Facebook plans new privacy controls, readies online chat
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The social networking site Facebook said on Tuesday that it was introducing new privacy controls to give users the ability to preserve social distinctions between friends, family and co-workers online.
While part of Facebook's appeal has been the greater degree of privacy controls it offers users, compared with other major social network sites, the site has also come under strong criticism twice in response to new features that many users felt exposed previously private information to wider view.
Starting on Wednesday, Facebook's more than 67 million members will be able to create and manage lists of friends that are granted different levels of access to information on a member's profile.
The group privacy controls take advantage of "friends lists," a feature the company introduced in December to help members organize their friends into groups. These private lists let users send messages to selected friends or filter what personal details various groups can see.
In addition, the company confirmed recent reports that it is working on a new instant messaging chat feature that runs inside Facebook, allowing users to hold spontaneous conversations with their friends on the site.
The feature, called Facebook Chat, will not require that users download any special software, and will be introduced in a matter of weeks, the company said.