erm, IMHO, it would be easier to mine your data via social networking sites like fb/linkedin/g+/twitter/flickr etc. If you are really worried about data mining, you shouldn't be using any of the public instant messaging services because afaik not many of them are designed to be 100% secure. If security of your data is really a concern to you, do not publish anything over the internet ever.

Now, speaking as a web developer myself here, making end users life easier by allowing options is a ridiculous costly decision. You have no idea how much time it involves in order to get a task that looks trivial done. I am sure the same thing can be applied in mobile development. If you are interested to know, ask @tgalal, @knobtviker, and @cepiperez for their hourly rate, and then you pay them to work on the feature you wanted so badly. Then you decide whether it is a worthwhile investment.