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Prevent Your Twitter And Social Media Accounts From Hacking
Today, another major hacking occurred to a trusted news source, the Associated Press. This particular hacking was not light in its messaging. A tweet stating “Breaking: Two Explosions in the White House and Barack Obama is injured” was sent at 12:13pm CST resulting in thousands of RT’s, the stock market briefly crashing 143 points, and a world fearful of another potential terrorist attack.
Quickly, White House and AP staff confirmed the tweet was baseless and a result of a hack.
This is not the first time a major brand has been hacked. Burger King’s twitter account was hacked in February, and numerous Major League Baseball accounts were compromised in 2012.
How does this happen? Often times, hacking results due to weak passwords. This is not the sexy, technical answer expected. Other reasons include giving permission to third party applications to find out various pieces of information about your account: who isn’t following you back, top connections, your Twitter crush, etc.
In the Associated Press case, this could have been a focused initiative by an unknown group who first attempted to steal AP journalist passwords. Mike Baker, AP reporter tweeted “The AP Hack came less than an hour after some of us received an impressively disguised phishing email.”
There is another side to this story: Twitter appears extremely vulnerable to hacking. Earlier in 2013, Twitter reported 250,000 account passwords had been compromised by hackers and issued no further comment. In June 2012, popular professional networking site LinkedIn endured a security breach impacting 6.4 million users and their passwords.
Quick tips for users to prevent hacking
- Change your passwords every 90 days
- Avoid using the same password for all of your accounts
- Avoid using a family members name that someone close to you could easily guess
- Use numbers, upper and lower case letters, and symbols (when allowed)
All social networking sites must be serious about preventing what feels like constant hacking. Two-factor authentication is one solution. This would enable the social channel to send a text verification code to your phone or email after you log in to ensure you are the owner of the account. Adding an extra layer of security may prevent numerous hacking attempts, until the hackers find another way.
Have you been hacked or compromised before? Share your story in the comment area below.
Jason
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The Role of Social Media and Technology in the Boston Marathon Tragedy
April 15, 2013 is a day which will not be forgotten for generations to come. A terrorist attack occurring at mile 26, near the end of the Boston Marathon has changed countless lives and altered history.
Social media played a significant role in the tragedy. That was not the surprising part. Many people found out about the evolving tragedy on a social media channel (including myself). Quickly, images of the first and second explosion surfaced followed by images of the seriously injured. Video of both explosions were spreading fast through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Vine videos even made an appearance.
The act of sharing photos and videos was not a surprise. The location of the blasts coupled with the mass amount of people watching the final steps of the marathon looking for loved ones with their phones and cameras out created a perfect storm for documenting the tragedy. The average person became a journalist by chance with their device acting as their publishing tool. While there are risks that come from sharing content from non-authoritative people, most of what was shared was accurate. There was a New York publication that egregiously missed the post.
What was and has been a surprise to me: how social media was used to communicate the situation from law enforcement accounts. The Boston Police used their Twitter account request video of the finish line, update the situation at the JFK library which was briefly linked to the bombings, and give instructions to people near the area. The fact that Boston Police chose social media as a viable option in a moment of crisis is a big deal. I will argue social media took a step forward in becoming even more mainstream and trustworthy.
The FBI is currently asking for any and all photos and videos from the crime scene to aid in their investigation. This is similar to the JFK assassination where the FBI asked for all video from the murder scene. However there are more than a few cameras compared to what was present during the JFK assassination. Will there be a Zapruder equivalent with this tragedy?
Additionally, Google released a people finder exclusive to the Boston Marathon where you were given two options: check on a loved one, or submit information on someone. This helped near 5,500 people be accounted for in a very chaotic time.
The events on April 15 were unfortunate on unimaginable levels. With the assistance of social media and technology, relevant information was able to spread quickly possibly saving lives, and potentially finding the terrorist who committed this unthinkable act.
I was on 96.3 KTWIN in Minneapolis this morning discussing this topic. Listen to my thoughts about social media’s role in the Boston Marathon tragedy.
Thoughts are with those impacted.
Jason
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Kenneth Cole, Meet Celeb Boutique!
Early February 2011, popular fashionista Kenneth Cole tried to be witty by comparing the uprising in Cairo, Egypt to the release of his 2011 spring collection. 
