Facebook Making Money off of your Profile

Do you even notice that every advertisement on the sidebar of Facebook somehow relates to one of your interests or musical tastes or simply something that somehow relates to your interests. Well thats because Facebook has openly admitted to selling your information to advertisers so that they can adjust the advertisements to each demographic and interest group.

Last year Facebook made $2 Billion and that is expected to double each year for the next few years. Also nearly one-third of all ads that were put online were displayed on Facebook. This is simply because we are willing to give up tons of information that we would normally be turned off by if an advertiser asked for it but because we have "friends" on Facebook who we think will be the only ones looking at our profiles.

Yes it is scary that we are being individual targeted by advertisers because we are willing to give up so much information that we would normally not give out, but is there an actual benefit to this for some people.

I recently read an article about small business owners who claim that they owe their business to Facebook because of advertising. Small business owners have the ability to take out an ad on Facebook and target the people in a certain radius of their business who have some similar interest to the product that this small business sells or whatever they may do. This gives small businesses the ability to advertise in a very powerful hyper-local context. Small business owners have noticed that when they do advertise on Facebook their business has doubled or tripled or even more.

So before everyone says how bad Facebook is that they sell everyones information to advertisers wait because they are actually benefiting many small business owners which is therefore supporting a large portion of society and all together benefiting this country because roughly 52% of America are employed by small business. So even though it is scary that we are individually targeted by advertisers because of Facebook I'm willing to give my information to support small local businesses and small business in general.

Record Store Day has Come and Gone...

Spring is in the air but on Saturday the 16th of April the dusty smell of records being dusted off and the warm sound of music on vinyl was in the air. For any of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Record Store day was this past Saturday and it was awesome as usual.

Living in Chicago we have access to some of the best record stores in the country according to Rolling Stone. Record stores like Dusty Groove, in Wicker Park, Dave's Records in Lincoln Park and Laurie's Planet of Sound in Ravenswood are constantly rated among the best records stores in the country, and Record Store Day gives yet another reason to go shop excessively for records at these shops, but Record Store Day doesn't just give individuals an excuse to go to shops they might never go to or just support their local record shops but it brings a worldwide community of music snobs (myself included) together to support shops that still sell vinyl and show everyone that digital music will not be the demise of vinyl records.

It is awesome to see how many people come out to Record Store Day and support their local shops because it would be a shame to see any of these record stores go out business, but I also think people should still make time when its not Record Store day to go to these local shops. Instead of simply downloading music from Itunes or worse illegally downloading music.

Keep your local record stores in business and support your favorite artists by buying Vinyl or even buy a CD, don't just settle for the easy way out by downloading some overly compressed Mp3 that sounds awful!

If you didn't get out to Record Store Day this year go next year, keep up with their website, and check out some of the cool stuff that artists do to support local record stores or for charities. This year the Beastie Boys released a limited amount of 7" vinyl singles from their new album through the Record Store day website and all the proceeds went to a relief fund for the disaster in Japan.

So again this is a good cause support Record Store Day and support your local record stores!!

Who is tired of advertisements on Pandora?

Like many other people I use Pandora radio daily on my phone pretty much wherever I'm going and I cannot describe how tired of listening to advertisements on Pandora I am. Its like no matter where you are even if you are just trying to listen to music there are ads everywhere.

Well recently Pandora radio received a subpoena from a federal grand jury looking into whether smartphone apps, I.E. Pandora share information with advertisers and other third parties. When the subpoena was issued Pandora openly admitted to "sharing" personal information so that their listeners could be provided with targeted advertising.

I'm fairly certain that Pandora is doing more than sharing information, because before Pandora was well known they didn't have any ad's and it was awesome! Then the developers of Pandora realized they could capitalize on all of the information that they were gathering from all of the people using their service. They realized they could sell all this information to advertisers and make loads of money, which they have done.

In my opinion when people started getting upset about the ads and questioned why they were there thats when they gave the option to upgrade to Pandora Pro, for 36 dollars a year. So either way they were making money off of you, whether from advertising or for the 36 dollars you are paying per year for a service that was once free not too long ago.

One can only hope that the outcome of this case is less advertising. The Federal Trade Commission said that they are developing a tool that would allow you to not be tracked on websites like Pandora that collect large amount of information from you. I hope that this tool is put into place soon so I can be free of ads and just enjoy listening to music.

How vulnerable has Epsilon made you?

If you are anything like me you are receiving email after email from companies with whom you normally deal with except now they are saying that their security has been compromised and to watch out for emails that are phishing for your information. I don't know but it doesn't seem to promising when I'm getting emails from my bank, saying their system was hacked into by an unknown source and to be careful if I receive suspicious emails. That is the last email I want to get from my bank.

As you probably know Epsilon, who is the worlds largest "permission" based email marketing company was hacked into. This unknown source had access to millions of email address and names spanning from banks to Target to many other companies. With access to all of this, this unknown source sends out a more advanced version of spam emails because this source now knows more information about you. These emails look real and are asking for passwords or bank account numbers, or really anything so that they can get money out of you.

