In Barb Dybwad’s post Facebook Cracks Down on Deceptive Ads, she explains these “opt-out” offers. She briefly shares the perspective of a social gaming company, Zynga. The following is an excerpt:

“In a social game like virtual farming sim Farmville, for example, users can either spend real money to buy virtual goods, or complete offers and surveys from partner companies in exchange for virtual credits. The trouble is, some of those offers include ‘opt-out’ riders that enroll the user in some sort of paid service or subscription, and require action on the user’s part to avoid misleading charges.

MySpace CEO Own Van Natta earlier characterized these ‘opt-out’ type of offers as misleading, and announced a change to the Terms of Use to clarify what’s acceptable to both developers and users. Popular social gaming company Zynga also posted a statement stating a commitment to weed out bad and deceptive ads, while stressing that the offers industry is still nascent along with a belief that non-scammy offer ads still hold the promise of value to both user and advertiser.”

Read the full article…

Have you experienced any offers from these scamming ads?

In a Facebook blog post, Nick Gianos explains these types of third party advertisements are an issue across the Web and that they will work to make improvements. They have banned scamming ads in the past and continue to do so now. Facebook explains how they will enforce their policies and discontinue networks that break the rules. They mention their interest in having high quality advertising and the trust of users:

Continued Action Against Deceptive Ads

By Nice Gianos

“As part of an ongoing effort we’ve had underway to address the quality of third-party ads running inside applications, we wanted to offer some clarifications, reminders, and information on our actions.

First, deceptive ads are a widespread issue on the Web and one we fight aggressively. This battle is not new and it’s far from over. We faced stimulus scam ads on our own system earlier this year and pushed them off the site with rigorous enforcement. We did the same months later when deceptive ads from third-party ad networks appeared in applications. We’re doing that again now as we see them appear in the form of offers.

Since introducing updated policies for third-party ads on Facebook Platform in July, we have disabled two entire ad networks and suspended or brought into compliance over 100 applications for ad-related violations in regions around the world, over half of which had more than one million monthly active users.”

Read the rest of the article…

What do you think of this issue?

Millennials find sharing and connecting through social networking services a big communication priority. Students trust other students immensely because there are obvious parallels. Social media can potentially be an important tool for a campus community. Although WVU currently uses popular social media, I wanted to share with you an article that follows along these lines. It states how prospective students actively research for potential colleges through social media sites rather than the limited printed information found in review books. Future students desire this information from enrolled and experienced students. In addition to tuition cost and college enrollment, potential students can read to find blogs, news, and tips. They can find ratings and reviews on professors, best and worst parts about the college or campus, campus crime, diversity, food, parking, etc. This is the information that’s missing; the information that gains their trust. Colleges should be aware of this confirming the information posted as true. A particular site mentioned, Communiversity, is a wiki that encourages participation to add or edit the information.

WVU students participate in most of the sites mentioned in the following article:

10 Ways to Use Social Media to Pick a College

by Josh Catone

When I started looking at colleges back at the turn of the century (the middle ages in web time), really the only resources available to me were traditional college guidebooks like The Princeton Review. While those books offered some great general information, they really only scratched the surface of what each college was actually like for students. Even if I sent away to the school for more info, it was still vetted and edited by the school’s communications department.  Read the rest of the article and don’t forget the comments…

So how can the university participate using social media? An example would be Zinch’s strategy.  Zinch is a social media website mentioned in the comments of this article. Zinch reduces the stress of the admission process for the student and for the college. Zinch believes that students are “more than a test score.” Many colleges are changing their recruiting methods looking outside the box of test scores. For the benefit of the college, Zinch is a tool used to recruit students based on who they are, including their passions and background. So it’s a great opportunity to “showcase your college.” What better way to showcase than encouraging interaction among students?

What do you think? We would like to hear from you, opinionated readers.

References: http://trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters/521/Building-Trust-with-Millennials

Most people who use Twitter, or “tweeples,” become active in their community by posting their thoughts and activities, links of interest, inspirational quotes, direct messages, responses to other tweets, recent news or blog posts, and event planning.  As you begin to connect to others on Twitter, you might find that people in your network regularly posts things apply to your life and job, interests, geographic location, etc.

Want to push the envelope a little farther? Twitter’s framework makes it possible for developers to come up with more and more ways to use it in new and interesting ways.  Here are some other ways Twitter can be used the way you want to use it.

Schedule Your Tweets

If you find yourself traveling a lot or attending a full day of meetings, Tweetlater is a Twitter tool for scheduling your posts.  Also you may find that scheduling your posts will be less distracting during a demanding project or training session.  You can schedule to publish a blog post accompanied by a scheduled Twitter post.  (Warning WordPress users: Tweetlater advises not to use the Tweetlater blog feeds with the WordPress Twitter Tools plugin.)

