Category: Social Media

Using Skype during Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown

tinsleyNET Admin
Skype 2019

Using Skype to keep in touch with relatives and other loved ones while being socially isolated is going to require some planning. It’s great to be able to use the phone and text messages to keep in contact, but it’s a lot more reassuring and rewarding to be able to see your family and friends, and Skype is the way to do it.

Skype

There are a number of video calling platforms available, we review some of them here, but none are as universally well known, and supported, as Microsoft’s Skype.

Unlike Apple’s FaceTime, Skype can be used on any phone, Android or Apple, it can be used on tablets, laptops, computers, games consoles, direct from the web and even on smart TV’s

It’s a reliable platform to use, it’s free and it allows you to video call upto 50 users at once.

Getting Started

https://go.skype.com/get.skype.page

If you’ve not already got a skype account, you’ll need to create one. The easiest way to do this is through the app, so follow the links below to find the app that works best for you. Skype can be installed on several devices at the same time, so you don’t need to pick just one.

Windows 10

If you’ve got a Windows 10 online account (you can log in with an email address – go to On the website

https://www.skype.com/

https://web.skype.com/

Skype on the website works for anyone using Microsoft Edge, Edge Chromium or Google Chrome browsers.

Windows 10 App

Skype

Install from the Microsoft App Store

This is the easiest way to get Skype on Windows 10 machines.

The app installes from the app store and runs as a native Windows 10 WUA app (a bit like apps on your phone)

You can get to all the features of Skype from this app, including managing your account, but some links will open up in your web browser so may require you to sign in again.

Windows, Linux or Mac desktop/laptop computers

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Running the Skype for desktop app is pretty much the standard way of getting Skype on non Windows 10 computers, although you can still install the program on Windows 10, the app version above is a much better alternative.

Mobile Phones (Android & iPhone)

Group Chat440px Min1

Getting the Skype app on your mobile is going to be one of the most useful ways of using Skype

Keep in touch with your friends and family even when you’re out making an essential trip. Found a shop with toilet roll in it? get in touch with your grandma to see if she wants any dropping off at her house. Wanting to talk to your friends from the garden? the mobile is the easiest device to take out with you.

Tablets (Android, iPad and Kindle)

Wpid Screenshot 2012 11 21 09 40 441

Like the Skype for Mobile, Skype for tablets gives you that bit more freedom to move around your home and into the garden, but with a larger screen to be able to see your loved ones.

Skype on Alexa

New Amazon Echo Show1

https://www.skype.com/en/alexa/

If you’ve got an Amazon Echo Show or spot, you can receive and make Skype video calls through them. If you’ve got any other Amazon Echo device, you can receive and make audio calls via Skype through them.

Just say “Alexa, Skype Ben“

To setup Skype on your Alexa, you need the Alexa app on your smartphone, and you need to have already created a Skype account.

  • Open the app
  • Go to Settings > Communication > Skype
  • Link your accounts

XBox

Skype Xbox One1

https://www.justpushstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/skype-xbox-one.jpg

The Skype app is very well integrated into XBox, designed for gamers to be able to chat with their online gaming buddies, it also means you can catch up with your granny while sniping zombie soldiers or stealing a helicopter. Multitasking 21C style.

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Once you’ve got your app installed and your account setup, you can start using Skype to video call and voice call other Skype users.

there’s a great help page from Microsoft about managing Skype and using the different features, you can find that here.

If you or your loved ones need help getting Skype installed and setup, we can help. We can remotely assist to get your family talking virtually face to face.

Contact us today for more help in getting your family and friends connected during this time.

Digital Life After Death

tinsleyNET Admin
Facebook Tombstone

No one wants to think about their death, but it’s a fact of life. If you live a long life if it’s tragically cut short, at some point you will no longer be around.

Unlike previous generations, most people alive today will leave behind a digital legacy, mobile phone contacts and social media accounts to digital online photos.

Without proper planning, that legacy might end up causing more distress to your loved ones, with inaccessible social media pages, no control over comments being left, and possibly lost treasured memories.

