Seniors Site

As much as there are seniors who might still be in the dark when it comes to Twitter—or any other social networking site for that matter—let’s not forget those who are already conducting their businesses online, and quite successful in doing so. If you’ve been in this arena for quite some time now, you know how Twitter can help you with your “branding” needs, and yes, it can be used for other purposes too, aside from just gathering friends and making your product known.
In Twitter, influence is important. In fact, IT IS more than important! Measuring your Twitter influence will help seniors know if they are doing fine in the Twitter community or if you are better off spending your time on other areas of your business. For one, keeping a Twitter account active can be time consuming and if you are not paying enough attention, you might find yourself in a dead-end. Your influence, like your own stat counter, gives you an idea where you might be lacking and what areas need some pushing.
·    Following-follower ratio. This is important. If you have a very disproportionate following-to-follower ratio, it does reflect bad practices you must be applying nowadays. Twitter requires certain amount of effort on your part, finding the right people and following them, but if a senior Twitterer starts following people (and I mean lots!) even outside of his or her market, they will only end up following a tad more people as compared to those who are following them. Doing this will make a senior look like a spammer, while having a high follower and low following ratio means you are interested in connecting with other people. Of course, having a higher number of followers indicates you have an influence there.
·    Number of lists under your name. Getting listed is one of the most important things you need to secure in Twitter as it indicates you are doing great in “branding” yourself. In other words, you are a great influence in your area and they know it.
·    Use Twitter tools. In truth, Twitter can be confusing, especially for us seniors. Good news is, there are about a hundred Twitter tools out there for you to use. What’s more, some of the good ones are for free! Just Google them using the search words “Twitter influence”.
·    Response to your tweets. This indicates you are getting enough attention with your tweets. If there is a healthy connection going on within your circle, you must be influential.

When you talk about virtual offices, virtual assistants are never too far out of mind. In fact, it would be the next big thing you’ll ever do for your virtual office, especially as your business expands. Many seniors may frown with this idea as it is a fairly new way of conducting business and it requires certain level of techie “know-how”. However, hiring a virtual assistant has many, many benefits and it, like a virtual office would, can save you a lot in the long run!
Somewhere in this blog, I have discussed how out-of-work seniors can explore the many possibilities of freelance work, both online and offline. It includes virtual assistance which I find both flexible enough to handle and challenging enough to keep your aging brain in working order.  On the other hand, seniors need not to be on this side forever, as more and more retirees are starting out their small businesses and eventually will need services of an assistant.
I understand it can be doubtful at times as you will be working with someone remotely, and it is very possible to not meet your virtual assistant personally EVER. It can be scary especially scams infest the internet in overwhelming proportions but believe me, when you finally meet your match, you are most likely to tell yourself that the risk you have taken is all worth it.
FIND YOUR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
There are many online marketplaces today which house different kinds of virtual assistants from all over the world. If you are comfortable working with someone through emails, chats and calls only, then you can hire someone from faraway countries such as India and the Philippines. These countries usually charge lower than other foreign countries which can definitely save you a lot of money. However, you can also hire someone local for a much cheaper rate than having them go to the office everyday! What’s more important is that the hiring senior knows exactly what he wants from a virtual assistant prior to the scouting process. Best stick with reputable marketplaces when posting for a VA job.
HIRING YOUR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
After posting the job, you are sure to get bids. Depending on the job description you posted, you can receive at least 10 candidates up to a hundred within a minute. Now you can look at their profiles and assess if their skills are what you need. Their profiles are most likely to have their work history, time worked if the marketplace is an escrow service and feedbacks from their previous clients. These things will help you make the right decision in choosing a provider. Rates also vary depending on the extent of work and expertise the virtual assistant may have.  Like traditional office setup, you will have to set an appointment for interview so take note of the time differences. You, as the hiring party, should be able to set rules such as what you expect from your VA and what tasks are to be done.
LAST NOTES
Connection is very important as your virtual assistant will be working with you very closely. In fact, he or she may know way more about you and your business than your partner so make sure that both of you are on the same page. Give your VA a probation period of one to two weeks, and make sure she knows it. By that time, you’ll be able to determine if she’s good for you or if you need to go look for someone else all over again.

