How to freak people out thanks to Facebook!

You can have quite a bit of fun with the ubiquitous nature of Facebook.  For example, if you are reading this on a computer where you have logged into the social networking site, you should be seeing your profile picture to the left over there.  Freaky, huh?

I had some fun on my Forest forum earlier, indeed, it is ongoing.  I changed by ‘avatar’ (the picture that appears next to messages you post) to be the Facebook photo of whoever is viewing the post in question.  Cue a flurry of private messages demanding to know why I have a picture of them in my avatar.

Quite amusing really, since all I can see on the forum is my own inane face grinning from a collapsable camping chair which makes up my own Facebook profile picture.

So, how do you do it?  Well, the URL I used in this post to insert the image including a status message was:

http://www.facebook.com/badge.php?&items%5B%5D=badge_profile_pic&items%5B%5D=badge_mobile_status&layout=vert&format=png

For most Internet forums, to create an avatar you would be better off using something more like this:

http://www.facebook.com/badge.php?&items%5B%5D=badge_profile_pic&format=png

Although be prepared for the questions to ensue, particularly if – like me – you put some text under saying “a picture of my latest stalking victim”, only to be greeted with private messages of concern saying things like “Why do you have a picture of my 2 year old daughter as your avatar?”.  Well, actually, I don’t!