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Facebook follow me- the new hoax

There's a new hoax on Facebook that is scaring users into believing that they are being stalked from unknown persons. Some of the users of the social media platform are spreading the myth that a hidden list could expose your unknown "followers".

These followers could effectively be secretly stalking you, all your statuses and updates.
According to the rumor currently making rounds on the social media platform, Facebook would show you a list of people if you go to the block section of settings and type in “following me”.
Unfortunately, this idea is nothing but a gimmick - and an old one at that!
Despite the fact that it is a ruse, a message is spreading across the Mark Zuckerberg-owned website - and people are getting scared.

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Experts have debunked the whole thing as nothing but a ruse to scare people, though.
The hoax has done the rounds previously, but is seemingly picking up serious popularity this week.
When you type something (a word) into the "search bar" on Facebook, it is going to find ANY and ALL pages, people, and/or posts with those words in them.
What you're probably seeing is a list of people with names that include letters from the words "following" and "me."

So how can you find out how who really is following you?

According to Facebook’s Help Center, you go to the right corner and select settings, then click public posts, then select friends or public next to who can follow me to see your genuine followers so there is no reason why Facebook would implement a feature that would allow users to see their paid stalkers or “covert followers”, it would seem oddly counter-productive. Regardless, this sensible flaw hasn’t seemed to stop these rumors from going viral, regularly.

The new hoax on Facebook- following me

By 19:32 No comments:

A new Facebook hoax which has gained popularity this week is scaring so many people into thinking that they are being stalked by unknown people.
Facebook users are being bamboozled and deceived into spreading the myth that a hidden list could expose who your stalkers are.

It further goes ahead to claim that those followers would be secretly stalking you, your statuses and updates.
The rumor says that Facebook will give you the list if you go to your ''Settings'' - to ''blocking and privacy'', and type in ''following me''

Realistically, when you type into the search bar, Facebook WILL give you a list of friends, places, etc. So, what you are seeing is actually just a list of people who share some letters with the words ''following'' and ''me''.

Fortunately, the rumor is unfounded and untrue.

Facebook's follow me- A bizarre hoax

By 19:32 No comments:

Have you been on Facebook over the last couple of days? Then you have probably seen some version of this chain message going around:

"If you go into your ACCOUNT SETTINGS then to BLOCKING (on left side of screen), then in the BLOCKED USERS search bar type in “following me” without the quotes, you might be startled by who is following you. Unfortunately you have to block them one at a time, which is annoying. I had twenty in the list and knew none of them. I blocked all of them. You might share or copy/paste if you found this helpful".

Like so many things on Facebook, it’s totally untrue. It is true that if you input “following me” into the search bar you would otherwise use to block people, a string of seemingly random and irregular people will come up. But unlike what the perpetrators of this hoax may want you to think, these accounts don’t belong to some secret network of spies — neither are they part of a grand conspiracy on the part of Facebook. Rather, they’re just the unfortunate victims of a search function that was grossly misused.

They are definitely not stalking you!

Here’s why: When you search “following me,” Facebook doesn’t show you who is actually following you. (If you actually want to see that list, you have to click on the Followers section under your Friends List.)

Searching this term on your Block page pulls up a list of users whose names and general information match the terms following and me as closely as possible. And though you see the names of all of the corresponding users, what you don’t see is all of the hidden and private information Facebook derives its matches from — like nicknames, “About Me” descriptions, and employment information. And that’s what the list is actually being generated from.

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Unfortunately, however, everyone who has fallen for this hoax is pulling up this list, and many of them are desperately contacting the people on it, demanding to know why they’re being followed. For the most part, the people who match these criteria are unfortunate random people who are made to bear the brunt of this cruel joke - most of whom have their Facebook accounts locked down. But there’s another category of people who appear on the now-infamous list: fun-seeking trolls.

The trick is that, since Facebook's updated version allows you to add a nickname, most people add "following me" to their name. When this is done, typing ‘following me’ into the block-people list would show you nothing but random folks.

Soon after changing your nickname, your inbox will be flooded with thousands of messages from people asking who you are and why you are following them.