Enhance your Tweets with images

Twitter is a quick way to share images that may be job-related or for personal reasons. Upload images of the food you’re eating, the nice weather you’re experiencing, or “here’s what I’m seeing but can’t describe” to TwitPic. You can also upload from your mobile or use their API (application programming interface).  A link will be posted in your status for others to look at and comment.

Survey Your Tweeps

What to know what your co-workers think of an idea, theory, application, or if they like the new Facebook interface?  Twtpoll lets you create a survey among your Facebook, Twitter, or email community.  You give your Twitter user name, a question, and multiple choice answers.  The results will be measured by a pie chart.  One may also leave a comment about the poll.

Twitter Search

You may be interested in reading what others are sharing about a particular topic such as higher education, the economy, or even quantum mechanics.  Use the Twitter Search to be exposed to new resources, tips, links, other professionals, and emotional responses on that topic.  These tweets are reasonably listed from most recent to the oldest.  Here’s how Twitter describes Twitter Search:

Searching over Twitter messages is like a filter for what is happening right now—it’s an interesting look into the real-time thoughts of people and organizations around the world. Whether you’re curious about something specific or you just want to browse the trending topics, we’ve found that Twitter Search adds a new layer of relevance.

If you find yourself actively following Twitter searches, you might be interested in using a third-party Twitter application such as TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop.  Both will let you create saved searches that automatically update as new tweets appear.  You can also create groups to better follow your tweeps.

Mobile Twitter

If you like to update your account while out and about, waiting for a meeting, or an appointment, look into a mobile app for your Twitter use.  Blackberry users might like Twitterberry.  This tool also makes it possible to upload images to TwitPic! Twitterberry can be downloaded from your Blackberry.  In your Blackberry’s media browser, upload the image and select to “Send to Twitterberry” in the menu.  The image will be given a link for others to click and view.  You will then be able to send your tweet in Twitterberry.  (View more Twitterberry screenshots.)

If you are an iPhone/iPod Touch user, you have numerous options, such as Twitter for iPhone or Twitterific.  Refer to Macworld’s review of iPhone clients for more apps.

Share Files

For sharing files, use TweetCube to upload files including images, videos, and music.  You can upload .zip, .rar, .pdf, .jpg, .png, .gif, .txt, and .mp3 files.  Your files will be posted on Twitter so be aware of your account settings.

Get Affirmation!

On top of the tools already mentioned, here are more Twitter tools and applications that may help you use Twitter how you want: Unsure if your tweets are any good?  Allow others to rate your tweets as useful, funny, or lousy.  Use Tweeterate to rate posted tutorials, linked articles, or jokes by those you are following.

Get your Tweeple Together

A nice way to organize an event or meeting is the application twtvite.  Easily type in the what, where, and when keeping it private or public.  My favorite part is having the ability to re-tweet it, post it to Facebook and/or FriendFeed, and posting it to your calendar (iCal, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Yahoo).

More More More

What else would you like to know about Twitter? There is a colossal selection of Twitter applications for anything from travel organizer, twtTRIP, to gift registry, twtwlist, to timers, to Google Calendar integration and more.

If you are looking for more ideas about using Twitter read Mashable: HOW TO: Live Inside Twitter and Still Stay Productive by Elliott Kosmicki

WARNING: Facebook Scam On the Loose, Steals Passwords

Facebook is falling prey to a widespread phishing attack today that tries to steal your login and spam your friends.

I’ve got a number of messages in my Facebook inbox with links to “FBAction.net”, a site that displays a fake Facebook login. Enter your details there, and it will spam all your friends with the same message and link. More worrying: you might get locked out of your account for a time until Facebook sorts out this mess.

There is no malicious payload with the attack, it seems: no virus is downloaded or any other nasties: it’s simply a huge nuisance for Facebook users.

As always, don’t enter your Facebook password if the URL is not Facebook.com, and contact Facebook if you’re no longer able to access your account.

1. Cramster
2. InternshipRatings.com
3. Zimride
4. Box.net
5. Twitter
6. Remember the Milk
7. Gradefund
8. Evernote
9. Zumeo
10. CampusBooks

Read the rest of the article on Mashable to see what they say about each one of these sites.

I’m often asked what the differences between MySpace and Facebook are and I finally found a post that explains it rather well.  I never could really put my finger on what it was about MySpace that didn’t appeal to me and now I understand.  MySpace was always intended to be a place to meet people whereas Facebook is about connecting with people you already know.  This article also discusses the strategies MySpace is using to bring users back.  Interesting read MySpace in a  MySpace Welcomes Me Back; What Is MySpace?

