UPDATE on June 24: We've received some questions in the comments about default privacy settings for this beta. Nothing has changed with your default privacy settings. The beta is only open to people who already chose to set their profile and status privacy to "Everyone." For those people, the default for sharing from the Publisher will be the same. If you have your default privacy set to anything else—such as "Friends and Networks" or "Friends Only"—you are not part of this beta.

Today, we're launching a beta version of an improved Publisher—the main place to add content such as photos, videos, and status updates on your home page and profile. The new Publisher has been streamlined a bit, and its most significant improvement is the new Publisher Privacy Control that gives you the opportunity to answer the question, "Who do you want to tell?" as easily as you answer the question, "What's on your mind?"

You may have some posts you want to share with a wide audience, such as whom you voted for or how great the weather is today. Other times you may have more personal updates like your new phone number or an invitation to join you at your favorite restaurant for dinner that are meant for only close or nearby friends.

If you have access to this beta version, every time you publish content into your stream you are able to control which people can access that specific piece of content. After writing a status, uploading a photo or creating other content from the Publisher, use the lock icon in the lower-right corner of the Publisher to access the drop-down menu. From there, you can then choose to make the post visible to:

• Everyone: Anyone, on or off, of Facebook can see it.


• Friends and Networks: People you have confirmed as friends and people in any school or work networks that you've joined can see it.


• Friends of Friends: Anyone who is friends with a friend of yours can see it.


• Friends: Only people you have confirmed as friends can see it.


• Custom: Choose any friend or Friend List to include or exclude from seeing that piece of content.