Do You Know Who Your Friends Are?
For the last couple of years, I’ve been reconnecting with old friends and making new ones on both my personal Facebook page and the Fan Page for HomeSearchRALEIGH.com, my Raleigh real estate website. Seeing what’s going on with my pals has pretty much replaced the morning paper, which used to accompany my first couple cups of coffee. This morning as I was browsing the bountiful bits of idle chatter, I immediately noticed that another friend’s curiosity had lured them into one of the numerous viruses that spread via social networks.
After notifying the unsuspecting friend, I attempted to foil future infections by letting the 100+ people listed in my buddy’s misguided message that a menacing mess was ahead if they followed the listed links. After that, I figured it would be a good time to blog and remind everyone of the electronic evil that lurks within cyberspace.
My first bit of advice is to never click on a link from someone that you don’t know. This also includes adding unfamiliar faces as “friends.” If you limit your Facebook family to people who are really “friends,” you’ll be more likely to notice messages that are “out of character” or simply not like something that a particular person may say. For instance, the message I received this morning was from an old college buddy; the misspelled words and poor grammar was an immediate red flag and certainly not characteristic of the “scholarly” sender. Another wise word is to think carefully before adding any of those “applications.” Facebook allows anyone to write an app and most are not screened before they are made available to us.
This week alone, two more viruses have hit the social networks and both are designed to access your personal information. Both gain access by simply asking for it. Because the user is unsuspecting, it’s no surprise when they answer “yes” to the question, “can we share this message or video with your friends?” When you say “yes,” it spreads to your friends, requesting that they too share with their friends; and that is how the virus spreads, my friend.
The latest mischievous app says “I will NEVER text again” and offers a video claiming to show someone who died after sending a text message from their cell phone. If you’ve received such a message, or something like it, and have curiously clicked the link, here are a few steps to disinfect. First, visit your applications settings page and remove the app from your profile. Second, clean up your wall by hovering your mouse over any of the related posts on your wall and clicking the “remove” button. Third, get smart and start to question the content of anything you receive online.
A final note, if you’ve been virally victimized, don’t get sick over it; at last count, over 293,000 people have clicked the latest menacing link. Just take a dose of my advice and be careful who your friends are.