December 29th, 2008

FriendFeed, Twitter address URL redirection risks; Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace lag behind

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 9:29 am

Categories: Facebook, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Microblogging, MySpace, Security, Social Business Analysis, Social Media, Social Media Best Practices, Social Media and Security, Social Networks, Twitter

Tags: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed, Phishing, Social Networking, Cyberthreats, Security, Viruses And Worms

When I compiled my crowdsourced 2009 predictions earlier this month, several people shared with me the same forethought: URL redirection leveraged by phishers could create a bottoming out of sorts for Twitter. The concern is that masked URLs could lead to stolen data or drive-by-malware, making it too late for the poor user who clicks the link once he or she figure out what happened.

I’m uncertain as to why users are concerned about this threat more in 2009 than they were in 2008, nor am I certain why Twitter is getting singled out. I imagine part of it is because Twitter is starting to go more mainstream and early adopters of social networks tend to be more tech and security savvy than the general user. Regardless, social networks are starting to take this apparent threat more seriously with FriendFeed the furthest ahead, recently introducing a lauded security feature — scrollover for redirected URLs. Now FriendFeed users can preview the URL they are about to click to gauge for themselves any apparent risk.

When I spoke with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone in June he told me, that the social network was concerned about URL redirection and was “looking into other ways to display shared links, for example noting whether a link goes to a picture or a video or some other media element.” A month later, Twitter acquired Summize and turned it into Twitter Search, which now does, in fact, include a URL expansion option in its “search results” page. However, there is nothing yet on the Twitter Web site itself nor is there a way to mandate URL expansion through the many Twitter clients. I briefly caught up with Stone again yesterday, who told me that plans for increased security continues to be a work in progress.

“You can expect us to provide a better experience on the home page as well but I don’t have an exact deploy date for you right now,” he said.

But how much do these security features help with URL redirection anyway?

“The scrollover is only useful for users who are Internet savvy enough to recognize what may be a potentially malicious Web page from the URL itself,” said Adam J. O’Donnell, Ph.D., director of emerging technology for Cloudmark and ZDNet security blogger.  ” If you look at it another way, providing scrollover URL reveals hasn’t stopped phishing.”

Web developer and computer programmer Shannon Whitley notes that Twitter pushing out more URL redirection security features might be incredibly complicated from a technology perspective, and somewhat fruitless in the long run.

Next: What about other social networks? –>

November 21st, 2008

Pop-up ads on LinkedIn? How very MySpace

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 8:29 am

Categories: Corporate Social Networking, Facebook, LinkedIn, Marketing, MySpace, Social Business, Social Media, Social Networks

Tags: Pop-up Ad, LinkedIn, MySpace, Jennifer Leggio

I wrote the other day that I’ve always felt that Spoke was the “poor-man’s LinkedIn.” When LinkedIn introduced it’s applications and other more social features, I joked behind the scenes that it was becoming Facebook-esque. Now I’m wondering if LinkedIn is trying to become the “rich man’s MySpace.”

Don’t get me wrong. I know times are tough for LinkedIn, because even with its cash injection earlier this year, the company is still facing an imminent layoff of 10 percent of its workforce. I don’t think, however, that surprising its professional networkers with pop-up ads from retail outlets is the way to go.

The background: On Nov. 3 the social business site launched a promotion with Banana Republic in which its users could win a $1,000 shopping spree and a profile makeover. Each time a user updates his or her profile he or she could get a 25 percent Banana Republic discount and a chance to win the prizes. Not a bad promotion.

I first noticed it as a little ad on my profile when I made an update, which was fine enough. Then I updated my LinkedIn profile picture and upon saving my changes I got a pop-up. In fairness to LinkedIn, it was very nicely designed and didn’t have any glittering clip art on it, but it was a pop-up nonetheless. It truly shocked me. Why the need for a pop-up? Aren’t the in-profile ads enough?

