• Inside Facebook, Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:17 PM

With the threat of Google+ looming -- however so slightly -- Facebook debuted several improvements to its Friend Lists feature, which can be used to define privacy settings and filter the news feed. Members now have automatically created, populated and updated Smart Lists of their family, co-workers, classmates, and local friends. Also, users can now add friends to an "Acquaintances" list whose members will appear less frequently in the news feed -- "and a 'Close Friends' list of people who will appear more frequently in news feed and whose updates will trigger notifications," Insider Facebook adds.

By building or starting these lists for users, Inside Facebook suggests that the social network may be able increase adoption of the Friend Lists feature, "leading users to control their privacy more nimbly, increase the relevance of their news feeds, and share a wider range of content with more specific audiences."

Still, it sees a lack of granular control of Close Friends' opt out notifications as a problem, which may result in users quickly turning them off or forgoing adding friends to special list at all.

Read the whole story at Inside Facebook »