Just checked my Facebook and two friends who hardly ever post have suddenly both updated their status extolling the virtues of some dieting pill - and both commented on their own status minutes later with the same reply! Is this somebody hacking their account or do Facebook allow companies to spam inactive accounts?

It's a spam type thing.

You click on it, it asks for various permissions, including the permission to post as you (Same thiing as you get when you get a high score in a game) and then it posts those messages out. I'm guessing there is another message underneath saying how good it is?

Watch out for the next generation of these, they'll allow a post from another compromised machine to reply to the first.

Yeah noticed that with a mate today - asked if he had been Fraped and seems he was.

I bloody hate the word 'frape'.

FB users should be more concerned about [url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/249019/facebook_timeline_privacy_tips_lockdown_your_profile.htmlTimeline[/url

Just think of old those scary bosses' narks, trawling through old FB posts

Set your privacy levels correctly and you're safe from that.

You're even safer if you don't post inflamatory statuses in the first place.

I try not to use facebook as much anymore. If I do I'm very careful about what I write on there. I found out the hard way how that website can be used against you. It's quite worrying the amount of personal info that people share without even thinking about the people who could be reading/using it.

I got threatened with a defamation suit, all because I said I'd sooner "friend" Peter Sutcliffe (yes there are a few, including his "tool shed"icon_wink.gif, than the idiot in question.

Your even safer if you don't use facebook at all

I'm still trying to figure out just what an inflammatory status is

If i want anyone to know what i had for breakfast i'll text/e-mail or tell them when i see them.

,that's assuming they really want to know.

Facebook is fine, the security controls are fairly granular, unfortunately it's largely inhabited by gullible and stupid people who don't lock their account properly and will click on anything if they think there's some magic beans in it for them.

And of course, facebook is not the place to air inflammatory or troublesome opinions really either.

The person in question Coddy would have had a big lawsuit to deal with - as you know it was an empty threat, he couldn't have sued us all. Well he could, but don't think he'd be still in the same job

I use facebook quite a lot - primarily it's a great way to run our team with most of the lads being regular users, but also because I worked abroad a lot in my youth and lost touch with dozens of people, most of whom I've now rediscovered thanks to facebook.

I'm not an avid 'status' updater - mine are generally related to the rugby team, some banter over sports events or occasionally major events in my life. And even then I generally don't bother.

As Enicomb says though, it's populated by gullible, frankly stupid people. The security settings are fairly simple (once you've found them!), and you even have to give permission to any 'apps' you might choose to partake in - which is what makes some of these people particularly stupid.