Knowing how to Google is much different than Googling. First off, typing in the appropriate phrases and operators can reduce search time if you don’t have to sift through a bunch of duds. Second, Google has a wide range of capabilities that are often ignored and neglected, capabilities that greatly improve the success of finding exactly what you’re looking for. Check out the modifiers listed below.

Basic Operators: Google has several basic modifiers designed to pare down what you are looking for.

Exact phrase: To maximize your search for an exact phrase, place the entire phrase in quotes.

Excluded words: Reduce results for words commonly associated with your search word by placing a negative sign on the word you want to exclude. For example, if searching for roller but not the word coaster, type roller –coaster into the search field.

Similar words: To find both a word and its synonyms, use of the tilde can increase results for all similar words. For example, type ~aircraft to find words like planes, helicopters, etc.

Multiple words: Avoid having to do multiple searches by placing an OR between two words you both want searched for with a root word, i.e. type car Honda OR Ford when you want information on both Honda and Ford cars.

Numerical ranges: Use ellipses to determine a range of numbers or time period. For example put in Harrison Ford 1975…1985 to find out about the actor during this time period.

Advanced Google Operators: Some nifty advanced modifiers can help you come up with what you’re looking for while letting you search in ways you didn’t know were possible.

Find meanings: Utilize the define: phrase to find the definitions of a word, for example define:calligraphy.

Site specific: When searching for only a specific type of site with specific information, type in the site: modifier. As an example, when searching through government sites for tax information type taxes site:gov to find just tax information on .gov websites.

Linked pages: If you need webpages that link to a particular website, type in the link: modifier to find all links to a particular site, i.e. link:www.ucla.com will pick up all sites that link to the University of California, Los Angeles website. Other useful modifiers include phonebook: to find residential phone listings; the stocks: modifier to find information on specific stocks, for example stocks:goog; weather: to find out info in any given city, i.e. weather:San Francisco; movie: to find out movie information; and flights: to find flights from one airport to another, for example flight:jfk bos.

SEO-Oriented Operators: One little known function of Google is that it lets you search through online documents for a title name or text reference on purpose, reducing the need to search through results that could come from anywhere in the document.

The allintitle: modifier seeks out all titles containing the exact words you are looking for. As an example, allintitle:horses and buggies will search through all documents containing the words horses and buggies in the title.

The allintext: modifier does the same search, yet through the text of the document. So allintext:horses and buggies brings up documents containing those exact words. To use the same kind of modifier to find the exact words in a URL, type in allinurl: followed by the words you’re looking for.

Calculator and Conversions: Google can also act as your personal calculator or conversion tool. To determine a calculation, plug in the equation into Google using the +,-,*, /, %, or ^. Google also performs advanced mathematics, including square roots, i.e. sqrt (25); and non-square roots, for example 4th root of 56. Use Google to find sin, cos, arctan, tan, or other functions by typing in sin(pi/7) or tan(4/5*pi). To use Google’s conversion function, type in in radians or in degrees after the equation. For example 4/5 in degrees or 56*.4 in radians will give you the equivalent. Other conversion modifiers include cm in foot (i.e. 45 cm in foot), C in F (i.e. 32 C in F), $ in pound, miles in league, mph in speed of light, and so forth. Try it yourself to find the many different conversion possibilities.

Tweet This Post

Some very interesting legal news in today’s Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits. Could an Italian court decision swing the way Internet companies think about privacy and cyberbullying? Check it out below.

–

Three Google Executives Convicted of Privacy Violations in Italian Court

According to an AP article, an Italian court has convicted three Google executives of privacy violations Wednesday “because they did not act quickly enough to remove an online video that showed sadistic teen bullies pummeling and mocking an autistic boy.” The Google executives are “astonished” by the decision, which is the first of its kind anywhere in the world.

In the United States, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 generally protects websites and Internet service providers from criminal liability for content posted online. Because there is no such law in Europe, however, this decision could establish a very significant precedent if it is not overturned by another court.

