With account hijacking and privacy both legitimate concern these days when it comes to social media, Facebook is kicking off a test of a new tool, dubbed Security Checkup, which guides users through a few of the options that anyone can access on their security settings page.
Working off the principle that most members of the social network don’t take the time to proactively address security hygiene and determine their optimal privacy preferences, Facebook has decided to bring the options to the forefront.
An interstitial pop-up window will appear for the randomly selected test group; from there, users will be able to change their password, turn on login alerts and clean up login sessions simply by clicking through the screen prompts.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this is the login cleanup: The login session manager shows users which computers the account is logged into and it lets them end those sessions if needed—or be made aware of any sessions that are unauthorized.
“Based on feedback, we hope to make Security Checkup available more broadly and whenever you want to use it,” said Melissa Luu-Van, site integrity product manager at Facebook, in a posting. “We invest considerable resources to create a safe and secure experience for everyone on Facebook. That means building security technologies directly into our platform that are always working to protect your information, as well as offering tools you can use to increase your account security.”
Facebook has been working to implement more user control over their privacy settings and account access, especially now that it’s essentially received wisdom that nothing ever disappears from the internet once posted.
In March, Facebook implemented a digital heir function, which lets people choose a legacy contact who can manage their account when they pass away. The redesigned memorialized profiles pay tribute to the deceased by adding “Remembering” above their names. The legacy contact can also write a post to display at the top of the memorialized Timeline (for example, to announce a memorial service or share a special message); respond to new friend requests from family members and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook; and update the profile picture and cover photo. If someone chooses, they may give their legacy contact permission to download an archive of the photos, posts and profile information they shared on Facebook.