Almost everything you need can now be found online. And not only that, you can go window shopping to your heart’s content without getting monitored by those pesky salesladies who just won’t leave your side until you go out of that door! Online window shopping is much less complicated but more informative than ever, the only downside however is that you cannot touch and feel the merchandise—not even smell a thing! Practicality speaking, I am ALL out for online window shopping BUT not really into online shopping. Maybe one or two purchases when needed but never on websites of suspicious nature—and me saying suspicious means about ¾ of them all!
I try to set limits when I’m off online shopping. For example, when I am interested with a product but a first time buyer on that site, I usually choose a product that is easy enough on my pocket and won’t leave me too disappointed if the purchase doesn’t push through for some reason. Aside from that, I observe certain guidelines to Stay Safe When Paying Online. Buying a car online may be a little off for me but deals offered online are really good and can save you a lot of money, not to mention time and energy. Here are some tips to guide you when looking or buying a car online:
·    Research is a must. Seniors must remember, buying a car involves serious money and this is not something you just forget and leave a nasty feedback on someone else’s site after. This could mean your one or two year’s worth of saved money, so you better do some legwork to ensure you get your money’s worth. I tell you, there are just about 20 reputable sites you can transact with out of thousands so you really need to be careful when picking one.
·    As much as possible, stay local. There are many listing sites out there, browse if you need to but as much as possible, try to stay within your area. Not only it is more convenient for you and the dealer but also, you save a lot of money shipping the car. Furthermore, you can visit and test-drive the car anytime you want to.
·    Find a physical, stable ground. You know that is the problem when dealing online, one cannot be certain when and where truth ends and lies materialize. Before you let go of your money, make sure you already have with you everything you need such as the dealer’s info, where you can find him in case a problem arises, etc.
·    Even if you are too overwhelmed with the magic online shopping obviously has, you still need to do the things you usually do when buying a car. That is, checking on the car’s docs and papers, making sure they really exist and no problem will arise after the sale.
·    Take an extra precaution when joining auction sites. Sometimes, these sites post your contact info for scammers to take advantage of.  While these sites meant no harm to you, scammers have gone preying on gullible bidders!

Social networking is definitely here to stay! And although it took some time before it finally caught seniors’ attention, more and more seniors are now exploring—and enjoying—the perks social networking sites are apparently giving them. Social networking sites, or social media sites in general, come in all forms and sizes, meaning it is quite impossible not to find a social networking site that is tailor-fit to suit a senior’s needs!
However, social networking sites work almost similarly as online dating sites, only their intentions are different. Dangers of it, unfortunately, are still present and still active as ever. We all know that seniors are usually the target of such malicious activities especially in the virtual world. Nonetheless, there are ways to get around these social networking threats, aside of course, from your own common sense:
·    If at some point, you feel threatened or abused, you can always report abusers to authorities. This can be your local police, if the threat can cause bodily harm or if it’s just an annoying person then report them to the site moderators at once to get them blocked or kicked out of the site.
·    Never give out your contact info, especially the ones you don’t want every Joe and Jane to know. Take advantage of the security features your social networking site offers. With these security features, you can choose who can access your profile and to what extent.
·    Any appropriate actions you see such as postings and links, you must take the liberty of reporting them to the authorities, even if they are not directed at you.
·    Never do meetups with someone you just met online. That’s definitely a no-no since it’s very dangerous for seniors to do so. If you really need to do so, make sure your family knows where you are going, whom you’re going to meet and as much as possible, do it in a public place with someone to accompany you.
·    Keep private pictures to yourself. There’s no need for you to post them for everyone to see. Rule of thumb is, whatever you post in there, consider it as a public property already! Your photos can even make it to Google searches!
·    Never post your whereabouts or your expected trips. Why? Because you are giving ideas to people who plan to do you something bad.
·    Set a separate email account for your social networking sites. In case of identity theft, your emails are the most vulnerable since they contain potful of personal information. What’s the connection, you ask? Social networking sites require email addresses where they can confirm your account. Your login details are most likely to include the email address you are using so it won’t be that hard to figure out your password for that account as well.