Google Faces Antitrust Complaints in Europe

In addition to Google’s stunning conviction in Italian criminal court, the company is facing problems elsewhere in Europe. According to this article from PC World, three Internet companies have filed complaints with the European Commission alleging Google’s anti-competitive behavior. Antitrust complaints and criminal convictions in one week? Bad luck for Google.

Yahoo Rolls Twitter Into Search Updates

Yahoo has joined Bing and Google by incorporating Twitter updates into its primary search experience. As explained in this article from PC World, however, Yahoo’s late arrival doesn’t mean that the company’s Twitter integration could be any less successful than Google or its primary search partner Bing. In fact, because using social data in search is such a new concept, nobody has quite figured out the best way to do it yet. Perhaps if Yahoo and Bing puzzle out the best way to combine their powers, they could take even more market share from Google.

Can You Go One Week Without Google?

One CNET reporter attempted to do the impossible: Go one whole week without using Google products. Did he experience a virtual death? Did his work and personal life come crashing all around him? As it turns out, Tom Krazit did perfectly well without using Google. After making a few adjustments, he simply carried on with his routine. So take note Google haters, it is possible to live a Google-free life after all.

Australian Government Calls on Facebook for Explanation Over Cyber Harassment

The Australian Government has called on Facebook to remove disturbing images and messages that were left on memorial pages to two school-aged murder victims. According to reports, the sites were hijacked maliciously, allowing cyberbullies to leave pornography and other hurtful content the page. While Facebook has taken action the remove the content in question, the Australian government wants answers from company executives on why there was a breakdown in the site’s security and what allowed hijackers to take control of the memorial pages.

Tweet This Post

Should you Accept a Facebook Request from a Co-Worker?

It goes without saying that you should be careful who you accept as a friend on Facebook, but sometimes making the distinction between friend and acquaintance online is not as easy as it is in the real world. In this article from Reuters, Richard Baum discusses the etiquette of declining a Facebook request from a work colleague.

Honor Student Suspended for Facebook Page Insulting Teacher

An Illinois student was suspended for five days after setting up a Facebook page that was critical of one of his teachers. Now, the boy’s mother is considering possible legal action as she wonders whether or not the school has the authority to punish a student for behavior that occurred off-campus in the student’s own home. As demonstrated in this case, as well as a number of other high-profile stories, it is becoming increasingly difficult for schools to distinguish what does and does not constitute punishable behavior when it comes to the Internet.

Are You the Real You Online?

According to a recent research study, social media users on websites like Facebook and MySpace are more likely to reveal their true personalities rather than a false or idealized version of themselves. This conclusion defies the popular understanding that Internet users can use a social networking site to “be somebody else.” The study, which can be found in its entirety here, is somewhat limited in its scope in that it only examined 236 profiles from students aged 17-22. As such, it’s unclear whether the same conclusions can be drawn for Facebook’s rapidly increasing older userbase.

Phishing Attack Continues to Plague Twitter

Despite warnings to users, a widespread phishing attack is still making the rounds on Twitter. The scam, which comes via a direct message, says “Lol. this you?” and then offers a phishing link. Clicking the link will take you to a phony Twitter log-in page. If you receive this message, do not click on the link and report the account you received it from as spam.

Analysts Discover Possible Link To Chinese Government in Google Hack

According to the Financial Times, analysts are close to linking a recent Chinese-borne cyber attack on Google to the Chinese government. From the article: “[The] contractors have traced the spyware code to Shanghai Jiaotong University and Lanxiang Vocational School. The first one has ties to the military. The schools have denied involvement.” Even if a definitive link were made to the Chinese government regarding the Google attack, you can bet the Chinese government would deny it. Nevertheless, any new piece of information will have an important bearing on Google’s still pending decision to be a part of the Chinese marketplace.

