Who knew how much we wanted to give everyone a thumbs down? Adam Mosseri, the head of Facebook’s news feed, told Bloomberg Business that the reason Facebook decided not to go with the much-requested dislike button was that it wouldn’t be “in the spirit of the product we’re trying to build.” The company instead has decided to go with 6 new emojis that were rolled out this past week in Spain and Ireland, with plans to eventually roll out the changes to all Facebook users. In a bit of irony, the current top comment from Facebook’s announcement of the new emojis, with 33,682 Likes, is a user saying “We want the dislike button, not this…” The emojis themselves span the range of laughter, surprise, sadness and anger, reading like the main character list from Pixar’s emotion-populated hit movie Inside Out, with one notable exception: disgust. (Anger lacks the quick flippant dismissal that is practically a pillar of online communication.)  All this asks the question, does Facebook have something against the perfectly human emotion of disliking something? The answer requires looking a bit deeper within our online interactions to see why the internet powerhouse may be hesitant to install a permanent signal of negativity, and what that means as we continue to express ourselves online.

Facebook is so dominant on the internet landscape that expectations from its over 1.49 billion users can’t possibly meet the reality of what the company actually provides, which is simply the ability for users to connect with each other over its network. Unfortunately, sometimes this ability reveals things about other users that we’d prefer we didn’t know or rather not see. And while the obvious solution to this problem, “have you thought of not going on Facebook?” may not work for everyone, the dislike button option would likely lead to worse problems than it would purport to solve. Many companies have Facebook sites, and it would be easy to imagine a scenario for firms to deal with a rash of online dislike attacks to their profiles. These attacks could be sincere customer service issues, but are likely to also consist of competitive sniping from rivals. A more serious problem would be online bullying to individuals, a nasty issue with a resolution that will likely remain beyond the current powers of Facebook. In this light, Mosseri’s statement above makes perfect sense – one can imagine the proliferation of problems caused by rampant disliking within Facebook’s huge and diverse community.

Along with Facebook’s wrangling with the user feedback issue, another popular social platform is also dealing with the dilemma of adding features to its services. Twitter has long held off on a seemingly innocuous feature that has been constantly requested by its users: the ability to edit previous tweets. While it does offer the option to delete tweets, editing would seem like a no-brainer for the microblogging company given the number of times it has been requested.  However, Twitter is unable to easily add editing due to its sensitivity around two of its core sharing abilities, the Re-Tweet and Favorite options. The counter argument against editing goes like this: you find a great random tweet that you enjoy, and you quickly Re-Tweet and Favorite for all your followers to see. The person who first posted that tweet, with the editing option, would be able to modify their tweet to something that you would not be too proud to have shared—the sky is the limit here, with options such as profanities and quotes from notable 20^th century dictators being the main culprits—requiring you to be notified of how the offending quote has marred your twitter feed. Much like disliking on Facebook, editing on Twitter would potentially create more problems than it would solve, at least initially.

Therein lies the bigger issue—just how much do these companies owe us to use their free software and then complain about missing features?  Of course they want the feedback, but they are not obligated in any way to respond to each and every request, even if it’s a massively popular one, if it’s destructive to the overall vision of what the company is trying to achieve. And as our social networking capabilities become more sophisticated and advanced, we owe it to ourselves and our personal network to use these social media services more responsibly before asking for bigger and brighter things from them. Even if it is just to give a thumbs down to your best friend’s selfie.

The seemingly limitless freedom that the internet provides for its users comes with an ever-present warning: be careful with where you leave your data. As the security breaches at Ashley Madison, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and even the federal government has shown, no aspect of our online lives is sacred if it happens to fall into the crosshairs of a talented hacker. And while some of these incidents may seem far removed for the standard citizen (thankfully not everyone is on Ashley Madison looking to start a destructive marital affair), the fear that our own data could be similarly targeted and assaulted can be a valid concern. Awareness is the primary weapon to use in this kind of environment, and establishing personal best practices for online hazards will keep your data safe among the rising tide of hacking and scamming.

Phishing scams are particularly devious villains in the online realm, and having a solid knowledge of the frequently visited websites you go to will allow you to sidestep any troubles they may cause. Phishing is where a malicious agent will put up a front of a trusted entity (i.e. Facebook or Amazon.com) in order to collect personal information for its own purposes, often causing financial damages to the consumer or even identity theft. Phishing scams that masquerade as financial institutions are particularly dangerous, as a customer may be prompted to enter a banking routing or account number into the malware, giving extensive financial access to the customer’s bank account before it is caught. Thankfully, most banks offer fraud protection in case of these kind of emergencies, but it remains a headache for the victim of these scams. The best course of action is to take care that the website where you are entering your data is from a trustworthy source—an extra second or two of caution can save you weeks or months’ worth of pain in this area. Look for oddly placed logos and graphics and non-standard web addresses on the webpage, and make sure to take extra caution when accessing a company website through email, as this is often the origin of most of these type of scams.

For general data security purposes, standard best practices are a must in order to stay ahead of any trends in the viral and hacking fields. In their recent article reporting on the recent hacking incidents, TechCrunch provides a great list of habits to use in order to take precautions:

-Regularly change your account passwords, use strong passwords. and avoid using obvious, guessable passwords

-Keep your operating system and software constantly patched and updated.

-Invest in a reliable anti-malware program, both on your PC and your mobile devices.

-Avoid downloading programs from unreliable sources, or clicking on links in emails coming from unknown senders.

-Consider using an encryption solution that will ensure your data remains safe even if the provider is compromised.

Personal responsibility for your own data is ultimately the best course of action when dealing with security threats. There is no need to fear the web and all it has to offer despite the risk of viruses or scams, and one must only be vigilant to avoid the headaches that a personal security breach can cause.

If you own your own business, online threats can be an additional hassle as important and sensitive data can be at risk from malware attacks. If you’d like to know more on how Sun Sign Designs can assist you in protecting your business from online threats, please contact us today!

You have probably noticed the rectangular metallic chip on the front of debit and credit cards, and your business may have already implemented card readers to read these chips for transactions. The payment card chip is known as an EMV chip, standing for EuroPay, MasterCard and Visa, the first three Major Card Companies to adopt the technology. What you may not know is that starting this year this will be the primary way that payment cards will be read, and that businesses looking to stay up-to-date in the market will need to convert over to the new system.

The primary benefit of the EMV chip is security. The chip reader creates a unique code for the transaction, which makes it much more difficult for thieves and counterfeiters to commit fraud with the card information. Most countries outside of the U.S. have already switched from the prior magnetic stripe system over to the EMV chip reader, and the U.S. will be doing the same this year. Starting on October 1st, 2015, the liability for fraud completed on the old magnetic stripe system will switch from the Card Companies to the business that had the done the transaction. Fraud committed on the new system will be covered by the Card Companies. In other words, if you run a business that takes credit cards for transactions, you will want to start using the EMV chip readers before October 1st so you’ll remain protected from liability!

Buying new card readers for all point-of-sale terminals is just the start for companies looking to comply with the new regulations. They will also want to communicate the importance of the new system to their employees and provide proper training so the transition will be as smooth as possible. Employees are not the only ones who will need educating—customers will need guidance as well, which is why you’ll want to train your employees to the point where they can assist consumers coming down their checkout lanes. The good news? It’s a one-time switch, so once you’ve made the transition and completed the employee training, you’re good to go for using the new technology.