Why Facebook wants your phone number

Some days ago I read an articel called: Why Facebook wants your phone number.

I thought about two questions:

Why does Facebook want your phone number and address?

And, is it in my interest to put this personal information to the network?

Let's start with the first question.

Facebook, doesn't want to call you to chat, or stop by your house for tea. So what's its motive for asking for these personal details?

The social network says this info helps app developers create programs and games and little social widgets that make Facebook more fun and useful.

Potential examples: A travel app could send you text messages if your flight is going to be late; a shopping app wouldn't have to ask you where to send a gift you bought -- it would just send it to your default Facebook address.

But I think that the real reason is that Facebook wants to be, like Google, a personalized center of the interne.


That sounds practically, but I think it isn't good to show to much personal information about you in the internet. Only with a name and the birthaday you can buy in intenet nearly everything, and the bill goes to the real name (in these case, not the real buyer).