Facebook privacy settings come into effect

Facebook’s new privacy settings, announced by founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg last week, have come into effect with users prompted to update their accounts.

The new features, which come after the social network has been attacked by the Canadian privacy commissioner for allowing third party application developers to access private data, will allow users to tailor their own settings.

The updates mean each user can control who sees each piece of information they publish on the site, including posts to other users’ profiles.

The company has said it hopes the updates will allow users to become more comfortable with how privacy settings operate.

“We’ll be recommending that you make available to everyone a limited set of information that helps people find and connect with you, information like ‘About Me’ and where you work or go to school. For more sensitive information, like photos and videos in which you’ve been tagged and your phone number, we’ll be recommending a more restrictive setting,” said Facebook product manager Ruchi Sanghyi said in the company’s blog.