Make Yourself Safe on Facebook

Facebook doesn’t have much to do with writing, but I’m pretty sure that anyone who reads this blog also has a Facebook account.

Now, a lot of people who use Facebook also like to use the applications associated with it.  The most popular one going around right now is “Grade Your Parents” which gives your parents a grade based on the originality of your name.  When you go to use “Grade Your Parents” or any other Facebook application, you get a message like this:

Most people hit ‘Allow’ without ever thinking about it.  However, hitting ‘Allow’ gives that application access to all of your personal information.  Many companies (such as the company behind Farmville) then sell that information to advertisers.  Those advertisers then target you with specialized offers otherwise known as spam.

That leads to some serious privacy issues beyond spam as well.  By hitting ‘Allow’, that company has access to everything you post about yourself on Facebook.  Unless you’re comfortable with this (and some people are), you may want to consider hitting ‘Leave Application’.

Yet for a lot of us, we still want to use that application.  This is what I do:

First, hit ‘Allow’ and use the application as you normally would (including even publishing it to your wall if you so choose).

Second, after finished with application, let your mouse hover over ‘Settings’ at the top of Facebook then select ‘Application Settings’.  Chances are that even if you don’t use applications much, you’ll see dozens listed.  All of the companies behind those applications have access to your personal data.

Third, look for a drop-down menu  that should have ‘Recently Used’ currently selected.  Click it, and switch to ‘Authorized’ instead.  From there, you might see something like this:

To de-authorize any application, just hit the ‘x’.  And that’s it!

There are a few you may want to leave authorized.  That includes websites that use Facebook Connect to login, Facebook for your iPhone or Android, and maybe a few others that you don’t mind sharing your personal information with.

Otherwise, hit ‘x’ and de-authorize that application.