<p>Facebook is a great utility if you want to stay in touch with friends and family, share photos, and see what other people are up to in their lives.</p><p>It's free to use, of course, but that doesn't mean it comes without a price. If you're using Facebook, you're giving the company a ton of information about yourself which it is selling to advertisers in one form or another.</p><p>And most people forget that when they download or sign up for an app or website using their Facebook login, that they're giving those companies a direct look into their Facebook profiles and some of their personal data. That can often include your email address and phone number, but frequently also your current location.</p><p>If you're worried about your privacy, you can do two things: Opt out of ad tracking and and this is sometimes rather alarming if you haven't done it in a while look up the list of app companies that are logged in to your Facebook account.We'll deal with the ads first, as that is easiest.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/block-companies-tracking-you-on-facebook-2014-1">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9245701/Facebook_and_Google_Two_paths_to_the_same_goal">Why Facebook and Google+ are headed in opposite directions</a> (Computerworld)</p><p><a href="http://bgr.com/2014/01/24/facebook-mobile-advertising-platform/">How Facebook plans to tear down Google&#039;s online empire brick by brick</a> (BGR)</p><p><a href="http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/01/facebook-tests-ads-others-mobile-apps.html">Facebook Tests Running Ads on Other People&#039;s Mobile Apps</a> (Small Business Trends)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=d37hcnuyFGQN2IMYsdBPnMHtGjkFM&authuser=0&ned=us">15 additional articles.</a></p>