Read more

ICO fines Facebook £500,000 for breaches of data protection law

tinsleyNET Admin
ICO

The ICO have issued a fine of £500,000 to Facebook in light of serious breaches of data protection law. This was the maximum fine that could be issued under the Data Protection Act that was in place at the time of the breaches, under GDPR the fines could have been considerably higher.

Facebook have been found to have processed the personal information of users unfairly, notably allowing developers access to personal information without sufficiently clear and informed consent. Access was even granted to users information who had not downloaded the app, but were friends of users who had.

Additionally, Facebook failed to make suitable checks on the apps and developers using their system. One developer was able to harvest the personal information of up to 87 million users worldwide, without their knowledge.

After the Cambridge Analytica story broke and the breach of data protection was identified, Facebook failed to manage the breached data, waiting almost 3 years before suspending some developers access to the system.

Links

Facebook failed to sufficiently protect the privacy of its users before, during and after the unlawful processing of this data. A company of its size and expertise should have known better and it should have done better.

Elizabeth Denham
Information Commissioner
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation

General Data Protection Regulations

Data Protection Act 2018

The GDPR UK implementation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 govern how organisations can process personally identifying information.

If your organisation needs to process personal information, it needs to be registered on the ICO database, and have a Data Protection Policy in place detailing the use of personal information.

Personal Information is any information that can identify an individual, such as employee names, customer id’s or CCTV footage.

If you need help assessing your GDPR compliance, contact us immediately for a GDPR review.

GDPR General Data Protection Regulation Logo

What Does Facebook Know About You?

tinsleyNET Admin
Facebook Title

Facebook now say Cambridge Analytica had access to 87 million accounts

“It is reasonable to expect that if you had that [default] setting turned on, that in the last several years someone has probably accessed your public information in this way“
Mark Zuckerberg (BBC News)
Mark Zuckerberg has said that 1.1 million of the accounts improperly accessed by the political consultancy were from UK based users. He said that some malicious services had used a facility that allowed them to link the public profile of a user to an email or mobile phone number acquired elsewhere. Read more

Location

ICON-SERVICES-Location-Material-Feature

Check in Here

On many platforms the ability to check-in or tag a business is expected by users, and if your business is not already officially listed it could get added unofficially, then you have very little control over what gets posted to that unofficial page.

Just because you don’t own your geo-location data doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Marketing Opportunity

Not having your business listed on search engines and maps means you’re missing out on potential clients, and missing the chance to advertise your special offers to new people.

Many potential customers will search using services like Google maps and Bing Maps without realising it, so not being correctly listed could mean you’re missing out on business.

Multiple Services

Keeping multiple location services and maps up-to-date with your business can become a nightmare, missing an important update out from one service could impact on your potential new customers. Some services will scrape in information from other sources to try to present a complete picture of your business, if you’re not in control of all of that information, the information potential customers are seeing could be wrong.

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We can help you manage your online locations. We can make sure you appear correctly and consistently, and listed on all the major mapping services and checking-in apps. We can keep all your services up-to-date with images, locations, business contact details and social media links.

Social Media

tinsleyNET Social Media And Marketing
tinsleyNET Social Media And Marketing

Businesses Being Social

Most people know about social media. In fact last year it was reported that 81% of people will turn to their favourite social media platform to check out a new business before searching for a website for them.

It’s expected by your customers to be able to see information about your business, get contact and opening details, directions and reviews from their social media platform of choice, so not being on social media could be as detrimental as not being on the internet at all.

People Being Social

Social media may be a big platform for business, but it started out and is powered by individual users.

There are some individuals who are out to con unsuspecting users, using any means the can. As with all situations, you need to be weary and on your guard. Unless you can totally and utterly confirm the authenticity of and message or link, treat it with suspicion.

Which Platform is best?

There are a few main platforms that are popular, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Each one is successful because it appeals to a different audience and has different capabilities.

For a business, you should look at covering two or more platforms to be able to engage potential clients, and as a user you’re likely to be on several platforms depending on your preferences, what your friends and family use and what features you want to make use of.

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We can advise you on which platforms might be best for you and give you guidance on using them and on staying safe on them.

