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Category: Facebook

3 Million Teens Leave Facebook In 3 Years

Published by Will Chatham on 1/15/2014

Things are looking very bad for Facebook based on the numbers from this report. Teenagers do not seem to like Facebook. If only they’d give Google+ a whirl. Well, if only anyone would give Google+ a whirl. It’s a much better platform that does much more than Facebook, but no one seems to realize that, sadly.

Here’s what is going on with Facebook:

1) Teens (13-17) on Facebook have declined -25.3% over the last 3 years.
2) Over the same period of time, 55+ (perhaps those teens’ parents and grandparents?) have exploded with +80.4% growth in the last 3 years.
3) Of the major metropolitan areas, San Francisco saw the highest growth with +148.6%, a stark contrast with Houston which saw +23.8% growth.

3 Million Teens Leave Facebook In 3 Years: The 2014 Facebook Demographic Report.

Hide Yourself From Social Networks (and others)

Published by Will Chatham on 5/6/2012

Did you know that Facebook gets a report every time you visit a site with a Facebook “Like” button, even if you never click the button, are not a Facebook user, or are not logged in?

That, and more you should be aware of here in this Consumer Reports article.

Priv3 for Firefox will silently prevent the cookies from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ from being installed in your browser, thus protecting you from being tracked everywhere you go online.

Take it a step further and install CSFire to block not only the big four social networks, but any site that surreptitiously makes requests to third parties without your knowing it. It takes a little more management to unblock sites you want to function this way, but it will greatly increase your overall online privacy (and safety).

One of the above, paired with AdBlock Plus and NoScript will go a long way toward keeping you safe online.

 

Practical Security Round-up

Published by Will Chatham on 5/3/2010

We here at Geekamongus care about you, the visitor, so we offer some news and tips about staying secure:

iPhone
Here’s a good reason to set your iPhone to *not* auto-join Wifi networks, especially those AT&T Wifi Hotspots.

Antivirus Software
There is no need to pay for antivirus/security software for your Windows computer.  Save your money.  As cnet suggests, use one of the many free programs available.  Personally, I prefer MSE or Avast.

Facebook
Considering there may be 1.5 million Facebook accounts up for sale on the black market, now would be a good time to rid your computer of malware and then change your Facebook password.

While you are at it, you may want to learn about (and restrict) all the personal data Facebook has unilaterally decided to share about you.

Microsoft SharePoint Security Warning
SharePoint administrators and users, beware: Serious XSS flaw haunts Microsoft SharePoint

The Google Overlords
Afraid of Google?  Here’s a good way to anonymize yourself when doing Google searches or using many of their services:

Read more on the project page. Download the Firefox plugin here.

Connect your blog with Facebook

Published by Will Chatham on 3/2/2010

Facebook keep redesigning their interface, and thus messing up instructions people have written for doing simple things such as integrating your blog posts with Facebook.  If you have every wanted to make it so that your blog updates Facebook automatically, this is how, as of this writing:

1. Log in to Facebook

2. In the upper right, click the arrow next to Account and in the drop-down menu, choose Application Settings

3. In the list of applications, find Notes and click it

4. On the right is a box for Notes Settings. In it, click “Import a blog”

5. Enter the blog URL:  http://www.yourblog.com

6. Check the box about agreeing to accept the terms

7. Click Start Importing

8. You are shown a preview of the blog import

9. On the right, click Confirm Import if all looks as it should

As long as your blog has a working RSS feed, Facebook will find it and use it to do the import.

More on The Dangers of Facebook

Published by Will Chatham on 6/10/2009

facebookI wrote previously about Facebook hacking, which is something everyone needs to be aware of, but there is a more immediate Facebook danger which millions of people every day are already exploited by. Not only could it lead to insecurity, but your personal data is being exposed to advertisers every time you take one of those “What kind of hamburger are you” quizzes.

Facebook applications get access to all data of users who sign up, though users sign up for dozens of one-time use applications like these quizzes without thinking twice. There are hundreds of applications springing up every day, and Facebook’s model of implementing no technical sandboxing and policing applications when things go wrong is completely unscalable.

Continue readingMore on The Dangers of Facebook