Tweet This Post

Last week, we talked about the humorous and eye-opening website, Please Rob Me. The site, which compiled a list of public status updates from individuals using Foursquare and other location-based social networking websites, brought attention to a very real, yet often overlooked problem: If you’re telling people where you are, you’re also telling them where you aren’t. In other words, every time you share your location, you are letting potential criminals know that you aren’t home and that, if they wanted to rob you, now might be the time to do it.

What is interesting about Please Rob Me is the reaction the site received from many active social media users. While acknowledging that safety on Foursquare is a legitimate concern, many felt that the value of using social media tools outweighed the risk of exposing their home as empty. I wonder what they would say if their social networking forced them to pay higher insurance premiums.

In a recent article for the Telegraph, Darren Black, the head of home insurance for the UK-based insurance website Confused.com, wonders if insurers might not consider an individual’s social media use as part of their risk analysis sometime in the near future.

Quoting from the article:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if, as social media grow in popularity and more location-based applications come to fore, insurance providers consider these in their pricing of an individual’s risk. We could see rises of up to 10pc for people who use these sites.

Criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their information gathering, even using Google Earth and Streetview to plan their burglaries with military precision. Insurance providers are starting to take this into account when they are assessing claims and we may in future see insurers declining claims if they believe the customer was negligent.”

What do you think? From an insurer’s perspective, it actually sounds somewhat reasonable. If you were to leave your door unlocked or leave a spare key hidden under the mat and someone robbed your house, you may have a tough time filing a claim with your insurance company. Could sharing the fact that you won’t be home amount to the same thing?

As our lives become more and more driven by social networking, it is important that we take time to consider some of the practical ramifications of our actions on the web. Being in control of your online reputation means being in control of how you use the Internet. If you’re responsible, you can make social media into a powerful personal branding tool for yourself and your business. If you’re not careful, however, you could wind up facing a whole array of problems that could leave your reputation hurting.

Tweet This Post

Today, we talk about Twitter’s growth, Google Buzz’s backtracking, and Facebook’s love/hate relationship with Zynga. Check it out!

–

Twitter Hits New Milestone: 50 Million Tweets Per Day

In January, Twitter users posted as many as 50 million tweets per day. This is the highest number of updates on the service yet, and it represents a significant increase from the same time last year when the site was only registering approximately 2.5 million tweets per day.

There are some problems with the statistics, however, including the fact that Twitter didn’t incorporate spam accounts into the research, which seem to be increasing everyday and flooding the site with meaningless updates. Additionally, despite its rapid growth, Twitter still hasn’t done much in the way of forming a meaningful revenue model.

How to Say Sorry to Friends When You Fall for a Phishing Attack

If you’ve been the victim of a phishing attack on a social networking site, the biggest feeling you get isn’t anger, but embarrassment. You probably ask yourself, “How did I fall for that?” This embarrassment becomes particularly acute if your Twitter or Facebook faux pas then led to your friends and family getting stung by a phishing attack as well.

In a post for MSNBC, Suzanne Choney talks about her own experience falling for the popular “LOL – is this you?” Twitter phishing attack and walks other victims through the delicate process of apologizing to their friends online.

Talking About Zynga with Founder Mark Pincus

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and other web-based games from Zynga have become an integral part of the Facebook experience for millions of users worldwide. In this CNN article, Doug Gross talks to the Founder of Zynga, Mark Pincus, about his company’s grwoth, its early legal problems, and the increasing resistance from non-players over automated messaging from the games clogging up their Facebook feeds.

Early Google Buzz Users Given Chance to Reconfirm Followers

Per their promise, Google is now allowing Google Buzz users to reconfirm who they do and do not want to follow, essentially taking users back to step one. Google’s initial plan of automatically connecting users with their most frequent followers was met with wide frustration from users and prompted the company to apologize and make several early changes to the product.

Should You Share Pictures of Your Kids Online?

