Twitter Robbery of Arizona Man Could Freak Some Folks Out

Twitter -- you know what it is, obviously, please, in addition to following PTG and myself? -- doesn't have many downsides, provided you're not some cranky old person that hates "those dang kids and their blog machines!" Or if you're Twitter user "@IzzyVideo" who recently tweeted that he and his family were going on vacation. Good times, right? Um, no. He got robbed, likely as a result of the social media site's ability to reach hundreds of thousands of people.

On May 24th, Izzy dropped this:

We made it to Kansas City in one piece. We're visiting @noellhyman's family. Can't wait to get some good video while we're here. :-)

And then four days later ...

Well, it's confirmed. Someone stole my Mac Pro and two displays while I'm visiting relatives here in Kansas City.

But, fortunately (I guess) the robbers left his Xbox. Now, before everyone decides to freak out and blame the Twittermachinez for this horrible travesty, let's go ahead and point out the same thing that Izzy did: his Twitter account automatically updates his Facebook status. That means Izzy could have accidentally sent this message out to thousands of people (I'm not his friend, so I have no clue how many he has) in addition to the over 2,000 folks that follow him on Twitter.

And the other thing, as I tell my parents often, is that we live in a very transparent world when it comes to internet personalities -- most of the "interwebz people" aren't hidden behind some odd name or false front anymore, particularly if they earn their living online. Which means that if you see Person X tweet that they're somewhere on vacation, and that person has a website where they make a living, you can probably find out where they live (or at the very least, check the WhoIs.net registration for the site) or at the very least get your Google/White Pages on.

Izzy actually has his full name, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and mobile phone number on his website. That's not particularly shocking, because it's his business site, but the thing is with a mobile number and a first and last name, you can track anyone in the world down to their home address pretty quickly. Which is what someone, obviously, decided to do.

Either that or one of Izzy's friends is a real jerk. The lesson? Well, it's not that "Twitter is evil" or the "Internet will kill us all" as many people will probably shout once they see his story all over the news (it's been picked up by ABC, NBC, CBS and then tweeted by IJustine, who's actually bigger than all of those, somehow).

The lesson is that you have to be careful when you broadcast something on the interwebz. Yes, it's that simple: just think before you tweet, folks.

67 Days of Smiles: Orlando Presents Free Money to Do Nothing

Queensland, Australia already made international news with the "Best Job in the World" promotion. Now, Orlando, Florida is trying to follow suit with their "67 Days of Smiles" promotion, which is going to pay two lucky people $25,000 to hang out for three months and ride amusement park rides.

No, it's not as long or as tropical as the BJITW, but it's still pretty sweet.

Work and play are one-and-the-same! The selected pair will experience everything from roller coaster riding to hang gliding, swimming with dolphins, golfing, shopping, spa-ing, gator wrestling, museum exploring, theatre-going and more.

The catch? There isn't one! No, there's not really. All that's required is that you "pick a partner," (bf, gf, brother, random homeless person, whatever) and create a 1-minute video which somehow explains why you're qualified to run around Orlando and have fun. Then you take pictures of your smiles (which might make the random homeless dude a bad choice) and apply online.

Orlando's Tourism board asks about a "blog, Facebook, Friendfeed, Flickr, Linkedin, Myspace, Twitter and YouTube" so it's pretty obvious that they want someone with tons of social media experience and an ability to spread the word VIRALLY (it's so buzzy and hip!) about Orlando's fantastic attractions.

Of course, that doesn't make it less awesome that you get to smile for a camera over the next 67 days, or generally hang out and ride rollercoasters while getting paid 25k for it, but it does mean that if you can figure out what Orlando's trying to do here -- and I believe I just told you, right?? -- that you stand a much better chance of making yourself an attractive candidate for the gig.

Via Walletpop: