5 Safety Tips To Follow When Choosing a Facebook Application

Updated: Feb 19th, 2012

When it comes to social media applications, you can't always tell which Facebook/Twitter application will result in spam. For example, after installing the "Smart Tweets" application on my Facebook page, I did a quick test on both my Twitter and Facebook accounts. The results seemed fine.

An Oxymoron. No matter how your repackage it, spam is still spam.

After a couple weeks of usage, I received my first spam message, posting both to my Facebook wall and to Twitter. It seems the application itself was compromised.

Even though I wasn't able to foresee this, in hindsight I could've applied these 5 steps to minimize the risk of being spammed:

1. When adding an application, do a bit of research beforehand on Google. Check what type of reviews the application has received. This usually can give good indication of the reputation of the app.

2. When reading the reviews, make sure they're coming from reputable tech sites. Sites like Mashable.com, Techcrunch, Allfacebook, Appbistro are great ones to look to.

3. Be careful of what information the app is asking for. I tend to be very cautious in selecting an application that I give permission to post on my wall. The long the list of requests, the more suspicious I am.

4. Set your privacy settings accordingly. You can control what your apps can share or access by clicking on "Account", then "Privacy Settings", then "Apps and Websites".

5. Don't use apps that are brand new. Some may disagree, but I find giving them a bit of time to gain credibility helps. I have learned this lesson the hard way.

In the event you do send out send out spam, you should immediately remove or revoke access to any "suspicious" apps you may have recently installed. Then reset your password and manually remove DM's or Tweets sent (if on twitter), and humbly ask for forgiveness.

What do you think? Are they're any tips you'd like to add to this list?