Facebook’s New Privacy Features: Easy or Complicated?
Posted by Nick O'Neill on March 19th, 2008 2:17 PMNaomi Gleit has publicly posted about the new privacy settings that launched this morning on Facebook. I briefly wrote about some of the changes taking place last night as well as this morning. I began modifying the settings this morning and there is no way that I’m going to get it done anytime soon. Given that I have almost 1,000 friends, it is difficult for me to categorize everybody accurately. But Vasanth who posted about the new settings on Alley Insider this afternoon has got it all wrong.
It took Vasanth 25 minutes this morning to categorize his 315 friends. Honestly 25 minutes isn’t that long for having all of your friends categorized in one location. Conversely, spending any substantial amount of time to organize your friends on Facebook can be annoying. Fortunately though, the average user has approximately 100 friends which means it should take about 8 minutes in Vasanth time to organize their friends.
I found the privacy settings refreshing and I had been predicting these changes since last year. These are necessary settings for any site that intents to keep their users active throughout the multiple phases of their life. Theoretically, individual photos and albums should have access control, but most users would probably find such settings excessively complicated.
While not completely accurate, Vasanth brought up a great point, “Even though we’ve taken the time to sort our pals into multiple lists, they groupings still aren’t granular enough. We’re happy to share some of our lives with almost all of our family, but not all of them.” I was thinking the exact same thing. My cousin should be able to view all of my photos but I probably wouldn’t want my mom seeing photos of me partying in college.
Have you found the new privacy settings easy or complicated? Will you take the time to organize your friends and give them different privacy settings?
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12 Responses to “Facebook’s New Privacy Features: Easy or Complicated?”
Hey Nick - I’m a big fan of these new privacy improvements. I love being able to instantly add new friends to specific lists, including the new Facebook Limited Profile list, and also being able to create new lists on the fly. This’ll save tons of time later!
Meantime, with 1250+ friends, I probably need to set aside about two hours to properly categorize everyone! Some friends will end up on multiple lists. I’m not sure that I’ll have anyone in the new Limited Profile list though - I figure if I don’t want someone seeing stuff on my profile, I’d just unfriend them.
Hey Nick - I’m a big fan of these new privacy improvements. I love being able to instantly add new friends to specific lists, including the new Facebook Limited Profile list, and also being able to create new lists on the fly. This’ll save tons of time later!
Meantime, with 1250+ friends, I probably need to set aside about two hours to properly categorize everyone! Some friends will end up on multiple lists. I’m not sure that I’ll have anyone in the new Limited Profile list though - I figure if I don’t want someone seeing stuff on my profile, I’d just unfriend them.
I had my privacy settings set so that my friends and people from my college network could view my profile. Under the old system, when someone from my regional network searched for my name they could still click on my profile and see some of my information, including the applications. Now when someone from my regional network searches for me they can’t click on my profile at all. Also, I have my status update set to all my networks and friends, but since people in my regional network can’t click on my profile anymore, I’m not sure how they would see it.
I had my privacy settings set so that my friends and people from my college network could view my profile. Under the old system, when someone from my regional network searched for my name they could still click on my profile and see some of my information, including the applications. Now when someone from my regional network searches for me they can’t click on my profile at all. Also, I have my status update set to all my networks and friends, but since people in my regional network can’t click on my profile anymore, I’m not sure how they would see it.
Honestly, it’s a complicated mess. I think the Limited Profile feature from before was sufficient; either people saw what you had available, or you hid it. Providing all of these new options just makes it more difficult to navigate.
Honestly, it’s a complicated mess. I think the Limited Profile feature from before was sufficient; either people saw what you had available, or you hid it. Providing all of these new options just makes it more difficult to navigate.
I think they’re excellent! It takes a little bit of thought but allows you so much greater control over your fb experience now. It also integrates very well with the new friends lists (really like the way you can create different lists and invite them to events or share content with them so easily).
Very good move Facebook, well done!
I think they’re excellent! It takes a little bit of thought but allows you so much greater control over your fb experience now. It also integrates very well with the new friends lists (really like the way you can create different lists and invite them to events or share content with them so easily).
Very good move Facebook, well done!
It’s annoying that you can no longer hide the mini-feed in your limited profile. Why would they remove this option? I read their explanation, but come on…surely it’s possible somehow.
If they really wanted to allow an option to hide the mini-feed in limited profile, they could - it was one of the most important aspects of the limited profile…
It’s annoying that you can no longer hide the mini-feed in your limited profile. Why would they remove this option? I read their explanation, but come on…surely it’s possible somehow.
If they really wanted to allow an option to hide the mini-feed in limited profile, they could - it was one of the most important aspects of the limited profile…
I like the new settings but I am a little confused too. I spent some time sorting my friends into lists some months ago, and I have some folk who are in 2 lists . How does the privacy settings affect these guys … Does it set the most or the least restrictive setting???
I like the flexibility, but I’d does very quickly become confusing.
I like the new settings but I am a little confused too. I spent some time sorting my friends into lists some months ago, and I have some folk who are in 2 lists . How does the privacy settings affect these guys … Does it set the most or the least restrictive setting???
I like the flexibility, but I’d does very quickly become confusing.
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