Last night’s update to the Pogo Facebook Connect feature has resolved the privacy issues we’d been discussing yesterday. For players who have both Pogo and Facebook accounts, this is how it all works. (Also it’s worth noting this is probably how it was intended to work.)
If you’ve previously used a Pogo Facebook app — such as the Pogo Games Fanatic app — your accounts are probably “connected”. One way to check if your account is connected is to visit your Profile Privacy Settings (Guestbook, Guestbook Settings, Profile Privacy bar) and look for the section about Facebook. For the purposes of this article, I’ve created a fake Facebook profile (first name Badge, last name Fairy) and am connecting it to a previously-established Pogo profile.
If your settings include the information in the screenshot above, your Facebook and Pogo accounts are connected. By default, the box to use your photo and name from Facebook is unchecked. (Yay privacy!) If you do not see the Facebook information in your Profile Privacy settings, your accounts are not connected.
As you can see, for a connected account, as long as the checkbox is not checked, your Facebook information (read: your name) will not be displayed on your profile when others view it. The drawback to this is that your Facebook friends will not be able to find you automatically and add you as a friend on Pogo. You can still always just tell them your username and have them add you the “old-fashioned way”.
Once your account is connected to Facebook, when you view your profile you will see this box:
Don’t panic! As long as that checkbox up there is unchecked, you are the only one who can see this information. If you were to check the box, anyone that has permission to see your profile (by default, everyone — but you can set those settings in the same place as the Facebook settings, see the screenshot above) will be able to see it too.
No matter if you’ve checked the checkbox or not, all connected accounts will display the Facebook ‘f’ icon next to their profiles in others’ friends lists:
Now, on to the fun stuff! If your accounts are connected (it doesn’t matter if your name and photo are being displayed on your Pogo profile or not), you can share badges you’ve earned on your Facebook profile. To do so, go to Badge Central and visit “My Collection”. Choose a badge you’d like to flaunt, and click the small Facebook ‘f’ icon next to it. You’ll be walked through the posting process and voila, your badge will show up on your Wall and on your friends’ home pages:
The option to publish a badge to Facebook is also available in the pop-up window when you earn a badge. You may want to be sparing with this feature, you have the ability to publish any number of badges you have ever earned or may earn in the future (the throttling is done by Facebook, but it’s not very strict). In writing this article, I spammed my Wall and friends list with 8 or 9 posts of the same badge, which would probably be pretty annoying to any Facebook friends you may have (good thing Badge Fairy has no friends)!
So, now that it’s working as intended (and your privacy is safe and secure once again), what do you think of these new features?
Filed under: new, promotions and events
{ 35 comments }
Dominque 10.21.09 at 9:53 am
I like the badge upload on facebook thing. I see it as payback for all the notifications I receive that someone leveled up in farmville or yoville ^_^ Muhahahaaa let my multiple badge notices reign king. The great thing is that you can block application notices from any app on facebook by clicking the hide in the up right corner of the notice and choose either the person or application name. So I say have fun with it.
Pat 10.21.09 at 10:04 am
I dont give a rat’s butt what fixes are out there–I am revolted that Pogo did this without any consideration for it’s many members. They rated higher membership fees over the privacy of the very subscribers who have supported pogo for years. I am furious that all that info is connected somewhere and ready for a hacker. I had a paypal account pirated and it took me forever to close and correct some errors, and some never got resolved. I have done everything to protect my privacy online. Why? So Pogo can sabatoge that privacy without my permission. This is Bull. And Lura, this anger is in no way directed at you or this site. I am feeling very vulnerable right now and lashing out. I feel personally violated by Pogo and don’t know what to do with these feelings or how best to assure my privacy and account protection. What in the world were they thinking or were they even thinking? This is like a mailing list for paying affiliates. Pogo has lost my confidence and I am very uncomfortable at this point. Sorry, I am venting, but, I feel betrayed.
Dallie 10.21.09 at 11:31 am
Thank you for bringing this to our attention extremely fast yesterday Lura, and for all the details, including the followup. I haven’t had time to post but just wanted to say I’m so glad I can depend on getting important information here FIRST.
shaz 10.21.09 at 11:58 am
i certainly dont like this thing about fb plastered every where on pogo,it causing things to load slower.wish pogo had asked us ist.why cant they just leave things alone leave it the way it was.we pay to keep site running with out us there would be no pogo yet they cant ask us ist wat we think
Frank 10.21.09 at 12:19 pm
I couldn’t care less about this feature. It’s transparent and gives Pogo free advertising for their website. It’s not about connectivity, since most marketing gimmicks have attempted to jump on the social networking bandwagon in order to “force” their products on feeds. They graciously state that it’s so your friends and family can exchange feedback, but that’s far from the truth. The bottom line is that it’s about a company NOT spending money for advertising, since subscribers will do it for free. Same reason why companies are all over Twitter and other sites.
