Apparently Facebook users are just now deciding that they don’t want the whole world to know what they’re doing at all times. I was under the impression that it wasn’t THAT difficult to restrict users from seeing certain areas of your page but hey, leave it to Facebook to make a big deal about every new feature it blesses us with.
The Internet gods are claiming this new feature could completely revolutionize the way social networking sites are used. This new feature, aptly named “Groups,” will allow users to group their friends, family, co-workers, ex-lovers, etc. into different groups depending on what various images they’re trying to maintain. The “Groups” will function like small forums where members can chat with others in the group, share photos, posts, and anything else you feel the need to post on Facebook. There will be three privacy settings; open, closed or secret.
So now instead of posting on my wall for all 500 of my friends (most of which probably don’t care about my cutesy couple photos or drunken video postings), I have the choice to send them only to certain groups of people. Cool. I guess privacy CAN exist on the Internet.
In addition to the new privacy updates and grouping abilities, Facebook is also introducing (oh this name is even better than “Groups”) “Download Your Information” which allows you to, well, download your information. Every photo, message and video in your account will be available to download onto your computer in the form of one massive zip file. So in case you decide that none of your friends really care about your information, you can retract it and just watch your drunken videos by yourself at home on your computer.
