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Facebook Applications Adding Embarrassing Content to Your Profile


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When I first started out on Facebook, I got really into some of the many fun applications, adding various ones to the Boxes tab of my profile. And after a bit, I got away from using the apps and focusing on other areas of Facebook like the groups, pages, etc.

So last night, when I decided to take a peek at my Boxes tab for the first time in awhile, you can imagine my surprise when I found a straight up porn image sent to me by one of my “friends” in an application that allows people to send you images, videos, etc.

Facebook Boxes Tab

Needless to say, within minutes, I removed that application (along with another similar one) from my Boxes tab. Thank goodness this wasn’t an application that was on my main profile page. I’m already embarrassed that it sat on a part of my profile that (hopefully) not many people probably check out anyway, let alone if it had been blaring on the page everyone sees first when they visit my profile, although I probably would have known about it sooner in that case.

I don’t know much about how certain applications work. I have no clue if the “friend” who sent this to me didn’t actually mean to because his account was hacked. What I do know is that, at some point, I must have turned off the notification for this application, because I haven’t been receiving updates when I receive new things through that application. Either way, notified or not, I allowed that application access to my profile and gave it permission to let anyone post anything they want to my profile without any approval required.

So let this be a warning to those of you who add applications to your profile – you are opening the door for other people to add content to your profile that you may not necessarily want there. If you do have applications that allow such activity (like RockYou Live, Slide FunSpace, etc.), you may want to keep any eye on them to make sure there is nothing appearing in them that you wouldn’t want on your page. Or, if the application allows you to, set it to show only items that you have chosen vs. those you have received so you can prevent having someone else’s inappropriate “gifts” to you being displayed on your profile. You have to be really careful these days about your online presence, and if you’re concerned that Facebook’s privacy settings aren’t enough to protect your profile or your information, perhaps you should check into an identity theft protection service.

Comments

  1. I just suddenly got a bunch of friend requests from some complete strangers–no friends in common, no mention that they like my blog or anything–and was about to reject them, but then thought “maybe I should just accept everybody–what’ll it hurt?” Thanks for reminding me why I shouldn’t do that…
    .-= YogaforCynics´s last blog ..In From the Storm =-.

  2. I’ve grown to be so tired of all the Facebook applications that if somebody publish something to my news feed about what flower they are of their “pic of the day” (which is just a random picture of their profile picture, I guess), I simply go and block that application so I don’t see anything from it ever again. And I don’t receive any invitations either.
    .-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Dots Gloves D200 Finally Arrived – Quick Review & Video Demo =-.

  4. Some very good words of caution. As with the more obvious types of deceptive software such as spyware and viruses, social media applications are being created with “features” that can put people who are unaware at risk from unintended results.

    Before activating a new service or application it’s good to understand what functions it actually contains. Or at the very least monitor the service or application over time to see if you are really getting the results you had anticipated.
    .-= Mike @ Computer Tips´s last blog ..USB 3.0 – USB, The Next Generation =-.

  5. Well the sad part is face book has been known to have many account hacks. People hacking friends account s and posting links to weight loss pills and even posting naked porno pictures.

    Lets just say you are luck to have noticed it before anyone that matters noticed. I use facebook for it’s bar necessities and that’s it for me. It’s still pretty cool to know about it so in the future if I ever do add it I know of specific things to look out for.
    .-= bbrian017´s last blog ..Blog Engage Officially Added to Sexy Bookmarks =-.

  7. I don’t know about these applications as well, and I am not even accepting a lot of them because people are inviting me all the time for stuff that I am actually not interested in. and I am getting this annoying stuff all the time and have to deleted them when ever it appear on my wall!

    Maybe this is one good chance to recheck my account settings, thanks for reminding me to do it Kristi, this is a very good post from a real person.
    .-= Hesham @ FamousBloggers´s last blog ..The BlogoGalaxy of Famous Bloggers on Flickr =-.

  8. I don’t know why FB is doing this, I think it’s pretty lame! I mean I love FB for the most part and I still use it, when there’s not a virus on it that is.

