Protecting older citizens from cybercrime: Introducing Then & Now
According to the FBI, Americans over the age of 60 reported almost $5 billion in total fraud in 2024 – and those were just the reported cases. And to quote National Cybersecurity Alliance Executive Director Lisa Plaggemier at last week’s NCA Convene conference, “They know they’re being targeted, and they’re mad about it.” The NCA has done something about it and is launching a new campaign and printed workbook and microsite for older folks titled Then & Now. In my opinion, this is a smashing home run of an effort to educate in an entertaining and easily accessible way.
Safe words: They’re not just for the bedroom anymore
In a campaign launched earlier this year, the National Cybersecurity Alliance launched an effort to get individuals to create safe words for their families, close friends, coworkers or caregivers for elderly family members. Essentially, you establish a safe word with this person or group of people and then should you receive an urgent call from that individual requesting money, assistance or information, you simply ask the caller for the safe word to verify that it’s truly your person and not a computer doing a great impression of them.
Meta quietly launched a “Brand Rights Protection” hub – here’s what you need to know
Meta updates its Brand Rights Protection hub, adding more features. Here’s what you need to know about Brand Rights Protection, and my hottake on the potential of this tool and the pitfalls I see.
Third parties: the social media security weak point no one considers
Let’s say you are very diligent about the security of your home. You have a fancy video doorbell. You lock the front door, back door, windows and gate every time you leave the house. You probably think you’ve done enough to secure your residence.
But that’s not true. An enterprising thief could discover your spare key hidden in one of those fake rocks we all think are so clever. Or perhaps you still keep a spare key under the doormat, making you easy prey. Sadly, this analogy really speaks to what’s happening in social media security and governance.
Hottake: 4 Important Lessons From the Coldplay Accidental “Outing” (aka How NOT To Go Viral)
This week provided us with a classic example of how something goes viral because the people make it so – not the company. Enter: The public outing of Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his affair with his head HR person. Trust me, in this case, the company really, dearly wishes this had stayed nice and quiet. Other than just rubbernecking like it’s a 20-car pileup, let us pause to evaluate what companies and leaders can and should learn from this incident.
Why I hate the word “viral”
“How can we make this go viral?” I cannot tell you how many leaders have asked me this exact question over my nearly 15 years doing social. Let’s set the record straight. “Going viral” has always been a bit of a misnomer, but the notion that you can make something go viral is kind of nuts. Most things that do go viral do so on their own because people drive the spread of the post. It is very rare that a company sets out to “make something go viral” and actually succeeds.
The top 5 password mistakes companies make
When it comes to corporate social media governance, here’s the point: If humans are terrible at managing their personal passwords, that means that those who are managing your company’s social media account passwords are probably doing it equally poorly. If you’ve never asked them about how this is managed, now might be the time. To help, here are my top five mistakes companies make.
Consolidation isn’t a dirty word, at least for corporate social media
Have you ever searched for a company’s social media channel only to find that there are 29 different accounts for the same brand? Unfortunately, that’s common, and it’s a fundamental mistake that even some of the world’s largest brands make.
The Top 5 Social Media Hiring Mistakes
It amazes me that more than 20 years after social media “became a thing,” companies still have no idea how to properly resource or hire for it. After years of interviewing and hiring social media professionals for my own team and for clients, here are my top 5 mistakes companies make.
The giant gap in understanding between leaders and social
I often talk about how there are fundamental “gaps in understanding” when it comes to social media in large corporations. There are many of these gaps, and they all lead to blind spots of different kinds. There’s one significant gap that is rarely discussed: the gap between top leadership and social.
Fake Facebook community standards violation messages & how to spot them
Did you receive a message saying your Facebook page will be disabled because it violates “42 u.s.c. § 1283 (2020) community standards?”
First and foremost: don’t panic. It’s almost assuredly a fake, and it’s a phishing attempt to try to get your Facebook login credentials. The crooks bank on you panicking and not engaging the logical part of your brain. Second, whatever you do, do NOT enter your Facebook login credentials anywhere.
The argument for centralizing social media
One of the most fundamental mistakes companies make is allowing people across the organization to “own” various parts of social media with no centralization and no coordination. The larger the organization, the bigger of an issue this becomes. There IS a right way to manage social media for a company, and it IS by centralizing control of all things social under one team and one set of rules. It’s the only way to achieve the required control for regulatory and legal purposes, and it’s the only way to ensure you are limiting the abundant number of risks related to social as much as possible.
Social Media Content Best Practices: Where Is Bed?
On Friday, this video popped up on my Facebook feed. It is the definition of “sticky content.” Comedienne Lou Wall tells us the craziest story of a Facebook Marketplace interaction — and she demonstrates the best content-making principles for social media while she’s at it.
An argument for sitting out April Fool’s Day on social
It’s almost here – April Fool’s Day is tomorrow, and thus marks the annual day of “you can’t believe what you read anywhere, especially on social media.” But let’s be honest: as a general rule, April Fool’s pranks from a company are almost always an average to terrible idea, and I would advise you to not do it. The bigger your brand, the bigger the risk.
In honor of Data Privacy Week, the top 5 social media governance mistakes
In honor of Data Privacy Week 2025, let’s revisit the top mistakes companies make when it comes to keeping their social media footprint secure and safe.
No one’s talking about social media professionals’ mental health. So let’s talk.
Friends, it’s time to talk about the mental health of social media professionals – the people on the front lines every day representing the world’s biggest companies on social.
Our mental health is in the toilet.
And here’s my response: Freaking DUH.
An introvert’s guide to winning at conferences
How to survive professional conferences if you are an introvert
My 8 Takeaways from the NISM 2024 Social Media Job Study
My 8 top takeaways from the 2024 National Institute for Social Media Job Study. If you’re among the elite club of masochists who do social media for a living, I promise you will see yourself represented here and possibly gain some solace in knowing you are not alone. If you don’t work in social, this will help you understand and appreciate your social team more.
Is my Facebook page really disabled? Here’s how to check.
If you manage a Facebook page on behalf of a business or company, chances are pretty high that you have received a message saying something like “Your Facebook page has been disabled due to violation of our community standards.” But very often (read: almost all of the time) these messages are fake – and learning to identify the spam is important so you can tell if your page is really in trouble. And, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I just had a client report this same phishing scam on LinkedIn. So it appears the scammers may be migrating over to new platforms.
Password security lessons from the MGM hack…
I’ll say it till the day I die: digital governance MATTERS. MGM is just the latest (very public) example. Leaders at companies big and small fail to understand that digital hacks can have very real financial and reputational impacts.