Just a quick post for today as I’m out of the country with limited internet access, but I wanted to share this email I received from Facebook today.
As you probably know, Facebook has been facing a barrage of complaints regarding their “public is the new norm” approach to privacy which resulted in much of your/our content being made public by default. This criticism has come from journalists, users, senators – pretty much everyone. I’m hopeful these changes will make it simpler for all users to understand how to control you can see and have access to their information.
Still, please always remember the often-repeated advice: If you aren’t prepared for everyone to see your content (information, photo, etc.), you probably shouldn’t post it online anywhere – period.
Please share your thoughts, questions and observations in the comments below.
My email from Facebook:
Hi Irene,
Facebook will roll out changes today that will make it easier for our users to understand and control their privacy settings. As this change will have an impact on our users, we wanted to let you, a valued advertising partner, know about it.
Please note that this change will not affect your advertising campaigns and there is no action required on your part.Facebook is a company that moves quickly, constantly innovating and launching new products to improve the user experience.
The feedback we heard from users was that in our efforts to innovate, some of our privacy settings h ad become confusing. We believe in listening to our users and taking their feedback into account whenever possible. We think the following changes address these concerns by providing users with more control over their privacy settings and making them more simple to use.
Starting today, Facebook will: *Provide an easy-to-use “master” control that enables users to set who can see the content they share through Facebook. This enables users to choose, with just one click, the overall privacy level they’re comfortable with for the content they share on Facebook. Of course, users can still use all of the granular controls we’ve always offered, if they wish.
*Significantly reduce the amount of information that must be visible to everyone on Facebook. Facebook will no longer require that users’ friends and connections are visible to everyone. Only Name, Profile Picture, Networks and Gender must be publicly available. Users can opt to make all other connections private.
*Make it simple to control whether other applications and websites access any user information. While a majority of our users love Facebook apps and Facebook-enhanced websites, some may prefer not to share their information outside of Facebook. Users can now opt out with just one click.I encourage you to take a moment to read our CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post and check out the new Facebook Privacy Page.
Thanks,The Facebook Ads Team