Slide presentation from the St. Clair County Community College February 17, 2009

1. Let’s Hang Out on the Web: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Online Social Networks

2. Our Agenda What is Social Networking? Find Your Site Dos and Don’ts of Social Networking 10 Ways to Stay Safe in an Online Social Network The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Questions

3. Social Networking What is it? Benefits to Business, Professional and Personal areas Creating new business opportunities Finding job opportunities Reconnecting and connecting with friends and colleagues Connecting with others with similar interests

4. Sites to Consider Linked In ( www.linkedin.com ) – General best for Professional Networking. Facebook ( www.facebook.com ) – Very popular (…and being taken over by boomers): General. My Space ( www.myspace.com ): General. Hi5 ( http://hi5.com/ ): General. Popular in Angola, Portugal, Cyprus, Romania, Thailand, Central Africa and Latin America. Tagged ( http://www.tagged.com/ ): General Academia.edu ( http://www.academia.edu/ ) – Academic Networking Classmates ( www.classmates.com ): School, college, work and the military Reunion ( www.reunion.com ): School, college, work and the military Twitter ( www.twitter.com ): Micro-blogging, RSS, updates Tribe.net ( www.tribe.net ): General* ….and more . ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites )

5. 10 Ways to Stay Safe Monitor suspicious activity/links Remove friends as appropriate Keep your wall clean (those like facebook and myspace) If the site has a chat feature, turn it off Change your password often

6. 10 Ways to Stay Safe Never share your password Hide your year of birth Keep your information private Adjust your privacy settings Protect your mobile devices

7. Keeping Our Kids Safe Ask the following questions: Who Can See Your Child’s Profile Information? Who Can See Your Child’s Photos? Who Can See Your Child’s Personal Information? Who Can Find Your Child’s Profile? How Can People Contact Your Child?

8. A few added layers… Secure Passwords: Make it difficult to figure out Don’t place it on a note on the back of your keyboard or in your desk drawer A good password is: 8 characters long Has no personal information Does not use real words Mixes upper and lower case characters and numbers Something you change regularly (every 30 to 60 days) Firewalls Virus Protection Browser Updates Operating System Updates Application Software Updates Run your anti-virus scan and other security software regularly (weekly or more) to catch the bad things before they make your computer “sick” or lose your identity.

9. Question anything odd… Scams: Phishing is where the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking emails appearing to come from a your bank, government, paypal, BestBuy, IRS, etc. in an effort to get you to give them your personal and financial information. Pharming is another scam where they get you to go to a website that looks like the real deal but isn’t, they then trick you into entering your information with the goal of stealing your identity and financial information. Social engineering…the bad stuff.

10. Dos and Don’ts – In General Do update your profile regularly Do join groups...selectively Do go on the offensive Don't badmouth your current or previous employer Don't mention your job search if you're still employed Don't forget others can see your friends Don’t post pictures of your partying Don’t post pictures of you in you birthday suit

11. … Most of all, have fun! Social Networking is for everyone. According to Time Magazine, Facebook is quickly becoming the place for middle-aged old fogies (yep, I R 1, 2) – Baby Boomers and Millenials – to connect.

12. Questions.

13. Contact Information Richard G. Bush, Ph. D. Lawrence Technological University [email_address] 248-204-3078