We all know how fun Twitter can be. Many people have fallen in love with this micro blogging site, and don’t really see anything that could go wrong. After all, who needs Twitter safety tips against a cute, bird logo?

Well, don’t be too caught up in your Twitter postings that you forget your safety. Remember that the Internet is still a prime target market for sexual predators, stalkers, fraudsters, scammers, hackers and people who want to do others harm. You might need these Twitter safety tips more than you realise, especially if you have just started to use twitter.

Just the other day, I chanced upon this TV interview of a young, popular actress who pointed out that someone has set up an account on Twitter, pretending to be her which leads me to…

Twitter Safety Tip # 1:  Don’t believe everything you read

Have we not learned from the past? The Internet, while not harmful by itself, is still a haven for individuals and groups that are up to no good.

After all, who can say that a 50-year-old pervert isn’t a cute, 15-year-old student from London when he sounds just like a 15-year old student from London? And that picture of him in that blue shirt just backs it up, right?

If you are inclined to believe this, then you need this Twitter safety tip more than anyone else. People who want to befriend you can easily make up lies on Twitter. Don’t think for a second that they wouldn’t take the time and effort to prattle away about their non-existent boring Algebra classes and upcoming winter dance if it meant making themselves more convincing.

Be aware that there are many fake profiles on twitter. Learn how to spot them. Firstly, you’ll notice that they have not posted much, and with links being shortened, its hard to see if your being sent to a real site or a dodgy site where you will be prone to a clickjacking attack/scam. Other things too look out for are the following and followers. Usually you can tell by looking if this is a real person or a fake. Also keep away from people sending tweets from API. Scammers/Spammers also follow each other, and may converse between themselves to make it look like they have actual friends. Be wary. A quick example of clickjacking. Click this link (its safe), but its shows you how an easy link can be spoofed.

The most common looking fake profile with low followers

Automated tweets from the Twitter API - Block these people

If you want to follow a celebrity, I suggest you look for the new Twitter Verified Account tag that’s added at the top right of a profile, and check out Valebrity for a huge list of validated celebs.

An official Verified Account

Last bits on this subject, there are lots of automated scripts out there that create fake profiles, bots that create fake posts and user accounts. So if you are unsure that this is a real person, do some investigating and look at their followers and see if any of them has ever had a proper conversation with this possible ‘fake’. If in doubt, don’t follow them back and block them.

A typical fake Profile. Notice there's no conversation, and low followers

Also beware of tweets and websites that claim Get 160,000 followers in a month, or words like that. Firstly, they don’t work, and secondly they are probably a scam.

Why? Well, once you click a link, you are directed to a website where you enter your Twitter login details. Now the scammers/spamers can send tweets from your account. Also, they may flood Twitter with thousands of messages. Twitter hates this and it will get your account locked and possibly deleted. If this happens and you still have access to your account, change your password immediately.

When visiting any website that is not directly affiliated or endorsed by twitter, be very careful when submitting your account details. You never know who owns the website or what they are using it for, so do some research first. Check the whois information for the site (this can also be faked), search twitter to see if other people are using the site (or even an app) and see if they seem to be sending spam tweets. If all is clear, then they are probably OK.

Never pay for a service that links to Twitter.

Twitter Safety Tip # 2: Don’t give out your location

I know that micro blogging is fun. There’s just something addicting about being able to post what you’re doing or what you’re feeling at this exact moment… and having hundreds, possibly thousands of followers seeing it.

If you have added people in Twitter who are not really your friends, then all the more reason to be careful. If you, for example, tweets that you’re stuck in the Starbucks near your home late at night, anyone could just take advantage of that information. Its only a matter of time until you turn on the TV and hear that someone is being stalked or has been attacked or murdered because they twitted their exact location, so be warned.

Lastly on this location tip. Be careful if you are using an iPhone and turn on the Location Option. It looks like this in a persons profile: 37.739705,-122.430799 and gives you the longitude and latitude of a persons iPhone. This can be used to track you. So turn this feature off.  In a test, I activated this feature on an iPhone with Twitterrific. With a laptop and mobile phone enabled with GPS Software I travelled miles away from home, where I left the iPhone switched on. I activated the Laptop and GPS, loaded my Twitter page and got the coordinates. I entered them into the GPS system and navigated the route to 20 meters from my doorstep. Anyone could do this with just a laptop and GPS Enabled phone. You can also go to Google Maps and copy and paste the longitude and latitude, this will also give the location. And with Street View, you can probably see where that person lives.

Twitter Safety Tip # 3: Don’t attract too much attention to yourself

Twittering that you have just received a gold bracelet from your boyfriend can also attract the wrong sort of followers to your account. Trust should not be so freely given on the Internet.