Here’s a screen shot (click to enlarge):

For a moment I thought I might be overreacting. If it was a big deal, wouldn’t I have read about this somewhere else by now? I am a little hypersensitive to pop-ups (and still surprised this surpassed my pop-up blocker). But more than that, I don’t agree that a pop-up approach is going to endear professionals to the site. Sure, they might participate in the promotion but keep doing this and over time LinkedIn becomes the place to go to win cool prizes instead of a place to network. Or, if you’re laid off, LinkedIn merely rubs salt in wounds.

I did a little bit of early-morning crowdsourcing and didn’t find one person who told me it wasn’t a big deal. The following four replies are good indicators (once again, click to enlarge)l:

Not so good, LinkedIn. Not so good.

What do you think of the LinkedIn pop-up ads?

Thanks to Whitney Drake, Pam O’Neal and Kyle Roussel for sending me the LinkedIn screen shots. I was too surprised to capture it myself.

November 5th, 2008

Obama won the election - not social media

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 8:35 am

Categories: Blogging Best Practices, Election 2008, Facebook, FriendFeed, Life Streaming, Mashups, Microblogging, MySpace, Snake Oil, Social Business Analysis, Social Media, Social Networks, Social Video, Twitter

Tags: Social Media, Jennifer Leggio

Once again, social media is taking more credit than it deserves.

I’m a proponent of social media for business and community benefit, obviously. However, I believe the big snake oil spotlight shines down upon us brightly — and justifiably — whenever we try to credit social media with a success that isn’t really a rightful success for it to claim. The 2008 election, and President-Elect Barack Obama’s triumph, is one such example.

Last night, a few conversations erupted on Twitter that ruffled my feathers. Obama had just finished his acceptance speech and while there was much chatter about this, there were also some voices chiming in about what a huge role social media played in this election. Yes, agree, to an extent. But then the claims when too far, when a couple of folks made comments that a portion of the win goes to social media. I slammed on the brakes. I calmed down. Then I woke up to some blogs making similar claims.

Yes, the candidates’ technology understanding and platforms are important, but not the most critical considerations when election a leader on which we place our freedom and security, our health and wellbeing. Yes, the Obama campaign made great use of social media and viral marketing, from his own portal to his active Twitter feed. Yes, blogs are far more widely accepted as a form of news media now than four years ago during the last presidential election. But those people outside of the “bubble” were not getting their facts and figures from social media.

We have to remember that those of us deep in the heart of business and even Silicon Valley live online yet a good portion of Americans do not. We have to remember that while there is a large percentage of Americans using social networks, it still represents only a small portion of Americans, more specifically American voters.

Obama won this election. The fact that the economy was in disarray and that a mockery was made of Sarah Palin certainly helped. Yet Obama won on the merits of his platform, his ability to lead and inspire confidence in Americans who desperately needed to trust in someone after eight years of George W. Bush, the same Americans who believe in his vision for our country. Social media might’ve helped to communicate these issues but I feel strongly that these credit claims insult and take accomplishment away from the men and women who spent hours and hours on the pavement, at campaign stations, at phone banks, who reached out the majority of Americans that have never even used MyBarackObama.com.

Let’s keep our eye on the ball, OK?

As an aside, social media did achieve something great last night — it didn’t collapse. Most of the major platforms suffered no downtime during the weight of the election banter. In a straw poll I conducted last night via my social networks, email IM, and so on, it did appear that even those people who used FriendFeed and Facebook and Seesmic — the apparent most popular socnets for live results conversation other than Twitter — were also using Twitter. The microblogging favorite did get a little wonky when everyone was reporting in that CNN officially projected Obama as the winner of the presidency, but the site recovered nicely. See, this is a claim social media can make.

Update 11/5/08 4:06 p.m. PT - For those interested, Dave Fleet provides a great analysis of this issue and this post on his blog.

