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Thursday, Jan 24, 2013 10:02 PM UTC

Got a dirty Facebook page? Clean it up

Running for office? Finally friended mom? A new app will help make your social networking persona PG again

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Topics: Facebook, Internet Culture, life on the internet, , ,

Got a dirty Facebook page? Clean it up (Credit: ostill via Shutterstock)

Embarrassing photos? Dirty things your friends have written on your wall? Let enough time pass, and it’s more than Facebook’s interface that can seem a little blue. 

But don’t worry, there’s an app for that.

A trio of Kent State University undergrads created “Facewash“ to search through your Facebook activity and root out unsavory stuff on your timeline, from  drunken status updates to crude photo captions and the racy pages and links you’ve “liked.”

“We realized that there’s a lot of content that perhaps someone might not want a future employer to see,” Daniel Gur, one of the app’s creators, told the Los Angeles Times.

After accessing the app through their website, Facewash will start searching for naughty search terms on your profile. If it finds a match, it’ll alert you and ask permission to delete the image or remove the link.

Then, voilà: Your Facebook profile is employer (or mom) ready.

Gur said the team plans to make Facewash multilingual so that people in other countries (or English speakers with a preference for cussing in French) can use it.

And as for the name? Gur said it just fit so perfectly.

“This is your face on the Internet, and you might need to wash it,” he said.

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

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