Facebook Giving Your Information To Search Engines

Facebook, the hugely popular social networking site, risks provoking anger from its users by opening up details of individuals to the web at large.

A new public search feature will soon mean that basic Facebook user profiles carrying names and photographs of the site’s members are accessible through search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

The move appears to be designed to drive more users to the privately owned site in an effort to boost advertising revenues, but has sparked privacy concerns.

Facebook attracted more than 30 million visitors last month, and is expected to make a profit of $30 million this year on revenues of $150 million. But analysts suggest that it is far from realising its earnings potential.

The network is regarded as a potential goldmine to advertisers because of the data it holds on its users, such as their birth date, interests, events they plan to attend, holidays and musical tastes.

In September last year Facebook users revolted when it unveiled a “news feed” feature, which informs everyone on a contact list when the user has made a change to his or her profile page. Hundreds protested against the move, but the feature was retained.

Security experts have also voiced misgivings over the amount of personal data available on social networking sites. Social networking sites should be a source of fun, not worry, but there are people out there who spend their time trying to exploit people through their private information.

Facebook users often provide details such as mobile numbers or employment history and these can be used to hack or steal a user’s identity.

A spokesman for Facebook said: “The Public Search Listing of a profile shows the profile picture thumbnail and links to interact with a user on Facebook. People will always have to log in or register to message or add someone as a friend. A user can also restrict what information shows in their public listing by going to the search privacy page.”
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