Directive Blogs

For many, Facebook is a huge part of daily life, whether you want to think of it that way or not. There are more than two billion active users. That means if you pluck any 4 random human beings from anywhere in the world, at least one of them likely logged into Facebook today. 

It’s important to know that you still have control over your information, so in today’s blog we’re going to talk about a few ways you can take control over your online identity on the world’s largest social network.

You would think that Upstate New York would be the last place cybercriminals would pay attention to, but as recent events show us, no place is safe from fraud. In May of this year, our area was under attack from a SMiShing scam, then in June there was a rash of phone scams. Now, our area is facing a skimming attack. Read on to learn more about it and how to protect yourself.

While the issue of cyberbullying is often associated with young people, in reality it is a phenomenon which transcends age, gender, and class. The 24/7 online, anonymous, and always available without respite virtual environment has changed not only how we communicate with each other, but the mores of society - including the business world.

While it is common to consider social media just another form of entertainment or worse, an outlet for narcissistic behavior, it is for some one of the few outlets people have for their voices to be heard and listened to. A computer, tablet, smart phone and - as the IoT becomes more prevalent - even your appliances will allow average people to not only communicate with their ‘friends’, but with the world. While good social media practices are essential to many a business, we also need to recognize the power that social media brings to the people and by extension to your business.

Social media is a great tool that your business can use to communicate with clients and prospective customers, but in an age where you can expect your employees to have their own accounts, it can be devastating to overlook the security issues associated with it. Today, we’ll examine how you can protect your organization from its employees’ social media use.

In many ways, social media is the defining characteristic of the information age. It has transformed the way people communicate, market their products and services, and it has brought a litany of issues into the public consciousness. On the other side of the coin, social media currently costs many business billions of dollars a year in lost productivity. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of social media, and how your business can put yourself in a net-positive position regarding the technology.

Developing a social media presence is one of the first things you should do when starting to market your company. 96% of small business owners use social media marketing and believe it is important to their business. This means you should, too. What platforms should you use? What should you be posting? How do you grow your follower count? How should you be managing all of the channels you are on?

These questions are easier to answer than you think.

Recently we’ve seen figures, public and private, lose their jobs and sometimes even their careers over things they’ve posted not only in the present but the past on social media. While public figures may have the resources to put up a fight, those in the private arena often don’t, and so the double-edged sword of attention can be particularly sharp. Once average people attract the all-seeing eye, never forgetting and unforgiving memory of the Internet, they find the weight of public opinion brought down upon them; with all the consequences - positive and negative - such attention may bring.

The modern office is filled with distractions, and that’s to say nothing about the everyday user’s life. With so many devices and notifications interrupting focus for users all over the world, it’s more important than ever before to have a strategy for how to deal with these issues and become as productive as possible in the workplace. Today, we’ll be discussing some of the biggest distractions in the workplace and how your employees can overcome them.

Have you ever gotten Facebook requests from strange people who you don’t know? While it might be tempting to give them the benefit of the doubt--after all, maybe they know a friend of yours--it’s best to keep strangers off of your page when you can. In order to give your page, the flexibility to accept friend requests from people you may know, and protect it from strangers, you can implement a “follow” feature, and limit who can send you friend requests.

One thing that both fishing and phishing have in common is the use of lures. With the right lure, the chance of successfully catching the target improves. When it comes to the digital lures seen in phishing scams, research shows that social media is the most effective.

Social media might make it easy to stay connected, but it comes with a lot of negative side-effects--particularly in regard to security for both personal and professional use. If social media isn’t used properly, it could spell trouble for your organization. How can you foster proper social media usage so that your organization doesn’t suffer from poor security practices? It all starts by spreading awareness.

Recently, we have been sharing insights on some best practices regarding social media. This time, we’re going to discuss the primary function of social media: engagement. Engagement is simply how you interact with your audience and whether or not you are able to develop a relationship with them. Engagement is also one of the most important and resource-consuming aspects of using social media as a tool for marketing and the promotion of your services.

Last time we wrote about the importance of having a social media policy for your business.  Let's go over some of the things you'll want to cover in your social media policy.

Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate online. Social media is where discussions are had and information is shared. Over the past few years, the world has seen a remarkable shift in the way people socialize and it is not going away.

Social Media is a tough industry - the only way a good social network can succeed is by being extremely popular, and it takes a lot of criteria for that to happen. A social network site either has it or it doesn't, and Pinterest apparently has it in massive quantities.

The Ultimate Social Media Rig Project Plan is now on the ConnectWise University.

ConnectWise Partners can download the template from the ConnectWise University and launch their own Ultimate Social Media Rig for themselves or resell it as a service for their clients.

There's no need to enter the Word Doc into a project anymore! Simply import the project and roll it out!

Partners can find the USMR Project Template under Shared Templates on the ConnectWise University.

*Note* An update version for 2014 has been posted to the ConnectWise Marketplace
Search for "Ultimate Social Media Rig - Revised 2014"

While it may seem difficult to imagine embarrassing oneself in the space of a 140 character message, Twitter has been responsible for the downfall of companies, politicians and entire institutions. No one can deny that Twitter has been a boon for communication, politics and economics, but some people seem determined to prove that one cannot have Twitter without the word "twit." Here are a number of prominent examples from the recent past which demonstrate how Twitter's logo can swiftly become the bluebird of unhappiness for some.

Granted, growing up we were made to believe that by now we'd have flying cars and robot butlers, but technologically speaking we're in a pretty great era of gadgets and conveniences that aren't just giving us cool toys to play with, but are changing the way we communicate, learn, and work. Let's look at what's in store for the world in 2012.

On the topic of identity theft, social media accounts are becoming a high target for hackers, especially for spreading malicious viruses. To some, losing control over their Facebook or Twitter accounts could be just as devastating as having their credit card stolen. Trouble is, for many users, having one login account stolen means hackers have access to their other accounts too.