For businesses, we can setup, secure and help manage your business profiles, show you how to interact with users and keep your business listings up-to-date. We can also manage your SEO standing (this helps with how high up your business is on google search for example) and help you get listed on Google and Bing maps, and be available for users to ‘check-in’ when they visit you.

Safer Internet Day : Using Twitter

tinsleyNET Admin
tinsleyNET Security Services

Safer Internet Day

We’re supporting the Safer Internet Day again this year, giving tips throughout the day on how to use help make the internet more safe.

Follow our posts on popular social media sites, by searching for the #SID2016 and #ShareAHeart hashtags, or find out more about the Safer Internet Day on their website http://www.saferinternet.org.uk/

From the SID Checklists, here’s some tips on using Twitter:

What Is Twitter?

Twitter started life in 2006 primarily based around SMS text messaging as a way to post status updates to friends. It quickly got noticed and boomed into the Twitter that we see today, with most tweeters using mobile apps or the twitter website to access the service.

Twitter is limited to 140 characters per tweet, it’s a lot like going back to the early day’s of mobile phones when sms/text messaging was first used. The debate on the effect this has on the languages is ongoing, but it does mean that each and every tweet is short and to the point.

Tweets can include links to websites, images, links to video’s on YouTube and other such media additions, the modern Twitter app and website allow you to see these links as embedded parts of the message.

Twitter’s appeal is it’s speed and accessibility. From the world of twitter grew the now universal use of hashtags ‘#’ to categorise and group tweets, and the ‘@’ sign to signify a username.

Many celebrities and businesses use Twitter as a more personal tool for posting news and contacting their fans and followers. In many celebrity cases, it’s the celebrity who is posting the update rather than their PR company.

How Do I Use It?

When you sign up to Twitter, you choose a username, that’s the @ bit (you don’t need to include the @ sign at the start of your username) this can be changed later on if you want. You also set your ‘real’ name, that’s the bit that appears bold above the username, This can be changed as often as you want.

Once you have created and verified your account you can start posting updates known as tweets.

What Should I Follow?

tinsleyNET Social Media Services
The Verified Person tick

Depending on how users have configured their twitter accounts, you can find people by searching the twitter site. Users can be found by their registered mobile phone numbers (although this information is never shared, you need to know the phone number first) by registered email address (again, this is never disclosed, and you need to know the full email address first) by username (search @tinsleyNET for example) or by full name (so maybe you’re searching for ‘Nigella Lawson’)

All Twitter accounts are public by default. You can choose to make your Twitter account private (this means you need to approve followers, and non-approved users can’t see your tweets) but the nature of Twitter has grown up around the openness of the platform, so not many (hardly any) users enable that privacy settings.

Genuine celebrity accounts can be identified by a blue tick next to their twitter name called a verified account mark. There are quite often parody accounts for celebrities, so this helps identify the real ones.

Once you have started following some accounts, Twitter will suggest other users who you may be interested in following.

How Do I Stop Following Someone?

If you want to stop following someone, go to their profile page (click on their account photo on a recent tweet or search for them in your ‘Following’ list) and click the blue FOLLOWING button, this will remove them from your FOLLOWING list

You can also choose to MUTE a user, say you are following a personal real-life friend but they are tweeting about a football match and you don’t want to see all their posts, selecting MUTE from the cog icon on their profile page will silence their tweets on your feed, but you will still be following them, you can go back and un-mute them at any time.

Also in the cog menu are options to BLOCK a user, a blocked user can no longer follow you or message you.

Who’s Following Me?

To see which users are following your tweets, click on your profile page and click the FOLLOWING link, this will show you a list of your followers, and give you the opportunity to follow them back.

Reporting A User

If a user is behaving badly on Twitter, and you believe the user is breaking Twitter’s rules, you can report them. Click the menu option (three dots near the heart-shaped like button)  and select REPORT then follow the on-screen prompts.

Closing Your Twitter Account

If you decide you no longer want your Twitter account, you can go into SETTINGS > ACCOUNTS and select DEACTIVATE ACCOUNT, you’ll need to enter your password to confirm, and you should know that Twitter will keep your account data for 30 days before deleting it from their servers, this gives you time to change your mind and re-activate the account.

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