Virtual offices, what are they? They function similar to a traditional office, only your staff is offsite which means, you don’t get to see your staff daily. It was said that virtual offices became popular with the advent of technology and information age, also called as, the internet age. This is the time when communicating globally is not only possible but also made very easy. With thousands of tools available for real-time collaboration and communication, it opened another door for small businesses the world over to run and maintain a virtual office with real people as staff therefore exuding a professional feel but only at a fraction of the cost of a traditional office. This is why virtual offices are the best choice, if not the best solution, for small and startup business.
Now, if you are familiar with virtual assistants, I must say they are the ones directly behind a virtual office. These folks work from home and do without all those hassles of going to and fro work, and indeed they earn well! What I like with virtual offices is that it really benefits seniors the most since it allows mobility and time-flexibility. For seniors who are looking for ways to cut costs on starting their own businesses, explore the possibilities of a virtual office. Here’s how:
·    In a virtual office, all you need is an internet connection and of course a computer—two of which I know you have now since you’re able to read this post! If you are the type of senior who travels a lot but still wants to get connected with your staff 24/7, you might need a smartphone like iPhone or BlackBerry.
·    Softwares for you and your staff’s use. This provides uniformity amongst the members of your virtual office. You can either have someone design one for you which can be as secured as ever but really expensive or just choose a good collaboration platform or management structure to manage the work flow of your virtual office. Those you can find online can be downloaded to several computers for a minimal fee—others can be accessed for free.
·    Your means of communication. Since your virtual office is mostly internet-based, your means of communication should also be the same. Skype is a great application for cheap phone calls and video conferencing—and reliable too! Rule of thumb, the application should be able to perform these things:  instant messaging, audio and video conferencing and file transfers.
·    A valid email address. If you have your own website, it’s just proper to use your own company email address and give your staff their own too since they are now a member of your team. If you haven’t gotten that far yet, a free webmail would do for now, for example Gmail.
·    A good escrow service. This will handle your payments online. It can also be used for your eCommerce business or simply for paying your staff.
·    Secure marketplace to get your staff. There are many out there such as Odesk, Guru and Elance where you can find virtual providers from all over the world. It can be global or just within your area, depending on your preferences.

Viruses are nasty! It can infect your computer and do awful lot of damage causing it to crash. Because of its very destructive nature, viruses are often associated with other malicious programs which are equally, if not more harmful than a virus. But how would you know if your computer is infected by one or the other? Also, are there ways to somehow prevent an attack?
First, I would like to start with a short explanation on how viruses and other malicious programs behave. This way, a senior will be able to determine what’s attacking their computer and arrive to a more suitable remedy to the problem. A virus tends to multiply and it resides in its host’s system. Like a classic virus, it has its own mode of transmission, usually from a removable medium such as floppy disc, USB drives and CDs. Please take note that in an instance of a virus attack, your computer is most likely to behave abnormally and one by one, your programs will be corrupted. However, some of the stronger virus attacks usually crash your computer by which it cannot be used anymore.
On the other hand, malicious programs are those in the names of spyware, malware and adware. Add to those mentioned are worms and rootkits. These programs are designed to get information from you, or at the very least, how you use the computer. It sends data feeds to somewhere remote, to be used without your permission, of course. This is where identity theft usually happens. While the term “virus” tends to be the preferred general term for all of these types, in actuality virus is just a type of malicious program intended to disrupt your computer activities. Each of these types has their own destructive behavior and can even cost you money if left untreated.
Nonetheless, there are ways to reduce, if not prevent, attacks and infections:
·    Invest in a good anti-virus software—and update/scan regularly! You can set a scan schedule in most anti-virus softwares. This proves to be very helpful to seniors as you don’t have to remember them all the time. While you’re at it, try to get an anti-virus which also detects other malicious programs.
·    Build your defenses even stronger. Try combining multitasking anti-virus softwares with stand-alone ones, there are good ones out there you can get for free however, companies tend to specialize on one area only so it is best to get a separate anti-malicious programs to go with your anti-virus software for an extra boost.
·    Use a firewall to block unauthorized remote users from accessing your computer. It acts as a filter. Your hardware usually comes with a built-in firewall, you just have to configure it.
·    Change your passwords on a regular basis. This will help you prevent bot attacks.

