Results tagged “social networking” from Birmingham Mail - Technobabble

Staff at PC World and Currys are the latest to come a cropper for mocking their customers on social networking sites.

The workers used Facebook to post discussion boards about 'really stupid customers' and branded many people who use their stores as 'ignorant'.

According to some of the posts, some customers deserved to be 'punched' and others should have cattle prods shoved into tender areas.

It is, of course, not the first time something like this has happened.

Virgin sacked 13 staff after they branded passengers 'chavs' on Facebook, and posted comments questioning the airline's safety record.

In the case of PC World, the comments of their staff are somewhat thrown into context by a survey which arrived in my in-box today.

Which? Computing found that people should avoid stores like PC World when buying computers, and the countrywide chain received a very poor 42 per cent customer approval rating.

Currys and Comet fared little better with 45 per cent, with Staples only managing 51 per cent.

Customer score is based on a combination of overall satisfaction and endorsement - the likelihood of purchasers recommending the supplier to a friend.

DSGi, the company which owns PC World and Currys, said: "We are extremely disappointed with these results, especially as we have a programme in place which focuses the entire business on the customer and on improving customer service."

So who's to say the workers aren't right? Going by the satisfaction survey, you'd have to be stupid to buy a computer there!

According to a new book, failure to reveal your personal details on networking sites such as Facebook is "tantamount to social suicide".

Matthew Myron, a graduate from the University of Portsmouth, has written a book, What is Privacy?, based on the findings of his research into online privacy.

He says people feel under pressure to divulge details about themselves on networking sites out of fear of becoming a social outcast.

Social networking sites are like internet shopping for burglars with users revealing details about their home and whereabouts to complete strangers, an insurer warned today.

Users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter are putting themselves at risk of being burgled by revealing too much personal information, according to Legal & General.

Research found that 38% of users of social networking sites have posted updates about their holiday plans, while 33% have told people they are going away for the weekend.

Nearly a quarter of people have also discussed their travel plans 'wall-to-wall', meaning they have no control over who reads them.

A version of the social networking site Facebook is being developed for the latest Apple iPhone, it has emerged.

Software engineer Joe Hewitt wrote on his Twitter page: "Just uploaded Facebook for iPhone 3.0 to the App Store for review. :)".

Social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace encourage teenagers to build "transient relationships" that can leave them traumatised and even suicidal when they collapse, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales warned today.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols also expressed concern about the rise of individualism in society.

He described footballers who break their contracts to move to other clubs for bigger salaries as "mercenaries" and said moves to loosen laws on assisted suicide were particularly worrying.

The law is currently still being formed on computer privacy.

Currently the internet resembles something like the 'wild west' with a fairly lawless frontier environment.

In most cases laws actually exist but few resources are dedicated towards enforcing them and protecting people - not least because there are no real borders online, so enforcing locally held laws is incredibly complex and difficult.

In my opinion one of the areas which certainly needs more attention is that of the 'tracking' programmes which seemingly get downloaded with great frequency, often contained in cookies.

Spammers are increasingly targeting social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, computer experts warned today.

Growing numbers of cyber-criminals try to trick users into revealing passwords so they can hijack their personal profiles and send out messages promoting everything from pornography to medication.

New figures from IT security firm Sophos also reveal that the UK is now the world's 10th worst offender for relaying spam.

Some 2.7% of all junk e-mails came from compromised computers in Britain in the last three months of 2008 - up from 2.5% in the same period a year earlier.

The US retains its crown as global spam king, being responsible for relaying 19.8% of unwanted e-mails between October and December last year.

Social networking site Bebo has created a digital time capsule to send personal messages and pictures to the nearest planet that could hold life.

Bebo users can create their own images or text via an application and vie for a spot in the final 500.

The messages to be sent will be chosen via a web vote, and broadcast on 9 October by the National Space Agency of Ukraine's giant RT-70 radar telescope and are expected to reach their target during spring 2029.

Now, this story has been on the google news front page for THREE days now - an incredible shelf life.

This is, of course, the silly season, and as August continues there are some weeks when it seems you're the only one going to work.

So Bebo has been very successful in getting the maximum publicity for a pretty uninteresting 'innovation'.

I, for one, (as someone who doesn't like social networking sites very much) hope it horribly backfires.

Wouldn't it be great if Lori from Texas' message of "Like, hi to everyone out there" turns out to be the most insulting thing you can say on Omnicron Ceti III, prompting an interstellar battlecruiser to turn up and blast her into superheated gas?