Network Solutions Unlimited Blog

Unless you’ve been living off the land in the wilderness for the past couple of decades, you’ve heard of Facebook, Twitter (now X), and Instagram. Most people have some type of social media presence on one or all of these platforms (or at least on LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube). Many businesses once used or currently use these platforms as a part of their marketing efforts, and despite being billion-dollar companies, there are some serious concerns about the viability of these platforms going forward. In this week’s blog, we will discuss some of the problems people are having with these established social media platforms and how alternatives might just be the future of social media.

Bluesky is the new kid in town regarding social media platforms, which means that most users may not have a significant following on it yet… and new users may not be following many at all. However, a few baked-in options make it much simpler for the latter to curate their experience on the platform.

Let’s go over how a user can find new accounts to follow on Bluesky.

Last week, we discussed why X—the social media network once known as Twitter—has been losing many users. Here, we wanted to direct those seeking a move to consider the up-and-coming platform known as Bluesky in case you were one of those jumping ship.

Let’s talk about how Bluesky operates, including how to sign up.

X The Everything App®, formerly Twitter, has been experiencing a massive user loss for the past few weeks, with everyone from celebrities to average people evacuating from the platform. If you wish to join them for any reason, we’re sharing the process for fully extricating yourself and your data from this specific social media network.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere, and it is making data more valuable than ever. This is because AI platforms rely heavily on data to function effectively. Many platforms and services collect data from their users to fuel these algorithms. LinkedIn has recently been found to do this—by default—without properly informing its users or updating its terms of service.

You can do everything in your power to secure your social media accounts and lock down your privacy settings. Still, at the end of the day, social media users expose themselves to a torrent of information and content every time they log on. As a civilization, we’ve never really had something like this before. These platforms curate content that the user wants to see to keep the user coming back and staying longer. It’s inherently designed to be enticing and addicting, which is dangerous for certain individuals.

Then, there are scams and an endless stream of grifts that pose a wide range of additional problems for users.

Let’s talk about ways you and those you care about can be safer on social media.

Social media is constantly evolving, and if the big social networks had it their way, it would be the only place people go when they log onto the Internet. Whether you have strong feelings for or against social media, or perhaps you are indifferent, it’s important to understand how to protect yourself when using social media.

In the relatively short time it has been around, social media has fully ingrained itself into our lives, personally, professionally, and socially. While there are considerable benefits to be had in all of these areas, it is also undeniable that social media can easily become overwhelming and negatively impact us. For this reason, occasionally taking a break from social media isn’t a bad idea. Let’s go over a few ways to make this break as successful and effective as possible.

Remember Google+? It was Google’s attempt at making a social media platform, and while it ultimately was not successful, it did have some interesting features that eventually made their way to other parts of Google’s growing list of business and enterprise services. Now, Google+’s legacy is in its final moments, as Google plans to shut down the Currents service this upcoming July.

Facebook is a great tool to connect with people in both your personal and professional life, but having a business page on Facebook can attract a lot of attention--and it’s not necessarily wanted in certain cases. For example, what if someone started slinging expletives at your page without your consent? This doesn’t just hurt your feelings; it makes you look bad. This week’s tip is dedicated to blocking unwanted content on your Facebook page.

In the business world, it’s easy to step on someone’s toes without realizing it until it’s too late. Nowhere is this more true than with anyone you provide goods or services. Managing your online reputation is especially important, as anyone could get on their social media accounts and slander your organization or write up a bad review of their experiences. We’ll show you how to mitigate the damage done.

Social media has overtaken both the professional and personal aspects of online communication and connection, and while it might provide a considerable boon for both, it increases the odds of being contacted by scams and other malicious attempts. The best way to make sure you don’t fall prey to a scam is to remain vigilant. Today we’ll discuss the various scams that are created for use with social media.

It is undeniable that technology has become ingrained into our workplaces, and perhaps even more so into our daily lives—particularly considering the events of the past few years. This is likely why it is so surprising when a large tech company bans a user for some activity on their platform.

With all that is happening today, this surprise has largely turned into outrage over whether or not these companies can really ban people over what they share on the platform. Let’s go over the situation to try and glean from it some answers.

With so many businesses experiencing drastic changes with continued social distancing recommendations and suspended operations, it is important that one of the most critical groups associated with any business remains in the loop: its clients and customers. Therefore, it makes sense to do so using a tool that is readily available (and that most people use): social media.

Social media platforms have proven their worth as a communication tool and advertising platform… something that many political campaigns are embracing with an election looming. As a result, many people have found their feeds cluttered with campaign ads. The thing is, the ads aren’t always welcomed on a platform that many use to keep up with friends and family—even less so if the content doesn’t align to their political views.

Another eleventh-hour spending bill passed through the U.S. Congress and was signed into law on March 23, 2018. This time, however, there was a certain earmark that may work to erode individual privacy protection around the globe. The new law, called the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (or CLOUD) Act, amends the Stored Communications Act of 1986 and gives unelected American officials extensive powers over global digital privacy rights.

How can you use automation technology to leverage profitability and efficiency for your business? Whereas in the past, automating your company’s day-to-day processes seemed out of reach for SMBs, today’s automation technologies are easily accessible. To help you get started with automating crucial aspects of your business, we recommend looking into these three technologies.

If you’re the CEO of a mass media organization, you should know intimately well how brutal a hacking attack could be for your reputation. This happened to Tim Armstrong, the CEO of AOL. His Twitter account was posting 20 spam-filled tweets every second. As you can imagine, this is a problem for any business that wants to take itself seriously.

Social Media allows businesses to share their brand with the outside world in entirely new ways. While the benefit of social media is that everyone and their mother is on it, the problem with social media is that everyone and their mother is on it. People put all sorts of information on their accounts, which translates into a major security risk in the form of targeted phishing attacks.

You probably use Google more often than you think, but there are, of course, other search engines out there that perform similar functions. Why, then, is Google by far the most popular one? We’ll discuss some of the pros and cons of the various other search engines, but let’s start with Google itself.