• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 22, 2014

Facebook has tweaked its privacy settings to make it easier for new users to share their posts privately. When joining Facebook for the first time, a person’s settings by default will share posts with friends only instead of everyone. Up until now, the settings defaulted to post status updates publicly.

“We recognize that it is much worse for someone to accidentally share with everyone when they actually meant to share just with friends,” stated Facebook in its announcement Thursday.

New sign-ups will see a reminder to choose an audience for their first post, and if they don’t make a choice, it will be set to “Friends.” Facebook said people can change who they’re posting to at any time, and can also change the privacy of their past posts.

For existing Facebook users, the company is introducing a “privacy checkup,” that will allow them to review who they’re posting to, which apps they use, and the privacy of information in their profile. “This new tool is designed to help people ensure they are sharing with just the audience they want,” the company said.

The privacy checklist will roll out in the next few weeks.