Consumers who complain through social media may see more of a response than through traditional means. Get tips on how to most effectively voice your complaint and get it resolved.

Not satisfied with traditional customer service? Here are some tips on how to complain effectively via social media.

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Businesses around the country better strengthen their customer service practices as one new survey shows consumers today have little tolerance for poor service and are finding new ways to voice their complaints.

More than a third of customers have not only experienced bad customer service experiences, but have actually complained about them, according to an Accenture survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers. And rather than just complain to the company or employee in question, consumers are taking their issues to social media in increasing numbers.

To read the full story: MainStreet.com

Facebook announced new security and privacy features for its site Tuesday. The site has added more resources for its Family Safety Center and a more complete rollout of its social reporting tool, which lets users report bad behavior to Facebook friends they trust.

(Post Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Donald E. Graham sits on Facebook’s board of directors, and the newspaper and many Post staffers use Facebook for marketing purposes.)

The social network also introduced two security measures: two-step authentication and expanded secure browsing.

Two-factor authentication, similar to what Google rolled out in February, gives users the option to have to enter a code when they log in. A key difference:Google’s two-factor authentication stays on all the time, Facebook’s is on only when you log in from a new device.

Facebook is also offering expanded secure browsing for those who have selected that option. Now, whenever you use a Facebook app that doesn’t support HTTPS, the site will automatically switch you back to secure browsing when your session’s done.

Secure browsing is one of the issues security firm Sophos raised in an open letter to Facebook that called for the social network to improve its security. The firm also called for new features to be opt-in by default and for more review of third-party apps.

Facebook responded to the letter today with a statement reminding users of the control they have over their own privacy options:

We’re committed to giving everyone the power to control and personalize their Facebook experience. People on Facebook choose where and with whom their information is shared from their privacy settings page, or more granularly through per-object-privacy or specific permissions when using apps. We’re focused on continuing to evolve our products and technologies in a way that respects the trust people have put into Facebook.

The social network does conduct reviews for third-party apps, based on how many users they have or how many pieces of data they share and has automated systems to catch and remove bad apps.

To read full story: The Washington Post

Facebook and Twitter appear stymied about how to slow a rising tide of poisoned web links seeping into all popular social networks.

A survey last December found 40% of social network users encountered malicious attacks, a 90% increase from April 2009, according to antivirus firm Sophos.

Meanwhile, a recent experiment by network security firm Dasient underscored just how easy it is for anyone to create a new social network account, then use the fresh account to circulate malicious links all across the service.

Social network denizens exacerbate the problem since most tend to click blindly on items, “The faith users put into social networks is providing an enormous universe of opportunity for nefarious actors,” says Anup Ghosh, chief scientist of browser security firm Invincea.

Cybercriminals aim to trick you into clicking on a link that will give them full control of your PC. They can then scam you into purchasing worthless antivirus protection or filling out sketchy online surveys. They can even steal from your online financial accounts.

With 500 million members Facebook is by far the largest social network — and the No.1 target.

“Facebook is a very enticing playground for bad guys,” says Carole Theriault, senior consultant at Sophos. “It is no surprise that surveys have shown an increase in malware activity on the site.”

Facebook spokesman Frederic Wolens says protecting users has long been a top priority for the company. , Facebook filtering systems “have been very effective,” he says, “and despite constant attacks, our data show that the vast majority of people on Facebook have never experienced a security issue on the site.”

Twitter did not respond to interview requests for this story.

The experiment run by Dasient paint a different picture. Researchers set up new accounts at 11 leading social networks and found that none stopped them from posting links pre-loaded to deliver a type of malicious program that swiftly infects PCs. What’s more, nine of the 11 networks tested failed to fully block links listed among Google’s compilation of known poisoned Web sites. “The social networks we tested have some work to do on their malware countermeasures,” says Neil Daswani, Dasient’s chief technical officer.

In this backdrop, the scale and creativity of attacks continues to escalate, with Facebook and Twitter emerging as the top targets “because their high volume of usage ensures huge amounts of traffic,” says Aryeh Goretsky, researcher at antivirus company ESET. The more traffic, the higher the odds of seeding an attack that goes viral, he says.

One recent large scale attack revolved around a Facebook posting purportedly carrying a link to a video of pop singer Miley Cyrus. doing something lewd. Clicking on the link instead led to a series of additional links that connected the victim’s PC to premium rate text-messaging service and began spreading the Miley Cyrus posting to the victim’s friends.

“Cybercriminals prey on our natural curiosity to view sensational content,” says Jamie Tomasello, security director at messaging security firm Cloudmark.

In another caper, the user must complete a simple verification test to view an enticing video, for example, a whale that the Japanese tsunami smashed into a building. One click activates Facebook’s “like” button, which results in reposting the original message to other Facebook users.

