We are not alone. (Image courtesy of Crazy Mandi from WANA Commons)

Many of you know about #MyWANA. I started this hashtag for a number of reasons. First, I felt that Twitter was far too full of spam. People needed a place where they could just talk to people and make new friends. Writing is a very lonely business and originally #MyWANA was a place that, when we took a break, we could always count on finding some friendly WANA to talk to. This was very useful for teaching Twitter noobs why Twitter was such a great tool. Some lone writer who had no friends could instantly become part of a community of love and support.

#MyWANA was the Love Revolution.

Lately? I believe Twitter is becoming less and less effective because of various applications like Social Oomph, Hoot Suite, and Triberr. Applications like these have even seriously hurt #MyWANA. These tools promise us this ease of automation, but I feel that people use them to be lazy (Hashtags & The Trouble with Twitter Tribbles). In fact, the link spam has gotten SO BAD on #MyWANA that people no longer go there to hang out, and that, to me, is tragic.

#MyWANA used to be a rare beacon of light on Twitter, and now it looks like every other spam-littered hashtag. Even people who claim to be WANAs have automated link after link after link. They have time to automate link spam on #MyWANA, but not enough time to come and talk to people, and today I am saying, “Enough.”

Tough Love

I’ve been kind and hinted and nudged but today I am reclaiming my hashtag. My hashtag, my rules. I tried being nice, but from this point on I will report and block any automation on #MyWANA. We set up the #WANAblogs hashtag for those who wanted to program using tools. This was to free up #MyWANA for community. Today I am enforcing that. So anyone who has programmed to tweet on #MyWANA, please change that because, as of Monday I will block and report any automation on #MyWANA. 

No Love, No Community

Here is the thing, I am really trying to help. #MyWANA doesn’t work if people aren’t on there caring, sharing and connecting. If we all just automate the #, then every tweet becomes white noise, another blast of self-promotion in a sea of me, me, me, me, look at me!

We cannot expect from others what we, ourselves, are unwilling give.

I recall being at Thrillerfest and a fellow writer was trying to convince me why I was wrong about tools. The conversation went something like this.

WOMAN: Yes, but this tool lets me program my tweets throughout the day so that I can tweet while I’m away.

ME:  So you’re a bot.

WOMAN: Oh, no. I’m not. I actually write all my tweets. I just program them to tweet throughout the day, like I said.

ME: Okay, but if you tweet and I respond, then no one is there, correct?

WOMAN: Uh, no. No one is there.

ME: And I assume you tweet links to your blog and buy your books?

WOMAN: Yes. Yes, I do.

ME: So you are automating links to read your blogs and buy your books, and the only way that works effectively is if I am actually present on Twitter so I can follow these links. Correct?

WOMAN: Um…yes?

ME: So basically you want something from me that you are unwilling to give. You are too busy and important to be on Twitter, whereas I have nothing better to do than to follow your links.

WOMAN: Oh, I see what you mean.

Here is the thing, on social media, less is more. It is actually BETTER for us to only tweet one or two times a day and it be really US than it is to program tweets. Our society is SO inundated with spam that we aren’t helping ourselves with automation. If anything, we are hurting our brand every time we send out an automated tweet. Remember what brand is:

NAME + CONTENT + POSITIVE FEELINGS = BRAND

If every time people see our name float by they associate it with spam, automation and self-promotion, that is BAD. It is estimated that there are 250 billion messages generated every day on the Internet, and 80% of those messages are spam. We have been trained to ignore this stuff, so it doesn’t WORK. 

What it Means to Be a WANA

WANAs are different.  We believe in service and community. We give first. #MyWANA should reflect that. Originally, when it was a thriving community, people paid attention to the links. Now? We have too many bots in WANA clothing. We should not demand the benefits of WANA unless we act like a WANA.

The way #MyWANA originally worked, we didn’t have to automate because our team went looking for our links to RT. If we had a fellow WANA we knew worked during the day, we would scroll the feed and look to RT it in the morning and afternoon. We served. That is the point of WANA.

Either we are going to rely on our team or bots. We cannot have both.