There is much ado about a recent study making a tenuos connection between Facebook usage and lower grades.  Media have latched on to the story, according to ReadWriteWeb, but that, as it turns out is a rather simplistic interpretation of the study. The reseracher admits that those students who admitted to using Facebook probably would have found another way to distract themselves even if Facebook hadn’t been a factor. Read about this here: Fox News Says Facebook Will Ruin Your Grades (ReadWriteWeb) and here: Does Facebook Lower Academic Performance? It’s Still Too Soon to Say (The Chronicle Wired Campus Blog)

Last week TechCrunch posted FriendFeed Is In Danger Of Becoming The Coolest App No One Uses drawing our attention back to a service we mentioned a few months ago, but, yes, just simply isn’t as popular as Facebook or Twitter.  TechCrunch posted this past weekend that You Will Be Using FriendFeed In The Future — But It May Be Called Facebook.

I know there are other schools, units, departments, etc. using Twitter.  Post a comment if you know of one so we can follow them too!

• Daily Athenaeum: Here a tweet, there a tweet

Follow these WVU Twitterers

• @wvuoit (that’s us!)
• @WestVirginiaU
• @wvudavis

How to Present While People are Twittering

by Tamar Weinberg

February 27, 2009

People used to whisper to each other or pass hand-scribbled notes during presentations. Now these notes are going digital on Twitter or via conference-provided chat rooms.

Up until now, this back-channel has been mainly confined to the Internet industry and technology conferences. However, a survey of leadership conferences from Weber Shandwick shows that there is a significant increase in blogging and twittering at conferences.

So the next time you present at a conference, instead of being confronted by a sea of faces looking at you, you may be phased by a sea of heads looking down at their laptops. The challenge is how to adapt to presenting with the back-channel.

Read more on how Twitter helps you and your audience during a presentation.

from CNN:

Fears of impostors increase on Facebook

Without his input, Bryan Rutberg’s Facebook status update — the way friends track each other — suddenly changed on January 21 to this frightening alert: “Bryan NEEDS HELP URGENTLY!!!”

His online friends saw the message and came to his aid. Some posted concerned messages on his public profile — “What’s happening????? What do you need?” one wrote. Another friend, Beny Rubinstein, got a direct message saying Rutberg had been robbed at gunpoint in London and needed money to get back to the United States.

So, trying to be a good friend, Rubinstein wired $1,143 to London in two installments, according to police in Bellevue, Washington.

Meanwhile, Rutberg was safe at home in Seattle.

Rubinstein told CNN he misses the money, but it’s perhaps more upsetting to feel tricked by someone who impersonated his friend on Facebook, a social-networking site where millions of friends converse freely online.

“It’s an invasion of your whole privacy, who your friends are,” he said.

Even more frightening are the depths scammers will dig to get information to use against your friends.  TechCrunch published a transcript of an instant message exchange between a user and a scammer who gleaned information about the person he was interpreting from the photos in the account.

from TechCrunch:

Latest Facebook Scam: Phishers Hit Up “Friends” for Cash

Today we received a transcript from Rakesh Agrawal, President/CEO of SnapStream, that shows how the scammer dug through his friend Matt’s profile to learn about his wife and children. Fortunately, he didn’t do quite enough digging.

7:20am Matt:
hi
whats up?

7:20am Rakesh:
Hi Matt
Everything OK?

7:21am Matt
well,im really stuck here in london
i had to visit a resort here in london and i got robbed at the hotel im staying

7:22am Rakesh
ack… that’s terrible. Sorry to hear it.

7:22am Matt
yeah,thanks
we just want some helo flying back home

7:23am Rakesh
So why are you stuck there?’

7:23am Matt
all my money to get a ticket back home got stolen

7:25am Rakesh
I didn’t understand this “we just want some helo flying back home”

7:25am Matt
help*
actually i got some money wired to me to catch a flight back home
but we still need $800 more to complete our ticket fee and fly back home

7:26am Rakesh
good
Honestly, it sounds like someone’s hacked your Facebook account and is using it to defraud your friends.

7:26am Matt
i have the money in my checking acct,i cant just access it from here
this really me
Lauren is here with me
and my kids

7:28am Rakesh
your wife’s name is on your profile page

7:28am Matt
what about my kids name?

7:28am Rakesh
in photos?
how do we know each other? when did we meet?

7:29am Matt
from school

Rakesh writes that he does not know Matt “from school”, and that he was blocked as soon as the impostor realized he was on to him.

