If you’re a Facebook user, you’re likely to know about the shady privacy practices the social network giant has developed a strong reputation for. For many the poor handling of people’s privacy has caused many to see alternatives (see our 6 Alternatives to Facebook). Currently, however, no other social network stacks up to Facebook, which is a network many won’t leave simply due to the number of family or friends that have finally joined the social networking world.

Recently Facebook held several meetings regarding privacy concerns, finally admitting they had gone too far. They’re now in the process of rolling out new privacy features to simplify the overwhelmingly complex system previously used. The new controls may not be available in your account just yet, but they’re on their way.

This how-to will take a look at using Facebook’s new privacy controls and whether or not they’re enough to put Facebook back on an acceptable privacy path.

The Problem

Some would say Facebook has abused their privacy by making certain information public in which they might prefer otherwise. However, the issue really comes down to the difficulty of providing simplicity as well as deep enough control. It’s not an easy task for any company, especially one such as Facebook.

If you weren’t familiar with Facebook’s previous privacy controls, see the huge set of previous options.

Your New Options

Upon logging into Facebook this morning I was greeted by a “new controls” message as shown below. Facebook is rolling the new options out progressively so you may have to wait a bit longer if your account hasn’t been “upgraded” yet.

Improved Privacy Controls

Following the Learn more link takes you to Facebook’s new privacy guide, which explains their [new] privacy settings and additional controls in relative detail.

Privacy Details

Privacy Controls Details

You might also read what Mark Zuckerberg had to say about the new privacy changes via the Facebook blog. From the Privacy Guide page I’ll click Edit your privacy settings to get started, which will take you to your new privacy settings page.

Customizing Privacy Settings

Basic Directory Information

There has been a relatively significant amount of criticisms about basic information that Facebook automatically made public. This information helps others find you and people you know, but not everyone is happy about it. This information still can’t be entirely hidden but you can always choose to set it more restrictively, to Friends Only.

Basic Information

Sharing With Others

Rather than having a multitude of categories to fumble through and attempt setting each as desired, it’s all been simplified down to a few pre-defined options. Click the different privacy levels in the left column to quickly change all your settings.

Customizing Privacy Settings

If you need to refine your settings further, beyond what the simplistic settings allow, just click the Customize settings link under the list of content categories. As before, you’ll be able to set specific items as you desire, also being able to further customize each individual item even further.

Granular Settings

Applications

Facebook’s applications have always been a sore spot for me as I don’t like them. I was especially unhappy to hear about the amount of content in my account which app developers can access, assuming you’ve allowed their app. Customizing application privacy settings is certainly easier now, though applications obviously still have access to any of your public information.

Application Settings

I was able to easily remove 27 applications from my account, at least much easier and faster than before.

Block Lists

Block lists were already pretty simple, but have been kept as its own settings category.

Block Lists

Final Thoughts

Facebook’s new privacy settings are certainly much simpler and have had some great improvements, but there are still some deficiencies that haven’t been tackled quite yet. This is a great start for Facebook and hopefully shows they respect their user’s privacy and boundaries, though Facebook isn’t done yet; more improvements will be necessary before Facebook will be able to get out of the “privacy” hot-seat.

If the new settings aren’t available for you just yet, fret not; they’re being slowly released over the next couple weeks. If you have some thoughts on the Facebook has made, leave a comment and let us know. Thanks!

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