phones and similar portable devices. Just keep this in
mind, and pay attention for it.

Whether Apple gets that patent or not, it’s coming.

….

If it’s installed or used by any corporation, I have a
suggestion that seems appropriate: The top officers and all
members of the board(s) of directors should be required to
carry one of the devices with them at all times, with the audio
and video enabled 24/7, and streaming to the web for the whole
world to view.

Hey, if we don’t get to decide what we can keep private, why
should they?

….

The idea here isn’t to scare you, or create some sort of
conspiracy buzz. If that was the goal, I’d point you to an even
more extreme, and equally current, example of invasive
observation: http://talkbiz.com/r/iris.php

As you can see, this stuff is real. The technology exists right
now, and most of it is already in use. It may not pose much of
a threat to many of us, but it’s something to be aware of and
to watch out for.

Knowing it’s possible is 90% of the battle.

Be careful out there.

Paul

If you found this post useful:
1.  Subscribe to Paul’s newsletter:
http://www.yisel.net/talkbiz
2. Post a comment retweet, email, or share on Facebook!

See you online! (Hopefully not without your permission.

Yisel

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• The Rise and Fall of Twitter??
• Social Media Spawns A New Generation of Addicts
• How Cellphones, Twitter, Facebook Can Make History
• 5 Twitter Tools That Save You Time

Image by Anne Helmond via Flickr

Yesterday I emailed you 3 free tools I love to use.  If you didn’t catch it, you can read about them here:
http://advancedincome.com/433/4-free-clever-tools-i-love/

Now for today’s tool…

One of the biggest things that hold people back from using social media for business is the amount of time required vs. the return that they see on that time.

In other words, people spend gobs of time creating content and then posting it on social media sites because that’s what they were told to do, but they don’t see any results from it.  Heck, even big name gurus have bad-mouthed social media because of this very reason.

There are thousands and thousands of sites.
Which ones are you supposed to use?

That’s where today’s tool comes in.

I’ve had private access to this tool for the past several months and it hasn’t been available to the general public…until now.

It’s a software called the “Rank Decoding Engine”.

It’s from Michelle MacPhearson.  I vouch for her.  So much so that I’ve even been a guest writer on her famous blog.

Basically, the software REVERSE ENGINEERS the search engines *IN SECONDS* while you watch.

You can use it to find:
* Which social media properties are historically ranked the highest over all niches (so you know which ones you should spend your time on)
* Blogs in your niche that rank highly so you can comment on them
* Which social media properties rank highest within your niche so you can put your own content on them

Once you download it there is also a quick how-to so you can be using it 10 minutes from now.

Download Rank Decoding Engine

P.S. Even if you aren’t planning on using it right away or don’t understand how it works just yet….DOWNLOAD it anyway because it won’t be available for much longer.

P.P.S. Oh by the way,  for us MAC geeks , it works on a MAC or PC and is super easy to download and install.
Go get it!

Download Rank Decoding Engine for a limited time

Image by Dom Dada via Flickr

I witnessed Twitter go from a mostly Silicon Valley “techy” type audience to it’s marketer inundation to it’s rise to fame and widespread celebrity adoption to well known internet marketers like Perry Belcher, Frank Kern, and just recently John Reese, calling Twitter quits.

I pretty much saw it all and tried or tested much of it. At least what I felt didn’t conflict with my own ethical judgements of marketing online.

Such an easy little idea whose 140 character limit was to simplify the way we communicate became a limitless array of information bringing along with it a slew of supporting tools and websites. For marketers it became an excellent testing ground for social persuasion and response experiments.

As more and more people used it, its uses and misuses also became apparent.

There were the debates on auto-following or not, wether auto-posting was disingenuous or efficient, wether google search could keep up with real-time searching, contests, a myriad of ebooks and courses on how to profit from it (of which I only endorsed one by the way), dealing with DM spam, and of course the occasional “I’ll retweet yours if you retweet mine” requests.

I for one can tell you that I certainly benefitted from the traffic, branding, and list-getting advantages of using Twitter. And boy was it convenient. Since Twitter was so widely adopted, it became a central hub of sorts where you could make one tweet and like Emeril would say, Bam! it’s propagated and syndicated to hundreds of other sites. Ah, the beauty of RSS.

Not to mention the fake ego boost having lots of social followers can give. (Hey, I’m not perfect. Even I fell for that one. )

And though I have seen a decline in response, interaction and real conversation, I don’t think we’re asking the right question.
It’s not about the death of Twitter, or the next Facebook, or will Buzz be a buzz kill for all.

If history has taught us anything, especially online, is that the only thing you can count on is change.

There will always be something better, something cooler, or a new fad and flavor of the week.

To me the question should not be wether Twitter is dead or not.

The question should be wether YOU should be using it for your business.

Actually the question should be wether ANY social website or tool is right for YOU?

