Social Media Archives - Page 5 of 6

How to fix your hacked Twitter account in 3 steps

July 8, 2012 by Daniel J. Lewis

Hi someone is saying terrible things about you…

No, they aren't. And don't click that link! If you've been the perpetrator, it's really easy to fix.

Change your Twitter password.
Revoke suspicious or unknown application access.
Delete the sent direct messages.

Read on for more details.

You're not that popular

This is a popular Twitter “virus” going around. The more people you follow on Twitter, the more of these messages you'll see. I've received literally hundreds (I do mean that “literally”!) of these Twitter direct messages, and they all fall into a basic word spinning pattern:

[Hi / Hey / Hello] [someone / somebody / this user / some person] is [making / posting / saying] [nasty / horrible / really bad / terrible / very bad] [things / rumors] about you… [malicious link]

My personal favorite is, “Hi some person is making nasty things about you.” Filled with glorious grammatical errors.

Each person who clicks this link has most likely thought the message was real, and that there was something terrible about them. Well, there could be something terrible said about you if I listed your name in here!

Fix your Twitter account in 3 steps

The fix for this is quite simple, but absolutely necessary to prevent the spread and further infection of yourself and others.

1. Change your Twitter password

Some sites will disguise themselves as Twitter and try to get you to login. Always check the domain carefully before you login (twitter.com.sadlfkjsae.com is not your friend). Using a site-based password manager like LastPass can easily prevent this because it won't offer your password on domains that don't match.

2. Revoke suspicious or unknown application access

Visit your Twitter Apps page (or Twitter.com > Profile menu > Settings > Apps) and click “Revoke access” on any app you don't recognize.

This is a list of apps that you've granted access to your Twitter account. These apps can pull some information about you, tweet or DM for you, and more.

If you accidentally revoke something legitimate, you can undo the action, or simply re-authorize the app through its own settings.

3. Delete the sent direct messages

Go to Twitter.com, click your profile menu, then click Direct messages. Delete any malicious messages that were sent from your account.

Depending on your followers' Twitter clients, they may never receive your accidental malicious message if you delete it before they see it.

What the malicious link does

I don't know and I really don't care. I just know that it's something very bad, and it will spam all your friends. Please kill this virus now!

Technically, you weren't “hacked”

To be hacked, someone has to be hacking you. When you or someone else clicks a malicious link, there isn't a hacker standing by waiting to get into your account. Instead, this is more like a virus or worm activated by an intentional click.

Thus, your Twitter account was compromised, not hacked. That's just my little pet peeve.

Save the world, retweet this

How to fix your hacked Twitter account in 3 steps http://t.co/V52OKiQR

— Daniel J. Lewis (@theDanielJLewis) July 9, 2012

I do not work for Twitter and I am unable to provide free support for your Twitter problems. Please contact Twitter for help.

Why do we even play Foursquare?

April 23, 2012 by Daniel J. Lewis 9 Comments

You're in a mall, walking from store to store. You pull our your smartphone and faithfully checkin to each store, even though you're just browsing.

After ten minutes, Foursquare tells you that you have no life and are visiting too many places. What do you do? Awkwardly stick around in a store until you can checkin? Move on but keep trying to checkin so you can still get the points? Checkin the next day?

What if you're now too far away from the place where you forgot to checkin?

But this begs the question, why even checkin on Foursquare? What benefit does it have? (Sidenote: yes, this is a correct usage of the commonly misused phrase, “begs the question.”)

What are the benefits of Foursquare?

Foursquare is a social network that allows people to share their location, leave tips and photos, find interesting places, and occasionally get local deals. Do we really use it for these things?

Yes, some of the tips are cool, like seeing what menu items someone likes at a restaurant. Some tips are pointless, like, “avoid stupid cars parked in the streets” (but I guess the smart cars shouldn't be avoided?).

When was the last time you got a good deal with Foursquare? Most places I visit offer only an American Express deal (I don't have an AmEx credit card). I only remember a single deal in the last year, which was $4 of free bananas with a Foursquare checkin.

Beyond this rare perk, most people use Foursquare to tell us where they are. But do we really care? Some sites like Please Rob Me illustrate a (slightly exaggerated) danger of this oversharing.

Essentially, Foursquare is a game

Why do we play this location-based game? Just for the points and cool badges? It's a game that can't be won.

Social games are fun, yes. But I like a game that actually takes skill to play—or even involves playing! Foursquare involves just checking in and getting points. Whoop-dee-doo.

Leaving Foursquare?

So I don't see much value in Foursquare for myself, but maybe you can convince me otherwise. I won't completely delete my account and leave Foursquare, but I'll probably stop compulsively checking in unless I truly want people to know where I am, which would only be when I think people actually care.

What about you? Do you use Foursquare, Yelp, SCVNGR, Whrrl, or any other location-based apps? If so, do you do anything with them beyond checking in?