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You love your social media. I know you do, the studies don’t lie. Did you know the average person checks Facebook or Twitter before they even brush their teeth in the a.m? Guilty as charged.
It’s nothing to be ashamed of (only because I do it too) it’s just the way life rolls these days. But there are times when our power circle is infiltrated by hackers, spammers, and other unsavory types. If this ever happens to you, here’s some steps to take back control. Like one of my guru favs Guy Kawaski says (paraphrasing) “My blog is like my swimming pool and hackers and spammers are like a turd in my pool….”
Well said, Guy.
The number one thing you should do if you suspect you may have been hacked (or just accidentally clicked something questionable) is change your password. Here are some other tactics for when these turds infiltrate your social media pool;
Google+: Go to your Circles page. Click on the person you want to block, then hit the actions button over to the right. And then block! Change your password.
Facebook: The best course of action is to BLOCK. Blocking them prevents not only viewing things you share on your timeline, but also doing things like start a Facebook chat or message with you.
To block someone:
- Click at the top right of any Facebook page.
- Click How do I stop someone from bothering me?
- Enter the name or email address of the person you want to block and click Block.
People will not be notified when you block them.
Twitter Hackers: Ever received a message from a friend saying “I think you’ve been hacked on Twitter.” Unfortunately the hacker dorks seem to like Twitter as their playground. If this happens to you, here’s the steps to take to regain control of your account:
Change your password ASAP. Some hacking is as mild as sending spammy comments about weight-loss or suspicious links like “OMG look at this hilarious video of you!” Those can be salvaged by changing of your password.
When it’s more serious: When the situation becomes serious is when hackers commandeer your account, change your twitter handle, the photo, the overall appearance and then start tweeting their own garbage:
Go here: http://support.twitter.com// and report your hacked account – they will have some steps for you and you will get a ticket. If you don’t get response after a day, just keep replying with the fact that you are still hacked.
Utilize Hootsuite to damage control and let other know you’ve been hacked as soon as possible. You may want to also keep in mind that blocking someone on social media may not prevent all communications or interactions with them. They may still try to thrust their turdy-ness on you via email or groups since blocking on social media only affects those platforms, not elsewhere on the web.
Has your social media ever been hacked? What did you do to resolve the situation?
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