Twitter: Go From Bench Sitter to Base Hitter

If you’re brand new to the social media game, chances are you haven’t gotten to first base with Twitter. Blame it on Ashton Kutcher or grammatical insecurity (“Remind me if I tweet Twitters or Twitter tweets…”) but of all the popular social media, opening a Twitter account really seems to be the dividing line that separates the recreational players from the pros. It doesn’t have to be so black and white.

I found a shade of gray the other night when my husband wanted to access some information on Twitter but didn’t want to make the full-on commitment of opening up an account. To him there was absolutely nothing fun about what he perceived as the pressure of having to tweet his thoughts--or worse, his breakfast choices--to the world on a regular basis.

We solved his problem by using one of my accounts (yes, I have several) to tap into the Twitter feed he was looking for, but it got me to thinking: For people who just want to be spectators, either temporarily or permanently, there are several ways to access Twitter feeds without even logging onto the site itself.

From the Google search homepage, enter your topic (for example BP oil spill) and click on Google Search. After the search results page loads, click on the blue link for News at the top of the page. After that page loads, you will see a number of links on the left hand side. Click on Updates, which is sixth from the top. The page that loads will be a streaming Twitter feed of worldwide comments about BP and the oil spill, updated in real time.

Bing works in much the same way. Enter your topic in the search box and click on the magnifying glass to the right. When the search results page loads, there will be a menu bar on the left-hand side of the page that will contain items relevant to that particular search. Somewhere on that menu bar, sometimes at the top, sometimes middle, sometimes near the bottom, will be a link labeled “related tweets.” Sometimes there will even be two links, one saying “most recent tweets” and the other saying “ most relevant.” That way you can pick which listing you want or toggle between.

Yahoo is the easiest of all. Simply go to the Yahoo homepage, search on your topic of choice and click on Twitter on the left hand side menu. The search and Twitter feed will happen simultaneously.

Finally, there is the Twitter site itself. Simply by logging onto the Twitter homepage, you’ll have a front row seat to both Top Tweets and Trending Topics, two Twitter features that attempt to capture the zeitgeist of what is happening right at that exact moment. It’s a great way to put a finger on the pulse of the world’s heartbeat, especially during a disaster such as an earthquake or oil spill.

So, spend a little time on the sidelines of Twitter and chances are you'll want to join in on the game.  Watch for a later post about picking a Twitter name and joining the microblogging revolution!

For Social Media Trailblazers, Think...Accountants?

When Social Media mavens want to rub antennae with the gurus of their field, they go to Mashable or TED.  But what about the rest of us who are struggling just to understand 21st century technology, not attract venture capital?

For that goal, the Maryland Association of CPAs just might be our new best friends.  They have created an innovative and extremely approachable Website called CPA Learning 2.0 that is so user-friendly and fun to use that you'll never look at green eye shades or April 15th the same way again!

The self-study, self-guided program features 34 Steps to social media literacy that are designed to be sampled over the course of nine weeks.  That might sound like a lot, but the tutorials are completely flexible.  You can skip around, change the time frame to suit your schedule, or completely ignore sections that don't interest you.

For instance, there were whole sections that I know in advance that I would never use such as joining MySpace or blogging about my friends' photos on Flickr.  But the good news of that is that you will feel your comfort level and competence with social media growing just by being able to discern what is right or wrong for you or what seems like it would be a meaningless black hole vortex of wasted time.

If blogging in particular interests you, the Maryland accountants also have a terrific one called CPA Success.  And even if you never blog a word, it's great reading for all professionals who want to explore new ways to market themselves in a recessionary economy.

I'll finish with some great advice for social media beginners, courtesy of Tom Hood, CEO of MACPA, and its chief blogger. When asked by the Journal of Accountancy how a CPA should get started using social networking, he replied, "I would say the answer is to start small.  So go out there, set up a profile, get on these social networks, and then step two, listen.  Don't start throwing a lot of stuff out there right away--just watch some conversations, make some friends, talk, find out what the conversations are, and then begin to add to those communities.  And then step three would be to continue to experiment and have fun."

Fantastic social media advice for any beginner, or veteran for that matter.  One more question, Tom:  Does this mean a new iPad or 3G phone would be deductible? 

A Strong Password Creates a Secure Foundation

The vital importance of good computer password “hygiene” is something that I take for granted now that I work for the US Government, but it wasn’t always so. Whenever I read articles such as How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords I realize that heading out onto the Internet without a strong password is like heading into Times Square wearing a T-shirt that says, “Please pick my pocket.”

