Facebook Problems For Mark Zuckerberg And "Warren Buffett"- Click here http://bit.ly/oyqC48 for full article

Facebook Problems For Mark Zuckerberg And "Warren Buffett"- Click here http://bit.ly/oyqC48 for full article

When author and financial consultant Janet Tavakoli found herself looking at a Facebook profile featuring her picture and basic information, it might not have been anything out of the ordinary. Many businesses and individuals look at their own Facebook pages every day. This event was highly surprising for Tavakoli, however, because she never created a Facebook page.

Unfortunately for Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, Tavakoli is not alone. Notables such as investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet have also had phony Facebook profiles appear on the site. Warren Buffett's faux profile is still active on the site, but Tavakoli petitioned Facebook to have hers taken down.

Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of the Facebook crew have a privacy issue on their hands because it is apparently easy to set up fraudulent profiles and it is somewhat difficult to have them taken down. Tavakoli explains that she had to send in a scanned image of her driver's license in order to have the phony profile removed.

Facebook's privacy issues are a concern not only for all people who use Facebook but for non-users as well. Businesses that have chosen not to use Facebook for social media marketing should still check the site periodically to see if a profile page for the business ever appears. It is possible that someone could set up a fake profile or community page and send out false or misleading information to customers or clients.

Businesses that do use Facebook should also be vigilant in being sure that customers and clients are who they say they are. Businesses should never use Facebook for sensitive communications in case a profile was established by an impostor.

Businesses and investors, especially those considering using Facebook for advertising, should also know that Facebook's data about demographics and users may be compromised by these false profiles. The fake profiles of Tavakoli and Warren Buffett are only two of many possible phonies that may skew Facebook's demographic data with padding from fake users.

Though Facebook can be a powerful tool for social media marketing and for businesses in general, it does carry these privacy risks that businesses should always be aware of. Mark Zuckerberg is going to need to address these issues if he wants his site to continue to be popular and influential, but, in the meantime, business and personal users should proceed with caution.