Some of the new Face Book applications are designed to get your profile information, bomb you with spam and potentially expose you to malware and other bad stuff on the Internet have been circulating—they work on your ego to gain access to your private information.
When it comes to knowing how many Facebook views you have, the urge is fairly strong to take a look. It is natural to want to know who is looking and why when it comes to our profiles. Former boyfriends, girlfriends and others are often searching out our profiles, and it sounds so fun to find out. The makers of this app are banking on our urge to take a peek at who is watching. That voyeurism is certainly a creative way to trick us. It draws on a natural human tendency—vanity.
Several names are being used (two prominent ones are ProfileSpy and Pro Check) and they offer you these insights in exchange for your completing a survey and allowing them access to your information. It would seem that this would scare people immediately, but that is not the case with many Face Book users. The apps have been growing and show no signs of slowing down.
Keep your eyes open for these dangerous applications. While ProfileSpy and Pro Check are the two most common names circulating, they are not the only ones. If you are unsure about an application, then simply leave it be for safety. No application is worth getting a computer loaded down with spam and exposing your information and computer to problems. Ask questions before using any application and make sure you are on top of what is going on with it. Every Facebook application can be easily searched online to see if there are complaints about it, and these are no exception.
Many people see these applications and automatically assume they are from Facebook themselves. Not so! Facebook does not have full control over the apps that find their way onto the site. No matter what, you should always question Facebook apps that feel wrong in any way. When in doubt—don’t bother with it!
(and, if you already downloaded one of these, go look at yesterday's post to see how to get rid of it!)
