Facebook Launches New Privacy Settings

On August 25^th Facebook will roll out a new set of privacy settings that allow users to decide who can view items that they are tagged in by other people, such as wall posts, photos and videos. When previous changes have been made, the social network used by over 700 million people has come under fire for seeming to bury privacy settings under obscure menus.

What happens now, is that when someone is tagged in a posting – such as a photograph or video – they’re given the option to confirm or remove their identity before it appears on their profile. One of the hopeful outcomes of this is that it will eliminate the problem of malicious tagging, which is often used by ‘cyber bullies’ who add other people’s names to unpleasant images.

The BBC highlighted these other changes:

• In line controls – each item on a user’s wall has individual privacy options, such as public, friends and custom
• Tag takedown – the ability to remove tags of self, ask the person who tagged you to remove it, or block the tagger
• Universal tagging – users can tag anyone, not just Facebook friends. Other person can choose not to accept the tagged post on their profile
• Location tagging – geographic locations can be added in all versions of Facebook, not just mobile app
• Profile view – the option to see how others view your profile is added above the news feed

Facebook’s vice president of product, Chris Cox, has promised that there would be no unexpected changes to users’ existing privacy settings during the implementation of the new settings. These new improved security options, along with the Facebook Security Guide do indicate that recent criticism levelled at the social networking giant has been taken on board. Let’s hope it all works as planned.