What I like about Twitter is its flexibility to adapt nicely to your lifestyle, or at the very least, how you would like to use it. Using the right Twitter tools—and let me warn you, there are about hundreds of them out there—seniors can surely benefit tremendously from it. Be it just a way to connect with people who matter most in your life or give your business an advertising boost or perhaps just take a peak to celebs’ mind and what’s happening in their lives, Twitter can surely give you a satisfaction no other social networking site can give.
I always say that the power of Twitter lies in its simplicity and flexibility. If you ask five Twitter users why they are using the said social networking site, you are most likely to get four different reasons. Furthermore, 3 out of these 5 users are getting the most out of their Twitter experience. In other words, Twitter successfully delivered what’s expected of it.
Today, we are going to explore the beauty of Twitter in terms of boosting your sales. It doesn’t matter if you are not selling online yet or have not been actively marketing your products online, you don’t even have to be a pro to make Twitter work for you. All you need is a simple know-how on how Twitter works and actually spend some time interacting with its community. Here are some ways you can use Twitter to boost your sales:
·    Use Twitter for your business updates. An upcoming promo? Or perhaps a season ender sale? Make sure your customers who are actively into Twitter are the first ones to know about it!
·    Lure more potential customers to your store by giving out discounts and freebies just by following your Twitter account. This way, you spark interest amongst people who otherwise won’t even know your store exists.
·    Use Twitter as a way for your customers to reach you. You can do customer service via Twitter—and it really works! Just recently, I was able to follow up an inquiry through Twitter and I must admit, it’s much faster than having to call the company and speak to a customer representative!
·    Welcome feedbacks and suggestions from your customers. Feeling doubtful about a new product? Ask your network and you are sure to hear something beneficial from them.
·    Twitter allows you to search people for a more targeted campaign. However, be careful when trying to penetrate a market there, surely, you wouldn’t want to be considered as a spammer.
·    Twitter encourages healthy interactivity. Get to know your customers more and let them know you on a personal level. This way you build rapport and ultimately, loyalty.

If you want to stay connected with people who matter most in your life, you need to keep up with the times. It may feel awkward at first threading unfamiliar territories, but believe me, once you get used to it, it’s hard not to get hooked on it! I remember the first time I experimented with social networking sites, it was with MySpace. My second was Facebook which I find extremely entertaining and maintained a healthy relationship with the site up to this day. From my first one, which I rarely use now by the way, up to my very recent—Twitter—I have had several in-betweens ranging from unknowns to almost famous. Yes, considering my age, I went overboard and a little social-network crazy!
During these years, I learned to speak the social networking language and I would be very delighted to extend this apparently “Lilliputian” knowledge but has grown important over the years especially to seniors who would like to join the ever growing social networking circle. Here are some basic social networking language you need to get you up and running:
·    Tweet. You only tweet in the microblogging service Twitter. To tweet means you put a message of about 140 characters in your Twitter account for your friends to see. It’s almost similar to shouting your thoughts to the world!
·    Post. You “post” anywhere. You post tweets in Twitter. You post entries on your blog. You post your status updates in Facebook. Post, for me, is a general term you can use for almost all your internet activities. Just like post-its, when you stick it to your social networking account, it stays there and everyone is free to read it.
·    Status. It’s what you are doing or thinking right now. You update your status according to what you feel you would like the world to know.
·    Network. This is your people. Your circle of friends. Those you have added and accepted as friends. They are free to see everything about you or at the very least, the things you have willingly shared through your account.
·    Profile. This is where your information lies. Your profile will show the progress you are making and the activities you engage in. This is also where you need to be very careful since your profile is visible to your friends and even to people you barely know.
·    Wall. Walls are popular around Facebook community. When you open an account with Facebook, you are automatically given your space to play with. This so-called space comes bundled with your profile page and of course, the ever popular wall. This is where your recent activities are charted and messages directed specifically to you are written.