To read the full story: USAToday

A growing share of our time is spent online. In fact, more of us now get our news from the Internet than from newspapers, according to Pew Research Center data. More than half of U.S. consumers buy products online. That level of participation is driving a massive $26 billion online-advertising industry, and a key part of it is a largely unregulated data-collection business. On Foursquare, we “check into” the gym. And at the supermarket, we casually swipe plastic cards bearing our home address and increasingly permanent cell-phone numbers, which are often linked to online identifiers like frequent-flyer accounts, enabling companies to build powerful profiles of who we are, and of our tastes in cheese, beer and soap. We are, often unknowingly, giving companies precious raw material they can sell to prospective employers who may seek, for example, to exclude women who “like” Charlie Sheen on Facebook. Insurance companies may buy that data to deny coverage to people who frequently purchase supersize bags of Doritos. “We’re building this surveillance superstate online that government could never dream of, and people aren’t nearly aware how pervasive this is,” says Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington.

The issue isn’t going unnoticed. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the state of online consumer privacy. Senator John Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is expected to introduce legislation to set stringent rules on how companies collect data from us. Democratic Representative Jackie Speier has already introduced a bill to force companies to give consumers the choice of having their online activity tracked. Some may find her advocacy surprising considering that Speier is from the San Francisco Bay Area, home to several Internet behemoths, including Google, Facebook and Twitter. “They all want to talk to me and explain why I’m misguided,” Speier says. But she’s not deterred. “I don’t think privacy is negotiable,” she says, “and you have to just do what’s right.”

Several states have stepped into the evolving Internet-privacy debate. Minnesota, for example, requires Internet service providers to get consumers’ permission before disclosing information about their online activity. In California, businesses must tell consumers what personal information is being collected from them online and what companies they plan to share it with.

Rules are beginning to evolve at the federal level as well. Last summer, the FTC charged that Twitter had failed to protect consumers from hackers that retrieved tweets believed to be private, as well as so-called direct messages, or private notes between users. In December, the agency offered a framework for dealing with the burgeoning issue, suggesting that companies begin to offer a do-not-track option. FTC officials also recommended that companies set up their own regulatory standards. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a Washington trade group of advertisers, newspaper and magazine properties, has signed more than 100 companies onto a project that would standardize a clickable icon that gives consumers the choice to opt out of having their online movements tracked across many sites. “We agree that you should empower consumers not to have data collected and used for advertising purposes if you don’t want it to be,” says Michael Zaneis, the IAB’s general counsel. “But we have to be careful in shaping these policies.” The increased scrutiny sparked by Internet-privacy concerns has become a challenge for many Web companies, like Facebook, that have only recently established a lobbying presence in Washington.

The question of where regulatory intervention turns from protection to burden has long been a matter of political debate. Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonpartisan Washington think tank, points out that many aspects of our lives — how we buy cars, how we buy health insurance — are fiercely regulated. That’s not so for our Internet usage. We think of Gmail, Twitter and Facebook as free services. “But the cost,” Coney says, “is our privacy.”

To read the full story: TIME.com

Social media could be the next great tool in getting customer service results from a company. Find out the tricks.

Whether you have a good position or are looking for something new, think very carefully about what you post on social media sites. Sounds like a no-brainer—until you hear business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter tell some stories. One woman who was on a business trip in New Orleans posted: “Off to another dumb meeting, would rather be on Bourbon Street.”

“We’re seeing a lot of inappropriate posts,” says job consultant and social media expert Kristin Kane from Kane Partners in Lansdale. “People think they’re funny, but they may be offending. And it’s starting to shift to the older person, for lack of a better term.”

We think it’s the younger generations who just can’t control what they comment and tweet, whether it’s a picture from a drunken party or the fact that they’re interviewing for a new job. But experts tell me they’re hearing about mature workers who forget the reach of social media.

“More and more companies are using (social media) to find out about employees,” says Jay Mossman, president and CEO of Akcelerant in Malvern. “So it’s easy to find out what people are doing on their free time.”

TIPS:

• Don’t put anything on the Internet that you don’t want your current/future boss or current/potential clients to read.
• Never post when you’re overly tired, jet-lagged, intoxicated, angry or upset.
• Check to see if your company has a social media policy. Companies are increasingly developing guidelines.

Main Line Today “In the Know” Blog by Tracy Davidson

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to engage the public more in disaster response by sharing data and leveraging reports from mobile phones and social media, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said today.

People are increasingly connected in disaster areas, and FEMA needs to factor that into its disaster planning, Fugate said in a keynote speech at ESRI’s government user conference in Washington, D.C. As an example, Fugate pointed to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, where rescue workers and survivors used text messages, e-mail, and social media to communicate amid chaotic and dangerous conditions.”One of our assumptions has been that when there’s a big disaster, we lose all communications, we lose all wireless,” Fugate said in a follow-up interview. “Haiti was sort of a validation that that’s no longer the case. We can adjust much quicker if we can figure out how to have this two-way conversation and if we can look at the public as a resource. The public is putting out better situational awareness than many of our own agencies can.”

Fugate, who regularly posts on Twitter himself, said FEMA is building applications for popular mobile platforms and that he is pushing to establish more open data feeds. “These are the baby steps,” he said. “Government has to change the mentality that, love it or hate it, you have to adapt to us. We need to adapt to them.”

To read the full story: InformationWeek