WHO (World Health Organization) raised the influenza pandemic phase to 5, out of 6.  Dr. Margaret Chan released a statement on April 29 stating ” Based on assessment of all available information, and following several expert consultations, I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5. Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world. On the positive side, the world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history.”  To view a chart of the current pandemic level click here.

There is a lot of media coverage, both mainstream and social media, right now regarding H1N1 flu (swine flu), and many government, organizations and businesses are enacting their preparedness plans. There are a few things to consider relating to how the H1N1 flu affects individuals and businesses.

Get the Facts

Now is a time to rely on fact and use credible sources for information. Here is a short list of organizations that are providing factual, up to date information on H1N1 flu and pandemic planning and action:

• WHO (World Health Organization)
  
• CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
  
• American Red Cross
  

Here is also a list of social media accounts that are updating factual, real-time information:

• @CDCEmergency on Twitter
• @RedCross on Twitter
• @MontanaRedCross on Twitter

Preparedness Planning

A successful business thrives based on its ability to be proactive and prepare for challenges it may have to endure.  While it is best to already have business continuity plans in place, if not, now is the time to start. Don’t wait until its too late. Use the resources available and act now.  A good place to get started: Ready.gov Business

Stephen Northcutt from the SANS Technology Institute has compiled an excellent resource page relating to pandemic preparedness planning. He also lays out a skeleton preparedness plan for companies, which is:

Don’t Panic!

Here is a quick podcast interview with Bill Brenner on the Swine Flu and its implications on IT and IT Security.
Warn people about Swine Fly phishing attacks

Initial monitoring stage (where we are right now)

• If you’re sick, stay home
• Family is sick, stay home
• Close contact with someone showing symptoms, stay home
• Wash your hands, cover your cough

Then, if multiple cases in your area,

• Think about telling non-essential workers to stay home
• Recommend workers take kids out of daycare

Pandemic stage

• Everyone will be staying home, how will you handle it?
• Do you have enough laptops?
• Can your VPN concentrators handle the load
• Who will stay in the data center
• Can you operate server systems from home
• Link to SANS reading room paper on pandemic and network systems

Security Considerations during Major Events

It comes as no surprise that when the media is covering a hot topic, there are those that will use the opportunity of high interest to exploit a vulnerability, whether it is human or not.

Email security vendors are reporting an increased percentage of spam email containing the keywords “swine” and “flu”. Some say as many as 2 percent of all spam email they are filtering contain these keywords. Be alert, adjust filters as needed, and increase the awareness of those around you to be on their toes. Use smart services such as OpenDNS, to help decrease the likelihood of becoming subject to a phishing attack. Double check the host based (anti-virus software and firewall) software being used to protect your workstations, laptops, and servers to ensure they are updated and protected as best as possible.

A True Benefit

While there is no substitute for being prepared in the time of need, there is also no better time to begin carefully thinking about, preparing, and putting in to place an action plan to allow you, your employees (and their families), business and others be prepared, safe, aware and productive.

(Photo credit: Random Tony)

Today Facebook announced a change in the way connecting with Facebook Pages has been traditionally thought of. Until today if you found a Page that you like you would “Become a Fan”. That has changed now and is termed, you “Like” a Page, whether its an individual, community, business, product or service. You will already notice the change if you visit a Facebook Page, whether you are an admin, or were a Fan of the Page. Nothing appears to have changed otherwise, just the premise behind the term “Like”. Alex Li said in the announcement, “Profiles no longer are a static list of likes and interests. Now, they are a living map of all the connections that matter to you.”

Facebook posted the following information in their Help Center to give you an idea of what the changes mean to you, as an admin of a Page, or of a Page you may “Like”:

Why did “Become a Fan” change to “Like”?

To improve your experience and promote consistency across the site, we’ve changed the language for Pages from “Fan” to “Like.” We believe this change offers you a more light-weight and standard way to connect with people, things and topics in which you are interested. (Source: http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=17167)

What does it mean to “Like” a Page?

When you click “Like” on a Page, you are making a connection to that Page. The Page will be displayed in your profile, and in turn, you will be displayed on the Page as a person who likes that Page. The Page will also be able to post content into your News Feed. (Source: http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=17115)

Can I still “Like” a News Feed story about my friends Liking Pages?

No. When you see a Feed story about a friend Liking a Page, there will be no feedback links below that story. However, if you hover over the Page name, you will see a small preview of the Page and the number of other people who have also Liked that Page. You can then Like that Page to add it to your profile, or you can click through to the Page itself. (Source: http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=17116)

Is there a difference between “Liking” an item a friend posts and “Liking” a Page?

Yes. Liking a Page means you are connecting to that Page. When you connect to a Page, it will appear in your profile and you will appear on the Page as a person who likes that Page. The Page will also be able to post content into your News Feed.

On the other hand, when you click “Like” on a piece of content that a friend posts, you are simply letting your friend know that you like it without leaving a comment. (Source: http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=17168)

The Fan Box Widget appears to be changing the button to Like

The Fan Box Widget appears to be affected by the change and many of the buttons are appearing to change, reflecting the Like button.

Do you like the fact that “Become a Fan” was changed to “Like” on a Facebook Page?

(Photo credit: andreacanton)

On a scale of importance of from 1 to 10 in early 2009, real-time search may have been given a 5 or 6. But by the end of 2009, the heat was on, and now its given an importance of an 8 or 9.

Real-time search is a hot commodity. Rightly so, because of the power and sheer volume of information available at your fingertips, well, in real-time. The collaboration and syndication of social network information by the big players: Google, Yahoo! and Bing is an indicator of the increasing importance of real-time search.

What’s the big deal about real-time search?

Real-time search enables social data in the form of status updates, posts, and information stemming from social media and social network sites to be semantically flag and produce the information relevantly in a search result. Simple terms: it puts the good stuff from actual people right in front of your face, giving you what you are looking for quickly, instead of digging through long articles written by professionals.

I heard an interesting comment by Brian Solis on a HubSpot webinar today regarding his thought that Google is adapting PageRank for people. This is something he called “The Human Algorithm”. While he didn’t present any hard evidence of this, it is clear that through the vast amount of information freely available to be gleaned from status updates, blog posts and other social information would be of interest to companies from startups to largely known search engines and services. The question of how these companies can monetize on this is coming to light. Twitter, recently announced their first rendition of an advertising platform, is piloting Promoted Tweets with a select bunch of organizations. Startups such as OneRiot have discovered creative ways to monetize by partnering with large blogs such as Huffington Post for example, to display ads for articles that match real-time search requests.

While the general population doesn’t like advertising to be in their face, understandably, real-time search presents a unique opportunity to target a plethora of already built in relevant social data, with creative, but highly relevant social advertising.

Google, Bing, and Yahoo! have their work cut out to increase advertising revenue in their real-time search efforts. The best thing they can do is to continue developing their platforms to make it appealing and simple to advertisers wanting to target real-time data, with relevance.

I’m fine with all of this development around the social search advertising space, as long as its done with usability and user-friendliness in mind. People already show their dislike for advertising through using browser plugins such as AdBlock Plus or AdThwart. Marketers and organizations looking to get their message out need to continue focusing on developing great content and useful information and presenting it in the least obtrusive way possible. That is where the bread and butter is.

Question: What do you think about the real-time search monetization challenges, and do you think so far its being done right?

(Photo Credit: Jeffrey Beall)