Making Connections

A More Secure Way to Survey Customers

Concerns about computer viruses and clickjacking have forced many Internet users to avoid survey sites. They worry that these sites will infect their computers with malicious programs that will steal their information or post embarrassing information to their Facebook accounts. Instead of using survey sites that look troublesome to your customers, consider using an option that they can trust.

Avoid Third-Party Survey Sites

Third-party survey sites worry many Internet users because they have had bad experiences with them in the past. They might have encountered a clickjacked link on Twitter or Facebook that caused their accounts to relay information that they never authorized. In some cases, they find the information quite embarrassing, especially when the content focuses on sex scandals and ridiculous celebrity gossip.

Using a third-party survey site, therefore, could create a wall between you and your customers. If you want to get honest information from them, then you should avoid using these sites.

Targeted Surveys on Your Website

Instead of using a third-party survey site, consider using a survey service that can question customers on your website. Internet users often feel safer answering survey questions that pop up on the websites they already trust. A company like kissinsights.com can offer targeted survey questions that appear on your site. They then gather the responses to give you an accurate look at what your customers think.

Online business owners always have to stay on top of the latest trends. Doing this can help you make customers feel more comfortable and lead your business to higher levels of success.

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With: clickjack, Facebook, Twitter

Who is Searching for Whom?

Diagram of the search engine concept (en)

Image via Wikipedia

Many sites that caution you on the dangers of sharing personal information online, will tell you that one way to see how much of your information is online, is to put your name in a search engine. What you may discover, can be anything from mildly amusing to downright creepy.

If you search for yourself, you may see a few strange items listed. Underneath the link to a site in a search engine, you may find a few of your photos and a sentence or two of introduction about yourself. If you click on the link, it can take you to a site that has the photos and text on the page, with an offer to sign up to the website.

You may ask how this can happen. How do they have your information, if you are not a member of the site? The answer is simple. You can find out if other sites you join sold your information for profit or exposure.

Here are a few things you can do to warn others. This may prevent those sites from doing it, if enough people become aware of what they are doing.

1. Sign up with a free email and a fake name on the site in the search engine

2. Figure out which site you originally posted the info

3. Return to the original site, and if it is, for example, info from Facebook, tell others about it on your Facebook page.

4. Instruct them to do the same thing you did to see if their info and/or photos are on that second site.

5. Check your privacy settings on sites where you post information about yourself.

Unfortunately, you may give permission to share your information when you post it on another website, without knowing you did so. It is one downside of the Internet, making people wonder if privacy policies mean anything at all.

Filed Under: Anti-Virus, Internet Tagged With: Facebook, search, Web search engine

Staying Safe on Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are a lot of fun. They are great places to reconnect with old friends, advertise a new business and keep up with the latest information. These social networking sites can also be a dangerous place if safety precautions are not taken. Here’s a list of safety steps to take when using social networking sites.

Don’t share personal information. It’s not safe to share home phone numbers, or cell phone numbers for that matter. Never put a home address, and if you make your email address public, make sure it doesn’t reveal any personal information.
On those same lines, never post when you’re going on vacation. A lot of people like to make status updates of fun places they are visiting. This isn’t safe as a thief could easily break into your home knowing you and your family are away for a few days.
Watch what you say about work. Work is a big part of our lives. After all, eight hours a day are spent at the office! And there are lots of crazy antics that happen in an office environment. Avoid posting about work or your crazy boss on networking sites. You never know who could see that status update and it only takes one time ticking off the boss to lose your job.
Play it safe with your photos. Be careful about the photos you post. You don’t want to post photos that put you in any incriminating situations. Also be careful about the kinds of photos you post of your children.

Social networking sites can be a lot of fun. It’s great to reconnect with long lost friends and keep up with the day-to-day happenings of the people in your life. Just be careful what kind of information is posted on these sites. It’s always better to play it safe than to be sorry later.

Filed Under: Internet, Protections Tagged With: Facebook, Internet safety, Website

Facebook Privacy Settings

Image by Florian SEROUSSI via Flickr

Facebook is a popular social networking website that people from all over the world are using to communicate and collaborate with one another. The Facebook website offers a number of different privacy settings that are available for your use, but you must understand how to use them in order to best benefit from the privacy protections.

You can find your Facebook privacy settings by logging in to the website, then going to the top bar of your home page. Click on “Account” to bring up a list, then click on “Privacy Settings” and you will be directed to the area where you can view your current privacy settings and make edits as needed. Under “Choose Your Privacy Settings” you will find five different headings, allowing you to control who can access and view your profile. You can completely block certain users or you can put certain people in a restricted view so that they can view some but not all information on your profile.

It is important for you to consider the control that you have over who sees what. You also have the power to manage your applications and websites that have access to your information under “Applications and Websites” which you can find under “Choose Your Privacy Settings.” This will allow you to dictate which applications have your permission to access your information and which do not. Apps that you regularly use may require access to certain information in your profile in order to function, but this is not always the case. If you are not using a specific app, remove it from the access list so that it does not continue to access any details from your profile.

Ultimately, it is up to you to decide how much access you give or restrict for people on Facebook. You are in control of your own privacy on Facebook, so make sure that you understand the privacy settings that are available to you.

Filed Under: Internet, Protections Tagged With: Facebook, Privacy