Facebook Safety – Watch out for Landmines

Posted by on Dec 8, 2011 in Social Media | 0 comments

Facebook

It happens thousands of times each day. An unsuspecting victim clicks on an interesting link from a close friend on Facebook. Suddenly, the victim finds that their account has been compromised by hackers and is being used to spam others. The last thing you want your clients to see is that you have unwittingly posted inappropriate spam links on their wall. Facebook can be thought of as a minefield, but one that is worth crossing.

It seems that some people always fall prey to these scams and virus links. Others instinctively know what to avoid. How can you know what is safe to click? Here is a quick primer in Facebook safety:

 Avoiding Facebook Scams and Viruses

  • Often, risque pictures or unbelievable seeming headlines are bait for you to click. If something seems inappropriate for Facebook, or otherwise too good to be true, it probably is.
  • Anyone can have their account compromised. Even the most trustworthy friend could be unwittingly spreading spam or a virus.
  • Search engines can be your best friend. When you see a truly outrageous link on Facebook, something like “Britney Spears Eats 4 Foot Long Spider,” try searching for the headline in a search engine. You will almost immediately be able to tell if there is a real article out there or not. If the link is a scam or a virus, you are likely to see results that say so. Facebook spam is spread by clicking links within Facebook. Your anti-virus software can protect you when you browse on search engines, but it cannot protect the integrity of your Facebook account.
  • Be careful when granting permissions to applications within Facebook. As we all learned from Farmville and its many clones, you might actually be agreeing to fill your clients’ newsfeeds with spam. It is better to avoid any Facebook games on an account you use for professional purposes. (PROTIP: It is really easy to get other people’s game achievements to stop showing up on your newsfeed. Click the drop-down icon in the top right of any post. At the bottom of the menu, there will be an option to hide all updates from that application. Click it and Farmville/Bananaville/OtherGame is gone.)
  • If you think you have clicked something that you should not have, your first step should be to change your Facebook password. Many of the hacks and exploits on Facebook stop working if you change your password.
  • If you suspect you may be spamming others, quickly follow up to apologize.

With all the spam that can be found on Facebook, it sometimes seems like the site is more risk than reward. However, an educated and safe approach to social networking allows you to access invaluable tools for reaching new clients.
 
Image courtesy of codemastersnake licensed via Creative Commons.
 

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Avoid Legalese: Write for Clients, Not Law Partners

Posted by on Nov 30, 2011 in Marketing, Social Media, Writing Style | 0 comments

Writing

Law school forces you to change the way you write, the way you speak, and even the way you think. Lawyers are expected to be able to speak precisely and understand complicated legal nuances. Clients, on the other hand, are known to tell wandering stories instead of relating a coherent set of facts. The slightest difficulty in understanding legal terminology or concepts can cause them to shy away. It is for this reason that you must always beware of the tone and complexity of anything you direct towards clients.

Often, a client’s first interaction with you might come from reading your website or a blog post. A client is looking for someone who understands them and their problems. It is important that you come across as human, and not a scholar sitting in an ivory tower. At the same time, care must be taken to avoid insulting your readers’ intelligence. These principals are true for all forms of writing directed at clients, whether it is a letter or a Facebook post.

In Torts class during my first year of law school, I came across the most needlessly complicated sentence I had ever seen. It came from an old British case about animals falling off of a boat, Gorris v. Scott. This may be the most convoluted thing a judge has ever written:

The argument of the defendant is, that the Act has imposed penalties to secure the observance of its provisions, and that, according to the general rule, the remedy prescribed by the statute must be pursued; that although, when penalties are imposed for the violation of a statutory duty, a person aggrieved by its violation may sometimes maintain an action for the damage so caused, that must be in cases where the object of the statute is to confer a benefit on individuals, and to protect them against the evil consequences which the statute was designed to prevent, and which have in fact ensued; but that if the object is not to protect individuals against the consequences which have in fact ensued, it is otherwise; that if, therefore, by reason of the precautions in question not having been taken, the plaintiffs had sustained that damage against which it was intended to secure them, an action would lie, but that when the damage is of such a nature as was not contemplated at all by the statute, and as to which it was not intended to confer any benefit on the plaintiffs, they cannot maintain an action founded on the neglect. Gorris v. Scott. [1874] 9. L.R. (Exch.) 125 (emphasis added).

This sentence does not sound like it was written by or for a person who has ever been outside. This passage, re-written for human consumption, could simply read: “In order to use a statute against a defendant in a negligence per se case, that statute must be intended to protect the type of victim actually hurt from the type of harm actually incurred.” When writing for public consumption, I recommend reading this absurd passage from time to time to remember what to avoid. If your client is ever forced to parse the meaning of “it is otherwise; that if, therefore, by reason of,” they will quickly find another lawyer.

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