Can You Survive In An Online World?
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Can You Survive In An Online World?
– by Jim Edwards
© Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
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Do you have the skills to make it in a computer driven,
increasingly online world?
Your immediate, knee-jerk reaction may be “Yes! Of course I
have the skills.
I know how to send and receive email and surf the web.
I can even download and install files.”
Well, three or four years ago, email, Web surfing and
downloading files qualified you as “electronically
literate,” but not any more! Computer and online survival
skills now encompass much more than that.
Surviving in an online world involves maintaining a high
degree of “electronic literacy,” which means focusing on
and developing skills in the following areas:
** Personal Computer skills **
In the old days of 1998, the ability to use a computer,
keyboard and mouse rated anyone as computer-literate.
In fact, you were a real pro if you could burn a CD, scan
documents and manipulate digital pictures.
Fast forward to today and “personal computer skills”
carries a whole new meaning. You must know how to maintain
and update not only anti-virus, but “anti-spyware,” and
firewall software too.
You also need to understand how operating with Windows ME,
or 2000, or XP will affect your ability to use certain
software along with specific security precautions to avoid
trouble from hackers.
** Internet Skills **
In the bygone era of 1998, friends considered you an online
genius if you possessed basic surfing and navigation
skills.
They watched in awe as you used search engines like
InfoSeek.com (a long-defunct search engine) to find and
download programs, pictures, and information on specific
topics.
Now electronic literacy means the ability to set up,
upload, and maintain basic web pages and blogs.
It also means understanding terms such as “RSS” and “news
aggregator” because that’s the next generation of how
information will get disseminated online (and it arrives
for the masses this year).
** Email Skills **
Perhaps the most deceptively simple of all the areas of
electronic literacy, email actually presents the most
challenges for keeping up with the times.
Previously, clicking the “send and receive” button meant
you were proficient at using email.
Now, because of spam, viruses and “phishing scams”
(identity theft schemes delivered through email), email
requires a whole new set of skills, “street smarts” and
software just to survive.
You must understand how to use an email “preview” program
such as MailWasher.net to eliminate spam and virus email
messages before they ever reach your computer.
You also must learn to protect your identity and avoid
“phishing scams” by learning to recognize and defend
against online con-artist tactics.
** Buy or Borrow Expertise **
Though you should constantly upgrade your skills through
personal education, nobody can do or know it all (except
maybe your know-it-all bother in law).
The good news is that you can always buy or borrow someone
else’s expertise to solve any online challenge.
A prime example of outsourcing in the consumer market is
all the little stores popping up in strip malls to help you
sell your stuff on eBay.
Through outsourcing, online survival skills can also mean
taking what was previously the exclusive realm of computer
geeks and making it as easy as dropping off the dry
cleaning.
–
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an incredible new ebook that will teach you how
to write and publish your own highly profitable ebook in a
week or less… even if you failed high school English
class!
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9 Responses to “Can You Survive In An Online World?”
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Stop the presses!
“You also need to understand how operating with Windows ME, or 2000, or XP will affect your ability to use certain software along with specific security precautions to avoid
trouble from hackers.”
Truly computer literate people are migrating away from Microsoft products and services. You spoke of the benefits of the open-source FireFox browser in your last entry.
On the operating system side of things, computer literate people are incresinly finding that Linux based systems are inherently more stable, as well as significantly cheaper to operate.
Way back in 1999, it was said that Linux and the free software movement would revolutionize the world. It hasn’t quite happened yet, but people who are ahead of the curve know it’s coming.
Just my 2 cents!
Can You Survive In An Online World?
Here’s a nice article I snagged from Jim Edward’s blog on what skills you need to make it online today…
Like Kendra, I think that the more “eLiterate” you are, the more you modify your online profile to avoid such issues to begin with. It’s not the eLiterate folks who are risking their lives by responding to the Nigeria money scam. Those of us who’ve been around for a while have already seen most of the ploys once or twice. The names of the viruses may have changed, but the way they’re propagated haven’t.
Please, Jim, if you’re going to help us with our “computer skills” help us learn the skills to make money with our virus-free machines!
Here’s what I think. Let me know if I’m right or wrong.
1) Learn a skill to develop a product or provide a service that can make you some immediate off-line cash.
2) Learn to sell the product or service in the off-line world. I’ve yet to hear of an individual weatlhy through eCommerce who got his first chance at wealth online. Conventional education, off-line business.
3) Convert your business to be electronically salable in a hands-off, online way. Once you’ve become capable of supporting yourself offline, you can make the transition to online without too steep a learning curve.
4) Get a new idea repeat steps 1 & 3 as often as you can. After you’ve done the entire process once, you can take the ideas straight to the Net without the intermediate offline step.
Wealth isn’t as much a matter of doing, but a matter of thinking and being.
-NH
Might be useful to *not* put your email anywhere online in any sort of text format. Coding them just slows the spammers down. Images stop them.
