Veronica Mars was a sassy, intelligent teen-age drama with a detective flair. More than your normal vision of Nancy Drew meets Dawson’s Creek – the show had smarts. So what did I learn to help you, oh readers of Social Media World? Here’s top five tips from Veronica Mars’ sleuthing – many of her cases having something to do with cyberspace.
- Keep your password(s) hard to crack, but this isn’t the only assurance you have of security. Veronica’s investigation of an online purity test that was linked to student’s email reminded viewers that even hard to crack passwords are easily accessible to your network administrator, who is all together human. If you really don’t want that information to get out — don’t put it online.
- If you’ve done it, it’s probably findable. Reputation management is a big industry these days. People and companies both try to save their reputation by burying negative links in search results, while this might save you from the normal Google search, you have to remember that the information once posted online is probably available somewhere. Veronica’s stories usually revolve around a secret someone wants to keep hidden – in one episode she digs up the past on parents of different students for $50 a report. Past indiscretions can always find you or your company. So it’s probably better to keep your company from committing them in the first place.
mac.jpg3. Never underestimate the power of a computer nerd. Or geek as we prefer to be known. Veronica’s go to gal was Mac – a smart computer genius who helped her out of many a computer problem and even helped her create a couple awesome websites. What do we learn from this? You don’t always need to be -the- person who knows everything. You just need to have a good network of “go to” people who are extremely talented in areas you’re not. More about Tiktok For Stories
- Always have a backup, of your backup. In “The Wrath of Con”, Veronica not only stops an internet email fraud scam by stealing the hard drives from the scammers, she steals their back up drive as well. Lesson? Always keep a backup of your most vital information in a second location. My friend learned this the hardway when not only her computer crashed, but her backup drive failed as well. Losing 10 years worth of graphic designs? Not good. Keep a hard copy or burn a DVD, you might thank me for this later.
- Amazing things can be done with simple Photoshop. Sure the Myspace picture looks nice, but if we’ve learned one thing from Veronica Mars it’s that picture editing software can create great illusions. In one episode Veronica uses a Photoshop-esque program to make it appear as though she was from a different town. Social Media can easily be used to tell lies as well as it can be used to tell truths. Just depends on what side your ethics fall on.
Well, I hope these tips can help you out in your social media journies. If you haven’t picked up Veronica Mars I really suggest you do. It’s a lot more than just another teen drama – even my dad likes it.