Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits

Happy Friday ReputationDefender readers! In today’s “Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits,” we talk about hackers, Twitter death hoaxes, and botched social media marketing. Check it out.

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Would You Share Your Credit Card Purchases With the World?

We already know people are willing to share pretty much all of their activity during the day through Twitter, but are they willing to share everything that they purchase too? The folks at Blippy, one of the web’s latest start-ups, are hoping that the answer is yes.

Blippy, which allows users to share their credit card purchases with selected friends, has been talked about in tech circles for a while now but seems to finally be catching mainstream press. In this article from the Associated Press, Rachel Metz discusses how Blippy works, why some users find it useful, and whether or not it’s ready for mainstream success.

Gordon Lightfoot is Not Dead

Don’t worry folk music fans, Gordon Lightfoot is not dead. After an erroneous media report of the singer’s death hit the web, the story took off on Twitter. Of course, the story was retracted within 30 minutes, but that’s like three days in Internet time. What’s interesting about this story is that, unlike other celebrity death hoaxes, this one didn’t actually start on Twitter. Nevertheless, it was Twitter that allowed the story to spread, which goes to show you that you shouldn’t believe every tweet you read.

Denny’s Menus Direct Diners to Taiwanese Man’s Twitter Account

In a fairly egregious social media mistake, the popular restaurant chain Denny’s printed the wrong Twitter URL for their company on thousands of menus nationwide. The Twitter URL in question, http://twitter.com/dennys, actually directs to a Taiwanese man named Dennys Hsieh. While it is admirable that Denny’s has taken the leap into social media, this mistake offers an important lesson for all companies seeking to use the web to build their brands. If you’re going to be a part of Web 2.0, you have to have a plan.

Amateur Cybercriminals Responsible for Hacking 68,000 User Name and Password Pairs

It’s not just professional cybercriminals that are after your private information. As this USA Today article explains, even starter cyberthieves can get in on the attacks. According to the Don Jackson, a researcher at the security firm, SecureWorks, approximately 68,000 user name and password pairs that were stolen from over 2,400 organizations were hacked by amateurs using outdated free hacking tools.

New Facebook Controls Help Users Censor Posts from Third-Party Apps

In its efforts to deliver additional control over privacy, Facebook has added new controls that allow users to control which of their friends see posts generated by third-party applications. The inability to censor third-party applications from specific users was one of the chief complaints surrounding Facebook’s privacy overhaul at the end of last year.