Become a Home Based Travel Agent

All a Twitter
By Tom Ogg

I like to think of myself as a reasonably astute online user. After all, I have been operating chat groups, bulletin boards and social networks for the past 25 years. I have written books on exploiting the web’s obvious opportunities, done seminars, written articles and generally been involved with technology since CPM was the operating system of choice for personal computers.

That’s why I was shocked to find out that my eCruiseReviews.com Twitter account was sending spam to all of my followers.

I had read several books on Twitter before launching the site and did everything right. I had a cool eCruiseReviews.com theme designed for my Twitter home page, posted dozens of high quality tweets before inviting anyone to follow me and I only sought quality followers and posted engaging tweets to build a solid following of sophisticated cruise enthusiasts. I practiced consistency, quality and professionalism to build my eCruiseReviews.com brand.

When someone hacked my site and began sending solicitations, as if they were coming from me I immediately changed my password thinking that the spam would stop. It didn’t. I made the decision to simply delete my account to protect my brand from any further damage.

My good friends Tom and Mary Milano, avid cruisers that live in Florida sent me a message that they had been robbed in London and asked me if I could send money to help them get home. Knowing that Tom and Mary do not fly, I was immediately suspect and sent Tom and Mary a message asking if they were OK. Their Facebook account had been hacked and some of his “friends” did send money to help him out. Tom and Mary were so embarrassed that they shut down their page.

That is what got me to thinking about Twitter, Facebook and the other large social networks that are all the rage right now. Phishing and other scams seem to be rampant at this point. Every time I log onto these sites I am asked to join this or that, follow someone or become a fan of something I have never heard of before. Even the sites themselves are asking you to give up your email username and password so that they can “invite” your friends. Are you kidding me?

So I thought I would share some ideas on what not to do when using social media.

Do Not Ever Give Your Email Password Out! The first thing that most social media ask for is your email address and password so that they can use it to “invite” your friends to join you on their network. Never do this. You are giving the network permission to use your name while soliciting your email list.

Avoid Phishing Scams! Phishing scams are rampant on most of the social media. The reason is because of the power for scammers to pretend to be you and ask your friends for money in one way or another. Generally, once you have fallen for a phishing scam the first thing the scammer will to is phish your friends for their login information. Most phishing scams arrive as a direct message from you to all of your friends. “I think you are in this picture” with a link is one that is circulating now on Twitter. When you click on the link you are presented with a Twitter login page. It looks real, but when you go to login, you have just been phished for your user name and password. Always login at the social network’s home page, save it in your bookmarks and NEVER log in from an email!

Avoid Money Scams! That direct message from a friend suggesting that you take an IQ test, join a website or take some other action that is going to end up costing you money is at best an attempt to get you to spend money and at worst, an attempt to gain access to your credit card information. NEVER buy anything from an email unless you are absolutely certain it is on the up and up. Even then, you should always visit the website to launch a purchase.

NEVER Click on an Email Link! Unless you are positive that an email link is valid, never click on one. This is much more important for Windows users than those with Macs, but malware, spyware and viruses can be unintentionally loaded into your operating system without your knowledge. While modern browsers may catch this event and report it to you, you are better off just ignoring the link. Get a Mac!

Ask Yourself the "What If" Question! Before you jump onto the current social media as a business resource bandwagon that everyone is pushing, ask your self “What if I get hacked?” If sending your clients, friends and followers phishing and other scams will hurt your business effort, then think twice before moving your brand into social media. You simply do not have the same level of security on social media, as you would on a web platform.

Well, gotta run. I just sold $27,000.00 worth of first class tickets to a company in Nigeria that is moving their executives from London to Capetown. The company found me on the Internet I just can’t believe my luck. I also had a long lost relative leave me $1,000,000.00 that they are going to transfer into my bank account. I can’t wait! I found this awesome Rolex on Craigslist for only $7,500.00 (it is a $25,000.00 watch) I have to send the money via Western Union today or I will lose the opportunity to buy it at this bargain price. I know that I shouldn’t spend money that I don’t have yet, but it was such a good deal and after I get my million dollars, well you know. I can’t wait until they ship the Rolex to me.