News.blog: Facebook updates privacy, adds IM

Social network Facebook will roll out more extensive privacy controls today, as well as an instant-messaging service soon after, representatives from the company announced during a press briefing at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

Most notable about the new privacy controls is the fact that Facebook members will now be able to choose how much of their profiles are visible to those on their friends list.

Naomi Gleit, Facebook's product manager for privacy and internationalisation, previewed the updated options, which include a new "Friend of Friends" option based on social proximity -- not unlike LinkedIn profiles, in which profile information is visible to second- and third-degree contacts rather than the site's members as a whole. Facebook members will also be able to include or exclude certain friends from having access to information.

In December, Facebook added the ability to create custom groups of friends, but aside from sending out group messages, there's not much that can currently be done with them. With this week's update, Facebook will integrate this function with its privacy controls. For example, a user could hide or show private information, such as email address and phone numbers, from friends or groups using the classifications "Friend of Friends", "All Friends", "Some Friends", or "Only Me". This means that individuals on a friends list can have specific privacy settings, Gleit said. Whenever a Facebook member sends or confirms a friend request, he or she can assign privacy settings.

These new features, according to Facebook representatives, have already been extensively tested. Gleit explained that users have been asking for them, and said they will not have a negative impact on the thousands of third-party developers building applications for Facebook's platform.

Company executives discussed the ongoing evolution of the social network and explained that changes to the site's privacy controls are necessary given its rapid growth and increasingly diverse user base. Matt Cohler, vice president of strategy and business operations, reiterated a common Facebook talking point that the social network is designed to facilitate better, more personal ways to share and communicate information. Also central, he said, is the fact that Facebook's product allows users to have control over their personal information.

"It manifests itself in two parts in the product. Tools have to be powerful for giving granular control, but on the other hand you have to make sure they are easy to use and simple and intuitive," Cohler explained. "Keeping those two things together has been something we've always thought about."