September 10th, 2008

Move over Generations X and Y - Grandma's on MySpace

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 10:53 am

Categories: Facebook, Life Streaming, LinkedIn, MySpace, Social Networks

Tags: NPD Group Inc., Baby Boomer, Entertainment, MySpace, Social Networking, Advertising & Promotion, Online Communications, Marketing, Jennifer Leggio

Don’t be surprised if Grandma sends you a Facebook gift for Christmas this year instead of a package of socks.

The NPD Group, a market research firm, reported yesterday that its “Entertainment Trends in America” report shows that in the U.S., 41 percent of baby boomer Internet users (age 44 to 61) surveyed are spending time on social networks such as LinkedIn, MySpace and Facebook.

The survey data, which was based on a sample of more than 11,000 consumers, also showed that 61 percent of these baby boomers are using streaming or downloadable video sites, as well.

“There’s an ongoing misperception that certain Web activities are the exclusive domain of young people,” said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for The NPD Group, in the research firm’s report. “That misperception could cost the entertainment industry, in terms of lost opportunities to target valuable consumers.”

As social networks continue to grow and get more mainstream airtime — my 58-year-old mother was just talking about CNN’s Twitter feed — it makes sense that more and more baby boomers would get on board.

The NPD Group also makes the case that advertisers, which often market to those 40 and below on social networking sites, should consider that much of the online buying power remains with the baby boomer generation.

Thanks to That T-Shirt Site for the artwork 

August 25th, 2008

The ugly truth: Satan, social networks and security

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 7:02 am

Categories: Facebook, LinkedIn, Microblogging, MySpace, Reputation and Privacy, Security, Social Business Analysis, Social Media, Social Media Best Practices, Social Media and Security, Social Networks

Tags: Social Networking, Black Hat, Network, App, MySpace, SocNets, SocNet, Security, Jennifer Leggio

* Jennifer Leggio is on vacation

Guest editorial by Shawn Moyer and Nathan Hamiel, who presented “Satan is on my Friends List: Attacking Social Networks” at BlackHat and Defcon earlier this month.

Ultimately, we blame Jeff Moss for all of this. Earlier this year, the founder of Black Hat and Defcon asked the security community to join the Black Hat and Defcon LinkedIn groups. To our own occasional chagrin, we’re both very active users of social networks (hereafter SocNets, easier to type and we’re not being paid by the word), so we found ourselves compelled to join but also a bit skeptical. Would a bunch of paranoid-by-nature and paranoid-by-profession hackers and security professionals fly the SocNet flag and buddy up? No way, right?

Well, both groups have just under 2,000 members at this point, so it looks like the answer is a resounding yes. If a pretty broad sample of InfoSec folks are using SocNets, it seems to stand to reason that things must be improving on the SocNet security front now, right? We couldn’t really say for sure. We both had a gut feeling, but wanted to have a better idea of how bad (or, yes, even how good) things really were.

A few months later, at Black Hat and Defcon were pretty flummoxed by the response to what ultimately was a silly talk about privilege escalation on Adult Friend Finder, performing the MySpace equivalent of K-Lining, and using social engineering to poke some fun at journalists and the security blogosphere.

Still, as SocNets and social media become more and more a part of our daily lives, and as the race to go to market and to gain marketshare continues, we think SocNet security will continue to become a larger problem, and recent activity seems to show that the appeal of a large and active userbase as a target for the malware industry is hard to ignore.

Further down the rabbit hole, in which we find some ugly things
So, rewinding a few months back… Talk submitted to Defcon and Black Hat, check. Nathan and Shawn working on projects in the same city for a couple of months, check. Cider and box wine acquired, check. We fired up our interception proxies, passive audit tools, a few other toys, cranked up “Waiting Room”, and prepared to sequester ourselves a few nights a week for a couple of months, to see what things looked like across the board.

