June 13, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Facebook Moments & Sync – Don’t panic

Facebook Moments

Lots of news and reports about Facebook removing the Sync photos album and “forcing” people to use the new Facebook Moments app. Sync was introduced in 2012 as a place to store photos if you didn’t want to share them immediately. Facebook have been promoting Moments since December and have been letting members know if they had any images in the sync file to download them. The date to transfer by is 7 July.

Congratulations to all the publications who immediately created fear and misinformation around this.

Let us say to you now DONT PANIC.

You may not have any photos in the Sync file. These are only photos which were AUTO SYNCED, not those you upload yourself.

If you do, you can choose to use the moments app and save them there, or you can simply go to the photos in the sync album and download them individually.

If you have an album called “Synced” or “Synced from Phone” then it affects you. Facebook will have been giving you messages about this for some time.

The lovely Mari Smith posted some great tips on her facebook page as we were putting this together. You can find her full post here. Mari provided the following information and link for help to download your files. She writes “if you don’t want to use the Moments app, but want to save your synced photos, you can download the photos now on desktop. See this help section: “How do I download or delete my synced photos on Facebook?”

To be honest we had more issues when Dropbox removed the Carousel app – we lost some images in a hidden file because we were were just to slow to move!

What is Moments anyway?

Facebook Moments is an app that lets you share specific photos with friends. It’s quite a handy tool if you are at an event togther and want to easily share images with a friend or colleague. It also allows you to sort images via that friend or colleague, by the facial recognition technology. This is disruptive technology that helps us get organised. You can create an album of images and Facebook will also recommend based on recent images. For example I went to a friend’s show recently and Moments popped all the photos I took – I could review them and take some out then I can choose who to send them too.

You can also ask friends to send photos of you, which can be great if you are at an event and not able to take pictures. Just ask them to send them afterwards.

One thing though.. be careful not to send to the wrong person – I couldn’t see a cancel button!

[By the way if you are in Europe you probably won’t see the app as there are issues around the use of facial recognition there}. On one hand we see that – could be seen as invasion of privacy, but on another it has proven to be a valuable tool in solving crimes .

So that’s our take on it. No need to panic. Learn more about Moments here.

We would love your comments.

January 19, 2016 By Fiona Lucas

Scam Alert – Beware of IQ Quiz it might cost you

Beware of Facebook IQ Test Scam

A few of our lovely community have let us know about a scam which is currently doing the rounds on Facebook. In this case the scam is in the form of an IQ Test which then requests your mobile number in order to send you the results.

DO NOT give such quizzes your phone number. Once you give the number you have no control over what they will do with it. You might find your number is sold onto telemarketing lists or worse still, as seems to be the case with this particular scam, when you send the number you are actually agreeing to a renewal payment, a monthly payment for the app which will be charged to your phone bill.

This is known as cramming According to Wikipedia Cramming is a form of fraud in which small charges are added to a bill by a third party without the subscriber’s consent or disclosure. These may be disguised as a tax or some other common fee, and may be several dollars or even just a few cents. The crammer’s intent is that the subscriber will overlook and ultimately pay these small charges.

[ctt title=”ALWAYS read the fine print” tweet=”ALWAYS read the fine print” coverup=”Ib_wj”]

It is important to read the fine print whenever you are giving away information such as your address, phone number or credit card details.

If you want to test your IQ, a few questions on a Quiz is unlikely to be enough. Let’s get smarter than the scammers.

A couple of years ago the Mary Sue site, wrote a post about such Quizzes and that we should understand they are the equivalent of one of those “what Disney Character are you?” type of quiz that regularly goes around. You can read her verdict here. It’s important to understand they are just a bit of fun, but for that reason our trust levels actually seem to be higher than if they were legitimately selling a product to measure IQ. Go figure, human nature is interesting isn’t it?

Recently there have been many posts about the types of information we give away in quizzes. Mark Wilson wrote one that gained quite a lot of traction, and although it’s not in depth, it does provide some insight into the way privacy statements are worded on quiz sites such as Meaww. His report can be found here.

We also wrote on our facebook page recently about scams and in particular that many facebook games ask to connect to your profile, but they ask for a more access than is required. Often they ask for access to your friends list and other details such as education etc. In particular be wary of those quizzes asking who your best friends are or who you should holiday with, in order to work they get access to all your data, so you haven’t just compromised your own privacy, but that of your friends as well.

These kinds of scams have been going around for many years. If you are not sure if something is a scam we are always happy to review for you.

SO remember: Don’t give away your phone number to Quizzes or you might end up with a nasty surprise in your next bill, and be wary of any quiz or game linking to facebook that asks for more than access to your profile to post your result, they are gleaning alot more information that you might like, and perhaps that of your friends.

October 13, 2015 By Fiona Lucas

Your business is your business

Stay Smart Online Week 2015 – ‘Your Business is your business!’

Stay Smart Online Week 12 – 16 October 2015

An Australian Government initiative

Your business holds a lot of sensitive data and information that cyber criminals would love to access. Think about what you store online… and think about what it would mean if it was lost or stolen.

Keeping this information private and secure means small businesses should focus on some key areas of security:

Website – use a strong administration password and limit staff access to those who need use it for their work.

Domain name and domain name server – Use a restricted or private email account to administer your domain name registration and keep the registration details up-to-date.

Communication – Ensure your communication tools are encrypted meaning that information is converted into a secret code for transmission over the internet. Prevent hoax emails and malicious software by installing security software and educating staff about safe email use, e.g. not clicking on links from an unknown sender.

