Facebook’s been through a great deal this year, from a swarm of attacks from privacy advocates, to a slew of new platform features, namely Instant Personalization and localized check-ins for mobile users.  There was also the Social Network film, bringing more attention to Zuckerberg’s brainchild, as Zuckerberg himself worked his way up fortune’s ladder, being likened to Bill Gates for his wealth and philanthropic work.  Here’s a review of Facebook 2010, as the year comes to a close.

Facebook’s face-lift was the first step in a series of upgrades that the social networking platform has revealed recently. From the up-front profile and the “Like” buton enhancement of the user’s profile, Facebook is now settling down integrations in specialized, high-traffic platforms, such as Bing, Rotten Tomatoes and Yelp.

Facebook’s new design interface was enthusiastically presented by the founder Mark Zuckerberg, in an hour interview. The idea that “Like” buttons will become a central piece in the user’s profile is controversial, as some might see it as a tool thistle for new users, while the rate of common interest is predicted to increase.

Whether the “Like” button is an issue of privacy is raising questions, now that this feature will be available on a simple Bing search. With the new Bing instant personalization of Facebook, users are now able to look for their friends using the search engine. The results will also include the social networking users’ preferences and their friendships.

Also to be considered is the Wall Street Journal’s alarming warning regarding the sharing of Facebook IDs with third parties, a few of them advertising networks which are exporting data from apps, like FarmVille or LOLapps.

This data leakage is dangerous for Facebook, which is expanding to more than 500 million users, in comparison to Twitter, which accounts 106 million users. But this is really where those Likes come into play.  It’s related information is very powerful for social media marketers, as 40% of total Facebook users follow a brand and more than half of them go further, purchasing the specific brand that they are following.

Bing’s instant personalization of Facebook is another important way in which Facebook user data is being put to work.  For Microsoft’s Bing search, Instant Personalization is comprised in a tab, and will also allow users to see trustful recommendations and other relevant information from the social network.

While Microsoft seals alliances with Facebook, Google is losing terrain in this field. However, Google is said to include the social search into the prospective developments, with initiatives like GoogleMe, Buzz and even Gmail.