We found our first exploitable bug in around a half hour, on the first SocNet we looked at. This became something of a theme, and we found ourselves pretty disappointed each night if the booze ran out (or it got too late) before we found something troubling, or at least interesting. We both do Web app security testing, mostly for larger ecommerce sites, in our day jobs, and so looking at an architecture as trusting and open as a social network was kind of like playing slow pitch softball over beers in the park after trying to strike out Albert Pujols for nine innings.

The above is certainly not to say that we’re ninjas, security masterminds, or anything of the sort. There are lots of very smart people (none of which are us) looking at Web application security. What we found, though, is that attacking someone via a SocNet, or at least via a lot of the SocNets we looked at, often didn’t require Javascript filter ninjitsu, multi-stage payloads, or even, at least in our case, a modicum of sobriety. Did we mention we’d been drinking?

Ugly things enumerated: SocNet apps
For those taking notes, here’s the simplest way to get arbitrary code execution in the browsers of millions of users (no exaggeration — the top SocNet applications on Facebook and MySpace have 21 million and 8 million users, respectively) suitable for BotNet propagation, phishing, pharming, click fraud, DoSing, a fully meshed global RickRolling spam farm, or some other purpose so nefarious we couldn’t imagine it ourselves, despite considerable effort and numerous demonic incantations.

Just ask for permission.

Specifically, go through the trivial process of signing up to be a SocNet App developer. On Facebook permission to publish an app means having five friends, on MySpace it means filling out an application form (ours claimed we were working on a messaging system using the “unbreakable ROT13 encryption algorithm”), and providing a few easily-forged bits of personal information. Signing up to develop apps on SocNets is a shockingly trivial process, and results in being given the keys to Dad’s car and the liquor cabinet to boot, as it were.

Next: Ugly things won’t improve anytime soon –>

August 7th, 2008

'Conversation Prism' helps corporations visualize social media strategies

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 11:55 am

Categories: Blogging Best Practices, Corporate Social Networking, Facebook, FriendFeed, Internet Search, Life Streaming, LinkedIn, Microblogging, MySpace, Plurk, Podcast, Social Media, Social Media Best Practices, Social Video, Twitter

Tags: social networking, strategy, conversation, network, social media, jennifer leggio

Every day I stumble across yet another company jumping into the uncertain waters of social media “because others are doing it.” Public relations agencies are pushing social media practices as a “must have” for clients are part of the capabilities presentations. But, contrary to what many social media pundits say, social media is not a silver bullet nor is it ideal for every company. It’s a strategy that should be carefully considered and its tools are designed to take companies to where their customers are already conversing.

To that end, Brian Solis, principal of Future Works and author of PR 2.0, has introduced the Conversation Prism — a tool that he says “helps chart online conversations between the people that populate communities as well as the networks that connect the Social Web.” Designed with Jesse Thomas of JESS3, the Conversation Prism was created to help companies visualize the immense landscape that is social media and to be used as a tool to help these companies truly consider where they need - or need not - to be. This morning I spoke with Solis for a bit about why he developed the Conversation Prism, its purpose and its use. Oh, and he’s giving it all away for free.

Q. [Jennifer] Why did you develop the Conversation Prism — and how is this a step beyond Robert Scoble’s Social Media Starfish?

A. [Brian] The Starfish got the conversation started visually. There’s nothing wrong with the Social Media Starfish, but we wanted to come up with something more representative of what is out there beyond some of the more popular social networks. It’s one thing to have a lot of discussions about participating in social media or why you need to be on Twitter or Facebook, but it’s much more extensive than most people think. Social media is not just about being on the popular networks; it’s about knowing which networks apply to your world. I wanted to give a graphical representation of just how big this landscape really is and even this version still needs some work. The next one will include international networks and a few other channels we haven’t yet hit.

