Using Google Alerts to Fight E-mail Spam
I was recently reminded of the existence of a particular Google service, one which I had completely forgotten. To my surprise, it turned out to be a significant discovery, as the product can be used to improve one’s privacy on the web, while reducing spam. The service, Google Alerts, allows users to choose specific search queries that they’d like to monitor. When new results appear in one of these queries, the user can be automatically notified by e-mail. Here are some suggested uses, according to Google:
- monitoring a developing news story
- keeping current on a competitor or industry
- getting the latest on a celebrity or event
- keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams
All very interesting, sure – but what does it have to do with privacy, or spam? Well, what if you were to put your e-mail address in there? If your e-mail address shows up on Google, or any other search engine, it’s vulnerable to spam bots. With Google Alerts, you can get notified when new search results appear for your e-mail, and that can give you a chance to do something about it. Whether the e-mail was added via a malicious act by another individual, or an honest personal mistake – you will be alerted. Such a notification can help reduce the amount of spam you receive, but also prevent your e-mail from being public knowledge.
As an example, here’s how I would add an alert using Bill Gates‘ address:
Alerts can be configured a variety of ways - for example, a user can decide to only receive notifications once a day, and can limit the results to only a specific type of result, such as news articles.
It’s really that simple – once created, Google will do all the work, and notify you when new results appear.
Keep in mind, however, that there are other uses beyond simply monitoring an e-mail address. It’s also possible to create alerts using other information, such as your name, or domain. These types of alerts can be useful in keeping tabs on your online reputation, which often spans multiple websites. If interested, watch below as Googler Matt Cutts explains how the product can be used to monitor a person’s name.
Your Friends Will Miss You
As much as I currently enjoy Facebook, I’ve been known to disable my account every now and then. I never considered this a big deal, as I knew it would remain dormant until I decided I wanted to return. Right now, I’m in one of my active phases, and don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. Despite this fact, I recently found myself visiting the deactivate page, purely out of boredom. In doing so, I unexpectedly came face-to-face with an amusing attempt at manipulation:
Are you sure you want to deactivate your account? Your friends will miss you.
Instead of just telling how the deactivation will affect the data I’ve shared, they go as far as saying that my friends will miss me. They don’t have a true sense of how significant Facebook is in my life, so the statement comes off as silly. Am I disappearing from the face of the Earth? No, I’m just disabling Facebook, and I will continue to be alive and reachable.
The specific friends that Facebook decided to show are also interesting – they appear to be purely random, not really factoring in how I use Facebook. If at least it showed the people I spoke to the most, then being warned about them missing me might actually mean something. After all, I’d be disabling a communication medium that had been used regularly with those specific people. But no, every time I visit the page, a random set of friends will miss me.
Furthermore, notice how the first friend listed has a photo with two people, instead of just one? That’s actually not the person’s profile photo, but instead a picture of her with me. We went on a trip together many years back, and it seems that Facebook is going the extra mile to further showcase the friendship that is at stake. Crafty.
It’s interesting to see how far Facebook will go to secure their ad revenue, and keep their userbase large. Surprisingly, according to a presentation Luke Wroblewski attended, it actually works:
looked at deactivation page and adjusted it convince people to stay by adding pictures of friends. Had a big impact, kept 1 million people a year on the site.
Visual Feedback in Google+
I’ve been using Google+ for about two days now, and I have to say – I’m impressed. While they certainly still need to iron out a few things, I’m happy to see they’ve put some serious thought into polishing the social experience. While testing out some of their features, I noticed a “Feedback” button that appeared on the bottom right of all their pages. When I clicked it, I expected to see a fairly standard feedback form, where I could describe the problem, and then submit. Boy, was I wrong.
Sure, the feedback form was there – but they also added the ability to highlight or black out elements of the page. With the highlighting controls, you can easily point out the area you’re commenting about, while also providing additional information, if needed. Furthermore, if you’re concerned about privacy, no problem… just black out the information you consider sensitive. Altogether, I find this a refreshing new approach in the process of collecting user feedback, one that also has interesting possibilities. For example, Google could potentially compile statistics about the most highlighted page elements, which could give them a great high-level view of what people are talking about the most. Are they doing that? Who knows – I just know that I’d like having that data to work with, from a development perspective.
