Comments for New Facebook Privacy Options Go Live - May Overwhelm Users

New Facebook Privacy Options Go Live - May Overwhelm Users

2008-03-20T02:06:44Z

We've just spotted the new Facebook privacy options in the wild. As we wrote earlier this week, "the new privacy features will increase the granular control that Facebook has been known for. Users will now have the option of showing private information, including photos, to only specific friends (entered one at a time or by utilizing a pre-made list), or to "friends of friends" (i.e., your friends and the people they are friends with -- not unlike how LinkedIn works)." Below are a couple of screenshots...

]]> We have to question though: are all these new privacy options going to overwhelm everyday users? Who needs so many controls? Perhaps it is a case of Facebook opting for Microsoft-style complex design over Apple's simplicity! We'd be interested in your thoughts in the comments.

Comment from Jason on 2008-03-19

2008-03-20T04:56:50Z

They may be complex, but no one is making you use them. This way they can make most people happy.

Comment from Nathan Snell on 2008-03-19

2008-03-20T05:02:56Z

I would wager that this is in part a move to appeal to those professionals who have begun to use Facebook as a networking tool (or have been using it as one) but wanted to have better control over who sees their personal life (friends, family, etc) and who doesn't (co-workers, bosses, clients, etc).

Comment from Lore on 2008-03-20

2008-03-20T10:57:27Z

I found it very convenient. For example, my female friends love to send me flowers, cards, etc. On the other hand, my male friends favor more tecnology related stuff. To the eyes of my friends my profile looks now shorter, less cluttered with applications that really matter to them. I really like this new option.

Comment from theharmonyguy on 2008-03-20

2008-03-20T13:00:00Z

I personally would say this is a great move on Facebook's part. Privacy and security are big concerns these days, not only for professionals keeping their business contacts separate but for teenagers and families. Facebook now offers many levels of privacy control, but I find them all intuitive and easy to navigate. I especially like their redesign of the main privacy page, with just four main options.

I do know people who have looked for this kind of granularity in their Facebook privacy settings, btw, and I think Facebook has put together a good interface for them. And no other social networking site offers this kind of granularity.

Comment from Dave on 2008-03-20

2008-03-20T15:51:04Z

It's simple really and you only have to use what you want.

The fact that I can set groups up with different privacy setting means I can finally allow by business contacts accross with out muddying with my friends (which would have made me look less professional).

Comment from Alex Moore on 2008-03-20

2008-03-20T16:03:23Z

My bet is that people will use these new privacy settings in growing numbers over the months and years to come as a shift in quality rather than quantity of friends starts to matter more.

Best,

Alex

Comment from Ian Kennedy on 2008-03-20

2008-03-21T05:06:32Z

The phrase "reverse privacy shock" keeps running through my mind.

This is what happens when either one of your friends moves from one group to another and sees something they shouldn't have (remember George Costanza's "world's collide" theory) or one item that was supposed to have been hidden from view leaks out into the open.

It's hard enough keeping track of relationships beyond our Dunbar number - add groups and layers of privacy and you've got one tremendous UI challenge.

Props to Facebook if they get it right but like truth, your online life is simpler if there's only one version of it.

Comment from sam on 2008-03-22

2008-03-22T14:48:07Z

This is really awful! I had a bunch of people on my friends list on limited profile so that they couldn't see all my stuff. Now the new privacy rule has come in it has deleted my limited profile so that all those people can see anything they want to! I now have to go through the process of limiting them again, but this time it will be much much much much more time consuming as you have to pick a seperate list for each tiny little thing! Facebook is pretending to give you more control over your privacy, when I actual fact they know that no-one will have time to go through the lengthy process, so this is in effect giving most people a lot less privacy! I'm very disapointed!

Comment from Wes on 2008-03-28

2008-03-29T04:44:19Z

The change is actually a step back in terms of privacy, depending on how it is used. According to Facebook Support, it is no longer possible to limit the visibility of a profile to non-friends, since only friends can be added to friend lists. Therefore, if a profile is visible to one or more networks, there is no way to prevent select people in that network from viewing parts of the profile without befriending them. Counter-intuitive, no?

Comment from ann on 2008-04-03

2008-04-03T15:03:49Z

aaargh... where do i edit my limited profile options? anyone?