Certain words can be ambiguous. When these kind of words are used for representing privacy options, things can be confusing to the next level.
In Facebook Group's case, the social media giant has what it called 'Public', 'Closed' and 'Secret'. The last two can be confusing to some users.
This is why they are renamed to 'Private' that is 'Visible', and 'Private' that is 'Hidden'.
The first 'Private' that is 'Visible', means that "Anyone can find this group". And as for the second 'Private' which is 'Hidden', means that "Only members can find this group".
Another way of saying it:
- Groups that are 'Public', becomes 'Public' and 'Visible' in search.
- Groups that are 'Closed', becomes 'Private' and 'Visible' in search.
- Groups that are 'Secret', becomes 'Private' and 'Hidden' in search.
In other words, Facebook renames the previous three privacy options for Groups, to be either 'Public' or 'Private'.
According to Jordan Davis, product manager for Facebook Groups, in a blog post:
"By separating the privacy settings for posts and group membership from the overall discoverability of the group, it is easier for admins to understand and manage their group privacy settings, and also easier for members to know important information like who can find the group."
The move aims to lessen the confusion, but Facebook is like throwing more privacy-related labels to change users' perceptions while keeping the options the same.
Still, it's considered a good move since denoting the visibility of a 'Closed' Group in search was probably the biggest point of confusion here that Facebook was aiming to fix.
The changes to the privacy options in Facebook Groups are rolling out to all users as part of the company's 'Safe Communities Initiative', which includes something Facebook calls a "proactive detection."
“Our policies and proactive detection technology continue to apply across private and public groups, just as they did for the previous privacy settings of public, closed and secret groups. This allows us to find and remove bad actors and bad content, helping to keep Facebook safe," said Nir Matalon, the product manager for Facebook Groups.
Facebook Groups have become a source of information for many of its users.
Unfortunately, it also has become the breeding ground for misinformation and radicalization. A number of Groups were found to host spammers, hackers and trolls who exploit and hijack other Groups to make money, scam or spread fake news.
Since founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out that social networks can serve as the digital equivalent of a town square or a living room, Facebook believes Facebook Groups are the future of the app.
With Groups becoming both a public place and a private place where people can share more intimate information, Facebook sees itself responsible to make the privacy options clearer.
Read: Facebook's Thoughts To Embrace Privacy: There Are Reasons For The Shift