Dec
11
While social networks are great for keeping in touch with a whole range of people, from current clients to old friends, your privacy is one of the biggest concerns or at least it should be! It doesn´t take much more than a couple of brain cells to figure out that you must be careful what you publicly post out there on the Internet. If it´s online and public, people are going to find it and if you´re not careful, sooner or later some sensitive information about you may fall into the wrong hands.
When Kevin Colvin recently requested emergency leave from his intern job at Anglo Irish Bank´s North American division, a couple of his crucial brain cells apparently decided to take leave too. Kevin got busted when his boss spotted a photo of him on Facebook dressed up as a fairy for a Halloween party when he was supposedly on special leave to attend a family emergency in New York. Absolutely hilarious stuff, but the incident should still be a huge eye-opener as to how careful you must be with the information you make public online about yourself.
Maybe it´s time to not only take a look at what you´re posting into your Facebook (or other social networking websites) but to also go into your account settings and review your privacy options carefully to carefully specify what information about yourself you want to make public and what you´d rather only share with trusted friends or specific network groups. Watch Geoffrey Ponder´s video below to get an overview of how to do this in Facebook and a rundown of the privacy options available.
Turn off your Facebook’s Beacon now!
One very important privacy aspect of Facebook that´s not covered in the video above is the controversial Beacon program that Facebook added at the beginning of November 2007. Before you get alarmed, you can now turn Beacon off and we´ll be telling you how!
Beacon is a program that sends data from external websites you visit or shop on to Facebook. This data appears on your profile allowing other users to see what you´ve been up to. This can of course have potentially unpleasant consequences as was the case with the poor guy whose purchase of an engagement ring for his girlfriend was prematurely revealed to her by his Facebook profile.
But more pertinently, Beacon gives advertisers a wealth of information about your online habits so they can better target the advertising you see. There have also been reports of the tracking going on even when you are not logged into Facebook. It´s just stunning how Facebook could be so naive as to not see the huge backlash coming when they initially forced Beacon upon their users.
On the 5th December 2007, Facebook´s founder Mark Zuckerberg apologised for the controversy and acknowledged it was an overzealous attempt to increase profit margins. He also said that Facebook would allow users to turn off Beacon completely. He said:
Last week we changed Beacon to be an opt-in system, and today we’re releasing a privacy control to turn off Beacon completely. You can find it here. If you select that you don’t want to share some Beacon actions or if you turn off Beacon, then Facebook won’t store those actions even when partners send them to Facebook.
So, if you use Facebook, do your privacy a favour and turn Beacon off. Here are more detailed instructions about how to do it. You really only need to follow the first six steps. The extra bit for Firefox users is added security, but not absolutely necessary. And remember, as you enjoy the benefits of social networking, give a thought to your privacy and be careful about what information you reveal online. You never know who may be watching!
Nov
19
Personal URLs for your linkedin account
Filed Under linkedin | Leave a Comment
Personal URLs for your linkedin account allow you to customize the web address of your LinkedIn public profile. This is mine http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbeckley.
You can customize the URL of your public linkedin profile on the Edit My Public Profile page once you are logged into your account.
Sep
28
As of today linkedin will allow users to add their picture to their linkedin profile pages. If you have recentley joined linkedin you can add your profile in our Linkedin Forum
Sep
20
The old saying goes that in any business it´s just as much about what you know as it is about whom you know. More to the point though, it´s who knows about you that really matters! And that´s exactly why online professional networks like LinkedIn are very useful if you want to attract new clients to your business or leap up a couple of rungs on your career ladder.
Now, if you´re grimacing and thinking this is something like Facebook, think again! There’s none of the trying to keep up with a constant barrage of messages detailing what your old classmates are having for breakfast. LinkedIn is intended purely for your professional contacts and the concept is simple: keeping in touch with your colleagues and clients and getting ongoing exposure with their contacts too.
Here is how it works. You first create a free account. Then you fill out your professional profile, where you can include as little or as much information you want. And finally, you invite your colleagues, clients and other people you know professionally to become part of your trusted LinkedIn network. When they do, you gain access to their trusted contacts, building an invaluable business network bit by bit.
Once you have a few people in your network, it starts getting good! Among other things, LinkedIn allows you to:
Post a recommendation about a contact in your network or ask to be recommended a most effective way to make your strengths stand out to other professionals.
Ask a contact to introduce you to one of their contacts, turning a cold call situation into a warm one.
Look up the profiles of clients, colleagues or potential employers to find out about their requirements and interests, so you have it easy when it comes to breaking the ice and making a good impression.
Link to your business or personal websites so your network associates and other LinkedIn users can find out more about what you do and offer.
Search your LinkedIn network, or all of LinkedIn to find suppliers or consultants and similarly show up when other people make a search related to your area of expertise.
Ask questions in the ‘Answers’ section and get professional advice from other LinkedIn professionals. Or
Better still, establish your authority in your area of expertise by answering questions related to your field.
Want to learn more about what social business networking can do for you? Take look at this article called 20 ways to use LinkedIn productively and find out more about what you´re missing!
View John Beckley's profile