Will Facebook Changes Make It More Private?

I am, admittedly, a fan of Facebook. I was one of the first non-college adopters, at first learning the tool for work. Then, later, enjoying the simplicity of networking via status updates and sharing photos with a few clicks. It's amazing to me that the tool's only been around for five years. It feels like it's been a lifetime.

For years, my privacy settings were so strong that even friends looking for me couldn't find me. After I loosened them a bit, I'd wonder every time I posted pictures of the boys whether it could cause a problem down the line. I've often "chatted" with a niece and nephew about posting carefully on the site.

So, it's heartening to read the latest changes coming to Facebook, presuming that they really do deal with some of the rather large social networking sites' flaws. Here are some outtakes from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

Facebook's current privacy model revolves around "networks" — communities for your school, your company or your region. ... However, as Facebook has grown, some of these regional networks now have millions of members and we've concluded that this is no longer the best way for you to control your privacy.

The plan we've come up with is to remove regional networks completely and create a simpler model for privacy control where you can set content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone.

We're adding something that many of you have asked for — the ability to control who sees each individual piece of content you create or upload. In addition, we'll also be fulfilling a request made by many of you to make the privacy settings page simpler by combining some settings.

Since this update will remove regional networks and create some new settings, in the next couple of weeks we'll ask you to review and update your privacy settings. You'll see a message that will explain the changes and take you to a page where you can update your settings. When you're finished, we'll show you a confirmation page so you can make sure you chose the right settings for you. As always, once you're done you'll still be able to change your settings whenever you want.

We've worked hard to build controls that we think will be better for you, but we also understand that everyone's needs are different. We'll suggest settings for you based on your current level of privacy, but the best way for you to find the right settings is to read through all your options and customize them for yourself. I encourage you to do this and consider who you're sharing with online.

Will this be the perfect solution, the one that makes me post more pictures of my kids without worry? Only time will tell. But for now, thank you good Facebook folks for at least thinking about my family's social media privacy.