Facebook today, in an anticipated move since the announcement made by Mark Zuckerberg to users on the site, has removed regional privacy settings.  According to executives, half of all users are currently affiliated with a regional network.  Due to the growing base for some of those networks, sharing information has grown to be a concern for some users and privacy advocates alike.

Greater Control

In response, regional networks will no longer be the basis for choosing privacy settings.  Facebook will be moving to a four-point model for allowing data to be shared across it’s network:

• Everyone – anyone on or off Facebook (global)
• Friends of Friends – anyone who is a friend of a friend
• Only Friends – confirmed friends
• Customize

In the future, a fifth option – Friends of Networks – will be available to anyone currently in a verified network, such as a group or company.

You can select privacy settings on-the-fly with status messages by selecting one of the four options in the bar under the text box – the lock icon.

Simplistic Privacy – a no-hassle way to set and update settings

Granular control is becoming complex.  Privacy settings page has been completely redesigned to allow it to be more intuitive and more consistent.  Similar settings are grouped together to allow for more control with less complex layout.

Upon log in, users will notice the new privacy announcement acknowledgement.  At that time, you can elect to continue with updating your privacy settings or skip the setup.  Users who choose to skip will not notice any changes in the functionality of the site, however after 24 hours, they must complete the update.  Before completing the update assistant, you can read more about the changes before continuing with an outline the 4 levels of privacy.

You will be taken to the privacy settings page.  To the right, you will see what information is publically available, based on the new settings.  Tagged photos and videos are also able to be set according to your new privacy selections.  The page will give you recommendations by Facebook as to what information you might want to restrict if you have not made a section to restrict the data in the past.  If you have chosen to keep certain information private, Facebook will keep these settings in place for you, if you neglect to update them based on the new choices.  You can even test your profile as other users, to ensure the information you want secure is safe from prying eyes.

On the confirmation page, you can review your choices based on the privacy settings you’ve chosen.

Connecting Easily – redefined user search based on privacy

Facebook staff acknowledges that people come their site to connect and people find friends get more value from the service.  However, the service grown so large that common name searches yield thousands of results, say, if you’re looking for the Anna Brown with whom you attended college.  In the future, users will be found with only publically viewable information they defined in their privacy settings.  You can still avoid being found in searches and friend request from strangers by marking information you mark as restricted.

The Corporate Communications Team was careful to mention that the new privacy settings will have no impact to advertising programs.  Special protections will be in place for children under the age of 18.  Minors can share information, however Facebook will restrict information to Friends, Friends of Friends and Verified Networks only.  Even if information is requested to be viewable by everyone, either on purpose or accidental, technically this will not be possible.

John Fox : Starting at the age of 6, John was always fascinated with computers. His first machine, an IBM PCjr, had him hooked and from that sparked a love affair with technology. Creating webpages at the age of 12 and the advent of social media that came about in his 20's, he started his own media company, New Media Designs, in 2009. Due to the success of IndyGeek.net, New Media Designs' flagship product, the NMD brand was stopped in April 2010 and IndyGeek became the name of the company founded by Fox, his wife Esther and Alex Conner.