Facebook’s Public Policy Director, Tim Sparapani, spoke with Kojo Nnamdi today in Washington, D.C. and stated that the company would soon release simple privacy settings in the coming weeks. In addition to defending the company’s position for providing an extensive number of privacy settings (a position which is legitimate), Sparapani stated that there will be “simplistic bands of privacy that [users can choose from” in the “next couple weeks”.
Given that the company has come under significant pressure over the past couple weeks over new programs, including the highly controversial “Instant Personalization” program, it’s not surprising to hear Sparapani announce these features. What’s even more significant is that from the sounds of things, these “simple” privacy settings sounds as though they’ve most likely been in the works for a short period of time.
What I’m still wondering is why Mark Zuckerberg or any other executive haven’t made a formal announcement stating that they are listening. While representatives of the company’s communications department have stated that the company is listening and will effectively do the right thing, no formal statement has come from Mark Zuckerberg.
Perhaps this is a test of Mark’s ability to delegate some of the communication to the general public, however I’m pretty sure that most people want to hear that the company is listening from Mark’s own mouth (or at least a blog post under his name). While we are still waiting to hear from the company about the potential for making changes to the “Instant Personalization” program, just knowing that they are looking to simplify the privacy settings further is definitely reassuring.
If you want to listen to the full interview with Tim Sparapani, you can listen to it here. Do you find Facebook’s announcement of impending changes reassuring? Do you think the changes will be sufficient?
![[Inside Social Apps 2012]](http://www.allfacebook.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/allfacebook2/images/ISA2012_336x100_F_RegisterNow.gif)
![[AllFacebook Stats: Facebook Analytics for Your Business]](http://www.allfacebook.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/allfacebook2/images/stpro_allfacebookstats.gif)
![[How can Facebook change your business?]](http://www.allfacebook.com/wordpress/wp-content/themes/allfacebook2/images/FMB_A_MAY2011_336x100_F.gif)
Finally! Just as I finished a blog post about the complexity of Facebook privacy settings they go and realise this.
IMO simple privacy settings have been long overdue. The vast majority of Facebook users are not even aware of the issues when they join their "silly little fan pages".
Great post
Comment by Phill Ohren — May 18, 2010 @ 5:34 pm
i dont think that it bothers people so much that everyone out here iso so bothered that others are seeing what they are thinking but its the deception that they are taking what we are saying and posting in somewhere else with out our authority, where some people can use our info. any way that they want. it's thats what i think facebook people are aftaid of is that the wrong people get our info and places our info, somewhere else and we not knowing what is being done with out our knowledge/ we just dont want the wrong people to get our info. and place it somewhere that we know nothing about. it sometimes makes us look like we are members of something that we are not. in return creating problems when posted somewhere that can do what ever they want with our infor with out our knoweledge that bothers us so much. every since some of the priviacey setting have changed. im not able to log into my account and i have to eventually have to change passwords before i log in each time which is getting a little agrevating because i have to change pass words everytime i log in. if i dont want people out there to know some of my private info. i dont have to poswt what i dont want other to know. it has sort of screwed up loging in on my part. i have followed what i was told to do to stop this matter and it dosent work. i do enjoy talking to people that i dont normally see or would see in manny years.i normally go to home page ad then to facebook and stay there until i decide to log out.
Comment by charisse — May 18, 2010 @ 6:11 pm
Nice. They should take it off completely like what happened to Bebo, what ever that is. By the way, another change that I like to see is the ability to turn off news feeds. Yes, even though its been 3.5 years, I still dont like them. I still think its annoying and stalking. And I want to see the regional networks back. It made the site useful and the privacy settings made it secure as well. I had it since I first used it back in Feb 2006. I like to see the old 1.0 site again, not the new and unimproved version that i dont like. (Only changes that I like over time is facebook connect, suggestions, and the fan pages)
Comment by Jason Trosvig — May 18, 2010 @ 6:35 pm
Simpler doesn't necessarily mean better. So instead of 50 steps and almost 200 different levers to manipulate, we'll get what? Even cutting that in half is still too complicated. And at the end of the day, no matter how simple the privacy settings are, it doesn't change the philosophy that Facebook seems to operate under – users' personal information is a commodity that they will sell to the highest bidder.
