Interesting Stories Archives - Page 4 of 4

Is your social media page not kicking off the way you’d hoped? Perhaps you wish to share your knowledge with others, or you want to start a career with social media, but you’re not getting enough engagement. Although making an account may seem easy, there are certain things that you need to look out for so that you catch your audience’s eye. Publicity plays a large part in what makes a social media page successful and so you need to do it right. Therefore, here are 5 steps you need to take in order to improve your social media engagement.

1. Have a good layout

Graphic design is the very starting point of gaining engagement. Be sure to give your social media page a clean look that is welcoming for your target audience. Keeping the right fonts, having a consistent colour scheme and spacing things out helps a lot when it comes to attracting others. Organising things so that your content is both chronological and flows well motivates people to pay attention to what you have to say.

2. Advertisement

Finding ways to promote your social media page in other places such as other sites is a good way to gain engagement. People are more inclined to associate with things they are more familiar with and if they have seen an advertisement about your page somewhere else, they would be driven to see what you offer. Also, it increases your page’s chances of getting noticed among a countless number of others, as your page would then be what comes to mind first because they’ve seen it before.

3. Listen to others when it comes to improvement

When someone has an idea on how to improve your social media page, take it into consideration. It shows that you’re willing to respond to people’s constructive criticism, which will then lead them to respond to you, thus increasing engagement. It shows that you are within reach and that they can level with you, which is rare for sites and pages nowadays. This means more people will interact with you as they feel they can without being pushed to the side.

4. Hold events that the audience can take part in

Putting up an event that others gain from is a fast-track to increase your engagement. Occasions such as conditional giveaways and competitions are very appealing to those who are looking for something to gain. Announcing something that the audience can compete for, be it an actual item or a chance to be promoted on your page, piques the interest of many as they have a chance of winning.

5. Introduce something with a limit

You could put on a one-time-only sale or introduce a product or theme that will only be up for a short time. This gives people the impression that they must go to your page and get whatever it is you have introduced before the deadline. This is because they have the fear that they’d miss out as once something is gone, it’s gone.

Photo by Julia M Cameron

Are you oversharing? The pictures you post online reveal more than you might expect.

As some COVID-19 restrictions get lifted, people are spending more time in social places and are very eager to showcase their life outside home online. Visited your favorite restaurant for the first time after lockdown? Better post a picture of the memorable event! At least, that’s what the majority do.

However, not many think of the dangerous outcomes of posting on social media. According to BrandWatch, 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video footage are shared daily, making those people perfect targets for thieves and cybercriminals.

“People share information about themselves in exchange for positive reactions or when they need to vent. However, every picture we post may set off an incident of cybercrime,” says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN.

While most social media users know they shouldn’t reveal their home address, current location, or phone number on Facebook, many still share entertaining photos or social plans. Such information might seem innocent to share, and potential threats tend to be overlooked.

Are you oversharing?

Since vacation season is upon us and everybody hopes for less strict COVID-19 rules, the expert has made a list of the most common mistakes. If you make at least one of them, have no doubt that you can become a target for hackers frequenting the dark web.

You share your location. You post pictures with location tags of your whereabouts, letting everyone on the internet know where you are and where you live. If you’re on a trip, and the only one guarding your property is your neighbor’s cat, rest assured that criminals will consider breaking in.

You share your address. You take pictures of your house, allowing others to figure out where exactly you live and what items you own. Sharing where you live can do more harm than you think. A Japanese pop star posted a selfie with a reflection of a train station on her eyeball. This minor detail helped a stalker trace her location and sexually assault her.

You vent or rant on social media. Pressure at work, family duties, and social tensions might result in a burning need to vent. Never do that online: what gets on the internet stays there forever. Personal feelings should be shared with close circles rather than publicly.

You post images that contain minors. Even high-profile parents like Pink and Gwyneth Patrow have given up posting pictures of their children. This is not only because of the hateful comments they receive, but also because kids are often mocked at school for being featured in their parents’ snaps.

You share your intimate pictures. This is a classic — engaging in sexting and sharing nudes. The number of image-related crimes grew by a triple-digit during the pandemic, as people engaged in intimate conversations more than usual. As a result, NordVPN’s recent survey revealed that as many as 36% of Brits are highly worried about their stored personal pictures being made public.

You have all the trending social media apps on your device. Choose a few. Do you really need Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and all the other social media apps? These applications have access to your gallery, location, and contacts, meaning they collect and store your data, which might not always be that innocent.

You never turn off Wi-Fi on your mobile device. Your phone is continuously scanning for trusted Wi-Fi networks. Once you get close to your home or work, your device automatically connects to the network it finds. This is convenient, but, along with these constant joining requests, your phone gives out a lot of valuable information about you. There are tools that collect the names of all nearby Wi-Fi hotspots, including your home network. This data is then sent to public websites like Wigle.net, which create heatmaps of Wi-Fi hotspots. Anyone can find your home address — even a non-techie stalker from your college or office.

You use your work device for personal needs. Are you guilty of browsing X-rated content, looking for a new job, or shopping online on your work computer? It is very likely that your boss or the tech guy will know about it. Your internet service provider keeps logs of where you go and what pages you visit. Keep your personal matters on your personal devices. And use a VPN to keep your private affairs really private.

You use the same password or its variations for multiple accounts. If you use the same password on multiple platforms, you are making it easier for hackers to get to your private accounts. Additionally, don’t risk it by using the most popular passwords of 2020, as identified by NordPass’s research. For example, ‘123456’ has been breached more than 23 million times and takes a second to crack. Among others are ‘picture1′, ‘password’, ‘senha’, ‘qwerty’, ‘abc123′, ‘Million2′, ‘iloveyou’, ‘password1′, and others.

You never check the background of the picture you are about to post. The last piece of advice is to simply follow common sense. Surely, anyone can make a mistake, just like Lisa Kudrow, who accidentally posted a picture containing a post-it note with her passwords. Consider the internet a public space — everyone can see you both from the good angles and the bad.

“Besides cyber threats, it’s fun to post photos and let everyone know you’re having a cocktail at a nearby bar, but that sends a clear signal to burglars that your home is empty,” Daniel Markuson adds. “Even the people who feel sufficiently educated about online privacy still reveal their personal details online. Millennials especially tend to post their social activities online.”

ABOUT NORDVPN

NordVPN is the world’s most advanced VPN service provider used by over 14 million internet users worldwide. NordVPN provides double VPN encryption, malware blocking, and Onion Over VPN. The product is very user-friendly, offers one of the best prices on the market, has over 5,000 servers in 60 countries worldwide, and is P2P-friendly. One of the key features of NordVPN is the zero-log policy. For more information: nordvpn.com.

Photo by Kampus Production from Pexels