I think it is ridiculous that in todays day and age some of the largest companies are still not fully protecting themselves and their customers and because of that they are increasingly vulnerable to hacking attempts that can cost them and their customers millions of dollars. What is it going to take before companies begin to realize that they are compromising their companies name, trustworthiness and reputation by simply being to cheap to protect themselves?

According to many reports over 2,500 companies information was part of this recent hacking "attack" of Epsilon. Epsilon said that the hackers only got roughly 2% of all of the information that they store and have access to. The problem with that is that 2% of all of their information is still millions of people.

So what can you do to avoid being lured into one of these scams? First and foremost the easiest way to avoid having to deal with these fraudulent emails is to delete any email that seems the least bit suspicious. Also make sure that you do not give any information to these scam emails. All of the companies that have been affected by the hacking "attack" are saying that if you receive an email that seems suspicious do not be afraid to call the companies hotline asking if that email is legitimate.

Hopefully soon companies will learn to protect themselves and their clients before it costs everyone millions of dollars more. For more information about the Epsilon incident and why it is more likely for you to be part of these "phishing"attacks on your smart phone, check out the New York Times article by Amy Gahran.

Protecting your Identity on Social Media sites

With social media recently playing a big role in conflicts in the middle east and the protests in Wisconsin what are people sacrificing by using social media websites to organize movements? Recently a group called Access published a guide how to maintain a high level of security on social media websites and cell phones.

The head of Access said that people often lose sight of their own security through these websites and through their cellphones during these hectic movements and organizational periods. People become focused on the goal of the group but forget about what they themselves are putting onto the internet or saying over the phone. He also makes it clear that cell phones are very unprotected and insecure and people are sacrificing their own security for convenience. With the lack of security that cell phones have it is very easy of Telecommunication companies to monitor cell phone conversations as instructed by the government.

With all of these things known Access published their guide to becoming safer and more secure online and while using your cell phone during these movements but just in everyday life as well. It is really important that we all take the time and to look over this guide to protect our own security and so we can not let Big Brother into every part of our lives.

Amazon Unveils "Cloud Player"

Nowadays most people download their music, there are few people who actually go an purchase a CD or a record. Its all about convenience and instant gratification, and downloading music legally or illegally gives people that instant gratification. I'm proud to say that I'm one of the few people who has never downloaded any music, I continue to build a record and CD collection, is it inconvenient? Yes and it would probably be cheaper to conform and buy music through Itunes,Rhapsody or Amazon's music store, but I'm one of the few refuses to conform and will continue to buy CD's until they no longer exist.

But, it is becoming increasingly hard to find CD's and resist the urge to buy music online because of how easy it is, and with Amazon unveiling their new cloud music player it is going to be hard to resist the urge to use this FREE service. But what is this new cloud music player that is supposed to compete with Apple's Itunes, and is it really free?

Amazon's cloud music player gives the listener the ability to keep all their music online, they can upload music from their own computer and keep it online so tha

t they do not have to worry about not being able to listen to your own music on another computer. The second option they give you is to buy albums and songs from their own music library and have them directly put into this so called "cloud" where all your music is stored online. It is basically an online disk drive where you can store music you have purchased or imported from your own computer making it easier to listen to music from computer to computer.

Amazon also created an app so that Android users can use this service on the go as long as they have internet access, there are no iphone/ipod/ipad apps yet to use this service, some think it is due to the fact that Amazon created this service to compete with Apple, but just wait a few months and there will be an app that lets users use this service on their iphone/ipod/ipad without directly going on the internet.

The real question is, is this service really free like they describe it is? The answer to that is yes with a large BUT where the answer becomes no. The reason that they can say that this service is free is because Amazon gives each user 5 gigabytes of memory free online, that is roughly 1,200 MP3's. If a user wants more storage they have to pay $1 per gigabyte they want to upgrade, which can add up quickly depending on the amount of music users want to keep in this "cloud." There is a way to get more storage for free though, Amazon said that if a user buys an entire album and has it saved to the "cloud" their storage is immediately bumped up to 20 gigabytes of storage space for no extra cost, so needless to say its worth buying the one album for the more storage space. Amazon is offering this extra 15 gigabytes of storage space with an album to pull users away from the near monopoly that Apple has with Itunes. To go along with this offer any song that is bought from the Amazon music store doesn't count against your now 20 gigabytes of storage space in this "cloud," its very clear that they are saying if you wanna put music you bought from Itunes online its going to cost you.

So what are the pro and cons of this new "cloud" feature?

Pros:

- Users have the ability to keep their music online and listen to it wherever they have internet access, they also have the ability to download the same music onto their desktop and put it onto an ipod.

- Android app lets users listen on the go on their phone.

- Users can also use the "cloud" to hold pictures, Microsoft office documents, etc.

Cons:

- The service can end up costing the user a pretty penny if they want a of storage space.

