Joy Wizard » Social Media

Fake Facebook Friend Requests – How To Protect Yourself

Alex Webley — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 23:57:08 +0000

Fake Facebook Friend requests could have much more serious implications than you think.

Why?

If they arrive via email.

Yesterday, I received a poorly crafted, but fake Facebook Friend request:

Fake Facebook Friend Request

What’s the danger? What are these “more serious implications” I speak of?

Because the email appears to be a genuine Facebook Friend request, and it arrives in your email inbox, it would be easy to click on links it contains; even simply out of curiosity. In my case, my first flash thought was along the lines of – ‘Oh, Facebook wants to be friends – how nice’. My next thought was ‘hang on; something stinks’.

When I went to check my Facebook Profile there was no friend request associated with the email; despite my checking very soon after receiving the email (i.e. it is unlikely that a sender deleted the request quickly).

This development is concerning. In fact, it undermines the reliability of emailed Facebook Friend requests. How do we know they are genuine?

Clicking on links in a fake Facebook Friend request could compromise the security of your computer, your data and your privacy.

There is an easy solution – it is simply to always run a security policy, without exception:

Never click on links within emails from Facebook.
Instead, log into Facebook and access from there.

PS: If you would like to contact me via Facebook, here are my links (just make sure you are real ;-)):

My Facebook Page: Joy Wizard

My Facebook Profile: Alex Webley

Fake Facebook Friend Requests – How To Protect Yourself is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

How Important Are The Internet And Social Media To You – Your Business?

Alex Webley — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:14:13 +0000

For me, the Internet and Social Media are critical.

A whole host of reasons. Here are just some of my views…..

People are social beings – the Internet has significantly changed how we network and socialise. We ignore Social Media at our peril. I say peril because of what I am seeing out there. (My background includes meeting my wife online back in the 90′s in the days when Internet dating carried a big stigma and irrational fears for many).

I now review books for a nationally published Australian magazine…….because I saw a tweet on Twitter and responded….via Twitter. Not on Twitter?

In my view, 100 years from now, school children will learn about the agrarian, industrial and Internet revolutions. I don’t think many of us are fully aware of the impact of the Internet, yet.

The Internet has profoundly affected things like ‘imperfect competition’ – ‘imperfect knowledge’ in the market place. Economic terms but very valid.

Some people out there are world class at what they do. Just a click of the mouse away at times. Your competitor can penetrate easily into your customer’s living rooms…..so you had better be good.

To me, this era is one where we need to focus on what we are talented at, which can often be what we love. Focus brings ‘power’ too. We also need to be ‘other centered’.

Anyway, just a little food for thought……

No Related Posts

How Important Are The Internet And Social Media To You – Your Business? is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Facebook – Facts You Probably Didn't Know.

Alex Webley — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:29:09 +0000

[Source: Online PhD Programs]

Facebook – Facts You Probably Didn't Know. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Facebook cussedness & my new Fan Page

Alex Webley — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:56:06 +0000

****** Start of Facebook post ******

Hmm…my Facebook fan page , which I created yesterday, is not importing blog posts properly. Looking into it.

Facebook is in some respects a ‘cussed’ application – counter intuitive, works in strange ways, feels like it has been thrown together and so on. I am not alone in my thoughts, having come across significant numbers of business people & geeks who find these aspects of FB frustrating.

I often have to do Google searches to find a solution to issues or how to do something.

There are of course a whole host of positives about FB and I am very grateful for them. It would be nice however if FB adhered to basic usability principles advocated in “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug - the ‘Bible” of web usability.

Duh.

****** End of Facebook post ******

I wrote the above on my Facebook profile – or rather; tried to.

Not having been in the habit of writing long Facebook posts I was surprised to receive a message stating:

Status Too Long

Your status update is too long. The maximum status length is 420 characters, but it is 672 characters long.

So……I had to write a blog post instead…..and publish that to Facebook.

I rest my case.

******

Ugh…spoke too soon….

While finishing off this post I decided to see if I could get a memorable web address for my Facebook Fan Page, instead of the huge long thing I have currently. Yesterday, I found a Facebook FAQ which states that a Fan Page must have 25 fans before it is eligible for a short special name; however – this evening I noticed something which led me to believe that such a short address was indeed available via a special application.

Did you guess?

I followed all the fiddly steps and arrived at this message:

Memorable Web Addresses for Profile, Page or Group

The developer of this application does not currently allow it to be added.

Moronic huh? Not to mention a huge time waster.

