search technology reviews, news, features, group tests
Popular Searches:   video , dell , dvd
 |  Register
 |  Newsletters  | 
Sitemap  |  RSS
RSS
Monday November 23, 2009 5:53 AM AEST
Skip Navigation LinksPC Authority > News > Facebook adds extra privacy controls
Facebook adds extra privacy controls
NEWS

Facebook adds extra privacy controls

by Guy Dixon  on Mar 20, 2008
Tighter controls on whio can see your photo albums and phone numbers, plus new "friends-of-friends" feature..
Facebook is to introduce new controls allowing users to create privacy distinctions between friends, family and colleagues.

The features will give users more control over who sees information stored on their profile pages, choosing which friends can view photo albums, mobile phone number or email address.

Facebook has faced criticism for selling user data but backed down on the idea last year.

Users will also be able to cast their social networking efforts still further with the introduction of a 'friends-of-friends' feature that will allow them to share information about themselves with a wider group of people.

Matt Cohler, vice president of product management at Facebook, claimed that the social networking site is looking to evolve beyond the simple privacy controls designed for its original homogenous college-age user base.

"We have a lot more users, a lot more types of users, a lot more relationships, and a lot more types of relationships," he said.

Boasting 67 million users, Facebook has surged fivefold in the past 18 months, with two-thirds of its users now located outside the US.

This compares to around one in 10 a year and a half ago, when the majority of users were based in the US and of student age.

However, only one in four of the site's current membership has elected to use Facebook's existing personal information settings, the company said in a statement.

Cohler also confirmed that Facebook will launch a web-based chat application in the coming weeks, which would archive conversations for 90 days.

On the question of compatibility with other chat clients, Cohler hinted that Facebook will take an open stance.

"We want to be able to extend Facebook into as much of your use of the web as possible," he said. "Our vision is not to make Facebook an island."

Copyright © 2009 v3.co.uk
Email a Friend Email this
Print Page Print this
Tweet This Tweet this
Feedback Send us your tips


Ads by Google

Comments

Be the first to comment on this article.
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Login or register to submit a comment.
 

Top Stories

Box battle: Telstra takes on TiVo and Foxtel with T-Box trial in Melbourne
It's not quite Foxtel IQ and it's isn't TiVo either. The T-Box lets Telstra users watch movies and TV from the Bigpond site, as well as record and watch digital TV
 
5 More Free Linux Apps You Can't Do Without
More digital Swiss Army knife software, including Linux utilities and tools that are so useful you won't know how you ever did without them
 
Microsoft delivers Office 2010 public beta
Vendor details editions for Office 2010 along with application virtualisation for testing.
 


 
Intel
 
 
LogMeIn
 
 
Amazing Dell Coupons now available
 
Discover Apple