Live Well, Work Hard, Love Life » Social Media

All Clouds are Not Created Equal

ssh — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:15:34 +0000

After I read about another Google customer losing all of his Google data when Google decided to delete (or at least suspend) his account, I got to thinking about all of the times that Google has made a mistake and deleted user accounts or deleted email for Gmail users, I thought about how the different approaches of the key players in the emerging world require you to make some choices, some of which may be untenable. So, I thought I’d lay them out in clearer form than you will get from the hard-core technical blogs or the companies themselves.

At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference this year (WWDC 2011), Steve Jobs and the Apple executive team introduced iOS 5 and iCloud. During his iCloud introduction, Jobs said this: “We are going to demote the PC to just be a device. We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.” This is Apple’s philosophy: the iCloud is the sync-master for your digital life. It provides the axle to your devices that are the spokes. However (and this is a vital distinction!), your digital content lives on your devices when you are using it. The iCloud, then, is the master copy, but Apple expects you to have copies on one or more of your devices.

This is in sharp contrast to Google. In Google’s world, the cloud is the only place where your data resides. You’ll use your browsers (on your PC, your tablet, or your phone) to access, manipulate, create, and use your content. You may even cache some of it locally for performance reasons (for example, caching the first part of a video so you can watch it without “stutters”). However, the content is in the cloud and your devices are simply windows into it from Google’s perspective.

…and then there’s Microsoft. They want to get in on “this cloud thing,” too, but they really aren’t sure how to do it. Their business is Windows and Office, so how can they use the cloud and keep those lines humming? What they are doing now is having the cloud be a glorified backup service with some of the capabilities of their apps. The best experience, however, is to use their native apps on a PC and hook them into the cloud for backup and collaboration. This means that Microsoft Office 365 is a different perspective than iCloud (which is personal) and Google (which is all about the data being in the cloud only). It’s effectively a hybrid of the two.

Regardless, you will want to make a choice based on these distinctions, because to the cloud you will go, one way or the other.

The Secret to 21st Century Capitalism

ssh — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:27:02 +0000

Last week I sat reading an email from one of the mailing lists that I receive. Some Internet friends and I have shared our lives on this list for well over a decade. From life and death to kids with croup, we’ve laughed and cried together. Maybe I’ll tell you more about the group one of these days, but for now, I’d like to let you in our conversation from last week: the changing face of business.

My friend Cindy Collins-Smith, the editor of Customer Relationship Management magazine who has had the opportunity to edit thought leaders such as Don Peppers/Martha Rogers, Chip Bell and Pete Blackshaw, among others, put it very well and succinctly:

Loyalty, not individual sales, is what will sustain [businesses] over the long term. [The] idea of maximizing profit at every point of contact is 20th century capitalism, not 21st. Successful 21st century capitalists will be looking for ways to build relationships with customers (audiences) over time, not just looking for immediate, short term profits.

This is a fundamental paradigm shift, and many businesses are missing it. In fact, many people are doing their level best to pretend that nothing has changed; that we’ll go back to the way things were. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Twenty years ago, very few people had heard of the Internet. Today, it is a staple of every day life from the streets of Manhattan to the mud walkways of Kigali, Rwanda. The world is smaller and more interconnected than ever before, and the process is accelerating. How will you respond to this brave new world? How you respond will determine the degree of your success.

Ten years ago, most businesses poo-pooed the Web. They didn’t see the value or the importance. While they were busy holding on to the past, visionary entrepreneurs like my friend and coach Matt Furey were creating Internet empires that would generate millions of dollars in sustainable revenue.

Today, we find ourselves at another juncture very similar to those turning points. Business is once again driven by relationships as it was a century ago. Now, though, those relationships are with like-minded people anywhere in the world. And today, the most powerful technology drivers are the social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others.

Social media really is the wild west, though. Even those of us who have been involved in various social media for many years (for me, it started over 25 years ago!) are finding it work to stay on top of the ebbs and flows. Yet this is what you as a business leader need to do to remain competitive and to catch this wave. So get on it!

If you want some help, get it from someone who focuses on business first, not the latest gadgets and “cool sites.” A number of experienced business people have done just that and so I am working with them to build social media into their overall business strategy. It’s your turn.

To YOUR success,
ssh, your Geek Whisperer

PS Because my work with my clients is so hands-on, I can only take 3 more clients for the Social Media QuickStart program. Jump on it now!

More Facebook Phishing

ssh — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:13:10 +0000

The word “Phishing” is used for sites that steal your identity, and there are more Phishing sites stealing Facebook login information today.

First thing this morning, I received a Facebook message with the subject “Hi” and the content “Look at redbuddy dot be”. Going to that site gets you the same kind of site as I reported in Facebook Trojan Attack earlier this week. Once again it’s obviously a phishing site, with language like, ”We helps you connect and share with the people in your life.” and yet people are still being sucked in!

Beware! Do not log in to any site that you don’t absolutely know is the site you want. Realize that any time you use your login, it can be compromised. I’m putting together a brief video on this that I plan to have ready this weekend.

For more insights on social media, check out my social media programs.

Facebook Trojan Attack

ssh — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:47:56 +0000

This morning, I received a facebook message that was short and questionable: “Check kirgo.at.” Interested, I visited the site, only to discover a poorly-disguised site attempting to look like a Facebook login page:

Fake Facebook Page

While this page doesn’t look very much like the real Facebook login page, and all of the links at the bottom go nowhere, some people are being caught by this trojan. They enter their Facebook credentials and their accounts are immediately compromised. Once compromised, their account sends a Facebook message to everyone in their Friends list with the same message (“Check X.at.”). That’s how the Trojan propogates.

Note that some people got this message in their email (because Facebook sends them a copy of their messages) and jumped to the page from there.

Here is the rule: Do not EVER give your Facebook credentials to any site other than Facebook, and do not follow a link to something that looks like Facebook and fill in your credentials. Period.

Update: Late today, Facebook added some additional controls to their login page in an effort to defeat the hackers, checking login attempts against the location from which the attempt is coming. This is a good move start for Facebook, who are still so new at the game that there are a number of security holes in their systems.

If you read HTML, the following is the complete HTML from the page as of 11:40am MDT on May 21, 2009:




	
	Login
	
    
    
    
    




	
		
			
				
				
			
			
				Sign Up
					
						
					
				
				We helps you connect and share with the people in your life.
 
 
 
 

				Login
				
				
				Email:
				Password:
				Remember me
				
				
Forgot your password?


© 2009
Login
About
Advertising
Careers
Terms
Privacy
Mobile
Help

This is not the only domain name that is attempting this, either, so beware!

Twitter the Business Way

ssh — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:47:21 +0000

Recently, a few friends ganged up on me and asked me to coach them in using Twitter, the latest Web site to gather media attention. It turns out that you can use it as part of your business strategy, but there are a number of challenges along the way. So, I put together a coaching program. Here’s the intro video:

Click to Play

Using Twitter, Facebook, and social networking for your business. Build relationships, increase sales, manage costs, increase profits. All by learning how to use these additional tools for your existing business.

You can learn more about this from the coaching page itself. I’d love to have you in the group!