I’ve been reading about how people’s personal details are being shared on Facebook through apps they authorised. How can I protect my details?

Facebook is one of the driving forces of the age we live in, an age where, according to some claims, privacy is more of a myth than a right. The real answer, of course, is that you don’t need to publish your personal details online and lots of people don’t. However, if you do, you should be aware of how the data is being shared and who has access to it.

The one thing to check it is which applications have access to your data. Each application is an external party to Facebook who has access to your actions and data and you should always know how your data is being used. Here’s what you need to do. Log into Facebook, click on the Account menu at the top right and choose the Privacy Settings. Click Edit in the settings for your Apps in the bottom left. You’ll see a page like this:

If you click “Edit” next to each app you can see what access has been given to that app. So, if you don’t want that Job app to know you’re looking for information technology jobs, just make sure you know what data it has access to.