Will Facebook's New Privacy Settings Win Back Users?

After vowing to simplify its complex privacy settings in an op-ed column for the Washington Post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced the social network's new privacy settings in a press conference and on the Facebook blog. The changes will be implemented today.

Facebook has been reeling from an outcry by users as it moved to push them to be more open with their information and actions on the site, taking a beating in the press and within its employee ranks as it grappled with members' privacy pushback.

In today's press conference, Zuckerberg said the company heard from its users that not everyone's ready for his notion of "openness" on social networks. He conceded that a “big part of the challenge that we’ve had is that we’ve grown from tens of thousands of users to hundreds of millions. It’s been a big shift along the way and it hasn’t always been smooth.”

Its big privacy announcement: it's rolling out "one simple control" for sharing.

With one or two clicks users can now determine the default setting for access to all types of Facebook profile content and the level of visibility to all types of content.

There will continue to be "granular settings" for those users who want to tweak others' access to their information even further. In response to user feedback, it's also made it easier for Facebookers to control directory information and third-party access (including search engines and APIs) to their profiles.

Silicon Alley Insider has posted slides from Zuckerberg's press conference here. Facebook's help section aso details the new privacy policy and profile settings.