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"Facebook still has a long way to go when it comes to instilling trust in consumers, according to a new study that shows only 26% believe storefronts on the social network are safe against fraud.\nThe online survey, conducted by ThreatMetrix and The Ponemon Institute of a pool of 800 consumers this fall, revealed that 53% of consumers do not believe Facebook storefronts are committed to protecting them against fraudsters. Another 23% were unsure.\nAlisdair Faulkner, chief products officer of ThreatMatrix, told Mashable the data reveal that \"people trust the [Facebook] brand,\" but not to the extent that they believe they or their friends are immune from phishing attacks and spam. Faulkner cited a few recent instances of security breaches on the network including the September \"Lady Gaga is Dead\" virus that enticed users with a link to a fake BBC story on that topic and a November spam attack on the network.  \nFaulkner says that Facebook needs to respond quicker to such attacks to earn consumers' trust. \"It takes them hours,\" he says, \"and that's a lifetime on the web.\" Consumers surveyed viewed Facebook's archenemy, Google, in a better light. More than half said they believed Google was more effective than Facebook in keeping them safe from online criminals. \nFacebook reps could not be reached for comment on the report.\nThe study comes as so-called \"F-Commerce\" \u2014 transactions on Facebook \u2014 has yet to take hold with a majority of consumers. Only 32% of consumers surveyed said they have browsed a company\u2019s Facebook page and then bought something on the company\u2019s website. Only one in five said  that they've purchased something directly within a Facebook storefront.\nWhat do you think? Do you trust Facebook storefronts? Sound off in the comments.\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, malerapaso"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/12/23/acebook-storefronts-fraud-study/>