If you have a Facebook page for your dropship business, you might be interested to know that there has apparently been another breach of privacy due to 10 popular Facebook applications.

According to a Wall Street Journal report today, October 18th 2010, 10 popular Facebook apps have been sending out personal identifying user information to internet tracking and advertising companies.

The Wall Street Journal investigation says that Facebook users may be unknowingly providing access to not only their own private and personal info, but that of their friends as well!

The issue affects literally tens of millions of Facebook users, even those who had set their profile for privacy settings at the highest level.

The Wall Street Journal says that this is a violation of Facebook rules and that it raises questions as to whether or not the social site is able to safeguard the privacy and security of its users’ personal information.

A Facebook spokesman told the Wall Street Journal yesterday that it is taking the necessary steps to “dramatically limit” the exposure of personal information.

"A Facebook user ID may be inadvertently shared by a user's Internet browser or by an application," the spokesman told the Journal.

He went on to say that “knowledge of an ID does not permit access to anyone's private information on Facebook.”

The spokesman also said that the company would be adding new technology to fix the problem reported by the Wall Street Journal.

It is not clear how long this breach of Facebook privacy went on. The Wall Street Journal stated that Facebook has already taken action to disable all of the applications responsible for the breach.

Hopefully, this will all be resolved quickly!

As useful a tool as Facebook undoubtedly is for social media marketing for your dropship business, nobody wants their personal information transmitted to others without permission.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has been in the news lately for privacy issues, and it does seem that the company acts quickly to close a breach once it is discovered.

But, for millions of unhappy Facebook users who have had their personal, private information sent to advertising and internet tracking companies; this may be akin to closing the barn door after the horse is out.

It’s still a great idea to use Facebook for marketing your online dropship business, but do make it a point to stay up-to-date about privacy issues on the site!

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