Moral of the story?  Take steps to protect yourself and your account. Practice vigilance.  Here are some tips from the CNN article:

• Be suspicious of anyone — even friends — who ask for money over the Internet. Verify their circumstances independently, either by calling them directly, or checking with mutual friends.
• Choose a strong password and use unique credentials for each of your Web accounts. Facebook says hackers tap into one site and then try to reuse passwords on others.
• Use an up-to-date browser that features an anti-phishing blacklist.
• Use and run anti-virus software on your computer.
• Reset your Facebook password if you suspect your account has been compromised.
• Have more than one contact e-mail address. This will help if one of them is hacked.

Well, it probably isn’t a good idea to share everything.  We may find down the road that Millennials have gotten “burned” (so to speak) by the amount of information they are comfortable with putting out there.  On the other hand, they may be redefining our world by letting it all be out there. Regardless, social media is a part of everyday life for so many people and as such, it is important to know more about how they work.

We’ll be posting a series of articles on the privacy settings for various social media websites.  Today, I’ll begin with Facebook.

Facebook does not really make it easy to keep things private by default and, in my opinion, doesn’t do a great job of explaining what each option does.  I say that even though I really like it.  I love being able to keep up with friends, family and colleagues. I love sharing things I come across online and what I am doing right now.  The downside is, sometimes I am surprised by who is paying attention to what I am doing.

Last week Dave Mullen had a post on his blog titled “Teens and 20-Somethings May Leave Facebook” in which he predicts that younger folk will leave because they are annoyed that the platform is now being populated by people they don’t really “want” to share with.  (Which is kind of ironic, if you think about it.)

I was chatting with a high school senior a couple weeks ago and Facebook came up. He commented offhand that he may have to find a new place online to keep up with his friends and I asked, “why?” That’s when he tipped me off.

“It was kind of weird when my parents joined and friended me. Seriously, though, my grandma friended me the other day! This isn’t cool. A lot of my friends are talking about looking for something else.”

That got me thinking. Do college students want their parents and aunts and uncles and grandparents walking into their dorm rooms on a Saturday night to jot down something cheesy on the white board over their desk for all their friends to see? If it’s not cool in the offline world, what would make it cool online?

When I read that I thought to myself, that if they understood how to adjust their privacy settings, maybe they wouldn’t feel as threatened by other generations joining the network.

The point is that we all have different groups with which we share different things. While Facebook’s settings leave a bit to be desired in the usability department, they can be used to your advantage.  Here I’ll try to detail some of the settings you modify to protect your privacy on Facebook.

Create Lists

First of all, the key to privacy in Facebook is Friend Lists.  You have by default a group called All Friends, but suppose you wanted create a list for people you don’t know that well (for example, I have a list called “Acquaintances”).  In the case of the teen Dave Mullen talked to above, maybe a list for “Family” would help.  Once you have established those lists, head over to the privacy settings and customize the access these lists have to your information.

To create a list, go to “Friends” on the top menu in Facebook. Then click “Make a New List” in the left hand menu.

Facebook Privacy Settings

To access the privacy settings in Facebook, from your FB Home page, go to: Settings > Privacy Settings.  Here you will see the different areas of your Facebook account and can adjust privacy settings:

1. Profile – Control who can see your profile and personal information.
2. Search – Control who can search for you, and how you can be contacted.
3. News Feed and Wall – Control what stories about you get published to your profile and to your friends’ News Feeds.
4. Applications – Control what information is available to applications you use on Facebook.

Under Profile you’ll see that you can customize access to the different areas of your Facebook Profile.

• Profile
• Basic Info
• Personal Info
• Status Updates
• Photos Tagged of You
• Videos Tagged of You
• Education Info
• Work Info

Each section except for Profile lets you specify lists of friends you may want to exclude from that information.  Perhaps you don’t want Acquaintences to see your Personal Info, Status Updates, Photos and Videos Tagged of You, but you were ok with them seeing your Basic, Education, and Work Info.

Status Updates Privacy

Customizing Status Updates Privacy

In the sections you want to protect you click the pull down menu and select Customize.  The window that pops up lets you add lists you want to exclude.

See How Other See your Profile

You can then check whether or not this is displaying correctly by using the “See how a friend sees your profile” tool at the top of the Profile Privacy page.

When you type in one of your Facebook friend’s names you can see exactly what they have access to in your profile.  [I will note that I have see it not be 100% accurate when/if you click on other tabs within the preview pane.]

Creating lists is easy and effective.  It allows you to be free to accept friend requests from just about anyone, but not have to worry that you are sharing more than you intend to with those you don’t feel compelled to get to know better.  And honestly, boundaries are a good thing.