Facebook separates friends from "friends"

In the same week that saw rumours of soon-to-be official translated versions of Facebook, comes even more rumours that users will soon be able to split their network into custom groupings (and set various privacy settings for each division). Although Facebook's 42 million accounts still trail behind MySpace's 200 million+, for North American and UK users Facebook can often seem like the "super public" predicted by danah boyd.

It has been more than a year since Facebook lifted the curtain and allowed the general public into its previously students-only network. And its population has increased substantially as a result, to say the least. What this means is not only are your classmates on there, but so are your TAs, and your profs, and admissions officers - and employers and parents and cousins and ex-love interests and children and in-laws to boot.

Being able to segregate your growing list of contacts into various groups, and give each group different access rights, means you won't have to watch what you say as carefully - or is it just another ball in the online social juggling act?

Links:

• "New FaceBook feature challenges LinkedIn" - CNN;
• "Pinch yourself, Facebook to group friends" - CNet