Live From The Facebook Privacy Call

This afternoon Facebook is hosting a privacy call to update a few press members about the company's latest changes. With a lot of confusion about what exactly is taking place, the company wants to make some clarifications as the changes will have a significant impact on the user experience. We'll begin updating this post as the call begins. [1:01 PM EDT] - Waiting for the call to begin. [1:08 PM EDT] - Still waiting (and btw, I'm blogging on a bus, not to be confused with a boat) [1:10 PM EDT] - Facebook logo just came up in the presentation. Assuming this will start shortly. [1:13 PM EDT] - And the operator has come on the line. [1:14 PM EDT] - Brandee Barker has come on the line to introduce Chris Kelly and Leah Pearlman to discuss new privacy features that will be rolled out. [1:15 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly has come on the phone and is describing Facebook's mission. Today we'll be talking about three things: control, simplicity and connecting. [1:18 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly is letting Leah Pearlman discuss the new granular publisher control system and has provided screenshots of the updated publisher that we wrote about last week. [1:19 PM EDT] - Leah is discussing how they will be removing regional networks. Something that I also previously wrote about. This is not a new feature and simply that regional networks are being phased out over time. [1:21 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly is back on the line talking about providing more simple tools for Facebook. Too many privacy options will result in people not fully understanding how these settings work. [1:22 PM EDT] - Leah is now discussing the new simple privacy settings. The full animation has been condensed into one slide (show below). [1:23 PM EDT] - We want users to have a single privacy control. There will be four or five options: "Everyone", "Friends and Networks", "Friends of Friends", "Just Friends", and "Customize". Customize is something that I've written about extensively but it essentially includes friend lists and individual controls for single users. [1:25 PM EDT] - We are also consolidating all the privacy settings into a single page. [1:26 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly: We are testing a number of different ways for users to opt-in to new settings. Leah Pearlman is discussing the new transition tool which will be pictured below. We want to ensure that people understand the changes that are taking place so it's imperative that people understand what's taking place. We are currently testing six designs of transition tools currently and will select one after user testing. [1:29 PM EDT] - Facebook is introducing a number of default options for users. Some users will want to make their Facebook experience "limited" which will mean no public people can view their contact information. There are two other buckets as well. Now Facebook is showing another transition tool screenshot that's currently being tested. [1:31 PM EDT] - There will be a single confirmation page as well no matter what transition tool the user uses. Leah is now discussing the timetable for the rollout of the new privacy settings. [1:33 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly is back on the phone discussing these changes using the easy to read slide below ;) [1:34 PM EDT] - Now there is Q&A. Marshall Kirkpatrick is saying "it seems to me that you are leaning toward encouraging people to share more information with everyone. Is that the case, that you are encouraging public sharing and as more information is being shared will developers have access?" [1:35 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly (I believe) is giving a relatively political non-answer saying that they want to grant users complete control over their privacy. Leah is also commenting on it. Leah says, "you are right" we are also trying to get people to share more. [1:38 PM EDT] - Juan Perez is asking a question about terminology where it's saying "Everyone on Facebook" and other places where it says just "Everyone". [1:39 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly is saying that where it says "Everyone" it means everyone on the internet. Where it's minors it means other minors that are on Facebook. [1:41 PM EDT] - Jeremiah Owyang is saying that most consumers are not using their privacy settings and is asking what are you going to do to educate users about their privacy settings? [1:43 PM EDT] - Chris Kelly is saying the primary reason people aren't using is that the privacy settings are not simple enough. With this update we think more users will take advantage of it. At this point I'm not writing about any of the other questions as I'm rolling into New York. If there is anything else that's substantive I'll be sure to update this post. Update I've posted a copy of the full presentation below as created by Nicholas Carlson.

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Live From The Facebook Privacy Call

Nick O'Neill

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Nick O'Neill