Andriod: Facebook (and others) automatically using internet.?

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I tried googling this, but given the search terms it is difficult to get a relevant answer.

How do I stop apps like facebook and google talk from using my internet connection unless I explicitly tell them to do so?

As an example, every time I connect my phone to the internet I get updates and notifications from facebook, and I am connected to google talk.
I never gave these applications permission to run themselves in the background!