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- Understanding Your Privacy Controls on Facebook
  by Ana Muller on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 2:32pm
  After yesterday's announcement of simplified privacy controls, we wanted to share more details about what you can expect and the updated resources we've launched to help you understand privacy on Facebook.
  
  Here's a recap of some of the ways we've simplified the settings:
  ...
  Reduced the number of settings required to make all information private from nearly 50 to less than 15.
  
  Introduced presets that cover 18 individual settings for sharing with one single control—two clicks to control what had been more than 100 different options.
  
  Consolidated 10 settings on three separate pages into seven settings on one page.
  
  Reduced the number of separate pages in the privacy settings from 13 to eight.
  
  The new controls are launching gradually, and many of you may not see them on your privacy settings page yet. Launching something to hundreds of millions of people around the world is a complex task and we want to make sure we do it right. But the redesigned privacy settings page is on its way, and we're working hard to make sure they'll be available to everyone within the next week.
  
  Remember, your privacy settings themselves have not changed. We're just excited to offer new ways for you to control your information.
  
  We want to make sure you know when the new controls are available to you, so once they are, you'll be notified with an announcement on your homepage similar to this one:
  
  Facebook is all about sharing, and our privacy controls are built around allowing you to control how you share on Facebook. After a series of recent product launches, we heard from many of you that our controls had become too complicated.
  
  We agreed and have revamped the privacy settings, starting with a new main page where, in a couple clicks, you can set all of the content you share to everyone, friends of your friends or just your friends. This new single setting, though, is just one of the new ways to control what you share.
  
  A new privacy guide
  
  The announcement on your homepage links to a new comprehensive privacy guide to help you learn more details about these new controls. You can always find the privacy guide by clicking the "Privacy" link that appears at the bottom of every page on Facebook.
  
  Our new privacy guide further details the four key sections of the new privacy settings page:
  
  One simple control for sharing: Control who can see all the content you post on a day-to-day basis, such as status updates, photos and videos, as well as content others share about you. In this single control, you can set content to everyone, friends of friends or friends only. You can keep our recommended settings, or customize the settings if you prefer more granular controls for different types of content.
  
  Basic directory information: We've reduced the amount of information that must be visible. Certain information is visible to everyone because it's essential to helping people find and connect with you on Facebook: your name, profile picture, gender and networks. We suggest setting other basic information like hometown and interests open to everyone so you can connect with friends and people who share things in common with you. All the settings in this section, such as your friend list and the Pages you've connected to, have full privacy controls.
  
  Applications and websites: This section controls what information is shared with websites and applications, including search engines. You can view your applications, remove any you don't want to use, or turn off platform completely. This section also includes the settings for Instant Personalization on our three partner sites.
  
  Block lists: This section lets you block people from interacting with you or seeing your information on Facebook. It also offers a way for you to block applications.
  
  Most importantly, when the new privacy settings page is live for you, we hope you'll play around with the settings and find the ones that are right for you.
  
  As always, we'd love to know what you think. Share your feedback at www.facebook.com/privacyfeedback, and we'll be following up with answers to some of your common questions in future posts.
  
  Ana, a Facebook product marketing manager, is heading to her college reunion this weekend.
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- Updates on Your New Privacy Tools
  by Ana Muller on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 3:19pm
  UPDATE on Thursday, Dec. 10: In response to your feedback, we've improved the Friend List visibility option described below. Now when you uncheck the "Show my friends on my profile" option in the Friends box on your profile, your Friend List won't appear on your profile regardless of whether people are viewing it while logged into Facebook or logged out. This information is still publicly available, however, and can be accessed by applications. Thanks again for your comments and suggestions.
  
  We've also posted a third tutorial about the new... privacy controls here. This video explains how to use the privacy control in the Publisher, the box where you publish status content such as updates, photos, videos and links.
  
  Thank you for all of your feedback so far on the new privacy tools we began rolling out today. We'll be providing updates and listing the most common questions we're receiving in this post. Be sure to read our full blog post on the new privacy tools, if you haven't already.
  
  Why don't I have the new settings?
  
  If you haven't yet seen the three-step transition tool for reviewing and updating your privacy settings, you will shortly. We're asking all 350 million people who use Facebook to go through this process and are rolling out the changes incrementally to make sure it goes smoothly. Keep in mind that you also won't see the new Privacy Settings page until you've gone through the transition process.
  
  Can I limit access to my Friend List?
  
  Many of you have mentioned that you want a way to hide your list of friends. In response to your feedback, we've removed the "View Friends" link from search results, making your Friend List less visible on the site.
  
  In addition, you can further limit the visibility of your Friend List to other people on Facebook if you want. After you've completed the transition to the new privacy settings, you'll be able to click on the pencil icon in the top-right corner of the "Friends" box on your profile. Unchecking "Show my friends on my profile" will prevent your Friend List from appearing in your profile. when it is viewed by people who are logged in to Facebook. Keep in mind, however, that because Friend List is publicly available, it will be visible to people who are viewing your profile while not logged in. Again, you will only have this option once you've completed the transition to the new privacy settings.
  
  Remember, you can also limit who can find you in searches on Facebook and control whether your information can be indexed by public search engines under "Search" on the Privacy Settings page.
  
  Can I limit access to my Wall?
  
  There's been some confusion about whether you can still limit access to Wall posts from friends and applications. The answer is yes. Just as before, you have complete control over who has access to posts your friends have made through the "Posts by Friends" setting under "Profile Information" on the Privacy Settings page. For example, if you choose Friends of Friends, only your friends and friends of those friends will be able to see posts others have made on your Wall.
  
  You can also control whether applications you use can post stories to your Wall on the Application Settings page. Just click "Edit Settings" next to an application's name and choose the settings that are right for you.
  
  Is there a tutorial on using the new Privacy Settings page?
  
  To give you as much information as possible about how to control your experience on Facebook, we've created a short video that walks you through the new Privacy Settings page. The video shows you what you'll find on this page, guides you through the basic levels of privacy, and explains how to customize your privacy settings. You can check it out here.
  
  Where can I provide feedback?
  
  Once you've gone through the three-step process to update your settings, please visit the new Privacy Center, our comprehensive resource for information on how to control your experience. You'll be able to access this page at any time from the "Privacy" link at the bottom of any Facebook page.
  
  If you haven't gone through the transition, please provide your feedback here. While we unfortunately cannot respond to your emails individually, we're listening to all of your feedback.
  
  Ana, a Facebook product marketing manager, is keeping you updated.
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