New Facebook privacy changes will let you see what your profile looks like to the boss. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied
FACEBOOK has announced a dramatic overhaul of privacy options which will let users see what their profiles look like to their boss and control which friends view their posts.
The privacy changes are being seen as a direct response to social networking rival Google Plus, which, while still in its testing stages, seems to have gotten the balance right.
Facebook yesterday said that instead of storing privacy options away in a corner, users will soon be able to know straight away who sees the content they put on the site.
Users will be able to choose which friends view their posts and customise their audience by groups and lists of friends.
You will be able to choose who sees each post. Picture: Facebook
The new "profile as" option will also let users preview what their profile looks like to other people.
By clicking the "view profile as" link and typing in the name of your boss, for example, you will be able to see what your profile looks like to your employer.
The "View Profile As..." button will let you look through others' eyes. Picture: Facebook
Most significantly, you will no longer need to be friends with someone to tag them in photos. Users will be able to tag people, places, brands and bands without ever having to join a group or befriend them.
However users will also be given more control when they are tagged in a photo by someone else, and can approve or reject the tag before it is seen by other people.
You can use the new changes to approve people tagging you in photos. Picture: Facebook
Karalee Evans, digital media strategist for ad firm Text 100 said that while the new changes were welcome, they did sound very familiar.
"These changes definitely validate Google Plus being on the market," she told news.com.au.
"I think the fact that Facebook have appropriated some of that functionality is a good sign they are watching and learning from it."
Ms Evans said the Facebook plan to learn from Google Plus may not have been very covert.
"I do remember seeing a Facebook staffer post a very open-ended question on Google Plus about what users liked about it and what they didn't. That was a couple of months ago," she said.
"Whether that?s driven some of these changes I don?t know, but I definitely think Facebook must be watching, listening and, pleasingly, putting changes in that I think will improve a day-to-day user's experience."
The new changes will be rolled out over the coming weeks.
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