Q. Why is it important for companies to be able to visualize all of these networks?

A. Because the Conversation Prism is both a little dose of reality and an education tool. What the prism does is give you an idea, a beautiful representation of where conversations are taking place around you and its intended to make sure everyone understands that the social networking landscape is so much bigger - and just as important - as some of the more popular tools. It’s basically showing that if you are thinking of jumping on the social media bandwagon — stop. Evaluate. The landscape is massive. Each company’s participation is going to be different. The goal of this is to give companies a good place to start in finding the conversations that are relevant to them.

Next: How to use the Conversation Prism –>

July 14th, 2008

Hyperlocal social networking: iPhone 3G may be the trigger

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 11:14 am

Categories: Facebook, FriendFeed, Geolocation, MySpace, Social Business Analysis, Twitter

Tags: Apple iPhone, Facebook, Application, Mobile, Network, Loopt, Social Networking, 3G, Online Communications, Marketing

Apple announced this morning that it sold more than 1 million iPhone 3Gs over the weekend. Mashable reported today that there have been upwards of 10 million downloads of these applications since the App Store opened on Thursday.

This is great news for Apple, its fans and gadget geeks. However, in sinking my teeth into how using iPhone 3G as a platform could deeply impact social networking, I scheduled a little phone brainstorm with Adam Ostrow, editor in chief of Mashable.

Ostrow and I discussed how the new applications and iPhone 3G features could create even more sophisticated hyperlocal mobile social networking. And, my take on it is if the big social networking players (i.e. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter) do it right, there may not be much room for some of the niche location-based players.

Think about it. Two of the big iPhone application announcements centered on location-based social networking sites Loopt and Whrrl. Both allow users to determine the locations of their friends and both provide microblogging and hyperlocal reviews, all using a GPS-powered application.

Great! But there’s a catch — both applications also require that you and your friends download and install the Whrrl or Loopt applications on your mobile phones. This means joining yet another social network. Considering that there are multimillions of users are already frequenting Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, couldn’t that imply that the major hyperlocal opportunity here lies with the incumbents? I think it does.

Ostrow says that the newly released MySpace and Facebook applications are much more sophisticated than the mobile-optimized Web sites. These applications integrate with any iPhone’s camera, allowing for direct upload of pictures to user profiles. Facebook also integrates its chat into the new iPhone application.

So it’s more than reasonable to state that a hyperlocal social networking boon could be on the horizon if Facebook, MySpace, or even Twitter, find a way to tie their services or their third-party applications into the GPS functionality of the iPhone 3G.

Read the rest of this entry »

June 18th, 2008

MySpace answers questions about redesign and reputation

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 2:39 pm

Categories: MySpace

Tags: Facebook, Advertisement, MySpace, Advertiser, Jennifer Leggio

On the day that MySpace rolled out its much discussed redesign, I asked Steve Pearman, the company’s SVP of product strategy, five quick questions about the new features and why the social media community may still think MySpace is the kids’ version of Facebook.

Q. [Jennifer] First, what was the true motivator for the redesign? Some are saying a shift in target market perception and others are saying it’s all about bringing in additional advertising dollars.

A. [Steve] About a year ago, we really kicked off this process. We took a step back and looked at the site as as if we were going to build it from scratch today. MySpace is a byproduct of several years of organic growth. We asked ourself what would be better for users; user engagement being a huge consideration. We also thought about how we could make the site better for advertisers and how we could improve it from a technological perspective. Once you get those three elements working together then you’re going down a design path that is correct.

Q. Did you get specific requests from advertisers or were you seeing a drop in advertising support?

A. We work very closely with our advertisers and we’ve learned how to engage our users in a way that will be good for our advertisers. If the users like it, chances are the advertisers will since they know their demographic. As we think about ad products we think about them differently than we did in the early days. Early on there was a perception that we were just for kids. At this point we have more users over the age of 35 than any other social network (according to Comscore).

Q. Then why does MySpace still have this “only for kids” reputation? If the Comscore data is correct, why the misunderstanding?

