Lions Club Internet Communication

Using Electronic Communications & Some Cautions When Using

Computers

What We Will Discuss Goals of electronic

communication Using Web sites Using Electronic

Mail (e-mail) Using Social Media

sites

Computer Safety E-Mail Cautions Web Site Cautions Social Media

Cautions

What We Will Not Discuss HTML programming Building or designing a web site Technical details for setting up web

sites and E-mail

Goals of Electronic Communication The same as for any communication

Promote your Lions Club or District Distribute information to Members Inform the Community of Lions events, i.e.

provide a “Bulletin Board” or Newsletter Recognize Lions / Community members

Types of Communication Web sites Simple e-mail E-mail lists and groups Social Media

Facebook, MySpace Twitter YouTube

Lions Club Web Sites Provide information

To members, to other Lions, to the Community Provide a "Presence"

Searchable (Google, Bing) Provides an "address" to use in communication Dynamic and updateable, unlike brochures Share newsletters and bulletins

Potential for two-way communication

Lions Club Web Sites Need space on a “server”

Always on, always connected, backed up Many possibilities

“Personal” web space (ISP account) Becoming less available (Geocities/Rogers gone)

“Free” commercial web space Free Lions web space (e-ClubHouse)

http://www.e-clubhouse.org/ Low-cost commercial companies “Full service” web hosting companies

Using e-ClubHouse Simple, Free Provided by LionNet

Build and maintain a Web site for your club using a simple set of tools.

Keep your members – and community – up-to-date on the projects the club is working on.

Promote your club’s activities – and recruit new members.

Sign up for a page/site at "e-clubhouse.org" Ready to use within a day or two

Lions Club Web Sites Notes

Keep the content up-to-date - "stale" is bad Need some technical know-how Costs money for a "domain" Need some place to host the site - money?

Security Web sites can be compromised - be alert Web sites can distribute "drive-by" malware Pop-ups, etc. can be mitigated with "NoScript"

Using E-Mail Instant, inexpensive communication! Simple list of Club e-mail contacts

Remember to use "Bcc:"! Set up groups in your e-mail client / address book Can be difficult to maintain if large

Mailing Lists / Mailing Groups Software designed to help manage multiple large sets of e-

mail addresses Often designed for member "self-service" Arbitrarily large More than just your Lions Club

Using E-Mail Mailing lists and mailing management

Google mail provides convenient group e-mailing

Mailman - good all-around package with self-management Operates as "e-mail exploder", one address goes to all Can be distributed as a discussion group

phpList - Centralized newsletter mailing package Administrator must send out any e-mail to lists Designed for "newsletter" type of e-mailings

Any simple e-mail client with address book and groups

Using E-Mail Sources for e-mail addresses

Club roster (from LCI web site?) Sign-up sheets E-mail address solicitation (community groups, etc)

Uses of e-mail Club bulletin Event notices Quick information dissemination NO JOKES!

Avoid "spamming" your lists Frequency

Social Media Sites Facebook

Set up a Group / Club account Members are "friends" Communicate bi-directionally

MySpace Similar to Facebook

Twitter Useful for short updates, to members and others Need "followers"

YouTube Useful to publicize past events World-wide publicity for your event documentation

LCI is on all of these

Facebook Provides for a way to publicize your Lions Club "profile" Easy to set up "Official" Facebook ("Fan") page

Do not set up a "Community" page (no control) Update regularly with photos and event updates Consider "applications" that provide videos, blogs, etc. Any Lions Club members with Facebook pages can sign up as

"friends" Community members and those interested in Lions can participate

Can be public or private (to some extent) If anyone in your Lions Club is already on Facebook, get them

involved in creating and maintaining your official Club page Keep an eye out for inappropriate additions

Twitter Biggest feature is ability to provide short, frequent updates Messages are limited in size (140 characters) - "Tweet"

Suitable for smart phones as well as computers Lends itself to mobile, in-the-moment updates

Users ("Followers") must sign up to get updates, "tweets" May participate and comment with "re-Tweets" Easy to involve those already using Twitter Use the Club web site to publicize your Twitter address

Tools to manage traffic, such as "TweetDeck" Keep traffic reasonable - maybe several a day, no more Post your tweets on your Facebook wall Remember, everything is public

YouTube Generally seen as someplace to "view" video content Someone needs to post it! Let it be you Share your Lions experiences visually! All you need is a digital video camera and a computer

Shoot videos at events Edit and combine on your computer Add text descriptions Post on YouTube

Publicize the links to your video on your web site Include links in your newsletters Use LCI to help you

Computer Safety & Security Using your computer safely A word about passwords Using Web sites safely Using E-mail safely Using Social Networking sites safely

Using Your Computer Safely Keep your software up-to-date

Operating system patches Application software updates

What is “Malware”, anyway? Don't install unknown / untrusted

applications Use a good anti-virus suite Use caution on public networks

A Word About Passwords The “Bad Guys” want yours Don't use an easy to guess password

Sequential numbers or letters (abc123) Birth dates, anniversaries, pet's names

Hard to guess, easy to remember Mix numbers, symbols, capitals, 12 chars Use first letter/character of words of phrase

My first dog in 1969 was Trixy! == M1di69wtxy!

Using Web Sites Safely Be careful what/where you visit!

If it looks shady, it likely is Gambling and Porn sites are significant

sources of malware Keep your Browser up-to-date Use only plug-ins you trust Web of Trust (http://www.mywot.com/) web site rating

Using E-Mail Safely Number one tip: Don't click on it!

Malware in attachments Malware sites as Web site links

Don't fall for “phishing” e-mails May be targeted to you personally Designed to get your username/password

Use Bcc: Filter SPAM (G-Mail is really good)

Using E-Mail What is “malware”?

SPAM, Trojans, Keystroke loggers, Viruses Use a good anti-virus package Don't click on links in e-mail - EVER

Instead, "copy" the link and paste in your browser or openin an application

Examine the address to see if is as expected Use "text-based" e-mail clients (if you can :-)

Using Social Networking Safely

Assume everything you post is public Use privacy settings, avoid groups

Assume everything you post lasts Restrict posting birth dates, addresses,

phone numbers Don't identify pictures of children Supervise children, or forbid them

Some Resources SANS web site

http://www.securingthehuman.org/resources/ http://www.sans.org/

These are a portal to everything else

Questions? Discussion? What did I miss out?

URL to access this presentation:

http://mdalions.org/pages/Events/MdaconventionCapital Experience 2011 Convention Sessions