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August 23, 2011

Facebook Adding Option to Approve Tags Before Photo Goes Live

By Tammy Wolf, TMCnet Web Editor

Detagging embarrassing Facebook (News - Alert) photos will soon be in the past, as the social networking site has revealed that it will now allow its members to approve or decline photos they are tagged in before they are visible on their profiles.



Facebook currently allows friends to tag (News - Alert) photos of others without pre-approval or consent, with the option for users to detag the photos – but only after they’ve appeared on a person's profile. Of course, this doesn't remove the tag itself.

According to the Associated Press, the new setting comes after users filed requests for this option. Now, users can find a new set of controls next to posts and shared photos, rather than having to scrounge around on the settings page.

On the other hand, Facebook has added a feature that will now allow users to tag others that aren’t friends. Of course, they will still require approval by that individual.

These new settings, as well as an abundance of other changes, are all part of a move by Facebook to address privacy challenges and ultimately give users more management over tagged and shared photos. These augmentations also come close on the heels of enhancements to Twitter and Google’s (News - Alert) Google+, which is proving triumphant thus far.

Much to the likes of Twitter, Foursquare and even photo sharing applications like Instagram, Facebook users will now have the option to include a location on their status updates and even link to other users mentioned in the post. And, if you don’t want the whole world to see what you’re up to at that moment, you can choose to share the post with friends only.

A drop-down menu is slated to be added that will grant users the option to perform tasks, like request that a friend remove a photo and approve or reject a tagged photo before it posts.

And, while Google+ certainly led the way for “circles,” Facebook announced that its all-new sharing option will eventually allow users to share updates, photos and links with specific groups of friends.

"This dropdown menu will be expanding over time to include smaller groups of people you may want to share with, like co-workers, friend lists you've created, and groups you're a member of," said Facebook's vice president of product, Chris Cox, in a blog post, as reported by The Guardian. "These will make it easy to quickly select exactly the audience you want for any post."

Of course, Facebook is still trying to set itself apart from the growing pack of social networking sites, like Google+ and Twitter (News - Alert).

"People will always talk about Google no matter what we do and that's fine – we're not using Google to determine the work we do. As for Twitter – it's a pretty different service and I'm not sure how they will respond. We just want people to be clear on the differences between sharing behaviors,” said Cox.

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Tammy Wolf is a TMCnet web editor. She covers a wide range of topics, including IP communications and information technology. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.



Edited by Jamie Epstein
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