Why does Facebook want my Phone Number?
Facebook have a habit of politely asking for your phone number, and the more privacy conscious amongst us may not be so willing to give it away, especially given Facebook’s reputation when it comes to privacy.
So, seriously, why does Facebook want our phone numbers?
Firstly, it is important to know whether a prompt for your phone number is genuine. A number of scams may try and trick you into handing over your phone number. First, if you get a prompt to enter your phone number, make sure you are on the actual Facebook.com website and not an impostor website. Also, never respond to Chat messages or emails asking for your phone number.
Perhaps the more skeptical of us will assume Facebook want our phone numbers because, after all, phone numbers are personal information about us and Facebook loves getting as much information about us as possible. It’s all marketable and Facebook have made a great deal of money by exposing us to advertising and using its treasure trove of information about us to expose us to the “right” adverts.
However Facebook’s terms of service strictly prohibits them from giving away our phone number, a move that would likely cause the number one social networking website on the Internet more harm than good in the long run.
There is an argument to be made certainly that Facebook can potentially use this information to create possible friend connections by matching our number with other users looking for mutual connections – something it would use to improve its “suggested friends” feature. Facebook could also potentially use this information to try and find more information about us on the Web. However, for most users, handing over your number will boil down to improving your account security.
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If a Facebook account becomes compromised, having a verified phone number on your account can provide a way you can verify yourself as the true owner of an account and regain control of it.
Phone numbers are also used in the “Login Approval” security feature that Facebook provides. This feature is Facebook’s Two-Factor-Authentication feature and is for people who take the security of their account very seriously, as many Facebook users need to do. The feature does not let anyone login to a Facebook account from an unrecognized device without first entering a login code (as well as the account password) that is sent via SMS to the phone number on the account.
This means to access a Facebook account, the user needs to know the password and be in possession of the phone to which the code is sent to. Learn more about Two-Factor-Authentication in our article here.
But be warned…
There is a privacy setting you really need to change if you do decide to give Facebook your phone number. Not only do you need to make your phone number private, but you need to ensure that no one can look you up via your phone number. We talk about how to change this option in our post here.
So should I give Facebook my phone number?
How much you trust Facebook and how important your account security is to you are two important questions when it comes to making this decision.
Some Facebook users – for example ones who admin large Facebook pages & communities, or those who have lots of personal photos on their accounts – need to take their account security seriously, since losing control of their accounts could represent a serious problem. If this is you, seriously consider giving Facebook your phone number since it provides a really important extra layer of security.
However if you don’t feel you fall into this category, or you don’t trust Facebook with such personal information, then the choice is ultimately up to you. You don’t have to do it (unless Facebook suspect your account is involved with foul play and want to verify your account) but be aware that this means your Facebook account isn’t as secure as it could be.
Would you give your phone number to Facebook? Let us know.
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