Russian Hacker Sold Millions Of Passwords For Less Than A $1, Should You Care?

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Millions were put at risk when a Russian hacker leaked a huge database of login credential for Google Yahoo and Microsoft accounts. While it is definitely time to change your passwords anyways, is it really possible that you will be affected?

According to security research firm, Hold Security, a database containing information for more than 272 million victims was handed over to them. These passwords came from a variety of email providers, from Google to Russia’s most popular email service, Mail.ru. Hacks like this might happen quite often, but it was how Hold Security acquired the information that has the web buzzing. [Read more…]

The Money is in the List: Increasing Your Email Subscribers

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email subscribers

Blogging is a great way to build a community, and demonstrate your expertise. It’s also a great way to build a business whether it’s through the sale of digital or physical products and services, or consulting for example. One phrase often uttered in the marketing community is, “The money is in the list”. While blog subscribers are always great, email subscribers have helped to differentiate themselves, showing that not only do they have a larger interest in what you have to say, but also may be more likely to buy something from you.

Whether you sell info products, run an online store, or are even a dog trainer offering one-on-one sessions, increasing your email subscribers can help you to better connect with more serious individuals, and potentially increase future sales. [Read more…]

How the Big Social Networks Use Email to Encourage User Engagement

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If you are an online marketer and you are not using email, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful tools for reaching customers and increasing engagement. Email is a means to reach the people most interested in your products or services in a deeply personal way. It’s a way to stay in constant contact with your most loyal customers, fans and supporters. However, email marketing can be very tricky. If it’s done well, it can attract new people to your business and make current customers even better. If done poorly, it can turn away people who were, previously, excited about you and your brand.

So who can you turn to for help in mastering email marketing? Social networks are among the largest email senders in terms of volume and have spent an incredible amount of time and resources honing their email marketing. However, this is effort and energy you can tap as you can learn a great deal from these networks without having to duplicate their investment. You just have to be willing to step back and study what they are doing and why. [Read more…]

Social Media Is Popular But Email Is Still The Reigning King [Study]

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Email vs Social MediaAs a country, perhaps even as a planet we have become increasingly obsessed with social networks and while more than 845 million people may be using Facebook, 140 million are on Twitter and Google+ is about to reach 100 million users that hasn’t stopped email from being the number one source of internet communications.

Research firm Ipsos recently polled 19,216 adults in 24 countries and they found that 85% of those polled said internet email was an important part of their communication structure while just 62% admitted to using social networks.

Of course how people actually use the internet greatly differs from one country to the next. For example in Hungary 94% of internet users choose to log into their accounts just to check email while just 46% of Suadi Arabians choose email as their main reason for logging onto the web.  [Read more…]

Your Email, Your Privacy and Your Blog

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Image of Email PrivacyMost of us take email for granted. We just type in an address, pound out a message and hit send. We trust our email will get there in a prompt fashion and that, if needed, we’ll hear back from the recipient shortly.

The problem is that email doesn’t go directly from point A to point B. Your email, as with nearly all communication on the Internet, is first passed through a series of intermediaries that receive it and send it on its way again.

Since this happens within the blink of an eye it’s easy for us to miss it or not think about it. However, this system has drastic impacts for the relative privacy of email both in terms of how secure our information is and what others can do with it.

The truth is simple. Email, at least by itself, is not a private method of communication and should never be treated as such. Your email is not safe from snooping by the government, by your employers, by your ISP nor even disclosure by your recipient.

The impact this has on you depends on how you want to use email, but the basics of the situation are pretty much the same for everyone, never put anything in an email you don’t want disclosed publicly later. [Read more…]

U.S. teens dropping email for SMS, Twitter, Facebook

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Is email becoming a thing of the past? Yes, if you are to ask 12 to 17 year olds in the US.

comScore’s report on 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review revealed that usage among teens went down by 59% last year. Even young adults used email lesser last year by 18% Overall usage of email dropped by a less alarming rate of 8%

Alarming? Maybe. So what’s becoming the choice for teens when it comes to form of communicaton? Text messaging, Facebook and Twitter. It’s all about informal and short form of writing for them. Email is just too much for this age group.

All is not lost for email as older people (55 to 64 year olds) in the U.S. still use email. In fact, they used it more in 2010 than the previous year.

What we would want to see now is the promised Facebook integrated messaging system. That is supposed to make email, as we know it today, a thing of the past. Well, as hinted by Mark Zuckerberg. Where is it, by the way?

In the meantime, keep email alive. You can try sending me one at [email protected] I’ll reply.

The Evolution of Email: Infographic

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Email is something that we now take for granted and many of us use it as our primary communication method. Email is something that most people do not know how it works or when or where it originated from and most would be surprised at exactly how old it really is! We decided to take a look at the process of how your emails are sent and received and also the history of how it has evolved over a period of almost 5 decades. Finally, we look at dreaded spam, its origins and unstoppable growth since the turn of the century.

Enjoy this great Infographic from our friends at Infographiclabs