07/19/2012
What’s in a Frame?
0July 19, 2012
So you’ve been reading along on this and other blogs, and you’ve begun crafting your image in Social Media. What about your literal *image* in Social Media – your icon, avatar, profile picture, etc.?
One of the very first things people see when they look at your tweets, posts, and pages is your picture. And they can often tell more than you want them to from just that one small icon. So what image will you choose to represent yourself?
First things first, you MUST change this from the default image for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. Do not go with the default egg, shadow, outline, etc. no matter what. Using the default brands you instantly as someone who’s either fake (a spammer, temp account, etc.) or else someone who just has no clue at all how Social Media works. Neither of those images will help you build your brand or your business, and getting tagged as a probable spammer will actually hurt your cause.
Let’s look at a couple of the ins and outs of the more common methods out there:
Photos:
Photos can work quite well for professional use of Social Media. Your customers can see you for you! Remember to go for something that reflects the industry you’re in, however. I have seem Twitter icons that were supposed to be for very high-end legal partners who were hanging off the back of a “party boat” – probably not the image they want to be most closely associated with for business use. If it is, great, but if it’s not then you need to get a picture of you at work or a headshot of you in a suit.
Caricatures:
This one is very popular, and the method I use myself. Having a drawing or cartoon made from your photos can be a great way to allow you to put your face online without actually putting your real face online. As with photos, you want to ensure that the drawing lines up with the image you’re trying to portray for your business, but with the cartoonish caricatures, you have quite a lot of leeway there.
Images/Artwork:
If you prefer not to use yourself, you can always find a picture or photo of something that works well to represent your business. Maybe a picture of a green meadow if you’re an environmental firm, or a gavel for a legal firm. Maybe just some abstract image if you’re not sure which way you want to go.
Two things to watch out for: First, make sure you have the rights to use that image. It either needs to be something you paid for, or something you can license under Creative Commons or the Public Domain laws for your country. Using an image that’s copyright to someone else can get you in trouble fast, and in debt in some cases. Secondly, ensure that you can get a copy of the image downloaded to your hard drive. You do not want to only have a copy of the image on a web server if you can avoid that, as web servers can change or go offline without warning – especially if they’re not your own web servers.
Logos:
Using a business logo is a pretty straight-forward way to get your brand across before anyone even reads your tweets and posts. The only drawback here is that – unless you own the company – you may not have permission to use that logo for your own icon/picture. Make sure you check with the powers that be, lest you become an employee who was.
If you do get permission, then your can use the logo itself, or better yet you can incorporate your logo into one of the other types of icons/photos mentioned here. For some of my accounts, I use a simple graphics editor to place a small version of the company logo in the lower-right corner of my cartoon-y picture.
Another note specific to logos, not every logo works well here. The preferred logos for use as your picture are square or very nearly so. Wide logos will get cropped by Twitter and other services, making you look much less professional by showing a blob of unidentifiable text/graphics instead of what you’d hope they’d see.
So put your best face – or something other than your face – forward. Remember to make your icon reflect who you are, and who you want people to see you as. Also remember to always get the appropriate permission before using copyright or trademark images, and make sure they’ll fit in the space allotted for your photo/icon.
07/19/2012
On the Road Again…
0by Mike Talon • newbie2mac
Jul
19
2012
Yup, I’m on a train again.
As many of you already know, I prefer the trains to the airlines these days because I can get much more done, and it’s much more comfortable to boot. Strip-searches at the TSA Checkpoints aside, the seats are roomier, the view is better and the cafe car is open nearly the whole trip.
But, back to the blog, there are a few things that you should be thinking about when traveling with your Mac that revolve around security. Today, let’s talk about digital security while you’re on the road with OS X or iOS.
Specifically, let’s talk connectivity. When you’re traveling, there is a huge temptation to use all those free wifi hotspots you come across. If it is at all possible for you to avoid them, do so.
Let me repeat that – never connect to a free wifi hotspot unless you know for absolute certain who owns it, who’s on it, and what the vendor is doing with the data you send across it.
Public wifi sounds like a great idea, but the current state of our technology – at least here in the US – doesn’t allow you to be sure that “ATTWiFi001″ is actually a hotspot created and maintained by ATT until you’re already connected to it. Even when you know it’s a free carrier hotspot, you have no idea who else is on that same connection with you, and how much control they’ve carved out for themselves.
What that means is that an attacker can already be connected to your device before you know that they’re there. They’ve got the ability to start introducing malware and doing all forms of nasty stuff. Added to that, if you send or receive information across the network (which is, of course, the whole point), then the attacker can see all of that traffic “in the clear” and gain personal information from you as you surf. While SSL (secured) connections can remove some of this risk, if you’re on a hostile wifi hotspot then this tech cannot completely protect you.
A much safer bet is to use your own personal hotspot. Most iPhones can perform that function (for an extra fee to your carrier), and most wireless carriers also have stand-alone devices that can provide connectivity over their networks when you’re out and about. This gives you direct connectivity via a wifi access point (the device) that you know is connected to your carrier, and not an unknown access point.
If that’s just not possible, then protect yourself. Use a personal VPN service like WiTopia to shield your connection and the data going over it. While not totally foolproof, the idea of this kind of tool is to encrypt your data traffic from your laptop to one of their data centers. Once there, the traffic is allowed to enter the internet just like normal, but anyone listening in on the wifi hotspot you’re connected to will see gibberish.
These services are not free, but WiTopia is reasonably priced (US$50/year) for personal use. They’re great for that extra level of protection when you’re stuck using a network you just don’t have a good feeling about.
Note that WiTopia is just one of several providers of these services. I have used them for about a year now, and haven’t had any issues, but they’re not the only game in town. Ask around to see who the best fit is for you in your geographic region and for the type of things you do online.
Have fun on the road. Stay safe, think smart, and always suspect that “free” wifi hotspot you just picked up.
By Mike Talon •
HowDoI?, Security •
0
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