How to clean up your Facebook settings after printing coupons

I like Facebook and I use it to its fullest capacity. That means that not only do I use it to keep up with my long lost friends and acquaintances, I also use it for marketing my business, networking my blog posts, promoting my husband's business and blog, clipping coupons, and signing up for freebies. If you want to play Farmville and Bejeweled, great, but I strongly believe that Facebook is a tool rather than a toy, and that wielded properly, it can be a very useful and potent tool.

When printing out Facebook scoupons and signing up for samples, you are often forced into situations where you need to give applications access to your profile if you want to access their coupon.  I never worry about doing this, because immediately after I've printed the coupon I want or applied for a freebie or deal,  I go into my settings and immediately revoke the application's access. In addition to this, I go into my settings every so often and "clean house."  Facebook changes it's privacy policy so frequently that this has become part of necessary housekeeping.

Here's how you do it:

1. On your Facebook home page, click on "Account" (upper right hand corner), then "Privacy Settings."
2. Under the Apps and Websites heading (left side) click on "Edit your settings for using apps, games and websites"
3. The next screen will give you a listing of all the applications that have access to your profile.  You might be unpleasantly surprised as to how many apps are listed there (when did I give these apps permission?).  I sometimes am.  Run through them like a reaper and click "Remove app" whenever you see something that looks fishy or unfamiliar to you.  Take the time to go through the list of apps and slash them relentlessly.  If something looks suspicious, dump it.  You can always re-sign up again another time.
4. There are some great, unintrusive apps that you might want to keep, like Networked Blogs.  Then there are other apps that you might want to keep, but you still might want to revoke some of their privileges, like the right to post on your Wall or see your list of friends.
5. There.  You've cleaned up your profile.

And since we're on the subject of Facebook, I simply can't resist the opportunity to plug Cheapskate's page.  Have you liked Cheapskate yet?  Liking a page is not the same thing as giving permission for an app to access your profile.  All it will mean is that instead of you having to visit this blog to keep up with it, the headline and first few lines of each post will appear in your Facebook newsfeed, as soon as I publish them.  How cool is that?  C'mon, like me.  I like you.  <Blushing.>

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