Norton Safe Web
BetaYour Scan Results:
We examined your feed and scanned each link shared within the past 24 hours. Here are the results:
Links Checked: 26 links shared within the past 24 hours. Safe: 22 Warning: 0 Untested: 4
Ronald Reagan's signature quote was "Trust, but verify". It couldn't be any truer than on Facebook.
One of the biggest headaches with the social network Facebook is the Spammy Apps that your friends can share not knowing what path they are leading you down. I just saw that one of my friends, who will remain nameless ran across one of those nefarious links that sent them hunting the 'delete' for the post.
Normally I would not send or suggest an App on Facebook, but Symantec the maker of Norton Antivirus has the Norton Safe Web App (http://apps.facebook.com/nortonsafeweb/) on Facebook as a free service. It does a respectable job checking the links before you click them. It is still in Beta and could use a little refinement. If a link is untested it is a good sign not to click until they do check it.
Another layer of protection I have done was create a Posterous that can be set to post my links, photos and notes to Facebook. My thoughts behind this is that if you are in question if the link is from me you can jump to the "Read more on Posterous" link or come to jeffmanes.com to make sure that I posted it. I do verify and check before I trust and share.
Posterous is a free service that you can use as easy as an e-mail. The site also has a bookmarklet you can share with while surfing the Internet.
As I mentioned earlier, from your Posterous you can also have the service post your links to Facebook plus Twitter, your photos to Flickr or Picasa and your videos to YouTube without any extra effort after you have enabled those networks.
You friends can also comment and share your post on Posterous with their Facebook or Twitter log-in just as easy. There are no extra learning curve for them to interact with you.
I pointed a domain to my Posterous, but it is not a requirement, it was just a step for convenience. If you want a domain with your name, your family's name or business just go to an Internet domain name register - there are many out there. I used www.GoDaddy.com. For under $10 you will have one and you can 'point' the A record to your Posterous and be up and running in no time at all. I will post instructions for changing the A Record from Godaddy in another post, it is fast and simple like using Posterous.
Stay safe this Fourth of July weekend and on Facebook.
