Microsoft Hack Attack: A Wake Up Call Not to Reuse Passwords

Microsoft Hack Attack: A Wake Up Call Not to Reuse Passwords
Compose Your Twitter Tweets At Least 2 Characters Shorter
Square Business in a Box: All You Need to Accept Payments, Track Sales
The 5 Biggest Brands on Facebook And How They Do It
Are Google AdWords Offer Extensions Right for Small Businesses?
Where Future Entrepreneurs Are Living Today
Don’t Miss Out On Location Based Marketing (Infographic)

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST

Late last week, Microsoft announced it had been a victim of the same kind of hacking attacks reported recently by Apple and Facebook, and earlier this month by Twitter.

No Customer Data Compromised

In a public statement on Friday on its Security Response Center blog, Microsoft insisted the scope of the attack was fairly limited.

Matt Thomlinson, General Manager of Trustworthy Computing Security, wrote:

“During our investigation, we found a small number of computers, including some in our Mac business unit, that were infected by malicious software using techniques similar to those documented by other organizations. We have no evidence of customer data being affected and our investigation is ongoing.”

While Microsoft, Apple and Facebook insist no customer data was accessed during recent attacks, Twitter cannot make that claim. And last year, social networking giant LinkedIn experienced a highly publicized hacking in which millions of user passwords were potentially leaked.

A Wake Up Call

We’ve reported recently about the potential security dangers small businesses face online. One of the greatest of these may be the compromise of company data when passwords held by third parties are accessed.

For small business owners and staff who may have literally dozens of accounts ranging from social media to cloud apps, to PayPal to bank accounts, examples like these breaches should be a wake-up call. Why? Because of the dangers of something far too many users do: reuse of the same password across multiple accounts.

As Tom Espiner explained on ZDNet last July after a similar hack of Yahoo exposed the details of about 400,000 users, the real danger is how many other business accounts the hackers may have access to.

According to Espiner, 20 percent or one in five accounts compromised in the Yahoo breach matched the users’ Microsoft accounts — all thanks to password reuse. So in other words, when one account’s login information is revealed, it is as if the cyber attacker suddenly has a key to get inside other accounts.

If your business maintains multiple sensitive accounts, be sure they do not use the same passwords and other login information. Also, change passwords regularly.

Intruders gaining entrance to one account could gain entrance to your financial accounts and cloud apps containing your customer data. That’s a more dire consequence for your business than a single social media account being hacked.

The post Microsoft Hack Attack: A Wake Up Call Not to Reuse Passwords appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Compose Your Twitter Tweets At Least 2 Characters Shorter

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST

Twitter message

You will now need to make your Twitter verbiage a bit shorter, if you plan to include a link to a Web page in a tweet.

Twitter is now allowing you only 118 characters for a tweet (outside of the link itself). That’s two characters fewer than the 120-characters-plus-a-link we’ve all been used to. And if you’re sharing a link on Twitter from a secure Web page (one with an https URL), then you will have three fewer characters, or 117 characters – not counting the link.

The change, which went into effect February 20, 2013, is the result of the way Twitter shortens links. Links inside tweets will now be 2 or 3 characters longer, leaving less room for everything else.

Here is how it works:

Twitter tweets are limited to a total of 140 characters, including spaces, punctuation, words and any links.
When you include a link to a Web page in a tweet, Twitter wraps its URL shortener, t.co, around the link. Up to now, all t.co links have been 20 characters. That meant the rest of your tweet could be up to 120 characters, and still allow room for the link.
With this change, the verbiage of your tweets — not counting the link — will need to be no more than 118 (or sometimes 117) characters. A single link then will add another 22 characters (23 characters for https) — for a total up to the 140 character limit.
This is true even if you already use a link shortener, such as Bit.ly, Ow.ly or Goo.gl. That’s because Twitter automatically wraps ALL links, even previously shortened ones, in its own link shortener.

Here are two tips to make sure that your Twitter messages are not truncated unexpectedly:

1. Check your previously scheduled tweets – If you’ve scheduled tweets well in advance, go back and make sure you’ve left enough room for slightly longer links. Edit them if necessary.

