For years, Facebook has been the ire of privacy advocates for being adamant about its position that its users want to share more with the world than limit their posts to their small circle of family and friends.
On Thursday, however, Facebook said it will start making it easier for users to share less by changing the default sharing setting to Friends. Previously, the default setting was Public, which means anyone can see what you posted, even if it was meant only for a specific group of friends. Sure, you could always change the previous setting to Friends, but only if you knew that the option to change existed.
"First time posters will see a reminder to choose an audience for their first post, and if they don't make a choice, it will be set to Friends. People can change who they are posting to at any time, and can also change the privacy of their past posts too," says Facebook in a statement.
Facebook also announced that it will roll out a new privacy check feature for existing Facebook users. If you are one of them, watch out for the rollout of the tool, which Facebook says will allow you to review your sharing settings, privacy settings for key information in your profile and apps that have access to your information.
Earlier, the social network also announced several other privacy tools, including a pop-up reminder that apologizes for interrupting but wants you to know that you're sharing setting is set to Public. On Facebook for iOS, the audience selector is highlighted on the upper right part of the screen so you can easily see who you're posting to. And a few weeks back, Facebook also announced Anonymous Login, which lets you authorize apps without sharing your Facebook information with third-party app developers.
"Facebook's new privacy policy is a laudable change," writes U.S. senator Jay Rockefeller on his Facebook page. "As I said in the past, it should be up to the user to decide how much information they want to share with the public. Today's announcement is a step in the right direction for strengthening online privacy protections, and I urge other online companies to follow suit."
A few analysts, however, believe that the 180-degree shift in Facebook's stand on privacy is more of a business move than Mark Zuckerberg having a change of heart.
"Those kind of changes are influenced by the competition. Look at the user growth for Snapchat and others. There's a certain percentage of the population that want to remain anonymous at certain times," says Shyam Patil of Wedbush Equity Research.
Snapchat, a mobile messaging app that allows users to send self-destructing messages, is not the only outfit that allows you to use its services without giving up your anonymity. Secret, an anonymous social network that has become popular as a hotbed for Silicon Valley whistleblowers, and private search engine DuckDuckGo are gaining traction for their focus on privacy.
More and more people want to protect their online privacy. For Facebook to continue selling its ads, which make the bulk of its revenue, it has to keep people on Facebook, even if it means giving up one of its long-held beliefs that there should be no anonymity on the Internet.