  10. I know what you mean; FB is getting a bit shady lately. I am putting an end to all the game updates, smiley faces, flowers and what not that gets sent to my page all the time.

    Plus there are so many virus warnings! 🙂

  13. I hate to sound like a grouchy old man but I hate the app requests. I see no purpose in them other than build the app owner a nice email list and there’s no way to know what hidden functions are built in. Someone bought me for a dollar, someone bought me a drink or whatever, they just seem like a silly waste of time. Most of the causes are just ‘feel good’ non-actions that do no good at all. A while back I added this statement below my picture on my Facebook profile:

    I’m sociable but please don’t send me your stupid app requests, it’s very annoying. Keep your silly games, causes and mafia crap to yourself. Am I the only one working in here?
    .-= Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Extreme Advertising By Reebok – Better Legs And A Better Butt With Every Step =-.

  17. I can’t tell you the last time I allowed or accepted a FB application. Of course I can’t tell you the last time I spent more than 10 minutes on FB 🙂 It just doesn’t seem to be me. I spend much more time in Twitter and our growing our business.

  18. @Brian D. Hawkins
    “I’m sociable but please don’t send me your stupid app requests, it’s very annoying. Keep your silly games, causes and mafia crap to yourself. Am I the only one working in here?” You are not alone! That sums my attitude towards FB apps nicely up 😉 Fan pages and groups to promote business / projects are fine with me, but I don’t want to become a member of no mafia family not! SY
    .-= hospitalera@blogging tips´s last blog ..How not to win a SEO contest =-.

  19. Well, in Facebook I only use MafiaWars app as I love to play game when I need to kill my time. I never intend to add any other apps and never ask my friend to join me in any apps. I always see 30-40 app joining request. I just trying to find a way to ignore them automatically but Facebook yet not able to give me such facility.
    .-= Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..Watch out this Google Nexus One video =-.

  20. Facebook has a LOT of garbage these days and it’s becoming slightly annoying. Sure you can blog them all, but doing it one by one is a chore.

    Another thing I hate is when people tag you in a photo that isn’t really a photo of you. Some of them are trying to be funny, others are…trying to sell you something. IMO doing it for the latter purpose is one of the worst things you can do to your friends.
    .-= D. Miller´s last blog ..Honda CR-V makes smarter use of space for practical and pleasurable trips. =-.

  24. From what I understand, the next round of Facebook changes will eliminate the ‘boxes’ tab (at least for Fan pages, and I assume for personal profiles as well). Facebook has been steadily hiding those random applications from view, likely to be able to phase them out. Good riddance!
    .-= Andrea Hill´s last blog ..Should Twitter be Banned at Conferences? =-.

  25. Thanks for this post. There does seem to be a lot of confusion about apps and how to escape their reach, and about profile information being indexed and how to prevent that, if that’s your choice. I think this post is one that clarifies the latter so I’d like to share the link with you http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/facebook-indexing-will-facebook-index-all-your-info-google-2538349.html
    .-= timethief´s last blog ..Free Christmas blog headers and graphics =-.

  27. I fully agree.

    Some Facebook apps are running down the credibility of the Facebook media, and it’s quite a shame. Suddenly strange – and sometimes indecent – questions pop up as though they were fun just because someone who dares call him- or herself your friend on Facebook decided to answer a question…

    I am sickened also, and remove all such apps myself.

    In fact; i have often considered removing my FB profile entirely, but I do enjoy the Mob Wars and Mafia Wars games on Facebook. 🙂
    .-= Henrik Blunck – Denmark´s last blog ..Fun Show — The Joel Comm Show =-.

  30. It’s going to be interesting to see how tough it becomes for Facebook to control some of the content and media types that are being shared across their network. 350 million users is nothing to sneeze at and certainly a lot to babysit. The more people that cross over from other social networking places the more chances for some of that porn stuff to get added to the mix.
    .-= Extreme John´s last blog ..10 Reasons I Will Not Retweet You on Twitter =-.