The Facebook apps that you sign up for can share not only your information but also your friends’ information ─ as long as they have openly shared it with you. You might be wondering how it is that every time you think you have taken care of all the Facebook privacy loopholes, a new story crops up showing you that there is yet another way for your information to be leaked? Here is how it is.

Facebook Apps that Are in the Know

As with all other social networking applications, Facebook challenges users’ notions of what is public and what is private. When users first join Facebook, they are generally impressed and overwhelmed with the possibilities and services it provides: games, multiple platform integration, not to mention the ability to share photos, videos, and all manner of things. Facebook has become the go-to application we use to connect and share with our friends and family.

The problem with Facebook is that unless you do your homework, you may be sharing all those mementos, thoughts, and opinions with the world at large.

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The new Facebook application Share a Pic, Save a Pet gets you to “donate your Facebook page to find a four-legged friend a forever home.” Approximately four million adoptable dogs and cats are killed each year because of overpopulation. For this reason and for the love of animals, PetSmart Charities and Adopt-A-Pet.com have come together to help save as many of those little creatures great and small as possible.

Share a Pic, Save a Pet Application

By doing nothing more than ‘donating’ your Facebook page, Share a Pic, Save a Pet gives you the power to save the life of a dog or a cat. Donate is perhaps a bit misleading, as your Facebook page is just a platform to tap into the Adopt-A-Pet.com database so that pictures of adoptable animals in your area can be displayed on your wall.

PetSmart Charities explains it like this:

“Share a Pic, Save a Pet transforms individual Facebook profiles into social billboards, alerting their friends, family and followers about adoptable pets in their own community that need lifelong, loving homes. Specifically, the application gives Facebook users a unique way to ‘donate’ their profile to save pets in the community, showcasing local pets’ pictures and information about where they can be adopted.”

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A new Facebook app allows you to identify people, places, and things as ‘enemies’. Incredibly, you read that correctly. This enemy app is a product of the Emerging Media + Communication program at UT Dallas, and though Facebook will likely face a storm of criticism to shut down this application, it is presently up and running.

“Enemy App” Lets You Point the Finger

If you have ever spent time on an Internet forum or scrolled down to the end of an article on any given website, you will have noticed that unfiltered barrage of comments that users will often spit out like venom. This is the kind of social misbehavior that comes with the thinly veiled anonymity and detachment that is inherent in the medium. If someone bumps you on the street, you quickly say “I’m sorry” and the other person returns a smile and says, “No problem.” ‘Bump’ someone on the Internet, and you are likely to take a virtual right hook to the chin.

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This year’s hottest New Year’s Eve party may be happening online.  The Facebook app “Shaker” has hooked up with Dick Clark Productions to create a virtual loft party that will be THE place to be, before the start of the ABC show “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2012.”

Haven’t received your invitation, yet?  Just head to Facebook, type “Shaker” into the search box, and then click on the RSVP button!  That’s all it takes to get into this hot-ticket pre-party, where you can dance, toss back a few virtual drinks, hang out with your friends, and catch some exclusive celebrity interviews.  Many of the performers scheduled to appear on the annual ABC show will be making appearances in the loft.  You can expect to see Fergie, Will.i.am, LMFAO, Blink 182, and more.

If you don’t want to commit until the last minute, that’s no problem at a Shaker function.  Virtual lofts can swell to hold as many people as needed, so you won’t be turned away at the door!  Check out the 3D virtual festivities anytime between 4PM – 8PM Eastern Time.  That’s right, the Shaker party ends when the show begins, which saves you from having to figure out the etiquette of virtual kissing at midnight.

What are your plans, tonight?

If you’re not sure, the answer could be as close as your Facebook page!  Everyone’s favorite social networking site is test running a new feature, designed to help you fill your social schedule.

It’s called “Suggested Events,” and it – well – suggests events that you may enjoy based on activities that you’ve taken part in previously.  For example – if you’ve been to a particular night club and have checked in using your Facebook account – then Facebook will notify you when the same venue has a new event coming up.  The idea is to create a profile based on each person’s tastes, preferences, and past excursions – making it easier to predict the type of upcoming events that one might be interested in.

Many critics of social networking say that people are spending more time online than they are socializing face-to-face with others.  Ironically, if Facebook’s latest feature takes off, it could encourage users to leave the comfortable glow of their computer screen and venture out into the real world.

The thing I’ve learned about suicide after having a close friend suffer from repeated bouts of depression is no one really listens until it’s too late – and then everyone stands around saying ” gosh why didn’t they say something sooner “.    The truth is, most people contemplating ending their own lives often will reach out for help – but in some cases will actually attempt to carry out their plan to kill themselves if there is no one around to stop them.