Blogging For Fun

Scenario: You work in a corporate environment in which you are, at least partially, responsible for network security. You have implemented a firewall, virus and spyware protection, and your computers are all up to date with patches and security fixes. You sit there and think about the lovely job you have done to make sure that you will not be hacked.

You have done, what most people think, are the major steps towards a secure network. This is partially correct. What about the other factors?

Have you thought about a social engineering attack? What about the users who use your network on a daily basis? Are you prepared in dealing with attacks by these people?

Believe it or not, the weakest link in your security plan is the people who use your network. For the most part, users are uneducated on the procedures to identify and neutralize a social engineering attack. What’s going to stop a user from finding a CD or DVD in the lunch room and taking it to their workstation and opening the files? This disk could contain a spreadsheet or word processor document that has a malicious macro embedded in it. The next thing you know, your network is compromised.

This problem exists particularly in an environment where a help desk staff reset passwords over the phone. There is nothing to stop a person intent on breaking into your network from calling the help desk, pretending to be an employee, and asking to have a password reset. Most organizations use a system to generate usernames, so it is not very difficult to figure them out.

While doing some research on social networking domain, found some interesting figures to share, which will surely drive the social networking development companies.

Market at a glance-

The market for the internet and social networking communities is estimated at about USD 1500M this year.

Social network/Community development and enhancement individually by 2006 stood at USD 700M and is estimated to touch USD 4000M by 2010.

The top 3 player in the market are Myspace, Facebook and Bebo with market shares 80.74%, 10.32%, 1.18% respectively.( data is based on custom category of 20 of the leading social networking websites ranked by market share of visits, which is the percentage of traffic to the site, based on Hitwise sample of 10 million US Internet users. The percentages represent the market share of visits among the websites within the custom category.)

Growth Path-

Social networking sites are growing 47% year on year increasing from an audience of 46.8 million to 68.8 million in April 2006.

Social networking sites are the reality of the Internet; the content is relatively inexpensive for publishers to produce.

It will become more ingrained in mainstream sites, just as reality TV shows. MySpace.com, the top Social Networking site of all in terms of number of registered users, saw a staggering 367% increase. The graph is still increasing with many more Social Networking players jumping in; the web scene seems set just right for Social Networking.

The social networking sites that are seeing strong growth have developed a unique online presence which is refreshed by user generated content. This promotes ongoing consumers interest and visitor loyalty. The market share of Internet visits to the top 20 social networking websites grew by 11.5 percent from January to February 2007, to account for 6.5 percent of all Internet visits in February 2007.

Over half of all Americans between the ages of 15-34 consider themselves active social network users. They regularly visit well-known social networking sites, such as MySpace or Facebook, or log onto specialty social networks, like Ravelry (devoted to the fiber arts) or GroupRecipes (for the foodie set). While industry research tells us that television watching is declining, especially among this age group, social network use is on the rise: average users spend seven to eight hours a week online.

This time spent on social networks clearly affects buying decisions. An estimated forty percent of all social networkers say they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products they like, according to GreenBiz.com, with twenty-eight percent saying they’ve had a brand or product recommended to them by a friend.

The message is clear. Strategic use of social networking can help a company grow. It’s an effective use of target marketing, reaching out to one’s customers where they are.

However, in order to capitalize on social networking’s power, you have to do it right. Execution is everything. Make no mistake. Every time you log onto Facebook, MySpace, or other social networking platform, you’re representing your company in a very visible arena. The world is, quite literally, watching.

There are five common mistakes Nichepreneursâ?¢ make when it comes to social networking. Here’s what they are — and more importantly, how to avoid them!

Mistake #1: Dismissing Social Networking as “Just a Fad”

Social networking may have emerged as a phenomenon only recently, but it is a manifestation of something as old as time — word of mouth! Customers value the opinions of colleagues, relatives, peers and friends above almost anything else. This has been true for generations. Social networking has merely expanded the definition of friend. Technology has made it easier to communicate with more people than ever before — a person could have hundreds of friends they’ve never once met in person. That’s a power and a privilege that no one is going to let just fade away.

Social networking is increasingly popular, and have become wildly popular with a varied demographic. The birth of the social networking phenomenon has seen a shift in the way that many people browse the web, and especially in the way that people interact socially. Bebo, Facebook, Flickr, Friendster, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter are among other plethora of social networking sites out there on the net. They seem to have become unavoidable, and spring up wherever you go.

Everything about social networking is based on the profile. People spend hours updating their profiles just to let the world know whatever they happen to be doing. It seems that everyone is trying to live as their own mini celebrity, and suddenly everyone want to know your intimate details on everything from your address and date of birth to your musical tastes. The desire to have the most friends, or the most hits, makes people scramble to get as many friends as they can, even if they’ve never met the person. They add a vast swathe of plugins while bloggers and YouTube video makers are all trying to score as many hits as possible.

Each month there are billions of page views of ‘Web 2.0′ websites as people return time and time again to Social Networking Sites (SNS) like Facebook and MySpace, Social Media sites like YouTube and Blogger and Social Information sites like Wikipedia and Delicious. Cagora has recently launched the first Global Community Network consisting of more than 20,000 local and special interest communities that appeal to all generations. Cagora goes beyond Social Networking, Social Media and Social Information to provide Community Networking, Community Media and Community Information where Individuals , Businesses and Community Groups are all part of the same network.

Can you guess what the big buzz is lately for network marketers? Social Networking! I will explain why but let’s take a quick look at how it started. At first there was MySpace and Facebook, two huge social networking giants. Network Marketers have joined them in order to market their opportunities through these sites. It is a great way for that extra free exposure even though the members of the networks aren’t entirely targeted.

However, the value of marketing on Myspace and Facebook is quickly dropping. This is due to the massive release of new and niche focused social networks. The fact is that this year alone I have seen an increasing number of professional social networks geared towards network marketers launching and becoming increasingly popular. To name a few: TalkMoola.com, Zenzuu, Friendswin, Yuwie, and Wowzza. A couple older ones are DirectMatches, AdLandPro, and even Ryze. Honestly I wouldn’t even be the least bit surprised to see a few more start-up this year – that is how much it is catching on! It is also obvious why they do become so popular among network marketers, because there is no better advertising than targeted advertising. Exposing your business opportunity, system, or product to other network marketers is simply the most effective thing to do. Once a network marketer joins you they already have had their foot in the door and are somewhat knowledgeable about the industry and can greatly help your business. However if a random person from MySpace sees and joins your business they are not nearly as valuable to you because they most likely have no idea what they are doing or what network marketing is even about.