Kendra is correct, avoid Microsoft products to avoid the security holes.
I was recently reading an Australian IT magazine which was discussing the possibility of perhaps (shock horror) not using Outlook or Outlook Express. I stopped using these (in 1999) in favour (initially) of Pegasus, then Eudora now Thunderbird (in the Mozilla installation).
I use a very good anti-virus package, not one of the big brands ’cause they are crappy. I have a copy of one of them on CD & the CD itself contains a virus – Doh!
I use a firewall behind a firewall …
I still haven’t migrated to Linux for many reasons but the OS is the only MS product on my comuter(s).
Standard rules apply, firewall in stealth mode, anti-virus software – paid and up-to-date, almost any email client except Outlook, Incredimail and any others which have IE as their html rendering engine.
Don’t open anything with an attachment if you don’t know the sender, don’t open any attachment if you weren’t expecting it until you have scanned it (good email clients and good anti-virus software won’t allow you to in any case).
Stay away from “those” sites, don’t allow any software to “remember my password for me”, only go to your online banking site through your own bookmark/favourites or typed in URL, same with PayPal or any similar type site.
Have several “throw away” web based email addresses for any site which asks fro an email address that you are a little suspicious of. I have a number in names other than mine, any confusion is good when it comes to protecting yourself.
That will keep you out of most problems, but still not all. Spammers and black hat hackers use more Social Engineering than hacking – be alert, the internet needs more lerts.
You guys make some great points, and NH, I agree with you and already have plans in the works to start diversifying what I teach as the gang grows more eliterate.
The challence I face is how to help a wide range of people with divergent skills to move along. I segment the group as much as possible, but sometimes I fall victim to the old WWII convoy maxim of “You’re only as fast as your slowest ship in time of war.”
I think an online AND offline mix is a good idea… but you should try to have it as closely related as possible… otherwise you’re too divided. It’s fine to have multiple streams of income, but they should all flow off the same mountain.
Jim
I was delighted to see you mention RSS and “news aggregator” in your article. That IS the direction that those of us who want to communicate using the Internet will have to go.
More and more people are using blogs, and there are many avenues now to make adding these blogs to our “news aggregators”. It’s great for the reader (we get to read only what we choose to read — and when we choose it, we actually get to see it— what a concept!) and it’s great for the writer of the article or newsletter (read blog) because they know that the people who want to read it will actually get to read it. (Again, what a concept!!)
I just added you to my “news aggregator”, Jim.
Thanks so much.
Ron Rink
I feel that to market any product online, it is probably best to know how to integrate an email newsletter in combination with a blog. Both have search engine strategies that you can use to promote each medium. However, email gives you better monitoring and control of your subscriber numbers, while blogs are a better means of communicating. Thus using both in some way is probably a necessary new skill.
I believe that there will one day be something that combines the autoresponder features of a newsletter but using RSS or something similar.Once this happens, email will probably then be truly on its way out as a marketing medium.
Jim, thanks for backing me up. My MAIN point was that the first successful business experience is what gets the mind and body ready for what you’re trying to do. After that, it goes faster as it’s all about memory and adaptation. That’s why I (and most people) have such a HARD time learning the ropes … we have no prior business success to remember or adapt from.
This, I think, applies to ALL businesses: MLM, franchise, flea market booth, or eCommerce. The banks know who’ll win and who’ll lose so they won’t bankroll a conventional business if it’s your first time at bat. You’ve gotta PROVE by your past experience that you know what you’re doing.
As the prices get smaller and smaller, the risks becomes less, and the “barriers to entry” are also reduced. Online, as you said in the more recent blog, with a little money and a good idea, you can get begin to learn and get success. The HARD part is thinking of a legitimately good idea. The other hard part is being willing to put your own money where your mouth is.
I’m, slowly, getting ideas that are, I think, fairly original, but whether they’re good or not is for someone more experienced than me to determine … or better yet … teach me how to determine. This is where the REAL teaching ($$$) opportunity lies: teach us how to determine for ourselves whether our ideas are any good. I’m sure, with your experience, you could look at all my ideas and instantly know (maybe with a few keystrokes) which ones are garbage, which have potential, and which are glowing from the fire inside. Your experience & pulse on the markets give you this advantage. How am I to learn this skill without spending 10+ years in the business? Even the most neophyte emergency assistant can learn to check the vital signs.
This is in reply to BigJim and his statement; “Once this happens, email will probably then be truly on its way out as a marketing medium”.
It has already happened. And it’s really great.
You can now use RSS eMail Autoresonders just like you do ProAutoresponder or any of the popular email autoresponders.
Plus, educate your readers and help them get on the RSS bandwagon by showing them how to get a news aggregator (RSS reader) of their own and subscribe to your feed and never miss information you want them to get.
The great thing about it is, 100% of your emails, eZines, newsletters and publications are delivered.
Go ahead, check it out BigJim @ http://www.rss-email-autoresponder.com