If w could give a relationship status to Facebook and privacy, we would opt for ‘it’s complicated.’ Just about every day, Facebook is slammed with more user feedback that demands more privacy setting options, as well as more choice in determining what others can and cannot see.
So, Facebook is now coming out with new features so you can better understand who you are sharing information with, and how their sharing of your information could affect you. Some of the changes have been hitting newsfeeds this week, and others are going to be released in the next month, says Michael Novak, a product manager at Facebook.
Novak said recently that many people feel Facebook privacy options have changed too much in the recent past, and they were not well communicated. Now Facebook is thinking of privacy as not just settings or controls, but as a set of experiences that will help users feel more comfortable with sharing information.
Some highlights of what is coming to your Facebook page soon:
- More specific audience selectors: Right now you can choose to share a post with Public or Friends. Now Facebook is going to elaborate on what these terms mean. A new dropdown menu will contain short descriptions, such as Your Friends on Facebook, or Anyone on or Off Facebook.
- Share settings more visible: Facebook will make your sharing settings more visible to you. For example, on the Facebook app, there is an audience selector icon that is at the top of the mobile interface. This reminds users that they always have the option of selecting with whom to share a post.
- New privacy setting pop up: Facebook also is testing a new pop up notification that asks if you would like your posts to be shared publicly by default or not. This will be asked mostly to people who have not updated their privacy settings recently.
As we all know, Facebook is constantly making changes. It recently made changes that are having a negative effect on organic traffic for small businesses, which is causing some businesses to weigh if they should still market on Facebook at all. We’ll see how the latest changes to Facebook shake out in the next few weeks.