Privacy – Every piece of information you collect from a client including name, address, email address, telephone number, personal opinions or credit card details, must be stored and protected and destroyed in a way that adheres to the Privacy Act 1988.

Mobile devices – are vulnerable to loss or theft. The information on these devices needs to be inaccessible to unauthorised users through robust passwords, data encryption, the latest mobile security software, web browsers, and operating systems.

Servers and desktop – Install and activate security software on your computers and ensure it includes anti-virus, anti-spy ware, firewall and anti-spam filters. Servers also require a firewall, regular updates and anti-virus software. Read server reports, such as security logs, and monitor for changes and irregularities.

Remember, the online security measures you take today can not only help protect your business from existing threats but also from ones that are yet to emerge.

The Australian Government’s Stay Smart Online website offers advice to small businesses and other Australians about being secure and safe online. Stay Smart Online, in collaboration with Australia Post, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Telstra, has developed the Small Business Guide which is intended to help you put in place some basic online security practices.

Additional information is available at www.staysmartonline.gov.au/smallbusinessguide.

iRespectOnline is a proud to be a Stay Smart Online Partner.

August 25, 2015 By Fiona Lucas

Facebook viruses – stop the spread

Every so often a spate of viral videos and posts will start going around Facebook. Some of them may be relatively harmless, albeit annoying, whilst others may be infected with malware and other nasties. Often these have “clickbait” headlines to entice you (“you wont believe what she does next”) or they may be sexual or graphic in nature, designed to make you curious. It’s important we all understand how to stop viruses and halt the spread.

Here’s what to do in four easy steps if something appears on your profile or wall that you didn’t put there.

Firstly DON’T CLICK on the post or watch the video. This is a surefire way to have your entire friend list affected. Report to facebook and delete it. You can report a post by clicking on the little arrow at the right of the post on your computer or laptop, mobile device and choose “I don’t like this post”. Choose spam or if its violent or sexual in nature, choose I don’t think it should be on facebook.

Next: IMMEDIATELY change your facebook password. Close all versions of the application (on computers, laptops, mobile devices) and reset with the new password.

Third: Post a message on your wall advising friends about what has happened and what to do (or share this post or the infographic to help them)

Lastly: Check the apps that are associated with your Facebook account are meant to be there. Facebook recommend the following steps:

Go to Account > Privacy Settings.The Choose Your Privacy Settings page appears. At the bottom of the page is a header called Apps and Websites.
Click the Edit your Settings link under Apps and Websites.The Apps, Games, and Websites page comes up.
Click the top Edit Settings button (by Apps You Use).The Apps You Use page comes up listing all the apps you’ve allowed to have access to your account.
Go through the list and be sure you know each and every one of the apps.
1. Click the Edit Settings button next to the app.
2. Click the Remove App link.

If you don’t see anything you don’t recognise, that’s ok – it might not be there, this is just a precaution.

That’s it.

If we can help you in anyway, or to stay up to date with tips on protecting yourself and/or your business online, Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/irespectonline .

November 8, 2014 By Fiona Lucas

Raising Adolescents

How are you going raising your tweens and teens?

Raising adolescents is both a wonderful period of change and a tricky stage for parents and can be a really difficult time for your children. I like to think of it as our children turning into butterflies. It is a time of massive physical development, hormonal changes and development of the cerebral cortex. For parents it s time when we need to be brave and to understand when to interfere, when to offer guidance and when to quietly observe (fingernail chewing allowed).

Adolescence is a time of change, our children seek greater independence (whilst still very much needing us there) , they are experimenting, testing boundaries and trying new things, all on their path to discovering who they are. Because so much is going on it can be a time of anxiety, perhaps angry outbursts at times, risk taking and a lot of button pushing (it’s so not easy being a parent at this time either is it?). However our children, even if they are acting with maturity, do not have the life experience or the self awareness to necessarily know when they are making a poor decision. Peer pressure, friendship groups, seeking validation and fitting in are all very important to a teen and this can sway them to do things or to act in ways which away from that pressure they might not normally do. This can affect their self esteem and confidence in either positive or negative ways.

Into this mix we now have a world which is made up of face to face and physical contact, and the online world of texts, photos, tweets, posts, comments and blogs. So what happens when you take teen angst, boundary testing, risk taking and give them access to a smart phone or other device? We open up another set of issues to navigate with our teens as they grow.

It is vitally important for parents to have knowledge about what to expect, or what to look out for, and to feel empowered to either help or know where to find help so that poor online behaviours or experiences are not prolonged before any intervention. Prevention is always better than trying to repair damage after an event.

Demonstrating strong family values, particularly that of Respect goes a long way to creating a foundation stone upon which your teen’s future is built. Our recent post on finding the balance and apps which can help you as a parent feel more at ease as your teen heads towards independence can be found here.

There is not enough room on this page to cover every aspect of raising your adolescent, and that is why we partnered with Happy Parenting and the Raising Adolescents, Teens and Tweens Online Conference.

This is a FREE live event running over the course of the week and you will find experts in all kinds of fields available with great advice, guidance and assistance with your questions. Don’t worry if you can’t watch it all live, there is an option to subscribe to have access to all the content and transcripts (along with lots of bonus material) so you can watch and listen in your own time. You can register for Free (there are limited places so we do advice you register as soon as possible.

When you sign up you will be granted immediate access to bonus content including our new eBook “The Social Media Diet” all about getting balance between the online and offline world.

Depending what part of the world you live in the conference start dates are:

Los Angeles: Sunday 9 November, 3 pm
New York: Sunday 9 November, 6 pm
London: Sunday 9 November, 11pm
Sydney: Monday 10 November. 10 am

We really hope to see you there.