- No Iphone/ipod/ipad app yet letting users easily use this on those devices (wait a few months and someone will develop something)

-Apparently Google and Apple are both developing this same type of program.

Amazon's cloud is a great idea that I imagine will compete with Itunes, but it is going to be hard to pull a significant amount of people away from Itunes when they are in the process of developing a similar program. I think as more apps are developed for this "cloud" for smartphones people will begin to use this service more.

The Amazon "Cloud" idea definitely got me thinking about making it easier to store music and listen to it on different computers and so on and so forth, but I will continue to buy CD's and Vinyl until they die.

Q&A: Esther Cepeda

Esther Cepeda is well versed in many fields of work she has been a publicist, marketing executive, and after two years of being a teacher realized she wanted to follow her dream and become a columnist. After getting a column in a small local paper she pitched to the Chicago Sun-Times and received a weekly column. Since then, Esther has moved on from the Chicago Sun Times which she still frequents with a column, but now publishes her own blog, 600 words.

Cepeda reports on many issues that are unheard by many and focuses much of her stories on the second generation Hispanics/Latinos in America who are not the focus in everyday media. Today Esther is also Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission as well as a blogger for the Huffington Post and frequents many television and radio programs in Chicago and around the United States.

I was given the opportunity to interview Esther Cepeda over the phone.

Q: How did you become such an influential columnist after being a publicist, marketing executive and teacher?

Cepeda: Well they weren't in that order. I did some marketing and publicity and decided it wasn't for me so i quit and became a teacher. I originally wanted to be a columnist and in my second full year of teaching I decided to become a columnist. I shopped around and started writing a column in a small local paper. I started to do some good reporting and then pitched for the Sun Times.

Q: How has journalism changed since you first started at the Sun Times?

Cepeda: It is like night and day. I started writing my first column in 2005 and back then the web site was a complete after thought. 9/11 basically brought the web portion onto the radar but besides that there wasn't this 24-hour news cycle nothing was constantly being updated. There wasn't all of these other voices in print and broadcast journalism, bloggers were around but they didn't come into the scene until 2007 then it really broke out. they started breaking news and reporting, when bloggers were allowed at the DNC blogging completely changed to this grassroots thing.

Q: Many people say that newspapers are dead and journalism is a dead field to go into, what do you think about this?

Cepeda: Newspapers may in fact be dying but journalism is not dead it will always be around. It will always live and mutate with whatever new technology is brought on. Newspapers, print and even magazines may die but there is always a need for storytelling.

Q: Nowadays most people have a Twitter and Facebook, how are these are can these be used journalistically ?

Cepeda: Absolutely, I get sources for stories and new story ideas all the time, people share many news articles with me. Its not a substitute for the shoe leather reporting that you should do, its a tool, much like a calculator its a great tool but you still need to know how to add.

Q: Why do you think people are so drawn to social networking sites?

Cepeda: It gives people an opportunity to form a community, I don't have time to get together with people I don't know very well, however having this virtual community opens up opportunities to interact with other peoples opinion and what they have to share without taking time out of your day and also being able to respond on your time within a comfortable community.

Q: What do you think about companies who are putting Twitter policies into effect?

Cepeda: You can have an opinion on whether it is right or wrong but they are employees of that corporation and they can limit how their employees speak about their products or services. If they work for someone and they tell you that you can't do that you don't have much of a choice.

Q: Has social networking had an effect on your career?

Cepeda: Absolutely my distribution network has grown a lot because of Facebook and Linkedin, people have been able to find me with free tools and give feedback and I can promote my work this way.

Q: What changes do you see in the near future for journalists?

Cepeda: The most important thing that any one can do is to learn to tell stories through multimedia through audio, video and pictures. Most journalists can put together a one dimensional story but to be successful one should be able to tell a story in many different ways. Journalists also need to market themselves and their stories, they have a cache that they need to maintain, and its critical for the reporters to show the value in what they do.

Q: Your "600 Words" blog is a very well known blog, what made you start this blog and where does your inspiration come from?

Cepeda: As a once a week columnist at the Sun Times I was constantly frustrated that I had 300 or 400 words in my column to talk about something when I had real topics to get into! When I got laid off there I realized that I can't not do this anymore and not talk about these issues. If everyones blogging why can't I be my own publisher too, thats why I started this blog.

Q: What has made you so focused on the Hispanic/ Latino community?

Cepeda: I'm Hispanic but I was born in the United States with a typical American upbringing. I'm a regular American girl who happens to be second generation Hispanic. The largest amount of Hispanics in the United States are second generation Hispanics but the media is so focused on immigrants legal and illegal. No one was speaking for the second generation Hispanics.

Q: What has made blogs like yours so succesful?

Cepeda: The information that I talk about, the viewpoints that I take you can't find anywhere else, people come to me because they will find relevant good information and they know they won't find it anywhere else. When you have an unfulfilled need and you fill it people notice.

Check out Esther Cepeda's 600 Words blog, read her column in the Chicago Sun Times, and check out her Huffington Post articles!