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http://hassassociates-online.com/articles/2013/03/07/five-ways-to-manage-your-digital-reputation/ Reputation is the key word. In fact, online digital reputation has never been more important. While a few years ago much of our personal information was still considered private, today cyber security expose more information about our lives than ever before. While many people don't think much about having a "digital reputation," especially in purchasing products online, information about almost all adult worldwide can be found online. Based from the survey conducted by ORC International, results have shown more than 89% of consumers research articles online before making a buying decision, while, 87% of them agree that a favorable review has confirmed their decision to purchase. And while our real life reputation is largely defined by us through our interactions with others, our online digital reputation defines how people perceive us - without ever having a single conversation. The fact is, a digital reputation can be incorrect, it may present only partial information and it might even allow for slander and online attacks to define us for others. Translating your brand's personality onto the web can be tricky, so here is our list of five simple steps that can help you get started. 1: Match your offline and online personas: When you're creating a Facebook page or a Twitter account, it should match your brand's personality in the real world. Choose a design language (colors, shapes, textures, fonts) that represents your brand's image. Next, ask yourself which social media platform is best suited for communication between you and your customers. You may not need to create an account on each one of them. Selecting the one most actively used by your target audience will make it more manageable for you. 2: Groom your search results: Your customers will rarely move to the second page of the Google Search results to find what they are looking for. Set a dis

Reputation is the key word. In fact, online digital reputation has never been more important. While a few years ago much of our personal information was still considered private, today cyber security expose more information about our lives than ever before. While many people don't think much about having a "digital reputation," especially in purchasing products online, information about almost all adult worldwide can be found online. Based from the survey conducted by ORC International, results have shown more than 89% of consumers research articles online before making a buying decision, while, 87% of them agree that a favorable review has confirmed their decision to purchase. And while our real life reputation is largely defined by us through our interactions with others, our online digital reputation defines how people perceive us - without ever having a single conversation. The fact is, a digital reputation can be incorrect, it may present only partial information and it might even allow for slander and online attacks to define us for others. Translating your brand's personality onto the web can be tricky, so here is our list of five simple steps that can help you get started. 1: Match your offline and online personas: When you're creating a Facebook page or a Twitter account, it should match your brand's personality in the real world. Choose a design language (colors, shapes, textures, fonts) that represents your brand's image. Next, ask yourself which social media platform is best suited for communication between you and your customers. You may not need to create an account on each one of them. Selecting the one most actively used by your target audience will make it more manageable for you. 2: Groom your search results: Your customers will rarely move to the second page of the Google Search results to find what they are looking for. Set a distinct and clear name for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and other social networking site

We all live in public, at least as far as the US National Security Agency is concerned. As Internet users and global citizens become more aware of surveillance activities that the US and other countries are doing on the World Wide Web, there are those who seek to ensure that privacy and personal freedoms aren't trampled upon. Tor technology aims to help appease privacy advocates and offer a way in which the Internet can be enjoyed without the prying eyes of surveillance programs or other tracking software. This free piece of software has certainly become mainstream in light of recent events, but what is Tor and why does it matter to you, your family, neighbors, co-workers, and the rest of the Internet? Peeling back the onion layers It might surprise you that the Tor Project, originally an acronym for The Onion Router Project, was initially funded by the US Naval Research Laboratory and helped launch the development of onion routing (anonymous communication over a computer network) on behalf of DARPA. It had also received the backing from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. When users installed Tor software onto their computers, it would conceal their identity and network activity from anyone spying on their behavior. This was accomplished by separating the identification and routing information. The data is transmitted through multiple computers via a network of relays run by like-minded volunteers - almost like how users installed SETI software to look for extraterrestrial beings. Tor isn't the only service that helps you hide in the shadows away from the prying eyes of the federal government, or any other person who would do it for malicious purposes. However, some say that it's better because it works at the Transmission Control Protocol stream level. Full post: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/10/08/what-is-tor-and-why-does-it-matter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheNextWeb+(The+Next+Web+All+Stories)

The website Songsrpeople.com looks a lot like other amateur-video sites. It is wallpapered with clips featuring "the most insane amusement park ever" and "your girlfriend's six friends." The site draws tens of thousands of visitors a month, according to audience measurement firms. It also has ads for national brands, including Target Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and State Farm. But Web-security investigators at a firm called White Ops contend that most of the site's visitors aren't people. Rather, they are computer-generated visitors, or "bots," designed to fool advertisers into paying for the traffic, says White Ops, which has blacklisted the site-and thousands more like it-so that ads from clients such as Zipcar don't land there. An anonymous representative for Songsrpeople declined to discuss the site's traffic but in an email called the White Ops methodology into question. State Farm said it was looking into the matter while Target declined to comment and Amazon didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Authorities and Internet-security experts say tens of thousands of dubious websites are popping up across the Internet. Their phony Web traffic is often fueled by "botnets," zombie armies of hijacked PCs that are controlled from unknown locations around the world, according to Internet security experts. The sites take advantage of the simple truth that advertisers pay to be seen. This creates an incentive for fraudsters to erect sites with phony traffic, collecting payments-often through middlemen and sometimes directly from advertisers. "When you walk into this world, you walk with eyes wide open," said Brian Harrington, chief marketing officer at Zipcar, which ran a recent ad campaign, assisted by White Ops to filter out bogus traffic. "You know stuff is not real." At their most sophisticated, botnets can mimic the behavior of online consumers, clicking from one site to the next, pausing at ads, watching videos, and even putting items in shopp