‘You don’t need a fancy camera, the best gear or anything other than what you have right now, in order to get started with your vlog.’ – Unknown


A short vlog can give people a sneak preview of what you are like and help you find friends online. It can also help to reassure online contacts, that you are who you claim to be.

At 5050 Cafe Friends if you have a vlog uploaded, you’ll feel justified in requesting that someone else also has a vlog uploaded and this will help to keep everyone online and offline, safer.

But before we start uploading a vlog, we need to know that our data is safe. How many of us really know what happens to our data once we hand it over?

It would seem reasonable then, to assume that one of the concerns people may have of uploading a short vlog to the internet is that it might suddenly start turning up in all sorts of odd places. 

Would the fear of having your vlog stolen by corporations, criminals or hackers slow your enthusiasm to use it as a form of verification?

Or is a vlog, just in and of itself too exposing and just too ‘out there’ to be used as a short intro of who you are?

Of course once upon a time people thought the same of a photo. That a photo uploaded to the internet might be too revealing or too ‘out there’ and photos still can be. And what if they land in the wrong hands?

These fears are all relevant and you should never do anything you’re not comfortable with. It would seem that we’ve become slightly desensitised to images on the small and large screens and are trading privacy for popularity, more and more.

And what if your vlog was shared to social media? You may be opening yourself up to trolls, comments and the scrutiny of friends. Are vlogs/videos just too personal and too revealing of who we are? 

But by the same token, we allow speed cameras and CCTV cameras to operate and note our behaviour in bars, clubs and restaurants, in streets and residences. Facial recognition technology is now used in airports, banks and supermarkets.

So if you were on a social networking website which helped you to find friends and a requirement of being verified was to upload a short four second vlog, would you feel comfortable doing it?

And if that website did not use facial recognition technology but knew that a vlog was helpful when reassuring new friends that ‘you are who you claim to be’ and that you are genuine, would it then be such a biggie? 

If also that website did not share data and was not affiliated with any other website or 3rd party and used your vlog purely for the purposes of offering a great service, would that then seem ok?

And what if every vlog was watermarked, so that it was less likely to be stolen, scraped or hacked because otherwise it could be identified as coming from that particular website company. 

And what if that same website never gathered your full name, address, date of birth and never shared your private information including your vlog with any third party unless it was solely for the purposes of improving their services?

Then would it seem reasonable to be able to view the vlog of a potential friend online in order to verify that they are who they claim to be and so you could get to know them that little bit more before meeting them? 

Or if you had doubts that someone may not be who they claim to be but you had the ability to request that they upload a short vlog to show you that they are genuine and are who they claim to be. 

Would it be ok?

How To Create A Simple Vlog On Your Camera/Phone

Let’s say, that you’d like to show potential friends that you are 5050 Verified as you have uploaded a vlog and now the 5050 V badge shows on your profile photo.

But how do you create a vlog?

1/ a/ Turn the video on your camera/phone to ON.

b/ Use your camera/phone in landscape mode.

c/ Hold your phone at arms length or use a selfie stick

d/ Raise your phone slightly higher than eye level and look to where your phone’s camera is.

e/ Video a run-through of you saying your script. Something like:

‘Hi, I’m (first name only) from (where you’re from) invite me for coffee.’

Or,

‘Hi, I’m (first name only) from (where you’re from) and I like basketball.’ 

At 5050 Cafe Friends you can Vlog to Join, use your vlog for 5050 Verification or just enjoy viewing the vlogs of other Cafe Friends. If you think that someone may not be who they claim to be, you can request that they upload a vlog. If they never upload a vlog then they will never be 5050 Verified and may not be who they claim to be. 

Once you have your vlog, you can ‘Vlog to Join’ 5050 Cafe Friends and use their 7 day free trial. Registration is a quick and easy 3 step process. Once you’ve joined and are near the end of your free trial but haven’t invited anyone for 5050 Coffee yet, you can go to Payment and switch the auto-renew to the OFF position then switch it back ON when you’re ready. 

You can also update your vlog at any time. But remember that if you haven’t got a vlog uploaded, your 5050 V badge will not show on your profile photo.

What’s 5050 Verification?

5050 Verification at 5050 Cafe Friends is a way of verifying your online identity. The 5050 V badge will automatically show on your profile photo when you have a vlog present. Every vlog is watermarked and encoded with the 5050 Cafe Friends logo to hinder would be scammers and hackers from scraping information from the 5050 Cafe Friends website. 

When you see a 5050 V badge on a profile photo, it means there is a vlog present and you can view it. You can then compare the uploaded profile photo (and perhaps other photos) with someone’s vlog to verify that they are the same individual.

A vlog can help to keep you safe online as it helps to verify who you are which in turn lets others know that you are genuine. It is much more difficult to catfish (create a fake personal profile) with a vlog than it is using a still image and much more difficult to download a video than a photo from the internet and pass if off as being about yourself, because 5050 Cafe Friends has their own unique little script which probably can’t be found anywhere presently on the internet.

Tips To Stay Safe Online When Social Networking
1. Protect your personal information:

Don’t give out personal information publicly and make sure you’re careful not to give out too much information too soon to someone who has only recently become an online friend. 

Information such as:

It’s best to keep this information only for people you know and trust

* Golden Rule: Never give out any personal information over the internet unless it’s to a trusted source

2. Never send money 

Don’t ever respond to any request for money or financial information. If this happens, you should immediately alert the website as any request of this type is considered the actions of a scammer.

* Golden Rule: Never send money or give out financial info to people you haven’t met.

3. Location: 

Never give out your exact location. Don’t share your location or give out photos that show your exact location information. 

* Golden Rule: Never share your exact location

4. Children (under 18 yrs)

Never give out any information about your children, if a friend asks about your children be very careful about the information you give out.

* Golden Rule: Never post photos or give out detailed information about your children

5. Posting Photos Of Other People

Although it is tempting to post photos of other people, friends or family to your profile. By rights, you should really ask their permission as they may not be aware of your intentions.

In the click, click world of digital technology it is an abuse of someone’s privacy to make claims of friendship or use their image without their permission for your own purposes when they have not been made aware of your actions.

* Golden Rule: Stick to posting photos or videos of yourself so that you don’t compromise another person’s privacy or identity.

If you’re contemplating different ways of finding friends, then you may want to consider trialing the free offer at 5050 Cafe Friends where you can ‘Join by Vlog’ and then automatically become 5050 Verified. 

Being 5050 Verified will give others confidence in you as they can view your vlog and see who you are and that you are who you claim to be. 

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