by Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
Editorial Commentary
Have you ever been curious about those Facebook friend requests you received from people you don't know? Well, Facebook administrators decided to implement a new tool to help you protect yourself against cyber stalkers or just nosey people. They came out with Fan Check to help you out. Or did they?
I was curious and installed it to my own facebook page and while it told me which of my friends were doing what, it didn't do much else except slow my applications down, which ticked me off. Once I realized it was the Fan Check application, I uninstalled it.
I didn't get any real surprises either. All it really does it show you the activity of, obviously, those you interact with or those who post to your wall the most.
You don't get to see if someone you aren't friends with is scanning your page like an FBI agent on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Which is what I thought it would do, but it didn't.
And be advised that it doesn't reveal the number of times that individual visits your page and what portion of your page they have viewed.
It simply gives the person a "ranking" and that doesn't tell you anything because if they're heavy posters anyway, they're going to have a high ranking. It does not track your page views, which is what many initially though. It simply tracks the number of clicks your profile receives by friends already on your list.
When I delved a little deeper, I realized that Facebook, in fact, won't reveal such information anyway per their own policy which states: "For privacy reasons, this application only lists users who have interacted with your profile at least once during your friendship. "
In other words, real pervs or actual stalkers are, in essence, protected by privacy policies on Facebook so their visits to your profile and pics will not ever be revealed.
Now, if you want to check out your friends and see who their most frequent posters are...avail yourself of that "My Friends" button at the top left side of your screen, select a friend to view and voila.
Is that right? Heck no, especially since you don't want them hawking your every move, your visitors moves, etc.
So my advice?
Uninstall it or just don't install it, period.
Now if you're married/otherwise involved and want to check the activity or how often that person your spouse/significant other swears is "just a friend" visits or posts to your beloved's page, then I guess facebook's Fan Check is your savior.
Otherwise, it's just another novelty application like Birthday calendar, Yoville, Mafia wars and the baking application thingee.
To add to the hoopla, there's an alleged virus going around in correlation with the installation of Fan Check - Click Here -
Daily News article on Fan Check
Discussion of Facebook about Fan Check
Others who don't think Fan Check is a great idea either
Media Outlets must credit The Black Urban Times
www.theblackurbantimes.com
twitter.com/blkutimes76
facebook.com/theblackurbantimes
I was curious and installed it to my own facebook page and while it told me which of my friends were doing what, it didn't do much else except slow my applications down, which ticked me off. Once I realized it was the Fan Check application, I uninstalled it.
I didn't get any real surprises either. All it really does it show you the activity of, obviously, those you interact with or those who post to your wall the most.
You don't get to see if someone you aren't friends with is scanning your page like an FBI agent on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Which is what I thought it would do, but it didn't.
And be advised that it doesn't reveal the number of times that individual visits your page and what portion of your page they have viewed.
It simply gives the person a "ranking" and that doesn't tell you anything because if they're heavy posters anyway, they're going to have a high ranking. It does not track your page views, which is what many initially though. It simply tracks the number of clicks your profile receives by friends already on your list.
When I delved a little deeper, I realized that Facebook, in fact, won't reveal such information anyway per their own policy which states: "For privacy reasons, this application only lists users who have interacted with your profile at least once during your friendship. "
In other words, real pervs or actual stalkers are, in essence, protected by privacy policies on Facebook so their visits to your profile and pics will not ever be revealed.
Now, if you want to check out your friends and see who their most frequent posters are...avail yourself of that "My Friends" button at the top left side of your screen, select a friend to view and voila.
Is that right? Heck no, especially since you don't want them hawking your every move, your visitors moves, etc.
So my advice?
Uninstall it or just don't install it, period.
Now if you're married/otherwise involved and want to check the activity or how often that person your spouse/significant other swears is "just a friend" visits or posts to your beloved's page, then I guess facebook's Fan Check is your savior.
Otherwise, it's just another novelty application like Birthday calendar, Yoville, Mafia wars and the baking application thingee.
To add to the hoopla, there's an alleged virus going around in correlation with the installation of Fan Check - Click Here -
Daily News article on Fan Check
Discussion of Facebook about Fan Check
Others who don't think Fan Check is a great idea either
Media Outlets must credit The Black Urban Times
www.theblackurbantimes.com
twitter.com/blkutimes76
facebook.com/theblackurbantimes
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