Tag: social media

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The Strangers We Let See Facebook

For years, I've been writing about some of the hidden traps associated with working online, looking at writers can protect themselves. But I've also been having some fun playing the bad guy, highlighting how real bad guys might turn unsuspecting internet users into their prey.

Today, I want to look at some of the settings on Facebook, things that many of us never bothered to consider a risk.

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We Let Strangers Into Our Lives

For the last few years, I’ve been writing crime thrillers. Thinking in the head of a bad guy can be liberating. Not sure when these stories of mine will be published (the publishing industry really is a hurry-up-and-wait industry), but I keep pressing forward, and continue to write stories where the bad guys come after us in ways that we are all subject to.

I always wanted the novel to be a cautionary tale about oversharing on social media and the internet. The more I delve into various aspects of internet security, the more I get excited—and scared.

I'm excited, because I know exactly how my serial killer is finding his victims—how he's stalking them. And I also know how he has managed to elude capture for over twenty years. As the writer of this creepy tale, this is fantastic. However, it also scares me, because I'm consciously aware that there will be some sicko out there doing exactly what the bad guy in my story is doing.

I've decided to start this blog series on social media and internet security on my personal blog in the hopes that at least one person out there will take notice and start to examine their own practices. If my ramblings can save just one person from becoming the victim, then I'll be over the moon.

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#CockyGate: There are lessons to be learnt.

In early 2018, I sat watching my Twitter and Facebook feeds with my jaw dropped. #CockyGate was this tornado that measured 5 on the Fujita scale, and no writer was safe from the disaster left in its wake.

For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, I'm referring to the trademark that was issued to a romance writer, effectively granting her sole possession of the word cocky. I know that might sound like an exaggerating, but the responses from Amazon and Goodreads in relation to this mess sent the publishing industry into a frenzy.

I won't go into the details of the ludicrous situation. If you are interested in the little details, just Google it. Trust me. There is a mountain of articles and information out there about it.

No, I want to focus on the effects of social media and how mob psychology works. I want to talk about how one woman destroyed her reputation and likely her writing career. And it wasn't by this trademark disaster. Granted, that didn't help in the slightest. No, in today's industry, so much of your reputation and sales rely on public perception and the face presented online.

There are lessons to be learnt from this mess, that's for sure.

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