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10 Ways to Find People You Know on Twitter

Posted by admin on 08/30/2011 | 0 Comments

If you’ve recently joined the ranks of Twitter tweeple, you may be wondering how to locate tweeps you know. We’re here to help. There are a number of ways you can locate them, and we’ll share some of those means right now. Here’s a list of 10 ways to find people you know on Twitter.

1. Twitter Search – A Twitter built-in feature. You can search  for someone you know by name this way, but unless they’re using their actual name as their user name, you’re out of luck.
2. Find Friends – From this tab on the Who to Follow page of your Twitter account, you can search for friends on Twitter via an assortment of email services. Click on each one to find contacts using that email. Once you grant Twitter access to your email account, it will pull up a list of email contacts who also have Twitter accounts.
3. Twellow.com – A directory and search engine, this is most effective if you know what name, business or mutual interests you want to use for search criteria as Twellow is used primarily for searching businesses. You can, however, locate individuals who network with certain organizations.
4. Tweetscan.com – Think of this one as a sort of  Twitter/Google search engine. You can search a variety of criteria – tweets, names, places, subjects – all of which can help you locate contacts.
5. Follow Whomever Your Friends are Following – Chances are that at some point, many of your friends’ social circles intersect with your own. You can find a lot of mutual friends at these intersections just by following along.
6. TwitterLocal.com – This site can assist you in a more geographically focused search for contacts. With Twitter’s location-based API in use, this has grown to encompass a much larger  source of tweets.
7. Just Tweet It – This is a broad directory of Twitter users, listed according to interests and categories. You’ll need to know some background about someone first in order to locate them using JustTweetIt.com.
8. Facebook – Twitter users will generally also have Facebook accounts. You can search for them there, then look for their Twitter user names under their Facebook profile.
9. Twiangulate – No, I didn’t make this one up. It actually exists, and it works. This tool will satisfy the private eye in you. You can use it to literally twiangulate users by means of vectoring with search terms such as mutual followers, mutual friends and keywords.
10. Google – There’s a very handy tutorial here on how to use Google search commands to locate Twitter users. If you’ve got a little background info to work with, it can save you some search time. By inputting a few keywords into these commands, you can find your friends relatively easily.

10 Examples of Cults Going Online

Posted by admin on 08/08/2011 | 0 Comments

Exclusive community, extremist beliefs, charismatic and/or authoritarian leader. These are all listed as possible signs that a religious sect could be defined as a cult. The internet has created a whole new avenue for these types of extreme groups to contact and recruit new converts. They have websites. They frequent forum discussions. They’re involved in social networking. Here are ten cults that are making use of the world wide web to recruit new followers and promote their message.

1. Scientology – You can find over 200 domain names registered on the web by this organization. Time magazine ran a cover story on this group calling it the ‘Cult of Greed’. Ron L. Hubbard was its charismatic founder. Escapeint.org is a website the offers help for families are concerned about their family members who are involved. Finding sites set up to help people ‘get out’ or escape from an organization is one sign that a group may be  considered a cult.
2. Unification Church – Also referred to as the ‘Moonies’, the Unification Church was begun by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon. FamilyFed.org is the name of their primary website. Manipulation and deception have been some of the main accusations against the recruiters for this worldwide organization.
3. Al Qaeda – This name is known around the world as the extremist Muslim organization which claimed responsibility for the 9-11 terrorist attack on the United States. Their online activities are much more covert because of this, but you can be assured that they are making use of the internet to recruit members.
4. Children of God – The group has over a dozen different websites. Also going by the simple name of ‘The Family’, this group’s founder was David Moses, referred to as Father David and other terms. exFamily.org provides a perspective and warnings from former COG members about the deceptive practices used by this group.
5. Sri Chinmoy – Typifying many cult structures you find Sri Chinmoy identifying himself as a representative of the Divine and speaking words of love and peace. Yet former group members tell a different story, as in this book by Jayanti Tamm.
6. Soka Gakkai – Formerly known as Nichirin Shoshu of America (NSA), this organization is Buddhist in its religious nature, but again has a pyramidical structure which includes a dominant leader and practices that do not fit with the mainstream of Buddhism. You will find former members attempting to expose the deception they found in the group.
7. Fellowship of Friends – Based in California and led by founder Robert Burton (known as ‘The Teacher’), this group demonstrates the traits of mandatory obedience to the cult leader, a negative view of individualism and group manipulation of those within the community.
8. White Suppremacy Hate Groups – There are many groups that are using the internet to recruit members that may not always utilize a website, and which are not necessarily religious in orientation. These racially based groups fit into that category.
9. Ramakrishnananda – This group has multiple websites. Their practices are very controlling of every aspect of the members. Exposure of their practices is made available on another website by those desiring to warn others who might venture into the groups embrace.
10. Endeavor Academy – Surrender of funds and material possessions are included in the control exercised by this group. Emotional manipulation through the use of fear and guilt, which is typical in cults, is used very skillfully in this group.

Freedom of Mind is an organization devoted to helping individuals and families break free from organizations that use mind control techniques to recruit and control their members. It maintains a large listing of organizations that people may have questions about. Many of the organizations listed are NOT cults, but information is provided to assist people in finding out the truth about many different unique organizations, so that they can make that determination.