2. Compose short titles – If you use the official Twitter tweet buttons on your blog or website, be careful about the length of your titles. An anatomy of a tweet using the official Twitter button might be as follows:

This is The Incredibly Long Title of Your Highly Detailed Article Trying to Convey Lots and Lots of Information http://t.co/2longtitle via @smallbiztrends

The above would be 154 characters. Twitter will truncate the title to fit the tweet into the 140 total character limit. Anything especially important at the tail end of the title — well, oops, it may get cut off. Make sure you put the most important words at the beginning of the title.

Keep titles short and pithy if you want to allow sufficient space for others to manually retweet your tweets (i.e., repeating your tweet and appending something like “RT @smallbiztrends” to it). If people have to rewrite your tweet to make it fit, they’ll probably just skip it.

We’ve long known that Twitter forces us to write more succinctly. With 2 or 3 characters fewer available outside of the links we share, we’ll have to be even more succinct.

The post Compose Your Twitter Tweets At Least 2 Characters Shorter appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Square Business in a Box: All You Need to Accept Payments, Track Sales

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST

Mobile payment system Square just debuted a new offering called "Square: Business in a Box," which is a package that includes essentially everything a small brick and mortar store would need to run its point of sale system: two Square card readers, an iPad stand, a cash drawer, and an optional receipt printer.

The business in a box system is made to accompany Square Register, the iPad app that helps merchants run a complete point of sale system and track sales activity. It is separate from Square Reader, which just allows any user to accept credit card payments from their mobile device with a small fee.

business in a box

The Square card readers are the only parts of the box that come directly from Square. But even though the other products come from third party providers, all of the items are set up to work seamlessly together on a wireless system.

The offering is meant to simplify the process of setting up point of sale systems for businesses. Previously, users could just obtain free Square card readers and would have to put together the rest of the pieces themselves, making sure that each piece of the system works well with the others.

Now, businesses can simply make one purchase and know that all the pieces fit and work together cohesively. According to Square, it should take just minutes for merchants to get their point of sale systems up and running.

As far as mobile payment providers go, this is one of the most complete systems available for businesses to accept payments and track sales. And while there are still more traditional options available, the business in a box method can still help save business owners the time and frustration involved in piecing together different hardware components from different manufacturers.

The basic paperless Business in a Box package costs $299 and doesn't include the receipt printer. The package that includes the receipt printer costs $599 and will allow businesses to print not only receipts, but also daily sales reports and summaries from their iPad.

The post Square Business in a Box: All You Need to Accept Payments, Track Sales appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The 5 Biggest Brands on Facebook And How They Do It

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST

Unless you're living under a rock, then you know that having a strong business Facebook page is important. To say that the subject of "how to use Facebook" has been covered at this point is an understatement.

It's been thoroughly exhausted.

So, I won't bore you with the standard list of tips. Let's approach this topic from a different angle by examining the five biggest brands on Facebook, what they're doing, and why it works. (Please note, the number of likes reflected below may have changed since the date of this publication.)

Facebook: 88,080,008 Likes

What: Facebook has a bit of an unfair advantage. After all, when you sign up for an account, one of the first things you're encouraged to do is "like" Facebook. Oh well. Facebook makes it worth your time by posting plenty of universally accessible content.

Why: The Facebook approach works because they tell stories of universal appeal. Never underestimate the power of letting people in on your corporate culture.

Coca-Cola: 59,768,606 Likes

What: The Coca-Cola Facebook page was actually started by two big Coke fans, Michael Jedrzejewski and Dusty Sorg. When Facebook mandated that brand pages had to be owned by the companies they represented, Coca-Cola was quick to hire on the pair as consultants. After all, they had garnered over 1 million fans.

Why: Coca-Cola's Facebook presence is so successful because it advocates a lifestyle of positive change and social good. Coke doesn't hawk its own products on Facebook, and neither should you.