Lessons were to be learned, right?
Fast forward to July 20, 2012. A day that will be remembered for the horrific events in Aurora, Colorado where at least twelve have died in attendance of The Dark Knight Rises after a gunman went on a frenzy. Celeb Boutique appears to have done something similar to Kenneth Cole’s tweet fail. See below (image from Joel Feder).
Clearly, nothing was learned here.
Minutes ago, @celebboutique came out with a response and apology (below).
This response took almost two hours. And the tweet was blamed for not checking why Aurora was trending? Unacceptable.
This is a perfect example of why people who run social accounts for brands, whether it is internal or through an agency, training is necessary. People need to listen first before posting. LISTEN! Had that been done, there would not be the uproar against Celeb Boutique.
Have we finally learned our lesson, social media folk?
My thoughts are with the people impacted by the tragedy that unfolded earlier this morning.
Jason
Welcome Back, Hellos and Goodbyes from Jason Douglas
Welcome back, hello and goodbye, all in the same sentence? Yes. Everything in that sentence and title applies to everything that’s been happening in my life. Let me explain:
Welcome back refers to my tenth return to the blogosphere. It has come to my attention that when I posted new content on here, people actually read it. Add that knowledge to my passion for writing, and that equals me promising to make more time for writing. It makes sense to spend more time doing things you love and are passionate about. If you read it, I will write it. I thank you all who have, will and continue to read my content.
Hello refers to a few new additions and changes in my life. First: I have a new phone. I switched from the iPhone 3gs to the HTC Inspire. With the relationship I and many others have with their phone, this was a big move to make. I am enjoying the android network and have already sold my iPhone on Craigslist for a significant profit.
Hello, new apartment! I am very happy to report a move that is long overdue. At the end of this month, I will be moving to Golden Valley to a newly renovated apartment. Highlights include new laminate wood flooring, new stainless steel appliances, an incredible amount of closet space, a third floor view of the pool, and no roommates 🙂 With my new place located under a mile away from the West End area, I expect to become a regular at Crave, Cooper and Pei Wei. An apartment warming party is already in the works.
Goodbye is something you say when you are leaving. With that said, I am very proud to report a move that came out of the blue. Today marks an end of an era, as I am leaving my role as the Online Marketing Manager at Spyder Trap Online Marketing.
Hello is what you say when you start something new. I will be joining the team at Nina Hale as their Search Marketing Manager starting April 25.
I am extremely proud of my time at Spyder Trap, spanning over the last two years. I have been able to work with great clients, including Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Shock Doctor, UnitedHealth Group, among others. I am very lucky to have led the search marketing and social media marketing groups to where it stands today.
When I started at Spyder Trap in March 2009, I was the second salaried employee in the history of the company. Two years later, Spyder Trap has 14 employees. 700% growth speaks for itself. I am very proud to have been a major player in the company’s growth. It is something I will be able to look back on and always be proud of.
I am extremely proud of the work I completed at Spyder Trap. Despite some individuals beliefs, the quality of work I completed was goodvery good great. Fortunately for myself and the clients, the numbers support the claim and make that statement indisputable. It is one of the main reasons why I love the online marketing industry: the numbers do not lie.
I will miss the relationships and the clients at Spyder Trap. However, there are opportunities that come around that are too good to pass up. Spyder Trap was that opportunity in March 2009. Nina Hale is that opportunity in April 2011. I am very excited to start at Nina Hale on April 25. There is no limit to the success I will have at Nina Hale.
I want to thank Mike Rynchek and Spyder Trap for giving me the opportunity. Looking back, I consider this to be a rare relationship where both parties won. I wish Spyder Trap nothing but the best in the future.
New phone. New living space. New job. There’s a saying that bad things happen in threes. So do good great things.
We’ll talk soon, friends. I promise.
Jason
Minneapolis, St. Paul, Thank You! Now, Let’s Collaborate!
Yesterday was one of the more interesting and fulfilling days I have had as a professional. Most of us know about #Unfollowgate. If not; check out my previous post on #Unfollowgate and its impact on the Minneapolis and St. Paul online community.
Between the hundreds of views, 18 comments, numerous public tweets, re-tweets, even more direct messages, and even some text messages and calls, the outpouring of support for me was astonishing. Thank you all very much for that.
