I recently looked at my Facebook “connected applications” page after experiencing a connectivity issue with Bufferapp and I was surprised to see over 80 applications connected to my Facebook account!
These apps stuck around after every smartphone and easy “login with Facebook” button – collecting all of my information.
Who knows how many of these companies have been hacked, or (more likely) gone out of business and sold access to their former users’ information?
I quickly revoked Facebook access to every app that I either did not recognize or haven’t used in over 1 month.
Candy Crush doesn’t need access to my business.
I had a similar issue on LinkedIn – more than 54 connected apps. This would likely explain the highly targeted spam email that finds its way into my work inbox.
In order prevent these ghost connections from lingering in the future, I decided to set a recurring “digital cleaning” appointment for myself. This will hopefully reduce the amount of spam that I receive and the lessen the likelihood of digital identity theft.
Who’s hanging around your Facebook and LinkedIn profiles?
Here are instructions for disconnecting apps from Facebook and from LinkedIn.
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