You might want to show it off on Twitter via TwitPic or some other image provider or host, but think about the possible risks. It might tempt others into doing something both you, and they, will regret.

As much fun as Twitter is, set a limit on how much private information you’re really broadcasting to the world. Many of you may be thinking, ‘yeah, whateverrrr’, or ‘yeah OK, this will never happen to me’. But never forego you’re safety,  and never let your guard down on the Internet. If you do, you’re a fool!

More protection…

When using twitter, I’d suggest using a 3rd party application like TweetDeck (which is my favorite twitter app) or CoTweet (which is my second fave). The reason for using a 3rd party application is that it uses Twitters API (Application programming interface) and you are less likely to get a trojan or virus from clicking on a users infected profile. Yes! You can also get a Trojan or Virus from using Twitter. A while back, Twitter was plagued by the ‘Mikeyy Worm‘ that infected you if you clicked on a profile that had been compromised by the Mikeyy worm. Incidentaly, the Mikeyy worm was actually written by Michael Mooney, a 17 year old kid and it crippled millions of Twitter accounts.

You can keep track of attacks on twitter here. And if you would like to report suspicious activity, a spammer or something that doesn’t look right, follow twitters Spam Team and then send them a tweet with your problem: http://twitter.com/spam and they should help. Also, if you have any real issues and you need support from Twitter, visit their ticketing system.

Twitter is not perfect and is riddled with security holes, and more are being discovered or exploited daily. For a platform that’s almost over 3 years old, the boffins at Twitter really should plug these holes, tighten up security and keep people safer. Don’t let this spoil your twitting experience though. As long as you keep safe whilst on twitter, and learn how to spot the fake profiles, you’ll have a great time.

If you have any Twitter tips you would like to share with us, please comment below and at some point I will include these in a list, and credit you.

Lastly, check out Sharon Hays’ Blog for tons of Twitter information. She’s a pure Twitter professional, lovely person and her blog will help you get used to Twitter if you are new. Also, checkout Twitter 101 for some excellent information.

Recent Twitter Bots/Scammers

I will update this section of this post as new scams, bots and strategies change, so keep popping back for updats…

You will notice that they are now having conversations. But with other bots and they use rubbish English like ‘Howz U doin‘,  ‘I did dat last wk‘ and so on. If you click on the people they are following, you will notice the same bad grammar and spellings. Some of these new spammers are also now mimicking or pretending to be up and coming actors/actresses and celebs.

3rd Party Application Spam

I’ve noticed that spammers are now creating profiles and posting tweets via TweetDeck and CoTweet as well as TwitterFeed. Again, there is no real conversation and the posts are riddled with useless links and random tweets. You may also notice that the spammers and bots are now using lists to make them look like normal people. Be wary.

New fake profile using TweetDeck and using Lists

True Twit

This is not a danger, but I wanted to update you with this cool utility. If you are plagued by Twitter spam (or Twam) and you have had enough, you can try True Twit. True Twit has been around a while now and what it does is to verify anyone following you. So, if for example, I follow you, I’m sent a DM to click a link to verify that I am in fact a cool human being and wants to follow you because I think your cool. I don’t have to enter any of my Twitter details either.

True Twit - Helping stop Twitter Spam

True Twit also has a few neat options behind the scenes, where you can send a verification note to anyone on your list to whom you think may is a spammer or may have a fake profile, they are then sent a DM to verify themselves. The message that is sent is customisable, or you can use the default message. You can also unfollow people too. Signup today and help stop the spam.

http://www.truetwit.com.

Stay tuned for more info…

I have recently written a lot on social networking and have been asked on many occasions to justify what I write about, so here goes:

Social Networking is popular and packed with features, and yet it offers so little to so many. The favourite timewaster for many office workers, sites such as Facebook and MySpace offer swathes of features to keep you clicking around on the site without achieving anything other than leaking your personal data. Creating a bad first impression of yourself for potential employers and ruining your eyes.

Facebook is undergoing a new look, and is still incredibly popular. It contains an enormous database of college-educated users who use the site to keep in contact (a bit like email but more onerous), play silly games that suck the time out of their lives and upload private details and photos that should be kept private.  Even with the newly designed interface, Facebook still neglect to keep your privacy safe.

However, even if you’ve hardened your profile, someone still has access to this data. That someone is just as faceless to you as the guy or girl you’ve never met but wants to be your friend. That someone is Facebook itself.

So who are the faces behind Facebook, and why are they running a site that is essentially a massive database of personal details, surrounded by millions of users? Why have 3 US firms invested $25 Million (£50 Million) in a site that lets you play Zombie games, own strangers photographs, rate people you don’t know and befriend a paedophile or mentally ill person. How committed are these people to protecting your personal data? In the US, the New York Attorney General doesn’t think it’s committed enough (more on this later).

