Do You Join… Or Not

I seem to have been inundated with requests to join a new ‘Business Social Networking’ service. It appears that a quite a few people I know have joined up… they have then had their address book savaged and emails sent to everyone they know. So… here’s the dilemma, do you sign up or not? I belong to one business social networking site already, do I really need another?

I think the answer is no - I don’t need another, especially as the one I belong to is well established and does what I need it to (basically keep email addresses up to date - people change jobs all the time, so keeping up with a valid address can be a real task.) Having said I don’t need to sign up to another service, I have joined this new one… why? Just so no-one else can join as ‘me’. I have posted my picture but that is all - and I didn’t let the system look through my address book!

Internet based reputation is just around the corner but it isn’t here yet - and when it does arrive it needs to be guaranteed and user friendly. In the mean time, if someone has put my details out on the web and I need to have an account to correct them, or to keep someone else from signing up as me, then I will. This isn’t foolproof, far from it, there are so many ‘free’ email providers, social websites and the like, if you want to be someone else, it is very easy to do, perhaps a little too easy?

June 2, 2008 | Filed Under Reputation | Leave a Comment 

Don’t Take Sweets From Strangers

We spend a lot of time educating children about the dangers of strangers. Don’t speak to strangers, don’t get in cars with people you don’t know and don’t take sweets from them. This education starts from an early age and so becomes part of their philosophy.

It is time we do the same thing for information that is requested online - and the education needs to start just as early. Why would you give your name and address to someone online when you wouldn’t dream of doing the same thing if someone asked you for them in the street? What about credit card and bank details - of course not. But… online… well anything goes. When you do need to use a credit card, in a shop, then you are ‘in the shop’ and that goes a long way to  that it is a bona fide shop which has a (hopefully) good reputation - when you are online how do you know who you are dealing with? What additional precautions do you take to ensure that you will not be ripped off, or become another identity theft statistic?

Of course this is not just about children - it is about everyone who is active on the Internet. Education that changes behaviour is tough - the earlier you start the more you remember and the behaviour becomes second nature.

At the moment, I guess most cyber-criminals talk of their latest exploits and the gullibility of their victims as “it’s as easy as taking candy from a child”.

April 11, 2008 | Filed Under Reputation, security | Leave a Comment 

You Are What The Internet Says You Are

So if it says that you are going away and all your belongings are up for grabs… then people are going to turn up at your house and take all your stuff, including a horse - without you even knowing. All sounds a little unbelievable? Well it happened this week in the US when a hoax advert was put onto Craigslist and people responded while the owner was out of work…

So what does this mean? Gullible people? People believe everything they read on the internet? We are at the start of a new era of fraud? All of the above? The internet can be seen as an interesting social experiment, with social networking and the influence it has right at the forefront. As we move into the next era of web based technologies and businesses it will become increasingly important to prove that you are who you say you are - and not what someone else says. It will all come down to reputation - protecting and maintaining your own reputation and the reputation of your company… before someone runs off with more than just your belongings.

March 28, 2008 | Filed Under Reputation | Leave a Comment