Stop doing quizzes on Facebook if you place any value on your privacy

[Batu69]

You might think that talking about Facebook and privacy in the same breath is a little odd. The two just don’t go hand in hand, surely? Trying to use Facebook whilst maintaining your privacy is an exercise in futility, right? Well, yes, it’s certainly true that hitting a social network is not the thing to do if you want to fly under the radar, but many people do not realize just how easy it is to unwittingly hand over reams of personal information to companies and persons unknown.

 

While a majority of users are aware that anything they post -- essentially -- becomes Facebook's property, and can be exploited in a variety of ways. Anything shared to the social network can be used to dig up an ever-more accurate picture of who you are, where you are, what you do, what you like, and who you know. Quizzes, personality tests, friend comparisons, and year in review apps, however, are blackholes for personal data -- and the huge range of apps from Meaww have been singled out as being a major cause for concern.

 

Take a look at the Meaww website, and you'll find a range of familiar sounding quizzes, all of which have a social element to them. "Which friend is your total opposite?", "Who is your gossip partner?", and "Which friend could be the peanut-butter to your jelly?" -- who could resist discovering the answers to such important questions?! Of course, Meaww can’t just guess what it needs to know about you, you have to hand it over.

 

A disclaimer at the bottom of the page proclaims: "All content is provided for fun and entertainment purposes only". Fair enough, you might think, but that's far from being the end of the story. If we’re being picky -- or accurate, as I like to put it -- it's also not true. It's not just about fun and entertainment. There is some entertainment to be drawn from learning which of your Facebook friends is willing to take a bullet for you, sure, but let's be honest about the purpose of these apps.

 

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I never found any interest in FB