Being exposed to the brunt of a Facebook hoax’s power is apparently pretty harrowing. Quite a few voluntary members of the “following me” list quickly removed themselves after finding their inboxes flooded with messages.

Today's hoax on Facebook is following me

By 19:31 No comments:

There is currently a Facebook hoax is making the rounds causing fears of online stalking.
But the story has been expelled by experts who say the social media site is still as safe as ever.
The myth that has been circulating claims that each user has a hidden list of “followers”. That is to say, people who can see what you post without being accepted as a “friend”.

Today's hoax on Facebook is following me

The rumor claims that if a Facebook user goes to their settings section and types in “following me”, the site will reveal a list of ''covert followers''.
Fortunately this is not the truth and it is not the first time the hoax has reared its ugly head and scared social media users.

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A user claimed to have uncovered the trick and wrote: “I just learned something new. If you go to account settings, blocking, block users, and type in “following me”, without the quotes, you might be surprised just who is following you. I had a lot people on it that I had no clue who they were. They are blocked now. I had to block them one at a time. Creepy... Most were middle eastern persons and all my posts are to friends, not public.”
But typing ''following me'' into a search bar will simply display a list of other users with “following” or “me” in their names or contact information.
According to Facebook’s Help Center, you go to the right corner and select settings, then click public posts, then select friends or public next to who can follow me to see your genuine followers.

The new hoax on Fb- Following me

By 19:30 No comments:

The new false alarm going around Facebook claims that there is a way to see accounts that are following you secretely.

It is good to know that the "following me" claim is NOT true. According to fact-checking site Snopes, the supposed spies are found if you go to the ''Block Users'' section under Settings.
They are then revealed when you type in "following me" in the search field.
In actual sense, what users are getting is a list of people with the words "following" and "me" somewhere on their profiles and not a pack of clandestine agents.

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Snopes pointed out that a similar false charge was made earlier in the year around January. That time, the ''Men in Black'' were discovered by typing "Facebook security" in the field.
Users of the social media site have to navigate these types of hoaxes every few months. Previous scare tactics included a "copyright claim" to prevent losing ownership of posted content and a hacker named "Jayden K. Smith."
For people who do want to limit who really can see their postings, the Facebook Help Center provides information on how to change settings.

Facebooks following me- is it fact or fiction

By 19:30 No comments:

The rumor going round right now is that when you get to the “blocking” tab on Facebook and search for the caption “following me” a list of unwanted and/or secret followers who are monitoring your account can be revealed. The reality is that it is just that: A RUMOR!

Facebook's following me- is it fact or fiction

The claims that searching lists of blocked users for the phrase “following me” reveals a list of secret followers (or stalkers) is just the rebirth of an old hoax.

A round of posts making the “following me” claim first popped up on the 21st of September 2017. As at now, we are not clear as to where the claim started, but there are many different sides to it. At times, these posts claim that a friend or acquaintance used the “following me” trick to reveal dozens of unwarranted stalkers, which are mostly from foreign countries.

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This is not the first time this hoax has circulated either. Earlier in January 2017, a different version falsely claimed that searching blocked users for “Facebook security” revealed a list of secret and unauthorized stalkers. Again, this is nothing more than a keyword search and doesn’t provide any measure of security or cause for alarm.

And because cybersecurity is a big deal on Facebook, these fictitious claims can be very dangerous. Facebook offers a number of genuine security measures that will help users stay protected against unwanted followers.
An example is the ''blocking option''. Facebook allows you to block individual users. Once they’re blocked, users can no longer see your posts, they’ll be unfriended (that is, if they were a friend in the first place and can't send you a friend request again) and they won’t be able to tag you to posts on their timeline or any other timeline. So, in essence, there’s no such thing as a secret follower or secret stalker.

And if you can’t find a person who you want to block, you can search for the person’s email address under the “blocking” section of the settings tab. Any account associated with that email will be blocked from following you. But you should know that if you type “following me” into Facebook , it won't reveal unwanted followers because it is nothing more than a keyword search.

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