Facebook Redesign Gives Users More Control

Facebook is making sweeping changes to the world’s largest social networking site, aiming to give users more control and to curb new forms of spam, company officials said late on Sunday.

Facebook’s redesign aims to make user profiles more dynamic by giving more prominence to the newest information, and it is cracking down on applications that violate privacy or user-control guidelines.

"Users should have control of their information when and where they want," said Ben Ling, the head of Facebook’s platform product management. "Users should share things because they want to share them."

Facebook will offer members a cleaner and simpler set of the Web pages which make up personal profiles. These profiles, which can be organized into tabbed pages, let users share tidbits of their lives with select groups of friends or colleagues.

Previously, members could edit largely static parts of their profiles such as birth date, education or music interests.

"Facebook is making significant changes, both in terms of what information gets prominence and what gets buried," said Gartner analyst Ray Valdes, adding that the changes may seem abrupt to many users.

"The company is trying to eliminate some of the toxic threats to the Facebook experience."