MTV: 42,478,787 Likes

What: Believe it or not, this page actually only had 1 million "likes" in 2010. Now it has more than 42 million. MTV built its success on the drive to engage with users. With a page the size of MTV's, it's virtually impossible to connect with even the majority of users. However, the MTV Facebook crew works overtime to develop a very real and tangible connection.

Why: MTV is constantly reaching back to its demographic. Don't get too big for your britches; stay connected with the fans that reach out to you and choose to consume what you have to offer. If that means you must budget an hour per day for Facebook interaction, then do it.

Disney: 42,304,688 Likes

What: Disney truly has a universal appeal. After all, who else has made movies for your grandparents (when they were kids) as well as you and your children? Disney knows that they have a wide net to cast, but they do so in a smart way. They reach the exploding Facebook population by sharing content that bridges generations.

Why: The Disney page works because it explores milestones and historical marks, connecting nostalgia with the present. Even if your company is young, I'd like to urge you to start celebrating milestones and history now. It's a great way to connect with your fans.

Converse: 35,282,070 Likes

What: Converse is fairly new to this list, displacing Red Bull in the last few months. In their first year on Facebook, Converse grew from nothing to 30.5 million "likes" by encouraging their fans to create content with them.

Why: Converse knows that people aren't the target of content channels. People are the content channels. Treat your Facebook fans like valuable parts of your strategy, and not just the recipients, and you'll be all right.

Do you have any tips for business on Facebook?

The post The 5 Biggest Brands on Facebook And How They Do It appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Are Google AdWords Offer Extensions Right for Small Businesses?

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST

Google has just started rolling out a new AdWords advertising extension that will mean big opportunities for small businesses. AdWords Offer Extensions is a new ad extension that allows advertisers to add a discount offer or coupon to a standard Google search ad.

This is what an Offer Extension looks like:

adwords offer extensions

You can look for Adwords Offer Extensions, along with a bunch of other updates, in your AdWords account today:

If your account has been upgraded to support Enhanced Campaigns, then you'll find the Offer Extension in your AdWords account under Ad Extensions -> Offer Extensions.
Otherwise, all Google AdWords advertisers should have access to the new Offer Extensions by the end of February.

When users click your offer, they will be taken to a Google hosted landing page that shows your chosen offer details. From there, users can print the deal to use in-store or save it for later by sending it to their Google Offers account.

Small businesses in particular will benefit from this in-store redemption method, which provides local businesses with the ability to track and measure the impact of online advertising on in-store purchases – pretty awesome.

Benefits of Google Adwords Offer Extensions for Small Businesses

The Google Adwords Offer Extension has a lot of advantages for small businesses, such as:

Cheaper than posting a deal on Groupon or similar deal sites.
Advertisers maintain direct control over their deals.
Easy to set up through the familiar AdWords format.
Draw attention to an existing ad and features clickable buttons that encourage interaction.
Improve conversion tracking for in-store purchases.
Clicks on an offer cost the same as clicks on the regular ad.

What Kinds of Businesses Should Use AdWords Offer Extensions?

Any business or company that has used or considered using Groupon or Living Social in the past should use Offer Extensions. It’s a similar concept without the hassle and ridiculously high costs associated with daily deal sites.

For many local businesses, the in-store Offer Extensions will prove to be the most valuable since a big aspect of a local business's value exists in their location in relation to the consumer.

Overall, I think this simple (and relatively cheap) ad extension has great potential to drive in-store traffic and is a far better deal for small businesses.

The post Are Google AdWords Offer Extensions Right for Small Businesses? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Where Future Entrepreneurs Are Living Today

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST

future entrepreneurs If you are not running your own business today, do you plan to start one in the next three years?

Whether a person answers "yes" or “no” to this question depends a lot on where she is located. According to the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), a survey of nearly 200,000 adults in 69 nations, only 2 percent of people not currently running their own businesses in Japan and Russia intend to start one within the next three years. But 79 percent of non-entrepreneurs in Uganda intend to be in business for themselves within that time.

The large difference across countries in the fraction of the population that plans to start a business in the next few years raises the question: why?

