Facebook Discovers the Value of Privacy

With little fanfare, Facebook today started allowing users to easily categorize their friends, and thus partition their "social graph" into personal, professional and other spheres.

The move has been anticipated ever since the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg hinted at the change, preempting his own engineers, at Quadrangle's Foursquare conference at the Pierre hotel in New York last month.

The change means that out-of-control college students will now be able to shield their misdeeds from their prospective future bosses—read: "The Man"—who are flocking to Facebook in droves.

Until now, one's boss, as well as one's closest friends, had the same access to your profile, including photos, music, and other content. This has led to some famously embarrassing problems. No more.

After Facebook's recent, highly publicized Beacon PR debacle, the company appears to be taking the opposite approach with the friend categorization initiative. No press release has been issued.

Facebook's action can be seen partially as a defensive move against LinkedIn, which is looking to sew up the market for business social networking.

A Facebook spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

by Sam Gustin