As always, there have been a variety of new stories swirling around social media and its discontents over the past week.  This week, the big stories have been all about security:

1. Firesheep: A software developer created a Firefox extension that allows users to easily abscond with cookie information over Wi-Fi networks.  The creator claims that his invention is harmless.  Others argue that it violates wiretapping statutes.  Everyone agrees that it is a dramatic development, especially because half a million people downloaded it in the first week.  Perhaps that open Wi-Fi network doesn’t look so appealing anymore…
2. A report circulated that Twitter, Facebook and others in the industry are not doing enough to combat security threats like, um, Firesheep.
3. Sensing a theme, another developer announced “Idiocy” designed to hijack the computers of “unsafe” Twitter users and tell them that they’re…well…idiots.
4. Random journalists and bloggers are now hijacking accounts, just to show that they can.  Now that waterboarding yourself has become passe, journalists have been forced to actually become tech savvy, apparently.  I will predict that we can look forward to Katie Couric using Firesheep to look at the Facebook account of Glenn Beck sometime during sweeps week.

So what does all of this mean?  It means that users of social media and — quite frankly — any non-encrypted website through public Wi-Fi networks need to strongly consider either using VPNs (virtual private networks) or encrypted connection programs like HTTPS Everywhere. 

You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’re interested in knowing more…

Today’s reality is that your business needs to be on social media, but the mere existence of your business on sites like Facebook () and Twitter () doesn’t guarantee a single sale, or even a single referral. In order for businesses to succeed in the social media space, they need to be properly educated on what works and what doesn’t. More importantly, business owners need to have realistic goals about what they’ll get out of social media.

When the right tools are used effectively with the right motives in mind, social media can have a huge impact on small business marketing and customer service efforts. You just have to understand how to properly determine and assess the return on investment you’re looking for.

I asked a panel of successful Gen Y entrepreneurs how small businesses can go about getting the most out of their social media marketing and how they can convert more of their existing social media followers into paying customers. Here are their responses.

You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article if you’d like to dig a little deeper…

This is the first case in which the labor board has stepped in to argue that workers’ criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are generally a protected activity and that employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.

The labor relations board announced last week that it had filed a complaint against an ambulance service, American Medical Response of Connecticut, that fired an emergency medical technician, accusing her, among other things, of violating a policy that bars employees from depicting the company “in any way” on Facebook or other social media sites in which they post pictures of themselves.

Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”

Still, how stupid do you have to be to air your grievances on Facebook?