My opinion is that if privacy is what you want, you should find alternatives such as Whsper (www.whsper.com – check out their privacy policy – you OWN your personal information and have full control… now that is true privacy) or this new Diaspora thing that has been getting so much attention.
Comment by Jong — May 18, 2010 @ 6:58 pm
I don't find the privacy settings too confusing, but I want both simple default settings *AND* granular control. What I want most of all is the ability to hide the pages and the other forced public data. I also want to control applications access to my data (again simple defaults, granular control).
Comment by ts — May 18, 2010 @ 7:52 pm
This has me really concerned. I clicked on a photobucket link and the page revealed my Facebook ID in a comment box.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/nutsack/redrum...
How did photobucket get my Facebook profile info to address my Facebook name? Is Facebook putting out cookies for sites to read who you are? Can any site know your real identity when you browse by looking at your Facebook "tracks"?
Comment by L2 — May 19, 2010 @ 7:20 am
L2, it happens when you're logged in and go browsing around. Yeah, I guess a cookie. If you log off first, it doesn't happen.
Comment by Ally — May 19, 2010 @ 11:02 am
Yes, I deleted all facebook cookies, refreshed the photobucket page in another tab and my Facebook identity was no longer posted in a comment box of photobucket.
It is just more pooh in the privacy nightmare surrounding Facebook that most people just can't comprehend. The anti virus software needs to get up to speed with what sites like Facebook are collecting and sharing "behind the scenes" considering many people have easily recognizable real world identity through simple Facebook analysis of their profile, friends list etc.
Comment by L2 — May 19, 2010 @ 12:28 pm
I don’t give a hoot how simple or how complex or how colorful or how pretty their privacy settings are if they won’t stay the way I set them.
I will never trust Facebook again. Ever.
I really really really cannot express how much I despise the thought of logging into a social networking site only to make sure that my privacy settings are intact. It’s bloody absurd, and I won’t do it.
I removed everything from my profile except my friends, and I culled those.
On May 31st I will probably delete my account because even knowing who my friends are is probably too much information to trust the site with.
Most likely, I will use a status update to announce my permanent migration to Twitter, a site which is just as idiotic, but which at least has never actively lied to its users about their privacy.
Comment by Moris — May 20, 2010 @ 5:15 am
I agree with Moris. If Facebook thinks the problem is just the usability of the privacy settings then they're missing the point. You can't provide a service as "private", then make everyone's wall/profile public by default and then expect that people will trust you. Couple that with a UI that constantly changes at the whim of FB and allows very little customization for more advanced users and you have a lot of dissatisfied early adopters.
Also, I used to enjoy using Facebook but recently my home news feed is flooded with "Recent Activity" entries by me and everyone else. I get it. Facebook wants my friends to know every little thing that I'm doing. Hopefully they'll click on a link or make a comment and increase page views. But I don't want my friends to see what I'm commenting on or who's wall I, writing on. I don't want people to see who Im friending in realtime. Bring back more granular privacy controls for advanced users who will leverage it.
Comment by Ankush — May 24, 2010 @ 3:03 am
I was on facebook last nite and 2day I cannot get on 2 it I logged in but it isnt working please help me
Comment by chrissie ann hilton — July 17, 2011 @ 2:49 pm
awesome info, terrific information for myself..
I desire for every person can easily take this info
most persons use facebook but just a small number of persons right now depth feature of facebook.
Comment by gadget | technology — November 16, 2011 @ 8:59 am
wonderful info, good advice for me personally..
I wish for everybody can easily take this info
almost all persons use facebook but basically small amount of persons right now details feature of facebook.
Comment by gadget | technology — November 16, 2011 @ 8:59 am