Facebooks Privacy Announcement

Logging into Facebook last week, I was greeted with a Facebook Privacy Announcement:

We're making some changes to give you more control of your information and help you stay connected. We've simplified the Privacy page and added the ability to set privacy on everything you share, from status updates to photos. At the same time, we're helping everyone find and connect with each other by keeping some information—like your name and profile picture—publicly available.

I knew this update was coming and am excited about it since it gives you more control over who can and cannot see your Facebook information. This includes the following fields in your profile; About Me, Family, Photos, Email Addresses Religious and Political Views.

Combining these new privacy controls with Friend Lists allows you to specify who can see most of your information. I have already setup my account with the following Friend lists; Co-Workers, Friends, Buddies and Family. This way when I add photos, post on my wall, etc... only the people I want to share the information with, get to see it. I think the photo album privacy settings are especially important. A picture tells a thousand words and I have to wonder why some people post those drinking and partying pictures for all to see. These always makes a great first impression with a potential employer, NOT.

This change is also important for dating on Facebook. Most singles I know like to keep their day to day dating information pretty private. They probably only want to share this information and comments with a few close friends. With this new update they now can.

The real problem now is, Facebook just has to make the Friend lists and Privacy controls easier to use. The tools are there but it can take a while to figure out. This is not a problem with a Facebook Junkie who is on the site everyday, but it is not easy for the general person who may not be tech savvy, or is only on the site once every couple of weeks.

If you are interested in using Facebook for dating, check out our Facebook Dating category which lists the popular Dating Apps currently available.