Yesterday, I noticed a facility for creating a Fan Page badge and thought it would be good to place one here. I had trouble finding it again today (wasted more time) , however here is the badge (PS: I had to edit some of the html code so that it would work the way I want):

Alex Webley is a fan of

Alex Webley – Black Shaman – Fixes For Mind, Emotion, Soul and Spirit

Create your Fan Badge

Facebook cussedness & my new Fan Page is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher

Alex Webley — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:15:13 +0000

Twitter has become a powerful tool for community organizers, marketers, and others who want to share and receive information in a fast, friendly environment.

It’s no wonder, then, that teachers have also found success on Twitter, using the tool to connect with students, share information with parents, and find useful resources.

Here, we’ll take a look at 100 tools that can help twittering teachers make the most out of this helpful micro-blogging tool. In fact, anyone who needs to convey a message to others can benefit from these.

Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher

Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

URL shortening – my favorite method.

Alex Webley — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:37:39 +0000

Up until recently I have been using Bit.ly for my link shortening.

For some time now I have had the impression that Bit.ly is not tracking clicks properly and have been busy testing http://su.pr/ which is part of StumbleUpon.

Recently, at Bit.ly, my click figures have gone right down – sometimes just 1 or 2 clicks. I know that this is incorrect.

When I pumped out my first link via Su.pr it had over 20 clicks quickly. It has been ages since a Bit.ly link showed that many….

I like Su.pr much better than Bit.ly.

It has scheduled Tweets, time tracking of clicks and appears to be reliable.

I could not get the Su.pr WordPress plug in to work however and the help files were poor. As a workaround I just click view post (WordPress button) after publishing, then the Su.pr bookmarklet in my links toolbar once the page has opened. I shorten and add #hashtags if needed (which is easier than via BitLy/Wordpress combo because I can see how many characters are left).

Stumbling aspect is good too.

I suspect that this app is unlikely to close down/go out of business (being part of Stumbleupon), or at least less likely than some of the others (Which would mean broken links).

Su.pr has increased the enjoyability factor of posting links which will mean more value for people following my Twitter stream too.

I like things that work.

Addendum, 18 March 2010

Cannot rely on Twitter account @ list to show all RTs. Have been finding RTs via SU.pr link shortener that never appeared in my Twitter account @ list. Had I not been using SU.pr, I would never have known about them and therefore not been able to thank the people concerned.

SU.pr has also revealed people copying my Tweets word for word with no RT/mention of my handle; so the tweet appears to originate from them. Naughty!

I have heard from what I believe to be a reliable source, that Twitter uses Bit.ly for internal link processing – in context of that possibly being behind the misreporting of RTs.

URL shortening – my favorite method. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Imagine…a live photo feed like Twitter, but with pics.

Alex Webley — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:30:28 +0000

DailyBooth – where you can share your life with others via photos.

Post a photo instead of words.

Use it to get real time updates on what your family and friends are doing.

DailyBooth has a live, detailed map which shows where each picture is in the world.

When a new photo appears on the service the map flys to the location.

You can follow people, just like Twitter.

So far, from my limited observation of the service, it appears to appeal to a younger demographic.

Have fun!

Imagine…a live photo feed like Twitter, but with pics. is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Twitter tracks cats' movements!

Alex Webley — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:11:36 +0000

Twitter knows when the cat comes in and out!

Check out this story:

Tweeting Cat Door

More comment here:

Twitter-Enabled Cat Door Tweets a Kitty’s Comings and Goings

Twitter tracks cats' movements! is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox

Alex Webley — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 11:05:59 +0000

I like Twitter and the Firefox web browser.

Here are 20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox.

Enjoy!

20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

14 Twitter directories to find new friends

Alex Webley — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:10:30 +0000

Here is a handy list of Twitter directories where you can find new friends.

Twitter is certainly taking off these days. This morning I saw a prominent bar across an established news site which had a direct link to news about Natasha Richardson on Twitter.

14 Twitter directories to find new friends is a post from: Joy Wizard Blog

Joy Wizard » Social Media

Fake Facebook Friend Requests – How To Protect Yourself

Related Posts:

How Important Are The Internet And Social Media To You – Your Business?

Related Posts:

Facebook – Facts You Probably Didn't Know.

Related Posts:

Facebook cussedness & my new Fan Page

Memorable Web Addresses for Profile, Page or Group

Related Posts:

Top 100 Tools for the Twittering Teacher

Related Posts:

URL shortening – my favorite method.

Related Posts:

Imagine…a live photo feed like Twitter, but with pics.

Related Posts:

Twitter tracks cats' movements!

Related Posts:

20+ Great Twitter Tools for Firefox

Related Posts:

14 Twitter directories to find new friends

Related Posts: