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Ask Vic: Will liking blogs show my Facebook Identity?
Facebook like buttons, which we use on Fearless Web, do not reveal your identity. They will post a link to the page you liked on your Facebook wall, where you and your friends can see the link.
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By Vic Hargrave
Question:
Lawson Morton asked: I’d like to know if clicking [the] Facebook “Like” button can reveal your identify on a blog?
Answer:
Good question, Lawson. Facebook like buttons, which we use on Fearless Web, do not reveal your identity. They will post a link to the page you liked on your Facebook wall, where you and your friends can see the link. Of course, your identity is revealed there because it is your wall. However, if you are just sharing your information with friends, your “like” and identity are known only to them.
Facebook Like Boxes are another story. Like Boxes are denoted by the heading Find us on Facebook. If you visit a blog or other website and click on the like button in a Like Box on the page, your Facebook picture and user name will appear in the box below the button. The fact that you visited the site and liked it is recorded and made available for all site visitors to see.
Here is an example of a Facebook Like Box that I recently clicked on when I visited a security website while I was doing some research. As you can see, my picture and name were recorded along side other visitors who liked this web page.
The moral of the story is: If you don’t want to leave any traces of your Internet visitations, don’t click on any Facebook Like Boxes.
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I work for Trend Micro and all opinions expressed here are my own.