WHO IS SEEING YOUR FACEBOOK PROFILE?
We have all been inundated with ads for apps on Facebook, promising to reveal who has been viewing our profiles. And who hasn’t fantasised that an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend has been keeping a tab on us on the sly?
While these apps promise to answer questions like whether someone is scrolling through your beach vacation photos or if your parents are quietly checking what you are up to online, unfortunately, they don’t deliver. Not a single one of them, says computers.howstuffworks.com.
BE WARY OF APPS
You
can be 100 per cent certain that each and every app that says “See who views your profile!” or “stalker tracker” or anything else like that is virus-laden junk. These apps would like you to cough up your Facebook password, or they might install the ability to spam your friends via your Facebook wall.
Be extremely wary of any service or app that claims to show you who’s been viewing your Facebook profile. This functionality violates Facebook’s privacy rules. If you’ve fallen prey to a purported stalker app (or any other type of Facebook malware), be sure to check out Facebook’s instructions for revoking app access to your account.
A FEW CLUES
That
said, there are a couple of ways to get clues and insights into who’s been floating around your profile. You won’t end up with the definitive list you’re likely looking for, but keep reading for tips and tricks that toe — but don’t cross — that fine line between natural curiosity and a massive breach of privacy.
ANALYSING APPS
Designers
know there’s a market for Facebook apps that allow you to see who views your profile. And they also know that Facebook has strict privacy rules forbidding it. So many designers toe this line, bringing you right up to the edge of something resembling actual knowledge.
Typing the word “statistics” into the app directory returns a long list of traffic tracking apps, similar to Facebook Insights. Most of them aren’t as good but you’ll find a rotating and ever-increasing list of gems that do things like mine your status updates for the words you use most. Just be sure to keep one important point in mind: These apps mine your profile for interaction. When someone “likes” a photo you post, comments on your status update or otherwise interacts with your profile, these apps know, and they may be able to build models of your most active friends. But if an ex-boyfriend is simply lurking around your profile, there’s absolutely no way to tell, so don’t believe the apps.
Be assured that app designers are constantly prodding Facebook for workarounds that take you past the privacy rules, and every once in a while, a designer finds an inroad. Generally, when this happens, an app that actually does return interesting information about your profile views has a ticking lifespan, which ends when Facebook finds out and shuts it down. For example, take Breakup Notifier, which claimed, “You like someone. They’re in a relationship. Be the first to know when they’re out of it.” The app worked by mining your friends’ relationship statuses. In 36 hours, it attracted 700,000 visits And then, poof, it was gone within the week, squashed like a grape under the stiletto heel of Facebook.