Facebook Preps Big Changes to Privacy Settings

Once again, Facebook is reworking its privacy controls in an attempt to address what some feel is the social networking site's Achilles Heel (a major blemish for a company that's considered one of the best to work for). In addition to giving users more tools to play with, Facebook is also focusing on making it easier to wield its privacy controls.

"We continue to strive toward three main goals: bringing controls in context where you share, helping you understand what appears where as you use Facebook, and providing tools to help you act on content you don't like," Sam Lessin, a director of product for Facebook, explained in a blog post.

Facebook Photo Permissions

One of the updates include new Privacy Shortcuts located on the toolbar. Lessin touched on the problematic process of stopping what you're doing and navigating through a separate set of pages whenever users wanted to change their privacy and timeline controls, and the new shortcuts will address that concern.

Facebook Post Permission

A much needed change applies to apps and how they request permissions. Under the new system, apps will ask for separate permissions to access your profile and post to your friends on your behalf; it's no longer an all-or-nothing affair. Here's hoping this change leads to less clutter from automated game requests.

Lessin talked about several other tools, which will begin rolling out at the end of this year.