With the recent articale on 3 News last night, it seems a good time to remind people of the pitfalls and threats that do exist in the world of Social Media. There are all kinds of people using social media sites like Facebook and Bebo to mislead others. When using social media remember these simple rules:
  • Only accept people as friends who you actually know and even better have meet in person
  • Set your security options to private to avoid non friends viewing your page
  • Treat any contact from someone you don't know as suspicious 
View the video of a Facebook predator who claimed multiple aliases to build relationships with unaware men in New Zealand.

Source 3News Website: http://www.3news.co.nz/Facebook-fake-fronts-up/tabid/309/articleID/211248/Default.aspx

 
You can now download a history of all your Facebook activity and data, so you can see what facebook has a record of.

Click on Account and select account settings.
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Find Download Your Information and click on learn more.
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Click on Download, this will download all of your activity on Facebook and show you what facebook knows about you. 
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You will be emailed when the information is ready to be viewed. The email will direct you where to go. 

 
With the growing popularity of facebook also comes the risk of potential scams, below is a list of scams that are common on facebook.
Help – I’m Stuck In Nigeria!
This kind of scam is the perfect example of how your account can be misused should your details somehow get stolen. Picture the scene – one of your good friends has gone away, backpacking through some enchanting yet fairly dangerous places.

Suddenly you get a message. Oh no! Your friend has lost her wallet in Lagos and now needs a quick Western Union money transfer or else she’ll surely be stuck. Or is she? Has she simply forgotten to log out at an internet café and had her account compromised?


Did she actually go anywhere in the first place?

These kind of scams prey on those who make use of public access points, but you don't necessarily need to be travelling to have your details stolen. If you do get any messages from friends asking for sums of money (whatever the reason), you should immediately become suspicious.

If you can get to an internet cafe you can get to a phone - never send money without overwhelming proof of who you are sending it to.

Join This Group – AMAZING Things Will Happen!
Any group that attests to having some fantastic feature appear on your account upon joining is a scam. That’s right folks, there is no “profile tracker” or “dislike button” to be had, only links to ad-farms and registration forms that spam your email address.

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The golden rule here is if it looks too good to be true – then it’s definitely not genuine. You won’t be getting a free iPod by filling out that survey, simply providing someone else with your data that can then be used for unsolicited contact.

It could be a grammatical nightmare constructed by a 15 year old girl or a well thought out attempt to get some clicks; either way – don’t join.

Fakebook Connect
Facebook’s useful cross-site login feature called Connect is also a fond target for scammers. Personally I always register separate accounts for this very reason – but I’m probably just paranoid.

Fake “Connect with Facebook” windows are likely to catch a considerable amount of users out – and once you’ve entered that oh-so-important email and password combination then there’s not much you can do.

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If you think you’ve fallen foul to a Facebook Connect scam then you should immediately change your password.
Reel Big Phishing
Phishing is the name given to the act of gaining a user’s login information by deceit, such as imitating a commonly used service. Facebook is the web’s favourite timewaster, and despite browser advancements that now warn of known dishonest websites, phishing is still used to reel in unsuspecting victims.

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Many who use this technique are turning to URL shortening services to mask the fake web address. You can avoid all phishing scams by taking extra care to check the web address you are visiting in your browser’s address bar. Also avoid any “totally shocking” videos that direct you to applications in order to deliver some unmissable content.

Don’t forget if you see something like facebook.something.com or randomurl.net/facebook then you know you’re being scammed.

Off-Site Malware
It’s a chance for the masses to congregate and decide that “Justin Bieber is a legend!” and rejoice at the 25,000 Likes and counting. I’ve noticed a lot of these sites can throw up amalware warning in Chrome, which isn’t exactly surprising.

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Some (but not all) of these sites are simply cashing in on the popularity of Facebook, and preying on a target audience that is often more interested in Saturday morning television than online privacy and data protection.

If you’ve got a bad case of children and Internet Explorer syndrome then make sure you run regular virus scans and educate your sprogs about the virtues of personal data and computer welfare.


 

For anyone who loves facebook and twitter and gets sick of using social media dashboards or flicking between screens this is for you.
Rockmelt is a new web browser that has changed the way you can use the web. View the video below for a full run down on RockMelt
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Rockmelt incorporates facebook, twitter, searching, sharing, chatting all into your single web browser making all of your web activity available at your fingertips


How Does it Work?
Rockmelt works like a normal web browser but requires you to have a facebook page and requires you to log in to Rockmelt via your facebook login. This does mean that you have to allow Rockmelt as an application on facebook. 


Download Rockmelt Now!
To download Rockmelt click on download file below
rockmeltsetup.exe
File Size: 558 kb
File Type: exe
Download File

Once you have installed Rockmelt simply log in using your facebook login and allow Rockmelt access and you are all set with your new social networking browser.
If you need instructions on installation please comment and we can upload instructions.

 
If you are a Facebook user, you will want to read this.

We all have used applications on facebook, be it games like Farmville or Texas Hold'em poker. But what is this application collecting about you once you start using it?

