Facebook and other social networking sites are immensely popular. Millions of people have joined these sites to stay in touch with friends, meet new people, and share details of their lives. As part of the fun, some people create elaborate, eye-catching profiles. You can add applications that list your top friends, add games, quizzes, graphics, and more to your profile. Are these add-on applications unsafe to use?
Recently, Facebook had to remove the popular application that lists your top friends because of privacy violations. The application let users see partial profiles of anyone on Facebook, which included information on birthdates and relationship status. This is a potential safety issue also, so the application was removed and revamped. The problem with these applications, though, is that they are run by third parties and not by Facebook.
The applications can interact with your personal information and that of the people on your friends list. This can be fodder for anyone from telemarketers to identity thieves. Most people don't read the warnings and are not aware of the potential danger of uploading these applications to their profiles. Facebook itself doesn't take responsibility for these applications. In the user agreement every member gets, Facebook states:
[W]hile we have undertaken contractual and technical steps to restrict possible misuse of such information by such Platform Developers, we do not screen or approve Developers, and we cannot and do not guarantee that all Platform Developers will abide by such restrictions and agreements.
In other words, it may or may not be safe. It is up to you to determine what is safe and to take steps to protect yourself online. If you want to add applications to your Facebook page, make sure you run virus checks. Also make sure that you have some information on the application company. Read reviews from other people who have used the applications and make good decisions. With a phone at least you can do a phone number search to see who is calling you; it is not so easy to see who is behind social networking site applications. Be cautious so you keep your information private.
Susan is a part-time writer and long-time personal fitness trainer with a knack for tech gadgets. You can check out her latest techie project--a tool to find out who owns a cell phone number--at http://www.SearchAnyNumber.com
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