So, yeah, I’m not using this.
KayentaJane 10.21.09 at 1:03 pm
For me, this is vaguely intriguing.
I have resisted, for years, the pleas of my friends to join Facebook, so realistically this has no effect on me at all. However, I’m slowly bending towards joining up so I can keep up with all that my extended family and friends are up to. And spamming them with badges achieved…
I’m okay with the thought of Pogo’s users being a tool for advertising. Heck, I’ve told all my friends and family about Pogo for years, so to me this is just an extension of my enthusiasm for casual games with badges and electronic dress-up dolls. I’m already mini pogo marketer…
I think this will be just like the guestbook thing. A lot of hype and anxiety at first, plenty of resistance to change, but in the end a non-issue. I left the privacy settings on my guestbook wide open, and I haven’t been harassed, bothered, insulted at all via postings. Just the occasional “Nice Mini.” (Could it be that overall Pogoites just don’t care?)
Thanks Lura for the directions on how to either connect or disconnect from Facebook. I don’t think I’d have figured that all by myself… if I had a facebook page that is… One of these days I might sign up… Might…
Indy 10.21.09 at 1:22 pm
All things considered and in my opinion, I don’t feel much better about this Facebook fiasco today than I did yesterday (but still thanking Lura for advising us what was happening). It was and still is totally WRONG for Pogo to make assumptions like this. What other upcoming events are up their sleeve – be vigiliant folks. I am now even more hesitant to be so trusting of any info I put on Pogo’s site or looking into any areas/ads Pogo posts on their site. I am not into the social networking arena and probably never will be outside of a blog or two like this. But Pogo really stepped in it this time as far as I’m concerned and, had it not been for those who “lit up their customer service center” and loudly complained, this would not have been changed last night. Pogo obviously underestimates the intelligence of its membership.
Kat F. 10.21.09 at 1:38 pm
I did EXACTLY what I said I was gonna do yesterday!! I went immediately to My Profile on Pogo and checked to see if my account was connected to Facebook…it wasn’t, thank goodness. Easily could have been though as I HAD some of Pogo’s Apps. “HAD” being the operative word.
Then I went to Facebook and ERASED, DELETED AND ELIMINATED ALL traces of POGO, POGO GAMES FANATIC, EA, etc. from my Facebook Account and firmed up my personal security settings. They were strict but they are even more so now! No, I don’t have anything to hide, but I’m not out there on the net for everyone to see and come after either!
I am feeling just like Pat #2, BETRAYED and VIOLATED to the hilt!! IF, I had been asked, maybe I would have been ok with it, MAYBE!! But at least I would have been given the option!! But I WASN’T!! I could have PREPARED all of my accounts so that my privacy wasn’t in jeopardy!!!
Was that option even offered?? NOOOO!! That is what I am the MOST mad about! This is the WORST INVASTION OF PRIVACY I’VE EVER HEARD OF!! :(
Again, like Pat #2, Lura, this anger I am venting is NOT directed at you at all….you did us all a great service by warning us so quickly. I was on earlier in the morning and then came back just a bit later and there was this news. THAT FAST!! THANK YOU!!!
STILL MAD and will be for quite awhile…..
But, have a nice day everyone, if you can. :)
(((Hugs to ALL)))
Kat F.
Ryan P 10.21.09 at 1:47 pm
I’m not upset with Pogo about it. I agree that it was a big no-no to show private info without permission. But, I give them credit for fixing it quickly. Facebook integration is neat. I probably won’t use it, but I certainly don’t think it’s a bad thing.
I wouldn’t complain that anything is ‘slower’, because it really isn’t. What makes it slower are those people with fancy mini’s that have 358 animations going. (No, I don’t mind them, but I wouldn’t put any blame for ‘slowness’ on Facebook integration.)
tcfox 10.21.09 at 2:21 pm
Aside from the obvious privacy issues from yesterday (still taking deep breaths & counting to 10 periodically), I don’t like this feature on so many levels.
1. Having that “f” next to someone’s name on their friends list should be turned OFF by default. It is not up to Pogo to decide who gets told who has a Facebook account. I could not for the life of me figure out how I had gotten connected yesterday as I had only been on Facebook a few days, never played a single app, & no matter how my friends & family tried to tell me different, I found the place totally useless. Unfortunately in that few days I did decide to become a “fan” of Pogo….connection made. I’m no fan of Pogo any more. I guess it’s true that no good deed goes unpunished.