I want to get away from #Unfollowgate and move onto the larger issue: how to make the Minneapolis and St. Paul online community more collaborative, more unified, and considered as a true leader in the online marketing space.
I have been going over what Chris Brogan said when he was here at the Minnesota Business/Reputations event, about our shortcomings as a community. It would have been easy for him to say ‘Minneapolis/St. Paul, y’all are great! Keep Truckin’!’ for a cheap pop. He did not do that, and I thank him for that. For him to say (paraphrasing) ‘you have the talent here, you don’t have the collaborative atmosphere’, and to call out Pittsburgh as his numer one community was gutsy. He travels and connects with enough people from each community where I trust his opinion more than others.
This should be a wake up call for our community. We do have the talent, we have the case studies, we have the clients, we have the passion (as was shown yesterday). How do we combine all that and more to help our community move to the head of the online marketing class?
Let’s start a discussion answering a few questions. As a community:
- What are we doing right?
- What are we doing wrong?
- What are your concerns about the state of online marketing?
- What do we want to do?
- Where do we want to go?
Minneapolis, St. Paul, metro area, Minnesota: your thoughts?
When Is Swearing or Cursing OK?
I was watching the Grammy’s last night when Drake/Eminem/Lil Wayne performed something. I wasn’t sure what they performed because over half of it was censored by CBS. The moments of silence were appreciated, as I was working on a different blog post.
It inspired me to send out two tweets:
“Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Drake, lil wayne; combined, you owe me 11 minutes, 28 seconds of my life back. When can I collect on that?” (still early, but no response from any of the involved parties)
“Why do people swear/curse in tweets? I’ve unfollowed some who choose to do that. You lose a lot of legitimacy when you do that #NotNecessary”
The second tweet started a good conversation amongst my following. Many agreed with me; some asked what words were appropriate; one sent me a direct message and apologized for a curse in a recent tweet (it’s ok… I’ll let it slide this one time :)), and one person suggested I write about my thoughts on swearing. So, here I am.
Swearing in social media does not make sense to me. Why anyone needs to say the F-word, N-word, C-word, B-word in a tweet or Facebook status update is beyond me. I have unfollowed people that have used those types of words, as I do not want to be associated with those types of people.
In most situations, swearing makes you appear as one with a low intelligence level. F this, F that, F you! Would you say that during an interview? A presentation? No, unless you wanted to be unemployed or fired.
Imagine saying that on a first date, or any date for that matter. Does that really sound attractive coming out of anyone’s mouth? No, no it does not. Women: do not try to sound like one of the guys. Men: do not try to sound edgy by swearing. It doesn’t matter who it’s coming from: it’s gross.
Would you use that language around strangers at a networking event, where you are making your first impression on fellow industry people, or potential employers, or potential business leads and future clients? No, no you would not. Do not try to say that you would either. We all know better.
Then why should it be in a tweet?
I have never sworn in the social media world. Offline is a different story. No, I do not sound like a trucker. There are times I replay what I just said and wonder ‘was that necessary?’
Does swearing or cursing add value? I am curious to hear your thoughts. (keep it clean :))
~J
Social Media & Social Networking: What is too much?
There has been a lot on my mind lately. Some of it is personal, some is trivial. Here, I will choose to share something that should interest each reader of this blog.
By reading my blog, or any blog, you become part of the social media and social networking world. The social media world is a new and evolving arena at the same time, which means the rules for social media are being created as we speak. Rules that are not set are difficult to follow. Common sense rules apply: create and contribute meaningful conversation, don’t create too much noise, show your personality while keeping your thoughts clean enough that you could tell your mother, etc.
There’s a problem: not everyone has common sense.
As a person that has grown up in the social media and social networking era, I am on facebook, MySpace, twitter, LinkedIn, digg, flickr, I blog for the online marketing blog at work, I blog for personal reasons (as you’re reading right now). There are so many social networking sites out there beyond the list above. It can be difficult to keep track and actively participate in all of the above networks.
For over a year, MySpace has been losing its grip on the top social networking site. Facebook, recently surpassing 225 million users, and twitter growing at a ridiculous rate, show that social networking is here to stay, and you should be a part of all that you can be. 99% of people I know are on Facebook, 90% of people I know are on twitter. I have noticed, based on my ‘top friends’ on MySpace, that people are deleting their MySpace accounts.
