Facebook Releases New Privacy Control Information
May 26th, 2010
Facebook announced changes today to the way users can control access to information they have posted on the site.
I have not, yet, had time to review all the press and new controls fully, but here is the rundown:
Facebook has established one control mechanism to set who can see the content you post on the site. This does NOT replace the granular controls that currently exist, you can still get at them and control your account that way if you desire. The new controls are meant to simplify the granular process. With this, it should be easier to set who can see all your content with one fell swoop.
In addition, Facebook is no longer requiring some information to be public. You will now be able to decide who can see your friends list and pages list.
As far as games, third-party sites, and instant personalization goes (these are the areas where Facebook took the most heat for privacy issues), you can now switch off instant personalization with one click. That means that even if some of your data is open to everyone, you can still block it from being used for instant personalization. Facebook has also added a kill switch for games and applications.
The explanation for all of these new privacy changes can be found on Facebook’s site on a page called Controlling How You Share.
It is not clear when these new privacy controls will roll out for everyone, in Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post today, he says, “We’ll be rolling out these changes to all of you over the next few weeks.”
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