2. I find it appalling that Pogo released “Pogo Puppies” just prior to doing this in an effort to get as many Pogo members connected before the launch of this feature.
3. What’s the deal with the placement of the Connect to Facebook button on the friends page? It’s as if they want you to click it by accident while adding a friend.
Pogo has lost all my faith & trust in them & I have deleted all billing information from my account. Hopefully there is no more “important” information anywhere.
I am glad however, to see that there are some people happy about this feature, I would have hated to have seen all those poor Pogo employees wasting their time shoving this down our throats for no reason.
KayentaJane – the guestbook thing has not become a non-issue to me. Just because I don’t talk about it all the time does not mean I think it’s a good idea – I don’t! The day it was released (another *surprise* pulled on us unsuspecting members) was the day I decided that Pogo would never receive another dime from me. Yesterday’s fiasco reinforced that in SPADES.
Lura – you are such a blessing. Thanks you so much for all of this :)
Pat 10.21.09 at 3:47 pm
Just an afterthought on this fiasco. I, like many others wondered what the benefit of the Guestbook was, as it made no sense to me. Now, I see it was the Trojan Horse slipped right under our noses to effect the Facebook Connectivity….Again, Shame on You, Pogo.
And Lura, I appreciate you so much more for sounding the alarm which rallyed the troops….I will always look th BH, not only for help, supportive players, but, also the latest changes that are helpful to all of us in the long run. Brava.
Wendy 10.21.09 at 3:54 pm
Kat, I always love reading your posts. They never fail to make me laugh (and wonder just how much caffeine you have consumed that day!). :)
But yesterday and today I thought,”Get out of my head, woman!” lol
I felt exactly the same way and did the same things you did.
I completely agree with what you, Pat, and tcfox have said. And great points about the Pogo Puppies and the placement of the connect to FB button, tcfox. Makes me wonder what is next. Normally if I don’t like something Pogo does I grumble a bit and get over it. But I really fear that this may have some serious consequences as far as information getting into the wrong hands.
Lura, great job and thank you so much for such quick and helpful info!!
Carol 10.21.09 at 4:04 pm
I’m not one of the people affected by this change because I don’t have a Facebook account, but I can totally understand the anxiety that some members are having. I think Pogo should have warned people ahead of time before doing something like this. I have to give credit to Pogo for fixing this right away though. I just can’t stand seeing the “F” all over the site.
I disagree with those who say Pogo is changing into too much of a networking site. I view it as Pogo trying to make their site more appealing for new and existing members. Some of the features I use and some I don’t. It’s doesn’t affect whether I play on Pogo or not. As long as I can play the games, then I don’t care what they do.
Lura 10.21.09 at 4:07 pm
I just looked into Pogo Puppies and as far as I can tell, there is absolutely no connection between it and your Pogo account. When you first use the app on Facebook, it asks if you will allow access (as far as I can tell every Facebook app does this):
With that said, that is not a connection to Pogo or your Pogo account. Yes, it was a Pogo-branded product that was released a week before the Facebook Connect feature, but it was not a nefarious scheme to get more Pogo users to connect their Facebook account to their Pogo accounts.
Gecko 10.21.09 at 4:22 pm
I wanted to thank those to expressed concern and understanding over my concerns yesterday. (Especially Lura, thank you again.)
I have to say that one of the reasons I have always trusted Pogo is that it is one of the few sites that don’t publish your “friends” list when you view your profile. For someone who is hiding their online identity, but their friends aren’t – you can see where I am going here. The fact that Pogo did do this, and living with several computer and/or web programmers, they did not “fix it fast” by any stretch of the imagination.
The whole guestbook thing was annoying, but it was take it or leave it. This Facebook fiasco seems more in your face. I have a lot of subway spins to get through to give Pogo time to work on it, but I wonder how many of the overwhelming number of people who voted “Keep Pogo the way it is” in that do you want Facebook style poll on the News page a while back won’t renew with so many other gaming options out there.
tcfox 10.21.09 at 4:23 pm
Thanks Lura for pointing out that Pogo Puppies does not pose a problem. I figured that if something as innocuous as just becoming a fan of Pogo (which has no warning associated with it at all) connected you that certainly using a Pogo based app would. I stand corrected :)
Lura 10.21.09 at 4:29 pm
tcfox: not a problem. The timing of Pogo Puppies was pretty fishy and it is not at all stretch to assume the two would be connected. I will admit I still do not know how your Pogo and Facebook accounts got linked. Simply becoming a fan of Pogo would not do it (trust me, I looked into this thoroughly yesterday). I believe it was only the Pogo Games Fanatic app that needed to connect to your Pogo account and established the link. That app has been around for a long time (over a year maybe) so maybe you forgot? I surely forgot I had it linked to my FB account.
