Facebook to Alter its Settings for Privacy Concerns

Facebook today announced that it is altering the Settings section of its mobile apps. These changes are aimed at decluttering the available settings and making it easier for users to find what they are looking for. In short, Facebook is attempting to keep it simple.

Facebook’s Settings has a total of 10 sections, which include Account settings, Security, Privacy, Your Facebook Information, Ads, Stories, Notifications, Shortcuts, News Feed Settings, and Media and Contacts. The social media giant has announced that it is reducing some of these categories by clubbing some of them under one roof.

Facebook wrote in a blog post that it is managing the ads people see, adjusting sharing settings, or curating an audience for posts. People shouldn’t have to think too hard about where to start. That’s why we’ve reduced the number of categories and renamed them to more closely match people’s mental models. The social media giant has grouped Settings into six broad categories, each of which contains several related settings. The list includes Account, Preferences, Audience and Visibility, Permissions, Your Information, and Community Standards and Legal Policies.

The company also announced that it is relocating several standalone settings so that they live alongside related settings. The News Feed setting, which previously was housed inside a smaller category of its own, now lives under Preferences, where it is grouped with similar settings. The company said that they have also made some improvements to the settings search function, making it easier to find the settings you need if you don’t know the exact name or location of the setting you’re looking for.