Social Media Privacy, Security, and Policy: Tips and Tricks

This week I’m going to be covering concepts that revolve around social media security and policy. First you have to understand the definitions of these concepts.

Social media network security: The concept of social media network security revolves around the idea of utilizing features that protect your valuable personal information. Following different tips and understanding how to use security features on different social media sites can improve your personal security.
Social media policy: Social Media policy is simply the rules and guidelines that govern social media use. Policy can be established by an employer with a corporate code that identifies guidelines for employees who use social media for personal and work related reasons (Rouse, 2011). In addition, policy by agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), can protect the rights of employees to use social media websites.                                     

Here are a few tips that I find important when it comes to social media security, policy, and privacy.

Security

Only accept/interact with people you are familiar with:
By accepting someone you don’t know, you provide them with large amounts of personal information. This information can easily be used to create fake identification, increasing the risk of identity theft from occurring.

Use caution when you click links:
Especially when they seem about a random topic and include links, treat these messages the same as you would with links in emails (Microsoft, 2014). If you’re ever in doubt. test the links on SiteAdvisor.com to view a site report. Never click on links that claim to show who has been viewing your profile (Siciliano, 2011).                                   

Policy

Know and follow the rules:
Especially as a working professional, make sure you read your employer’s statement of ethics policy, following these rules with all your social media postings (Herrin, 2012). A good concept to follow is to always watch what you post, making sure everything is appropriate and respectful. Be fair to fellow associates, customers, members, and suppliers (Herrin, 2012).

Be honest and accurate:
Specifically important when using social media for business/marketing purposes, it is very important to exemplify integrity when posting on social media. Never post any information or rumors that you know to be false, making sure to always correct mistakes quickly (Herrin, 2012).

Privacy

Be cautious about applications that use your information: Very similar to accepting a strangers friend request, this would allow an unknown party to post to your wall. In addition, they can also solicit you with emails, and access your information at any time (Siciliano, 2011).

Protect your personal identity/personal life. Lock down with privacy settings: As of September of 2011, Facebook has continued to provide users with updated security options. Specifically, you should focus on securing your friends list, profile page, account, and privacy settings (Whittaker, 2011).

Overall, I have come across information that has both enhanced my prior understanding of social media use, as well as introduced me to new concepts. Prior to this week, I didn’t know about the protected rights of employees under the National Labor Relations Board. Employees have every right to use social media, as long as it’s used in a responsible way. By following the NLRB policy template, you can assure yourself that your social media use is completely legal. I now also think it’s even more important to always check your security settings. You may not know it, but social media sites may continuously be updating privacy features. It’s important to always make sure your security settings are up-to-date.

In addition, I now have a better understanding on accepting requests or follows from people I don’t necessarily know. The readings have made me realize that by accepting them into my network, I give them access to my personal life and information. If you’re unsure, it’s better to deny those people rather than accept.

Here's a short video I found that demonstrates a few tips and their importance!

References:

Herrin, B. (2012, June). Legalhimformation. Retrieved from http://www.legalhimformation.com/articles/pdfs/HIM2012-06.pdf

Microsoft. (2014). Safety & security center. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/social-networking.aspx

Rouse, M. (2011, August). Social media policy. Retrieved from http://searchcompliance.techtarget.com/definition/social-media-policy

Siciliano, R. (2011, July 13). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.mcafee.com/consumer/15-social-media-security-tips

Whittaker, Z. (2011, September 04). September 2011: The definitive facebook lockdown guide. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/blog/igeneration/september-2011-the-definitive-facebook-lockdown-guide/12641

Week Four Discussion: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan

In Chapter 11, entitled You Are What You Publish: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan, David Scott brought up many important points concerning the topic. According to Scott, the idea that the four P’s of marketing (product, place, price, and promotion) are the most important factors is complete nonsense. Rather than focusing on these factors, to succeed on the web under the new rules of marketing and PR, you need to consider your organizational goals and then focus on your buyers first (Scott, 2013).

Your product or service you sell is secondary: Organizational goals and buyer personas come first

After reading Chapter 11, I believe this is one of the most important points that Scott made. Rather than focusing on your product, the new rules for marketing and PR call for a change. Marketers and PR professionals need to align objectives with objectives and goals of the organization (Scott, 2013).

According to Scott, many marketers and PR specialists focus on the wrong measures of success (Scott, 2013). With websites, people often say things like “we want to have 10,000 unique visitors to our site”, while PR measurements are often similarly irrelevant, aiming for goals such as 10 mentions in the trade press or three national magazine hits each month (Scott, 2013). These goals have importance, but what really matters is leading your site’s visitors and your constituent audiences to where they help you reach your real goals, such as building revenue, soliciting donations, and gaining new members (Scott, 2013).

Scott makes a great point in this chapter. Marketers and PR professionals are similar to groups of seven year old soccer players, focusing on the ball, rather than the goal! By focusing on things such as sales leads, press clips, and website traffic, marketers lose track of the overall organizational goals, such as revenue building (Scott, 2013).

 

After different leaders and employees are aware of organizational goals, then you can proceed to the next step, learning more about the buyers (Scott, 2013). As part of the planning process, creating buyer personas is essential. A buyer persona is simply a representative of a type of buyer that you have identified as having a specific interest in your organization or product  (Scott, 2013). These personas are arguably the single most important aspect of a marketing and PR plan. By conducting interviews, organizations can learn about buyers and develop buyer personas and profiles (Scott, 2013). When you really know how your buyers think and what matters to them, you eliminate the guessing about what to say or where and how to communicate with them (Scott, 2013).

Source:

Scott, D.(2013).  The New Rules of Marketing and PR (4. ed., pp. 162-168). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated.

Recap: Week 3

As the discussion leader this week for group 5, I was able to read about and interpret some great information. In addition, I was able to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of using visuals in blog posts. Although this was the first week of using the blogs, I thought everyone did a great job!

This week, we dug into some issues that revolved around the importance of strategically planning communication efforts. We all came to the conclusion that strategically planned communications efforts are essential, whether it's for the long-term, medium-term, or short-term. Communications is the heart and soul or "muscles" of an organization and company.  Especially today with many communication and social media outlets, consistency is becoming more and more important, calling for a strong strategical plan. Integrated and strategic communication should be utilized throughout all internal and external affairs.

In addition, by taking a look at different blogs from fellow classmates, I was able to come up with some tips that could potentially help with future blog posts:

-Make sure to add your updated post to your Google + timeline. Don't forget to use relevant hashtags in those posts!

-Share your blog post using your Twitter account. By using the Twitter tab, you can Tweet your new blog post in a matter of seconds. Even tweeting your blog website with relevant hashtags would prove to valuable.

-Recommend your blog on Facebook. Share the blog with more people with a simple click.

-Include short videos or a few images in your post.These could instantly make your blog more appealing to readers.

Once again I want to thank everyone for doing a great job this week!

-Pat