For parents, it is a natural desire to post pictures of your children online so that your family and friends can see them as they grow up. However, there are also drawbacks to sharing photos of your children that some parents don’t consider. As with anything you post online, you have to be careful that you have control over what you’re sharing. This article offers some advice for parents who want to share pictures of their kids online safely.

Tweet This Post

[AP image]

University of Oregon receiver Jamere Holland made headline news over the weekend when he took to his Facebook page to protest the alleged dismissal of his teammate Kiko Alonso, who is facing punishment for driving under the influence. As it turns out, Alonso was not actually dismissed from the team, but that piece of information never made it to Holland, who unwisely decided to take out his frustration with Oregon coach Chip Kelly online. By the time Holland’s curse-filled diatribe reached the mainstream media, the troubled receiver’s fate was sealed and he has since been removed from the University of Oregon football team.

There are few things that anger a coach more than a player openly criticizing his decisions. When the player makes his criticisms known on a Facebook profile for the whole world to see, however? Well, that’s just rubbing salt in the wound. In this case, however, Holland wasn’t even accurate in his criticism. Instead of seeking out the truth through a phone call or a meeting, Holland made a rash decision based on a faulty assumption. Now, he is suffering because of it.

The immediacy and intimacy of social media technology makes it very tempting for individuals to pour their anger out online. It is very important to learn to resist these urges and really take the time to think about what you’re sharing online. Would you still complain about your job if you knew that your boss or co-workers could see what you wrote?

While Jamere Holland’s playing days at the University of Oregon are over, perhaps he, and we, can take something positive away from his experience. No matter what kind of privacy settings you have in place, you should always assume that the content you share online will be read by someone other than its intended audience. Try your best not to say anything that you’ll regret later.

Tweet This Post

Happy Friday ReputationDefender readers! In today’s “Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits,” we talk about hackers, Twitter death hoaxes, and botched social media marketing. Check it out.

–

Would You Share Your Credit Card Purchases With the World?

We already know people are willing to share pretty much all of their activity during the day through Twitter, but are they willing to share everything that they purchase too? The folks at Blippy, one of the web’s latest start-ups, are hoping that the answer is yes.

Blippy, which allows users to share their credit card purchases with selected friends, has been talked about in tech circles for a while now but seems to finally be catching mainstream press. In this article from the Associated Press, Rachel Metz discusses how Blippy works, why some users find it useful, and whether or not it’s ready for mainstream success.

Gordon Lightfoot is Not Dead

Don’t worry folk music fans, Gordon Lightfoot is not dead. After an erroneous media report of the singer’s death hit the web, the story took off on Twitter. Of course, the story was retracted within 30 minutes, but that’s like three days in Internet time. What’s interesting about this story is that, unlike other celebrity death hoaxes, this one didn’t actually start on Twitter. Nevertheless, it was Twitter that allowed the story to spread, which goes to show you that you shouldn’t believe every tweet you read.

Denny’s Menus Direct Diners to Taiwanese Man’s Twitter Account

In a fairly egregious social media mistake, the popular restaurant chain Denny’s printed the wrong Twitter URL for their company on thousands of menus nationwide. The Twitter URL in question, http://twitter.com/dennys, actually directs to a Taiwanese man named Dennys Hsieh. While it is admirable that Denny’s has taken the leap into social media, this mistake offers an important lesson for all companies seeking to use the web to build their brands. If you’re going to be a part of Web 2.0, you have to have a plan.

Amateur Cybercriminals Responsible for Hacking 68,000 User Name and Password Pairs

It’s not just professional cybercriminals that are after your private information. As this USA Today article explains, even starter cyberthieves can get in on the attacks. According to the Don Jackson, a researcher at the security firm, SecureWorks, approximately 68,000 user name and password pairs that were stolen from over 2,400 organizations were hacked by amateurs using outdated free hacking tools.