Most if not all of these applications are third party apps that are created by external companies to facebook itself.
What do they do?
Aside from providing you with entertainment these applications are collecting your personal information to sell to other companies marketing firms. Often this information is not made clear before we allow the application to work within our profile. So taking the time to read the terms of the application will allow you to be fully aware of what the application may be collecting from your profile.

Can i remove applications from accessing my information?
You do in fact have the power to remove and customise applications from you profile. However this will stop you from being able to play or use the application in the future in some cases.


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Click on Account and Privacy settings

You will see the Applications and Websites section at the bottom left, Click on Edit your settings
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Click on Edit Settings
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A list of current applications that you have allowed access will display as shown below
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To see what the application has access to click on Edit Settings.
As you can see below the Facebook Windows Phone app has the access to a lot of what goes on with my facebook profile. You will see some things are required for you to run the app, but others you can remove. To remove certain aspects click on the Remove button beside the action.  To remove the application all together (this will stop you from using the app) click on Remove application at the top right.
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All Applications collect different types of data and information so it is important to check regularly and remove applications you no longer use and edit the ones you do use.

 
Tips for using the popular social networking site Facebook.

Liking groups and fan pages is very popular on facebook. However It quickly gets annoying seeing some users posts, game invites, polls, etc. Hovering your mouse to the right of the post and clicking the X button as shown below can hide any post. Once this button is pressed you'll be prompted with the option to "hide this post" or "hide all by Otago Polytechnic's Community Learning Centre". This will hide all the posts from this application appearing on your page.
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If you wish unhide someone or unblock an application click the Edit Options link in the bottom right corner of the news feed as shown below.
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Update your privacy settings

Click Account in the top right corner of the Facebook window and then click Privacy settings to adjust who is capable of seeing what on your Facebook profile. We highly recommend going through all the privacy settings to verify your privacy is properly protected.

Anything that is not set to friends only or friends of friends can be seen by anyone searching on the Internet. Below is a few things we recommend for most users.
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As you can see you have the options of allowing everyone to view your profile, this is strongly not recommended as Facebook contains your personal information. You will be opening yourself up to the possiblity of identiy theft and other dangerous implications. We would recommend that you set your privacy settings to "Friends Only".

Use the Facebook top bar for navigation
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Knowing how to properly navigate is vital if you want to get the most out of Facebook. Below is a brief description of each of the available options in the top bar as shown above.

Home (facebook logo) - Clicking this logo will take you to your wall (News Feed) that shows all friends recent posts.

Friend requests - If any friend requests are waiting to be approved this icon will show a notification of how many friends are waiting for approval. This icon can also be clicked when you want to view any friend recommendations or search for friends on Facebook.

Messages - This section allows you to send and receive private messages between one or more people you're friends with.

Notifications - Any time a friend or Facebook application creates a new post you'll be notified in this section. Clicking this icon will show all recent notifications. If you wish to change what is capable of sending you notifications including any Facebook applications or games click the See All Notifications link at the bottom and check or uncheck what you want to be notified on.

Search - Finally, the search box in Facebook can be a powerful tool that can be used to quickly find any current friends or people on Facebook. In addition searching for terms such as a company name, product, sports team, music band, etc. will find fan pages and groups that can be joined.

Modify your account notifications

Keep your e-mail and/or your cell phone clean by updating or eliminate Facebook notifications or keep more up-to-date by adding new notifications. Facebook notifications can be added and removed by clicking Account link in the top right corner, then Account Settings, and then clicking the Notifications tab.

Top News and Most Recent

By default Facebook will display your wall postings in the News format, which means it only displays posts it believes are most relevant to you. These results are based on your past interaction with your friends. If you want to see every post made by all your friends that are not hidden click the Most recent link in the upper right section of your news feed as shown in the above picture example.

If you want to adjust who shows up manually click the Edit Options in the bottom right corner of your news feed.
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View High School work friends

If you've added your High School and/or previous Work locations to your profile, quickly see all classmates and co-workers on Facebook by clicking the link in your Info tab under your profile.

Quickly change profile picture

Your profile picture can be quickly changed to any other picture by visiting your profile, hovering the mouse over your current profile picture, and clicking the Change Picture link that appears in the top right corner of the picture.

Don't post private information on friend's walls on in comments

When you make a post on a friend's wall or in any of their comments realize that any of their friends are going to be able to see that post. If you wish for something to remain only between you and a friend send them a Facebook message instead.

Suggestions and random friend invites

As you get more friends on Facebook it will begin making friend, groups, and fan suggestions. These are suggestions made by Facebook and not your friends. Unless these are something you're interested in they can be ignored.

This same rule can be applied to people who may want to be your friend that you don't know. If you don't know someone don't accept his or her friend invite. Once someone becomes your friend they'll have access to any information your friends are capable of seeing.

Tag your Facebook friends in your photos

Always make sure to tag any of your Facebook friends that are in pictures you upload. However, never tag someone who is not in the picture. When someone is tagged in a photo that picture is automatically added to that persons profile and is a great way to share pictures with all friends.