WHAT NEVER TO SAY ON FACEBOOK, MYSPACE OR LINKED IN

Here’s some tips from Rob Douglas of IdentityTheft.com .  In this new world of social media it’s important to remember that you can unknowingly put yourself at risk. 

 1)  Never list your address or birth dates.  This can attract a burglar or stalker to your home.  If you are throwing a party and need to provide directions to your home, do so with emails sent directly to your invitees.   If social networking sites require that you include your address or birth date in your account profile, supply slightly inaccurate information. 

 2)  Never list your year of graduation from high school or college.  Potential employers could use your graduation date to estimate your age and it’s almost impossible to prove.  Scammers can pretend to be your former classmate which is a common way to earn your trust.

 3)  Never let people on your contact list see the names and IDs of everyone else on your list.  An unscrupulous person could send a damaging message out to everyone on your list.   On Linked In click “Account Setting” then “Connections Browse” and select “NO, hide my connections list.”

 4)  Review your contact list every six months to see if you need to delete friends or fellow employees that you no longer work with

 5)  Keep your mother’s maiden name confidential.  Many financial companies use this as a question you must answer to access your accounts and could allow your accounts to be compromised.

 6)  Avoid mentioning Pet Names.  This is another common security question.

 7)  Never mention your travel plans or schedules of groups you belong to.  If you mention the dates of upcoming events you unwittingly have given a burglar information on when your home will be vacant or will make it easier for a stalker to follow you. 

 8)   Don’t discuss your expensive art, antiques or jewelry

 9)  Never mention your doctor, dentist or other health care providers.  If a scammer learns where you seek medical treatment, he might be able to obtain insurance information.  This could be sold to someone who lacks health insurance and could attempt to pose as you to obtain treatment.

Just Think about Social Media

In today’s world there are so many ways to reach your clients. Many of you use direct mail and word-of-mouth networking however; have you ever looked into the use of social media? When I use the term social media I am referring to applications such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Facebook and LinkedIn could be a great tool to use when looking for new clients or to keep in touch with existing clients. For those of you that are still a bit skeptical here are a few statistics regarding Facebook and LinkedIn.

There are more than 250 million active users. If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria. More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once a day.  More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college and the fastest growing demographic is those 25 years old and older.

LinkedIn has 30 million users with a median age of 41 years old. The average household is $140,000 with the average user having 63 connections. LinkedIn is seen as the most professional social networking site.

Both can be very powerful tools to use when marketing yourself or your listing. Both applications are very user friendly and are FREE.

Log on to Facebook.com or LinkedIn.com and take a look for yourself. If you are interested in setting up accounts in either application or have any questions please feel free to shoot me an email meagangodfrey@4256000.com or swing by the creative marketing area.