Facebook collects users' personal information like usernames, activity logs, and search histories and shares it with third parties like advertising and marketing firms regardless of users' privacy settings. This data is compiled into profiles about individuals and used to target personalized advertising and marketing campaigns. There is a danger of data being accessible to identify and locate individuals, posing risks like identity theft. The document provides tips to users to be more cautious about what they share publicly on social media.

2. Facebook Sells User
Information to 3rd Parties
 Facebook and social media sites
actively distribute your personal
information.[2]
 Facebook and other social media sites
sell this information to 3rd parties.
 This data is sent regardless of privacy
settings

3. What Information is Sent?
 Usernames
 ID numbers
 Query key words
 Search history
 Activity logs
 Dates
 Times

4. How is This Information Taken?
 Facebook apps send user information to
3rd parties when utilized regardless of
the user’s privacy settings.[9]
 Ads on Facebook also send user
information when utilized.[8]

5. Who is this Information Being
Sent to?
 Advertising Companies
 Marketing Firms
 Data Firms[7]
Examples:
 Google’s Doubleclick
 Google’s Invite Media[10]
 Yahoo’s Right Media
 RapLeaf, Inc. [3]

6. What Happens to the
Information?
 Data is compiled
 Profiles are created based on individual
users behavior and online activities,
known as collective profiling.[11]
 Resold to other companies who can but
are not limited to:
 Creating specific marketing and
advertising campaigns that target
individuals based on their online
activities.[1]

7. What is the Danger?
 Data sent by Facebook to 3rd party
companies can be used to lookup
individual user profiles, which can
contain:[3]
 Real names
 Age
 Occupation
 Phone numbers
 Location
 Addresses
 Personal information of friends[2]

8. Danger Continued
 This data can be cross referenced with
other existing databases to single out
and identify individuals which poses
risks such as:
 Identity theft
 Scams[5]
 Competitive edges in research[11]
 Competitive edges on the market[11]

9. Tips and Advice
 Determine whether to go public or private
with your profile
 Eliminate people and sites from your social
networks you don’t need
 Pay attention to your friend, invite, and
connection requests[1]
 Be cautious of what you post
 Your friends make you vulnerable
 Facebook apps can contain malware
 Check your privacy settings after updates
to the social network[5]

10. References
1. Betancourt, L. (2010, March 2). How Companies Are Using Your
Social Media Data . Social Media News and Web Tips – Mashable –
The Social Media Guide. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://mashable.com/2010/03/02/data-mining-social-media/
2. Bosker, B. (2011, May 25). Facebook To Share Users' Home
Addresses, Phone Numbers With External Sites. Breaking News and
Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/28/facebook-home-addresses-
phone-numbers_n_829459.html
3. Dybwad, B. (2010, June 20). Facebook and Others Caught Sending
User Data to Advertisers . Social Media News and Web Tips –
Mashable – The Social Media Guide. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://mashable.com/2010/05/20/facebook-caught-sending-user-data-
to-advertisers/

11. References
4. News Service. (2010, October 18). Facebook Apps
Transmit, Sell Personal Info | Fox News. Fox News
- Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines |
Photos & News Videos. Retrieved July 25, 2012,
from
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2010/10/18/facebook-
apps-transmit-sell-personal-info/
5. Helmbreck, V. (2010, May 25). How Facebook Sells
Your Personal Info -- and Gets Away With It. Tech
News for Finance Professionals. Retrieved July 25,
2012, from http://www.financetechnews.com/how-
facebook-sells-your-personal-info-and-gets-away-
with-it

12. References
6. Kunz, B. (2010, May 26). Go Ahead, Facebook. Sell That Data -
Businessweek. Businessweek - Business News, Stock Market &
Financial Advice. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2010/tc201005
26_720314.htm
7. Newman, A. A. (2011, August 3). Promoting Products Using Social
Media - Advertising - NYTimes.com. The New York Times - Breaking
News, World News & Multimedia. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/business/media/promoting-
products-using-social-media-advertising.html?_r=2
8. Steel, E. (2010, June 21). Facebook, MySpace Confront Privacy
Loophole - WSJ.com. Business News & Financial News - The Wall
Street Journal - Wsj.com. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870451310457525670
1215465596.html

13. References
9. Steel, E. (2010, September 17). Facebook in Online Privacy
Breach; Applications Transmitting Identifying Information -
WSJ.com. Business News & Financial News - The Wall Street
Journal - Wsj.com. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230477280457
5558484075236968.htm
10. Williams, R. (2010, October 19). Facebook Apps Selling
Personal Information to Marketing Companies. Hardgeek -
Gadgets, Software, Firefox, Windows, Android, Apple, Linux,
Tech tips. Retrieved July 25, 2012, from
http://hardgeek.org/facebook-apps-selling-personal-
information-to-marketing-companies
11. van Dijck, J. (2010). Search engines and the production of
academic knowledge. International Journal of Cultural Studies,
13(6), 574–592, DOI: 10.1177/1367877910376582