The current revelations about Cambridge Analytica’s use of Facebook data illustrate an important drawback to using a Facebook account as your business’ online presence: Facebook knows and sells your customers!

Millions of companies—especially small companies and start-ups—rely on a Facebook account for their online presence. On the surface, it seems like a great idea: it’s free; it’s interactive; lots of prospects have access; and it makes you look savvy.

In the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica meltdown, however, business owners are wise to reconsider this reliance on Facebook for 3 reasons:

1. Facebook owns all the data about your Facebook presence: they collect it, they study it, they package it. They know everyone who “likes” you, all their comments, all THEIR friends, everything!
2. Facebook shares little of this information with YOU: yes, you can see how many likes you get, but that’s about it. These are YOUR customers, but the information about them is NOT yours—it’s a Facebook asset. Remember the adage: if the product is free, YOU are the product.
3. Facebook will sell your customers to your competitors: Your competitors can target YOUR customers with ads. If your competitors buy this service, they can put ads in front of your customers whenever your customers log into Facebook. Do you want your customers to be precisely targeted by your competitors?

The easy, affordable and sustainable alternative is to buy your own domain name and put up your own website. Today, there are over a thousand alternative “extensions” to meet your needs. If you want to show information, choose a .info site; if you are a professional, choose a .pro; if you are a club, choose a .club—domain names today include may descriptive terms to help customers find and remember you. For less than $50 a year, you can recapture control of your online identity.

Many online domain name retailers also have easy website builders, email services and other tools to help you get a credible, useful internet presence that YOU own (not Facebook). You’ll get all the data about your visitors, and they will be protected from Facebook’s data mining and selling practices. With your own domain name and site, you don’t need to worry about Facebook collapsing—your online presence is in your control, not theirs.

Today’s Facebook revelations are a good reason to review your online presence and make sure it serves YOU, and not Facebook and your competitors.

A version of this post was originally published in The Domain Name Association (DNA) blog.