Is Facebook A Safe Haven For Social & Viral Marketing?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

Online social media marketing is under attack from a variety of sources with Facebook the latest to suffer. Hot on the heels of Twitter suffering denial of service attacks (DOS), Facebook is being loaded with rogue phishing applications. It brings into doubt the safety of using social media for marketing purposes. If one of those bad applications affects you, it could spread to all you connect with – certainly not great for your reputation and even worse for any possible viral marketing opportunities.

Trend Micro reports on at least eleven applications that surfaced last week. The problem down the track is the effect it may have, not on marketing, but on business itself. Facebook now allows developers to sell goods through applications they develop. Think of the damage that could be created if these applications called on credit cards or any other sensitive information, and a rogue application intercepted this data.

Facebook can be a safe haven. If your marketing plans include social media sites like Facebook, in addition to your search engine optimization efforts, please keep your profile simple and free of any unnecessary applications. If you don’t accept these applications then they cannot hurt you. If you do accept them, beware, they could turn around and bite you.