You must add this cool Application

Applications that Facebook allows to use its API, are also a danger. How do you know that the app that you have just added and invited all your friends to use were written by real developers? They could have easily been created for use by organised crime syndicates, hackers or companies wanting to collect your personal data for illegal use like Identity Theft, or to sell your information to the highest bidder on eBay.

In our own words

Even Facebook itself admits that it can’t keep users’ personal information completely secure. It’s privacy page says: “We are not responsible for the circumvention of privacy settings or security measures contained on the site.” The data that Facebook claims little responsibility for includes files on users who have signed up, as well as information about users who have been invited to join by excising users, even if they themselves have not run through the registration process. This in itself is dodgy. If I send your email address to a website, there is no good reason why that site should store it forever.

In fact, Facebook won’t store your email address forever, in this circumstance. However, you do have to take the initiative and contact the site directly, requesting that it removes the data about you that you did not send. It may not even be your friend’s fault that they sent your email address to the company. Signing Up involves a system that, if you gave a Gmail or Google mail account, it requests your Gmail password. Submit this, which is easy to do without realising the consequences, and the site will rifle through all your contacts and invite each one to be your Facebook friend. I, myself find this diabolical in an age where privacy matters.

If you are the sort of person who is concerned about the privacy fallout (if you’re not, you should be) from using store cards, which enable large companies to buy data on your shopping habits (bet you didn’t know that), sites such as Facebook should have you quaking with paranoiac fear. Do what no-one else does and read all of Facebooks terms and conditions. If you do, you may dig out little juicy nuggets such as the paragraph where Facebook reserves the right to investigate you and store the results of its research electronically.

Specifically, the site warns that it “may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services and other users on the Facebook service”. If it does this, it’s hard to imagine why this will be for your own benefit and it’s easy to see how it could cause problems. If nothing else, it’s unclear who else will have access to this research and its unclear as to how easy it would be for you to discover its extent and accuracy.

So, are networking sites a threat to your privacy and are they dangerous?

Using the internet to socialise electronically will not help create a new circle of friends. In fact, many young users will attract unwanted attentions of adult predators, and the sites they use fail to provide sufficient protection. These are the findings of myself, and academic researchers along with the New York Attorney General’s Office.

Facebook and MySpace encourage users to link to each other as ‘friends’ thus the term Networking. But many habitually choose  to go and interact with complete strangers. I myself use Facebook to research how its users behave when contacted by a stranger, most want to befriend you after the first or second message. I realised though, that just because you’ve become ‘friends’ with someone online, it doesn’t mean you are actually friends.

It’s so very easy to be deceptive online. A profile may look like someone is a genuine person, but what secrets lie behind the stare of their monitors? Not enough is done to educate people of the dangers of faceless interaction. I could just as easily pretend to be a 13 year old girl, befriending a young female of around the same age. I could also be a middle aged man, bereaved at the loss of a loved one, looking for the comfort of a stranger, but my motives could be more sinister.

The information that users plaster within their profiles can be dangerous. Anyone with mediocre computer skills can use this information to actually track you down and physically stalk you, or do something unimaginable to you. An example of this; I bought a pay-as-you-go SIM card for my mobile phone and put the new number on my Facebook profile. Within a couple of days, I had Facebook users I didn’t know, calling and sending text messages to it. If you’re a parent, do you know who is calling your child’s phone? Or more to the point, do you know who they are actually talking to, or who those people are added as ‘Friends’ in their list?

Naivety is no excuse

Whilst all this may sound obvious, many users of internet social networking (and even instant messaging) exhibit extreme naivety and will happily share personal information with people who are, effectively anonymous strangers. In September of 2007, the New York Attorney General’s office subpoenaed Facebook, accusing it of failing to protect young users from sexual predators.

Facebook failed to respond to complaints and noted several defects in the sites safety controls. When undercover investigators used the site posing as underage children, they were targeted by predatory adults and were also able to access pornographic content including video footage. Meanwhile, it was also noted that 3 convicted sex offenders were using Facebook, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Face the music

Facebook has had problems protecting its own data in the past. In August 2007 Facebook’s site suffered from some configuration problems, the result of which was that some of the programming code driving the site was exposed to the public. This provided an insight into how the site works, which in turn put users’ personal data at risk.

Facebook’s statement to this was: “a small fraction of the code that displays Facebook WebPages was exposed to a small number of users due to a single misconfigured web server that was fixed immediately. It was not a security breach and did not compromise user data in any way”.