How To Use Facebook’s New Privacy Transition Tool

-Privacy Transition Icon- This morning Facebook posted about the new privacy settings that are rolling out today. Included in their post was a video about how to use the new Facebook Privacy Transition Tool. I’ve embedded a copy of the new transition tool video below. It will walk you through the entire process of moving over to the new privacy settings. You should be prompted about the new privacy settings at some point today.

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906856 Comments2009-12-09+17%3A17%3A56Nick+O%27Neill »

In the end, I found there was nothing I adjusted based on the new privacy setting – perhaps because my privacy settings were already so intricate anyway…

I AM excited for the ability to control who sees each piece of content I create although I think this functionality will be much more powerful once it's integrated into Facebook's mobile application.

Comment by Julie Minevich — December 9, 2009 @ 8:29 am
Unfortunately the new settings do not include an important privacy option that existed previously: the possibility to hide our own friends list to some people or lists! I find it a big violation of my own privacy: I chose to hide my friends list from some groups of people who could just access the mutual friends, now they can see my whole list.

Comment by Facebook User — December 9, 2009 @ 9:00 am
I think I am missing something with these new settings. I set everything to my old setting, but now certain aspects of my wall and my list of pages I am a fan of can be seen by everyone (not just friends). I cannot find any info on how to change this back so I can hide the entire wall and profile.

Comment by facebook user — December 9, 2009 @ 9:27 am
Lame.. Old Setings – What Old settings? Why are they so desperate to have our stuff going public?

Comment by Sardar Mohkim Khan — December 9, 2009 @ 9:44 am
The video is not visible…it says it may be because it has been removed from Facebook, or because of privacy settings!

Comment by Peter Cattell — December 9, 2009 @ 9:49 am
Okay, so with the Publisher — how can I publish content to "Everyone", except certain people? The Publisher now requires that, if I want to customize my post, I can only choose up to "Friends of Friends". But I want to publish to "Everyone", except one or two people… and now I can't!

Comment by Facebook User — December 9, 2009 @ 1:23 pm
My profile pic is no longer on the public search page, but on my profile page.

Comment by Clay Watts — December 9, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
You know, I was looking forward to the new wall post security but these other changes are total garbage. I started using Facebook because I was able to control who could see my business [especially my friends list, as I was picked on for not having 408343 friends on Myspace (sorry, I only like adding people I care about)] and now my pages and friends list are available to everyone? I really don't appreciate that and it needs to be addressed ASAP. I don't usually get upset with these changes but this is terrible. This is less control over my content.

@Facebook User – 5:23pm: When you go to change the security setting for the publisher, there is a customize option. Click that and you can pick and choose who you want to see the content.

Comment by Allyson — December 9, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
Ah, nevermind, I see that the “pages” portion is now part of the profile available for everyone to see.

Comment by facebook user — December 9, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
I cant hide my friends and cant hide the pages I am fan of…..WE NEED PRIVACY!!!!!!

I am certainly disliking these new settings

Comment by S Zee — December 9, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
I would also like to be able to hide my friend list again! And my profile picture, apps, pages, etc. I want EVERYTHING hidden from people who are not my friends. Major privacy violations, Facebook! Thanks for nothing!

Comment by Facebook User — December 9, 2009 @ 2:02 pm
The loss of hiding friend list feature really sucks. Makes zero sense when this roll-out is all about giving a greater range of control over user privacy. Any work-around? Thanks

Comment by pac — December 9, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
There are 2 main issues:

1) The inability to hide our friend lists

2) Other people can view our profile pictures…ALL of them, even if thyey're not friends with us.

Comment by Annoyed — December 9, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
On this website, the writer says there IS a way to hide friends lists… but I still can't find it!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/09/facebook...

anyone know how?

Comment by mlo — December 9, 2009 @ 6:02 pm
Ah ha! I think I figured out how to hide your friends list from the public search… it's somewhat flawed, but it seems to work. In order to hide them from your public search, you have to go to your profile page, "edit" your friends list and uncheck "Show my friends on my profile" box. Your friends list wont be available to actual friends anymore but I think it hides it from the public

Comment by mlo — December 9, 2009 @ 6:11 pm
wait ok so how can i

- hide my friends

- hide my profile pic

- hide my pages

?? this is silly. it shows everything im a fan of on my search listing!

Comment by alicia — December 9, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
a lot of dumb people use facebook and dont know how to make to change their privacy settings- or just dont care

Comment by oy vey — December 10, 2009 @ 12:26 am
It is an absolute violation of everyones privacy for people to not be able to keep their friends list private! End of story! I, along with many others, are thinking about deleting our Facebook profiles tonight because we believe this places us in a potentially serious position. For some people, this change will simply be an inconvenience. For others – say perhaps those with abusive ex-spouses for example – it means that people can use friends lists to track people they were previously unable to.

There are SO MANY REASONS why an individual may wish to keep this aspect of their lives private.

