As part of a major security shake up, Facebook will remove regional networks and introduce new privacy settings making it easier for users to manage who can view their online content.

The social networking site which has grown to over 350 million people worldwide feels that calls for greater user control must now be answered and its first initiative is to remove the regional networks which group people together based on geographical criteria.
 

In his blog, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg explained: “The plan we've come up with is to remove regional networks completely and create a simpler model for privacy control where you can set content to be available to only your friends, friends of your friends, or everyone.

“We're adding something that many of you have asked for - the ability to control who sees each individual piece of content you create or upload. In addition, we'll also be fulfilling a request made by many of you to make the privacy settings page simpler by combining some settings.”

Improved security for over 100 million people

With almost half of Facebook users belonging to one or more regional networks, the proposed changes are set to improve security for well over 100 million people worldwide. An update will be made to the system during December 2009 and Zuckerberg is urging users to review their own security needs.

He wrote: “Since this update will remove regional networks and create some new settings, in the next couple of weeks we'll ask you to review and update your privacy settings.

“We've worked hard to build controls that we think will be better for you, but we also understand that everyone's needs are different. We'll suggest settings for you based on your current level of privacy, but the best way for you to find the right settings is to read through all your options and customize them for yourself. I encourage you to do this and consider who you're sharing with online.”