{"id":12929,"date":"2020-01-03T12:17:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T17:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12929"},"modified":"2020-01-03T15:15:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T20:15:52","slug":"too-good-to-be-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12929","title":{"rendered":"Too Good to Be True"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Each day, as part of my morning routine, I check into Facebook, catch up on notifications, visit a few of my favorite groups and usually find myself pissed off at someone or something said or seen on Facebook.\u00a0 Expressions such as \u201care you kidding me?\u201d, \u201cunbelievable\u201d, \u201cthis is really dumb\u201d are frequently said, if not audibly then in my mind.\u00a0 I wondered for a while how social media (read Facebook) could possibly have an impact on our elections.\u00a0 But then, I soon realized that it is so obvious that so many Facebook users will believe anything they read in the app it would be quite easy to influence many with fake news and articles. In my opinion, Facebook is becoming a dangerous place. Here is why.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There is an old expression that goes something like this; if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.\u00a0 There are many examples of this to be found.\u00a0 Frequently I have seen people share coupons offering tremendous discounts from stores such as Kroger and Walmart that promise large amounts of free merchandise for each like or share of a post.\u00a0 Really, you think so.\u00a0 Do the math.\u00a0 If Kroger gave fifty dollars in merchandise for each like and share, and If one million people like and share this then Kroger would be out $50,000,000. \u00a0\u00a0That wouldn\u2019t do much for their bottom line.\u00a0 I pointed out to one of my Facebook \u201cfriends\u201d that he just shared a hoax post.\u00a0 His response was \u201cI thought so but shared it just in case\u201d.\u00a0 Duh!\u00a0 What he should have done was a quick web search to prove to himself that this was a hoax.\u00a0 It probably would have been confirmed in a matter of seconds, he could have chuckled at how stupid some people are and moved on.\u00a0 \u00a0Instead, I was the one chuckling. By the way, this type of foolishness has been around for a long time, before Facebook and other social media sites.\u00a0 My first recollection was an email that promised Bill Gates would give me a substantial sum of money each time I forwarded the email.\u00a0 Delete!!\u00a0 But as many times as I received it. \u00a0I guess there were a lot of folks ending up very disappointed.\u00a0 If something is too good to be true<\/p>\n

Here is another hint, when you get a Facebook notification that one dollar will be donated every time a picture of a sick child is shared, believe me when I say it will not.\u00a0 Do a little research and you might be surprised to find out that sick child has been \u201csick\u201d for many years.\u00a0 What you probably will find out is that the whole thing is a hoax.\u00a0 Sharing without verifying is irresponsible.\u00a0 It takes no longer to click on the news article reporting on a missing person then it takes to click on share.\u00a0 It has been my experience that most often the missing person is no longer missing.\u00a0 Frequently the missing person has no longer been missing for quite some time.\u00a0 Facebook should build an algorithm that verifies one viewed the article before making the share button active.\u00a0 There are a lot fewer sick kids and a lot fewer missing people then one would think when browsing Facebook.\u00a0 Not to mention that if we limit our shares to only valid reports, then more attention could be paid to them and we would waste less time and resources on the rest.<\/p>\n

Another thing that makes me shake my head and wonder are the proliferation of so called quizzes on Facebook that will tell you everything about your self that you did not know, from your ideal occupation to the date you will die.\u00a0 They may seem like simple fun and an opportunity to feed your ego, but why are they there in the first place.\u00a0 Many of the quizzes have nefarious reasons for their existence.\u00a0 Some of them ask personal questions such as the name of your first pet or what city you were born in.\u00a0 Seems harmless enough, except those are possibly the same questions you provided answers for as security questions for other reasons, such as your bank account or credit card account.\u00a0 At the very least, you probably just deposited a cookie in your browser designed to do some data mining as you visit other websites.\u00a0 When you click on the quiz that prompts \u201conly those with a genius IQ will answer all the questions correctly\u201d, and you get them all.\u00a0 What do you think just happened, genius?<\/p>\n

In closing I will only say that your web security and safety is your responsibility.\u00a0 If you do not take the necessary precautions, if you do not verify, if you trust it must be safe because my \u201cfriend\u201d shared it, then what happens is on you.\u00a0 There are a lot of self-employed IT guys and gals who would rather you not pay any attention to this as they will be the ones you pay to fix your computer when the malware bytes.\u00a0 Good luck!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Feel free to comment, like, share, agree or disagree with this post.\u00a0 Please consider a free subscription<\/a>.\u00a0 Options to subscribe can be found elsewhere on the page.\u00a0 Thank you for reading the Townehouse Blog.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This material may be published, broadcast, or redistributed.\u00a0 In fact, I encourage it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each day, as part of my morning routine, I check into Facebook, catch up on notifications, visit a few of my favorite groups and usually find myself pissed off at someone or something said or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_daextrevo_audio_file_creation_date":"","_daextrevo_text_to_speech":"","_daextrevo_document_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cartoon-virus-on-laptop-vector-2153362.jpg?fit=200%2C232&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12432,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12432","url_meta":{"origin":12929,"position":0},"title":"Set in My Ways!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"July 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As I have gotten older I find that the concept of \u201cbeing set in your ways\u201d is mostly true.\u00a0 I find I am most comfortable if I have a routine that I follow.\u00a0 My days go better if I wake in the morning and fall into my routine without disruptions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Facebook-is-like-hell.jpg?fit=637%2C463&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Facebook-is-like-hell.jpg?fit=637%2C463&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Facebook-is-like-hell.jpg?fit=637%2C463&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12844,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12844","url_meta":{"origin":12929,"position":1},"title":"Friends?\u00a0 Really?","author":"Tom Lind","date":"December 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I must admit, I am not a big fan of the so-called social media, I think it is a mistake to use the word social as for too often it is anything but social.\u00a0 Frequently it is filled with hate, rage, and anti-social commentary. What is disturbing to me is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Here%E2%80%99s-How-You-Can-Find-Out-Who%E2%80%99s-Ignoring-Your-Friend-Requests_542946169-Anikei-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=720%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Here%E2%80%99s-How-You-Can-Find-Out-Who%E2%80%99s-Ignoring-Your-Friend-Requests_542946169-Anikei-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=720%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Here%E2%80%99s-How-You-Can-Find-Out-Who%E2%80%99s-Ignoring-Your-Friend-Requests_542946169-Anikei-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=720%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Here%E2%80%99s-How-You-Can-Find-Out-Who%E2%80%99s-Ignoring-Your-Friend-Requests_542946169-Anikei-1024x683-1.jpg?fit=720%2C480&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12102,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=12102","url_meta":{"origin":12929,"position":2},"title":"How to become an Asshat","author":"Tom Lind","date":"July 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I am certain all are familiar with the popular definition of insanity.In case you are not, the Urban Dictionary defines insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. 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Usually by mid-week I have decided on a topic and\u00a0have\u00a0spent the rest of the week mentally reviewing what I will write about. But here I was on Saturday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"No Fcebook","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/townehouse.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/images-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11969,"url":"https:\/\/townehouse.net\/?p=11969","url_meta":{"origin":12929,"position":4},"title":"Keyboard warrior? I don’t think so!","author":"Tom Lind","date":"February 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been a member of Facebook since about 2009. I originally had no interest in belonging to any sort of social media but due to some needs at work I found myself obligated to join and learn about this trend in American Pop Culture. 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