When using the feature, you can either hover your mouse over page elements, and Google will give you an easy way to select them, or, you can simply drag to create a rectangle of any shape.
By the way, if you’d like an invite to Google+, simply contact me at mref…@gmail.com. Once invited, you might have to wait a little longer to be allowed in, but at least your place will be reserved.
When Gaming Handles Invade Real Life
Having been a gamer since my teenage years, I’m pretty familiar with representing myself in a virtual world. While some games offers customization of an avatar, the most common element is usually a username, also known as a gaming handle. When other players encounter you in this online world, they know you by your handle, not your real-life name. Over the years, I came to realize that my online personna could sometimes find its way into the real world, with undesirable results.
Photo by bpsusf
The first situation I’m going to describe revolves around the handle. When creating gaming handles, I now know to exercise caution, as the name may be seen in a context that isn’t… appropriate. I have personally experienced this before, and it is both and amusing and troubling tale. At one point in my life, I went in for an internship interview, and when the interviewer arrived, he pulled up the electronic version of my resume on his laptop. I couldn’t see his screen, but after a few moments, he looked up, and said: “ToadLurker?” It took me a couple seconds to realize that yes, I heard correctly. ToadLurker was my gaming handle, but I didn’t understand how it had anything to do with my resume. I confirmed the name as my own, and asked him where he saw it. It seems the file’s properties actually contained the author name, which, by default, seemed to be related to the Windows logon name. This is where I learned a very valuable lesson – despite the gaming, your Windows account should always be based on your real name. Also, the handle should be something that you can show to an employer without being embarrassed. Certainly not something that you’ll want to do, but I feel it to be a good rule of thumb.
Photo by Umberto Salvagnin
Similarly, it is important to resist the temptation of using gaming handles as usernames for non-gaming websites. Recently, as I was using a finance-related website, I realized that I could not remember my username. I had to call their support line, and the agent eventually told me my username: ToadLurker. Registering with that username was obviously a mistake (rarely use it -hence why I couldn’t remember), but it was pretty awkward to hear that on the phone, and have to acknowledge that it was, in fact, your username. You’re also probably wondering what ToadLurker is, and to me, that’s the amusing part. To a random person, it doesn’t sound very good – it almost sounds like ToadLicker, suggesting I like to lick psychoactive toads to get high. Even if they don’t think this, the word “lurker” doesn’t really inspire trust in anyone.
Along the same line, by the way, don’t register on websites using an e-mail address that is too embarassing to show to a potential employer. I used to live with a guy that had an e-mail called operationpimp@providerhere.com. Just keeping that e-mail address around is a risk to his reputation… what if it accidentally was seen by an employer? I used to have a good laugh imagining what would happen if he actually sent his resumes using that address.
Finally, to put an end to your wondering, I’ll explain how I came to adopt ToadLurker as my gaming handle. It goes back to my earlier gaming years, where I played Starcraft, a real-time strategy game, most of all. I really liked one particular unit, called a Lurker. Lurkers burrowed into the ground, and stayed there, awaiting enemy units. When enemies would walk near burrowed Lurkers, they would be immediately attacked by spines that pierced through the ground. The Lurkers themselves remain burrowed, making them great ambushers. I always liked that concept, so it found a way into my gaming handle.
Photo by Chase N
The Toad portion actually started at SOAD, which is an acronym for System of a Down, a band I listened to at the time. SoadLurker was therefore my first draft, and I kept it for a while. A few years later, I began playing Battlefield 1942 with a clan, regularly. During one of our league matches, a shoutcaster decided to broadcast our match. He was essentially watching the match, and behaving as a regular sports commentator would. After the match, the team got together on an audio chat program, and listened to the shoutcast together. At one point during the match, the shoutcaster noticed me doing something in the game world, and tried to pronounce SoadLurker a few times, with little success. He decided it was too hard to read, so he asked his wife what she thought. Her suggestion was to just call me “Toad”, as it was simpler. Upon hearing that, the team had a good laugh, and I decided that yeah, why not call myself Toad?
That was, of course, a very long time ago. At this point in my life, I’m very supportive of the idea of using real names as gaming handles. They’re much less likely to lead to awkward situations like the ones I have experienced.