Facebook Changes Group Sharing, Privacy Policy

Facebook, the social networking website that allows large numbers of users to stay in touch and share images and videos, has now made it easier for members to form private groups with a limited number of friends.

The website had a "groups" option earlier, but the new feature introduced on Wednesday offers additional options for communicating and sharing. Furthermore, all groups have been made private by default, so that people need to be invited by a member to join. Groups also have the option of keeping their names and the names of their members secret.

The renewed Groups feature of Facebook is particularly for those who want to avoid communicating with large numbers of people in their friend's network or "friends of friends". People can now set up groups consisting of a few friends or family members with common interests.

While Facebook has not mentioned anything about advertising, people can imagine how great it will be for a marketer to advertise his/her products or services next to communications between people who may be interested in buying them.

Industry observers believe that this latest move by Facebook reflects its desire to become the online communication hub. A large number of teens and adults have started using Facebook in place of emails to communicate with friends.

In August this year, Facebook replaced Google as the leading online destination in the US, as Americans spent 9.9% (685,000 hours) of their online time that month on Facebook, ComScore says.