Saturday, August 7, 2010

On the go: Facebook extends privacy controls to mobile phones


150 million users currently access the site through their cellphones and can change how much info is publicly available

London: From now on, people using Facebook on their mobiles will be able to select whether their friends, or friends of friends, or everyone can see any new information that they post about themselves, for now the social networking site has extended its privacy controls to mobile devices.

The move would allow users to control what information is publicly seen about them on the site, while on the move. In May 2010, as a response to international criticism of Facebook's increasingly complex privacy toolest, it amended its privacy controls, making them 'simpler' to use.

At the time co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the site "missed the mark" on allowing its users to easily control whether, for instance, their age, gender, friends or pictures were visible to the public.

Zuckerberg introduced "one simple control" to let users decide how they want to share their Facebook profile information, in addition to adding the ability to adjust privacy settings on a granular level.

"This applies to all the products we're going to release going forward. As well as retroactively. If you've set your profile so your information is viewable only to friends of friends, then all future features will also only be viewable to friends of friends," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

And now, the networking giant has made the entire suit of Facebook privacy controls available from any mobile device.

This means people will be able to change how much personal information is publicly available about them while on the move.

Facebook says that more than 150 million users currently access the site through their mobile devices ?" a number expected to grow rapidly as an increased number of people move over to smartphones with affordable internet bundles. And the Facebook privacy features on mobile will be available from today.

Facebook has also formatted its privacy guide especially for mobiles. This is not a big change in an of itself, but it does show how serious Facebook is about appeasing users who were quite recently in foment over what they felt was underhanded dealing with their information.

"As of today, you can use these controls no matter where you are, what kind of device you have access to, or when you want to make a decision about your information," Michael Eyal Sharon, Facebook's mobile product manager, wrote in a blog post.

To access, go to m.facebook.com/privacy on your phone or go the Settings page and click the "Change" link next to "Privacy Settings." You can then choose if friends, friends of friends, or everyone can see your content, customise certain settings, and access the privacy guide, formatted for mobiles.

More than half of Britons (56%) have admitted to relying upon technology while on the move, according to a new study carried out by Kinetic, an outdoor advertising company. This is a 12% increase on the year, as only 44% of Britons said that they relied upon technology while out of the house or office, during the same poll during 2009.

The study, which polled 500 adults, found that out of the 370 (74%) which had Facebook accounts, 103 (28%) were accessing them via a mobile device.

A Kinetic spokesperson said: "The increase in popularity of smartphones together with the release of the iPad and the prevalence of Wi-Fi on public transport and in social areas, such as coffee shops and pubs is thought to be behind the rise in the number of people using technology on the move."

SITE COSTS UK 14 BN POUND

Use of social networking platforms Twitter and Facebook at work has resulted in losses of 14 billion pound to the British economy. According to a survey of 1,000 British workers, around half of employees said that they updated their profiles on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace every day at work. The survey revealed that two million of Britian's 34 million strong workforce waste at least one hour of their office time in adding friends, visiting profiles and sending messages on social networking platforms

APP CALLS PALS FOR FREE

Vonage has introduced two apps that allow you to make free phone calls to your Facebook friends nationally and internationally. The apps, called Vonage Mobile for Facebook are available free for the iPhone and Anroid phones. It's very simple to use.Load the app,sign in as you do for Facebook, you will be asked what info you want to allow access to, and you are likely at this point received the message "Less than of your friends have Vonage mobile for Facebook." It then suggests that you invite some.

60% PHONES WEB CAPABLE

Accordingly to research firm ABI Research, this is a trend that will only continue, with more than 60% of handsets having mobile Web browsers by 2015. According to the report, a 60% penetration rate of handsets with mobile Web browsers will double today's rate and bring the total number of Web-enabled phones to 3.8 billion. The phones will have one of two types of browser - a full Internet browser - a full Internet browser or a proxy-based browser and Full Internet browsers will be on all smartphones.

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