New Facebook Controls Help Users Censor Posts from Third-Party Apps

In its efforts to deliver additional control over privacy, Facebook has added new controls that allow users to control which of their friends see posts generated by third-party applications. The inability to censor third-party applications from specific users was one of the chief complaints surrounding Facebook’s privacy overhaul at the end of last year.

Tweet This Post

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Chris Macomber and I’m a Senior Product Manager here at ReputationDefender. My role at RD is to ensure we are building the best possible product features and experience for our customers.  Currently, I am working on MyReputation, MyEdge, and our first free product, Your Web Score.

What did you do prior to joining ReputationDefender?

Previously, I was a Product Manager at Intuit where I worked on QuickBooks Online, their flagship online financial management service, and Intuit Community, a community of small business owners helping each other grow their business.  Before that I was getting my MBA at MIT Sloan.  Before that I was an Engineering Manager at Cisco responsible for their e-learning platform, and a Manager at Sapient, an internet consulting firm.  I got my Computer Science degree at Stanford and grew up in Las Vegas.

What attracted you to ReputationDefender?

I joined RD because more and more people are concerned about how they or their loved ones look online.  I believe RD has the knowledge and skills to best help out our customers, so they don’t have to worry anymore.

Why do you think it’s important for people to manage their reputations online?

There are two primary trends that are colliding.  First, the Internet is quickly becoming the primary source to find information about a person.  It could be a company interviewing you, a new girlfriend checking you out, or potential customers evaluating your trustworthiness.  Second, it is increasingly commonplace to share more and more about yourself online, even if you don’t know you’re doing it.  In this case, unfortunately, ignorance is not bliss.  You need to know how people see you online and take control of your online presence.

When you’re not helping individuals control and protect their good names online, what do you like to do in your spare time?

I play basketball as often as possible, ski, and teach my toddler important things like sarcasm, not hitting the cat, and of course proper online reputation management.

What’s your all-time favorite website?

My favorite social site may be non-intuitive, but I love using Google Reader to help point out market trends and new developments to my friends and colleagues. It’s a quick and easy way to show what you care about without having to write a lot of content yourself!

Tweet This Post

[image]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made waves last month when he sought to justify Facebook’s widely panned privacy overhaul as a necessary change that reflected the times in which we live. In a talk with TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, Zuckerberg said that the “social norm” regarding privacy had “evolved over time” and that Facebook was merely evolving with it. Naturally, many Internet analysts called Zuckerberg out for masking what was clearly a business decision as something that made the service better for customers.

Of course, as with all good PR spin, there was an element of truth to Zuckerberg’s statement. While we may not have completely abandoned our desire for privacy (I believe that what we desire more than anything then and now is control over our information), we certainly have opened up about what we’re willing to share. Can you imagine what people might have said 20 years ago if you described a service like Twitter? How about 30 years ago? Or 100 years ago? In considering how our perspectives on privacy have changed, I thought it would be a fun exercise to turn to some of the great minds of previous generations and see what they had to say on the subject of privacy.

–

First let us examine the thoughts of two former Presidents of the United States.

“When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.”

- Thomas Jefferson

“Every man should know that his conversations, his correspondence, and his personal life are private.”

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Here we have an interesting juxtaposition. Thomas Jefferson believed, as do most of us, that when you set out to become a public servant you knowingly cede some of your right to privacy. In other words, it is the belief that in order to effectively lead people, you must open yourself up to their scrutiny. To a certain extent, we use this same line of thought for celebrities. If they are going to make millions of dollars because of our money than we have a right to have access to them whenever we want.

Conversely, Lyndon B. Johnson believed that “every man” should be confident in knowing that his private information was secure. It should be noted of course that Johnson issued this statement when he was swearing in Ramsey Clark as Attorney General in 1967. As such, the statement is referring to a man’s right to privacy as inferred by the Constitution.

