Public Service Announcement: Facebook Safety for Kids

After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an instant message:

ByAngel213:
Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was following me home today. It was really weird!

GoTo123:
LOL You watch too much TV. Why would someone be following you? Don't you live in a safe neighborhood?

ByAngel213:
Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my imagination cuz' I didn't see anybody when I looked out.

GoTo123:
Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done that have you?

ByAngel213:
Of course not. I'm not stupid you know.

GoTo123:
Did you have a softball game after school today?

ByAngel213:
Yes, and we won!!

GoTo123:
That's great! Who did you play?

ByAngel213:
We played the Hornets. LOL. Their uniforms are so gross! They look like bees. LOL

GoTo123:
What is your team called?

ByAngel213:
We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger paws on our uniforms. They are really cool.

GoTo123:
Did you pitch?

ByAngel213:
No, I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye!

GoTo123:
Catch you later. Bye

Meanwhile, GoTo123 went to the member menu and began to search for her profile. When it came up, he highlighted it and printed it out. He took out a pen and began to write down what he knew about Angel so far.

Her name: Shannon
Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985
Age: 13
State where she lived: North Carolina

Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall. Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because she had just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every afternoon until her parents came home from work. He knew she played softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team was named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey. He knew she was in the eighth grade at the Canton Junior High School. She had told him all this in the conversations they
had on-line. He had enough information to find her now.

Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on the way home from the ballpark that day. She didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games. Parents were always overreacting and hers were the worst. It made her wish she was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and sisters, her parents wouldn't be so overprotective.

By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps following her.

Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came back. She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her closely.

He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed the sudden fear she had felt.

After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He nodded and she smiled back. He noticed her name on the back of her shirt. He knew he had found her.

Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon's home, and once he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his car.

Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time came to go to Shannon's house. He drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move.

Shannon was in her room later that evening when she heard voices in the living room.

"Shannon, come here," her father called. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa.

"Sit down," her father began, "this man has just told us a most interesting story about you."

Shannon sat back. How could he tell her parents anything? She had never seen him before today!

"Do you know who I am, Shannon ?" the man asked.

"No," Shannon answered.

"I am a police officer and your online friend, GoTo123."

Shannon was stunned. "That's impossible! GoTo123 is a kid my age! He's 14. And he lives in Michigan !"

The man smiled. "I know I told you all that, but it wasn't true. You see, Shannon , there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them. But while others do it to injure kids and hurt them, I belong to a group of parents who do it to protect kids from predators. I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to talk to people on-line. You told me enough about yourself to make it easy for me to find you. You named the school you went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The
number and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze."

Shannon was stunned. "You mean you don't live in Michigan ?"

He laughed. "No, I live in Raleigh . It made you feel safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?"

She nodded.

"I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her, did bad things to her and then murdered her while she was home alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick you into giving out information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it again. And, please tell others about this so they will be safe too, okay?"

"It's a promise!"

That night Shannon and her Dad and Mom thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have been a tragic situation.

Enter your guy to appear in a video (for Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez' book)





Hey, chicas! I am convinced that we have some of the best-looking men on the planet in our communities, aren’t you? I mean, just look at my friend, New York Dominicano Reyniel (actor, musician, all-around cool guy) in the photo above, and tell me you’re not fanning yourself!

Is your male friend, husband, boyfriend or boy-toy just plain hot? Do you want the world to know just how cute/handsome/adorable he is? Send me a video! C’mon now, guys. Don’t be shy.

I am seeking short (clean) and sexy videos of hot guys speaking the following script, for a Youtube video for my blog, site and social media sites. A great way for an aspiring actor or model to get his face and name out!



Here’s the script. Please send your videos to me at valdes.alisa@gmail.com or post the link as a comment here. Spread the word! I want at least 5 cute guys on this vid, preferably 20. Ready, set….ACTION!