This led me to think of a few questions that I need answered by you:
- What would make you quit ‘social media’?
- If you left one site, does that mean the other sites you are on satisfy your needs?
- What is your favorite social networking site? Why?
- What purpose does social media/social networking serve in your life?
- Is there too much social media/social networking?
I look forward to a good discussion with you.
~Jason Douglas
twitter: @jasondouglas
Social Media in Sports: How the Minnesota Timberwolves Are Connecting and Succeeding
If you haven’t noticed on twitter or facebook, professional sports organizations and athletes are taking an interest in using social media to further enhance their reach and their brand.
Teams such as the Minnesota Timberwolves have done a very good job with utilizing it to connect with fans on twitter through real-time game updates, promotions and giveaways, and team news updates. Here are some of the examples of how the Timberwovles have connected with fans through twitter.
At the end of February, the Timberwolves gave away a suite with 22 tickets for the Wolves v. TrailBlazers game on twitter. All you had to do was include a specific hashtag replying to the Timberwolves twitter account. I already had tickets to that game; I still sent a reply to the Wolves since a chance at a free suite is too much to pass up. Since I am mentioning this, it means that I ended up winning the suite for the game and 21 of my friends. Not only did the Wolves give me 22 tickets for a suite, Scott Spiridigliozzi, Manager of Interactive Services for the Timberwolves and one of the people behind the Timberwolves account, gave me a gift bag including a team poster, t-shirt, warmup jersey shirt highlighting the old Timberwolves logo, and a personalized card thanking me for participating in the twitter giveaway. Talk about going above and beyond to make myself and my friends happy. It was a very fun night with many friends, depsite the outcome. I would not have not had access to a suite without social media.
Last Sunday, the Timberwolves organized the first ever Timberwolves Tweetup in conjunction with Champps, a key sponsor of the Timberwolves. At the tweetup, all attendees were given a free upper-level ticket to the game, free beer was available for the 21 and over crowd, along with light appetizers and a chance at an upgrade to a pair of lower level seats. The turnout for the tweetup was around 30 people. Most likely, those are people that would have not attended the game if it weren’t for the tweetup. The cost of the tweetup was a keg of domestic beer and for the light appetizers. As their tweetups become more established and recognized, this may become one of their main promotions, all because of social media.
Not all sports teams are using twitter like the Timberwolves. Most keep it to updates about the team, updates during the game, and do not interact with people. Some of the players of the Timberwolves have created twitter accounts, including Mark Madsen, Brian Cardinal, Randy Foye, Mike Miller, and Kevin Love.
Other athletes in other professional sports are utilizing twitter to connect with fans. Lance Armstrong frequently updates his posts with pictures from where he is training, who he is meeting with about his Livestrong foundation, and occasionally replies to close friends. Shaquille O’Neal uses twitter to give away tickets to road games to the first twitter user to find him whereever he and the Phoenix Suns are playing at.
Athletes and celebrities gain high numbers of followers very quickly because of who they are and not because they provide relevant content, create or contribute to the conversation, or are true influencers. Common twitter users often feel that they are ‘friends’ of these celebrities, despite the lack of reciprocal following. Most everyone follows a few athletes, celebrities, even politicians. Who do you follow? Why do you follow them? Do they follow you back? Have you ever had them respond to a message or @ reply you sent them?
~Jason Douglas
twitter: @jasondouglas
Skittles; Extreme Site Makeover
Go to skittles.com, and tell me what you see.
If it is still how it was at 4am cst, you will see it is the twitter feed (search.twitter.com) for skittles. Take a few minutes to enter your age, and determine whether or not this is a good/bad thing.
After viewing their homepage, I tweeted:
“Interesting concept by Skittles; on my own, trying to figure out why this is good and/or bad. #skittles”.
I refreshed skittles.com and found my tweet on the homepage; pretty cool, right?
After seeing myself on the homepage, a thought came through my head: what is this showing everyone? Skittles has no content generated by Skittles; all the content, with the exception of the skittles widget, on the homepage is user generated. Our thoughts and conversations are what is representing Skittles on their site. From what I know, this is fairly groundbreaking to publicize the conversation that is out there about a brand. The free publicity they will receive in the following days will make this marketing initiative well worth it.
