Just recently I became aware of an unintended security nightmare because of social media. It just so happens that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is women over the age of 50. Ok, so why does that cause a security problem you ask? Since the majority of this segment of the population is married, many women are including their maiden names on Facebook. This way, they can reconnect with old friends who haven’t seen them in 30+ years and have no idea what their married name is. An herein lies the problem.
What does your bank ask for when you call them with a question? You guessed it. Your mother’s maiden name. So if you are in your 20’s or 30’s and your mother just got on Facebook and included her maiden name, you could have a problem! You mom could potentially be helping thieves steal your identity! An identity thief can easily see who your relatives are on facebook with the new “relatives” tag. Something needs to be done with this system fast!
Comment below on your thoughts and possible solutions to this problem.
As many of you know, over the past week I decided to do a social media experiment. Actually, it was more of a human interaction and communication experiment more than anything. Here’s why…last Monday, I was speaking with a close group of friends about relationships in today’s society. We all know that we have more technology available to us to make communicating “easier” than ever. You literally can reach me using snail mail (which I rarely get), an old fashioned telephone call, texting, Google chatting, Skyping, Facebooking, Twittering, commenting on my blog, (oh and how could I forget) and emailing one of my many email addresses.
A Look at Communication in the Past
We are bombarded with communication, but the question was “are people really connecting?” There is definitely something to be said about human interaction. During our conversation last week I brought up a point about communication 200 years ago. At that time, the only real way to communicate was in person. Yes, they had the Pony Express, so you could send snail mail. That could take a month for someone to receive your message though. Back in that day, personal relationships were greatly cherished. Think about the soldiers going off to war in the Revolutionary War or even the Civil War. They would tell their wives that they were going away for an undetermined amount of time and there was no assurance they would come back at all. No such things as cell phones to call to check in and certainly no such thing as skype with video to see each other and have a live conversation. Yet, in this time people fell madly in love and the divorce rate was inconsequential compared to today’s roughly 50% divorce rate for first marriages.
What does all of this mean? Our theory is that people now always need the constant reassurance that everything is ok. In this world of negativity, people anticipate what they see on TV will come true. Trust and faith have declined greatly and communication has gotten more hollow.
The Experiment
For one week, we didn’t stop communicating with technology altogether…we’re not that crazy. Actually, we challenged ourselves for an entire week to make communication more personal. Obviously running an Internet Marketing Company I couldn’t stop communicating as a whole, but rather we called people back who texted, emailed, chatted, facebooked, etc. We wanted to see what effects actually speaking to someone had on our relationships.
The Results
From the experiment, I was able to connect with people on a much different level. I talked to people on the phone who I’ve never spoken with in the past. In one instance in particular, I set up a business meeting with a prospect who I would have never spoken to otherwise. In other cases, I developed closer relationships with those who I already consider friends.
Lessons Learned
This was not an easy experiment. In many cases, it is so much easier to simply text someone a quick question or answer. It’s also a ton of fun to post and interact on Social Media. I’ve decided to break down the lessons to person and business lessons.
Personal:
I will not stop texting and using Social Media. No way. There are just too many benefits that come with them, including ease of interaction and time saving. Instead, I will look at as many chances to interact in real conversations as possible. This past week I called people to wish them happy birthday instead of the typical Facebook “Happy Birthday!” wall post. People sincerely appreciate you taking the time to call. That will always be the case.
Business:
Some great marketing lessons came from the Social Media Experiment as well. The internet and techn0logy give us great abilities to communicate with people in the masses, but once the communication lines are open it’s good to give personal touch.
One of they ways to do this is to come up with a follow up system for your prospects. It doesn’t matter how you meet someone, but it does matter how you follow up with them. Email marketing is a great leverage tool to use, but at some point, if you’re asking people to spend thousands of dollars on your products or services, you need to develop that relationship. The relationship can be built in person, over the phone or even through videos (if you’re really good). Simple emails and copy writing are not enough for people to know you, like you and trust you.
Take all of your messages and focus on building relationships.
Even with all of the communication technology in the world, there will never be a substitute for building relationships.
Let me know by posting your comments below how you think technology affects our current communication.
You’ve probably noticed in my blog that I post a combination of business related things to help people and fun posts. This happens to fall in the latter category! Last night for the Advancing Business Leaders Annual Celebration at Hotel Indigo Heather Brooks who performed that catchy and annoying Zoom Tan Commercial performed it live. Well, it just happens to be my girlfriend’s favorite song for some reason.
Here’s the live rendition and killer moves to support…
A genius in his time, Albert Camus wrote one of the most powerful philosophical essays in history. The essays significance has more meaning in today’s world than ever before. Here is a brief synopsis of Albert Camus’ essay and Sisyphus’s struggle:
Camus claims that life itself is absurd. He argues there is no real meaning to life, but that does not necessarily mean suicide. To argue his point he tells the myth of Sisyphus.
According to the Greek myth, Sisyphus was punished for all eternity to roll a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back down to the bottom when he nears the top. In Albert Camus’ mind Sisyphus is the ideal absurd hero and argues his punishment is representative of the human condition: Sisyphus must for all eternity without even the slightest of hopes in achieving success. So long as he accepts that there is nothing more to life than this absurd struggle, then he can find happiness in it, says Camus.
So what does all of this mean in todays’ world? Now, more than ever, people are searching for deep meaning in their lives…trying to find that deep happiness. The current economic crisis can bring people to their knees, if they believe money causes happiness.
