The Lighthouse IT Podcast - June 19th, 2020
Matt and Griffin discuss Breachstortion, reading sound waves through a telescope pointed at a light bulb, Facebook's new email marketing initiatives, and Burger King Brazil's new 'Lockdown Whopper'!
Listen here!
Security News
First there was Sextortion, now there's Breachstortion.
Well, the next big extortion scam is making its way through the internet. If you recall, Sextortion scams sent emails claiming to have "hacked" your webcam and reported you doing some private things. Well, it's getting a new upgrade in the form of pretending that they have breached your website.
Are your lightbulbs listening to you?
No, we're not about smartbulbs, we're talking about regular light bulbs. A team at a university in Israel has just published research that observes the vibrations of lightbulbs from up to 25 meters (or 82 feet) and reproduce those vibrations by passing them through an audio signal processor to clean up noise.
How successful are we talking here? They played 2 songs - Clocks by Coldplay and Let it Be by the Beatles and the audio was good enough that Shazam recognized the songs. Oh and they played a speech by President Trump and the Google speech API was able to recognize which speech it was.
Marketing News
Facebook will be offering email marketing?
What if I told you that Facebook was going to offer Email Marketing for business pages? With 3 billion active daily users, this might be a game changer, especially for the 160+ million small businesses.
- Sure there are a lot of free email marketing tools (MailChimp/HubSpot) but Facebook is something that most people already understand and know how to use.
- Simply put, if this functionality is rolled out to the general public, comprehensive, omni-channel marketing will be more accessible than ever.
If you'd like to see if you are in the test group: Navigate to the dropdown on the right-hand side of your Facebook screen, hit "manage pages," and select the business page in question.
From there, your "business manager" should open. Click "see all in business settings," the page will reload, and if you have the feature, it will be revealed on your left-hand sidebar.
Facebook is also releasing the ability to switch between personal and business account in messenger.
- This is just another step toward Facebook making itself into an all-in-one marketing platform.
Looking to connect with Gen Z? Don't overlook gaming platforms.
- If you are looking to target a younger crowd, then your marketing efforts on Snapchat, Instagram, and even TikTok will get their attention. But there is a huge gap in the market that people often overlook.
- Gaming focus social platforms like Twitch, YoutubeGaming, and even XboxLive/PlaystaionNetwork are great places to get your name out there.
- The best part is, these young gamers are actually open to advertisements. Apparently 80% of Twitch users are open to brands sponsoring a specific gamer or team.
- So if your target audience is Gen-Z, then maybe try your hand at getting involved with these platforms.
Burger King gamifies quarantine with 'Lockdown Whopper' in Brazil
- The burger chain is using its mobile app's geolocation feature to assess when customers are sheltering in place, according to details shared with Mobile Marketer.
- Customers who participate in the promotion will receive vouchers for free food, with rewards increasing as they spend more time at home. The prizes start with snacks and get more valuable, including free Whopper sandwiches and combination meals.