And that’s going to depend on two things:
1. Know WHY you are using any social media site and be very clear about what you want to accomplish. Get specific.
Investors set ROI goals to determine if an investment is worth holding onto or not. EVEN if it is profitable, IF it doesn’t meet the criteria specified in the beginning, it’s discarded. Why? Because they understand the value of our most important resource – time. So, what’s the minimum number of sales acceptable to justify your time? How many opt-ins? You’ll have to know that. What numbers are worth your investment of time in social media?

2. Will this site move me closer to and directly support my current business goals?
If not, then ax it. Obviously, this question implies that you know exactly what you want out of your business in the first place. If you do, then this one question will help you eliminate so many distractions. I know it’s helped me tremendously. From who you give your time to, to what phone calls you take, what meetings you attend, what emails you read and respond to, which sites you spend time on, if you ask that one question through out the day you’ll be able to make split decisions on wether to pursue something or not.

I’ll leave you with some advice that I learned some time ago. If you master the fundamentals, you can take those skills and apply them to ANY venue.

Look at the people making a killing on Facebook. They honed their skills on Google PPC and when Facebook’s ad network was born, they
just applied what they had already mastered, adjusted to the new platform and bada bing bada boom! They were rocking and rolling again.

And like John Reese said on the topic:

“But when it comes to business, and for
making money, it’s about the FUNDAMENTAL
things that make business (especially
online) work…

- Serving a target market.
- Providing value to that market to
solve their problems.
- Lead generation.
- Building a list of prospects and
customers in that market so you can
follow-up, strengthen your relationship
with them, and also make offers that
generate revenue for you.

That’s it.  That’s what generates
millions of dollars.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

It’s not the hammer that matters, it’s the skill of the person using it.

The hammer is Twitter today, Buzz tomorrow, and it will be something else after that.

The point is that if you know your outcome and plan accordingly you just might find out that you didn’t even need a hammer at all.  What you needed was a saw.

If you are clear on what you want to accomplish and master the fundamentals, you’ll always know where to spend your time and why.

Leave me your thoughts.  Why do you use Twitter and other popular social media sites in your business?

Which have give you the best ROI?

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• How Your Webcam Can Be Used To Spy On You and Other Creepy Privacy Violations
• How Cellphones, Twitter, Facebook Can Make History
• Why I’m Spilling the beans on Twitter profits with ZERO followers… (TIME SENSITIVE Post)
• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?

I wasn’t sure wether I was going to tell you about this or not, but since I’m on the front page as one of the featured videos, I figured I wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret.

Plus, how good a friend would I be if I didn’t tell you about something I personally reviewed and found to REALLY work.

If you’ve been around the online marketing world any length of time, you’ve definitely seen the hype by marketers surrounding Twitter and all the mumbo jumbo about getting tons of followers and following.

Well, I’ve done it all and this is by far the best I’ve seen.

You don’t have to have a bunch of followers.

You don’t have to follow tens of thousands of people.

You don’t need a product.

The truth is, if you learn the tactics to place yourself in the right place at the right time, you’re golden!

To see how it’s done, my friend Tom is giving away a  FREE DVD with 7 separate tactics that you can implement immediately without any extra software or services.

There really aren’t very many DVD’s left.  (Sorry, that’s my fault.  I should have told you sooner.)

So if you are interested at all, I would hurry.

Get Your Free Twitter Toolkit DVD Here

P.S.  I’m the one on the first video below the fold on the right.  Yes, the one with the terrible lighting and shadows.

P.S.S.  I haven’t forgotten about a free tool I promised to tell you about that I learned from Tim Ferris, the NY Times best selling author.  I’m loving it and hating it. You’ll see why.  Anyway, I’ll send that to you soon.   I just didn’t want you to miss out on this in case you were interested.

Get Your Free Twitter Toolkit DVD Here

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• Twitter Mania – Do’s and Dont’s (Twitter “Table” Manners)
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• The Rise and Fall of Twitter??
• More Blogging and Twitter Tools To Make You Drool

This is a fascinating video from TED by Clay Shirky on the largest increase in expressive capability in human history – the social web. It’s about 17 minutes long and worth the view.

Favorite quotes by Clay Shirky from the video:

“What matters is not technical capital, it’s social capital.”

“Tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.  It isn’t when the shiny new tools show up that their uses start permeating society.  It’s when everybody is able to take them for granted.”

“The moment our historical generation is living through is the single largest increase in expressive capability in human history.”

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• The Rise and Fall of Twitter??
• Social Media Spawns A New Generation of Addicts
• More Blogging and Twitter Tools To Make You Drool

If the front door doesn’t catch people’s attention, they won’t come in.  The headlines of anything you write – blog posts, email subject lines, ads, etc., are like doors.  It doesn’t matter how great the content is inside if nobody opens the door.  So your first job is to get people to want to come inside.  Darren Rowse from Problogger wrote a blog post on 15 Ways To Rework Your Next Blog Post Title.

Obviously the article’s focus is blogs, but I think the 8 tips for writing compelling blog post titles are applicable to all headlines.  It’s really a small and basic lesson in copywriting.  For your convenience I’ve reprinted the first 8 tips, though I recommend you read Darren’s entire post here.

