Facebook’s new profile layout is to be released today. Want it right now? All you have to do is go to http://www.facebook.com/about/profile and click on the green button at the top.
New layout features:
Facebook announced their take on “modern messaging system” of today. They announced that there are 350 million people using messaging on Facebook to message their family and friends, which amount to over 4 billion messages sent per day. Those numbers are pretty impressive, to say the least.
Facebook’s new messaging system, codenamed “Titan” is designed to seamlessly integrate and unify email, SMS, Facebook messages, and instant messaging. By combining the various ways that we electronically communicate with one another, several benefits are immediately recognized. The first benefit with the unification provides a more simplistic way to communicate. You don’t have to think about where to go to communicate with a specific person. You won’t find yourself asking the question. Does that person prefer SMS, IM, or email?
The second benefit with the unification allows you the ability to see a true history of all of the communication with this person. What you get is a continuous conversation instead of fragmented conversations through various communication mediums. Google currently offers this with their unification of email and IM and allows you to lookup your IM conversations inside of your email. And although Google offers “Conversation View” which groups your emails by subject, Facebook stated that the most common subject in a Facebook message was “Yo” or “Hi” so the grouping of messages by subject is not ideal (in Facebook messaging scenario).
Facebook has confirmed that all Facebook users will have the opportunity, but not required, to have an @facebook.com email address which is tied to your Facebook username.
By default, your inbox will have messages from only your Friends on Facebook. Everything else goes into a separate folder labeled “Other.” If a friend of yours is not on Facebook, you can set it so that person’s correspondence will go right to your inbox. In some cases if a “friend” of yours is a bit “chatty”on Facebook you can set it up so that person’s messages go to the “Other” inbox.
The gist of what Facebook is doing is to combine the methods for which people communicate and provide a means of prioritization. Important conversations go to your “Inbox” and everything else goes to “Other” inbox.
Privacy concerns? Without having the new messaging system available at this time it’s not easy to definitely state one way or another, yet. That being said, Facebook states that the receiving of email to your @facebook.com email will be tied to the “Messages” privacy setting. So if your privacy setting for “Send you messages” is set to “Friends Only” then only your Facebook Friends can email you.
How large will @facebook.com email boxes be? Facebook has not stated a specific size and claim “non-abusers” will not have a problem with reaching a limit. “Abusers” will likely hit a limit.
A few users will be invited to use the new messaging system starting today and will be rolled out to all Facebook users over the next several months. If you want to request an invite from Facebook, click here
Facebook joins the so-called “location war” with the launch of Facebook Places. Places is currently available for Apple iPhone users (with the newest version of the Facebook App) and mobile users accessing touch.facebook.com and allows users to “check in” using their mobile phones to inform friends of where they are. In addition to checking in their own location, users will be able to “tag” friends that are with them as well. Users will also be able to see if any friends have chosen to check in nearby.
Places is currently rolling out to all US users. However, when I first downloaded the iPhone App it appeared as if this new “feature” was not fully ready and available. The new icon “Places” appeared in the app and after clicking on it only to display a message stating “This feature will be available in your region soon.”
By the time I was done writing this article it appears as if Places became available for me to access. Following are some screen shots of the iPhone App.
Places is looked to be picked up by younger and socially active individuals. Maybe someone is at a bar or restaurant and that person checks in with Places and views if anyone else is nearby. Communication can then ensue to meet up. You can also leave comments with your check ins. Maybe it is positive comments about a restaurants food or service. Places will also allow users to identify hot spots in their area and new area to check out.
Facebook has made a solid attempt to alleviate concerns of privacy by adding privacy settings and setting up the default setting with a fairly conservative approach. By default, if you are a Facebook user, Places will have very minimal impact to you. First of all, a user would need to initiate an action of "check in" for Facebook (and users) to see where you are. So Facebook is not looking at where you are and posting it without your knowledge.
There are several several new privacy settings for Places. The first new privacy settings is under the section "Things I share" and it is called "Places I check in." By default this setting is set to "Friends Only" which means that only your "friends" will be able to check in and see where you are. If you would like to have more privacy, change that setting to "Customize" and either specify which of your friends or groups can, or can't, see where you check in.
The second new setting is "Include me in 'People Here Now' after I check in." This setting lets others at the same spot know that you are there. It is important to know that the people who see this may not necessarily be just your friends seeing this list. By default this setting is disabled which means that in order for your friends, and others, to see you in the list of people nearby to them you would need to enable this setting.
The third new setting is under the "Things others share" section and is called "Friends can check me in to Places." By default this setting is not set and displays "Select one" in the drop down list. It is important to know that the first time a friend tags you through Places, you will receive a notification on Facebook and you will be given the choice to allow your friends to check you in to places or not. When your friends check you in, it is as if you have checked in at that place yourself. You also will appear checked-in to your friends. If you don't allow friends to check you in, then when they tag you at a place, your name will appear in the same way it appears in a tagged status update. You will not appear checked in at that place. Similar to photo tagging, you have the ability to remove yourself from Places check-in or tag.
The last privacy option is a bit tucked away and is listed under the "Application and Websites" section under "Privacy Settings." Click on "Edit your settings" and click on "Edit Settings" next to "Info accessible through your friends." The new settings is labeled "Places I've Visited" and by default is checked. This means that the Places you have checked in will be available to applications, games and websites when your friends use them. To disable this setting uncheck the setting.
One final topic regarding privacy that many Facebook users don’t know is that you can create a list to organize your friends. Some suggestions for lists would be one for family, one for friends, and one for business. I’ve heard from some users that they have two separate Facebook accounts setup, one for personal use and the other for business use. I feel that not only is that incredibly difficult to manage, it really isn’t necessary. After you have these lists setup, you can modify your privacy settings to allow certain lists to see some things and other lists not to see other things. So for example you can modify your privacy settings so that photos and video that you are tagged in (which sometimes can be a bit embarrassing!) are excluded from “friends” listed under your business list to view.
I hope this helps!
