Facebook fires up IM, ratchets up privacy

Social network Facebook will roll out more extensive privacy controls Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, as well as an instant-messaging service soon after, representatives from the company announced during a press briefing at the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

Most notable about the new privacy controls is the fact that Facebook members will now be able to choose how much of their profiles is visible to those on their friends list.

Naomi Gleit, Facebook’s product manager for privacy and internationalization, previewed the updated options, which include a new “Friend of Friends” option based on social proximity–not unlike LinkedIn profiles, in which profile information is visible to second- and third-degree contacts rather than the site’s members as a whole. Facebook members will also be able to include or exclude certain friends from having access to information.

Full article: news.com