In December when Facebook launched its friend lists feature, we theorized that it was a necessary first step that the network would need to take to attract the business social networking crowd. We also noted, however, that the the friend lists feature had no teeth without being tied to privacy controls. Today, Facebook announced that it would soon be updating privacy controls to make use of the friend lists feature, among other enhancements.
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). So, for example, you could make sure that your boss never sees your party photos or that only your close friends have access to your cell phone number.
While going after the business networking crowd has never been an objective expressed overtly by the company, it does make sense. As Facebook's core early audience -- college students -- grows up, they'll need a more secure environment to network with colleagues and friends. Facebook is slowly positioning itself to be a place where both casual and business networking can take place at the same time, which means that rather than maintaining two accounts -- one at Facebook and one at LinkedIn or Xing -- users could stay at Facebook and use the tools they grew accustomed to in college.
The new privacy controls will reportedly be integrated with most features on the site, but we wonder if they'll extend to Beacon messages...
Facebook further announced a new chat feature. The chat will be one-to-one, IM-style, and integrated with the inbox (users set "Away" will get messages via the inbox rather than the chat app). The chat application is proprietary -- meaning you won't be able to connect to it via third party clients just yet -- and it won't have API access. Future Jabber integration is a possibility, according to reports. The chat client will be included in the new privacy controls, according to VentureBeat, so you should theoretically be able to restrict who can chat with you based on lists.
Also today, new numbers from comScore indicate that while Facebook still trails MySpace by a hefty margin in the US, globally, the networks are neck-and-neck. In January, Facebook served 100.7 million uniques worldwide, while MySpace received 109.3 million visits. That makes Facebook just 8% smaller in terms of unique visitors worldwide. Facebook is already serving more visitors daily on average than MySpace -- it became the leader in that category in November of last year.
Image from Facebook via CNET.
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Finally more control... thanks for info
Posted by: kredyt | March 18, 2008 2:12 PMThese new privacy controls are huge. Kudos to Facebook for once again leading the way on privacy in online social networking.
I'm intrigued by the chat app... still not sure what I think of it. On the one hand, I can see it helping Facebook friends connect more with each other a personal level, since it imitates the ambience of being in a room full of friends... on the other hand, I use IM far less nowadays than I used to, and could see chat on Facebook get in the way more than helping, especially with no away feature.
I just don't know. I figure Facebook has a strategy and knows what they're doing here, but I must admit I was surprised to here this was their latest big feature change.
Posted by: theharmonyguy | March 18, 2008 2:25 PMIf you decompile the SWF for the Google chat gadget - you'll see all kinds of facebook references in there - like "isFacebookAccount".
I was looking for other things, so I didn't completely unwind it. Thought it was odd at the time (1.5 months ago).
-jf
Posted by: Johnny Fry | March 18, 2008 9:45 PMSounds confusing... So now I have to manage two walls? (Did my kid just leave a message on my professional wall or my social wall?... Who just poked me, a friend or a colleague?).
Facebook is for socializing and always will be. It's silly for Facebook to try and morph into something they are not.
My advice... keep those worlds separate. Is it worth risking your corporate brand for convenience? Leave business networking to Xing and Fast Pitch! (www.fastpitchnetworking.com).
Posted by: David S. | March 19, 2008 8:46 AMI agree with David about keping the worlds separate - ther are much better tools for business networking than Facebook. He menttions 2, there is also LinkedIn of course, all we'll be launching WeCanDo.BIZ next month.
Ian Hendry
Posted by: Ian Hendry | March 19, 2008 9:23 AMwww.wecando.biz
The privacy issue is becoming really interesting. Here is a Q&A I just did with Clint Boulton from eWeek about social networks & privacy.
Posted by: Ben | March 28, 2008 8:41 AMhttp://racetalkblog.com/?p=125
Posted by: Ben | March 28, 2008 8:48 AM