Do you want even more stuff in your email box? Facebook thinks so.

Just how important is your email address? Are you willing to read through unsolicited mail, even more than you already receive? Facebook may very well up your numbers as the social networking site has given developers the ability to request, or even require your email address. This means marketers can inundate you with information about even more stuff to buy.

This change has been in progress since October 2009, with developers in on the progress. Now, developers can access Facebook users directly instead of going through the Facebook gatekeeper system.

The email collection process begins with the appearance of a permission box asking the user to grant permission to be contacted. Users can either allow or disallow the request. However, some permissions can only be controlled through the applications settings page.

How much control a user really has depends on the personal settings that were managed before last December’s privacy changes. If a Facebook user chose the recommended setting without really investigating, Facebook has the right to publish your private information such as updates, photos, shared links, and yes, email addresses.

As involvement in social networking continues to expand, users must strike a balance between protecting privacy and well, being social. Due diligence is necessary to be smart about what users assume and what type of information is out there, usually forever.

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