Blog Archives
3 Things I Liked in Social Media, Week ending June 3.
1. Add Pins directly from House Beautiful Magazine – The June issue invites readers to pin directly from its “Kitchen of the Month” article. Images in the article feature a specific watermark and when scanned with House Beautiful’s phone app, are able to Pin the image in real-time onto their Pinterest boards! I look forward to more magazines offering this function!
2. Make your voice heard. Vote on Facebook’s proposed changes – The deadline to vote is this Friday, June 8! Facebook is giving users the opportunity to cast a vote on its revised Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.
3. (RED)’s Rush to Zero Campaign – Your FourSquare check-ins at Starbucks just got meaningful with purpose. From June 1 – 10, 2012, Starbucks will donate $1 to the Global Fund, for every FourSquare check-in at any U.S. and Canada locations. If you don’t have an affinity for Starbucks coffee, why not check-in and pick-up hot tea, bottle of water or snack? Little actions can produce big change. #REDRUSH
Remove Unused Facebook Apps From Your Facebook Account
I’ve been using Facebook since 2004. Eight years of online information sharing, photo posting, networking and application authorizing. There comes a time where I need to do some “housekeeping” in my Facebook account. My biggest housekeeping priority is disabling all unused Facebook apps. This is highly important for managing your online security, which is why it’s part of my Be Smart, Secure and Safe. A Guide to Managing Your Online Privacy series.
When you authorize a Facebook app such as Angry Birds, Hulu or even The Huffington Post, you AUTHORIZE each app to access:
- Your Facebook User ID
- All information you choose to make public
- All information that is public by default, such as your name, profile picture and cover image
I did some recent housekeeping with my account and realized there were Facebook apps, which I had not leveraged in more than six months. These apps are still gathering my information and allowed to interact with my Timeline despite the fact that I am not using them. I removed them! I cleared the dead weight.
Why clear the “dead weight?” The information received from these apps is used in a variety of ways, such as recommending services and/or events near your location and measuring the effectiveness of advertising you’re exposed to on Facebook. Facebook expands on this topic here.
How to Remove Unused Facebook Apps From Your Account:
1. Go to your Privacy Settings
2. Click on Ads, Apps and Websites
3. Click on Edit Settings to the right of Apps you use
4. You’ll see a long query of Facebook apps you’ve authorized and perhaps some haven’t been used in more than three months or six months.
5. Click the little ‘x’ next to the Facebook app and click Remove when the pop-up box appears
Facebook Acquires Instagram. How You Can Protect Your Info.
Have you heard? Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion in cash. A silly question, right? If you’ve been frequenting the Internet today, of course you already know! It’s the hot topic of conversation regarding privacy concerns.
With the many articles posted today, where does one begin to understand what the next steps are to protect information? Lets break this out.
Three Options to Consider to Combat Privacy Concerns
A fantastic amenity of being an Instagram user was that we weren’t bombarded with advertisers. It was a photo sharing avenue with a simple and fun user interface. No ads and no sponsored stories. Just great photos with a great community. The acquisition of Instagram means the user interface is now Facebook, hence ads, sponsors stories and the opportunity for Facebook to share our information.
According to Facebook Developers, in order to use an app on Facebook it needs to collect some information, such as name, profile picture, gender etc in an effort to make it personalized. Nevertheless, you can block how your friends SHARE your personal info when they use the Instagram app and other apps.
Option 1 – Take steps to protect your information from being shared by your friends’ app use.
Check your Instagram app settings on Facebook. Follow the steps below.
1. Click on your “Privacy Settings” on Facebook
2. Click “Edit Settings” next to Apps and Websites
3. Click “Edit Settings” next to How People Bring Your Info to Apps They Use
4. Deselect the information you don’t want your friends to share when they use apps. Click “Saves Changes.”
Option 2 – Make your Instagram photos “Private.”
1. Open the Instagram app on your mobile device and click on your “Profile” tab
2. Toggle the “Photos are Private” switch to ON
Option 3 – Discontinue using Instagram and go for an alternative. If you select this path, here are opportunities to save your current Instagram photos.