Considering that we haven’t quite figured out the legality of how companies use our information in modern times (data mining, behavioral advertising, etc) it is interesting to consider how LBJ might have phrased his words differently. Perhaps, “Every man should know that he has control over keeping his conversations, his correspondence, and his personal life private.”

–

Moving on from Presidents, let’s take a look at what Earl Warren, former three-time governor of California and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States, had to say about privacy and technology.

“The fantastic advances in the field of communication constitute a grave danger to the privacy of the individual.”

-Earl Warren

Chief Justice Warren left these remarks as part of a concurring opinion in the 1963 Supreme Court case of Lopez v. United States (373 U.S. 427). That case involved the legality of a federal agent surreptitiously recording a conversation with a criminal suspect and then using the recording as evidence in trial. In siding with the United States, Warren argued that the growing power of communications technology could be a threat to individual privacy and that it should be used by law enforcement agents with the utmost caution, but that it should it not be deemed automatically unconstitutional.

Given that Warren’s remarks involved criminal investigations, and he was actually saying it’s legal for law enforcement to record conversations under the right circumstances, one might think that they have no bearing on general matters of Internet privacy today. I disagree, however. Chief Justice Warren went out of his way to say that advances in communications were a legitimate threat to personal privacy. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to believe that if he had lived long enough to see Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter he would have been even more adamant about the importance of restraint in monitoring private communication.

–

What do you think of these historical insights on privacy? Can you think of any more interesting historical perspectives on privacy? Feel free to share them in the comments.

Tweet This Post

One of the more humorous (and tame) interactions from Chatroulette.

–

With the phenomenal growth of social media over the last half-decade, one might think that we’ve finally learned to tame the web. Between Facebook, Twitter, and the new kid on the block Google Buzz, it is easier than ever to share information with friends and family in an organized fashion. Even the negative aspects of social media interaction (slander, identity theft, etc.) can at least be prepared for through effective reputation monitoring and personal branding.

Of course, when you’re dealing with something as incredibly dynamic as the Internet, there is no such thing as control. Using a popular analogy, if the web is the Wild Wild West, then all we’ve down is put on a tin star and tidy up town. By and large, the real dangerous outlaws are still out there. Case in point, the Internet’s latest fad: Chatroulette.com.

In simplest terms, Chatroulette is a giant, international, and totally anonymous peer-to-peer web chat network. Founded by a 17-year old Russian student, Chatroulette functions by turning on your computer’s web cam and randomly syncing you up with users from all around the world. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider this. In the past two weeks, Chatroulette has been featured in the New York Times, New York Magazine, Mashable, Time Magazine, and countless other respected publications.

So, what is it that has earned the website so much attention? Prurience, plain and simple.

You see, while idealists might think that Chatroulette is the perfect place to bridge cultural gaps and foster dynamic new ideas through the transformative power of anonymous communication, the reality is that the website is filled with lewdness, vulgarity, and all kinds of disturbing imagery. That’s not to say that users can’t find valuable conversation (Sam Anderson talked about some of his successful Chatroulette experiences in the New York Magazine article), but you have to wade through a sea of disinterested teenagers, male genitalia, and bizarre shock images to get to it.

In retrospect, Chatroulette is the logical extension of our long-held desire for anonymous interaction online. What began in the early 1990’s with chat rooms on AOL and Prodigy has evolved over time to become Chatroulette. The same principles apply: two strangers, one anonymous link. The difference now is the element of chance. There is no control over what you might see, and that seems to be what’s driving fascination with the site. That’s also the reason why parents should keep their kids far, far away from it.

As more and more people begin trying out Chatroulette, I wouldn’t be surprised if the site were forced to implement some heavier restrictions. As it stands, there is really no way to protect users, especially children, from seeing things that they should definitely not be seeing without the proper context. Like I said though, that’s why the site has garnered so much press, and also why it will probably fade once more restrictions are put in place.

What do you think? Would you try Chatroulette? (Be advised, we don’t recommend it.)

Tweet This Post