Times have definitely changed. The Pew Internet report “Where people get information about restaurants and other local businesses” finds that the majority of people find this information online. This is especially true for young, tech-enabled and educated women.

We still rely heavily on word-of-mouth, but with social media it is so much easier to share opinions. Posting photos of a delicious meal or having a status extolling (or excoriating) a local contractor will spread your opinions much more broadly than simple chats with friends one on one. You can even go to Twitter or Facebook to specifically ask for opinions, which is much more efficient than asking your friends in person or on the phone.

Now we have Yelp to find restaurant reviews, local search on Bing, Angie’s List for trusted contractors and even just a basic search in Google to inform us. As we grow more accustomed to these online review sites, we also become more demanding. We want more local restaurant reviews in our own neighborhoods, more recommendations on good hardware stores, and no longer want to wade through reviews of Bethesda auto repair shops when we are looking for a reliable mechanic.

Your Patch site can be the source of reliable reviews from truly local sources. If you have a go-to pizza place or salon, share it with others. The more you share, and the more your neighbors share, the more useful the directories become. And businesses can also add their information so that it is easier for new customers to find them, which is yet another way that things have improved from the days of having to wait until the new phone books arrive.

Where do you like to find information on local businesses? Did the new phone directory replace a worn copy? Do you Google it or do you go straight to your iPhone?

You may have seen Pinterest mentioned on your Twitter feed, in your staffroom or seen it on Facebook updates. For a startup that went live in 2010, Pinterest has grown its traffic to outnumber Google+ and Tumblr in December 2011.

So what is it?

According to its About page, “Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.”

First MySpace, then Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and Google+, it seems that as soon as you joined the latest online club and get the hang of it there is always another one that you have to master. Nevermind the changes on Facebook and Twitter which have you searching for familiar features. Will it even last? So many startups appear to be revolutionary only to fade away with a whimper. Pinterest seems to be gaining steam, with the uses evolving along with the users who adopt it.
Some popular uses are to gather design inspirations for home decorating, replacing the inspiration boards that designers create for clients. Weddings, parties, or almost anything design-related can be shared among friends of other Pinterest users far and wide. Beyond design uses, some news organizations are using Pinterest to create background or related content. Media news site 1000 Words created a how-to piece on using Pinterest as a media tool.

What can be so exciting about new tools is seeing how the users seem to take the lead. I can imagine community leaders creating a Pinterest board with photos of the people and places in their neighborhoods, school clubs creating a board with highlights from their performances or activities, classrooms sharing images from history, science or poetry inspiration photos.

I have used Microsoft Office’s OneNote for multimedia collaboration, but it is not a social sharing service. Lots of people, especially teens and twenty-somethings, use Tumblr as a visual blog, but this is more like a bulletin board than a blog. At this point, it is invite only. You can request an invitation from its front page or from one of its users (ask your more social media connected friends). It might be one more fad social media site that you can safely ignore, but then again, it might be the one social media community you didn’t even know you were looking for.

In  many ways, this allows you to learn more about what Google “knows”  about you. Google can see the content of your emails if you use Gmail,  where you like to visit if you use Google Maps and if you have enabled  GPS information on your Android phone your precise location throughout  the day.

Many  of us use Google’s many services and the price we pay is to allow our  information to be analyzed so that more targeted ads can reach us. We  have to admit that Google is not providing all these free tools out of  the goodness of its heart, but it is a for-profit, very large and  successful company.

Where  this is troubling is that many of us have no choice but to use Google  products. Many universities and government institutions use Gmail as  their email service provider. This personally identifying data may not  be shared with third parties, frankly our data is Google’s valued asset,  but with a subpoena Google may provide information with local, state or  federal agencies. You don’t have to be paranoid about this data  collection, credit card issuers and insurance companies also track this  type of data, but you should inform yourself on the policies.

