Facebook Security – Part I Introduction

This is the first entry in a series intended to help clarify the plethora of security settings in Facebook. I begin this endeavor with the knowledge that it is likely Facebook will make changes that render what I write here useless soon after I write it, possibly before I finish.  That said, in searching the topic I have found little, other than Facebook’s help center. The Facebook help center is mostly a reference. My intent is to write a guide with simple instructions and insight on how to control your Facebook privacy and what you share and with whom.

In the Facebook Security presentations I have made, a few things have always come up as concerns:

How do I keep my account from getting hacked?
I don’t want people to tag me in photos.
I want to protect my Facebook friends, how do I do this?
How do I control who can see my photos?
My family does not want to see my work-related posts, I don’t want my coworkers to see my  personal posts. How do I separate them?

Over the next few weeks I will cover these issues, and others brought up by readers. Post suggested topics and any questions in the comments. For Part II I’ll cover how to separate work and personal posts.

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Break through your Twitter Feed Clutter

Have you ever wanted (or needed) to find something in your Twitter Feed? Perhaps in the back of your mind, you remember something about a tweet that had a link that you can’t quite remember. Or, perhaps you need to research a particular subject that you know has been discussed/mentioned within your twitter feed. PostPost comes to the rescue.

PostPost lets you search your Twitter feed for users, hashtags, etc. pretty much anything. From the PostPost Twitter bio: “Strip away the noise on Twitter with PostPost, the Twitter strip search tool.” It is a simple tool to use as well. Go to PostPost.com, log in using your Twitter login, approve the app’s use of your account, and you’re all set to search.

Give PostPost a try at PostPost.com. Post your thoughts in the comments below.

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Mobile Search for Holiday gifts expected to grow

In a recent post to the Google Mobile Ads Blog, Google released projections for the 2011 Holiday season. These projections are based on historical growth rates. Mobile Search for last-minute gifts will grow to 44%, according to Google. That is 44% of all searches for last-minute gifts and store locator searches.

Looking back over the past 2 Holiday seasons, there were 2 spikes in mobile searches for retail terms, one was Black Friday, the other the week before Christmas. In the graph below, you can see that this pattern repeat each of the past 2 years. Google makes the assumption that these searches were conducted by shoppers who missed free shipping deadlines, then moved to in-store shopping.

 

Courtesy of Google

Google also conducted a survey of Smartphone and Tablet users. 33% of these mobile device users intend to begin their shopping before Thanksgiving this year.

In a Search Engine Land post in February, 2011, Google reported that 79% of its top advertisers are not mobile ready. This means no mobile optimized site. It is doubtful that small local businesses even approach the Google top advertiser numbers, despite the fact that the advertiser mobile adoption data is 7 months old.

What does it all mean? There is  a huge, rapidly-growing market of mobile-ready consumers out there. Businesses who want to tap into that market must be where the consumers are. Mobile-readiness is a requirement for marketing success today.

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Temporarily disable Google’s personalized search results

Google uses some of your browser information to present you with what the Google algorithm feels (can the algorithm feel?) is better results. It is no secret that Google captures things like your web history, your actions on prior SERPs, etc. The SERP you get may differ from others, such as your clients.

As a digital marketer, I often want to see what the real world results are for a Google search. Here is a quick way to temporarily, and at-will, turn off the personalized results. Because other folks may be getting personalized results, you cannot REALLY see exactly what they will. But, with this system, you can remove your personalization.

After you do a search, add the following to the search query URL – “&pws=0″. If you do not want to add the parameter manually, drag this link, Turn off Google personalization, to your bookmarks toolbar.  After you do a search, click on the bookmark. The bookmarklet is courtesy of the Google System Blog.

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Outlook 2003 – default downloads folder

I do not like Outlook. However, my employer uses Outlook for ease of implementation and consistency, understandably. Microsoft restricts things so much, and makes REALLY customizing very difficult. But, there is usually a way to work around restrictions.

I like to keep my folders clean and organized the way I want. I use Adam Pash’s (Lifehacker) Belvedere to keep my downloads folder emptied. I had a little difficulty finding how to make Outlook put downloaded attachments where I want. It is possible, but requires a registry edit. In this post, I’ll explain how to make that edit.

WARNING: Changing your registry is dangerous. Simple mistakes can render your system inoperable. Be very cautious to follow the instructions below in perfect detail!

To edit your registry(again, do not take this edit lightly!), go to ‘Start’ and click on ‘Run…”. Type ‘regedit’ and click ‘OK”. In the left panel look for the key name ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER’ and expand it. Drill down in the folder structure as follows:
Software=>Microsoft=>Office=>11.0=>Outlook=>Options=>Mail
Create a new entry by going to (in the menu) Edit=>New=>String Value
Name your new entry “DefaultPath”. After your entry is created and named, double-click on it and enter the FULL path to the location of the folder you want to use for downloads. Your change is automatically saved when you close Regedit.

That’s it! Your change will take effect the next time you start Outlook.

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SEO – Proof using ‘Internet Genius’

I have found several things that really do impact search engine results. Several months ago, on a whim, I did a Google search on “Internet Genius”. This site came up on page 8 in the search results. I decided to do some tweaks, make some improvements, and work toward improving this site’s performance on that search term. Tonight I did a search on “Internet Genius”. The site came up on page one and was the number 2 result. Good SEO can in fact impact search engine results.

Roger Creasy, Internet Genius

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Header Update

I corrected the background issue with my logo. And, found some social media icons I could tweak and make work. Those I found had a black background. I removed the background and added an alpha channel.

Next up: Navigation.

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Social Media Links

Next step is to add graphical links to social media sites on which I participate. I tried to find existing buttons I like. I decided to design my own.

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Site redesign update 1

I designed and built the basic layout for my site. The header above will contain the primary navigation, contact information, and links to me on social media sites.

My logo needs a little work, too. I will see what I can do.

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Site Redesign

Hi All!

I am working on a redesign of my site. I hope to have most of it complete within the next few days. Feel free to watch the progress and send me feedback through the comments.

Thanks!

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Roger Creasy Genius