DISGUSTING FACEBOOK! DO SOMETHING URGENTLY OR YOU WILL LOSE PEOPLE. STOP FORCING US TO GO PUBLIC WITH OUR PERSONAL INFORMATION!

Thanks for nothing Facebook!

Comment by Elizabeth — December 10, 2009 @ 1:08 am
These new settings are total crap!

Can anybody tell me, how to hide my profile pic for users, who are not on my friends list?

I know that I can hide it somewhere since I saw on other profiles that it works. But how?

Comment by rudy — December 10, 2009 @ 1:12 am
I do not want to be found in a search. I do not want to be added by anyone as a friend, I don't care if we have mutual friends. I do not want my profile picture visible to people other than my friends. I do not want people other than my friends to see what city and state I currently live in. I do not want people to see what college I went to IE what networks I am apart of. This whole privacy thing is a huge step backwards and I will give them one week to address our concerns and after that I am deleting my account

Comment by Angry — December 10, 2009 @ 5:01 am
Thanks for nothing!!! You have made my information MORE PUBLIC, not as private as before!!! Now my abusive ex can see my Friends List and see my children and our profile photos, and we want nothing to do with him!!! He can see who my friends are, scout the internet to find them, and contact them to try to find me to send me the hospital again!! Why have you literally endangered us???!!! Change it back to the way it was before!!!!

Comment by Horrified — December 10, 2009 @ 5:22 am
I want the option to choose who ***can*** OR ***cannot*** see my List of Friends. Please bring this privacy feature back!

If Facebook decides not to bring this back, I am planning to deactivate and close my account.

Comment by PurpleOyster — December 10, 2009 @ 5:58 am
I haven't checked my account yet, but I'm not impressed by that decision. Even if it's a networking, socialising type of thing I still don't want the whole world to see what is going in my life. I'll check all that tonight, but after what I read there and there, I'm not going to bother, I'll close my account (if I can) and I'll fnd some alternative ways to keep on touch with people.

Comment by Kaiser Sauzee — December 10, 2009 @ 7:35 am
yup…the new setting is so suck…. We need Privacy like before.

Comment by Rani Nguyen — December 10, 2009 @ 8:11 am
you can hide your friends list. just go to your profile page and scroll down to where your friends are, hover the mouse over the pencil and uncheck the box "show my friends on my profile".

Comment by Torres — December 10, 2009 @ 8:21 am
Anyone have any idea where the previous options from the Privacy>Wall page has gone? Such options included the ability to turn on or off: 'Removed profile information,' 'Posted to Discussion Board,' etc.

At the moment posting to a discussion board is not showing up on your wall and there's no way to enable this anymore, unless I'm wrong. Can anyone vouch for this ?

Comment by Facebook User — December 10, 2009 @ 10:00 am
I'm missing the ability to change my privacy for each thing I post. I do not have the lock next to the share button. Is this something that comes with the transition tool? I have not gotten the transition popup yet, but do have the new options under Privacy.

Comment by Facebook User — December 10, 2009 @ 10:51 am
I also wan to hide my friends list … it is invading our privacy now … so dont tell us u guys are improving the privacy settings so that we can have more privacy to our profile but it is not happening~ come on Facebook developers … GET ALIVE man …

Comment by Derek — December 10, 2009 @ 10:15 am
How stupid can Facebook be ?? I have hidden myself from all searches but people are still able to go into a friend of mines Friends list and find me that way. Am I supposed to ask all my friends to hide their friends listings just so I don't show on any of them.

Also I shall be deleting all my fan pages as I never wanted them to be on public view either and such a shame I now have to hide my friends from other friends just so I can keep my privacy from non-friends

Get a grip Facebook!

Comment by Facebook User — December 10, 2009 @ 5:17 pm
My Publisher Control isn't showing up – where you should now be able to post each status update and etc to precisely who you want.

I got the Transition Tool popup, but said "skip for now" on it. And then later went into the privacy setting manually and made some changes. But I don't have that blue lock next to the Share button. Arrrgh. I made some new friends lists just for this, but now I can't use them when I post my super cool status updates that shouldn't go to all my fb friends.

Anyone know how to get the blue lock to show up?

Comment by michaelant — December 10, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
I think all face book users will be satisfied now.This is a great system to hide your profile from public search and keep away your friend list from the public view.

Comment by Stefi Windsor — December 10, 2009 @ 9:00 pm
they satisfied now

Comment by crunchitech — December 11, 2009 @ 8:54 am
they should satisfied now

Comment by crunchitech — December 11, 2009 @ 8:55 am
Yes, how do you get back the Transition Tool popup if you said "skip for now"? I've logged out, etc.

