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Facebook's New Privacy Settings: 7 Things You Need To Know

What You Need To Know About Facebook's Privacy Overhaul
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By 

Executive Tech Editor, The Huffington Post

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Facebook's privacy settings are getting a facelift.

The social network announced plans to introduce a slew of changes to its sharing, tagging and privacy policies, a move that will have far-reaching effects on how users share information and with whom.

The features, which include the ability to screen tagged photos before they appear in profiles and the option to tag non-friends in pictures, mark Facebook's efforts to give members more control over personal details, an important move for a company that has repeatedly faced controversy over its privacy policies.

Yet the latest update also appears to be a defensive move against Google+, a social networking service Google launched in July that has attempted to woo users away from Facebook by offering several unique privacy and sharing features. Facebook's latest revamp underscores the increasing pressure the social networking site is facing from competitors and appears an attempt to assure users their personal data is safe with Facebook.

"Their announcement shows people care about privacy and Facebook is trying to catch up to privacy as a competitive advantage," said Michael Fertik, CEO of Reputation.com, a company that helps individuals manage their profile online. "I think Google+ did put them on their back foot."

Facebook detailed the numerous new features in a 1,200 word blog posted Tuesday afternoon.

We've combed through their explanation to put together this detailed guide to Facebook's new privacy settings--what they mean for you, how to use them, and more:

Tag People You're Not Friends With, Pages You Don't Like(01 of07)
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Before, you couldn't tag someone in your posts unless you were Facebook friends with them.Now, Facebook is doing away with this rule and will allow users to tag people they're not friends with, or pages they haven't "liked," though users will be required to approve tags from non-friends before they appear on their profiles. Facebook described its previous policy as "awkward" and "broken," but it seems the new one could bring its own headaches, from raising new privacy concerns (do people really want strangers tagging them in photos?) to offering a potential new avenue for spammers to reach out to users.Facebook is also expanding the ways in which users can tag locations in their posts: any Facebook post, whether entered using a phone, PC or tablet, can now include a location. (credit:AP)
Control Who Tags You And Who Tags Your Posts(02 of07)
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Facebook is making numerous changes to its tagging system in an effort to give users more control over what others can post about them, what they can post about others, and more (Additional changes to Facebook's tagging system are detail in the following slides).Facebook will now let users review photos or posts they have been tagged in before the images or updates show up on their profiles. "You can choose the new tool to approve or reject any photo or post you are tagged in before it's visible to anyone else on your profile," notes Facebook in a blog post about the privacy update.A user will also be able to review the tags people add to her photos or posts. For example, whereas before a user could tag herself (or someone else she was friends with) in another Facebook member's photo, now the person who uploaded the picture will be able to first approve or reject the tag.
Adjust Who Sees What You Post At The Same Time That You Post It(03 of07)
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Facebook's privacy revamp has added inline controls that let users edit their privacy settings in the same place that they edit profile information and post status updates. Previously, Facebook required users to edit their profile information in one place (by clicking "Edit Profile") and edit their privacy settings in another. With the new inline controls, users can do both in the same place: for example, as the image above shows, a user can now use a dropdown menu to the right of their Music section to see which other users have access to their profile information, and, if they choose, to change who can see these details. These inline controls are also coming to status updates. Facebook explains:
The control for who can see each post will be right inline. For each audience, there is now an icon and label to help make it easier to understand and decide who you're sharing with. Also, when you tag someone, the audience label will automatically update to show that the person tagged and their friends can see the post.
In addition, users will be able to retroactively change who can see something they've posted using the inline controls--before, Facebook explains, "one you posted a status update, you couldn't change who could see it." Share some personal thoughts you only meant for your "BFF" group to see? Now you can tweak who sees the post after it's gone up.
Do More When You Detag(04 of07)
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Facebook will also offer users more information when they choose to detag a photo or post.Before, clicking "remove tag" would simply mean the photo of you was no longer linked to your profile. But Facebook notes there was some confusion: "people had different ideas of what removing a tag actually did, and different motivations for wanting to remove them."Now, Facebook will display a window with details about what occurs when the tag is removed and the option to take additional action--specifically, a user can choose to remove the tag, ask the person who uploaded the photo to remove it, or block the user who uploaded the photo.
See What Your Profile Looks Like To Others(05 of07)
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Facebook has put the ability to see how your profile appears to other users (say, friends, friends of friends, or people you have sorted into a particular group) front and center on users' profile pages.No more guessing whether your boss can see your photos: with this tool, it takes fewer clicks to check out what information other users can find out from your Facebook profile.
When You'll Get It(06 of07)
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Facebook will begin rolling out the changes on Thursday, August 25th. According to All Things D, the new features will initially be available to one percent of Facebook's over 750 million users. (credit:AP)
'Everyone' Becomes 'Public'(07 of07)
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Facebook is making a naming change, changing "everyone" to "public" :
We are changing the name of this label from Everyone to Public so that the control is more descriptive of the behavior: anyone may see it, but not everyone will see it. This is just to make the setting more clear, and it's just a language change.

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