Protect yourself from scam emails, text messages and social media posts.

Can you tell when there’s something phishy going on?

You know those emails that claim to be from your bank, government department, parcel service, phone company or even the police? They always instruct you to take some kind of action – normally urgently – and give you a link or attachment to click on. Then there are the text messages and social media posts advertising free offers and bargains that seem too good to be true.

Usually, emails, texts and posts like this are sent by fraudsters who want to steal your money or identity … or both. Some are very convincing and manage to deceive a lot of people. Make sure you don’t fall into the same trap.

We’d like you to read and follow our simple tips to help protect yourself from phishing emails, smshing texts and twishing social media posts.

Top tips for protecting yourself against phishing

• Never reveal personal or financial data including usernames, passwords, PINs, memorable phrases or ID numbers.

• Be aware that sender email addresses can be spoofed to appear as if they’re being sent by an organisation or person you know. Even these spoofed addresses can appear authentic when you mouse over/touch them.

• Always have internet security software loaded, switched on and kept updated on your computer. Download security apps on all your mobile devices too, including Apple.

• Be very careful that people or organisations you’re supplying payment card or other confidential information to are genuine, and then never reveal passwords.

• Remember that a genuine bank or other organisation will never ask you for your password via email, text, instant message or phone call.

• Don’t readily click on links in emails, texts or posts/tweets from unknown sources, this could lead to viruses or your confidential information being compromised.

• Don’t open email attachments from unknown sources, as they may cause yo

ur device to be infected with ransomware, spyware or other malware.

• Update software and apps when prompted, including operating systems. These often contain security updates that could guard against malware.

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• @credit - Get Safe Online

When is the best time to post on Instagram

This is the best time of day to post on Instagram

Research into the best time to post on Instagram in order to get the most engagement is so interesting.

Posting anything on social media can be a bit of a minefield, not least because it's easy to feel like your photo needs to get a certain number of likes for you to feel validated.

While we hope you know in your heart of hearts that this isn't the case at all, and that validation comes from knowing your own self worth and through self love, falling into the double-tap-trap is common.

Over 1.2million posts have been scheduled using Hopper, and from that data, researchers found that the best time to post on Instagram on average is in the evening between 6pm and 7.30pm in the week and 11am at the weekend (BST).

Why? Because this is simply when the most people are using the app, which means more people are likely to see your photo on their timeline and engage with it.

While this probably isn't groundbreaking news to some of you, it's worth noting that it entirely depends on who the people who follow you are: if they're in different time zones, work long hours, etc.

The research also went on to outline which filters and the type of content are most likely to get the most engagement - finding that not only is Gingham the most popular filter, but it also attracts the most likes and comments, with Claredon coming in second.

As for the best performing topics? Photos based on personal experience - like a weight loss journey or travelling trip - receive on average 22% more likes than other images posted on the same account, with data showing photos of animals are the second most engaging.

Credit - Cosmopolitan Mag UK

Business Manager on Facebook- do i need it ?

Why should you use Facebook Business Manager?

1. You can manage everything from one centralised dashboard

Using Facebook’s Business Manager, you will now be able to access and organise your pages, ads and people all in the one place. This will help to streamline your workflow and ensure that there is no more switching back and forth between accounts – such a massive time saver!

2. You will have better control 

From the home page, you will have the ability to assign pages and ad accounts to people, as well as the ability to grant each individual user different access levels based on their requirements. This is a great tool if you would like to provide Facebook access to those working for your business, but still want to limit it for security reasons. Furthermore, each user will have their own login so you don’t have to worry about sharing one set of login details, nor the security issues that come with that!

Some of the roles you can assign people include:

• Page Admin: Can manage all aspect of the Page including posting and sending messages as the Page, creating ads, viewing insights, and assigning Page roles.

• Page Editor: Can edit the Page, post and send messages as the Page, create ads, and view insights.

• Page Moderator: Can respond/delete comments on the Page, send messages as the Page, create ads, and view insights.

• Page Advertiser: Can create ads for the Page and view insights.

• Page Analyst: Can view insights.

In addition, if someone were to stop working for you – you can simply remove their access with one click rather than going through the loops of disabling it from each page and ad account.

3.You can easily separate work from your personal life

Gone are the days where you might accidently mix-up you personal account with your page admin account – eeek! With Facebook’s Business Manager, you can easily distinguish your business account and personal account by the grey bar at the top of the page that indicates the account you are on – see image below.

Also, you no longer have to add clients/employees as a friend on Facebook in order to give them access to control the Facebook Business page. Nor do you have to receive business page emails to your personal email – they can be linked to your work email. This means that you are able to keep your personal and work life completely separate.

Credit @Social Concepts