A. It’s hard to shape perception issues. We do a very good job in the music space and that is mentally very heavily associated with the youth culture. That’s part of why we did the album release with Neil Diamond — we knew we had many users who are fans. The reality of it is that MySpace is pretty ubiquitous among a huge portion of the population and what we do is beyond the world of the classic social networking; we’re more of a social portal. Everything is baked into the community and all of our content is aggregated. All of this is helping to slowly transform the perception.

Q. What about the Facebook vs. MySpace discussions and the idea that Facebook is better suited for business?

A. Every business should rightly have competition. Facebook is doing what they are doing; we’re doing what we are doing. With the new stuff we have coming down the pike we’re going to continue to overcome our current perceptions. I think business users are just regular users in a tie and if you can give them the right sort of framework and environment and appeal to them as people, you should be able to appeal to them as a business. And as a business, if they are willing to walk away from 75 million U.S. users that’s up to them. We’re bigger than anyone else than you’re going to deal with if you’re playing in this space. We are really proud of how some of the industries who might’ve had a bad perception, such as the big music labels, have woken up and have stepped into the digital world with MySpace. We’re on an exciting path from a content, usability and technology perspective.

Q. With the redesign rolled out, what are some of the future developments and features?

A. We’re always working toward better social filtration of content, i.e. helping you find the things you like that you may not have even been looking for. We’re also always working toward better areas of user expression and personalization, as well as controlling privacy. There will be tons of interesting things happening on those fronts. We’re also doing a very dramatic rethink of the profile and how its managed and manifests itself in the digital world.

June 13th, 2008

MySpace announces redesign; fights for credibility with adults

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 8:14 am

Categories: MySpace

Tags: MySpace, Makeover, Internet, B2B, Marketing Research, E-business/E-Commerce, Marketing, Jennifer Leggio

News Corp.’s MySpace is attempting to climb out from behind its current state of clutter with a redesign, which will officially debut next Wednesday. The makeover includes improvements on both the front-end and back-end, highlighting more intuitive search capabilities that categorize desired results and a reduction of the currently overwhelming amount of navigation options and ad noise on the site’s homepage, a higher quality video player for MySpaceTV with popout and full screen controls.

The site, according to Comscore, still boasts more than 100 million users. But even with the potential redesign, and its recent more persistent engagement with its development community, MySpace is still fighting the user base stigma of being just for kids, teens and less savvy Internet users with a fondness for animated avatars.

In an interview with the Associated Press, MySpace founder Tom Anderson said that the redesign is in part fueled by its desire to shatter its “kids only” image. But in the wake of Facebook’s steady popularity with the “grown-up” networking audience, can MySpace earn the trust of business users?

One business with a very broad social media presence, JetBlue Airways, seems to think so.

“We go where our customers go and for us, with our XMRadio and DirecTV features, we know that kids are often making buying decisions for family trips,” said Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications for JetBlue. “While the kids may not be the ones spending the money they are influencers to their parents. We are always going to have a presence where our customers are.”

Johnston, who also manages the airline’s very popular Twitter presence, notes that MySpace’s very strong market share should not be diminished because of its demographic.

This may be true for business-to-consumer companies but the business-to-business players are seeing it in a much different light. Mike Volpe, vice president of marketing for Internet marketing software firm HubSpot, thinks it might be too late for MySpace to capture the quality of business users that its competitors have.

“We sell to marketing people at companies. If these marketing people start to become active on MySpace we might consider it, but I think right now people are over-saturated with this type of site,” Volpe said. “Would I jump in right now? No. I don’t think a bunch of adults already on LinkedIn and Facebook are going to hop onto MySpace. It currently makes zero sense for us to do anything with MySpace from a business perspective.”

According to Volpe, the attractiveness of Facebook over MySpace does come down to look and feel, even in the wake of MySpace’s redesign. “Facebook is very neutral, which makes sense for a business,” he said.

A preview of the MySpace redesign can be found in screen shots, courtesy of Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch. For additional takes see the Techmeme discussion.