The question I pose to you: Does this mean that the conversation about a product, brand, or service is now more important than the website of that product, brand, or service?
~Jason Douglas
twitter: @jasondouglas
Hot Topic: Maintaining Your Social Media Reputation
This has been a hot topic of conversation of late wherever a conversation can take place. Blogs, twitter, at work, everywhere. Two of the main questions asked in this debate:
- How do maintain a good reputation on social media/networking sites?
- Can you or should you blend personal and professional comments?
First, let us discuss twitter:
In recent blog posts, people have been giving phenomenal examples of people destroying their social media reputation. There’s the FedEx/Ketchum twitter oops that has been a part of conversations. The culprit in this case chose to share his true feelings about an area which he was visiting; not a wise move (click the link above to learn why). It is extremely difficult to share your thoughts in 140 characters without the chance of having what you say misconstrued.
This, among other happenings, brought on a debate on whether or not there should be a ‘best practices’ or regulation for twitter use among people at my work. The argument for regulation: each employee is a representative of the agency, and for each client. If one of us were to say something deemed offensive by others, it may reflect negatively on the agency, on the clients, and may detract potential clients from dealing with my work.
By regulating what you can or can not say on twitter, are you infringing on the First Amendment: Freedom of Speech?
My proposed solutions: ban twitter at work; or, trust that your employees aren’t idiots.
To answer the questions above for twitter (in my opinion): you build and maintain your reputation by being yourself and using common sense; you can and should combine personal with professional tweets. It all depends on what you want people to know about you.
Let’s talk facebook and myspace:
I will share a story about my first experience with how what my facebook profile was showing had an impact on what others thought. During my senior year, I was walking into my market research class. Knowing I was late, I tried to make a graceful, quiet enterance. Unfortunately, my seat was in the front row, and hiding myself, a 6’4” hunk of a man, is difficult to do. My professor stopped her teachings, said ‘hello Jason! Looks like you had a fun weekend…’ which greatly confused me to how she would know what I did over the weekend. I wasn’t in St. Cloud with any of my classmates; I was back home here in the Twin Cities area. She then referenced some pictures that were tagged of me on what she called ‘face space’ (meant facebook), and gave me a warning/advice that I’ve used and share when I can:’might want to be careful what you post about yourself, it could cost you a job.’ That night, I de-tagged myself from over 100 photos where I looked blacked out, or was doing something stupid. To this day, I am very careful about what pictures are taken and tagged of me.
Facebook and myspace are more visual than twitter. It may not be so much what you say on facebook, but what you allow to be showed.
Why does it matter what you post on twitter or facebook? These sites, specifically what you put on them, represent who you are whether you like it or not. Think of yourself as a brand; people only know what they can see. What your audience can see is how you’ll be seen.
Despite the legal right to post whatever we want, pictures, status updates, pledge our allegiance to a group, team, or politician; it matters to others. If you have a picture that depicts you in a non-sober state, one may think that you’re priorities are your social life versus your professional life. If you have numerous pictures that show you holding three shots in one hand, two cigarettes in another hand, and eyes as glossy as can be, you make it easy for someone to come up with 1,000 words to describe who you are based on a picture.
Is this right? No. Is this reality? Yes.
Some people have created both personal and professional twitter and/or facebook accounts. Others choose to make their profiles private only to their friends. This is something that I will never do; I have nothing to hide. In my opinion, if someone makes their profile private, that means there is something worth hiding, something that the person knows should not be public. We have the power to control exactly what is out there about ourselves. You can still show you have a party side without looking like you don’t remember the picture you’re in, and still look attractive to an employer, a future boyfriend or girlfriend, etc.
To answer the questions above for facebook/myspace (in my opinion): you build and maintain your reputation by being yourself and using common sense; you can and should combine personal with professional tweets. It all depends on what you want people to know about you.
Notice how the answers are the same for both twitter and facebook/myspace. Tips for not being put into social media purgatory:
- be yourself
- be smart
- if your Mom and Dad would be ashamed of what you’re saying or how you look in a pic, don’t post it
Good luck!
~J
twitter: @jasondouglas
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