Facebook has started rolling out a new suite of simplified privacy tools to help its users understand where their photos and updates will appear.
The update has started hitting the US and Facebook said it will be launched for all users within days.
Needless to say, there are a few things you'll need to know - and change - once your profile is updated.
Blocking
The first thing you'll notice when you get the new privacy update is a pop-up box explaining the new way to block users who are upsetting, bothering or just irritating you.
It's simple - just add their name or email in the box and press enter, or click "view all blocked users" to see a list of the people you've already banished to the nether-world.
Privacy Shortcuts
The biggest change is the addition of a new privacy 'shortcut' menu at the top of the site. That menu gives you the option to check "who can see my stuff?" and "who can contact me?"
If you click the first of those options, the menu item will drop down a list to show you where you're photos and other information are shared.
Click this and double check it looks as you would expect it to. If not, click through to "see more settings" and chance your privacy options.
Likewise, do this for "who can contact me" too - check it looks like you imagined, and if not make some changes.
Check How You Look
The new update puts the "View Profile As..." tool right into privacy drop-down menu, meaning it's easier to see how you look to the world. Do this - you might be surprised by what you see.
Erase Your Embarrassing Past
Facebook launched the Activity Log about a year ago to help users track their history on the site and make changes.
The revamped Activity Log now makes it easy to filter content based on when it was posted, and who can see it - and then get it removed if it's bothering you.
For instance, until now on Facebook hiding a dodgy photo of yourself on your timeline didn't necessarily mean that you were also untagged. The result was that the picture was still out there for people to see, laugh at and print out for their 'records'.
Facebook now gives you an option to fix that. If you go to your activity log, you can now set up a filter to show "invisible" photos, in which you're tagged but that aren't showing up in your feed. You don't even need to untag them individually - you can untag many photos at once based on the filters you choose, which means it should be easy to get rid of those compromising shots.
You can also use "Request and Removal" to ask your friends to take down the pictures, which Facebook says has a very high success rate.
Other filters can highlight sphotos in which you're tagged, or posts you've liked, based on time periods - so you could theoretically delete your entire university experience if you wanted to.
