Facebook is all the rage; we can share our personal content with all our friends, now that they are all there. We might feel protected because we made a conscious decision of who to “friend” and where we’d join. Facebook says our content is private and they do provide warnings when you post.

But, have you accepted an application lately? Did you notice what permissions you were giving to get the benefit of the application? After digging under the covers a little, I am thinking that Facebook looks like the largest data mining, contextual advertising platform in history.

And I wonder if it’s a tinder box about to go off. Maybe we should all be very careful…

I’m a digital marketer and while I love the use of some information in our marketing to make sure a message or environment is appropriate for its audience, I remember learning the hard way in direct mail that those lines are subjective and not always as open as we thought.

Think about all the private data you put up there…the sharing/tagging photos, distribution of notes, wall messages, status updates, etc. They’re what make Facebook great.

So, to make my point, let’s take a look at Facebook’s offers to advertise. When you place an ad you can start to see what I mean. The system will allow targeting of not only demographics, but it’ll use your name or your friends’ names within the ad to get others to click see.

Next, “accept an application.” I did for a new TV cable show that was beginning last month. All of a sudden I saw photos from my album used in the advertisers creative. My first reaction was, “Cool”. Then I saw some of my friends’ comments used in the advertiser’s creative. Not so cool.

This made me wonder what else could be used. I’m worried that anything posted, noted, tagged or stored there could be subject to someone’s use. I know they have their privacy notices and warnings set to trigger before you post, but there’s no limit to the extent your data will be used once it’s there. The Facebook folks could just change things up and since they control the system, your posts, notes, tags, photos and contact information could be out there for someone else to see, use and profit from, outside of your control.

The Mashable folks http://mashable.com/ have suggested that change is “unavoidable” and that everything will be open in a matter of time. Sorry to hear it — I don’t necessarily feel the same, or want it to go that way. I was hoping that the whole idea of the Web giving us control would stay in our control.

I’m not so sure now. What do you think