Facebook bolsters mobile privacy controls

Social networking giant Facebook extended its newly streamlined privacy controls to all browser-enabled mobile devices, promising its 500 million-plus users complete, real-time access to their personal information wherever they are. Facebook users can access their privacy controls by visiting m.facebook.com/privacy or by accessing the Settings page and clicking the ‘Change' link next to ‘Privacy Settings'--once there, users can set sharing controls to enable friends, friends of friends or everyone to see their content; fully customize their granular settings; and read through Facebook's privacy guide, formatted for mobile device screens. "We're rolling out the settings right now," writes Facebook mobile product manager Michael Eyal Sharon on The Facebook Blog. "If they aren't live for you yet, check again soon."

In late May, Facebook introduced new, simplified desktop controls promising to help users better understand what kind of information they're choosing to share online. The changes followed heated debate over the company's approach to its users' privacy, prompting some consumers to mount a grass-roots effort dubbed Quit Facebook Day. The protest fizzled, however: According to Quit Facebook Day's organizers, only about 31,000 Facebook users pledged to delete their accounts, a narrow fraction of the worldwide Facebook userbase.

Facebook is the most popular mobile application across rival smartphone platforms according to survey data issued in June by The Nielsen Company. Thirty-nine percent of smartphone owners used the Facebook app every 30 days--it is the most popular app on the iPhone (used by 58 percent of consumers) and BlackBerry (39 percent), and the second most popular on Android (51 percent). Earlier this year, Facebook reported that more than 100 million users worldwide actively access the site via mobile device.

For more on Facebook's mobile privacy update:
- read this Facebook Blog entry

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