Anyway, I apologize that it has come to this. I know that, on WANATribe (the social network I started for writers and creative professionals), I have heard many WANAs upset that the #MyWANA is infested with bots. Yes, I want as many people as possible to join WANATribe, but WANATribe has its own unique function. Twitter is a very useful tool, especially if approached the WANA Way so I am unwilling to just abandon #MyWANA and Twitter.

What is the WANA Way? 

Service above self. Also, apply the Rule of Three: 1/3 Information (link to your blog), 1/3 Reciprocation (RT for someone else), 1/3 CONVERSATION. This is the one component that is most overlooked, and yet, especially in the Digital Age, when we are so programmed to ignore advertising, this component is the most important.

I am sorry it has come to this. I know there are probably people who have spammed #MyWANA unintentionally. No hard feelings. Just please change that in your automation. I have made clear how I feel about automation, and how I am really against any automation with hashtags, but that is my opinion. I have no say over other #s, but I do have a say over #MyWANA.

As of Monday I will block and report any automation on #MyWANA. I encourage those WANAs who have been grieving the loss of our beloved community to stand up and reclaim territory.

1. Feel free to block any automation on #MyWANA. Feel free to give warning. Maybe send a link to this post.

2. Talk! I have had a lot of WANAs talk to me on Twitter yet not use the #MyWANA. If we don’t use the # then people can’t see or join the interaction.

3. Talk more often. If we will get on there and connect, then we will crowd out the link spam. It doesn’t take that long to hop on and tweet three conversational tweets. “Wow, congratulations on the word count.” “Man, how can I always forget to eat lunch?” “I can’t wait until I can train my cat to fold laundry.”

I have no problems with tweeting a link on #MyWANA if the person tweeting is active and present. I often tweet my blog on #MyWANA but then I immediately start talking so people know I am not a bot. TweetDeck tattles on us, and I can see what tools people are using. If I see Triberr in the #MyWANA feed, I know the person is not present. As of Monday, I start blocking and reporting.

I refuse to follow or RT any automation. I encourage others who want Twitter to be authentic to do the same. Refuse to feed the beast.

Anyway, Happy Friday and I want you guys to feel encouraged. #MyWANA is a fun, enjoyable, supportive place to gather. The only way it will remain that way is if we step up and defend it. I look forward to hanging out again with you at #MyWANA. I genuinely DO care about your lives and want to know you as people.

So what are your thoughts? Have you missed the #MyWANA mojo? Are you frustrated by bots? What are your suggestions?

I love hearing from you!

The post Without Love there is No Community–Taking Back #MyWANA appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

We live in a wonderful world, an amazing time with infinite possibilities. Writers have more power than ever before in the whole of human history. Many of us are explorers in a New World, charting unknown territories in a realm with no boundaries. The Digital World has no limits, because its genesis is human imagination and human art, which also has no limits. What the mind can believe, technology can achieve.

Every new territory comes with the splendors never seen, the resources never tapped, the powers never before harnessed. All of this is wonderful, but I wish all art was beautiful. All art is human and all art has intent, but some intent is, well, evil. Some art qualifies as a dark art. Its intent is to steal, to create havoc, to harm.

They are called con artists for good reason.

I don’t understand these individuals, and I suppose the nature of evil is for the psychologists and theologians to debate. I can’t explain why there are those in this world who will hurt people they’ve never met or steal with no concern to what devastation they might create. But, these crooks are there, they are a real threat, and I’m here today to help you guard against attacks.

Hey, I may be a Lamb, but I’m no sheep

Not only am I going to offer tools to keep you as safe as possible, but I am also going to give ways we can look out for each other and for those who might not know better. There are digital sheep, digital wolves, but today I want to train you guys to be digital sheepdogs. We aren’t passive, but we are protective and we are on guard to protect those around us.

Mom, I’m happy you’re on FB, but please stop talking to the “nice man from the bank in Nigeria.”

Hackers and Phishers Use Emotion

One common tactic used by hackers and phishers, is they seek to get us upset. If they can scare us or momentarily panic us, we are far more likely to part with sensitive information without thinking.

This past Friday, I received an automated phone call from Sprint. The computer asked for me to press 1 if I was the person with the Sprint account ending in blah blah blah. The computer voice gave a number (supposedly the ending 4 digits on my account number), but how many of us are running around with our account numbers memorized? Most of us aren’t and the bad guys are counting on that. They bluff.

