Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
As a well connected lady in the Twin Cities area (and sometimes internationally!)…I get invitations to many new social media/networking sites. In the past two years, I have seen these grow immensely. Here is a short list of thoughts and ideas for you to keep in mind when joining up to a new social media/networking site.
BUT WE ARE DIFFERENT: Most sites entice you into saying that they are the not like other sites. I beg to differ, as I have yet to find one that is really any different than the big 3, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They usually want you to create a profile and then add in your contacts, or rather..upload your contacts. This is where I am now cautious. A couple of years ago, Plaxo asked me to upload my contacts and I did, but then just a week later I lost interest completely in Plaxo (didn’t see value when I compared it to LinkedIn) and then wondered if all those contacts would get my invites and see me not participating.
TRY IT FIRST: Create a profile first, then check out the program for a few weeks before uploading your contacts. Make sure that you want to promote this site and back it up as a verified social media site (because that is what you really are doing, is promoting them to get more contacts) Then, make sure you participate!
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR: Watch your emails after you join the site. See if they send you offers to stay on for free, but can get many advantages for upgrading your package. Be somewhat leary, these upgrades are usually nothing more than getting space to put up a video or have “advanced” options such as more messages to send out or something of the like. I have actually lost track of all the bonuses you get because most of them have no value if you don’t have a large network of people. And for me, why move all my contacts from one large social media/networking site to another? LinkedIn has worked for me and I will stay put!
MERCHANT CIRCLE: what’s the buzz on that? I have been signed up for their messages for some time now. They are one of the sites that I see the most that appears the most reputable. I am watching them closely as I still need to figure out the “value” they give versus other sites. I do notice that they have the “Mayor of Merchant Circle” each week. To me, it appears to be a competition of who has the most contacts. Each week, it’s usually the same guy, standing by a truck who owns a construction type business. Looks like he is also one of the original founders of the Twin Cities site. So of course he’s going to win, he’s the one who puts in the most time! It would be like me sending out an announcement on LinkedIn each week to the LinkedMinnesota group saying I am the mayor of Linkedin and not giving others a chance to win. The people who are the founders or managers of such groups, should not win contests such as these (in fact, at all LinkedMN events, staff and volunteers are not allowed to win any door prizes). Therefore, I have not decided to complete my profile and upload my contact list because of two reasons:
They want more people on Merchant Circle, so giving them your contacts is a handy way to promote them by you inviting others to your circle. And then you get to compete to be #1 and get your name on the mayor plate, but how can you when the Mayor is always the guy by the truck? Is anyone making money off Merchant Circle anyway? If you are, let me know! I have wondered that as well, and am still watching that site. I will add, the one thing that I do enjoy from them is that they send out promotions for companies under the Merchant Circle name and I would like to find out more about that type of advertising, as it is probably costly…I will hold back until I do more research on it.
TO CLOSE: Is it good for your SEO (search engine optimization) to join all these sites? Not too much. I have joined a few to test them out and never see my info on those sites when I google my business. It may help if you are very active, but I have yet to see my Plaxo account come up in Google ever.
For those that participate on Craigslist (and I have for many years), we are all more than familiar with the latest scams. If you post an ad with your email, be prepared for fake emails that come back to you (telling you to check out fake links, etc).
Now that I have opened a second location, I have to put up my credentials for those that want to hire us, so therefore…I get even more spam. But the spam I have seen in the past few days is not something I am familiar with. Here is an example of the email I am getting…
Dear Member, The following is an e-mail sent to you by Craigslist Team.
We have recently revised our terms of use, adding new provisions and additional information about our services. You must update your account and accept our terms of use – Log In Here (I took out the link to the fake Craigslist page) Your account will be blocked, if you don’t accept our terms of use. Thanks!
Here is a picture of the fake link.
I have Malwarebytes with real time protection installed on this computer, so of course I felt safe clicking on the link. I am not sure where it would take me, but I do have an official Craigslist login for business purposes. If I had logged in, I am not sure what would have happened. So I stopped with my testing at this point. If I had logged in, the scammer would have had my account information and maybe posted fake ads or done something else malicious.
Just giving my people a heads up, this is FAKE. Do not click on it or put in your information!
