Many Facebook Applications Struggle to Maintain Privacy Standards

Privacy. We all expect to have it…even if we’re on Facebook recapping our latest vacation or breakup.

So should we be concerned if something, however benign, is shared with a third party?

That’s the slam against Facebook in the wake of an Oct. 18 Wall Street Journal article, Facebook In Privacy Breach:

Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information—in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names—to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.

Apps are software technologies that allow users, for e.g., on Facebook, to play games or share common interests. The accusation is that some apps were providing user IDs – a set of numbers associated with a user to third parties, one of which was matching it up to dossiers it had already created on that user. From the article:

“A Facebook user ID may be inadvertently shared by a user’s Internet browser or by an application,” said a Facebook spokesperson, adding that knowledge of an ID does not permit access to anyone’s private information on Facebook.

The situation is cause for concern for many, especially knowing that the breach violates privacy policies.

“The dilemma for Facebook is that by allowing unscrupulous application builders access to the platform, the blame for whatever private user info apps “steal and sell” ultimately falls to Facebook,” says Julien Sharp, Marketing and Creative Director of SmartSourcing Global.

But will this security breach prompt millions of users from closing the books on Facebook? Probably not. More and more people have become comfortable sharing personal news to begin with – much like the time-honored wedding and birth announcements in newspapers. In fact, as stated in an article published on October 23 by Social Media Today, Facebook now reaches 62% of online Americans.

So Facebook has certainly gone beyond a “fad,” and more and more businesses are interacting with their target markets on the site. However, while many companies struggle to figure out the bugs in apps, and how data is properly shared and how not to break sharing policies, users will just have to decide for themselves just how much of themselves they care to share with the rest of the world.

Smartsourcing Global produces customized ads and customized Facebook pages and applications…and all of our Facebook applications comply fully with the user-privacy regulations.