So then the computer tells me that some recent changes have been made to my account and that this call was to verify that I was the one who made the changes.

See how they want to get me upset?

They want me to think Oh no! Someone has hacked my account! I need to get to the bottom of this RIGHT NOW!

The next question the computerized voice asked was the red flag. It wanted me to punch in the billing zip code for the credit card my phone bill was registered under so they could verify I was the holder of the account and help me get the problems sorted.

Yeah, uh no.

Companies Will NOT Call YOU and Ask for What They Already Know

If I’d had any doubts this was a hacker before, all doubts evaporated. Any time a company you do business with calls you, they will NEVER ask for sensitive information that they can call up with a few keystrokes. Yes, they will ask for it when we call them because they are verifying we are not phishers.

BUT, if MasterCard or American Express or Sprint or AT&T CALLS YOU, they will already have that information and will never ask for it. If they do, hang up and CALL THEM to make sure who you are talking to.

Alert Those in the Know

This is what I did. I hung up, called Sprint and asked if recent changes had been made. Of course, there hadn’t been. So at this point I gave the folks at Sprint the phone number where I received the call and turned the problem over to them. Someone might have already hacked their accounts. They needed to make sure no one had breached their firewalls, and that, if there had been a breach, that it was contained and sealed and the threat eliminated.

I was being a sheepdog. Sheep either get eaten by wolves (hand over account information) or they go back to munching grass (playing Farmville). Digital sheepdogs go alert those in charge that wolves are sniffing the perimeter.

Sprint might have been fine and this was just a random attack. Ah, but if Chinese spies can hack into the major oil companies and defense companies, there is no reason that programming cannot be easily adapted as malware that could have infected Sprint. Sprint (or any company) can’t fight the problem until they know there is a problem.

If someone is a suspected bot on Twitter, we should block and report them. If they try to phish our account, we need to report them. If we get odd e-mails that seem like phishing on Facebook, we must report it.

Digital Wolves WILL Wear Digital Sheep Clothing

So thieves will try to upset you. This will get you to react and hand over sensitive information. One of the ways they can get this reaction is by posing as an authority. For instance, I had this pop up on my Facebook:

Now, 99% of the time I am multitasking and have a toddler trying to scale the back of my head like the Matterhorn. Do you see how EASY it would be to catch me off guard and hack my account? Looks official…but look closer.

See how they tried to embarrass and upset me? These creeps know that most of us are good and decent and follow the rules. We were the kids who would have cried if we were threatened with a visit to the Principal. These trolls use what is good an noble about us to attack us. They will use our respect for authority against us if we let them.

I have also had a pop up appear when I went to get on Tweet Deck. The pop up from “Tweet Deck Security” was there to inform me me that my account had been suspended for suspicious spamming activity, but that they were sure it was all a misunderstanding. If I just typed in my password, they would make sure everything was sorted and my account would be unlocked.

I closed the window, logged out and logged back in. My account was fine. This was an attack.

If They Can’t Bait You with Bosses, They’ll Bait You with Buddies

Another common ploy is to come disguised as our “friends.”

The friend phisher will send a DM (direct message) about rumors about you or a nasty review or wild pictures and a link. The hacker is disguised as a fellow member of the herd. Baaaahhhhhh. Someone is saying baaaaaad things about you.

“I’m your friend so I am discreetly telling you so you can go tell them what for.”

No, they are a hacker, and, if you hit that link, your computer is toast. Malware will be all over you like fleas on sheep.

If you get a DM like this, be a sheepdog. Look out for your peeps. Tell them you are getting strange messages and alert them to change their passwords (Something more than seven digits with a number is a good choice). DM them back, but even if you can’t? No one will mind a, “Hey, I tried to DM you but I can’t. You might want to change your password. Getting weird DMs from you.”

This Also Applies to E-Mail

If you get an e-mail from a friend and there is only a link, DO NOT CLICK. If they write a message that seems out of character, DO NOT CLICK. REPLY ALL and alert everyone on the e-mail that this is likely a phisher and tell the sender to change her password immediately. Put in the subject line Re: THIS IS A PHISHER!!! DO NOT CLICK THE LINK!!!