Click here to book an appointment! (in case you don’t trust your own antivirus products, want Malwarebytes or SUPERAntiSpyware installed, just want your system checked or have a full computer cleaning done because your computer is running sluggish or slow)
Hello everyone and good morning! Today’s blog is about the “Think Point” virus that is out and about causing havoc for many people.
Here is what we know about it at Call That Girl.
Most folks that I have asked, have gotten it by going on the msn website. They are clicking on links that are redirecting them to a fake download of Microsoft Security Essentials. They are not downloading that file though, instead they are downloading a fake alert, or rather….annoyance.
The annoyance is a full window screen that has the look and feel of Microsoft products with the words Think Point right in the center of the screen. You basically cannot use your computer at this point. This is a software repair, you should not need to haul your computer to a store to get this repaired! We have taken 6 calls so far since this was virus was released, around Oct 20th.
Please keep our numbers handy so if you get this virus, you can call us and we can remote in and repair it. Since you have no access to your desktop, we will walk you through a short series of troubleshooting to get back to your computer and then move on with the removal….and we throw in a computer cleaning for those folks, so you get a 22pt tune-up done as well!
612-865-4475
->TEXT THAT GIRL
For those that are texters, feel free to add this number 6128654475 to your phone and text us the next time you have a problem! This is GREAT for when your computer goes off the internet/and or just crashes.
I did! I woke up today pretty happy to see my Blackberry already full of celebration, then watched the emails flood in all day. It was pretty much non-stop while I was working and training the new assistant. I thought for a minute that I would have time to thank everyone, but that was not the case. I got so many that it was overwhelming. Exciting in one sense but on the other hand, if this was a real birthday party in person, and all my friends there, I would be dead on the floor from birthday shots!
Well, I can see times are changing for this old lady. Twenty years ago, when I was 22, I didn’t care about phone calls, I just wanted to hit the bar and have a big party. This year, I had dinner with my family, got tons of “Happy Birthdays” on Facebook, LinkedIn and emails and only one phone call from a friend that isn’t on Facebook much (and would be in huge trouble if he hadn’t called). I did also call a friend in Cali after she sent me a Happy Birthday because I knew she was home (some friends are hard to catch).
Would I have been super lonely today on my birthday without Facebook? Or would I have been out on the town with the real faces of my friends? Toss up. I’m 42. I probably would be doing what I’m doing right now, watching reality tv and catching up on emails lol. Then land of the old lady! *gasp*
To close…It was really cool to see people from all over my lifespan of lifestyles, jobs, high school, college, past internet messageboards, and people from all my past stories be in one place, for my one day a year that is my favorite day.
Thank you everyone who made me smile, with every email. Enjoy your fall season folks, it’s my favorite season!
Probably, but should you do anything about it is the question. I had a client yesterday that told me that her computer has been making noises for a long time. I asked how old it was and she said it was from 2005. Well, it’s five years old now. In computer life, that’s about 80 years old. Just like dogs live every 7 for our 1, computers have even shorter lives that dogs. If an average desktop computer runs 7 years without major malfunction (which most can, if taken care of right), then at age five, the computer is showing signs of aging.
Should this client get it looked at? At this point, it could be a simple fix, or an expensive fix. Would I put the money into it to see if it would last? Probably not too much with it being five years old. I just don’t see it worth it when the next thing that will probably go wrong, it the hard drive. And with labor and new hard drive, that’s approx $150 and up. New desktops that are “average” are $300-$400 brand new. But if you are concerned and want to see if it’s a simple fix, you can try a few things.
The computer may be running hot with processes and programs, so the hardware is working harder. A computer cleaning would maybe help that. During a Call That Girl computer cleaning, we also do a few system/memory checks and help you back up your data, just in case that computer does just shut down one day. (Which is worth it’s weight in gold if you’re not backing up or doing it properly!)
We can also walk you through helping you dust out the inside of the desktop unit or blow out the laptop air vents. Many times, the vents just need a good dusting! Or the desktop computer has TONS of dust in it from years of sitting around. I have seen miracles happen with a can of Dust Air.
If you want to try dusting out the computer yourself, here are some simple ways to do it.
If you have a computer that is sluggish and slow/running hard, feel free to call/email us to book an appointment and have it checked out.
That’s it for today, have a great Tuesday!
