Facebook applications promising to reveal which friends view your profile are bogus people! These apps
serve one purpose, and one purpose only: rake in sweet moolah from affiliate advertisers or potentially direct you to unscrupulous sites with malicious software and/or viruses.
According to Rik Ferguson’s post here:
“The app itself is designed to look convincing enough, but none of the many “Continue” buttons it offers will activate some under-the-counter profile checking functionality, they will just push you into another Facebook app earning the scammer advertising revenue in the process.”
And I would venture to guess this type of app, if it were real, would never fly because of Facebook privacy policies. Remember the MySpace tracker service that popped up several years ago? While the tracking actually did work, MySpace put an end to because it violated their terms of service.
It amazes me how many people boast about how they have set very strict personal privacy settings in Facebook, yet they freely allow dozens of applications to access their profile AND their friend’s profile information! I wonder if they truly understand that they are offering up their profile information in exchange for being able to play Mafia Wars, Farmville or whatever other games they choose. What’s worse, you are potentially allowing these third-party applications to access profiles of friends that AREN’T playing!
Personally, I block all but the basic Facebook apps (e.g. events, photos, groups, notes, etc.) and also have my profile set-up so that third parties can’t access my info either.
Here’s how to block applications:
1) Click on Account at top right-hand corner of your page
2) Select Application Settings
3) Review the list of applications and delete any you don’t use or don’t want
Here’s how to control what your friends can share about you through applications and websites:
1) Click on Account at top right-hand corner of your page
2) Select Privacy Settings
3) Click Applications and Websites
4) Click Edit Settings under the “What your friends can share about you” section
5) Here you’ll be able to pick and choose what types of info you are willing to share, although I don’t know why you’d want to share anything!
Become a fan of Facebook’s Fan page and you’ll get updates like this and other tips or current scams.