Whenever you add your email address to your blog or website it’s best to encrypt it. The reason for this is that it helps keep the spam bots from snagging it so they can send you all that lovely spam! It won’t guarantee they won’t get it, but it’ll help. I use a nifty (and free) little app that will encrypt your email addresses – it’s called E_Cloaker.
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Too many kids have been in the news lately after they committed suicide, because of the bullying they went through due to their sexual orientation. Every time I see one of these stories it hurts deeply. Way too many kids are harassed by other kids and the reasons vary. It’s not just the gay kids. I know.
It’s important for people to know that many kids are bullied, for many different reasons. If a boy or girl has a characteristic that stands out – too shy, too skinny, too heavy, big ears, greasy hair, a lisp, disability, sexual orientation, or any number of traits – they are a prime target. For me it started out because I was a little too heavy.
When I was a kid we moved a lot, and I actually enjoyed it. I looked at every move as an adventure. It was fun to make new friends, set up my bedroom in the new house, and start in at a new school every year. Then, when we moved and I started sixth grade at a new school I thought we’d moved to hell!
From the minute I started sixth grade, I was the kid to be bullied. The minute (yes, literally, the minute) I walked through the door to my classroom, I was given a nickname by one of the nastiest kids in the school. That nickname stuck all through junior high and things got progressively worse over the three years that I went to that school. I was laughed at, called every name under the sun, my possessions were destroyed, I was tripped as I walked through the halls, I was set up in humiliating situations, got harassing phone calls . . . the list goes on and on. I have some extremely bad memories that I won’t type out, and others that I’ve forced myself to forget because they were just too painful.
Every day I would hold in my anger, fear, sadness, and a host of other unpleasant emotions all day and then go home and sleep, cry, and often cry myself to sleep. I had always been a happy, well-adjusted little girl who could make friends easily and didn’t understand why things had flip-flopped at this school (that’s something I’m sure I’ll never understand). It was hell.
I never went so far as to attempt suicide but there were times I wished I had never been born. So, I can certainly understand many of the thoughts and emotions the kids in the news recently must have been thinking and feeling before taking their own lives. It’s a torture I wouldn’t wish on anyone!
Instead of escaping through suicide, I got involved in 4-H and other activities where I made friends from different schools. They didn’t know what my school life was like and weren’t part of the bullying. So, in a sense I lived in two different worlds – the one where I was bullied and the one where I was an achiever with many friends. When I wasn’t spending time with my friends I could go to my bedroom, shut the door, and feel safe with my books, pets, and music. Nobody could get to me. Even so, the words and actions of the bullies stayed with me wherever I went. It was a lot for a little kid to deal with.
Things have changed since I was bullied though. As bad as the bullying was that I experienced, today’s bullying is worse. Nowadays, there is no safe haven. The bullies can get to a kid anywhere and everywhere, and thanks to the speed of texting, tweeting, etc. a small crowd of bullies can turn into a huge crowd. It still hurts when I think about what I went through, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to have all of that multiplied many times over. It’s no wonder kids have killed themselves because of it. They have to feel like the hatred is closing in on them and giving them no choice.
Regardless of whether a kid is gay, fat, skinny, a minority, or whatever the case may be, he or she should not be bullied because of it! If you see bullying of any kind – cyber or otherwise – please don’t turn the other way! Believe me, when you do that, the one being bullied notices, and it hurts even more. I think I can safely speak for many who have been bullied when I say that it makes them feel the bullies are right, and that they somehow deserve what they’re getting. It looks to them like you’re sticking up for the buillies and even agreeing with them. Please don’t send that message. If you see someone who needs help, then do something to help! It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that you may very well save that kid’s life!
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Here’s another new feature from Facebook that’s been needed for a long time – a spam filter for Facebook pages. If you’re a page admin, you probably get tired of all the get rich quick posts and other garbage that people post on your page. Now, Facebook will be weeding some of those out and putting them in a holding area for you to OK – or not.
Posts that appear to be spam will be placed in the filter, and will not show up on the wall. A spam notification, that only admins can see, will pop up at the top of the page. The admin can then view the messages and decide if they’re spam or not. If they are spam, you don’t need to do anything. If the messages are OK, and you want to let them go through to the wall:
1. Hover your cursor over the post you wish to unmark as Spam.
2. Click on the X that appears in the upper right corner of the post.
3. Click on the “Unmark as spam” option.
To get to your spam filter, click options under your status box, then click on the spam button. If you have any spam posts, that’s where you’ll see them.
Facebook has more info about the new spam filter here.
It’ll be interesting to see how accurate the spam filter is. If it’s anything like Akismet (I hope! I hope!) it’ll be pretty darn good.
Thank you, Facebook!