While I do not agree with Camus in the fact that life has no inherent meaning, I do believe that each one of us serves a purpose on this planet. Some people find this purpose/passion at a very young age, while others do not find meaning until their final days of life. One is not necessarily better than the other, because the true judgment of living a meaningful life is finding happiness in the journey. If times are challenging for you, be grateful for the parts of your life that are great, even if you don’t realize them now. Do you have your health? a good family? a loving spouse? Being grateful for what you have, will make pushing that rock up the mountain much more enjoyable.
“The struggle itself…is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” -Camus
As part of my routine, I do my best to stay away from getting addicted to any tv shows. I’ve failed in 2 instances, and 2 instances only. 1 is 24. That show is amazing, enough said. 2 is “The Biggest Loser.”
Last night on “The Biggest Loser” something was said that made total sense. The show is not really about the weight loss. It’s about people accomplishing goals and achieving their dreams. The Global Effect of Biggest Loser is much larger than the pounds shed. In this time of uncertainty, The Biggest Loser proves that with the right attitude and the right mentors, anything is possible.
Sometimes I feel like this message is pounded into people’s heads so often that it actually loses its effectiveness. Take a moment and really think about it today. What is 1 specific goal that you want to achieve. Don’t worry about how to achieve it, that comes after you figure out ‘what’ it is. I was listening to Rev. Michael Beckwith the other day in my car and he said something that really caught my attention. He said something along the lines of, “The Law of Buoyancy states that human beings cannot float if they do not let go.” If you constantly struggle in your life, you will never be set free. So now’s the time to let go of any limiting beliefs (excuses or reasons) that you cannot accomplish any goal you set your mind to. If you say it’s so, it’s so.
Red Alert! It has come to my attention that mental illness is on the rise in SWFL, the United States, and the world at LARGE. I’m certainly not an SWFL Psychiatrist, but I have learned some great lessons about brain control over the years.
Every day our brain gets inundated with information…LOTS of information. This video is probably the most mind-blowing video I have watched this year.
How about that for perspective on the amount of information we receive? The reality is, we don’t always have control over the information that enters our noggins. If you’re driving down the road, you will come across millions of stimulants and hundreds of businesses vying to grab your attention and puke information all over you.
It’s easy to see how people can become crazy and need a psychiatrist this day an age. While you don’t have control over every piece of information that enters your brain, you do have control over A LOT. Everyday, each one of us makes thousands of decisions. We choose to watch the news in the morning or not. We choose to listen to the radio in the car or not. We choose to meditate…or not. Each one of these activities either makes the mind crazier or more calm. When you go throughout your day, make sure that you start becoming aware of what you ALLOW to enter you brain. If you feel like you have no control over your mind, and you’re a lost cause…you’re not. We have control over very little of the outside world, but we can c0ntrol 1 thing on this planet: our mind.
As with changing any behavior, changing your mind can be difficult. Start with just 1 day, 1 day of noticing what you allow to enter your mind, and know that you will only allow the positive calm information to gain access to your precious mush between your ears…
This email that I received was absolutely too funny not to share. No matter your political affiliation, this Barack Obama clip is hilarious. I have no idea who to give credit to for creating this, but the email read…
What is that crazy word? Some time back, I had inspiration to create a website that had an overwhelmingly positive feeling. You see, here’s the problem…Every single day, we are inundated with negative news. I actually made the decision some time ago that I was not going to watch the news, EVER! In life, the saying is true, “What you think about, You bring about.” I have several friends in the industry, and negative news has always been my biggest problem with watching. When I mentioned this to my one friend, he replied, “negative news is what people want.” That statement has always shocked me. How can people like to hear all negative news?
Well, the more and more that I’ve asked around, people say that they are looking for positive news. There are certainly plenty of highlights in our world today that aren’t exactly positive, but I truly believe that there is a tremendous amount of positive happening as well.
Positivitis.com is the world’s chance to share good things that are happening. It’s not meant for newspaper stories, it’s meant for every day type of people to be able to write in when they witnessed something positive occur. It happens to all of us every single day, but we need to spend more time focusing on the positive. I know that everyone’s lives will be much more fulfulling when you start focusing on the positive. Let’s start infecting the world with positivity!
This past weekend I met some amazing Internet Marketers at the Masters Seminar in Tampa. One of the speakers that I found incredibly impressive was Perry Belcher. For those of you who do not know Perry Belcher, he is a social media king! He has completely maxed out his Facebook friends list and has about 72,000 followers on Twitter. Obviously this is someone to model in his ability to influence and inspire people.
Upon looking at his Twitter profile @perrybelcher.com I noticed that he had a link to his facebook which was simply perrybelcher.com/facebook. I’ve always known how to forward a domain name such as braddohacksfacebook.com (doesn’t exist btw), but I didn’t realize that you could automatically forward a folder in your hosting…
So, I obviously had to know how to do it, I did all of the research and I’ll show you exactly how to do it here in this video.
The resourced I mention in the video are HostGator, NVU and FileZilla. As I mentioned, NVU and FileZilla are completely FREE! Hostgator is under $10 per month for unlimited domains. Here is the code to help you out!
That’s it! That’s the entire string of code that will help you get a facebook account like mine braddohack.com/facebook or you can also do it for your Twitter. Follow me for more tips braddohack.com/twitter.
As many of you know, over the past week I decided to do a social media experiment. Actually, it was more of a human interaction and communication experiment more than anything. Here’s why…last Monday, I was speaking with a close group of friends about relationships in today’s society. We all know that we have more technology available to us to make communicating “easier” than ever. You literally can reach me using snail mail (which I rarely get), an old fashioned telephone call, texting, Google chatting, Skyping, Facebooking, Twittering, commenting on my blog, (oh and how could I forget) and emailing one of my many email addresses.
