5 Ways to protect yourself on Kik Messenger!

Understanding the Kik Messenger!

The Kik Messenger is just a little app that allows people to chat without the need to share you phone number.   It has several things that help make people want to use Kik, and I am going to share some of them with you and hope that it helps you protect yourself from scammers.  With any messaging app, you will always have bots and scammers who only purpose in life is to steal your money or your identity.   It seems that I found a few that times when I wondered how they figure out my username.   it really wasn’t hard to find me on Kik, I seem to keep Something the same and you could find me to if your really wanted to.  

Don’t give out your Phone Number — It seems it is the easiest thing to do but if you give out your phone number to a complete stranger, you are just asking for trouble from people who are going to stalk you or harass you.  
Don’t give out specifics — until you really start to be friends it is something that should be in your head at all times.   Don’t tell them your personal stuff like where you actually work, or the exact model of your car.   If you have to answer them, just generalize it to the point that it would make it really hard for them to find you after that.   I wouldn’t say Lie to them but don’t speak the whole truth, until you are sure they are trustworthy.
Quick Repliers — If you find yourself getting almost instant replies from the sender, you can bet that it isn’t truely a person because even I can’t type that fast.   It does not mean people who reply with yes or no answer are bots because most people are quick with those.  if it is long text in under a minute, you can bet it is a bot!
Don’t share Pictures or Videos —  If you don’t want your friends to see the picture or video, you really shouldn’t share it to some unknown bot or person on the messenger app.   You really do not know who or What they will do with that stuff.   It could cause your embarrassment in the future.
Don’t click links — Unsolicited links are just going to probably get your infected and thus you shouldn’t click on any links or go to sites that that the person says unless you know about that site personally.   Just be careful what you do online and you are far better off!

If you use these tips, you are better off than before.   Just remember that you do not really know the person unless you meet them in person.   HOpe this helps!

How to Avoid Social Media Scams

Photo credits: Nate & Tilly Ritter

Social media networks can be a lot of fun - not to mention useful - but you really need to make sure you take steps to stay safe. Knowing how to avoid social media scams is an important skill to have in the Information Age. The good news is that it’s not that difficult to avoid them if you use common sense and are careful when you’re online. We’ve put together a list of several specific tips you can use to make sure you don’t run into any problems.

How to Avoid Social Network Scams

Here’s a look at some specific ways that you can avoid scams no matter what social media network you visit frequently.

• Privacy Settings - The first thing you’re going to want to do is spend some time learning about the privacy settings for whatever site you’re on. For some - like Facebook - this can take quite a bit of time before you understand, but it’s essential if you want to protect yourself from scams.

• Know Your Friends - While you may want to get as many “friends” as you can, this isn’t really that smart. Try to only allow people you really know in real life to be part of your social circles online.

• Ignore Unknown Links - If you see a link from a source you don’t recognize, ignore it or delete it if possible. Following links from strangers online is usually not a good idea on social media sites.

• Avoid Public Computers - Like public bathrooms, you should avoid using public computers as often as possible. You never know if one is infected with a keystroke logger that will allow others access to your social media accounts.

• Be Cautious - This is common sense, but it can be easy to get caught up in the moment online. Learn to take your time and not get involved - by clicking links - until you know exactly what’s going on and that you’re dealing with someone who can be trusted completely.

• Software and Firewalls - You should also make sure your anti-virus programs are up to date with their definition file. Additionally, you might think about installing a firewall so that you can add another layer of protection between you and the bad guys online. Luckily, you can usually find free software that will help protect you. Just make sure you set it up correctly.

By following the advice above, you’re going to be able to avoid the scams while still being able to keep up with the fam. You don’t need to avoid social networks completely, but you should be very selective about which sites you visit and how you interact with people you might not know personally.

Written by: Maegred Mithi is working in copper industry. Her job is to buy ethanol and remove the rust from the raw copper. She is also studying on line reputation management, because she has special interest in online world algorithms that affects the search engine results.

7 Privacy Tips for Safer Social Media

Photo credits: U.S. Army RDECOM

If you’re not worried about your privacy online when interacting on social media sites, you should be. These days, it’s easier than ever before for bad guys to get ahold of your personal information. Even large corporations are having problems. For example, in December 2013, Target was targeted by hackers and lost just under 100 million credit card numbers and other identifiable information about their customers.

Seven Privacy Tips for Social Media

To help you stay safe online and protect your personal information, here’s seven specific privacy tips for when you’re on social media websites.

1. Know the Settings - The first thing you want to do is make sure you study a website’s privacy policy - including how to change the settings. Unfortunately, most websites make this very difficult to do. The more information you share with Facebook and others, the more money they can make off of you.

2. Watch for Changes - Privacy policy changes may or may not be announced, so you want to make sure you keep your eyes open for changes that occur. Hopefully in the future legislation will be passed to make it more difficult for companies to make wide changing changes without a lot of notification and options for users.

3. Sign-Out - While this can be a pain, make sure you log out of your social media accounts when you’re not using them. This is one of the best ways to make sure Facebook or Google isn’t tracking your every move online.

4. No Phone App - Try NOT to install the Facebook or Twitter app. Or, if you do install it to use occasionally, make sure you log-out whenever you’re not actively using it. While using the Facebook app may seem convenient, you’re giving them quite a bit of information that they’re going to sell to the highest bidder.

5. Use a Device Password - Make sure you set up your smartphone so that it requires you to enter a password to unlock it and use it. Unfortunately, not a lot of people take the time to do this, which is a big obstacle to privacy.

