Audio version

14

SERVICES AND ESB ELECTRIC IRELAND

Aug/Sept 2011 www.esb.ie/em

GETTING STARTED WITH TWITTER

By Brian McMahon

ELECTRIC IRELAND NOW has more than 1,000 Twitter followers. As a Twitter fan myself, I often get asked ‘What is Twitter for?’ and I always reply ‘It’s whatever you make of it’ but, if you have a minute, I’ll explain further.

Twitter is a micro-blogging web-service that allows you to say something (in less than 140 characters) and share it with those who have requested to receive your messages, which are known as ‘tweets’. Twitter also allows you to simply read other peoples tweets, thus providing you with a potential stream of news, expertise, contacts, links and connections. It is perfectly OK to do as I did when I signed up, just read and not tweet.

Like all good things on the Internet, Twitter is free to use. All you need is a web connection and an email account to join and then follow the things that you have an interest in. If you have a smart phone then the experience is even better. Once you start following, you will get a feed of messages onto your Twitter timeline (see pic above, right), whenever something is ‘tweeted’ by any of the people you are following.

You’ll soon find a selection of people and services whose tweets you find interesting. You Choose! And once you find a good source, you can easily see who they themselves follow and this opens up even more useful sources. You can become part of a visible community and you will grow to be more selective in who and how you follow.

15 reasons why I use Twitter

1. It is free and it has no noticeable advertising.
2. It is brief and concise.
3. You don’t have to request permission to follow someone.
4. You don’t have to approve or allow someone to follow you.
5. People like to share. And they share very useful helpful information on Twitter.
6. It gets you ahead of the news cycle (worldwide, national, local or niche).
7. The news that I want is pushed to me from various sources. It’s up to me - the recipient of the information- whether I consume that news or not.
8. It is controlled by its users, on both the emitting and receiving sides.
9. A tweet can contain a link to further rich content, via a link to web page, photo etc. I hardly browse the Internet any more and instead go to recommended pages.
10. When commuting, if you have a smart phone, it is a great way to pass the time and catch up on news.
11. It has connected me to a lot of like-minded people that I would never had met otherwise - both professionally and socially.
12. It is more than just a publishing platform. It is a conversational platform where people can engage and swap opinions.
13. It is great for sharing the moment in communal experiences, such as engaging in ‘conversation’ with many others during a televised sports event.
14. I can use it to seek help or advice from others.
15. It is fun and a great source of humour, particularly irreverent and throwaway comments.

Go to http://support.twitter.com/ for more help on getting started.

Connected World: smart phone apps and privacy

SMART PHONE APPLICATIONS (AKA ‘apps’) can provide you with entertainment, information and useful services, but they can also invade your privacy. Smart phone apps can trace your Web habits, look into your contact list, make phone calls without your knowledge, track your location, examine your files and more. They can also automatically send information such as location data to mobile advertising networks.

In addition, apps can gather the phone number and the unique ID number of each type of phone: the Unique Device Identifier (UDID) on the iPhone, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number on the BlackBerry and, depending on the make, the IMEI or the Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID) on an Android phone. Personal information that apps gather about you can be matched to these IDs.

Before you download an app, you often get to see the kinds of information that the app will collect about you. On Android, for example, when you tap ‘Install’ to download and install an app, a screen displays the ‘permissions’ that you grant it when you install it. In order to download and install the app, you must tap OK underneath the ‘Accept permissions’ button. BlackBerry phones also cite permissions and Apple monitors all App Store apps for safety.

But do you actually pay attention to what’s gathered? Have you ever not downloaded an app based on what information it indicates it’s going to harvest about you? What do those notices really mean?

Researchers warn that a surprisingly high percentage of smart phone apps may threaten your privacy. Once such research article found that of the 101 most popular apps, 56 transmitted the phone’s unique device ID to other companies without users’ awareness or consent, 47 apps transmitted the phone’s location in some way and five sent age, gender and other personal details to outsiders.

How to protect yourself:

The very nature of using a mobile app exposes you to potential privacy intrusions. So you need to balance the benefit you expect to get from an app against the potential privacy risk.

You can try to check the apps themselves to see whether they have privacy policies in place. Typically, these policies can be found in a ‘Settings’ screen, on an ‘About This App’ tab or screen or possibly through a link at the bottom of a screen.

The key is making sure that the app you’re downloading truly requires the permissions it’s asking for. If, for example, a single-player game asks for permissions to send SMS messages, that should be a clear warning sign, because there’s no need for a game like that to send text messages.

In future articles in Connected World. We will be discussing how to protect your privacy with specific smartphone vendors.

For further information or advice on information security contact IS Security or see www.makeitsecure.org, which has additional tips and advice.

We’ve seen the future – and it looks tweet!

LAUNCHED ON APRIL 4th, the ESB Electric Ireland Twitter channel has reached a significant milestone and acquired over 1,000 followers – including private individuals, other brands, social media people and a variety of folks across the business and charity worlds.

The first three months have been great. We’ve launched our new brand, promoted our new priceplans, supported our sponsorships and engaged more deeply than ever with customers and non-customers alike. In May, we were nominated for ‘Best Customer Care using social media’ in the inaugural Social Media Awards. We’ve made some great friends on Twitter. Even on the very rare occasion that there has been dissatisfaction expressed in relation to customer service, Twitter has helped us turn things right around.

The nature of Twitter enables those on Social Media to put their personalities across and give an impression of themselves as personable folks to whom customers can relate. It is even possible to find Twitter conversations regarding ESB Electric Ireland queries and to ‘jump in’ offering help if needs be. It’s a unique environment where banter and business come together.

Just a bit about ESB Electric Ireland’s Social Media team:

Una is a Corkonian; music, film and internet fan; customer service advisor with Abtran for two years before going to the Social Media desk, also has a background in freelance radio and writing; social media fanatic.

David is a Dubliner now settled in Cork, active musician/composer, and academic researcher in his spare time; he also loves dogs and of course social media.

Sonia also hops on board every so often – she’s from Cork and has a background in art and design, and marketing/communications.

It’s a diverse and vibrant medium, and with 1,000 followers, well, we’re lagging behind the likes of Lady Gaga and the Dalai Lama, but we’re doing pretty good for an Irish utility company!

So follow us (@electricireland) - we’ll follow you!