SCRIPT: I hear women asking this question all the time. Where are all the good men? We know what you’re looking for. Sincerity, good looks, education, style, a good job, maybe some muscles, and for sure a sense of humor. A good man is hard to find. But we’re out there. And I’m here to tell you there’s one place you can go to always find a man like that. A man like me. A novel by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Good books, full of great guys. Get your read on.

--by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, NY Times Bestselling Author  

Usher's OMG Concert in Paris, France

Enter OMG Excursion Sweeps ( Jan-3 )

Rémy Martin & GQ want to send you to Paris, France to experience USHER live in concert on January 24, 2011. Enter the "Rémy Martin OMG Excursion" sweepstakes to win the exclusive prize including a trip for 2 to Paris, 2 tickets to the Usher concert, and a private visit and tasting at the Rémy Martin Estate in Cognac, France.

Grand Prize (1 winner) will win:
two (2) business-class roundtrip airfare tickets from the major commercial airport nearest winner's primary residence in the US to Paris, France leaving January 23, 2011 and returning January 26, 2011;
one (1) standard hotel room (double occupancy) for two (2) nights in Paris, France at a hotel selected by Co-Sponsors;
two (2) tickets to the Usher “OMG" Concert on January 24, 2011 at TBD Venue; car service transportation to/from the Usher “OMG" Concert and hotel in Paris, France on January 24, 2011;
two (2) roundtrip train tickets to/from Paris, France and Cognac, France on January 25-26, 2011;
one (1) standard hotel room (double occupancy) for one (1) night in Cognac, France at a hotel selected by Co-Sponsors;
and entry for two (2) at The House of Rémy Martin in Cognac, France for an exclusive tour.
(ARV $13,170)

Winner selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about January 4, 2011.

To enter and for more information click here

Search Engine Optimization: You Can Do It!

For quite some time many of our clients have been asking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is simply doing "stuff" so your website appears early on a search results (page 1 or 2) when someone conducts a search related to what your company provides.

Unfortunately, that is about as thorough an explanation given by "providers" of SEO services. Even worse, that is the extent of the understanding of those that contract out for this service.

Here are some tips and tricks that anyone with basic website development skills can learn and do.

1) To improve your position on a search engine result, ensure your metatags, page titles and homepage text have the key (aka common) words or words that searchers will use to search for what THEY need.
Those should include the goods or services your company provides, the industry and markets your company serves, the name of your business and the location(s) served by your business. The more inclusive and specific the list, the better your position will be.

2) Another important key to getting on or close to page 1 of search results is the amount of links to your site. How do you achieve that? Blogs, social media, partner websites and cooperative linking with other sites will improve your position on search engines.

3) Update your homepage often. Web crawlers like finding new stuff. Web crawlers look through your site for key words and relevancy to searches. Thus when content is changed, it triggers newness. When you add new or change text and key words, your position greatly improves and starts move closer to the top of the list. Why? Websites with old text are thought to be inactive or abandoned. Search engines provide value if they give you useful results. So the search engine's approach is that newer stuff is better and more useful so it gets move forward on the search results list.

If you have any questions or concerns about your current website or your SEO provider, contact us.

360 Digital Influence | A New Communication Discipline

This an interesting post by our partner, Ogilvy PR Worldwide, on their website.

"The emergence of blogs, wikis and RSS aggregators has put the spotlight on new patterns of influence, and search engines are transforming how we find information in the digital realm. These technologies are just a part of a larger transformation of how people get information, what they listen to and who ultimately influences them.

At Ogilvy PR, we map these patterns of influence to identify who is influencing who, how word-of-mouth influence builds momentum, and who emerges in specific fields of interest as digital influencers. Given this insight and intelligence, we guide our clients through the thorny landscape of engaging in these dialogues and participating to build word of mouth online and offline. “Conversation” has become the new ‘earned media.’ We use new digital technologies to activate discussion and amplify our advocates whether they are more traditional influencers or mom bloggers online. We measure performance of all our programs including as word-of-mouth measures in order to optimize programs underway and report progress."

Source: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

http://www.ogilvypr.com/en/expertise/360-digital-influence