6. Use Encryption - Whenever possible, make sure you’re using encryption. Most operating systems have software that will encrypt and protect your sensitive data.

7. Unfriend Strangers - While getting your friend count to some crazy number might sound like fun, you should try to NOT friend anyone who you don’t know in real life.

Following the advice and tips above will help make sure you maintain your privacy when you’re using social media websites. Do you have your own method of staying safe on social media websites? Feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you do to maintain your online privacy.

Written by: Shorna stiksal likes smartresumewizard because it’s so easy to use. She helps her company with reputation management and has been paid very well for her assistance.

Bill Engvall's Guide to Social Media "Here's Your Sign"

When I started my journey into the social media, I have heard some really strange rumors and even some claims that real but aren't! For instants some of these are something like this: "Pope Benedict resigned to avoid arrest, seizure of church" Obamacare Requires RFID chip implanted in all of us Facebook Closed February 29th, 30th, 31st! Hover of my Name Hoax As you can see some of these are obviously fake or made to fool people to have people like and share these stories because they are so out rageous.

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The Cheating Husband Syndrome!

When wives suspect!

Nothing in the world is the hardest to uncover.   At least that is my opinion on this because the Husband will do almost anything to hide an affair.   So what is the wife going to do.   I don't know about the everyone else but I had an interesting experience the other day and I want to discuss this in detail about what happened. 

Once a Cheater always a Cheater!

This is something of a personal belief but back to the story, I found a profile on a few of the dating sites and I thought it was strange.   I knew she was married and everything.  So I wanted to contact her and try to find out for sure.  I posted about it on my blog as a way to hopefully draw out the impersonator and try to determine just what the intent was.   It never really happened because the person involved didn't feel the need to Google their name.   Probably because that was somewhat of a fake last name.  So that didn't pan out like I had hoped.  So I found her at a local community gathering.   I help direct the technical stuff for a local church.   So I just waited to bump into her.   That day came and I told her about her profiles on the few dating sites.   She was confused and a little worried someone might of had her credit cards and her personal information.  I started to do my research and she does her research.

Wasn't a Stranger doing the impersonating!

So she gets back with me and tells me what she found out.   It was her Sister who has a hubby who has cheated on her in the past.   Seems she wanted to use those accounts to spy on her hubby and see if she could find him on any dating sites.   So she tells her sister to remove those accounts but wasn't really happy with her about not asking her.  That ends the story but it is never really over.

Even though it was a family member, most people would still worry about how the pictures and information got out.   I already thought of that, she used her Facebook information even though the security part of it wouldn't of helped.   It was a friend or family and thus the photo's would of still been viewable and download able to the persons computer.

Things you can do to prevent this!

Some of the common problems people don't do are stuff that if you did this it wouldn't of happened.   So I am going to lay out some things you can do to fight people from stealing your identity and impersonating you.  

• Setup Email Alerts -- This is something simple but set up a Email alert with your Name and if anything happens to appear you should be notified once a day.   This will help keep your identity from being stolen on the internet.
• Check your Facebook Settings -- This is something I recommend to all my friends and family.   Keep track of who sees what and what information is given out on your social networks.   Make sure only the important information is given out to the people who need that, not to strangers.
• Remove the Exif Tags from Photos -- if you plan to upload photos to any social site it is best practice to make sure people can't track or know where you've been.   It can also be a security issue for some.   So removing it will help reduce your risk of identity theft.

There are more than these three but this will at least point you in the right direction to start preventing people from taking your identity and using it for their own means.   If you know other ways to fight identity theft then please feel free to leave a comment.   I'd love to hear what you have to say on the subject.

Paul Sylvester

Why I don't do Authoritative links!

Authoritative Links What those?

Authoritative links are basically people who are always linking to popular links for example:   Digitimes rumored that their will be a 99$ version of the Google Nexus 7 [Affiliate Link].  I don't know if I believe that or not but that got so popular in the last few days because everyone was linking to that one article on the internet.  It got so High in the Google Rankings for several days, that most people just  believe it to be true.  It could be true or it could just be rumor but everyone is wanting this so bad that if it doesn't happen people will be disappointed.   

Not to say Authoritative Links are bad!

I am not going to say that all those types of links are going to be bad but that doesn't mean that I will believe some of these types of rumors but I am one of those that wants to wait and see and not expect or anticipate that there will be one.   That is just asking for a let down when or if that product or claim is let out of the bag.

Why I don't do these types links should be obvious!

I probably have talked about it in this post but I prefer to make it really clear why I don't do these links every post.  I want to have original content and not just look like I am restating what others are already saying about a subject or product.  If you are looking to find other blogs that agree with a rumor than you have no problem with that.   I however want to talk about what is near and dear to my heart.  Usually I don't even read what people are saying about rumors.  So I try to steer clear of those types of post.

I do sometimes use those when I think it is necessary!

Just like this post, I do use them only when I think it is necessary and not just to get people to come and share these with others.  That is usually why every authoritative blog does that sort of thing so people will share it with their friends and family and they get more readers and more revenue.  

What are your thoughts about this?

Do you want more authoritative links or are you happy with the blog as it is right now.  I'd love to hear your comments about this and others suggest.  You can always reach from the Contact me page or you could also leave a comment and I'll see it.  Got something you want me to talk about please feel free to drop me a line and let me know!

Paul Sylvester

Amazon Affiliate link