Facebook today is set to roll out better privacy controls. It is also reportedly going to include a chatservice in the next two weeks. That is what representatives from Facebook’s headquarters told reporters earlier this week.
The way it will work is that you can control how much of your profile is visible on your friends’ lists. The company has created a copycat version of the LinkedIn layered friends structure; you’ll have friends and friends of friends and your profile is visible to second and third degree friends only, rather than to everyone. .
The user requested alterations follow on from the changes made in December, when Facebook launched the facility to create custom groups of friends which allows users to send out group messages.
From now on, sending or confirming friend requests will include privacy settings. Facebook is also launching a chat interface -Facebook Chat- in two weeks’ time. The company executives told reporters that this facility might be changed slightly in the next few days.
The chatbox will be placed at the bottom of the browser and you don’t need to download the tool. Facebook Chat will be automatically integrated with friends lists.
Facebook has 67 million members, two-thirds of which are non US residents. This demography has changed considerable in the last year and a half. Only 10 percent of all Facebook users were outside the US 18 months ago.