These things are done now and although there were horror stories associated with it, successful ones outweighs them a ton. Every year, billion of dollars were spent online such that banks the world over have now set up their own banking system online, enabling their members to access their bank accounts online and seek help from there when needed. Indeed, technology has provided an extremely convenient way for most of our purchasing needs, especially for seniors with limited range of motion. Even environmentalists agree, shopping online saves us a lot of things and contributes tremendously to the well being of our environment. Something that was remotely possible then.
However, there are still nagging apprehensions when it comes to online shopping since no regulating body monitors these sites, to think that the nature of the internet is global. Just to be fair, shoppers and sellers are both exposed to a very risky situation when it comes to online shopping. For now, we’ll focus on shoppers since most of my friends are interested with this matter.
It’s true. Many of my senior friends are now entertaining thoughts of shopping online. And, I can see clearly why they would want to shop this way, given crazy weather conditions, risky road circumstances and the amount of energy needed just to go out and get stuff from a store, online shopping seems to be the best shopping choice for seniors. Problem is, how to pay for these things without exposing ourselves to fraudulent transactions. Here are your options:
·    Shop only from reliable stores. This must be the rule of thumb when shopping online. Make sure that you are browsing through a site with “https” on it. This can be seen up there in the web address box. Aside from that, check if you have the little security icon below which is normally a padlock. These things should be on your browser window.
·    SSL certificates are important. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer protocol which ensures secure transactions between you and the server. Your computer usually notifies you when it detects expired SSL certificate or if there’s something wrong about the server’s certificate.
·    Security seals. Their website should have security seals from security providers. One of the most popular signs is VeriSign. To make sure that the website has really earned the seal, click on the seal which should lead you to a verification page of the security provider.
·    Make sure your computer is virus free. Why? Malwares can infect your computer. When it does, it will record your keyboard strokes and send it to a remote server to be used for malicious activities—identity theft included. With that said, even if you shop only from reliable stores, your account info will still be stolen from you.
·    Use debit cards that are not aligned to your bank accounts. There are debit card providers which allow card holders to just put money in that account when needed. It may or may not require you a maintenance fee but at the very least, you don’t risk your entire life savings account.
·    Use online payment services. Like PayPal, they serve as a go-between. You just have to pay fees for their services of course, but they come very handy in situations when you need to purchase from stores that are considered suspicious.

I’ve been in the internet for such a long time that I sometimes find myself applying internet lingo to my everyday life and yes, conversations—much to the dismay of my senior friends. I won’t dare blame them, it’s really hard to keep up with how the internet speaks unless you personally experienced them. Ever encountered these words: lol, lmao and ikr? Completely, insanely incomprehensible! But for your aging mind’s information, these words stand for “laughing out loud:, “laughing my ass off” and “I know right?”. See? Simple words made difficult!
So let’s add the word “phishing” to that. I stumbled upon a very informative article in the internet this morning and like me, the author has had phishing attacks so I can totally relate to what he is saying. I decided to post his link to my social networking sites i.e Twitter and Facebook so that my friends would be forewarned of these new ways to phish. Silly me, I did not bother to check if the wordings are age-appropriate to most of my friends and I even got comments like: “What phishing?” and “What on earth?!”
Due to this, I quickly realized that not all of my senior friends are not too acquainted with most internet terms despite the fact that they use it regularly. Some may have an idea, while others just don’t care. Problem is, these are the things we really need to know when we use the internet so I took the liberty to “translate” for the senior readers what phishing is all about and how nasty it can get!
Phishing is a scam primarily made to steal your valuable information. Usually, it steals your login info and then uses it to hack your account. When you say hack, it is an unauthorized use of your account wherein the supposedly “hacker” takes full control of your account. The hacker, or the person behind it can now send mails, post images and just do whatever it is you can do with that account. In mild cases, it just uses your account to widen the phishing attack, however, your personal information is now made vulnerable, and not to mention, accessible.
I, myself, once fell for a phishing scam. This, I think, was the first batch of its kind using social networking sites. A friend mailed me a link to a video with me on it. I believed, at that time, that it really came from her since I never encountered phishing attack in a social networking site before—all I knew is that it only confines itself to emails. I clicked and was led to a log-in page which looked like the real thing. I thought it was only an error so I just faithfully typed in my details. The next day, I found out that my account sent comments and messages to my network without me knowing it. Basically, that’s how phishing works although they so often change platforms. Last I heard, they attacked Twitter and many users fell for it—seniors included.