If you have a Facebook account, you’ve probably seen, or shared, at least one urban myth. Maybe it’s this image:

Or this:

Today, 12/01/2014 in response to the Facebook guidelines and under articles L.111, 112 and 113 of the code of intellectual property, I declare that my rights are attached to all my personal songs, lyrics, literary excerpts, data, drawings, paintings, photos, texts etc… published on my profile. For commercial use of the foregoing my written consent is required at all times……

Or even this:

I just found out that should you ever be forced to withdraw monies from an ATM machine, you can notify the police by entering your Pin # in reverse. The machine will still give you the monies you requested, but unknown to the robber, etc, the police will be immediately dispatched to help you.
The broadcast stated that this method of calling the police is very seldom used because people don’t know it exist, and it might mean the difference between life and death. Hopefully, none of you will have to use this, but I wanted to pass it along just in case you hadn’t heard of it. Please pass it along to everyone possible.

There is no validity to any of these posts, and none of them are new.  In fact, the third one started circulating in an email as early as 2006, before migrating to Facebook. The first one has been circulating since at least 2010. The Facebook privacy one surfaces in a new form every time Facebook announces changes to its privacy policy. These are just a sample of the many myths that are out there. All of these have been discredited, and the validity can be easily checked. The next time you see a Facebook status like that, stop and think about it. How will sharing a picture 100 times provide a free heart transplant? If entering a PIN backwards would summon police, don’t you think that information might actually be shared by your bank? Who decided stating your rights in a Facebook status would provide any legal protection whatsoever? (For the record, you agree to Facebook’s Terms and Conditions when you create an account. Stating otherwise publicly doesn’t change anything).

While it’s not possible to completely stop these things from circulating, you can become part of the solution. Don’t blindly share or post anything just because everyone else is. It’s possible to quickly check whether a post is valid or not. I use Snopes.com to check these items out. For example, here’s the Snopes link debunking the backwards ATM  PIN myth. If the story isn’t true, don’t spread it. While there’s not necessarily anything malicious about these myths, there’s no point in perpetuating them. Your friends will probably thank you for having a little less clutter in their feed, too.

McAfee recently released it’s threat predictions for 2011 (PDF). Among the forecast for 2011:

• Social Media including Facebook, Twitter and instant messaging will distribute more malware than email. Related are short URL service abuses, and personalized attacks that appear to originate from your friends. Think twice before clicking a short URL to open that video your Facebook friend sent you. If you’re required to install something to view the video, it’s almost certainly malware.
• Mobile malware has been predicted for some time. Could 2011 be the year mobile malware makes its presence felt? Smartphone use has exploded, for both personal and  business use. Rootkits and botnets are making their way onto these mobile devices. They are attractive targets. Not only are the devices used for banking and online access, but the camera and microphone can be hijacked as well. If malware has “root” access on your phone, chances are it has access to your email, Facebook, contacts, even GPS location.

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In just a few hours, a new year – and a new decade – will begin. We’ve talked a lot recently about all of the advances and inventions in technology over the past ten years. Doing so leads to wondering what will be in store for us in the very near future. However, instead of trying to guess what new gadgets and gizmos we might soon see, I want to talk about what you resolve to do in tech or social media in the coming year.

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With 2009 coming to a close this week, many blogs and tech sites are taking a look back at technology over the past decade. I’ve read several of these articles, and each one of them list Cloud computing in their top three. That doesn’t surprise me in any way… computing in the Cloud is a huge development, one that makes life a lot easier for us all.

What does surprise me is the fact that none of the bloggers can agree on anything else. Sure, there have been a lot of innovative, useful gadgets released in the past ten years. And, of course, each has been important in its own right. But did nothing other than the Cloud cause an impact on the World? Was there not a single other product worthy of making everyone’s lists? I happen to think there were.

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Microsoft is sponsoring an innovative new site, where top tech sites, along with their experts and readers can partner, and offer advice to your challenging IT questions: 360itadvice.com. What keeps you up at night? Ask for advice.

GeekstToGo.com is participating, along with a group of impressive sites that  you’ve likely read, or even received advice from before: experts-exchange.com, petri.co.il, smallnetbuilder.com, bleepingcomputer.com, howtogeek.com, and usingwindowshomeserver.com.

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Drew Olanoff is a close friend of mine. We met last year during my boss’ Gnomedex conference in Seattle, and clicked immediately. We share a love of people and technology, and have the same weird sense of humor. We’ve stayed in close contact via email/IM/phone over the past several months, solidifying and strengthening our friendship.

When Drew learned that he has Hodgkins Lymphoma back in May, he was ticked off. Me… I cried. I was terrified that I would lose my friend. I wanted to know what I could do to help. Little did I know that I would soon be able to help in a very big way.

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Just a few short years ago, Twitter was being used by the same people who are now becoming addicted to Foursquare. Yet, many people online are sputtering about how Foursquare is some passing fad, and will quickly fade into nothingness. We’re not so sure that’s true.

What is Foursquare? It’s a website that helps you mark your location anytime you go somewhere. You earn points for doing checkins, and can earn badges as well. For example, if you check in from any one place often enough, you’ll become known as the “mayor” of that location.

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