I read the FAQs, the Transparency Report including U.S. data,  their Policies and then I went to my Dashboard to see what Google has gleaned from my use of its products (they also have a Dashboard video on YouTube).  Things I had forgotten about were there, things that I was surprised to  see and things that I didn’t realize I hadn’t set stricter privacy  settings. I also learned that Google was right about where I lived, that  I liked books, music and technology but it had determined that I was  most likely a male between the ages of 39 and 44. As a 45-year-old  woman, that amused me but it showed that even Google’s massive  algorithms were not always correct.

I  use Facebook, I use Google, I will continue to do so even without the  option of opting out. I tightened my privacy settings and I will find  alternatives to the Google Calendar and Gmail. I highly recommend that  you should take the time to think about these things for yourself as  well.

Of course, this isn’t much different from teens from many generations. We all believed that we were able to handle things on our own. But as it was for all of us, just because teens feel quite worldly and capable, they need their parents’ and other trusted adults’ help in protecting their reputations and their best interests.

Two recent studies look at the approaches that teens take when dealing with difficult situations and their online relationships. The Pew Internet study’s “Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites” section on Privacy and Safety issues describes a world where kids manage the privacy settings on their online profiles to shield their information, photos and status updates and often lie about their ages to gain access to the sites. Some kids are quite adept at creating filters that allow only some info through while others are completely open. They make distinctions between who can be their online friend with full access and to whom they will seem invisible. Sometimes, they choose to hide information from their parents or older relatives even when they are on their friend list. They may have entirely separate online identities, “alts” in gaming terms, meant for familial contact.

A second study looks at how kids who argue with their parents may use the skills acquired in those arguments to resist peer pressure, and those teens who are more compliant might be more susceptible to peer influence as they use those same conflict avoidance lessons learned in the home and take it to their interactions with their social groups.

Taking the two studies together, consider that while you may be sure that your child’s online life is squeaky clean and in line with your family’s rules, the reality might not reflect that belief. While a determined kid will find ways around almost any boundary set, it might be the discussions explaining your reasoning for the rules that might be more valuable.

Perhaps take the time to share these articles with them. If you listen, you will probably hear stories of other kids they know who make mistakes online or who have social media profiles without their parents’ knowledge.

Explaining that racy photos, ignorant language or bullying all have impacts on reputation, the feelings of others and their character in a true conversation where you listen to their experiences and opinions might be better than a simple ‘no Facebook’ rule. And better prepare them for when they have to make their own decisions when you aren’t there.

Zappo’s, which Amazon acquired in 2009, has “Powered by Service” as their motto. They have a very loyal customer base which gets them consistently listed as one of the most customer friendly online retailers and they have had many tales of their above-and-beyond service in online and print media.

Sites such as Lifehacker have published articles on what to do, but at this point I think the advice offered by Zappos is the best to follow. Update your password with them, know that Zappos will not ask for account information in emails (and any emails soliciting such information is likely fraudulent) and if you use the same password across multiple sites, change it at those other sites.

Generally, it is good practice to make strong passwords for any site that has your financial information and to consider using one of the free mail services such as Microsoft’s Hotmail or Google’s Gmail because both work hard to protect you from security threats. You can create an address that is specific to those sites and that is separate from your personal or work email.

As for passwords, you can customize each to a strong password so that if one site suffers a data breach that you don’t have to change all of your passwords. For example, if you use a password like “Ilike44cows@” you can use “ilike44amzncows@” or something similar. This particular example might be too long, but choose something that means something to you but is unlikely to be guessable by a hacker using dictionary words or common passwords.

Popular sites are attractive targets for hackers, and even the most robust security structure will have vulnerabilities. To protect our personal and financial security we have to do our part by using strong passwords, reading commercial emails with a skeptical eye and monitoring our accounts.

So, how do you handle the pace of change? It depends on your own personal style.

The Early Adopter

These are the folks who need to have the slickest, fastest, smallest and newest technology otherwise they feel out of date. They pay top dollar and are willing to put up with products that may still need a bit of kink straightening. CES and Apple press conferences will be followed like pronouncements from a holy mountain and a pile of ready cash must be set aside to keep up with whatever trendy items emerge.