But how to begin? Not everyone agrees with this advice (and the ones who don’t probably never lose their car keys either), but I believe in writing down passwords in a small notebook where they can be corralled in one place but easily hidden in a drawer, file cabinet, etc. Remembering where you hid it?  Priceless! 

One of the most important keys to password protection is not to use the same password for all of your online activities. Hackers and thieves count on us to be creatures of habit. They search for a vulnerability in an unprotected account that we don’t think matters much (like e-mail), use that to figure out a user’s standard password and then “bank” on that knowledge to hack into better-protected sites like online banking or credit card accounts.

And if you are thinking that you won’t be needing multiple passwords because you don’t have multiple accounts, think again. As you become more involved with social media, trust me, you will be opening more than one account. Accept multiple accounts as a necessary evil and be prepared and organized in your approach. One unexpected benefit is that you’ll never have to click on that Forget Your Password? link ever again.

Now, it’s on to picking a secure password. Remember that the worst password of all is the one you can’t remember! Your goal then, is to pick a password that is memorable without being easily guessed by either a human or computer-based hacking effort. Listed below are two possible approaches:

1. The National Cyber Alert System of the US Government provides excellent cyber-security recommendations regarding passwords and other topics of interest such as firewalls, phishing attacks, etc. However, since the US Census Bureau uses far stricter guidelines than the Government as a whole, I am going to recommend their approach as the gold standard:

Passwords must have at least 12 characters
Passwords must contain at least 3 of the following different character types:
 - Lower case characters (a-z)
 - Upper case characters (A-Z)
 - Numeric characters (0-9)
 - Special characters (@, #, *, !, etc.)

Passwords must NOT contain:
- A word found in the dictionary
- A word found in the dictionary spelled backwards
- Any common sequences such as 123 or abc
- Any 2 consecutive characters from the user’s full name or username
- Four (4) or more of the same character

2. Now, if you’re not ready to join the CIA and the above approach seems a little daunting to you, Microsoft recommends a method of password creation that relies on creating a mnemonic password derived from the first letters of a sentence that is meaningful to you. For instance, you could choose the sentence, “I wouldn’t remember my password if Jack Bauer from 24 were torturing me personally.” Your password could then become “IwrmpiJBf24wtmp.” You could then add special characters, punctuation and other layers of complexity as described on the Microsoft site.

3. Microsoft then recommends that you test your creation at the site’s Password Checker and protect your password in  low-tech ways by not sharing it with others and avoiding “shoulder surfing” from others at public computers, ATM’s etc.

By using these tips, you and your data should remain safe and secure no matter where your future social media adventures may take you.

Other great sites to check out for password generation and protection tips:

Buckeye Secure:  The Ohio State student cybersecurity Website, which is uncommonly thorough and user-friendly.

How to Steal a Password:  Know the enemy so you can spot a trojan horse when one gallops up to your in-box.

How to change your Gmail password now that you are a cybersecurity convert.

Yahoo SSL (secure socket layer) encryption for e-mail log-ins:  This is quite a feature.  Log-in takes longer, but seems well worth it.

Starting at Social Media Square One

Social media is everywhere we turn these days. Facebook makes the cover of Time magazine. Twitter is the first to report the Times Square bombing attempt. Blogs and wikis and apps and 3G networks seem to be taking over, and every new mention can make a person—especially someone quite a ways north of fifty such as I am—feel like a secret language is being spoken and there’s no translator in sight. It’s like hearing about a party that you weren’t invited to and bluffing by saying that you didn’t want to go anyway but secretly knowing that isn’t true.

In fact, if social media were a real life party, you’d love an invitation! But in real life that invitation would include other helpful hints as well, like driving directions and some advice as to dress code that would make things seem a lot less intimidating.

Which brings me to the reason I’m starting this blog: To help you start from Square One in greeting the brave new world of social media.  To begin at the beginning in discussing and overcoming your legitimate fears—of identity theft, privacy invasion, wasting too much time--and give you the step-by-step support you need to overcome your not so legitimate ones--of silly questions, of not knowing where to begin, of looking like a dinosaur in the kids' world.

In the blog posts ahead I'll teach you what I've learned and share my personal story of how social media took me from being yesterday's news in the job market to being a key part of a dynamic office filled with young people half my age.  I'll get you up and running at a level that is both fun and comfortable for you and help you come to see social media as I now do--as 21st century friendship for busy, vital people.