I am sharing some tips that I use when I am on Facebook and things you might want to do yourself. Consider this an editorial opinion.
After about 10 years of Facebook being mainstream, and the changes that have made the social media platform one of the most used and valuable advertising vehicles in the world, the edges are starting to fray.
With the news that big data firms like Cambridge Analytica and apparently many others have been vacuuming up personal data and now using that information against us, it is more important than ever to be so careful about how you interact with pages that you don't know.
Every time I see one of these “Take this quiz to see what kind of (something) you are,” I cringe. Then that quiz goes viral and everybody is playing it. I avoid those kinds of things like the plague because they are like a plague.
I also avoid any kind of photo or video share that uses the words “I bet I don't get one share.” These dog photos or veteran photos are more often than not used by “like farms” and commercial pages that want the interaction to beef up their numbers with Facebook. They are using psychological manipulation and in most cases, the people or animal in the photo have nothing to do with the image being shared. Please do not share them.
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Many times these pages often have innocuous names that don't make sense, but later they will change the name once you like and share their viral hoaxes and suddenly you are supporting things you don't even realize.
Another serious problem is the “Get your Free Coupon from Kroger or Lowe's for hundreds of dollars!” hoaxes. If it sounds too good to be true IT IS! There is a link that has the name Kroger in it somewhere but is a fake site and is made to look like a Kroger site. They will ask you for information and can even try and get your Kroger or other store account login information to scam you. In the best case scenario, you have given some company (probably overseas) that you don't know a load of personal information they will use or sell to others to try and get more.
All this is not to scare you but to tell you to be careful. Use Facebook for what YOU want to use it for, like interacting with your friends and relatives but beyond that be very careful about what you like and share. You can usually find a group “about” link that will tell you who is in charge of various pages and more information about them. Please do that.
As Sargent Esterhaus used to say on Hill Street Blues, “Hey! Let's be careful out there!”
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