tcfox 10.21.09 at 4:36 pm
I believe you Lura (I know you check things out thoroughly), but then I have no idea either since I never even heard of Pogo Games Fanatic….lmao. It’s all good now though so I’m done worrying, at least for today ;)
Sheljin 10.21.09 at 6:11 pm
Thanks for posting the update for everyone and staying so on top of this, Lura. You asked if this “fix” would change our minds or if we liked the new options, etc. So, I figured I would drop in my two cents and say I agree with the vast majority here: I have yet to shake the bad feeling this has caused towards Pogo in me, I have yet to shake the worry that they have access to my private information and don’t seem to have the brains to treat it appropriately, and I really can’t imagine ever choosing this option for myself. I did actually hit the button last night by mistake (at least I think I did – suddenly my screen went dim and it said it couldn’t connect me to facebook at that time). I was like EEK! CANCEL!!!!!! lol I am not looking forward to seeing little f’s everywhere. If I wanted to be a part of Facebook, I would go to Facebook.
~Shel
booboo 10.21.09 at 7:07 pm
I would never and I mean NEVER, use Facebook or MySpace and especially together with Pogo. As part of my job I do IT security and if you want the risk of losing any personal information you have or Credit Card information, then by all means link up your accounts. This is a bad move and I am soooooooo Glad I took my billing information out of Pogo (even though I do not have Facebook, I don’t trust them anymore). Facebook is already one of the biggest targets of Hackers because so many people leave personal information out there including who their friends are, and this information is being used to commit many unscrupulous acts. Pogo is really driving me away with this BS instead of all the facebook, twitter, etc, here’s a novel idea, how about being a game site again????
Paul 10.21.09 at 8:26 pm
I went looking for this weeks letters to the editor to see how Pogo would spin this situation. I found a very strong letter but the answer need a little translation.
Youll be happy to know that as time goes on, while you will see more of Pogo on Facebook (we need to market Pogo everywhere we can), you probably wont see too much more of Facebook on Pogo(OK, we know we goofed, and we hear you loud and clear). We definitely want players to be able to bring Pogo into their Facebook world (see reason above), but we also will continue to be careful about how we introduce Facebook (and whatever else is out there) into Pogo. (Yes we messed up big time on this one but we are really really sorry)
laura 10.21.09 at 11:11 pm
i really dont want fb anywhere near where i put my list of friends i could hit this by mistake i dont think im in fb or whatever else pogp put on lately i thought this pogo was for playing games and chatting ,i have no idea how take my account off pogoas im not comp smart , i agree with booboo,
Frank 10.22.09 at 6:51 am
Regarding Pauls (#21) comment, I laughed at the translation he provided regarding the Letters to the Editors inquiry. Pogo couldnt come straight out and admit that it was a marketing ploy (refer to my instigation of such a tactic at comment #5).
There is only one of my friends I ever speak about Pogo, as he is also a member. All of my other friends really dont care, so I dont think they need a reason to see what badge I just earned or when I sneezed. More importantly, I dont need Pogo to update my Facebook with what Im doing.
As stated before, I dont intend on using this feature whatsoever. Let Pogo spend their own money (and my annual membership dues!) on advertising niches. There are times when I dont care to log onto other sites and I dont need Pogo to send updates telling my contacts what Im doing when Im not logged into Facebook. Nor do I care for them to see how long or when Im active on Pogo. I like playing the games in peace, rather than being disrupted by others. Its a nice way to mellow out.
Pegelee 10.22.09 at 10:14 am
I have been having nothing but trouble with Pogo website since they have connected our accounts with Facebook. I do have a facebook account but now cannot even get into that. My computer keeps crashing as it tries to connect to the facebook. As I am in Pogo it keeps trying to load Facebook over and over again. I HATE THAT POGO DID THIS WITHOUT EVEN INFORMING US.. I have to keep hitting the X button to stop it from trying to load. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can stop this from happening? I am so fustrated at this point.
Lura 10.22.09 at 10:33 am
Pegelee: I was going to point you to this landing/marketing page for Pogo’s Facebook Connect that has a link to “Questions About Facebook Connect?” that should have taken you to the Help section on FB Connect, but alas the link is not working. :(
So, all I can say now is to contact customer support via the Help link on Pogo, and good luck.