The Entrepreneur

The entrepreneur is always looking for tools that are reliable and that give them an edge. This pushes them to early adoption, but not if that means using unstable tools. Money is of course a consideration when they are their most important investor, but money spent on business tech is usually tax deductible.

The Comfy Consumer

If money isn’t tight, why not have nice things? The comfortable consumer works hard or is lucky enough to have the means and is not afraid to spend money on tech that entertains them. From the ‘it’ brand or the latest and greatest innovation, these consumers tend to have media rooms, noise-cancelling headphones and a car dashboard with more computing power than an Apollo mission.

The Student

Fashion is important, and students are in constant competition with their peers and have come to expect a tech solution to every question—if only they had the budget to buy it all. If they have supportive parents they can make the case for a tech purchase, often prioritizing gadgets ahead of cars, books or spring break trips.

The Frugal Hold Out

Tech is seen as a luxury but this skeptical consumer, being an educated shopper, can see the value in a tool that could save them money in the long run. When tech companies court their business, they need to explain the smartness of a purchase. Replacing the computer when it makes good sense will often mean weeks if not months of research and the cell phone  upgrade date is the beginning of the shopping process, despite the nudging of the provider to renew the contract term.

Being a tech fan involves a respect for both the scientific progress and the hits and misses of any invention. Do we need smart refrigerators? Or our scales tweeting our weight? Remember how silly camera phones seemed? We may not have flying cars but the ubiquitous computer seems well on its way to becoming commonplace.

First, as theWiFiAllianceexplains, you need to enable the more secure WPA/WPA2 standard. This setting will make it harder for someone to break into your network. Second, change the default name and password that comes with your WiFi router. You would be amazed at the number of home networks named ‘Linksys’ with the password “password.” You want to choose a strongpassword that isn’t easily guessable.

Uninvited guests on your Internet can overburden and slow down your network. The intruders can expose your network to suspect sites compromising the security of your data and your devices. Illegal activities such as piracy or trading in illicit materials could be attributed to your network and result in legal problems that would be avoided if you locked down your connection.

Some believe that you should share your Internet connection as a public good.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation argues that anOpenWirelessMovement is needed as open Internet enables all of us to have access when we are away from our own resources. Unfortunately, the current security concerns of most home users don’t allow this ideal to be practically available. More directly, the sharing of your Internet connection is a violation of most Internet providers’ policies and can result in the cancellation of your service or even fines.

Email accounts are taken over by criminals for several reasons, including to get to your personal information and online accounts, to send out fraudulent emails and to use your identity to possibly convince others to give money or personal information.

Here are some steps to take if you believe your account has been hacked:

• Report the hack. As soon as you detect that your email account or social media profile has been compromised, report it to the email provider or social media site. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and other webmail services have methods of resetting your account’s password. If you are completely locked out of your account, you will have to contact their security team and seek assistance. If it is a Gmail account, here is a very thorough look at steps you should take in navigating the process.

• Assess the damage. After you have re-accessed your account and reset the password, be sure to see what damage is evident from your files. Delete offending tweets or wall posts. Check to see what personal or financial information might have been available to the intruders from within your mail folders and notify the banking institutions that the account was hacked.

• Lockdown. Run a complete virus scan on any computer or device that was compromised. Change the passwords on any of your accounts. Use secure passwords that are not shared for every account. You can have an easy, less-secure password for news sites perhaps, but for any account that is linked to your financial life or that could be co-opted to damage your personal reputation, a secure, unique password is a must.

• Alert and apologize. Let your contacts know that your email had been compromised. Apologize to your friends if the hacker sent out inappropriate or offensive content.

• Be vigilant. You may want to enlist a credit monitoring service if you believe your financial information was compromised. At the very least, be sure to carefully review your accounts, including phone bills or other non-banking sites which can be billed for products or services (iTunes for example).

Hopefully, you will never be a victim of hacking. Just the thought of the potential damage that could be caused by a hack should be enough to get people to make their accounts and passwords more secure, because we all know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.