Either the sender will come back and verify he really did send just a link; it was for a dancing squirrel and he hit “send” before he typed a message OR he can change his password and keep hackers from getting in any deeper.

If a friend e-mails for help because she is stranded (and you are unsure if this is really the person), feel free to e-mail back and tell the friend to call you. Since you are friends, then she should have your number.

DO NOT Forward on Cutesy E-Mails

Ever get those messages with a picture of an angel and you have to send to 25 friends in the next ten minutes if you want a miracle…but if you don’t forward the message the note promises that you will be hit with some form of bad luck? DO NOT PASS THESE ON. Hackers use these types of messages to get a hold of addresses.

How else could that cousin in Uganda who wants to will you a million dollars find you?

If you do get some really cute story in your e-mail and you REALLY want to pass it on, just copy and paste into a new e-mail. Hackers already don’t work for a living, why make their life on Easy Street easy?

Play Games at Your own Risk

There are all kinds of games on Facebook. We can join causes or keep up with high school peeps, but often it requires granting permission to an application to have access to our information. Not all of this is nefarious, since if I am an application that wants to connect alumni, I need that information.

But these applications are gateways for hackers and phishers, too. I don’t play games like Farmville for that reason (frankly, it’s also because I don’t have time). But any of those games are a risk, so be alert and don’t just grant access to anyone. I rarely join ANYTHING that wants access to my account information, even if it will make life easier.

We have to do the cost-benefit analysis. Sure we can have fun, or an ease of access….but we can also grant fun and ease of access to thieves.

Don’t Use Tweet Validation Services and DO NOT FOLLOW People Who do

I don’t like any service that directs people to an outside page. Anything that directs us off Twitter is vulnerable and can be hijacked. We could be redirected to a copycat site that is there to capture information.

We don’t need validation services. It is not THAT hard to unfollow bots. If someone follows us then they spam us, it takes two clicks to report and block them.

If I follow someone and I get A DM that I need to click a link to prove I’m a real person? I move on. That is a good way to get hacked. And, since I don’t like people making me vulnerable to attack, I just make it my policy to not open any of YOU to attack.

It’s being a good TweepDog.

So to sum up:

1. Never give information to any unconfirmed source.

2. If a message upsets you, calm down before giving any information. Thieves want us reactive. Remain CALM AND PROACTIVE.

3. Never click on any outside link. Ignore validation services. There are plenty of people who won’t make you jump through hoops and open you up to viruses who will befriend you.

4. USB drives are classic tools for getting malware through a firewall. If you don’t trust where a drive came from, don’t insert it into your computer.

5. Always report any attempts to gain access to your information or accounts.

6. Keep an eye out for friends, family and members of your network. Alert them if it seems their account has been compromised.

7. Do NOT use any outside validation services. This opens those in your network to hackers.

Social media is, above all else, SOCIAL. It is far easier to relax and have a good time if we aren’t having our bank accounts emptied. Remember, they call those people con artists for a reason. They will be cunning, clever and quick…but we can be educated and work together.

Please post this blog to your networks, send it to friends and family so they know how to stay safer. The more educated we all are, the safer we are. Together we are stronger.

Have you ever been hacked or phished? What did you do? How did it make you feel? I know I don’t know everything, so what are some tips YOU guys would recommend? I know there are some computer geniuses in my following. Help us out. What are some more ways we can stay safe? How can we better look out for one another?

I LOVE hearing from you!

And to prove it and show my love, for the month of April, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. If you leave a comment, and link back to my blog, and mention my book We Are Not Alone in your blog…you get your name in the hat THREE times. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly.

I will pick a winner every week for a critique of your first five pages. At the end of April I will pick a winner for the grand prize. A free critique from me on the first 15 pages of your novel. Good luck!

I also hope you pick up copies of my best-selling books We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer . And both are recommended by the hottest agents and biggest authors in the biz. My methods teach you how to make building your author platform FUN. Build a platform and still have time left to write great books.

The post Staying Safe in the Digital World–Digital Sheep Get Sheared & Slaughtered appeared first on Kristen Lamb.