OK, everyone has Facebook now. Your kids, your boss, even your grandparents. It’s become a primary method for family and friends to communicate, to get in touch with old acquaintances, and so on.

Facebook is constantly updating, streamlining the process, altering, adding new features, and so on. It’s known for addictive little timewasters in the form of microapps that run entirely in flash and java. “How well do you know your friend?” quizzes, Mafia Wars and FarmVille, Honesty Box, and even some useful apps like Civvillage and NetworkedBlogs.

The downside to having such a large userbase means that people are going to try to exploit it. There are malware apps all over Facebook, waiting to prey on the unaware, the ignorant, or the plain stupid.

Protect yourself, and send this to anyone on your friends list that may be less aware.

Safe Facebook Rule #1
Be careful what apps you try or install. Read them carefully, some ask for a ton of permissions and will spam your friends list with updates. This is annoying for them, and with malicious apps, can compromise their computer as well as yours. Most games ask for your friends list and basic info. Try to stick with games with high user ratings or by established companies.

Safe Facebook Rule #2
If a post from a friend seems odd or out of place, regard it with suspicion. Especially if grandma is suddenly asking you to check out videos of bikini clad co-eds. Somethings probably not right. This leads right on to….

Safe Facebook Rule #3
Watch for hidden URLs. Services like TinyURL have been around for years, and are quite handy for cutting down massively long links, but they have the downside of hiding the true destination of the link until it’s too late. There are Firefox extentions that allow peeking at the full URL before going to it, but some people don’t want to bother with extentions, so just keep this in mind: Any url with typical URL shortening services (Like bit.ly or tinyurl) should be regarded with caution. Is the poster of the link known for using those services? If not, be suspicious. Also watch for links that try to look legitimate. youtu.be and goog.le for instance are known scam urls that lead to attack sites.

Safe Facebook Rule #4
Be wary of logging in. A favorite method of some of those attack sites is to spoof (copy) the facebook login page, asking for your email and password (usually with a similar address, like faceboo.k.com ) and then redirecting you back to facebook. Meanwhile they have your login info and access to ALL of your info. Beware!

Safe Facebook Rule #5
Monitor all of your settings. Under the Account link on the upper right side, there is a Privacy setting selection. In there you can pick who sees what, manage a block list of bad people, and edit app and website settings. Make sure those applications and Facebook enhanced websites can only do what you want them to.

Safe Facebook Rule #6
Be wary of people you’ve only added to boost your numbers in games, or people you only know online or loosely. If one of these has tagged you in a photo and you’ve never taken a photo with them or talked to them, it might be prudent to avoid clicking on them.

Be safe and enjoy your social network!