1. Communicate a Benefit – a title should tell readers something that they’ll ‘get’ by reading your post.
2. Create Controversy or Debate – not suitable for every post title but there’s nothing like Debate to get people checking out a post.
3. Ask a Question – in my experience posts with questions in the titles tend to get read more than others – they also are better at stimulating comments from readers.
4. Personalize Titles – for example: using ‘you’ in your post title (and post) can have a real impact and take a post from the realm of ‘theory’ into a more personal post.
5. Use Keywords – keywords that signal to readers and search engines what your post is about can help draw in significant traffic if you use them well.
6. Use Power Words – Not all words are created equal – some evoke a powerful response in readers – words like ‘free’, ’stunning’, ‘discover’, ‘warning’, ’secrets’, ‘easy’ etc all work well in my experience of blogging.
7. Make Claims and Promises – as long as you can back them up in your post – a big claim or promise can get someone’s attention.
8. Humor Titles – be careful with this one – funny can work great but it can also leave your readers very confused if it’s too cryptic…. or if it’s just not funny.

Reprinted from Problogger.net

By the way, all these tips are also applicable to Twitter.  Your Twitter tweets are really just headlines. Posting links to content with creative headlines you come up with is a great way to hone your headline writing skills.

Tracking however is essential to do this so that you can see which headlines get the most response.  Sometimes headlines I think are great end up flopping and ones I think are duds get hundreds of clicks.  So make sure you track!  My favorite tools to do this are Budurl and Hootsuite.

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• Where To Get Killer Headlines For Your Emails and Blog Posts
• Why I’m Spilling the beans on Twitter profits with ZERO followers… (TIME SENSITIVE Post)
• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• The Rise and Fall of Twitter??

A few weeks ago I got an envelope in the mail that really caught my attention. It was in a translucent envelope through which I could see the following card:

I pushed the other mailed aside and opened it at once.  I had to see who it was from.  It was from Enthusem, a company that makes sending personalized printed greeting cards as easy as sending an email.

I know of other options that let you send a single printed greeting card but what I think makes Enthusem really ingenious is that you can attach electronic files like videos, PDFs or web pages just like email.  The recipient gets a unique “Pickup Code” which they type online to see.

They even provide reporting that tell you when the recipient sees your online attachment. Which means your direct mail campaigns are measurable.

The cost is based on credits.  The more credits you buy at a time, the less the cost of sending a mailer. Although the cost is reasonable, I wouldn’t use it for mass random mailings. But if you strategically select customers, prospects, or colleagues, the return on investment could well be worth it.

This combination of the card AND the online attachment really make the difference.

Standing out is no longer enough, you also have to be memorable. I experienced it first hand and Enthusem is definitely both.

To give Enthusem a free try, click on the button below:

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• More Blogging and Twitter Tools To Make You Drool
• How Cellphones, Twitter, Facebook Can Make History
• 5 Twitter Tools That Save You Time

In his latest podcast, Stephen Pierce gives out "5 Make Mo’ Money Tools To Make You Drool"

I haven’t tested all of them myself, but I thought I’d list them here and have you try them out yourselves. I have my eye on one in particular that looks promising.

Here are the five:

1. AdGridWork.com is a blog advertising network and link exchange.

2. iLikeToBlog.com is a wordpress plugin and also link exchange.

3. TweetBeep.com is the Google Alerts of Twitter. You can set keywords that you want to be alerted on, so you can jump in or follow conversations you’re interested in.

4. Twtqpon.com besides being the strangest and hardest to pronounce social media domain ever, it allows you to create coupons exclusive for your followers (or tweeps). The domain is supposed to be short for Twitter Coupon. Yeah, I know. Go figure.

5. Adcause.com This service allows you to place ads inserted between your Twitter feed. I tried a similar service several months back out of curiosity but decided I just didn’t want to turn my feed into a tweetboard (billboard). If you do decide to use it, don’t abuse it lest you annoy your tweeps and they hit the "Unfollow" button faster than you can say "Twtqpon".

So there you go, try them out and come back and let us know how they worked out.

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• 5 Twitter Tools That Save You Time
• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• How To Take Twitter Offline
• How To Move Your WordPress Blog To A New Domain

Last week I wrote a popular blog post about 5 tools that can help you leverage your time when it comes to managing friends and tweets on twitter.

One of my twitter friends jokingly said Twitter and time-saving in the same sentence was a contraction. I agree. That's why it's important to use the tools properly. Here is my post:

5 Time Saving Twitter Tools For Managing Your Friends and Tweets

My next article goes live today: Stop Chasing Ducks – How It’s Killing Your Online Business.

Follow me on Twitter to be the first to know when it goes live.

See ya soon!

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• More Blogging and Twitter Tools To Make You Drool
• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• List of Top Ranking Social Media Sites Worth Your Time
• How To Take Twitter Offline

Other Related Posts You Might Like

• How Cellphones, Twitter, Facebook Can Make History
• Why I Quit Qwitter For Twitter
• To Follow or Not To Follow ALL Twitter Followers?
• The Rise and Fall of Twitter??
• More Blogging and Twitter Tools To Make You Drool