How would you feel about one search engine combining all of your social networks? Image from Flickr.

Spokeo.com claims to do something very simple: aggregate all the publicly available information about a person and sell it to anyone who is willing to pay with payday loans or otherwise. Many are asking if it’s a Spokeo.com scam, or if Spokeo really does offer a legitimate service. The answer is … sort of. “Spokeo.com is a scam” isn’t entirely true, but the functionality of Spokeo isn’t necessarily entirely legitimate.

What Spokeo.com offers

Spokeo.com itself is a search engine that aggregates social networking information. Any information considered public on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning, Netflix, Flickr, Last.fm or any other network is aggregated using the Spokeo.com search. The aggregator matches the information it gathers with an e-mail address. Spokeo.com then sells the information it aggregates to anybody who gets payday loans no faxing or any other financing to pay for the information.

Spokeo.com scam?

There have been many allegations that Spokeo.com Scam might be a better name for the company. Spokeo.com itself states in its privacy policy that it only gathers publicly available information. Independent tests by snopes.com and news services have found that the opt-out process on Spokeo.com is spotty. Spokeo.com scam whistle-blowers also claim that Spokeo.com scam billing processes are of concern.

The response of Spokeo.com to scam allegations is that company heads are “just launching a new version of Spokeo and are reviewing policies and algorithms.”

Keeping social networking information safe from Spokeo

The spookiest thing about Spokeo.com, scam or not, is that it aggregates information on the internet you may or may not want shared. More important than which web sites like Spokeo.com might be aggregating your information is what you choose to share. If available, set your privacy settings to a level you are comfortable with.

Spokeo.com is an aggregator – so be sure to remove information you do not want public from the original web site where the information was available. Beyond protecting yourself from the potential Spokeo.com scam, it is just good practice in protecting yourself online.

Sources

Snopes.com
Pandia Search Engine News
Spokio.com blog

Improper punctuation can be dangerous. Image from Flikr.com.

National Punctuation Day is a holiday like no other. Unlike most holidays that are invented seemingly out of the blue, National Punctuation Day wasn’t created as a business promotion.

It’s sort of like Talk Like a Pirate Day. It doesn’t make anybody any money. It doesn’t spread publicity for a business. It is simply there for people to celebrate something they love. You don’t need an unsecured personal loan or any other form of financing to celebrate National Punctuation Day.

Either you’re in, or you’re out

National Punctuation Day simply exists to encourage writers, editors, other types of wordsmiths and lovers of the printed word to celebrate properly used punctuation, rather than complaining about, correcting and berating others for incorrect punctuation. Of course, they will still do that, too. They can’t help it. But today, we celebrate as well.

You see, some humans are afflicted with a very real condition that causes them to feel extreme anxiety when they see misplaced punctuation. This may manifest itself through a physical reaction, such as tightening of the chest or gritting of the teeth. Similarly, some with this condition will go to great lengths to remove the offending punctuation from their sight or alter it if possible. Others exhibit auditory responses, such as heavy sighs, general angry noises or yelling punctuated with profanity.

Then there is everyone else — the “normal” people. They do not even notice improperly used punctuation and often misuse it themselves.

More manifestations of condition

I have a “friend” who once stopped following her acquaintance’s Twitter account because he purposely misused both “your” and “you’re” in the one tweet. He clearly does not understand the seriousness of this condition. She was so angry she decided to stop following him. She didn’t even tell him.

That friend later realized, as much as she hated to admit it, that apostrophe misuse was not worth ending a friendship over. This same friend once saw a sandwich board sign on the sidewalk that had a misplaced apostrophe. Fortunately for the business owners, the wording on the sign was made of stickers, so she simply peeled off the offending apostrophe and continued in her travels feeling relieved and lighthearted.

Celebrate National Punctuation Day

Some grammarians may choose to celebrate National Punctuation Day in this manner, correcting any improper usage of punctuation they can reach. However, many people who have the above described condition do things like this on a regular basis. The same friend who peeled the sticker off the sign once altered every copy of a poster in her favorite bar because they were missing  apostrophes.

None of these incidents happened on National Punctuation Day. Being offended, angered, saddened and irritated by incorrect punctuation is an everyday occurrence, especially as communication becomes more and more text-based, thanks to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text messaging and instant messaging. Thus, I think National Punctuation Day should be a day of celebrating correctly used punctuation, something we grammarians often take for granted.

Celebrating good punctuation

For instance, my friend once wrote a Facebook status that contained a semicolon. In response, one her her friends commented: “Way to go with using a semi-colon. I don’t think I could do that to save my life!”

I think this is an excellent way to celebrate National Punctuation Day. So just for today, pay extra attention to your own punctuation. Also, seek out proper usage of punctuation and give compliments, preferably in a public forum such as a Facebook wall or MySpace comments. Also visit The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, and have a good laugh.

Click Image to See Drinks on Efusjon.com

Efusjon.com has a great energy drink and compensation plan

I am sure you’ve seen those ads for Acai Berries on your MySpace page or Facebook profile — the ones that say they can help you lose weight.

Although there isn’t a lot of evidence to support the acai berry’s weight-loss promotion, there is no argument that the berry is rich in antioxidants, which promote overall health.

The Efusjon Energy Club, at www.efusjon.com, has harnessed the power of the Acai Berry to promote “healthy bodies and healthy incomes.”

Healthy incomes? Tell me more …

Efusjon.com tweaks sales model

At first glance, the Efusjon Energy Club structure might look like a traditional pyramid sales model, but that’s not really the case.

Efusjon.com says:

Our “Community Overlap” plan rewards you not only for your efforts and your organization’s efforts, but even for the efforts of people beside you and above you! With overlapping support from active Associates from the left, the right and above your organization, you can get paid for the efforts of people completely unaffiliated with you.

So, basically the idea is to make more money for less work. The network marketing structure further breaks away from the pyramid model because once you have signed up three other people, that’s it. No more trying to sign people up. However, your income will still continue to grow.

Pay structure

Like any retail business, it does cost money to get it going. The initial startup cost is $120 to get the first order of energy drinks. You then sell your drinks through a web site and collect the profits. Of course the real way to make money is to recruit other distributors. Efusjon.com says:

• Once you have enrolled 3 people as an efusjon energy club Associate, you will be promoted to an Executive. As an Executive you will receive 4.25% of total sales volume for each active, personally enrolled Associate and your personally enrolled Associate’s down lines every month. As your organization grows, so does your income. (See Compensation Plan)
• Add to that the efusjon energy club “Community Overlap” (where you are able to receive 1% of the total sales volume for each Associate enrolled by others that overlap into your community matrix) and you have the potential to increase your income dramatically.

No free paycheck

Making money, of course, takes work. One distributor in Milwaukee explains: “In order to make money at this, you will need to possess sales and networking skills.”

However, if you’ve got the chops for it, now is the best time to get started. To learn more about how to make money selling acai berry energy drinks through the Efusjon Energy Drink company, check out efusjon.com.