Comment by Facebook user — December 11, 2009 @ 9:10 am
okay we can hide our friends list but FOR GOD'S SAKE , i want to hide my pages and make my profile invicible

Comment by Laila — December 11, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
okay we can hide our friends list but FOR GOD'S SAKE , i want to hide my pages and make my profile invicible

Comment by Facebook User — December 11, 2009 @ 12:18 pm
This is annoying. I CANNOT HIDE MY FRIENDS LIST. WHAT IS GOING ON. How private are these privacy settings? It's a big lie, I knew it was and I dont trust it one bit.

Comment by fb user — December 11, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
Apparently facebook changed the friends list privacey since these posts started yesterday..at least that is what the last few posts lead me to believe…so can someone please tell me how to make my friends list PRIVATE to non friends/searchers but still on my page>>????!!!

Comment by Anonymous — December 11, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
U can hide your friend list , go with me step by step ..

on you profile page

1.your ( Friends box )

2.click on the pencil on the right of the box

3. UnCheck "Show my friends on my profile" … & that's it ,

your friend list is now unavailable 4 everyone

Comment by Someone — December 12, 2009 @ 2:49 am
how do i hide my profile pic from everyone?? its such a violation for everyone to be able to see it!!!

Comment by facebook user — December 14, 2009 @ 7:30 am
What if you want your friends to see your friends?

Also, what if you want your friends to see all your mutual friends? That doesn’t seem to be an option either.

Comment by Facebook user — December 14, 2009 @ 10:32 am
When I go to Friends and click on the pencil it does not give me a box that I can uncheck which says show my friends on my profile. Can anyone help. I want to hide my friends list from everyone. HELP. I hate these new settings…. Everything was fine before!!!!!

Comment by Robert Haaga — December 18, 2009 @ 8:22 pm
please help me!!!!

i want to hide my friend list!!

Comment by ali — December 20, 2009 @ 12:29 pm
this is a total breach of peoples privacy and personal lives and info,i had friends that i didnt want certain other friends to see now now im getting the awkwardness of explaining myself how i no them ect ect,the hide friends list is now not an option now!! which sucks and facebook need to sort it out.

Comment by jay — December 25, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
Why is my dam friends list visable to all? I went on my profile page and clicked on the pencil. Only option there is:

(checkbox here) Show Friend List to everyone

Note: Your Friend List is always visible to you and your friends

This is UNCHECKED but it still shows to all! Am I missing something?

Comment by yo — December 30, 2009 @ 10:48 am
I deactivated my Facebook account today. Thank you Facebook for violating our privacy rights and not allowing us to control who can view our friend lists!!!

Comment by Amy — January 5, 2010 @ 3:53 am
New settings are really bad, I have less privacy now.

Before nobody I didn't allowed could see my page, now Everyone can see my name, profile pic and pages I'm fan of.

Also before nobody could see my friends, now strangers can see mutual friends.

And my friends can see all my friends. I don't like this.

Before nobody could see on my wall, what I did or ported on my friends, now I have to erase it manually if I don't want that info.

I can't control the info my friends see on my news feed. Now if I comment on something my mom can see that. GRRRRRRRRR.

Anyway I could go on and on with all that's wrong with the new settings. but I only getting aggravated

Comment by Ed — January 6, 2010 @ 1:01 am
Facebook Help,

please set the preious privacy settings. it was easier for us. the people who are not added in my friend list they find me & give me request, mails & also copy my friend list which i really don't want. please help me. give me any suggestion to hide my account from the unknown people.

I AM BEGGING YOU FACEBOOK HELP TEAM

Comment by Dipannita — January 12, 2010 @ 9:03 am
I am very disappointed that I can no longer prevent my activity on Facebook from automatically being posted on my wall. It now shows who I have become friends with, what posts I've made on discussion boards and comments I have left on other friends' walls, pictures or posts – even though I had previously disabled all of these pots from being published.

I consider this automated posting of my website activity a complete violation of my privacy! We should have complete control over WHAT posts to our own walls, especially where our activity on the site is concerned. People do not need to know every time I add a friend, post to a discussion board or comment on an image! This lack of control over a basic privacy feature HAS to be corrected ASAP!!

Comment by Andrea — January 27, 2010 @ 10:23 am
how can i hide my friend list box from my own friends.

Comment by ANDREA TAN — February 18, 2010 @ 9:17 am
use friendster instead…morons

Comment by anonymouse :D — February 20, 2010 @ 10:42 am
How do I get back the Transition Tool popup if I clicked "skip for now"?!

Comment by M. — May 30, 2010 @ 5:33 am
Idk how to hide all my information from unknown people.. Wat should I do ?????

Comment by nini143 — September 2, 2010 @ 11:11 am
Hey what's the problem with friend list? You can still hide your friend list by simply clicking 'privacy setting' and then under 'connecting on facebook' click 'view settings' and scroll down then u'll see 'see your friend list' . Edit it. Done!

Comment by qwerty — March 15, 2011 @ 4:44 am
Facebook new settings is all F**k dont know why Mark is doing so..!!

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