Kat F. 10.22.09 at 1:06 pm
EEEK!! Wendy #12, how did you know I consume coffee ALL day?? Did you read that on FB?? haha
That was the best laugh I’ve had in the past few days, ROFL
In all seriousness though, OBLITERATING all the apps that linked me to Pogo and FB did make me feel a whole lot better. :) Glad you did the same too. Like others have mentioned, I’ve NEVER used my real name on anything!! Now I’m wondering if I even want to keep my FB account. :( Mainly used it to keep in touch with my extended family…of course they knew all my nicknames. :)
But because of what’s happened, just not sure what to do. Really don’t want to lose the contact I enjoyed before with the ones that live so far away. :( But feeling so exposed, what to do? Wait and see?
Have to wonder though….what’s coming next? And where’s it coming from??
Lura, one question please? Above, in the example of the “fake profile’s” Privacy Settings—you show a box to be checked if Badge Fairy wants to “Use my photo and name from Facebook?”….I don’t have that in MY Privacy Settings for my own Profile. It’s not listed as an option.
All I have is The Connect with Facebook “Button” in my Profile. The one that says: “Interact on Pogo with your Facebook friends and share on Facebook through your wall and news feeds.”
I’ve looked everywhere for the example above and cannot find it! Should I keep looking? Plus, since I can’t add myself as a Friend, lol, don’t know if my screen name is showing up with that STOOPID “F” beside it!!
Yes, Wendy #12, I’ve had ALOT of coffee today, lol LOVE my caffeine! :)
Have a good day everyone!
(((Hugs to ALL)))
Kat F.
Lura 10.22.09 at 2:23 pm
Kat: less coffee, more reading carefully! :P If you don’t see the checkbox with “Use my photo and name…” then you aren’t linked with Facebook. If you aren’t linked with Facebook, then the ‘f’ won’t show up next to your name on your friends’ friends lists.
MariaLoon 10.22.09 at 3:27 pm
I understand that if you don’t have the box checked, you won’t have that showing.
My question is, if you change your Pogo profile settings to allowing it just for friends, if I check the box to link the account to facebook after my profile settings are just for friends, will ONLY my Pogo friends see it? Or will the facebook link be visible to anyone?
I don’t store my CC info on Pogo and I don’t mind my pogo friends seeing if I have a Facebook account, because I primarily have family and long time friends ON my Pogo friends list :)
Lura 10.22.09 at 3:29 pm
You could always test it by creating a free account and adding it to your friends list, then logging in and out and checking out the different views of your profile it has available. :)
MariaLoon 10.22.09 at 3:43 pm
Good idea Lura! :)
MariaLoon 10.22.09 at 4:22 pm
Lura, just so you know, I did what you suggested. I used a Free account name which I do not have listed on my Club Pogo’s friends list. And I changed my Pogo Profile settings to friends only. I also activated the Facebook linked account option
When I view my club account name from the free account – The Facebook ‘F’ Icon still appears next to my screen name, however, when I click my profile link I cannot view any information on my pogo profile which includes NOT being able to see any of the Facebook information.
So if people still want to link their Facebook and Pogo account, but don’t want just ANYONE to be able to view it. That’s a possibility for them to do so :)
Lura 10.22.09 at 4:28 pm
Thanks MariaLoon! To make your last sentence even clearer: “if people still want to link their Facebook and Pogo account and use their real name and photo on their profile, but don’t want just ANYONE to be able to view it”… :)
Wendy 10.22.09 at 8:28 pm
LOL , Kat – How did I know that Mr. Coffee and Juan Valdez were your BFF’s ?? Lucky guess ? ;) Love your posts!
I feel better about this whole thing now, but when I see someone who has linked to FB on Pogo, I just cringe. (out of worry)
But I have been accused of being a worrywart mother hen before so…
lol
EdC 10.22.09 at 9:45 pm
ugh this whole thing gives me a headache. I made my profile private so I don’t have to deal with if I checked this, unchecked that blah blah. I keep reading these posts to make sure I’m set and my brain is beyond fried. I apologize if I’m in the wrong thread
Kat F. 10.23.09 at 1:56 pm
EEEK!! Again!!
Sorry if I was confuzzled about the checkbox, but it WASNT the coffee, ROFL Its all this FB crap!!! :(
Why doesnt Pogo just stay Pogo?? But who am I to question the making of MONEY???
Thanks for keeping me straight, Lura. Your help is more than appreciated. Its SO EASY to get confused after all thats been thrown at us this last few days!! And theres more coming!!
I am battening down the hatches as I speak/type?? lol Im ready for whatever comes next, lol
But take away my bf?? NOOOO!! Me and Juan are too close! hahaha
Have a GREAT BADGE HUNGRY Day!!
(((Hugs to ALL)))
Kat F.
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