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Some Facebook page admins can now change the name of their page. So far it looks like only pages with fewer than 100 fans have this option, and from what I’ve read, that’s probably how it’s going to stay. According to Inside Facebook, the most likely reason this feature is only available for pages with fewer fans is because Facebook doesn’t want people setting up generic pages and then changing the topic of the page later.
If your page has the option to change the name, you’ll see it in your admin area. It’s important to note this does not affect your custom URL. If you do make a change, keep in mind that your fans will not be notified, so it’s best not to change it completely. If you do, make sure you let your fans know what you’ve done. And, if there are any other changes that go along with the name change, be sure to announce that as well.
You’ll also notice some nice changes in the admin area. The navigation buttons are over to the left of the page. I don’t see any change in functionality, but I do like the new layout.
To see the new layout, and see if your page has the name change option, click the “Edit Page” link on the left sidebar of any page you admin, or go to the Ads and Pages link on your home page.
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On one of my earlier blog post, Facebook page ownership can now be changed, someone brought up a good point about Facebook Pages and admins. I started to answer in the thread, but it’s a pretty important question, so I decided just to do a new post about.
Here’s the comment this person had:
The real issue is that the page is still tied to the person’s Facebook account regardless of whether they administer the page or not. Thus, if they delete their Facebook page [profile] for any reason, the page will forever be gone.
I know the short-term answer, but I want to know the long-term answer. So, here’s what I did – step by step:
Once a person gives up their admin rights (or has them revoked by another admin), it appears that they have no rights to that page.
However . . .
I need to follow up with this in 15 days and here’s why:
Facebook allows profiles to be deactivated or deleted – and they are two different functions.
Deactivation – This allows you to make your account inactive, which means your stuff is locked away and made secret but you can get it later if you want to. Facebook keeps all of your information in case you decide to reactivate it at a later date.
Deletion – This permanently deletes your account after 14 days. During that initial 14 day period you’re allowed to reactivate your account if you want to (just by logging in), but after that it will be permanently deleted.
So at this point, Jane’s account has been set for deletion and the page she created is now in my possession. What I want to know for sure is if that page will still be mine once her account has been permanently deleted. Or will it be deleted along with her account since she was the original owner? I’m fairly certain it will still be my page since she was removed as an admin, but I’ll check back in another 15 days to find out for sure.
UPDATE: It’s been more than 15 days since I deleted the Jane account and I’m still the admin for the page she turned over to me. So, it looks like if an admin turns over a page, then is deleted, that page will still exist and it will belong to whoever is the current admin
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One of the biggest complaints owners of Facebook Pages have had is that once a page is created, it was owned by that person forever. It caused quite a dilemma for a company that wanted to set up a fan page because it meant it might be owned by a person who would eventually leave the company. That’s changed.
Now, any administrator of a page can remove any other administrator. It means ownership can be transferred from one person to another – something many companies have wanted for quite some time. That in itself is a double edged sword, but there’s another bit of power that comes along with this change that even more troubling. Any admin can now delete a page.
What this means, is that before making someone an admin of your page, you need to make darn sure that person is trustworthy. You certainly don’t want to misjudge someone and end up with them hijacking your page!
I think Facebook is on the right track, but rather than giving all admins the same rights, I’d like to see a two-tier setup, with owners and admins. The owners would be the only ones with the rights to delete a page, but they could promote someone else as an owner as well. Then, if the original owner chooses to, she would be able to relinquish ownership to another owner. Yahoo Groups has this feature, and it makes more sense than the way Facebook has things set up at the moment. Hopefully this is just an interim change though, and they’ll be fine tuning it soon.
The bottom line is that if you work for a company and set up a Fan Page for them, you can later hand over that page to someone else if necessary. This is a huge upgrade!
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If you don’t have a Google Profile yet, you may want to consider setting one up for a number of reasons. To see what one looks like, take a look at mine.
First, what is a Google Profile?
It’s a personal page where you are able to share information about yourself on the various Google services, but it’s a lot more than that too. It’s a publicly available page you can use to tell people a bit about yourself and your business, and add links to your blog, website, Facebook page, Twitter account, etc.
Why should you have a Google Profile?
How to set up your profile
Google Profiles are super easy to set up. Go to their setup page and follow the directions. It’ll only take a few minutes, and you can tweak it as often as you’d like.
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Like me, Like my Facebook comment!
by Therese on June 16, 2010
Now, in addition to clicking the Like button on Pages, posts, and other content on Facebook, now we can click a like button next to individual comments. Check it out:
Here’s what Facebook has to say about the new Like button for comments:
Just like any other activity you do on Facebook, when you click Like on a comment, they’re collecting more data about what I do the site. Honestly that doesn’t bother me at all. I just wish they’d give us a Dislike button!
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