MAY16, 2010
Several stories this past week have really got me thinking about security and privacy.
A Carmichael man I interviewed talked about how his community mailbox had been targeted by thieves six times since the beginning of this year and how he has spent $1000 to protect himself from identity theft--on LifeLock, home surveillance equipment, etc.
My colleague Will Frampton did a story on Spokeo.com and how much of our seemingly private information is actually public and can be exposed on such websites.
As reporters, our job is to dig up information- names, phone numbers, addresses, names of relatives, driving records, criminal records, and the list goes on. It's amazing to see how much information anyone can find---for free-- if you are savvy enough. I don't want to give away any websites, search engines, or resources...but I have started going through and checking what is actually out there on myself.
While many of us are sensitive about such data, we continue to expose ourselves in other ways through social media.
Facebook and Fan Pages, LinkedIn, Twitter, Foursquare, Blippy, Blogging, Google profiles and the list goes on. I will admit, I've tried them all as I continue to learn and evolve into a "digital journalist." Going through a recent job transition in the past year (like so many others) has forced me to remove my blinders and really embrace social media.
It has been trial and error for me. But in many ways, it's such an important learning experience I'm sure others are also sharing.
Here are a few stories I've done for News10 that touch upon social media.
Foursquare
Blippy.com
Blogging-- Women vs. Men
Co-Working
20days20causes
Tweetups
Job Seekers Turning to Social Media
As many social media consultant/strategist buddies have reassured me, it's about putting yourself out there-- in a way that you feel comfortable. It's about building relationships, about engaging in conversation, about sharing....not just broadcasting.
"It's not megaphone, but mega-listen," says Jeff Marmins of the Social Media Club.
And when it's time to connect with others you've met on Twitter at Tweetups, "It's two parts social, one part business," says Sacramento Tweet-Up Co Founder Alejandro Reyes.
Occasionally though, in all this sharing online, there are the mishaps.
BLIPPY (via twitter):
blippy Doing a deep dive into our data from January/February today. Unclear if that data still exists in google cache, but we're going to verify. 9:31 AM Apr 24th via web from Palo Alto, CA
ughh. RT @joshdmorg Their whole concept is a "security issue" RT @greerkarlis: @rww Blippy how they'll deal with this security issue 9:38 AM Apr 23rd via web
Blippy Users' Credit Card Numbers Exposed in Google Search Results - http://ow.ly/1Cgrf
FACEBOOK:
Facebook conference opens with controversy http://sfg.ly/ceTJI1
Facebook Instant Personalization = instant ire http://sfg.ly/daAzHQ
I'm left wondering again, how much information is too much to share?
I'd love to hear from you. Email me your thoughts at: sphan@news10.net or connect with me on Twitter: @suzannephan.
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