As most people are aware, Facebook has been undergoing considerable changes over the past couple of weeks, ranging from alterations for its despised terms of use to a new screen layout that has some users grumbling. On Tuesday, the company rolled out yet another new feature, designed to let users share their Facebook information  with a wider audience.
When users click on their privacy settings for the first time since the change was implemented, they'll see a message that reads: "Now there is an 'Everyone' option for sharing. If you choose, you can now open your profile and share information with everyone on Facebook for broader distribution and better sharing. None of your settings have changed with this new option."
Overall, the change doesn't appear to be causing much concern, in large part because Facebook made sure to turn off "everyone" when it rolled the feature out.
Content Handled Separately
Each type of content -- Profile, Status Updates, Links, Wall Posts, Basic Info, Personal Info, Education Info, Work Info, Photos of You and Videos of You -- can be controlled separately. If the "everyone" option is selected, that specific content can be viewed by anyone who locates it in a search or who sees a reference to the content in another friend's Newsfeed.
In a post to the Facebook blog, engineer Mark Slee said the change in privacy settings was a response to user requests.
"We have largely focused on enabling you to give access to your profile to people you confirmed as friends and people in your networks," Slee wrote. "While these controls remain important and a priority for us, many of you have explained that you also want to open parts of your profile to a wider audience. Starting today, you can choose to make your profile and any of your content available to everyone on Facebook."
Letting Google In?
Some tech blogs have worried that the new privacy settings would allow not just Facebook users but any Google searcher to pull up public Facebook information. However, under the current design it will still be necessary to have a Facebook account to see posted information. Moreover, Slee wrote, there will still be restrictions on how much information can be seen if the Facebook user is a minor.
Interpret Vice President Michael Gartenberg sees the changes as a necessary part of Facebook's competition in a crowded social-networking economy.
"As Facebook evolves and grows," Gartenberg said, "it's adapting to user needs and the different ways users access the service. For example, the new home page view resembles Twitter's stream of activities. It's really about adapting to the changing way that people interact with each other online and the ability to share information about themselves. As always, users need to remember when they expose themselves fully on a social-network service, the whole world is watching."
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