Tag Archives: tips

Three TRICKS to Make Your Halloween a TREAT!

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Oh, how I love those words! Seriously… without a doubt, Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. Extravagant costumes, make-up, candy, and mischief… what’s not to like?

Since we don’t yet have a way to download my favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups online (Come on, 3D printers! Get on it!), I’ve decided instead to treat you all with some social media reminders to keep the monsters away… Well, away from your profiles at least.

1. “You’re wearing WHAT?”
Yes, we know that Halloween is the one day each year to be whatever you want to be. And TRUST me, I know very well that a scandalous costume is the BEST costume. But you DO know that everyone has a camera on their phones these days, right? You might want to check out the PRIVACY SETTINGS on Facebook and check the settings on who can tag you in photos. You want to be President someday? Well, you won”t be once THAT costume pic leaks!

 

2. “Hey! I never said that!”
Here we are online… on social networks. You got that first word, right? Social?
And when you share something on a social site, people see it. Sure, you can delete it, but that doesn’t mean that someone doesn’t have a saved copy of your words. (Trust me. I’ll gladly call out my friends with screenshots of past posts. Go on… ask them. I”ll wait.) Take a minute and THINK before you post. Otherwise, your own words just might come crawling back from the dead to haunt you like a zombie…

 

3. “You are SO getting egged!”
And lastly, if you’re the house that gives out bad candy for trick-or-treat, you better be ready for some kid to tweet about it. So unless you’re in the mood to scrub cracked eggs off of your house, you might just want to turn off that front porch light and call it a night. Otherwise, you might see THIS at your door…

 

There. Now you”ve got a few tips to help keep your Halloween safe.

Which of these tips was most helpful for you? Have your own tip to share?

SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

 

Can 10 Minutes Change Your Blog?

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Earlier this month, my friend Matt Baier posted an inspirational blog on “The Secret to the 10 Minute Purge”.  Matt is a Professional Organizer, and this blog gives some excellent guidance to breaking through your organizing barriers to achieve results. This really spoke to me as I sometimes fall in the trap of feeling overwhelmed with my own To Do List.

But would this same concept work when applied to blogging? Could I write an actual blog in 10 minutes by focusing my energy and working within specific time constraints?

Well, so far today… 5 minutes and 37 seconds have passed, so it’s looking good so far.

Seriously. One of the biggest obstacles bloggers face is simply sitting down and writing. We often have ideas in our heads, but if we play the role of a perfectionist too much, our message may never get out there.

So today, I encourage all of you who blog to try these steps.

1. Select your blog topic.
Don’t overthink this. What topics are relevant to your field today? What have you been speaking about to your friends?

2. Set a timer.
I know, it may sound intimidating… maybe even counterproductive, but setting a timer for 10 minutes does help to break the barrier of “I don’t have time to do this.” We’re all busy, but don’t we ALL have 10 minutes to spare at some point in the day? This makes writing a blog completely manageable in your schedule.

3. Imperfect is OK.
Yes, I borrowed almost all three of Matt’s points from his blog, but that’s because they work here, too! Don’t get caught up with the details of perfection. You can always tweak the blog later.

But you’ll be surprised to find that you can write a blog in less than 10 minutes. And you can break through another obstacle that allows your voice to stay out there for your readers!

How do I know?

9 minutes and 26 seconds.

Done.

DO YOU BLOG? If you do, try this and SOUND OFF IN THE COMMENTS BELOW to let me know how this worked for you!

 

New Facebook Guidelines?

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So… everyone raise your hand if you have seen (or posted) this message about “New Facebook Guidelines” in your Facebook Newsfeed?

“In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention).

For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!

(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws. By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook”s direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.”

 

WOW! What the heck is going on???

Well, frankly, not much… In fact, this message isn’t new at all. It’s just a hoax message that has surfaced several times over the years in many forms.

The fact is that if you copy, paste, and repost this message, you’re really not doing anything that will protect you or your content on Facebook. From a logical perspective, Facebook isn’t going to scroll through all of the countless status updates of over 1 billion Facebook users to see if you said it’s not OK for them to share your photos, etc. Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.

Remember that when we all signed up for Facebook, we agreed to the Terms and Conditions. Yes, you do own the copyright (so to speak) to your photos and your content. But under the Facebook terms, you grant Facebook permission to use, distribute, and share the things you post.

So what can you do?

Know your privacy settings. When you are logged in to Facebook, click the drop-down arrow next to “Home” in the top-right corner of the page, and select “Privacy Settings” from the listed options. Click through the “Edit Settings” option for each of these items and adjust the settings to better control who can see what you post. Facebook does have the right to share your content, but ultimately you have control to say who can see it.

Remember that we are all on here for the social interaction. Unfortunately, part of this world includes people who love to create hoaxes to upset and confuse the users. Don’t fall prey to these hoaxes.

Here’s a good rule of thumb on Facebook. Most things that ask you to copy and paste are either fakes, scams, or spam. (Or at best, they are simply annoying…) When in doubt, just copy and paste the first few lines into Google to verify if there is any truth to the post. Sites like Snopes.com are always good for letting you know what”s good and what isn”t. Definitely check them out and save that site to your bookmarks!

There will always be hoaxes, but now you are better prepared to know how to deal with them.

What other hoaxes have you seen recently? Do you ignore them, or do you let your friends know they are hoaxes? Let me know in the comments.