The GEM report and data provide some tantalizing clues.

As the authors of the GEM report explain, a country's economic development level matters. In poor countries, a much larger fraction of the non-entrepreneur population intends to start businesses in the future. This pattern is consistent with an argument that I and others have made elsewhere. As countries get richer, the opportunity cost of starting a business rises, reducing the fraction of the population that wants to be self-employed.

While that argument might account for the much higher level of entrepreneurial intentions in Uganda than Japan, it doesn't explain why 13 percent of non-entrepreneurs in the United States intend to start businesses in the next three years, while only 2 percent in Japan do, or why such a small fraction of Russians plans to start a business in the coming years.

The GEM report provides data on three characteristics that might also matter. The first is the country's current rate of entrepreneurial activity. Across the 69 countries in the study, the current rate of new firm formation and the percentage of non-entrepreneurs planning to start a business in the next three years are correlated at 0.84. Places that have a high rate of start-up activity today are also places where more non-entrepreneurs intend to start businesses tomorrow.

The second characteristic is entrepreneurial capabilities. Across countries, the level of perceived start-up skills and non-entrepreneurs' start-up plans are correlated 0.80. Places where people think they know how to start businesses also tend to be places where people intend to start companies.

The third characteristic is how favorably society views entrepreneurship as an occupation. Across countries, the correlation between the perception of entrepreneurship as "a good career choice" and the fraction of the non-entrepreneurial population that intends to start businesses in the next three years is 0.69.

So what countries have the highest fraction of people intending to start businesses in the next three years?

Poor countries with currently high rates of start-up activism whose residents tend to perceive their entrepreneurial capabilities as strong and who see entrepreneurship as a good career option.

Globe Photo via Shutterstock

The post Where Future Entrepreneurs Are Living Today appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Don’t Miss Out On Location Based Marketing (Infographic)

Posted: 25 Feb 2013 03:00 AM PST

Recent data suggest real-time location based marketing is not only becoming more popular, it may also be more effective.

Restaurant, retail and travel businesses lead the way in this marketing segment and two variants of this marketing have shown impressive growth in the last year.

Location based ad platform Verve Mobile recently collected data from more than 2,500 of its U.S. mobile ad campaigns and released results indicating that two real-time location based marketing approaches – geofencing and geoaware targeting – had more than doubled in the past year from 17% in 2011 to 36% in 2012.

Real-Time Location Based Marketing

Geoaware marketing uses real-time location data collected from customers’ mobile devices to deliver targeted messages based on proximity to a particular location or business. Geofencing uses similar data to tailor specific marketing for individual customers based on proximity to a location or business they have regularly frequented.

According to Verve Mobile, the two techniques resulted in higher customer clickthrough rates than any competing location based marketing approach. Other location based marketing techniques like Designated Marketing Area, based on specific geographic market designations, remain dominant in the industry. Most likely, because they require less specifics and less real-time data about the locations customers can generally be found, reported eMarketer.

Still, some businesses that rely heavily upon drawing in local customers showed a particular affinity for real-time location-based campaigns like geoaware and geofencing, according to Verve Mobile data.

For example, restaurants were responsible for 43 percent of these ads over the past year, while the retail industry generated 32 percent of geolocation and 30 percent of geoaware ads, and the travel industry made up another 30 percent.

Local Search and Mobile Commerce

Additional data hinting at the importance of location based marketing real-time or otherwise isn’t hard to find.

The infographic feature below, created by real-time local product search platform Milo, shares data suggesting that shoppers with PCs, smartphones, and tablets average five times as many local searches a week as shoppers who own a PC only, while the majority of shoppers (56 percent) would prefer to travel no more than 10 minutes for a retailer.

[Click image for full infographic]

Another infographic on in-store mobile commerce from payment solutions provider Merchant Warehouse compiles information from a variety of sources suggesting that 73 percent of consumers use mobile phones in a stores, 38 percent of smartphone users have used their device to make in-store purchases and 21 percent of consumers search for mobile coupons on their smartphones while in the store.