Chapter 1. LaunchPad for Media and Culture 11e

Economics Activity
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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.

Author Names:

Christopher R. Martin and Bettina Fabos

Activity Objective:

Students will examine and analyze the data sharing and privacy settings of Facebook.

Let’s get started! Click the forward and backward arrows to navigate through the slides. You may also click the above outline button to skip to certain slides.

Facebook has been criticized for its careless mishandling of Facebook users’ personal data. The biggest revelation in the Cambridge Analytica scandal was the way a third-party application—a popular quiz called “thisisyourdigitallife”—was able to harvest data on the people who downloaded the app through Facebook. So, if 270,000 people downloaded “thisisyourdigitallife” through Facebook, then the app developer had access to friend networks that total nearly 90 million people.

What kind of third-party applications are collecting data on you? How can you stop them from accessing your account? Let’s find out.

Many iOS and Android apps and games aren’t native to Facebook. They range from the social media manager “Hootsuite” and photo apps to enhance photos to games like the “TakeThisLollipop” live interactive experience. These third-party applications all let you log in via Facebook, and once you download them, they appear in your application window.

Where are these apps located in Facebook, and have you inadvertently added them to your account? Answer the questions on the following slides to find out.

In Facebook, go to the top menu bar and find the drop-down triangle, and select “Settings.” If you don’t have a Facebook account, ask a friend, family member, or classmate if you can take a look at their settings.

On the left menu, select “Apps and Websites.”

You can see how many third-party apps you have downloaded—maybe some that you didn’t even know about! And you can also see the sharing settings: “Public,” “Friends,” “Friends except acquaintances,” “Only me,” and “Custom.”

Click on the pencil icon to “Edit Settings,” and you can find out exactly what information the app is collecting on you:

  • Public profile (sometimes this is required)
  • Email address
  • Friends list (the list of all your friends)
  • Custom friends lists (your lists of close friends, friends from school or work, or other lists)
  • Timeline posts (your posts, posts you’re tagged in, and the posts people make on your timeline)
  • Relationships (your relationship status)
  • Birthday
  • Current city
  • Photos (photos uploaded by you as well as all the photos you’re tagged in)
  • Videos
  • Whether or not the app can send you notifications (the default is “yes)

Use the space below to answer the following question.

In the box below, take some notes about your settings. What did you find out? Was there anything that surprised you?

Note: In response to this data breach, Facebook has been revising and has promised to continue to improve their security settings. At the time of publication, the above was the process for checking the privacy of apps and websites. Has this process changed? If so, do you think the changes have made your data more or less secure? Why?
Which kinds of games are most popular in your group?

Now spend a few minutes (or longer) editing your settings. Did you think the third-party apps you had downloaded were getting so much information from you? Are you concerned that the third-party apps were able to access this data? Do you think you should have clearer notification from Facebook when this happens? Should Facebook allow any of this kind of data sharing? What would you propose as a policy for data sharing with third-party apps? Record your thoughts in the box below.
Which kinds of games are most popular in your group?